Calista241
Calista241's JournalKey inflation gauge rises 3.6% from a year ago to tie biggest jump since the early 1990s
Source: CNBC
An inflation measure the Federal Reserve uses to set policy rose 3.6% in July from a year ago, meeting Wall Street expectations but also tying the highest level in about 30 years.
The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which the Fed sees as the broadest measure of inflation, was unchanged from June, which was revised up one-tenth of a percentage point, the Commerce Department reported Friday. That 3.6% reading equaled the Dow Jones estimate and appeared to be the highest level since May 1991.
Including volatile food and energy prices, the index rose 4.2% year over year, up from 4% in June and the highest reading since January 1991.
Personal income also surged for the month, jumping 1.1%, well ahead of the 0.3% Dow Jones estimate.
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Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told CNBC on Friday that business contacts in his region have told him they see inflation persisting beyond the near-term time frame.
“We don’t want and we really can’t afford to have inflation that is too high, because people at the lower end of the spectrum are going to be hurt pretty significantly,” he told CNBC’s Steve Liesman during a “Squawk Box” interview.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/27/key-inflation-gauge-rises-3point6percent-from-a-year-ago-to-tie-biggest-jump-since-the-early-1990s.html
Supreme Court throws out Biden administration eviction moratorium
Source: CNN
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration's Covid-related eviction moratorium.
"If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it," the court wrote in an unsigned, eight-page opinion.
The three liberal justices dissented.
This latest round of litigation was prompted by the version of the moratorium rolled out by the US Centers for Disease and Prevention on August 3, days after the last iteration of the moratorium had expired.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/26/politics/supreme-court-eviction-moratorium/index.html
$3.5 trillion budget plan stalls in House amid standoff between Pelosi, centrists
Source: Axios
The $3.5 trillion budget framework stalled in the House early Tuesday after tense negotiations between Democratic leaders and centrists failed to reach an agreement.
Driving the news: Moderate Democrats, who have vowed to block the deal until a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package is passed, held out on early Tuesday morning as divisions in the party flared, the New York Times writes.
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The big picture: Pelosi's proposal to moderates would expedite passage of the $3.5 trillion social spending plan and includes a promise to approve the bipartisan infrastructure bill by the time current surface transportation programs expire on Sept. 30, per Politico.
But the group of centrists, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.Y.), have so far refused any deal that doesn't include an immediate, standalone vote on the infrastructure bill.
“The House can’t afford to wait months or do anything to risk passing” the infrastructure bill, Gottheimer, said late last week, per AP.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/democrats-stall-35-trillion-budget-plan-negotiations-74f13c58-13fa-4788-9b11-afe0f5055561.html
Exclusive: FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated - sources
Source: Reuters
The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.
Though federal officials have arrested more than 570 alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump, according to the sources, who have been either directly involved in or briefed regularly on the wide-ranging investigations.
"Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. "Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."
Stone, a veteran Republican operative and self-described "dirty trickster", and Jones, founder of a conspiracy-driven radio show and webcast, are both allies of Trump and had been involved in pro-Trump events in Washington on Jan. 5, the day before the riot.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/
Scoop: Manchin and Sinema advising House centrists
Source: Axios
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are privately advising the nine House centrist lawmakers trying to force Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a quick vote on the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure deal, lawmakers and aides tell Axios.
Why it matters: The two moderates who've stirred the biggest frustrations and held the most sway in their party over the infrastructure negotiations are helping allies in the House to stake out — and defend — their centrist position.
They're offering encouragement and advice on how to negotiate with the White House and congressional leadership.
Their behind-the-scenes support also indicates the degree to which Manchin and Sinema have prioritized getting the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal to final passage and in front of Biden for his signature.
The big picture: The conversations are bolstering House centrists' resolve. Since publicly demanding last Friday that Pelosi first bring the infrastructure bill to the floor before considering a larger package through a $3.5 trillion budget plan, the nine lawmakers have been subject to a combination of private scorn and public pressure.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/manchin-sinema-advising-house-centrists-5b3717d7-30c7-4ace-85fb-eb8defd70708.html
A Taliban commander who helped seize the Afghan presidential palace spent nearly 6 years at Guantana
Source: Bus
Title: A Taliban commander who helped seize the Afghan presidential palace spent nearly 6 years at Guantanamo, where he told a guard 'we will get you on the outside'
One of the Taliban fighters filmed celebrating the capture of Kabul at the Afghan presidential palace on Sunday has been identified as a former Guantanamo Bay prison inmate, who once told a guard there: "We will get you on the outside," according to prison records published by The New York Times.
