Cross-Examination

• House GOP releases scathing report on the FBI: On Friday, House Republicans released a 1,000-page report detailing the current state of the FBI and the Department of Justice based upon the accounts of several whistleblowers within the agency. The report pulls no punches as it asserts that the FBI and DOJ have become politicized at the highest levels. Whistleblowers allege that FBI leadership in Washington, DC, is “rotted at its core” and oversees a “systemic culture of unaccountability” and “rampant corruption, manipulation, and abuse.” The report further alleges that an anti-conservative culture exits within the FBI that is actively seeking to “purge” agents who oppose the “woke” diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda currently being pushed by the Biden administration. FBI whistleblowers also claim that the agency’s “political meddling” “is dragging the criminal side [of the bureau] down,” as agents and resources are being “pulled away” from investigating criminal activity such a child sexual abuse. “The FBI has the power, quite literally, to ruin a person’s life,” the report contends. Therefore: “The potential abuse of this power, or even the appearance of abuse, erodes the fundamental principle of equality under the law and confidence in the rule of law. The FBI’s tremendous power is precisely why the people’s elected representatives in Congress must conduct vigorous oversight, particularly in light of allegations of abuse and misconduct made to date.”

• NPR’s deep depravity: In an effort to couch abortion as a women’s healthcare issue, National Public Radio played an abortion procedure on air. NPR’s Michigan “Morning Edition” played a segment featuring reporter Kate Wells explaining that she had gotten permission from a woman to record her abortion. Wells set the segment up by stating, “Like many patients at Northland, she said I could record her procedure.” She then described the scene: “Most patients are partially awake during the procedures, they get IV medication for pain and anxiety. The lights are dimmed, there’s soothing music, it actually feels a lot like a childbirth, in a medical gown, your bare legs and stirrups, and a person next to you, saying, ‘You can do this.’” In the background, one can hear a vacuum aspirator machine turn on, and then the mother moaning repeatedly amid the appalling noise of the vacuum machine literally murdering a child in utero. Of the procedure, Wells wrote back in October, “The machine uses gentle suction to remove the pregnancy tissue from the patient’s uterus through a thin tube” [emphasis added]. That “pregnancy tissue” was a preborn baby. While this sickening airing of an abortion was clearly intended by NPR to promote the murderous procedure, it ironically may backfire. As digital strategist Greg Price observed: “This clip puts on full display what an abortion actually is: violence and full on dehumanization of the unborn. That’s why it’s important to share. To show reality.”

• Is woke BlackRock changing its tune? Larry Fink, the CEO of the massive asset management firm BlackRock, recently sent out a letter announcing a change at the company — extending choice proxy voting to investors on a larger scale. In the wake of several states divesting from the company over its promotion of leftist ESG (environmental, social, and governance) polices, Fink appears to be acting to stem the bleeding. “It’s clear there are investors who don’t want to sit on the sidelines,” Fink writes. “They have a view on corporate governance, and they want a meaningful way to express those views.” Therefore, he adds: “While some pension funds have long been actively involved in corporate governance, we’re working to make that easier and more efficient for a larger number of investors. We are committed to continually evolving this offering.” According to Fink, almost half of the company’s index equity assets will be eligible for voting choice, including “all the public and private pension plan assets we manage in the United States.” This move is clearly designed to placate conservatives, and since a lot of leftists are already upset at BlackRock for creating a low-income housing crisis, Fink might have surmised that shifting back to the middle wouldn’t do anymore damage.

Headlines

• Unemployment ticks higher in final jobs report before election (Free Beacon)

• Illinois man threatened to kill GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey and his family (Breitbart)

• Shots fired at family home of North Carolina Republican congressional candidate while his children were inside (Daily Wire)

• GOP New Hampshire Senate hopeful Don Bolduc dodges punch from would-be assailant before debate (NY Post)

• Kathy Hochul idle on 420 bills ahead of midterm election as race with Lee Zeldin tightens (Fox News) | Hochul grudgingly acknowledges the crime problem she called a conspiracy (National Review)

• Chuck Schumer insists Democrats have path to keep Senate majority (AP)

• Hillary Clinton laments GOP “election deniers” despite past stolen election claims (Fox News)

• Twitter employees file lawsuit claiming mass layoffs violate federal law requiring notice (Fox Business)

• Low diesel supply threatens to worsen inflation crisis (Fox Business)

• Jimmy Kimmel admits he lost half his audience for bashing Trump — and he’s fine with that (Daily Wire)

• Israeli PM Yair Lapid concedes election to Benjamin Netanyahu (Fox News) | No call to Bibi: Biden has yet to congratulate newly elected Israeli leader (Free Beacon)

• Judge sentences ecofascists who glued themselves to painting to light sentence to avoid discouraging future protests (Daily Wire)

• Satire: Democrat strategists confused why “Do more of what got us in this mess” message not resonating with voters (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.