Category U. S. DC Uni-party

May 14 2022

Mike Pence (“Et Tu Brute?”)Will Rally in Georgia to Support Brian Kemp


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 13, 2022 | Sundance

May 13, 2022 | Sundance | 373 Comments

The good news is more and more people are waking up to the dark arts of Republican politics.  If the awakening continues things will change.  The bad news is we’ve got to plow through a few more losses to get more lions awake.

Mike Pence is going to rally in Georgia on behalf of Brian Kemp’s reelection bid, because of course he is, Club rules.

The GOP club has outplayed the MAGA voters in the state of Georgia by using their private club rules along with the assist from an open primary.

Brian Kemp will win the GA republican (open ballot) primary with the help of democrats and GOP club endorsements.

The defeat of David Perdue will provide the Pence/Bush tenured club officials, ie. ‘the old guard‘, with the opportunity to disparage Donald Trump, claim MAGA is dead and Trump’s endorsements worthless.   The media are all waiting anticipatory glee for the opportunity.

Sometimes you just have to swallow the bitter pill and move along.  Both clubs in Georgia have made a deal, everything now is just watching the illusion of choice unfold.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence will campaign with Georgia’s incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp the day before this month’s GOP primary in his most significant political break with former President Donald Trump to date.

Kemp’s campaign announced Friday morning that Pence will headline a get-out-the-vote rally for Kemp on Monday, May 23rd, the day before the vote. That puts Pence in direct conflict with Trump-endorsed candidate David Perdue, who has been trailing in the polls. Kemp is one of Trump’s top targets this election cycle because of his refusal to cooperate with Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“Brian Kemp is my friend, a man dedicated to faith, family and the people of Georgia,” Pence said in a statement. “I am proud to offer my full support for four more years of Brian Kemp as governor of the great state of Georgia!”

The news comes as Pence has taken steps to distance himself from Trump as the former congressman and Indiana governor considers a 2024 presidential run that could put him into direct competition with his former boss. (read more)

Get rid of Ronna McDaniel.  Start there.

It’s time to stop trying to wake up the sheep, and start waking up more lions.

P

May 13 2022

Global COVID Summit Declaration IV


A Joint Statement, representing 17,000 Physicians and Medical Scientists to End the National Emergency, Restore Scientific Integrity, and Address Crimes Against Humanity

Robert W Malone MD, MS22 hr ago1,516104

The time is now. As most readers of this substack are now well aware, this is not just about COVID. The constitution hangs in the balance. Please help us to get these messages spread far and wide. The 17,000 Physicians and Medical Scientists in our organization, who are not financially conflicted and remain committed to the Hippocratic Oath, are doing our part. Now we ask that you help us to help you. We need your help.

https://globalcovidsummit.org/news/declaration-iv-restore-scientific-integrity

Alternative link

LIVE: WORLD’S LEADING PHYSICIANS AND SCIENTISTS HOLD GLOBAL COVID SUMMIT

Global COVID Summit, Declaration IV

A Joint Statement, representing 17,000 Physicians and Medical Scientists 

To Restore Scientific Integrity

17,000 Physicians and Medical Scientists Declare that the State of Medical Emergency must be lifted, Scientific integrity restored, and crimes against humanity addressed.

17,000 physicians and medical scientists declare that the state of medical emergency must be lifted, scientific integrity restored, and crimes against humanity addressed.

We, the physicians and medical scientists of the world, united through our loyalty to the Hippocratic Oath, recognize that the disastrous COVID-19 public health policies imposed on doctors and our patients are the culmination of a corrupt medical alliance of pharmaceutical, insurance, and healthcare institutions, along with the financial trusts which control them. They have infiltrated our medical system at every level, and are protected and supported by a parallel alliance of big tech, media, academics and government agencies who profited from this orchestrated catastrophe.

This corrupt alliance has compromised the integrity of our most prestigious medical societies to which we belong, generating an illusion of scientific consensus by substituting truth with propaganda. This alliance continues to advance unscientific claims by censoring data, and intimidating and firing doctors and scientists for simply publishing actual clinical results or treating their patients with proven, life-saving medicine. These catastrophic decisions came at the expense of the innocent, who are forced to suffer health damage and death caused by intentionally withholding critical and time-sensitive treatments, or as a result of coerced genetic therapy injections, which are neither safe nor effective.

