Cross-Examination

• Border crossings hit record in October: The border is “secure,” assured DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas again this week. How secure? Well, the 230,678 known border crossings last month set a new October record. Crossers included 12,034 unaccompanied minors, nine people on the terror watchlist, massive quantities of deadly drugs, and more than 130,000 migrants from countries outside Mexico and the Northern Triangle, which shows this crisis has expanded in scope since Joe Biden opened the border in January 2021. More than four million migrants have been apprehended by the Border Patrol on Biden’s watch, and another one million are known to have gotten away. How many got away without being known? But hey, the border is “secure.”

• Judge strikes down Georgia abortion ban: A Peach State law banning abortion after a heartbeat can be detected at around six weeks gestation had been blocked from 2019 until taking effect in July after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling. Despite the Court’s ruling that there is, in fact, no “right” to abortion in the U.S. Constitution, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney seems to still think there is, and he struck down Georgia’s law Tuesday. When the law was written, he said, it was “unequivocally unconstitutional for governments — federal, state, or local — to ban abortions before viability. And yet the LIFE Act … did just that.” Therefore, he wrote, “It did not become the law of Georgia when it was enacted and it is not the law of Georgia now.” That’s some pretty warped originalism that we doubt McBurney applies fairly in other cases.

• NBC News suspends Pelosi reporter: There are still some unanswered questions about the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. NBC correspondent Miguel Almaguer attempted to answer some of those questions and got suspended for it. Whether he was reporting correctly is almost beside the point. Where were all the suspensions for false media reporting about Hillary Clinton’s emails? Or the Steele dossier? Or Hunter Biden’s laptop revealing Joe Biden’s corruption? Or Brian Sicknick’s death after the Capitol riot — a death that had nothing to do with being bludgeoned in the head by a fire extinguisher despite repeated media reporting and even “fact-checking”? (Pelosi was attacked with a hammer, by the way.) We’re just amused that some reporting can have such quick and serious consequences when the above false reporting instead won Pulitzer Prizes.

Headlines

• Trump ignores GOP rivals and stolen election claims in 2024 presidential announcement (Fox News)

• Mike Pence lays out his vision for Republican Party (Fox News)

• Kevin McCarthy wins nomination for House Speaker (PM)

• Rick Scott takes on Mitch McConnell in bid for Senate leader (AP)

• Parental rebellion pays off: Conservatives win school board seats (Daily Signal)

• Biden requests $9.25 billion to fight COVID after declaring pandemic over (Free Beacon)

• Biden administration faces tough questions as student loan plan held up in court (Washington Examiner)

• Polish president says “no proof” missile that landed in NATO territory was fired by Russia (Fox News)

• Wholesale prices rose 0.2% in October, less than expected, as inflation eases (CNBC)

• Mormon church comes out in support of same-sex marriage law (NBC News)

• Policy: Democrats’ Respect for Marriage Act would hurt children (Daily Signal)

• Humor: Former Twitter employee can’t seem to find meditation room at new Taco Bell job (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.