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alyblacklist · 4 years ago

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New interview from Vanity Fair (Italy) with James Spader (in Italian). Translation via Google translate below (corrections welcome):

Eight years after its debut, the TV series with Megan Boone and James Spader is back on FoxCrime. Already renewed for a ninth season, the show won't provide any representation of the Coronavirus or American politics. "We are an escape from reality and we want to remain so."

"In eight years, not a single episode has gone far and wide." The voice of James Spader, on the last Friday in the red zone, peeps out from a distant space, from an America in rebirth, whose present enthusiasm has not found any representation in the television series of which he is the protagonist. Spader, The Blacklist's Raymond Reddington, has strenuously opposed the possibility of contaminating one's fictional universe with the dross of the present. "Our show has always existed within a parallel world. Over the years, we have never bothered to plot a plot that had to do with real life, with newspaper headlines and news stories ». The Blacklist, whose eighth season is set to debut on FoxCrime on prime time on February 12, "has defined a universe of its own, to which it has remained faithful." Therefore, no Joe Biden, in the twenty-two new episodes of the television series. No pandemic.

The Blacklist, on air since 2013, will only find the characters who have made it a cult. Raymond Reddington, a repentant criminal whose decision to cooperate with the police is not the daughter, alone, of a sudden goodness of heart; Elizabeth Keen, special agent responsible for following his confessions; Donald Ressler, Harold Cooper, the set of FBI agents and gangsters whose "Red" is determined to secure a future behind bars.

Many television series usually set in fictional universes have, however, decided to make an exception and give their own representation of the pandemic. Why this categorical "no"?

“For a few, but effective reasons. I think one of the strengths of our show has always been its verisimilitude. The Blacklist is a parallel universe, in which credible characters live. This allowed the audience to find an escape from reality in the series. I think many viewers watch The Blacklist because it allows them to detach themselves from the problems related to everyday life, and this has led us to exclude the pandemic over everything ».

However, you will have had to face the restrictions that the Coronavirus has brought with it.

"Absolutely. We had to deal with many restrictions, we had to limit the number of people present in a given location. But, net of the difficulties and the productive effort that required us, I think I can say that a magnificent job has been done ».

Work that will continue: The Blacklist has already been confirmed for a ninth season. What still remains to be told?

"Much. It may seem absurd, but in eight years we have never found ourselves beating around the bush. No episode, in the eight seasons, was thought of as a filler. I remember one day talking to Jon Bokenkamp, the director. He had a twenty-minute longer bet on his hands. We tried to figure out how to cut it, which unnecessary scenes to eliminate. In the end, it was twenty minutes longer than it should have ”.

Aren't you bored playing the same character for eight years?

"No. On the set of The Blacklist, I've never had a mediocre or mundane day. The series has always been very exciting and the very idea of moving forward excites me. There are many surprises in this new season. There are more for the public than for me. The writers and I talked for a long time about what we were going to do, so nothing could surprise me once shooting started ».

And this would lead us to think of a certain repetitiveness ...

“It would induce, though. When I play the part of Red I'm not surprised by the story we're telling, but by the world we're making it in. '

Explain.

"One of the great entertainments of being an actor is being able to be surprised by your reactions: there is amazement in the physical and emotional responses that are given in certain situations. There is some wonder in seeing a location for the first time. There is growth in looking at a problem or a fact from a new perspective. The surprise, when you are an actor, is not about where you get to on the show, it's about the little things, the details, even personal, that we discover as we go on ».

So what has Raymond Reddington left you over these eight seasons?

"From the beginning, what I loved most about Red was his irreverence, his sense of humor. I discovered and learned to love his pervasive and profound longing for life ». His character is highly ambivalent.

Has he really never despised him?

