Cross-Examination

• False allegation of “voter suppression” in Georgia: Joe Biden labeled Georgia’s recent election law “Jim Crow 2.0,” but the Peach State has had record early voter turnout just two weeks out from Election Day. Undeterred by facts, the White House and Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams continue to peddle the verifiably false narrative of “voter suppression.” Indeed, it has become clownish the way the White House continues to press its “voter suppression” talking point, as was demonstrated by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who yesterday asserted that “high turnout and voter suppression can be happening at the same time.” Really? Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office observed that as of Saturday, October 22, roughly 740,000 Georgia voters had cast their ballots, marking “an astounding 159% increase from day six of 2018 midterm Early Voting” numbers. For context, Governor Brian Kemp first won election in 2018, after which Abrams persistently peddled dubious claims of voter suppression, warning that it would only get worse. Her charges have proven to be completely false. But Democrats prefer their own talking points to reality, and their continued message to the American public is effectively, Don’t believe your lying eyes.

• Department of Energy to require woke initiative for all research grants: Any researcher seeking grants from the Department of Energy will be required to submit a diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative if they want to receive funding. Following the Biden administration’s PIER (Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research) Plan, the DOE’s Office of Science has embraced the woke agenda over and against doing good science. The Office of Science is the leading and largest federal sponsor of scientific research in the country and is tasked with seeking to “advance U.S. energy, economic, and national security [interests].” The PIER Plan effectively affixes a woke quota system in which racial diversity is elevated over individual skill and merit. The PIER Plan calls for the “enhanced recruitment” of “individuals from diverse backgrounds and groups historically underrepresented in the research community,” “creating and sustaining a positive, inclusive, safe, and professional research and training environment that fosters a sense of belonging among all research personnel,” and providing “training, mentoring, and professional development opportunities.” Research grant applications that fail to include a PIER Plan “will be considered an incomplete application and will not be evaluated.” So, irrespective of the scientific merits of a researcher’s grant application, if the woke criteria is not met the application won’t even be considered. How does this actually advance good scientific research and development? Obviously, it doesn’t.

• Why did the U.S. give revolutionary battery tech to China? Ten years ago, a group of American engineers working in a federal government lab in Washington state developed revolutionary and promising new technology known as a vanadium redox flow battery. The new tech promised to be the next big step in batteries. They were the size of a refrigerator, could store enough energy to power a house, and could be used for 30 years without losing their storage capacity. Rather than an American company getting the license from the U.S. government to use this new technology to manufacture batteries, however, it went to China. American taxpayers paid $15 million for the research, and U.S. government officials effectively gave it away to a Chinese-based company despite licensing rules that should have prevented this loss of American-developed technology. Obviously, China has taken the lead in manufacturing and further developing this breakthrough battery technology. Florida Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott sent letters to the U.S. Department of Energy seeking more information as to how this failure to protect vital American technology was allowed to occur and, worse, benefit our nation’s biggest geopolitical foe.

Headlines

• New York Supreme Court reinstates unvaccinated employees with back pay (Daily Signal)

• “Worst performance by any candidate I have ever seen”: John Fetterman faces fallout from disastrous debate (Daily Wire)

• Lee Zeldin, Kathy Hochul duke it out over crime in fiery debate amid surge in New York violence (Fox News)

• Tudor Dixon and Gretchen Whitmer hold fiery second debate trading blows over abortion, roads, school safety (FOX 2)

• Abortion is seventh-ranking issue for Hispanic voters (Free Beacon)

• Hillary Clinton: GOP has “plan to literally steal” 2024 election (NY Post)

• Progressives withdraw letter urging Biden to negotiate with Putin, say its release was a mistake (Washington Times)

• Elon Musk tells bankers he plans to close Twitter deal on Friday (Bloomberg)

• Parents in Indiana have lost custody of their kid because a court ruled not “affirming” their child’s “gender identity” was abuse (Not the Bee)

• Satire: CDC adds declining math, English scores to list of COVID symptoms (Babylon Bee)

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