Summer COVID continues to increase: https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-is-back-but-how-worried-should-you-be-184008685.html .
Centene hit by Medicaid disenrollments: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-07-28/centene-raises-profit-forecast-on-strong-premium-growth .
Core inflation rate cools in June: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-favorite-inflation-measure-cooled-125017063.html . This is good news, and increases the chances of a “soft landing”. However, as we regularly report, wage and other increases suggest that this rate, which is still twice the Fed’s target, will be hit by wage inflation and other price increases in the coming months. I still firmly believe we will see another 25 basis point hike in the next two Fed meetings. WSJ: A contrary view: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pay-increases-keep-coming-5ef2b799 . Did this guy completely miss the UPS-Teamsters settlement? Wageflation is still with us. More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/wages-and-inflation-ease-as-fed-considers-next-move-a6abd49b .
Germany gives thumbs-down to Binance: https://www.wsj.com/articles/binances-founder-drew-scrutiny-from-german-regulator-2e890a31 . Binance is running out of places to hide.
Ukraine advances south of Bakhmut: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/russia-rages-ukraine–successful .
WSJ: Russia may be “burning its bridges” over Ukraine grain: https://www.wsj.com/articles/great-power-rivalry-looms-over-ukraine-grain-deal-3d2e0eb1 . Putin offers free grain to 6 African countries: https://www.wsj.com/articles/putin-pledges-free-grain-shipments-for-african-allies-afa6a003 .
Biden to sign executive order on sexual assault cases in the military: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-executive-order-military-sexual-assault/story?id=101761776 . Previously, the placement of decisions with the commander resulted in miscarriages of justice for the victims. While the military had concerns about taking these decisions outside the chain of command, this independent review approach should allow victims to more easily come forward. Also, consistency across all branches of the military is highly desirable.
January 6 insurrectionist who stole beaten officer’s badge, radio gets 50 months in prison: https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-fanone-stolen-badge-sibick-sentence-4-years-e2a6512898a46145f788ebed23354d1a . This utterly appalling behavior justifies the sentence given.
GOP presidential candidates appear together in Iowa: https://apnews.com/article/trump-desantis-iowa-republicans-presidential-campaign-5ac4475b203c6d833729b15c31482273 . This was the other candidates’ first time with Orange Julius. All of them ignored OJ’s legal troubles. They cannot win this way. Are they all running for vice president on a losing OJ ticket? What about Mike Pence?
Special prosecutor files superseding indictment in OJ documents case: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/politics/takeaways-new-charges-trump-classified-documents/index.html . This somewhat unusual procedure is used when there is so much new material that it is inconvenient to amend the existing the indictment. We expect a powerful case from Jack Smith, and this is an indication that he has prepared one. More: https://apnews.com/article/trump-maralago-justice-department-special-counsel-eb6f5c62094690fcb2f652673fb9df58 . The new allegations paint OJ as directing a conspiracy to obstruct justice. From the standpoint of the base, it becomes harder and harder to deny that he willfully did something illegal and then actively tried to cover it up. Still more: https://thehill.com/homenews/4126053-john-bolton-donald-trump-doj-superseding-indictment/ .
DeMentis implies he would pardon OJ: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/ron-desantis-suggests-pardon-trump-federal-charges-rcna96930 . Yet another reason Ron can’t win the general election.
WSJ: Another House GOP loser gets a bipartisan rebuke from the Senate: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-wisconsin-rep-derrick-van-orden-berates-senate-pages-719c0974 .
Biden nominates Martin O’Malley to head Social Security Administration: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/26/biden-social-security-00108251 . O’Malley, a former Maryland governor, is a logical choice to head the agency, headquartered in Baltimore.
The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/politics/senate-race-rankings-july-elections/index.html . When I previously covered this topic in May, my prediction, surprising even to me, was that very little would change in the Senate, with the Democrats possibly losing Manchin’s seat, so that the Senate would be either 51-49 Democrats as it is now, or 50-50 with Kamala Harris as tiebreaker. Three months later, the prediction is unchanged. However, we are still 15 months away from the election, and all of the unresolved issues 3 months ago remain unresolved.
Coming this fall: Another government shutdown?: https://apnews.com/article/congress-spending-bills-shutdown-aea04e44447fcb8a818a01a54854ac12 . One would hope both sides understand that a stop-gap funding measure to kick this into 2024, an election year, is a very bad idea. The House GOP culture war crap has to be jettisoned. But we are then at the tough issue of whether spending is going to go up or down. This could be a very difficult fall.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito shoots off his mouth yet again: https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-justice-samuel-alito-221440340.html . We already know that Justice Alito has a distorted grasp of the law. This outburst demonstrates he has no political sense whatsoever. The system of checks and balances requires that there be some check on the Court, and there are some – for example, impeachment. We have up to now believed that the Justices would understand the need to adhere to basic ethical rules so that their judgment would be respected. Alito is just another authoritarian idiot to push against this unwritten rule.
Over half of Threads sign-ups have already stopped using it: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/over-half-people-signed-threads-100727028.html . As we said a week ago, Threads must start adding new features quickly in order to retain users. So far they are failing.
Trader Joe’s issues third recall in a week: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trader-joes-issues-third-product-recall-week-says-falafel-may-contain-rcna96955 . Someone in supplier supervision is presumably in real trouble.
Yellow Trucking begins packing up: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trucker-yellow-lays-off-a-swath-of-workforce-2297e8b2 .
Carlee Russell charged in kidnapping hoax: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/carlee-russell-arrest-warrant-rcna96158 .
Singapore hangs woman for trafficking 31 grams of heroin: https://apnews.com/article/singapore-woman-executed-drug-trafficking-d73c6cff32d6f8065cc0b7e6dd098e00 . This amount is 1.09 ounces. She is a small fish in the distribution network, and the penalty is outrageous.
Does consciousness involve quantum entanglement?: https://thepremierdaily.com/our-brains-use-quantum-computation/ . This is pretty wild sh … um, stuff, but worth your consideration.
WSJ: Teenagers play at the Women’s World Cup: https://www.wsj.com/sports/soccer/casey-phair-south-korea-new-jersey-teen-world-cup-6822dc8e . The evidence leads to a different conclusion than the article draws. Yes, the US women have been well ahead of the rest of the world for some time. The gap is closing because US-developed teen players, unable to make the US squad, are choosing to play for foreign sides.