“I don't usually make judgments about my characters. I have a deep understanding of everything Raymond stands for. Rather, I'd say there are things about Red that Red doesn't like: his brutality and the danger he poses to others, for example. But I think Red is aware of the qualities that make him strong and able to survive the worst circumstances in life. He saw the tremendous price of loss and witnessed it. He feels how bad death does. This led him to strongly desire sweetness, calm, love. He is a dichotomous character, and it is this ambivalence of him that has made him so interesting ».

He often talks about his collaboration with the writers. What exactly does it consist of?

«In a real collaboration. Let's talk about everything that has to do with the show. We talk before the writing of the scripts, during the shoot. Let's talk about the new entries and the possible suppression of some characters. We are talking about subplots that can last years, months or days. Let's talk about the tone of the show, the dialogues. We talk during the holidays. This series keeps me awake at night ».

And do you think it's a good thing?

“Let's just say I've always had trouble sleeping. When I wake up, my mind begins to travel fast. I tend to be an obsessive compulsive person, so I often stay up at night shaping ideas about The Blacklist. It happens that I waste hours trying to remember them, so as to put them on paper the following morning ».

Elizabeth Keen, the special agent played by Megan Boone, is one of the strongest female characters on television. How do you judge the change that Hollywood is aiming for, the progressive abandonment of gender roles?

«I find it fundamental. For me, as a man and actor, it always has been. I have always felt more comfortable in the company of women. I grew up with a female majority in the house, a terrific mother and two older sisters. I've always been attracted to strong female characters and the ones I've met in my films have been. I've always looked at the world from a female perspective, and I can't imagine doing otherwise. I understand, however, that it took the industry some time to get here. Today, I feel like saying that it is only a matter of time for the real and definitive change to be achieved ».

Digital has imposed a decidedly sustained production rate, even on linear television. Do you find such trouble to be good?

«I state that I, on the other hand, have never felt in competition with digital or Netflix. Netflix aired The Blacklist, creating added value for all of us. Streaming brought us audiences, and it was great. In general, I'm happy to have the huge amount of programs we have now. Competition is a good thing, it leads to excellence, it spurs commitment ".

Cinema, television, theater. In his career he has done everything. Which medium did you prefer?

“On television, I found a greater opportunity for further study. The Blacklist is the second TV show I work on, and has been running for over 150 episodes. My first character I played in The Practice, then in Boston Legal. Either way, I found it fascinating to see how it evolved, not in history, but over time. My TV characters have aged with me, and I with them. I think it's the best thing about working on television ».

Nothing bad then?

“You wake you up in the morning.When I started acting, I found myself working on the stage.It was a night job, and I've always been a night person, not a morning person.So when I found myself making films, I always tried to play characters who lived at night. What, this, that I managed, if you notice. It was television that forced me to turn. TV is a day job, which starts very early in the morning. It was a shock.I haven't gotten used to the sound of the alarm yet. '

#the blacklist #james spader #interview #raymond reddington

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belonglab · 4 years ago

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More than fed up with being labeled “less than”

by Neha Sampat, Esq.(!)

December 15, 2020

You know what bothers me about the whole brouhaha (or shall I call it “bro”haha) about Dr. Jill Biden’s use of her earned title? It’s not just Joseph Epstein’s mega-misogyny or even that the Wall Street Journal chose to publish the piece and then doubled-down on their bad judgment. That this [bleepity-bleeper] had the audacity to think he can publicly cut down someone who has out-schooled, out-accomplished, and clearly out-classed him says a lot about our society. He and the WSJ made themselves easy targets, and trust me, I’m not here to block your aim at them.

But what also is bugging me is the fact that Epstein and the WSJ gave voice and amplification to a too commonly shared notion that women are “less than” and should be maintained as “less than” by being cut down when they reach beyond the confines of the patriarchy and threaten those glass ceilings. This notion is so commonly shared that I suspect many of all gender identities first bristled when they heard Dr. Biden referred to or introduced as “Dr.” I teach people (especially women) to shout from the rooftops about their accomplishments, I try to model that by standing firmly and publicly in my own expertise, and one of my dearest and oldest friends is a brilliant woman with a PhD. But I admit (with horror) that even I was momentarily startled at first when I heard Dr. Biden introduced as “Dr.” a while back, and I had to take a good, hard look at myself to explore why.

