Cross-Examination

• Dianne Feinstein has died: Longtime California Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein died Friday morning. She was 90 years old. First elected in 1992, she had been the oldest-sitting senator and was the longest-tenured female senator in U.S. history. She began her career in public office back in 1969, when she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In 1978, she was elected mayor of San Francisco, becoming the first woman to hold the office, which she held until 1988. Earlier this year, clearly in declining health, she announced that she would not run for reelection in 2024.

• Shutdown deadline approaches: The House advanced several appropriations bills on Thursday, including bills that would fund the State Department, the Defense Department, and the Department of Homeland Security. However, the Republican-controlled House has still failed to agree on a stopgap spending bill with a government shutdown looming. Today, the House will vote on a continuing resolution to fund government operations for another 30 days. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has struggled with several Republicans objecting to sending any more funding to Ukraine. Representative Matt Gaetz (FL) has warned that should McCarthy “use Democrat votes in the House of Representatives to advance Joe Biden’s spending priorities, he cannot remain as the Republican speaker.”

• Federal court protects kids: The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld Kentucky and Tennessee laws banning gender-bending treatment on minors. The laws had been challenged by the ACLU. Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton stated, “This is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the last decade or two. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for anyone to be sure about predicting the long-term consequences of abandoning age limits of any sort for these treatments.” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti praised the decision: “Tennessee’s law that protects children from irreversible gender-related medical interventions remains in effect.” Given this ruling and the fact that similar bans in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Montana, and Indiana have been overturned, it’s likely that this issue will be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

• Lousy Loudoun County ex-superintendent on trial: Scott Ziegler, the former superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools, is on trial over charges that he punished a teacher for blowing the whistle on the district for ignoring her sexual abuse claims and for her working with a grand jury investigating the school district covering up sexual assault by a male “transgender” student. The special education teacher, Erin Brooks, said that when she notified her administrators about a 10-year-old autistic student who repeatedly grabbed her crotch, they simply suggested she wear an apron to “slow down the penetration.” Brooks stated: “In my expert opinion, these behaviors were a sign that something is going on, that they’re witnessing or experiencing it. I asked [school principal] Mrs. Mackey to call [Child Protective Services], but she refused.” Ziegler’s attorneys sought to put the blame for the sexual assaults onto Brooks by asserting that the student’s behavior was due to her refusing to give him an iPad. Furthermore, Ziegler’s defense team painted Brooks, who had been named Special Education Teacher of the Year in 2021 and who had received positive reviews in 2022, as incompetent, which they said explained why Ziegler recommended the school board fire her.

• Whitmer’s accidental anti-trans case: In Michigan, if someone is under 18, they will now not be allowed to get married, even if their parents consent. Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the bill into law, contending that it was needed to protect children from making a life-altering decision that they were not old enough to make. Upon signing it, Whitener obtusely stated, “Keeping Michiganders safe and healthy is one of my top priorities, and today’s bipartisan bills will build on our efforts to protect young people — especially young women — from abuse.” This is the same Whitmer who also demanded that children have access to gender-bending medical procedures without parental consent. Evidently, in Whitmer’s warped mind, a child is old enough to decide to permanently alter their body, but too young to consent to getting married.

• Equity in practice: After the death of George Floyd and the subsequent summer of BLM protests and violent rioting, corporate America bowed to the woke mob in the name of “racial justice.” Not only did BLM and other woke groups receive millions from corporations across the country, but it appears that America’s top companies also drank the DEI Kool-Aid. A report from Bloomberg found that of the more than 300,000 hirings of S&P 100 companies since the summer of 2020, 94% of them have been people of color. To further break that down, 20,524 of those hired have been white, while 302,570 have been non-white. Each one of those may be the most deserving candidate, but when identity rather than competency drives a company’s hiring practice, product quality will invariably suffer. This isn’t justice; it’s political pandering wrapped in the guise of “justice.”

Update: The Daily Wire explains why Bloomberg got this all wrong.

Headlines

• Scale of alleged Biden foreign influence peddling unprecedented in history of DC corruption, impeachment witness testifies (National Review)

• Prosecutor likely intervened in Hunter tax probe to shield President Biden, impeachment witness testifies (National Review)

• Newly revealed Hunter Biden message describes “family’s brand” as his “only asset” (Hot Air)

• New text message destroys Joe Biden’s defense in influence-peddling scandal (PJ Media)

• Second primary debate ratings tank, drop by 3.5 million viewers over first debate (Just the News)

• Final second-quarter GDP estimate remained unchanged at 2.1% (Fox Business)

• U.S. GDP revised down in every first quarter from 2020 to 2022 (Reuters)

• Illegal border crossings top 11,000 on two different days (Townhall)

• Trans-identifying male violently beats female student in Oregon middle school (PM)

• UK study finds puberty blockers exacerbated mental anguish for trans-identified teens (The Federalist)

• Newsom signs law giving California fast food workers $20 minimum wage (Free Beacon)

• Only 3% of San Francisco restaurants have not been vandalized in past month (Daily Wire)

• Chinese hackers nab 60,000 emails in State Department breach (Politico)

• Policy: Bureaucracy has warped higher education (Washington Examiner)

• Humor: Experts unsure where president’s dog learned to bite (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.