📈 Prices Are On the Up & Up

Image: NYT

Consumer prices rose 0.9% in June compared to May, according to consumer price index data published yesterday by the Labor Department, the largest monthly increase since June 2008.

• Over the past 12 months, prices are up 5.4% – the biggest annual jump in inflation since August 2008.

📜 Background... The consumer price index (CPI) is the most widely used measure of inflation.

• It measures the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services. In other words, it tracks the price of the same group of goods throughout time.

📸 The big picture... "Inflation has been escalating due to several factors, including supply-chain bottlenecks, extraordinarily high demand as the Covid-19 pandemic eases and year-over-year comparisons to a time when the economy was struggling to reopen in the early months of the crisis," CNBC reports.

• Much of the price increases came from sectors particularly influenced by the COVID-19 shutdown and supply shortages – like hospitality and used cars.
• Used car and truck prices jumped 10.5% last month, accounting for over one-third of the CPI's total gains. Over the past year, they've climbed 45.2%.

From the Right: WSJ

From the Left: NPR

🎁 DONUT Headline: The 73rd annual Emmy Awards nominees are in – and there's a lot to talk about.

Hot Girl Summer Is Here!

…it’s time to start livin’ with your hands up and hands-free like a Dancing Queen!

You’re finally going out again and don’t have time to carry that clunky purse around. Carry 3-5 cards, cash, lip gloss, keys, etc.!

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So go ahead, take that shameless selfie, watch more dog videos, you deserve it!

Hot girl summer, now pop that case.

Image: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

TX Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday said Democratic lawmakers who left the state to delay a Republican-backed voting bill will be arrested when they return to the state.

• At least 59 of the 67 TX House Democrats fled the state in a charter flight bound for Washington, D.C., earlier Monday to deny Republicans a quorum to convene a special legislative session and consider a GOP-sponsored election bill.

🤿 A deeper dive... The bills — House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 1 — propose a number of changes to state election procedures, including:

• Authorizing the Secretary of State's office to perform voter citizenship verification.
• Establishing limitations on voting hours and banning drive-thru voting.
• Adding ID requirements for those who vote by mail.
• Banning absentee ballot drop boxes and voter harvesting.
• Preventing election officials from sending absentee ballots to voters who don't request one.
• Requiring counties with over 100k residents to implement video surveillance of any area containing filled-out ballots.

The Arguments:

• Proponents of the legislation say the changes will help prevent voter fraud and restore public faith in election security.
• Opponents argue the bills would suppress votes, especially those of minorities, and are a response to false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

📅 On the horizon... The lawmakers will have to remain out of state for weeks to avoid voting during the 30-day special legislative session, which was called by Gov. Abbott after Democrats previously staged a successful walkout at the end of the legislature's regular session in May.

• But like the earlier effort, there's no clear path for Democrats to permanently avoid voting on the new election measures or a list of other GOP-backed proposals.

🌙 Home Away From Home

Image: NASA

A critical part of NASA’s Artemis program is a space station, called Gateway, that will orbit the Moon to support continuous lunar exploration and serve as a way station for future deep space objectives (including missions to Mars).

• Northrop Grumman’s newly announced contribution to Gateway, the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), is where astronauts will live and conduct research while visiting the lunar space station.
• HALO’s design is based on the aerospace technology company’s Cygnus spacecraft, which has completed 15 resupply missions to the International Space Station.

NASA’s goal is to launch HALO aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in November 2024.

Keep reading.

Images: Facebook

Aussie couple Cassie and Chris Langan had an amazing time treating one of their most cherished house-members to a day trip to Warrnambool. The popular beachfront city has amenities for the whole family – and the couple visited 'em all, VIP guest in tow.

• The guest in question? The family’s WiFi modem.

When their children began to complain about having to take the trip, the parents had a better idea.

• “In the end, we said to the kids that if they weren’t going to go, we’d take the modem instead.”

Keep reading.

Which of these numbers has no equivalent in Roman numerals?

A) 0
B) 1,000
C) 50
D) 100

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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No link found!

A) 0

While their system of numbering proved useful enough to the Romans in their daily life, it had more than a few drawbacks when it came to math – most notably, a lack of the number zero (along with the inability to represent negative numbers).

• As a result, the Romans never used their numbering system for arithmetic – addition and subtraction were done instead on an abacus.