So, like it or not, we now have an opportunity to look inside ourselves to examine our own biases (even the women among us harbor bias against ourselves and other women). Were you taken aback (even ever so slightly) when you first heard/read Dr. Biden introduced with her title? Did it bug you in the slightest bit to hear her husband and her referred to as “Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden?” Hmmm…why is that? Please, take a moment to sit with this, as it will help you de-bias yourself, and we all need to constantly be combatting our biases.

And, yes, this also is an opportunity to look outside ourselves at a culture that allows for (and in fact rewards) the cutting down of women and the minimizing of their accomplishments. Don’t even get me started on how multiply and historically excluded women such as WOC (and especially Black women) have their achievements and expertise questioned, belittled, and censored on a daily basis and to a far greater extent than most others! (Check out how Dr. Timnit Gebru was treated by Google, and read The Memo by the incomparable Minda Harts to learn more.) This absolutely is a societal, structural, and organizational issue.

Parallel to the Dr. Biden story hitting the headlines, I had been noticing a number of programs and posts attempting to debunk Imposter Syndrome, including some from colleagues I admire and trust. Yet, I have observed (and experienced, myself) Imposter Syndrome as a very real struggle. (I do wish we had another name for it that could be universally recognized; I’ll work on that).

Where I think my colleagues and I agree is here: Imposter Syndrome is not another externally-imposed mark against those who have it (which, by the way, is most of us). Imposter Syndrome is not a disease or personality flaw. It is not self-inflicted. It is not a black or brown person issue. It is not a women issue. There are plenty of black and brown women, for example, who don’t struggle with it, so let’s be careful about making generalizations. Imposter Syndrome is a human issue.

That said, the causes of it for historically excluded people are unique: Imposter Syndrome is a manifestation of internalized bias/oppression for many of us. Imposter Syndrome is the damage done by a society built on exclusion and othering, bias, prejudice, and marginalization. When Dr. Biden and other women are told their doctorates don’t matter and have their expertise publicly questioned on such a powerful platform, they (and all other women) are being told that they are not good enough, that they don’t matter, that they are “too big for their britches” (a phrase Dr. Brené Brown satisfyingly dismantles in her work). When the world is constantly telling you that you are not the giant force you are, you may start believing it. That voice of the doubters can become the voice in your own head that tells you that you are out of your league, that you are maybe not so great, that you are “less than.” That’s how Epstein’s effort to take down Dr. Biden serves as a perfect example of how Imposter Syndrome can be created.

By acknowledging Imposter Syndrome is real, we are not saying that it is the fault of the people who have it, and we are not letting off the hook the excluders and otherers, the biased and prejudiced, and the structures that support them. Society and orgs create and cultivate systems that birth and feed Imposter Syndrome. They are the cause, and Imposter Syndrome is the effect. Work must be done on societal and organizational levels to address this (and we are proud to do that work!). But at the same time, healing can happen in the individuals who experience Imposter Syndrome as a form of the harm done to them. External oppression does not have to become internalized oppression.

Thus, it has been so heartening to me to see women publicly claim (and for some, reclaim) their earned titles on social media this past week. We as women shouldn’t have to offer proof of our academic and other accomplishments to be taken seriously, but the truth is that we are constantly having to prove ourselves worthy of respect. By stating our credentials, we are honoring ourselves and our achievements and also honoring the credential itself by letting it sit proudly next to our blessed names.

I don’t have Ed.D., but you can bet that if I did, you’d know about it! But I have other achievements of which I am proud and which position me uniquely to make this world better in ways only I can. You, too, have achievements and credentials that position you uniquely to make this world better in ways only you can.

