Government & Politics

PROTECTING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: “The Labor Department on Wednesday announced a new rule to grant the ‘broadest protection permitted by law’ to religious organizations contracting with the federal government. The proposed rule to clarify civil rights protections for religious groups will be added to the Federal Register on Thursday, but is now open to public comment.” (The Daily Signal)

FAUX FAUXCAHONTAS POLL, OR LEGIT HEADWAY? “Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren are polling within just one percentage point of each other as Warren catches up to the former vice president, who has led the pack of Democratic presidential candidates nationally for weeks. Biden stands at 21 percent support, while Warren is right behind him at 20 percent, up four points from last week, according to the latest national Economist–YouGov poll.” (National Review)

CONSTITUENTS MIA: “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has outraised all other freshmen representatives so far in 2019, but nearly all of her reported contributors to her reelection campaign live outside her congressional district… Ocasio-Cortez’s reelection campaign has reported receiving contributions from just 10 individuals living within her district in the first half of 2019, according to its Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.” (The Daily Caller)

COLLUSION: “Nellie Ohr kept tabs on dozens of Trump associates and Russian businessmen as part of her work for Fusion GPS, according to government documents released Wednesday. Ohr’s husband, Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, provided the documents to the FBI for its investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.” (The Daily Caller)

COMEY MEMOS UNTETHERED: “A federal judge ruled against the FBI’s efforts to keep some redacted documents related to former FBI Director James Comey’s memos hidden from the public. The ruling comes after the FBI asked Judge James Boasberg to reconsider a district court ruling earlier this year that CNN and other media organizations and watchdog groups were entitled to information related both to Comey’s memos and to how those memos were used in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation, which concluded earlier this year. But the FBI battled against disclosure.” (Washington Examiner)

SUBTERFUGE REJECTED: “A federal judge on Wednesday rejected House Democrats’ attempt to try to pick the judge who will hear their lawsuit to compel former White House lawyer Don McGahn to testify, arguing the case is different from Democrats’ other impeachment-related lawsuits.” (The Washington Times)

National Security

ICEBREAKERS: “The FBI is investigating a ‘targeted attack' in which shots were fired into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office and another facility associated with the agency in San Antonio, Texas early Tuesday. … Last month, a man was killed by Washington state authorities when he threw incendiary devices at both an immigration center and nearby propane tanks. In Colorado, protesters demonstrating outside an ICE facility replaced the American flag with the Mexican flag.” (Fox News)

NO DEAL: “A Guatemalan immigration agreement signed with the Trump administration won’t work because the Central American nation does not have the resources, the country’s new president-elect says. Alejandro Giammattei, a conservative who was chosen overwhelmingly by voters in a weekend runoff election, said … that Guatemala is too poor to tend to its own people, let alone those from other countries.” (Associated Press)

THE CONSEQUENCES OF OPEN BORDERS: “Two illegal immigrants have been charged with second degree rape of the same 11-year-old girl in Maryland. Montgomery County Police arrested Mauricio Barrera-Navidad, 29, of Damascus, Maryland, and Carlos Palacios-Amaya, 28, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, for allegedly raping the same under-aged girl on multiple occasions.” (The Daily Caller)

Other Notables

STOCK MARKET REBOUNDS: “Stocks rose on Thursday, gaining back some of the steep losses in the previous session. … Thursday’s session follows the Dow’s 800-point loss on Wednesday amid a recession signal from the bond market. The stock market took a huge hit in the previous session with the Dow plunging 800 points in its fourth-largest point drop ever to a two-month low. The Dow’s 3% drop was the worst this year. The S&P 500 also fell nearly 3%.” (CNBC)

OFFICERS DOWN: According to Fox News, “The suspect linked to Wednesday’s hours-long standoff in Philadelphia surrendered to authorities just after midnight Thursday, exiting the residence with his hands in the air and with a police light shining on him, surrounded by a cloud of tear gas. The dramatic shootout in Philadelphia stretched on for hours as six officers were shot — and two officers and three hostages were later freed, apparently unhurt.” Fox News also reports, “Onlookers were seen taunting and throwing things at Philadelphia police Wednesday night amid a wild shootout and subsequent standoff … and video posted online shows one woman shoving a police officer making his way to the scene.” This New York Post report reveals what these kind of anti-police attitudes can lead to: “A veteran cop became the ninth NYPD officer to commit suicide this year when he shot himself in the head at his Queens home Wednesday evening.”

Closing Arguments

POLICY: No, wages are not rising because of minimum-wage laws (The Daily Signal)

POLICY: Can nuclear power be saved? (National Review)

HUMOR: America offers to trade all of its communists for democratic protesters in Hong Kong (The Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.

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