The medical community has denied patients the fundamental human right to provide true informed consent for the experimental COVID-19 injections. Our patients are also blocked from obtaining the information necessary to understand risks and benefits of vaccines, and their alternatives, due to widespread censorship and propaganda spread by governments, public health officials and media. Patients continue to be subjected to forced lock-downs which harm their health, careers and children’s education, and damage social and family bonds critical to civil society. This is not a coincidence. In the book entitled “COVID-19: The Great Reset”, leadership of this alliance has clearly stated their intention is to leverage COVID-19 as an “opportunity” to reset our entire global society, culture, political structures, and economy.

Our 17,000 Global COVID Summit physicians and medical scientists represent a much larger, enlightened global medical community who refuse to be compromised, and are united and willing to risk the wrath of the corrupt medical alliance to defend the health of their patients.

The mission of the Global COVID Summit is to end this orchestrated crisis, which has been illegitimately imposed on the world, and to formally declare that the actions of this corrupt alliance constitute nothing less than crimes against humanity.

We must restore the people’s trust in medicine, which begins with free and open dialogue between physicians and medical scientists. We must restore medical rights and patient autonomy. This includes the foundational principle of the sacred doctor-patient relationship. The social need for this is decades overdue, and therefore, we the physicians of the world are compelled to take action.

After two years of scientific research, millions of patients treated, hundreds of clinical trials performed and scientific data shared, we have demonstrated and documented our success in understanding and combating COVID-19. In considering the risks versus benefits of major policy decisions, our Global COVID Summit of 17,000 physicians and medical scientists from all over the world have reached consensus on the following foundational principles:

  1. We declare and the data confirm that the COVID-19 experimental genetic therapy injections must end.
  2. We declare doctors should not be blocked from providing life-saving medical treatment.
  3. We declare the state of national emergency, which facilitates corruption and extends the pandemic, should be immediately terminated.
  4. We declare medical privacy should never again be violated, and all travel and social restrictions must cease.
  5. We declare masks are not and have never been effective protection against an airborne respiratory virus in the community setting.
  6. We declare funding and research must be established for vaccination damage, death and suffering.
  7. We declare no opportunity should be denied, including education, career, military service or medical treatment, over unwillingness to take an injection.
  8. We declare that first amendment violations and medical censorship by government, technology and media companies should cease, and the Bill of Rights be upheld.
  9. We declare that Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech, Janssen, Astra Zeneca, and their enablers, withheld and willfully omitted safety and effectiveness information from patients and physicians, and should be immediately indicted for fraud.
  10. We declare government and medical agencies must be held accountable.

May 13 2022

Loose Tweets Destroy Fleets


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted May 13, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The Office of War Information (OWI) was created under Franklin D. Roosevelt to act as a propaganda machine for World War II. Americans were wary of the agency until the Pearl Harbor attack promoted the public to hand over more power to the government, in a similar fashion to how a slew of laws were implemented post-9/11. The domestic branch of OWI promoted the war in films, posters, radio broadcasts, photography, and other forms of media. Before the dawn of the internet, this is how the public learned about the war overseas.

In the World War II era, the OWI promoted the phrase “loose lips sink ships.” The US Air Force attempted to issue a similar slogan during the war in Afghanistan – “loose tweets destroy fleets.” ISIS used social media and the internet to promote its agenda and spread fear across the West. This was our first glimpse of war fought via the world wide web.

Capt. Jonathan McDonald, AFCENT Force Protection Chief said in 2015, “As social media keeps evolving and there’s more and more avenues to let your friends and family know what you are up to, those same avenues can be used by ISIS sympathizers, ‘lone wolves,’ to track down and hurt our military members outside the safety of the base. So not only is it important to not post vital mission related information, but it’s also important to not post detailed personal information to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.”

The reason this is important is because the president recently formed his Disinformation Governance Board, and there would be no better way to roll out this program than by using the guise of national security. After Pearl Harbor and 9/11, people assumed the enemy was easily identifiable. The OWI promoted the use of Japanese internment camps under the weak argument that everyone from Japan sympathized with the Japanese government and could become a threat to national security. Under the Patriot Act, we allowed the government to compile our data and screen everyone at the airport in case the enemy was undetected.