As we close out this year (finally!), I’d like to refer you back to a blog post we wrote to close out 2018, “Wrapping Up the Year: Turning the Page from To-Do to Ta-Da,” which empowers and encourages you to take a reflective moment to honor all that you did (your “ta-das”) this past year. But let’s take it a step further this year: Once you note your ta-das from 2020, I challenge you to boldly share at least one of your ta-das publicly. It can be on social media, or it can be with someone with whom you normally wouldn’t share it. By doing so, you practice owning (and believing) your own value and, like Dr. Biden so beautifully does, you create space for all people to stand strong in their expertise and be valued and celebrated for it!

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xtruss · 3 years ago

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Biden’s Tax Plan Is a Middle-Class Death Tax Dressed as a Capital Gains Tax on the Rich

— James R. Harrigan & Antony Davies | September 27, 2021

— American Institute For Economic Research (AIER)

The federal government’s insatiable appetite for spending has left politicians casting about for untapped revenue sources. Enter President Biden’s tax plan, which contains a death tax on the middle class dressed up as a capital gains tax on the rich. Having squeezed from the rich about as much as they are likely to get, politicians are now gunning for the rest of us.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren get good headlines when they call for taxing billionaires’ wealth. But, even if a wealth tax were constitutional (it isn’t), and even if politicians taxed 100% of US billionaires’ wealth (they won’t), and even if the billionaires could sell trillions of dollars in assets for full market value (they can’t), politicians still wouldn’t collect enough to fund their profligate spending. US billionaires’ combined $4.2 trillion wealth would fund the federal government’s 2021 budget for less than eight months. And at the end of that eight months, there’d be no more US billionaires.

What politicians know, but won’t say, is that the middle classes are the great untapped revenue source. What the middle classes lack in income, they more than make up for in numbers. Before taxes and transfers, the average household in the middle income quintile earned $77,000 and the average household in the upper middle quintile earned $117,000. Combined, those households earned $4.8 trillion in 2018. That’s twice what the top 1% earned. Meanwhile, the top 1% paid an average effective federal tax rate of 30.2 percent, versus 12.8 percent for middle income and 16.7 percent for upper middle income households.

The President emphasizes that his plan closes an arcane loophole, “stepped-up basis,” that has allowed billionaires to get away with paying less taxes. He and his supporters keep saying “capital gains,” and “billionaires,” but the fact is that the proposal for closing that loophole will hit middle class homes, farms, and businesses.

Under long-established law, an heir owes capital gains taxes when the heir sells, not inherits, assets. So, a family home, farm, or business, passed down from generation to generation, only creates a tax liability when the heir at the end of the line finally sells it. Even then, the heir pays tax on the increase in value from when the heir inherited the asset to when it was sold. This is “stepped-up basis,” and it partially compensates for the fact that capital gains taxes don’t adjust for inflation. For example, under current law, a home purchased for $50,000 in 1980 and sold for $150,000 in 2021 could be subject to more than $20,000 in capital gains taxes even though, adjusted for inflation, the home was sold at a loss. Stepped-up basis attempts to eliminate this inflation bias by resetting the clock on the asset’s value at inheritance.

Biden’s plan would remove the stepped-up basis, meaning that heirs would pay tax on the increase in value from when the ancestor purchased the asset to when the heir sold the asset. For businesses passed down through multiple generations, this can significantly magnify the tax bill. And in a one-two punch, Biden’s plan also requires that heirs pay the tax when they inherit assets, not when they sell them. So rather than the family home, farm, or business being taxed when the last heir finally sells it, it would be taxed each time it moved from one generation to the next.

The President insists on calling this a “capital gains tax,” but the combination of these two pieces – removal of stepped-up basis and pay-at-inheritance – causes the tax to behave exactly like a death tax. It is a death tax aimed squarely at the middle classes.

To mollify farmers, the President has said that heirs can delay paying the tax provided they continue to work the farm. This is scant help as the heirs will still be subject to the increased tax. The plan merely allows them to pay later. To throw a bone to family businesses and people who have lived frugally to save for their children, Biden’s plan offers a $1 million exemption.

