Look at Josh Hawley go! #LSSC #LateShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/u749wwIZpY

— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) July 22, 2022

Pro-Israel advocates often decry "delegitimization, demonization, and double standards" but consider the massive multimillion dollar effort to suppress Palestinian rights advocates. It checks all of those boxes. https://t.co/6P4fdDWyYh

— Matt Duss (@mattduss) July 22, 2022

Standing room only for @BetoORourke event in Lubbock. pic.twitter.com/oKhmC4oOI7

— Tom Abrahams (@TomAbrahams13) July 21, 2022

Not that Lubbock will prevail as a winning county for Beto, but every vote counts!

What if Congress held public hearings on voting rights & living wages w/ the same depth as the January 6 Committee? We’d be in a very different place as a democracy.

— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) July 22, 2022

Amazon is buying a health care company that makes half its money from Medicare and is in the Medicare privatization business – moving seniors on traditional Medicare into private health plans without their consent. Doesn’t seem like a great development https://t.co/fO0MxebY2n

— Andrew Perez (@andrewperezdc) July 22, 2022

It’s been known for a few years that Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway were going to get into the health insurance business. Problem is that Biden is for this, very likely.

Local lawmakers condemn Doug Mastriano For Advertising on Gab

State lawmakers who represent the area surrounding Tree of Life synagogue — the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history — criticized Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano on Thursday for paying Gab, the social media platform frequented by the accused synagogue shooter before the 2018 massacre, for “consulting services” for his campaign.

Mr. Mastriano, a state senator facing Democrat Josh Shapiro in the November election, paid $5,000 to Gab in April, a sum that Gab’s founder, CEO Andrew Torba, said was for an advertising campaign, Pittsburgh NPR Radio station WESA reported last week.

Mr. Torba and Gab legal officials have framed the site as a platform for free speech and an antidote to more liberal social media outlets. The Anti-Defamation League has called it a “haven for extremists, conspiracy theorists and misinformation.”

Joining a group of leaders assembled by Mr. Shapiro’s campaign on Thursday, state Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, called Gab a “festering cesspool of intolerance,” and said it helped radicalize and encourage accused Tree of Life gunman Robert Bowers, who used the site for antisemitic rants before killing 11 at the synagogue.

Group of Pa. Republicans bucking party to endorse Democrat Josh Shapiro for governor
Mr. Frankel accused Mr. Mastriano of mining the social media platform for votes — and believing that “the hatred on those message boards will translate into an election victory for him on November eighth.”

“I’m here today to stand up for the Jewish community and every vulnerable community in Pennsylvania,” Mr. Frankel said from the steps of the City-County Building. “I will not stay silent and hope these bigots retreat back into the shadows, because they haven’t and they won’t.”

Mr. Mastriano could not be reached for comment. He has not responded to other media requests on this topic.

In a post on Gab Thursday in response to the group of officials gathering in Pittsburgh, Mr. Torba said Gab’s “only ‘ties’ to the Tree of Life shooting was the extensive cooperation we gave to law enforcement to help convict the shooter.” Mr. Bowers still awaits his trial in federal court.

“We have openly condemned violence for years and have a zero tolerance policy for imminent threats of violence on our platform,” Mr. Torba wrote, deeming Gab “law abiding” and not to blame for the “evil actions of a man who the State of Pennsylvania still hasn’t brought to trial, four years later.”

The Anti-Defamation League, in a report in 2019, said that Mr. Bowers was motivated by the idea that whites are in danger of being overrun by non-whites, and found an audience of similar extremists on Gab.

Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said Thursday that Mr. Mastriano’s payment to Gab — and his postings on the site — show that he wants to garner the support of people who have “nothing but hate in their heart.”

Mr. Mastriano has posted at least 60 times on Gab since joining in February, WESA reported — and of 157 comments from users responding to his posts, at least two dozen were antisemitic insults about Mr. Shapiro, who is Jewish.

In an interview with Mr. Torba posted to Gab in May, Mr. Mastriano thanked him for providing a space for conservative voices like his own, according to WESA. Mr. Torba warned during the interview, “You may even get called a smear for doing this interview with me. So brace yourself for that,” the outlet reported.

Fed Should Not Allow Itself To be Bullied into Bringing On a Recession

There is a loud and growing chorus demanding that the Fed follow a path of aggressive rate hikes, which will inevitably lead to higher unemployment and likely a recession. The rationale is that inflation is far higher than the Fed’s 2.0 percent target. The argument is that much higher rates of unemployment are needed to bring the inflation rate back in line with this target.

There are several points that this analysis misses. Most obviously, much of the inflation we have been seeing comes from food and energy, not the core. The sharp price increases in these areas have been partially reversed in the last couple of months.

There is good reason to expect these price declines to continue. For example, the price of December oil futures is less than $91 per barrel, and for April 2023, it is less than $86. There is a similar story with wheat and a number of other important commodities.

Core inflation has, of course, also been far higher than the Fed’s 2.0 percent target. But, here too, there is good reason to believe inflation is headed lower. Part of the story is that the supply chain issues that caused prices of many items to soar in the pandemic have now largely been resolved. Non-car inventories are more than 25 percent higher than before the pandemic. Major retailers have complained that they no longer have pricing power and are forced to have large mark-downs to move their inventory.

