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Thursday, October 20, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Inflation 8.2 Percent In September


Inflation in the U.S. hit an annual rate of 8.2 percent in September, reflecting increased costs across the board for food, shelter, fuel, and medical care. Some relief may be ahead, though. Comerica Bank chief economist Bill Adams told NBC News that house prices and rents are likely to decline in the coming months, though food prices may stay high. The typical American consumer is paying $445 more per month for goods and services than just one year ago, according to Moody Analytics.

➤BIDEN’S MIDTERM PITCH:  CNN points out that President Joe Biden’s schedule this week is a road map of his strategy to convince voters to get to the polls for Democratic Party candidates for Congress on November eighth. On Tuesday, he vowed to make it his first priority to get passage of a federal law codifying abortion rights if Democrats take the majority in the Senate and keep control of the House. On Wednesday, he announced that his White House will continue to release oil from the Strategic Oil Reserves to offset the production cuts that are sending gasoline prices up again. Today, he’s expected to visit Pittsburgh to talk about his plans for infrastructure improvements. And Friday, he’ll be in Delaware speaking about his plan for student loan forgiveness.

➤BIDEN SNARKS AT FOX WH REPORTER: Biden appeared to take a dig Wednesday at a Fox News correspondent who asked him if his top domestic priority was abortion or inflation. 'They're all important. Unlike you, there's no one thing,' he told Fox reporter Peter Doocy at the end of an event on the bipartisan infrastructure law. Biden has long called inflation his top domestic priority. But he and fellow Democrats have been focusing on the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, in issue Democrats think is a political winner. Biden said the first bill he wants passed if Democrats keep control of Congress is one to codify Roe.


➤JUDGE ORDERS RELEASE OF EMAILS TO TRUMP: A federal judge has ordered that 33 emails sent to former President Donald Trump by his attorney be turned over to the Congressional committee investigating the January 6th 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. According to Judge David O. Carter, the emails suggest that the president, in a sworn statement, authorized lawsuits based on election fraud allegations that he knew to be bogus. The apparent purpose was not to prove election fraud, the judge said, but to delay or disrupt certification of the election of President Joe Biden. The House committee looking into the events of January 6th has previously been refused access to hundreds of emails sent by the lawyer, John Eastman.


➤PUTIN DECLARES MARTIAL LAW IN PARTS OF UKRAINE: Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared martial law in four regions of Ukraine that have been annexed by Russia. The announcement came after days of intense missile and drone attacks by Russia on cities and key infrastructure sites inside Ukraine.


➤FIGHTER JET CRASHES NEAR SALT LAKE CITY: An Air Force F-35 fighter jet crashed and exploded in flames shortly after takeoff near Salt Lake City yesterday. The pilot safely ejected. The cause of the crash of the $80 million jet is being investigated.


➤WE’RE GETTING A BREAK FROM THE IRS IN 2023: Inflation is not necessarily a bad word when it comes to our federal taxes. Millions of Americans will take home a little bit more money starting on January 1st due to a number of inflation adjustments. The income levels for each tax bracket have been widened. For example, couples making more than $22,000 but less than $89,450 will pay a 22 percent federal tax rate in 2023. Many would have been pushed up to a 24 percent bracket without the adjustment. The standard deduction will increase by $900 to $13,850 for single filers next year.

Daily Mail 10/20/22

🏠RECORD DROP IN HOME SALES: The number of homes sold in the U.S. dropped by a record 25 percent in September, according to a new report from the real estate website Redfin. New listings dropped by 22 percent, also a record. The housing market came to a standstill when mortgage rates started climbing. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now averages just under seven percent.

➤ROLLS-ROYCE GOES ELECTRIC: Rolls-Royce just unveiled its first electric vehicle, called the Spectre and priced at $413,000. More than 300 American buyers have already put down a deposit for the two-door coupe, according to CNBC. General Motors has unveiled its own high-end all-electric competitor, the Celestiq, for $300,000. Or, you can buy a new Chevy Volt for a starting price of $34,495.

➤NASA IS ON A ROLL: The NASA space agency is going where no camera has gone before, and the results are breathtaking. The agency has published new views of three distant phenomena. First, the James Webb Space Telescope has new photographs of the Pillars of Creation. These are vast clouds of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula that serve as a “star factory” in the Milky Way. And, the Curiosity Rover reached a new destination in its exploration of the frozen desert surface of Mars. They also got a stunning new view of Neptune’s rings.


➤STUDY: STRESSFUL EVENTS CAN MAKE YOU MORE RESILIENT:  A Princeton study suggests stressful events could help us be more resilient, and more capable of facing new threats. The experiment involved examining mice who fought larger mice as opposed to those who hid. "They’d turn back towards the aggressor, they’d throw their paws out, they’d jump on him, and they would just not give up," Dr. Lindsay Willmore observed. Mice that did not defend themselves tended to become depressed and avoidant. The mice who fought became more resilient, and were rewarded with dopamine. Hopefully, this information can be applied to human health, perhaps in the form of positive feedback to promote resilience.


⚾MLB LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: Wednesday’s scores.
  • San Diego Padres 8, Philadelphia Phillies 5 (Series tied 1-1)
  • Houston Astros 4, New York Yankees 2 (Houston leads 1-0)
🏈COWBOYS’ PRESCOTT IS BACK IN THE GAME: Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has gotten the all-clear from his doctors and is expected to play in Sunday’s home game against the Detroit Lions. He hasn’t played since breaking his thumb in the team’s Week 1 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

🏈DOLPHINS’ TAGOVAILOLA RETURNS: Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was spotted at practice yesterday and is expected to play this Sunday in Week 7’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Speaking to reporters for the first time about the concussion he suffered during the game against the Cincinnati Bengals on September 29th, Tagovailoa said he doesn’t even remember being carted off the field on a stretcher.
 
🏈MISSISSIPPI STATE PLAYER DIES AT 19: Sam Westmoreland, a lineman on the Mississippi State football team, has died. He was 19. The star player at Mississippi's Tupelo High School was in his first year with the Bulldogs. The cause of death was not immediately revealed.

🤼COLLEGE WRESTLERS TAKE ON AN ANGRY BEAR: A team of wrestlers from Northwest College in Cody, Wyoming, took on an angry bear recently, and if they didn’t exactly win, they all got out of there alive. The incident occurred last weekend as four members of the team were in Shoshone National Forest. The bear first attacked Brady Lowry, who suffered a broken arm and puncture wounds before teammate Kendell Cummings tried to wrestle the bear off of his friend, whereupon the bear turned its wrath on Cummings. When the bear finally ambled away, the two injured students were able to find teammates August Harrison and Orrin Jackson, who helped them off the mountain and got them to a hospital in Billings, Montana. “It was a team effort,” Lowry told radio news station KSL.

✞FOOTBALL HALL OF FAMER TRIPPI DIES AT AGE 100: Football Hall of Famer Charley Trippi has died at his home in Athens, Georgia, at the age of 100. Trippi was a star player at the University of Georgia before taking the Chicago Cardinals to the 1947 NFL championship. Equally skilled at defense and offense, Trippi was in both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Jim Thorpe called Trippi “the greatest football player I’ve ever seen.”



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