But passing this new tax plan will be much harder than ratcheting that $1 million exemption down after the law is passed. Once the new plan is in place, expect that $1 million exemption to start shrinking until the new tax hits everyone. For evidence, look at the history of the federal income tax, which politicians at the time promised would apply only to “the rich.” Once instituted, it took less than a decade for politicians to extend the federal income tax all the way down to the poor.

The President’s tax plan is a death tax on the working class dressed up as a capital gains tax on the rich. Say what they will about using the tax code to reduce income inequality, the fact is that multi-trillion dollar deficits have made politicians desperate for new sources of tax revenue. And, having eaten the rich, they’re now turning their eyes to the middle class.

— James R. Harrigan is Senior Editor at AIER. He is also co-host of the Words & Numbers podcast. Dr. Harrigan was previously Dean of the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani, and later served as Director of Academic Programs at the Institute for Humane Studies and Strata, where he was also a Senior Research Fellow. He has written extensively for the popular press, with articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, and a host of other outlets. He is also co-author of Cooperation & Coercion. His current work focuses on the intersections between political economy, public policy, and political philosophy.

— Antony Davies is the Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education, and associate professor of economics at Duquesne University. He has authored Principles of Microeconomics (Cognella), Understanding Statistics (Cato Institute), and Cooperation and Coercion (ISI Books). He has written hundreds of op-eds appearing in, among others, the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, New York Post, Washington Post, New York Daily News, Newsday, US News, and the Houston Chronicle. He also co-hosts the weekly podcast Words & Numbers. Davies was Chief Financial Officer at Parabon Computation, and founded several technology companies.

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newsmanmdgn · 4 years ago

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Belarus Hijacked a Commercial Plane

Russia’s power over Belarus is in the spotlight after plane ‘hijacking’ incident

Reported yesterday: Belarus hijacked a passenger plane in order to arrest a foe of its government

As global leaders expressed outrage at Belarus’ “hijacking” of a Ryanair plane and the detention of an opposition activist, Russia was notable for its vociferous defense of the country. Now, analysts are saying Moscow stands to benefit from Belarus’ further estrangement from the West.

Belarus on Sunday ordered a Ryanair flight carrying prominent Belarusian opposition activist Roman Protasevich to divert to its capital Minsk, whereupon the activist was detained. Russia described the uproar in the U.S. and Europe as “shocking” and accused the West of having double standards.

Russia has been steadily increasing its power and influence over its neighbor Belarus, but the countries’ leaders President Vladimir Putin and President Alexander Lukashenko are somewhat uncomfortable allies — it’s arguable that any allegiance is fragile at best, and borne out of necessity.

For Belarus, Russia is a powerful economic and political partner and a source of support, having backed Lukashenko’s leadership

CNBC

If there's one thing Rocky IV taught me, it's that you can never trust the Russian government.

I'll stand by those teachings 'til the day I die.

More – Detained Belarusian dissident appears in video as fury mounts over hijacking of Ryanair flight

Blinken says US will aid Gaza without helping Hamas

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Tuesday to “rally international support” to aid Gaza following a devastating war there while keeping any assistance out of the hands of its militant Hamas rulers, as he began a regional tour to shore up last week’s cease-fire.

The 11-day war between Israel and Hamas killed more than 250 people, mostly Palestinians, and caused widespread destruction in the impoverished coastal territory. The truce that came into effect Friday has so far held, but it did not address any of the underlying issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something Blinken acknowledged after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We know that to prevent a return to violence, we have to use the space created to address a larger set of underlying issues and challenges. And that begins with tackling the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza and starting to rebuild,” he said.

It's about time.

Mysterious air base being built on volcanic island off Yemen

A mysterious air base is being built on a volcanic island off Yemen that sits in one of the world’s crucial maritime chokepoints for both energy shipments and commercial cargo.

