The National Federation of Independent Business hiring survey, due out later today, will show another poor month for job creation at America’s small businesses. NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg tells us, “Reported job creation remained weak in October with the seasonally adjusted average employment change per firm posting a loss of -0.06 workers per firm.” This suggests that the Department of Labor’s Friday jobs report won’t provide much of a boost to Hillary Clinton as she asks voters to maintain key Obama economic policies.
“President Obama isn’t on the ballot Tuesday, but you wouldn’t know it from his lobbying for Hillary Clinton,” writes the editorial board. “On Wednesday he even butted into his Administration’s legal process by implicitly criticizing his own FBI director for alerting Congress to new evidence related to the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s emails.”
“Political endorsements are a dime a dozen,” writes our columnist Daniel Henninger. “Instead, we will give Donald J. Trump the grandest tribute to his unique presidential campaign-the world premiere of ‘Trump the Opera.'” Anthony Weiner plays Carlos Danger in this drama.
“Most Americans think of Google as a search engine doing unalloyed social good, but the company also wants to make money and wield political influence along the way,” notes a Journal editorial. “So you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to notice that an abrupt change of leadership at the U.S. Copyright Office is good news for Google, which aims to pay less for profiting from the property of others.”
In his Election Night preview, Karl Rove writes that “Florida is this election’s most important battleground. Democrats have carried 18 states and the District of Columbia in all of the past six presidential contests. If Mrs. Clinton wins the 242 electoral votes from this ‘Blue Wall,’ she needs only Florida’s 29 to take the White House. Mr. Trump must win Florida to keep open his path to the presidency.”
Federal Judge Charles Haight is demanding more limits on the ability of the New York Police Department to collect intelligence in Muslim communities. “Judge Haight contributes to the slander of one of the world’s most professional police forces and encourages anti-cop activists to escalate their demands-all while making it more difficult to keep New Yorkers safe from attack,” writes the editorial board.
From Saudi Arabia, Karen Elliott House writes that “change is rocking Saudi society’s very foundations. Traditions once thought inviolable are toppling with little warning, scant explanation and no time for public adjustment. Nothing seems sacrosanct in this new world of diminished oil revenue.” She notes that “religious police who once patrolled Saudi streets arresting women for failure to cover their hair or for mixing with men have been banned from such arrests.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren used to support school choice for the parents of children stuck in failing public schools. Now she opposes it. Michael Petrilli says she should return all the campaign contributions she’s recently accepted from teachers unions to prove the sincerity of her conversion.