Cross-Examination

• Senate to Biden: refreeze Iran’s $6B: Five Senate Democrats are calling on Joe Biden to immediately refreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets that he unfroze last month as a ransom payment for prisoners. All five senators — Joe Manchin (WV), Jon Tester (MT), Jacky Rosen (NV), Tammy Baldwin (WI), and Bob Casey (PA) — are up for reelection in 2024. Manchin and Tester were the most strident in their calls for refreezing the assets. “I wasn’t supportive of the initial $6 billion transfer,” said Manchin. “We should absolutely freeze these Iranian assets while we also consider additional sanctions.” Tester said, “At minimum … freeze the $6 billion in Iranian assets and explore other financial tools we have at our disposal.” He added, “Moving forward, we need to ensure our ally Israel can defend itself from these ongoing deadly attacks against its civilians.” Biden has thus far rejected the calls to refreeze.

• Israel’s response: Israel’s immediate response to Hamas’s shocking attack was to launch a massive air strike against Hamas targets in Gaza. Furthermore, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a full-scale siege of the Gaza Strip, vowing that Hamas “will be crushed and eliminated.” Over 300,000 Israeli military reservists have been called up, as the military prepares for a ground assault. All services have been cut off to the Gaza Strip, including power, water, and food, and yesterday Gaza’s sole power station was shut down as it ran out of fuel. At least 25 U.S. citizens have been killed, with 17 others unaccounted for and feared to be hostages of Hamas.

• Blinken’s trip to Israel: Early Thursday morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel in a move designed to reiterate U.S. support for Israel following Hamas’s unprovoked attack. Upon arriving, Blinken released an unequivocal statement: “The United States stands with Israel and its people, and we will always stand — resolutely — against terrorism.” He further told reporters, “We’ve seen the almost indescribable acts committed by Hamas against Israeli men, women, and children.” He added: “Every day we’re learning more, and it is simply heartbreaking. Not since ISIS have we seen this kind of depravity, and we will continue to stand very resolutely against it.” Let’s hope that marks a real change in administration policy.

• Inflation rises again: The September consumer price index (CPI) found that inflation rose 0.4% last month, and it’s up 3.7% from this time last year. This continues a trend of rising inflation, as both July and August saw increases after a year of steady decline. The cost of food and energy was the leading cause, as those two core CPI items rose 0.3% last month and have risen by 4.1% over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, that inflation is rising once again means that workers’ wages have effectively decreased, dropping another 0.2% on the month, with average wages growing just 0.5% for the year. This is especially the case for many retired Americans on fixed incomes. Social Security recipients are set to receive a 3.2% increase in benefits, but that falls far short of matching the growing rate of inflation — not to mention the fact that cumulative inflation since Biden took office is more than 17%.

• Biden’s “junk” policy on junk fees: Reeling from bad polling numbers tied to his failed effort to dupe the American public into believing that his “Bidenomics” policies are benefiting the economy, not to mention his disastrous decision to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets, Joe Biden on Wednesday touted his new plan to crackdown on junk fees. “Folks are tired of being taken advantage of and played for suckers,” Biden said as he argued that companies sneak hidden charges into all sorts of bills. “These junk fees can add hundreds of dollars weighing down family budgets, making it harder to pay family bills,” he added. While all Americans can agree that junk fees are frustrating, Biden’s maneuver still doesn’t change the fact that his policies are responsible for making us all poorer. Furthermore, Biden’s propping up of the unconstitutional Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an entirely unaccountable institution, is not a solution for reversing a bad economy.

• Amber Alert for intersectionality: In an effort to ensure that racism is injected into everything, California has enacted a new “Ebony Alert” system. The new law, which will go into effect on January 1, 2024, will utilize electronic highway signs as well as push radio, TV, social media, and other systems to alert the public to missing persons of color ages 12 to 25. Evidently, the Amber Alert system, which sends out alerts to the public for missing children who are believed to have been abducted and does not take race into consideration, is racist. The issue is that the Amber Alert system make a distinction between runaways and abductions, only issuing alerts for the latter. Since a higher percentage of black kids are reported as missing after running away from home, an Amber Alert is not issued.

Headlines

• Biden appears to back up reports of Hamas “terrorists beheading children” (National Review)

• Karine Jean-Pierre torches “The Squad” for “repugnant,” “disgraceful” Gaza war comments (Free Beacon)

• Israel forms emergency government after five days of Netanyahu-Gantz talks (Jerusalem Post)

• There is no U.S. ambassador to Israel — does it matter? (Hot Air)

• X removes hundreds of Hamas-linked accounts (Fox Business)

• Dem congressman renounces membership with nation’s largest socialist organization over Hamas praise, anti-Semitic rally (Daily Wire)

• North Carolina Republicans override Democrat governor vetoes on election bills (Daily Wire)

• ACT test scores fall to lowest levels in 32 years (Axios)

• Christianity Today’s magazine staff made significant campaign donations from 2015 to 2022 and every dollar went to Democrats (Not the Bee)

• Policy: Refreeze Biden’s $6 billion gift to Iranian terror (Washington Examiner)

• Humor: The New York Times and eight other great toilet paper alternatives (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.