While no country has claimed the Mayun Island air base in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipping traffic associated with a prior attempt to build a massive runway across the 5.6-kilometer (3.5 mile)-long island years ago links back to the United Arab Emirates.

Officials in Yemen’s internationally recognized government now say the Emiratis are behind this latest effort as well, even though the UAE announced in 2019 it was withdrawing its troops from a Saudi-led military campaign battling Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

“This does seem to be a longer-term strategic aim to establish a relatively permanent presence,” said Jeremy Binnie, the Mideast editor at the open-source intelligence company Janes who has followed construction on Mayun for years. It’s “possibly not just about the Yemen war and you’ve got to see the shipping situation as fairly key there.”

Not gonna lie: I put this here mainly for the headline.

The White House Is Partnering With Dating Apps To Get Horny People Vaccinated

In a national effort to get through to horny but vaccine-hesitant Americans, the White House announced Friday that it is joining forces with dating apps to encourage people to get their COVID-19 vaccines so that they can go forth and fuck freely this summer.

Vaccinated users on Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and Badoo will have access to some premium features for free. OkCupid, Chispa, BLK, and Match are giving out a free “Boost” to those who've been vaccinated so that their profiles are more likely to be seen first. Plenty of Fish is also offering free credits to vaccinated members for its livestreaming feature.

Buzzfeed News

Not gonna lie, Part Deux: I put this here ONLY for the headline.

The Climate Real Estate Bubble: Is the U.S. on the Verge of Another Financial Crisis?

Increasingly, experts see a collective threat to the U.S. economy. As the risks of owning a home in places affected by climate change stack up, economists and policymakers say climate-induced flight from threatened areas could shock the U.S. economy as home prices plummet, lending dries up and the local tax base diminishes in hard-hit regions.

“The degree of capital reallocation and the speed of that is going to be larger and happen more quickly than most market participants expect,” Brian Deese, President Joe Biden’s chief economic adviser, told TIME last year when he was the head of sustainable investing at BlackRock. Zimmerman calls herself “the canary in the coal mine.” She may be one of the first, but if the U.S. doesn’t heed her warnings, she won’t be the last.

Time

I'll go out on a limb here (while trees still exist): Real estate prices will plummet long before the climate change makes it happen. Prices are so inflated right now (in so many asset classes), and asset bubbles are popping up all over the place. Like all bubbles, some will burst and others will deflate slowly.

Look at student debt, credit card debt, housing prices, stock indexes, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies.

Political artist John Sims detained, handcuffed by S.C. police in his gallery apartment

“When a police culture suffocates the voice of justice, why should I trust the police with my body? Why? If resisting and cooperating bring the same outcome — death — what am I to do, especially if good cops cannot stand up to bad cops? When there are no internal moral checks and balances, you become a pack of animals in an uncivilized wilderness motivated by fear and the naked power to punish and destroy,” Sims said last June in a commentary in the Orlando Sentinel. “You become the judge, jury and looter of Black bodies. You become a virus of racism and white supremacy. You become the face of a broken America.”

Yahoo!

Thanks for the story, Mike. I think it sums up well what we all want to say about police violence on Black people.

