Friday Open Thread

5 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. Just reading around this morning, including a quick glance in at coverage of the trial where MT Greene will appear today.  Raw Story says Greene

   worked with the planners of some of the events of Jan. 6th and then the day before the attack, she signaled to her followers a code word, meant to storm federal buildings and supposedly overthrow tyrants. So, we are going to ask her about all of that and more," he explained. [he is Ron Fein, an attorney who will question her]

   The coded word referred to Greene referring to the blocking of the Electoral College as Republicans' "1776 moment."  ….

   Enrique Tarrio, until recently the leader of the 'Proud Boys,' had on hand a detailed plan for the far-right extremist group to distract police, swarm federal buildings, and obstruct their functioning. The title of the document describing the plan was '1776 Returns.'”

   Double checking, the CPR news of January 2021 points to someone else using the phrase:

   Boebert tweeted that members were locked in the House chamber and then, a minute later, that Speaker Nancy Pelosi “has been removed from the chambers.” Earlier in the day, she tweeted “Today is 1776,” which her critics view as a call for armed revolution.

    

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   1. And on Jan 5, 2021, she tweeted on Parler:

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2. Inflation musing:  You know that $15/hour living wage aspiration?  Given an 8.5% inflation  rate just last year (not counting the cumulative inflation that has occurred since $15/hour was first proposed), that rate would have to be at least $16.27/hour.  Welcome back to the days of inflation where you constantly need to raise fees, wages, internet rates, etc. just to stay even.

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3. Employment musing.  Department of Labor tracks the average wage and Consumer Price Index.  "Real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.8 percent from February to March 2022. This result stems from an increase of 0.4 percent in average hourly earnings combined with an increase of 1.2 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers." Both numbers are indexed to Mar 2006, when both start at 100.0.

   Since Biden was inaugurated, here's the list of Average hourly earnings index and the Real average hourly earnings index

   Feb 2021….149.9 ….113.6

   Mar 2021….150.0….112.9

   Apr 2021….150.7….112.7

   May 2021….151.5….112.5

   Jun 2021….152.3….112.2

   Jul 2021….153.0….112.3

   Aug 2021….153.5….112.2

   Sep 2021….154.3….112.4

   Oct 2021….155.2….112.1

   Nov 2021….155.8….111.7

   Dec 2021….156.6….111.6

   Jan 2022….157.5….111.5

   Feb 2022….157.7….110.8

   Mar 2022….158.3….109.9

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4. Bimbobert's cash cow is running dry….

   "Grasping for straws": Trump's "MAGA goon squad" scrambles for cash as campaign donations dry up | Salon.com

    

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