Inflation in Turkey rose close to 79% last month, the highest the country has seen in a quarter of a century, CNBC reports.
America Is in Denial
Mitt Romney: “President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man, but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust. A return of Donald Trump would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable. Congress is particularly disappointing: Our elected officials put a finger in the wind more frequently than they show backbone against it. Too often, Washington demonstrates the maxim that for evil to thrive only requires good men to do nothing.”
“I hope for a president who can rise above the din to unite us behind the truth. Several contenders with experience and smarts stand in the wings; we intently watch to see if they also possess the requisite character and ability to bring the nation together in confronting our common reality. While we wait, leadership must come from fathers and mothers, teachers and nurses, priests and rabbis, businessmen and businesswomen, journalists and pundits. That will require us all to rise above ourselves — above our grievances and resentments — and grasp the mantle of leadership our country so badly needs.”
Gunman at Large After Killing Six at July 4th Parade
“At least six people were dead, 31 were hospitalized and a gunman was at large Monday afternoon after shooting Fourth of July paradegoers from a roof in this Chicago suburb,” the Washington Post reports.
“Video from the scene appeared to show blood pooled on the sidewalk and police talking to people in downtown Highland Park. Others showed the chaos while loud bangs could be heard on the downtown street where chairs, toys and blankets were strewn.”
Recession Talk Surges in Washington
“From Wall Street to Washington, whispers about a coming economic slump have risen to nearly a roar as the Federal Reserve ramps up its battle against the highest inflation in four decades,” Politico reports.
“Price spikes and the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes sent the benchmark S&P 500 stock index tumbling to its worst performance in the first half of the year since 1970. Consumer confidence has sunk to record lows. And economists are increasingly worried that a downturn will not only happen but happen soon — a danger underscored by one widely watched Fed growth tracker.”
“Fed Chair Jerome Powell has begun saying the quiet part out loud: The central bank is willing to tolerate a recession if it means getting inflation under control.”
Inflation Is Making Homelessness Worse
Washington Post: “Rising housing costs, combined with persistent inflation for basic necessities such as gas and food, have left more Americans newly homeless and millions more fearing they’ll soon lose their homes. Shelters across the country are reporting a sudden increase in numbers of people looking for help as they struggle to cover basics.”
“Inflation has reached 40-year highs just as many vulnerable families are readjusting to life without a boost from government stimulus or protections to keep them from being evicted.”
Falling Commodity Prices Raise Hopes Inflation Has Peaked
“A slide in all manner of raw-materials prices—corn, wheat, copper and more—is stirring hopes that a significant source of inflationary pressure might be starting to ease,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Natural-gas prices shot up more than 60% before falling back to close the quarter 3.9% lower. U.S. crude slipped from highs above $120 a barrel to end around $106. Wheat, corn and soybeans all wound up cheaper than they were at the end of March. Cotton unraveled, losing more than a third of its price since early May. Benchmark prices for building materials copper and lumber dropped 22% and 31%, respectively, while a basket of industrial metals that trade in London had its worst quarter since the 2008 financial crisis.”
Trump Cracks Down on Using His Name for Fundraising
Washington Post: “The letter was one of dozens of demands that Trump’s attorneys and aides have sent in recent years. But those efforts have not stopped the deceptive solicitations that flood Republican phones and inboxes daily. Eighteen months after leaving office, Trump remains the biggest draw for GOP donors, especially those who give small contributions. While he continues to rake in money, he also faces armies of unaffiliated fundraisers who ape or mimic Trump appeals and sometimes threaten or bully Republicans in Trump’s name to get money.”
“At the same time, Trump himself is no stranger to misleading fundraising appeals. His team often sends a dozen or more appeals in a day to gin up money, often with suspect claims, like saying donations will be matched 700 percent.”
Watergate Prosecutor Would Charge Trump with Insurrection
Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks told MSNBC that charging former President Donald Trump with rebellion or insurrection would prevent him from holding political office again.
She noted that, unlike a seditious conspiracy charge, a rebellion or insurrection charge would see the convicted offender barred from “ever holding federal office again.”