The article was originally published here! Belarus Hijacked a Commercial Plane

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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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How Not to Get Fooled by the New Inflation Numbers We could be on the verge of a golden era for inflation nonsense. If so, its start date may well turn out to have been Tuesday morning, when new data on consumer prices was released. The potential for misunderstanding derives from several forces crashing against each other at once. There are sure to be shortages of some goods and services as the economy creaks back to life, which could create scattered price increases for airplane tickets or hotel rooms or, as has been the case recently, certain computer chips. There are valid concerns that the trillions of dollars of government stimulus dollars could push the economy beyond its limits and create a broad-based overheating. But to be a savvy consumer of economic data, it’s important to separate those potential forces from the inflation data coming right now, which tells us more about the past than the future. Don’t take the backward-looking information in the new report as proof that those inflation warnings are coming true. The Consumer Price Index in March reflected a 12-month increase of 2.6 percent, which on its face would appear to be an uncomfortably high rate of inflation. (That said, it was higher than that for several 12-month periods ending in mid-2018). But March 2020 was not a normal month. The pandemic shut down huge parts of the economy virtually overnight. It would be hard for that kind of experience not to create distortions in economic data that make things hard to parse. The term for this is “base effects,” the misleading results that can show up in year-over-year numbers when something weird happened 12 months ago. To get a better sense of true inflation trends, it helps to look at percent change in prices since February 2020, adjusted to reflect an annual rate instead of a 13-month rate. Using that measure, we see a considerably more nuanced picture. Overall consumer price inflation is running at 2.2 percent using this measure — very close to the 2 percent that the Federal Reserve aims for, especially considering that the Consumer Price Index runs a few tenths of a percent higher than the inflation index preferred by the Fed. In the guts of the new numbers, we see how the recovery is creating distinct inflation dynamics in different parts of the economy. For example, gasoline prices are up an annualized 12.3 percent since February 2020 — maybe not as dramatic as the 22.5 percent year-over-year price rise reported in March, but still enough to suggest that people unhappy with prices at the pump have something to complain about other than base effects. Updated April 13, 2021, 11:26 a.m. ET Specifically, in the early months of the pandemic, energy demand collapsed and drillers of oil and natural gas pulled back on exploration accordingly (remember the strange episode last April when the price of crude oil futures went negative?). Demand for gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products is finally rising, but energy producers can’t flip a switch and produce enough fuel to meet that demand overnight, and are doubtless scarred by their losses last spring. Similarly, grocery prices are up substantially: an annualized 3.8 percent rise since February 2020, led by a 5.9 percent rise in the price of meat, poultry, fish and eggs. If it feels as if proteins are more expensive than before the pandemic, you’re not imagining it. Central bankers tend to look past swings in energy and food prices, which tend to fluctuate in ways that don’t portend inflation across the economy. But some elements of “core” inflation are also showing odd inflation dynamics, even when corrected for base effects. Used cars and trucks, for example, are up an annualized 11 percent since February 2020, most likely because many people sought a way to get around besides public transport. The flip side of that: Airfare is still far below its prepandemic levels, down an adjusted 23.9 percent from February 2020. There is plenty of reason to expect that airplanes will be crowded this summer, especially on routes to leisure destinations, as a newly vaccinated population looks to stretch its wings. But prices still have not caught up to their prepandemic norm. Oh, and clothing is still cheaper than prepandemic levels as well, with a 2.7 percent adjusted fall in apparel prices since February 2020. The sharp divergences in these sectors show the importance of looking at economic data more deeply than usual in the months ahead. Many of the sectors with the most extreme price effects from the pandemic bottomed out in April or May, not March — meaning the distortions in year-over-year numbers will get even bigger over the next few months. But beyond that, with so many parts of the economy going through wrenching change, headline numbers on inflation or anything else will mean less than usual in the coming months. Rather it’s better to break things down by sector to understand whether the dynamics reflect a one-time reset of the economy or something bigger. The Biden administration and the Federal Reserve are betting on a one-time reset, with temporary price spikes followed by a steadying of both inflation and growth in 2022. If something more pernicious arrives, it won’t show up as a few weird data points in 2021, but as a broad-based surge in prices across the economy that becomes a cycle of rising prices. To understand an economy in uncharted territory, the details matter more than the headlines. Source link Orbem News #fooled #Inflation #numbers

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gordonwilliamsweb · 4 years ago

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States Aim to Chip Away at Abortion Rights With Supreme Court in Mind

This story also ran on USA Today and GateHouse Media. It can be republished for free.

When Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway introduced a bill in the Montana House two years ago that would have prohibited abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the Republican legislator knew it was unlikely to survive the veto pen of the Democratic governor.