The Disinformation Governance Board will determine the next enemy. The president has already stated the largest threat to national security is the “ultra MAGA” supporters, many of whom simply voted for the other candidate in the two-party system. Russia is the enemy, China is the enemy, and YOU may become the enemy.

May 13 2022

Australia Launches Booster Shot Marketing Campaign


Armstrong Economics Blog/Vaccine Re-Posted May 13, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The Australian government is spending millions on an ad campaign to encourage citizens to take a third COVID vaccine. Their method of marketing is quite surprising and I question who would be enticed to take the vaccine upon watching this ad. The campaign features individuals who received the two jabs — and still fell deathly ill with COVID.

You risked your life to take an experimental vaccine, twice, and STILL contracted the virus. Your symptoms were allegedly life-threatening, so the theory that the vaccine will lessen symptoms is moot here. All of that and people are still willingly taking the third vaccine. Cognitive dissonance is strong here.

Nearly 72% of Southern Australians are triple jabbed, yet the government feels it is worth spending $2 million to target that remaining portion who likely do not want another useless vaccine with known side effects. Governments across the globe were hoping we would all be mindless sheep, politely queuing each season for another immunization. Enough is enough.

May 13 2022

INFLATION – RECESSION – RISING RATES RATHER THAN LOWER RATES


Armstrong Economics Blog/Economics Re-Posted May 13, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, I want to thank you so much for the WEC. Perhaps you will consider doing one that is streamed in the middle of this craziness. I have listened to many analysts. But you are head and shoulders above everyone. Only you called for declining economic growth, rising inflation, and rising interest rates in spite of a recession. I understand it is Socrates that puts this all together. But we really need you now.

Please, Please, Please!

WL

ANSWER: I will consider it. My days are full and I cannot even begin to explain everything that is coming in from sources around the world. The “Stickly” core inflation, which does not include food or energy, made its low perfectly on its 31.4-year decline from the highest yearly closing in 1979 to the bottom in 2010. This is really important to understand because while food and energy are rising faster, they filter over into the core inflation and are driving that higher at a faster pace. We are looking at everything rising, much as was the case during the 1980s. Even ticket prices are rising in sports.

I understand that people THINK that Paul Volcker conquered inflation by pushing interest rates to insane levels. Let’s get something straight — the high-interest rates did NOT stop the inflation. Volcker drove the value of the dollar higher and that produced DEFLATION, driving the British pound to $1.03 by 1985.

Raising rates does NOT stop inflation; it will only increase it when we are dealing with a SHORTAGE rather than an excessive demand boom. The same result will unfold with the rising dollar BECAUSE of the rising rates and that produces deflation, but we have the stupidity of those pulling the strings in the Biden Administration and Europe for climate change. They are in power now and want to destroy as much of the energy system as they can because they fear the election cycle will swing against them so they must destroy whatever they can right now.

Food shortages will get MUCH worse into 2023, and we will see power failures this summer in different parts of the US and Europe. There are people in the Biden Administration who simply want to destroy as much as possible in the energy sector in hopes that the Republicans can do nothing if they take back control.

May 13 2022

Pennsylvania GOP Primary Brings Out All The Club Moves


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 12, 2022 | Sundance

Perhaps you’ve noticed. For the past two nights Fox News and a host of corporate allies have been doing a full-frontal attack against Pennsylvania Senate Candidate Kathy Barnette.

The club reaction appears to have been triggered by a GOP Trafalgar poll showing Kathy Barnette in a close second place (23.2%), surging ahead of David McCormick (21.6%) and right on the heels of Mehmet Oz (24.5%).  [Bartos 7.2%, Sands 6.5%]

In this outline I will explain the easily visible GOPe club moves without trying to support any particular candidate, that’s for Pennsylvania voters to decide.  However, once you understand the background play, it might help clarify what the Keystone state voters are witnessing.

BACKGROUND.  President Trump has endorsed Mehmet Oz.  However, many people in the MAGA base are stuggling with that endorsement because they just don’t like the guy and question the bonafides of his sudden, seemingly convenient, MAGA-mindedness.

Meanwhile, David McCormick is the GOPe candidate from the mold of the typically Wall Street Mitch McConnell tribe.

