Economy

• A “hotter than expected” inflation report: This morning’s economic numbers remind us that Bidenflation is alive and kicking. As CNBC reports, “The pace of price increases over the past year took was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene.” Yep, the hurricane did it. And the hurricane no doubt caused the consumer price index to unexpectedly increase by “a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for September, which puts the annual inflation rate at 2.4%.” Both readings were slightly above the Dow Jones consensus. What about the kitchen-table specifics? “Egg prices leaped 8.4% higher, putting the 12-month unadjusted gain at 39.6%. Butter was up 2.8% on the month and 7.8% from a year ago.” Indeed, groceries cost you an average of 20% more than they did four years ago, and coffee is up a whopping 65%. But hey, Kamala Harris says “Bidenomics is working … and we are very proud of Bidenomics.”

• Economy most important issue to 2024 presidential vote (Gallup)

Government & Politics

• Naval Academy pulls plug on Trump-hating academic: The Naval Academy has postponed a major lecture from a Trump-hating NYU professor named Ruth Ben-Ghiat. The professor had planned to trash Trump less than a month before the presidential election, writing on her Substack page, “I will be speaking about what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule, touching on Fascist Italy, Pinochet’s Chile and the Russian military during the war on Ukraine.” She then pondered “why Donald Trump insults the military,” trotted out the thoroughly debunked “suckers and losers” smear, and attacked him for accepting the invitation of three Gold Star families to join them at Arlington National Cemetery in remembrance of their fallen warriors. As The Daily Signal’s Tyler O'Neil reports: “While the academy postponed the speech, critics demanded answers as to why it selected the speaker in the first place and whether the selection violated Defense Department protocol.”

• FBI swats wrong house but refuses to pay for damages: It’s been seven long years since the FBI busted down their door and held them at gunpoint, and an American family is still waiting for justice. Early before dawn on October 17, 2017, Curtrina Martin and her family were awakened by pounding, shouting, and a flash-bang grenade. As National Review reports, “Martin remained cowering in a corner, blinded by a flashlight attached to the barrel of a rifle and screaming for her son. Meanwhile, additional gunmen entered Gabe’s room and pointed guns at him while he hid under a blanket. ‘I felt like if I move, I was going to get killed,’ says Gabe, who is now 14.” The intruders finally identified themselves as FBI and produced a warrant. But then: “As the smoke cleared, they realized they had gone to the wrong address. Rather than apprehending a suspected criminal, the SWAT team had terrorized an innocent family. Wrong people. Wrong house. Wrong street.” The family has sued for damages, including the emotional trauma endured by a then-seven-year-old boy, but they still haven’t been made whole, and their lawyers are now petitioning the Supreme Court.

• Blank book about Harris a bestseller: A number one bestseller on Amazon is titled, The Achievements of Kamala Harris — A Comprehensive Report. The 191-page book “written” by Jason Dudash is advertised as “an entirely fact-based report based off Harris’ votes, statements, and actions throughout her life in public office.” It claims to span her 20-year public office career and “represents the most comprehensive report to date detailing the many reasons Kamala Harris may be worthy of your support.” The book is currently listed at $15.37 for a paperback copy. There’s also one important factor not to overlook: the book is categorized as “political humor.” That’s because the entire book is blank. Maybe the best part of this is the buyer reviews, such as this one: “As an avid reader for over 65 years, I have read almost 100,000 print books and listened to 4,000+ audiobooks. This book is in my favorite Top 10 non-fiction books in the political genre. So accurate & compelling that I couldn’t put it down. A great cover-to-cover read. This one will be added to my collection of classic coffee table books. I would highly recommend it.”

• Fox News proposes two dates for Trump-Harris debate days before election (Daily Wire)

• Left-leaning Quinnipiac has Trump ahead in Wisconsin, Michigan (Just the News)

• More Americans identify as Republican than Democrat (WSJ)

Security

• ICE contractor accused of smuggling in illegals: Nancy Berenice Fernandez Luna was recently arrested for her effort to smuggle in more than three dozen illegal aliens across the U.S. southern border. Luna, an American citizen who had until recently worked for a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor named MVM Inc., used her ICE credentials to get a charter bus through a border checkpoint. She claimed to be on a government-funded trip bringing in migrant children who were sick with COVID. (Remember when we kept COVID-positive migrants out?) However, when agents checked out the bus, it was apparent the migrants aboard weren’t all minors. Center for Immigration Studies policy director Jessica Vaughan observed, “DHS has a disturbing track record of hiring contractors who are not qualified to do the job and at worst have turned out to be corrupt, abusive, and receive an enormous amount of taxpayer money to do this job.”

• Policy: Are FBI crime statistics reliable? (City Journal)

Culture

• Jets head coach termination conspiracy: First things first: Robert Saleh wasn’t fired by the New York Jets because he’s a Muslim and is of Lebanese descent. He was fired because he didn’t get it done as a head coach in the NFL. But that hasn’t stopped the conspiracy theorists from running amok and crying Islamophobia! One such theory is that Saleh was fired for wearing a Lebanese flag patch on his sweatshirt when the Jets played their game in London on Sunday. This seems odd, given that it wasn’t the first time Saleh had worn the patch, and it specifically wasn’t a Hezbollah flag. The pro-Hamas lefties also took issue with the way Saleh was escorted to his vehicle upon being fired. Give us a break. Saleh’s Jets were 2-3 when he got the gate, and they weren’t impressing anyone. In truth, he simply had the misfortune of being a bad coach in perhaps the world’s toughest media market: New York City. He wasn’t the first coach to be hastily canned in that pressure-cooker town, and he won’t be the last.

• Thirteen states sue TikTok: The highly negative social impact of TikTok, especially on children, has led a bipartisan coalition of red and blue states to file a lawsuit against the social media company. As California Attorney General Rob Bonta argued, TikTok has “chosen profit over the health and safety, well-being and future of our children, and that is not something we can accept, so we’ve sued.” The primary concern is TikTok’s “For You” algorithm feed, which mental health experts warn is dangerously addictive, especially for children. TikTok, like other social media companies, relies on ad revenue for its business. Therefore, keeping people on the platform is paramount. According to the lawsuit, TikTok’s algorithm is “dopamine-inducing.” In other words, the algorithm is designed to get people addicted to the app, which can lead to a myriad of negative mental health issues.

• Prof called for shooting men who refuse to vote for a woman: A University of Kansas professor has been put on administrative leave after comments he made during a recent lecture came to light. “There are going to be some males in our society that will refuse to vote for a potential female president because they don’t think females are smart enough to be president,” the male instructor said while railing against sexism. “We can line up those guys and shoot them,” he added. “They clearly don’t understand the way the world works.” Then, apparently remembering that his lecture was being recorded, he said, “Did I say that? Scratch that from the recording. I don’t want the deans hearing that I said that.” While the instructor did not mention Kamala Harris, his implication was obvious. Republican Kansas Senator Jerry Moran called the comments “disturbing and inappropriate,” adding, “There should never be a call for violence anytime or anywhere in the classroom.” KU issued a statement saying the instructor has apologized and that “his intent was to emphasize his advocacy for women’s rights and equality, and he recognizes he did a very poor job of doing so.”

• Marijuana use causing psychosis, addiction, rare syndrome especially among young adults (Daily Wire)

For the Executive Summary archive, click here.