Sure enough, then-Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed that bill and two other anti-abortion measures passed by the Republican-led state legislature. In his veto message, Bullock wrote that “for over 40 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the U.S. Constitution prohibits a state from banning abortion.”

But now Bullock’s gone, replaced by Republican Greg Gianforte, who has promised to sign any bill that puts new limits on abortion. And abortion-rights advocates worry the court ruling that Bullock based his vetoes on — the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision — is on shaky ground.

The Supreme Court tilted further right with last year’s confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, giving the high court a makeup of six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three appointed by Democrats.

That has emboldened lawmakers in Montana and other right-leaning states to introduce dozens of anti-abortion bills this year in the hope that the high court will hear lawsuits against new state laws and side with the states. The goal is to chip away at Roe v. Wade.

According to Kristin Ford, national communications director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, more than 60 bills have been introduced or passed in state legislatures so far this year to restrict abortion. Most are in conservative-leaning states like Montana, Kansas and Wyoming.

“These legislators are willing to do whatever it takes to advance their extreme agenda of gutting Roe v. Wade and pushing abortion care as far out of reach as possible,” Ford said. “With Roe in the crosshairs, the stakes for women, people who are pregnant and families are higher than ever.”

Ford and other abortion-rights advocates said any one of those bills could be challenged and make its way to the Supreme Court.

That’s the apparent aim of the conservative state lawmakers pushing bills. In Montana, legislators have introduced six anti-abortion measures so far this year, including Sheldon-Galloway’s proposed ban on abortions after 20 weeks.

“If this legislation made it all the way to the Supreme Court, that would be a good thing, because we need to revisit Roe v. Wade,” Sheldon-Galloway said.

Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, based in Chicago, said the rash of bills exemplifies the changing methods of the anti-abortion movement. When his father founded the Pro-Life Action League in the 1970s, the organization’s goal was simply to get the Roe v. Wade decision overturned, either in the courts or in the statehouses. But now anti-abortion groups are taking a piecemeal approach.

He said it’s more likely that the current Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade incrementally rather than all at once.

“Will this court overturn Roe v. Wade? It’s possible,” Scheidler said. “But I think we’re more likely to see this court put more restrictions on abortion. I think five years from now we’ll realize that Roe v. Wade was slowly overturned without it ever making a big headline.”

For anti-abortion groups, pushing legislation through at the state level may be their only option since Democrats control Congress and the White House. President Joe Biden has said he wants to “codify” Roe v. Wade and appoint federal judges who will respect the precedent.

Sheldon-Galloway said her bill, dubbed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, would protect unborn children who might feel pain during an abortion.

Abortion advocates said that the bill is based on dubious science and that abortions at that point in pregnancy are rare and usually happen only for medical reasons. Similar bills are being introduced in Florida, Hawaii, New Jersey and Oregon.

“There are very few abortions that happen after 20 weeks, and when they do they usually occur because of a significant medical issue,” said Alison James, chairperson of Montanans for Choice, an abortion-rights group. “These are usually wanted pregnancies, and so these unnecessary laws put women and families through the wringer. It will treat them like criminals.”

Groups like Montanans for Choice have stepped up their efforts this year because they know that any abortion bill that passes the Montana legislature will be signed into law. Other bills working their way through the legislature would prohibit people from accessing abortion medication through the mail and require doctors to offer an ultrasound before terminating a pregnancy. Another would create a ballot initiative asking Montanans to decide whether fetuses that live through an abortion are people with legal rights.

Similar legislation has been introduced in a dozen other states, according to the National Right to Life Committee.

Nicole Smith, a fellow of the Society of Family Planning and a board member for Montanans for Choice, said it is highly likely that any abortion bills that become law would be challenged in court, making the states the first battleground in the new laws’ journey to the Supreme Court.

“We’re seeing an onslaught of bills,” Smith said. “And it will result in a legal battle.”

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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stephenmccull · 4 years ago

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States Aim to Chip Away at Abortion Rights With Supreme Court in Mind