McConnell Seeks to Defuse Cultural Hot Buttons
NBC News: “The Kentucky Republican’s goal is to downplay the contentious issues on which suburban voters may be more sympathetic to Democrats — including gun restrictions, abortion rights and former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen — to soften the GOP’s image with this group of voters ahead of the midterm elections.”
“A Republican leadership aide familiar with McConnell’s thinking said he wants to make the 2022 midterms a referendum on President Joe Biden, hoping that disenchantment over inflation and gas prices will power the GOP back into the majority.”
Said the aide: “Not about Trump. Not about guns. Not about abortion. But about the things that are really keeping people up at night.”
Biden Might Soon Ease Chinese Tariffs
“President Biden is expected to roll back some tariffs on Chinese imports soon, a decision constrained by competing policy aims: addressing inflation and maintaining economic pressure on Beijing,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“People familiar with the situation say what comes next has been pending with Mr. Biden in recent weeks and that he could announce his decision this week. It could include a pause on tariffs on consumer goods such as clothing and school supplies, as well as launching a broad framework to allow importers to request tariff waivers.”
Pope Francis Denies He’s Planning to Resign
“Pope Francis has dismissed reports that he plans to resign in the near future, saying he is on track to visit Canada this month and hopes to be able to go to Moscow and Kyiv as soon as possible after that,” Reuters reports.
Liz Cheney Mulls Run for President
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) acknowledged the possibility of a presidential run in 2024 in an interview with ABC News, but said she hasn’t “made a decision about that yet.”
Playbook: “You would expect last week to have been dominated by President Joe Biden. The Supreme Court set back the liberal policy agenda by decades — on abortion, gun control, the separation of church and state and climate change — while the Jan. 6 committee presented its most compelling evidence that Donald Trump may be criminally responsible for the attack on the Capitol.”
“But it was Cheney rather than Biden who emerged as the face of the opposition to Trumpism.”
Newsom Urges Floridians to Move to California
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is running ads in Florida over the Fourth of July weekend attacking the Republican Party,” Axios reports.
Said Newsom in the ad: “Freedom is under attack in your state. Your Republican leaders, they’re banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors.”
Oklahoma Plans to Execute 25 Prisoners in 29 Months
“An Oklahoma court on Friday set execution dates for 25 death row prisoners, setting up a string of executions that would take place nearly every month over the next two years,” the New York Times reports.
New Insights Into Trump’s State of Mind on January 6
“He was not speaking metaphorically. It was not an offhand comment. President Donald Trump had every intention of joining a mob of supporters he knew to be armed and dangerous as it marched to the Capitol. And there had even been talk of marching into the House chamber himself to disrupt Congress from ratifying his election defeat,” the New York Times reports.
“For a year and a half, Mr. Trump has been shielded by obfuscations and mischaracterizations, benefiting from uncertainty about what he was thinking on Jan. 6, 2021. If he truly believed the election had been stolen, if he genuinely expected the gathering at the Capitol would be a peaceful protest, the argument went, then could he be held accountable, much less indicted, for the mayhem that ensued?”
“But for a man who famously avoids leaving emails or other trails of evidence of his unspoken motives, any doubts about what was really going through Mr. Trump’s mind on that day of violence seemed to have been eviscerated by testimony presented in recent weeks by the House committee investigating the Capitol attack — especially the dramatic appearance last week of a 26-year-old former White House aide who offered a chilling portrait of a president willing to do almost anything to hang onto power.”
GOP Candidate Called Abortion ‘Satanic’
Before becoming the Trump-backed Republican nominee for Michigan secretary of state, Kristina Karamo said that abortion is “child sacrifice” and a “satanic practice,” CNN reports.
Karamo also called abortion the “the greatest crime of our nation’s history.”
Quote of the Day
“It can’t survive if he’s our nominee. I think that he can’t be the party nominee, and I don’t think the party would survive that.”
— Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), interviewed on ABC News, on whether Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024.
Trump Admits He’s ‘On Trial’ in January 6 Hearings
Former President Donald Trump admitted Saturday that he’s the one “on trial” in the dramatic televised hearings being held by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, the HuffPost reports.