In a victory speech, Gholam Ruhani had said that he was held at Guantanamo for nearly eight years.
In reality, Ruhani spent nearly six years at the American-run detention center in Cuba, according to records published by The Times in June.
The records show that Ruhani was one of the first Taliban fighters to be captured by the US after the September 11, 2001, attacks, entering the prison on the first day it opened in January 2002. He was repatriated to Afghanistan in December 2007, also under President George W. Bush's administration.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/taliban-commander-gholam-ruhani-once-threatened-guantanamo-guard-2021-8
Scoop: Probe finds evidence fired Tennessee vaccine official bought dog muzzle sent to her
Source: Axios
A Tennessee investigation found evidence that the state's fired vaccine chief, Michelle Fiscus, purchased a dog muzzle that she previously claimed someone had mailed in an attempt to intimidate her.
Why it matters: Fiscus, who denied sending herself the muzzle in a Monday tweet, has characterized her firing as a political move driven by Republican state officials after she shared a memo citing state law about whether adolescents can seek medical care, including a COVID vaccine, without their parents' permission.
Fiscus and her husband, Brad, had said in multiple interviews, including with CNN's Anderson Cooper, that the muzzle was sent anonymously to her state office through Amazon shortly before her firing.
Details: The Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security found through a subpoena that the Amazon package containing the muzzle traced back to a credit card in Fiscus' name, according to an investigation report obtained by Axios.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/tennesee-covid-vaccine-fired-dog-muzzle-michelle-fiscus-b2419534-7e4a-4048-89b5-35300e8da333.html
U.S. Democratic Senator Manchin objects to $3.5 trln spending bill
Source: Reuters
U.S. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on Wednesday said he had "serious concerns" about Senate Democrats' planned $3.5 trillion spending plan, potentially gumming up efforts to move ahead with President Joe Biden's top priorities.
Manchin, in a statement, said that although he voted to move ahead and debate the plan read more , he was worried about the "grave consequences" of such spending on the nation's debt as well as the country's ability to respond to other potential crises.
"Given the current state of the economic recovery, it is simply irresponsible to continue spending at levels more suited to respond to a Great Depression or Great Recession – not an economy that is on the verge of overheating," he added.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-democratic-senator-manchin-objects-35-trln-spending-bill-2021-08-11/
Here's a link to Manchin twitter message:
https://twitter.com/Sen_JoeManchin/status/1425435209244332032?s=20
9/11 families to President Biden: Don't come to our memorial events
Source: NBC News
Nearly 1,800 Americans directly affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are opposing President Joe Biden’s participation in any memorial events this year unless he upholds his pledge to declassify U.S. government evidence that they believe may show a link between Saudi Arabian leaders and the attacks.
The victims’ family members, first responders and survivors will release a statement Friday calling on Biden to skip 20th-anniversary events in New York and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon unless he releases the documents, which they believe implicate Saudi officials in supporting the acts of terrorism. The group says that as a candidate Biden pledged to be more transparent and release as much information as possible but that his administration has since then ignored their letters and requests.
“We cannot in good faith, and with veneration to those lost, sick, and injured, welcome the president to our hallowed grounds until he fulfills his commitment,” they wrote in a statement obtained by NBC News.
“Since the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission in 2004 much investigative evidence has been uncovered implicating Saudi government officials in supporting the attacks,” the statement says. “Through multiple administrations, the Department of Justice and the FBI have actively sought to keep this information secret and prevent the American people from learning the full truth about the 9/11 attacks.”
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/9-11-families-president-biden-don-t-come-our-memorial-n1276138
Even with record surplus, Kemp tells state agencies to hold the line
Source: AJC
Despite a record surplus, billions of dollars in federal aid and a growing economy, Gov. Brian Kemp is telling most state agencies not to request any extra money to spend in the upcoming year.
In his annual instructions to agency leaders, Kemp’s budget director, Kelly Farr, said the state’s economy gained ground last year after fears of a major downturn during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As we continue to see increasing economic activity, strong consumer demand and continued unemployment declines, we expect our economy to see solid growth through the current fiscal year and into fiscal year 2023 (which starts July 1),” he wrote state agency directors.
“As our economy and our state grows, so too do demands of state government as we strive to meet the health, safety and education needs of our citizens,” Farr said.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/politics/even-with-record-surplus-kemp-tells-state-agencies-to-hold-the-line/QMPCKX7ENZAJ3DSOYLNMYBGM3A/
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