McCormick is the quintessential corporate republican, or what might be described as the ‘establishment’ party choice.  I would call McCormick the club candidate.

Kathy Barnette is the alternative favorite in the race for the MAGA base who just cannot bring themselves to support Oz.  Barnette is the outsider and carries a fierce independent streak that appeals to frustrated voters who have had enough of the nonsense.

As a result, the top three in the race break down into McCormick as the Club candidate, while Barnette and Oz are splitting the MAGA vote.  By my estimation the MAGA support looks like 60%(ish) Barnette and 40%(ish) Oz.  What is happening now in this race is very Karl Rove-ian.

The Club for Growth (CfG) is seemingly more aligned with David McCormick and needs to split the MAGA base, so they funnel money toward Barnette in order to disrupt and diminish the professional MAGA endorsements of Team Trump.

Seeing Mehmet Oz struggling to get support, and seeing a rise in the polling for Kathy Barnette, Fox News Sean Hannity started to attack Barnette on Wednesday with a full-throated ridiculing of her campaign.

Hannity labels Barnette as an ‘unelectable extremist’ with a history of controversial statements, positions and tweets.  After a 10-minute nasty attack segment, Sean Hannity then invites the previously scheduled Mehmet Oz to pile on.  The total Wednesday attack program lasted almost 30-minutes on prime-time television.

Then Thursday (6pm), corporate Fox News Shannon Bream announces David McCormick will appear tomorrow (Friday) on Special Reports segment for a promotional interview.   This makes sense because McCormick would be the corporate Fox News favorite republican in the mold of Marco Rubio.

During the 8pm hour (Tucker Carlson show) Fox News Corp then runs a promotional segment for Sean Hannity who says, “tune in at 9pm when we will go deeper into the controversial past of Kathy Barnette and expose her radical positions.”

As promoted at 9pm Hannity leads with another 15-minute attack against Barnette and then opens the floor to two other PA candidates, Jeff Bartos and Carla Sands, to continue the onslaught.

Destroying Barnette works for the agenda of Hannity (promoting Oz) and for the agenda of Corporate Fox News (promoting McCormick).

As a result, Kathy Barnette is taking fire from the GOPe Club, Corporate Fox News and the entirety of the Trump endorsement team which includes Sean Hannity and Ric Grennell.  Trump Inc supporting Oz, while Fox Inc is supporting McCormick.  This forms the gauntlet of the attack.

The beneficiary of this Rovian strategy is David McCormick.

Team McCormick is likely hopeful this onslaught will bring the destabilized Barnette wing of the MAGA base into his team; because the Barnette wing of the MAGA base will not support Mehmet Oz.

Both Oz and McCormick are sketchy to the ultra-MAGA base, but with McCormick the club alignment is what Mitch McConnell would call a “more approved” fit.

For the ultra-MAGA voter, with McCormick you get the openly Jeb Bush republican (Decepticon).

For the ultra-MAGA voter, with Mehmet Oz you get the closeted Mitt Romney democrat (RINO).

That’s why the majority of the ultra-MAGA voters were supporting Kathy Barnette in the first place, as an alternative to Oz.  That’s why Donald Trump endorsing Mehmet Oz was received with such disdain by the base.

The Republican Club (McCormick) and the Trump Club (Dr. Oz) are both trying to bring down Kathy Barnette and saying she can never win the general election in Pennsylvania.

Are they correct?  Well, that’s up to Pennsylvania voters to decide.  The pundits will all tell you the suburban women’s vote is the deciding factor in Pennsylvania politics.  Supposedly Dr Oz is more liked by that group of voters.  I have no idea.

This type of battle is what primary voting contests are all about.

My only purpose in this outline is to explain why McCormick wants to split MAGA (the move by Rove), and why Trump is trying to avoid a split MAGA vote (to avoid McCormick).

For those still torn over what to do, my own advice is:

♦ Vote your heart in the primary contest.

♦ Vote pragmatically in the general election contest.

Bottom line, VOTE!

May 13 2022

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Food Security is National Security


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 12, 2022 | Sundance 

Earlier today ultra-MAGA representative Marjorie Taylor Greene delivered remarks about the failures of the Biden administration as they are reflected in the continual food security and pricing crisis.   I strongly recommend watching these brief remarks, very impressive.

