Cross-Examination

• Schumer spills the beans: “That seat, we’re in danger in that seat,” Senate Leader Chuck Schumer was caught saying on a hot mic Thursday to Joe Biden. He added: “It’s close. We’ll see.” Which seat Schumer was talking about wasn’t clear, but what was clear is that top Democrat lawmakers are getting increasingly worried that the midterms aren’t going their way. Schumer further claimed that John Fetterman’s disastrous debate with Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz “didn’t hurt us too much in Pennsylvania as of today, so that’s good.” Adding that caveat was indeed telling, but even more interesting was Schumer effectively admitting that Georgia is a lost cause: “The state where we are seeing— the state we are going downhill is Georgia. It’s hard to believe that they will go for Herschel Walker.” If Democrats lose Georgia, then they can’t afford to lose Pennsylvania, Nevada, or Arizona and have a realistic hope of maintaining control of the Senate. If they lose any one of those three states, their majority control is likely done.

• Hunter compromised: “Documents obtained by Committee Republicans reveal Hunter Biden’s business partner and close personal associate was linked to the Communist Party of China (CCP), her employer before the Biden family,” reads a letter House Republicans sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray this week. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who wrote the letter, further contended, “JiaQi ‘Jackie' Bao provided Hunter insight into purchasing liquefied natural gas reserves in the United States to sell to China, had access to the Biden family’s financial information, and liaised with CCP-affiliated agents on the Bidens.” Comer claims that Bao was a Chinese government operative who compromised Hunter Biden, infiltrated “the Biden family,” and also encouraged Joe Biden to run for the presidency months prior to his announcement. Furthermore, Comer alleges that Bao provided Biden’s campaign with “advice related to China.” In short, Republicans from the House Oversight and Reform Committee wanted to ensure that the FBI had this evidence as part of its investigation into Hunter. With the polls showing an increasing probability that Republicans will gain control of both chambers of Congress, the investigation into the Bidens and their shady foreign business dealings promises to heat up considerably.

• Justice Alito decries “pretty abysmal” situation for free speech: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito does not like what he’s seeing from America’s halls of higher education. This week at The Heritage Foundation, Alito weighed in on the condition of freedom of speech at America’s colleges and universities, calling it “pretty abysmal,” “disgraceful,” and “really dangerous for our future as a united, democratic country.” Alito observed: “We depend on freedom of speech. Colleges and universities should be setting the example, and law schools should be setting the example for the university because our adversary system is based on the principle that the best way to get at the truth is to have a strong presentation of opposing views. So, law schools should be free to speak their minds without worrying about the consequences, and they should have their ideas tested in rational debating.” And yet Alito noted, “Based on what I have read and what has been told to me by students,” many law schools are “really not carrying out their responsibility” to ensure freedom of speech so that students “have their ideas tested in rational debating.” Citing famed Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Alito argued: “The real test [for fidelity to the First Amendment] … is whether we’re willing to protect the speech that we hate. Any speech involving public interests, involving politics, government, history, economics, law, science, religion, philosophy, the arts — anything of that level of importance — the general rule has to be the government has to stay out.”

Headlines

• Elon Musk fires Twitter’s top brass after closing $44 billion deal (Fox Business)

• “The lies are staggering”: Biden torched for claiming gas was over $5 when he took office (Fox News) | Biden claims he had a starting spot on college football team — but that’s false (Fox News)

• Pending home sales fell 10% in September, much worse than expected (CNBC)

• Pelosi’s hellhole: Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul “violently assaulted” in San Francisco home (Fox News)

• White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain violated Hatch Act, receives wrist slap from feds (Washington Times)

• Michigan Prop 2 would outlaw tighter voter ID rules forever (The Federalist)

• Colleges brace themselves for SCOTUS loss on race-conscious admissions (Politico)

• World on brink of most dangerous decade since WWII, Putin warns (National Review) | Putin demands U.S. respect “multipolar” world and tell Ukraine to seek peace (WaPo)

• Biden pushes Corvette to 118 mph in drag race against Colin Powell’s son (NY Post)

• Policy: “Zero emissions” from electric vehicles? Here’s why that claim has zero basis (RCI)

• Humor: Musk admits he spent $44 billion just to pull off a dad joke (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.