More importantly, wage growth has fallen sharply since the start of the year. Wage growth had been running at more than a 6.0 percent annual rate at the end of 2021. In the most recent data, the rate of wage growth has fallen to just over 4.0 percent. (The annualized rate for June alone is just 3.8 percent.) This recent rate of wage growth is not much higher than the 3.4 percent rate for 2019, when inflation was well below the Fed’s 2.0 percent target.

What is most striking about this slowing wage growth is that it is completely out of line with the predictions of standard macroeconomic models. Wage growth should not be slowing when the unemployment rate is below 4.0 percent. The fact that we are seeing a sharp slowing of wage growth, even when the unemployment rate is near its half-century low, indicates that the current post-pandemic situation does not fit the standard models.

Modest rate hikes going forward should be sufficient to bring the inflation rate back to acceptable levels. The Fed’s rate hikes have already taken the air out of an incipient housing bubble. Sales have fallen sharply, and realtors are reporting much higher inventories and a flood of price reductions. There is also evidence in private rental indexes that rental inflation has slowed and is even being reversed in some markets.

The proponents of taking a path of rapid rate hikes seem unconcerned about the harm caused by increases in the unemployment rate. Under Chair Powell, the Fed has made an explicit commitment to maintaining the highest possible level of employment, recognizing that low levels of unemployment disproportionately benefit the most disadvantaged groups in society.

The Fed should not allow itself to be bullied into abandoning this policy. It has shown that it is willing to take the necessary steps to prevent the sort of wage-price spiral we saw in the 1970s. With wage growth slowing sharply, this is not a current threat. The Fed should not pursue a policy that needlessly throws millions of people out of work.

Top US Refiners Set For 652% Surge In Profits

All refiners and all integrated oil and gas companies are set for a windfall of profits for the second quarter as U.S. gasoline prices soared to the highest ever on record of over $5 per gallon in early June.

The biggest refiners are also expected to generate billions of cash flow from operations as refining margins are at their highest in many years.

“We’re seeing margins twice as high as the golden age,” Charles Kemp, a vice president at energy consulting firm Baker & O’Brien Inc, told the Journal. Kemp was referring to the 2004-2007 period, when refiners booked massive profits, too.

The largest international majors are also set for exceptional earnings at their refining businesses, thanks to high refining margins and fuel demand in the second quarter. Some of the largest international oil majors have already announced expectations of blockbuster earnings from their refining divisions when they report Q2 profits later this month.

France’s supermajor TotalEnergies said last week that “Refining & Chemicals results are expected to be exceptional given the very high levels of distillate and gasoline cracks.” ExxonMobil said in an SEC filing in early July that the rise in industry margins is set to add between $4.4 billion and $4.6 billion to its Q2 results. At Shell, the refining margin nearly tripled in Q2 compared to Q1 and is expected to add between $800 million and $1.2 billion to the second quarter results of Shell’s Products division, compared to the first quarter 2022.

Yet, the second quarter could have been the peak refining profits for some time as gasoline demand in the United States has weakened in recent weeks in response to high prices at the pump. Crude oil prices have also dropped from the recent highs of $120 a barrel as markets fear a recession is coming.

(Image credit: Zero Hedge)

Hyundai subsidiary has used child labor at Alabama factory https://t.co/EU9Kl2mXPR

— TomWells 🌹 (@TomP__TomJWells) July 22, 2022

Generally indicates that children have to work to help support families.

I did various odd jobs when I was a tween, ranging from helping clean apartments to pulling weeds in order to have an extra buck for goodies such as a milkshake or a banana split.

Is the "red wave" ebbing? Probably not much. But as Dems show more signs of life and Rs nominate several problematic candidates, we're downgrading our @CookPolitical House outlook from a GOP gain of 20-35 seats to 15-30 seats. Full analysis: https://t.co/LozihjYbQz

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) July 22, 2022

Bernie endorses most of the Squad:

Congresswoman @AOC has been a fierce champion for the working people of NY-14. She is an inspiration for millions of young people who understand that if they are going to have a bright future, they must be engaged in political struggle. I’m proud to endorse her for reelection. pic.twitter.com/BJ9vu1perv

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 22, 2022

At a time when everything is on the line, we need people like Congresswoman @PramilaJayapal in Congress now more than ever to fight for workers’ rights, Medicare for All, and climate action. I am proud to endorse her in her reelection campaign for Congress today. pic.twitter.com/RmqXido77A

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 22, 2022

I’m proud to endorse my good friend, @IlhanMN, for reelection to the United States Congress once again. Since being elected she has been a voice for the voiceless — a fierce advocate for working families and the millions of Americans who can’t afford to pay for lobbyists. pic.twitter.com/cziN1ZbuiJ

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 22, 2022

I’m not certain why Pressley isn’t on this list, other than maybe she didn’t ask for an endorsement. She’s been more progressive than Jayapal. Jayapal screwed Bernie by de-coupling the BBB. I did notice Mondaire Jones didn’t get a nod.

Pence 2024: Federal abortion ban within the first 100 days.

— Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) July 22, 2022

I hope the bloggers at TOP see this tweet. Don’t rehab Pence for doing his job not to overturn the election. Anyone who has followed the Trump Administration knows Trump was a sociopath.