MTG accurately identifies the origin of the current baby formula crisis, as an outcome of stress within the supply chain caused by government intervention into the overall system.  MTG then notes that FDA rules and regulations make supply interruptions worse.

Additionally, in the background of the federal DHS and HHS contracts for food products, including baby food/formula, most of those federal contracts contain a ‘first right‘ or ‘prioritized continuity‘ provision, creating a distribution outcome (via contractual mandate) where illegal aliens end up with preferential allocation.  WATCH (2:55 mins):

May 13 2022

J6 Committee Issues Subpoenas to Five House Republican Members


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 12, 2022 | Sundance 

The entire premise of the J6 committee is a farce.  The overwhelming majority of Americans fully understand it is a political exercise between Democrats in congress and their hired Lawfare allies.  The goal is to label their political opposition as extremists, block and/or tarnish President Trump and manufacture a false premise to advance the Democrat 2022 election goals.

Despite this reality the effort continues in order to fuel their far-left base and media allies.

Today, the House committee triggered subpoenas against House republican members.  The subpoenas were sent to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (U-DC), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Rep Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). All five of the house members had previously rejected investigators’ requests for voluntarily testimony.

The subpoena authority is likely, hopefully, to be challenged in court.  The premise of a House committee issuing subpoena’s to the political opposition of the same House membership appears to violate the function of government on many levels.

WASHINGTON DC – […] The Republican leader indicated he might not comply with the subpoena.

“My view on the committee has not changed,” said McCarthy, who added he had not yet seen the subpoena. “They’re not conducting a legitimate investigation. It seems as though they just want to go after their political opponents.”

The select committee demanded testimony from the five lawmakers in the final week of May.

Members of the select panel have wrestled for months with the question of how to handle their GOP colleagues. The Capitol riot committee’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), had previously doubted the wisdom of that subpoenaing lawmakers, as that would likely trigger a lengthy court fight unlikely to be resolved before in the current Congress.

But the select panel’s thinking appears to have changed, as every avenue of the probe led investigators toward fellow House members.

Some of the subpoena targets — and several other GOP lawmakers — were regularly in contact with Trump and the White House in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. They helped amplify false claims about the integrity of the 2020 election and were among the earliest to call on colleagues to challenge the results.

But members were mindful that demanding testimony from lawmakers would potentially set a precedent. While House and Senate ethics committees have subpoenaed members and staff before, there’s little precedent for an investigative committee — particularly one mainly guided by the majority party — turning its subpoena powers on fellow members of the House.  (read more)

The committee is desperate to find something, anything, that can justify all of the time and expense they have been consuming in the effort.  The clock is running out fast and the pressure is building internally. As a target of their investigation, and as a recipient of one of these subpoenas’, I can assure readers of the ridiculousness of the people conducting the investigation fishing expedition.  It is nonsense.  All of it.

Take your pick of ultra-MAGA graphics, either one is appropriate…

Classic…

Modern…

May 13 2022

Senator Rand Paul Blocks Fast-Track Senate Vote for $40 Billion Additional Ukraine Funding


Posted originally on the conservative house on May 12, 2022 | Sundance 

Senator Rand Paul has blocked a fast-track senate vote on the additional $40 billion funding package created by Joe Biden and House Democrats.  Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell approved a fast-track vote; however, senator Rand Paul (KY) stood defiant against their effort.

Despite the high-profile pressure from the two Senate leaders, Rand Paul refused to move and that means the Senate will have to take procedural steps to overcome his objection, which could take several days. “My oath of office is the US constitution not to any foreign nation and no matter how sympathetic the cause, my oath of office is to the national security of the United States of America,” Paul said in his remarks before objecting to moving to swift passage of the bill. “We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” WATCH:

The $40 billion supplemental spending bill for Ukraine is more than the total military budget of Russia.  The combined Ukraine aid packages now exceed $60 billion, more than the entire budget for the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security including border protection.

Rand Paul is on the right side of history with his position, and the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with him.   However, the opinion of the people is irrelevant to the Senate.   Even democrat Senator Chuck Schumer seemed to admit this point when he said Rand Paul’s position “was not the opinion of the overwhelming majority here,” meaning in the senate.  Schumer would have used other terms if he thought the American people agreed with him.  They don’t, and he knows it.

May 13 2022

Producer Price Inflation Continues Surging at 11 Percent, Annualized Processed Food Increases Now 34.8 Percent


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 12, 2022 | Sundance

The “Producer Price Index” (PPI) is essentially the tracking of wholesale prices at three stages: Origination (commodity), Intermediate (processing), and then Final (to wholesale). Today, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released April price data [Available Here] showing another 11.0% increase year-over-year in Final Demand products at the wholesale level.

Last month when looking at internal economic activity that showed a contraction in consumer purchases of goods, we said pay attention to the service side of the ledger now.  Knowing people have stopped buying ‘stuff’, if people are starting to run out of money, they will cut back in the service sector (dining out, etc).

While the PPI focuses on prices, the PPI data for April shows exactly that service side contraction now taking place.  Wholesale inflation in goods is determined heavily by higher costs for raw materials and processing.  However, the rate of inflation within the service sector is more connected to what consumers can afford.   Modified Table-A, look at the April difference between goods (1.3%) and services (0.0%):

[Ex. The lawn company might pay 50% more for oil and gasoline (goods side), but they may not be able to increase the rate they charge you by 50% to mow the grass (service side).]

The major current production inflation in both goods and services is directly connected to the cost of energy.  Energy prices are embedded in every sector of the economy.  For “goods” higher electricity, heating/cooling and petroleum costs (packaging, materials, transportation, etc) are unavoidable and passed on to consumers. For “services,” individuals and companies raise their prices to compensate for increases in their own costs.  It is a cumulative inflation snowball.

In April the Total PPI of 0.5% was influenced by downward price pressure from the service side.   The price of final demand (wholesale) goods increased 1.3%.  The price of final demand (wholesale) services was 0.0%.  [Note: Wholesale trade services dropped by 0.5%]

Normally I would clean up TABLE-A “intermediate demand goods both processed and unprocessed.” However, in this month the entire field of data tells a very compelling story.

Note that Intermediate Demand Processed foodstuff prices grew at 2.9% in April.  Annualized that is a 34.8% increase in price.  This is the scale of future price increases we are likely to see at the supermarket.   That 35% rate of inflation for center store products is exactly what CTH predicted for the third wave of price increases.

The Intermediate Demand Unprocessed foodstuffs, increased in price by 2.5% in April, those foodstuffs are entering the wholesale market at a 30.0% annualized rate of inflation vs last year.

As an analogy, think of the difference between processed foodstuffs (center store and dairy) and unprocessed foodstuffs (fresh produce, meats) as you would normally think about them in the supermarket.   As you can see the processed product rate of inflation (34.8%) is higher than the non-processed (30.0%).  The difference is the additional costs associated with processing as a major result of energy prices.

What the producer price index at the wholesale level is telling us, is that inflation on consumable goods is still not yet at the apex.   For durable goods the prices are less volatile, but price pressures are still in the upward direction. The price of gasoline and transportation overall will be a big factor in current prices of highly consumable goods.   We cannot and will not start to climb out of the inflation spiral on goods until we see oil, gas and energy prices stabilize first.

On the service side, inflation is going to be determined by how long businesses and operators can continue operations without raising prices.  How long can a restaurant pay 30-to-35% more for their supplies, before those price increases need to show up on the menu?

Joe Biden sucks.

(WASHINGTON) – […] The producer price data captures inflation at an earlier stage of production and can sometimes signal where consumer prices are headed. It also feeds into the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures price index.

Thursday’s figures came just a day after the government released consumer price data for April, which showed that inflation leapt 8.3% last month from a year ago. That increase is down slightly from the four-decade high in March of 8.5%. On a monthly basis, inflation rose 0.3% in April from March, the smallest increase in eight months.

Still, there were plenty of signs in the consumer price report that inflation will remain stubbornly high, likely for the rest of this year and into 2023. Rents rose faster as many apartment buildings have lifted monthly payments for new tenants. Prices for airline tickets jumped by the most on records dating to 1963. And food prices continued to rise sharply.

The Federal Reserve has stepped up its fight against rampant price increases, lifting its benchmark short-term interest rate by a half-point last week to a range of 0.75% and 1%. That increase is double its usual quarter-point hike. (read more)