Inflation, stalking, and ‘close enough’

Inflation in October hit a three-decade high of 6.2%, affecting the cost of everything from groceries to utilities to appliances.

More specifically, the consumer price index increased by 0.9% last month, compared to its increase of 0.4% in September and 0.3% in August, the fastest increase in 31 years.

As Vice President Kamala Harris said this week, “It’s real, and it’s rough.”

Yet certain members of the press, those who get paid handsomely to understand such issues, continue to deny both that inflation is a problem and that it hurts lower-class and middle-class consumers.

“The dirty little secret here,” said MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, who came to the media after a career of hawking credit derivatives on Wall Street, “while nobody likes to pay more, on average, we have the money to do so.”

Easy for a person with a reported net worth of $6 million to say.

Yes, prices are “higher,” MSNBC’s Joy Reid said last week, but “Americans are also spending a record amount of money that was pent up during the pandemic, which economics 101 will tell you drives prices up, [also known as] inflation.”

Lastly, there is journalist and former New York Times editorial board member Sarah Jeong.

“All the stuff you see about inflation in the news is driven by rich people flipping their s*** because their parasitic assets aren’t doing as well as they’d like and they’re scared that unemployment benefits [and stimulus] checks [and] 15 minimum wage [and] labor shortage is why,” she tweeted.

She added, “Waaaaah the working class’s income is keeping pace with or outstripping inflation but my capital gains aren’t boo f***ing hooooo. very spooky scary to think of the moment the poors realize inflation favors debtors and that that’s what the hubbub is about, and not milk prices.”

For the record, the stock market is nearing all-time highs, and housing prices have increased in certain areas by roughly 90%. Every financial asset is booming. The wealthy are doing just fine. It’s the people who live paycheck to paycheck who are suffering because real wages are down.

But you’d never know this from following the people paid to understand this stuff.

The stalking dead

Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder, who is presiding over the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, permanently banned MSNBC from the courthouse last week after one of its producers was caught allegedly stalking the jury.

Police stopped a man last Wednesday for running a red light, Schroeder told the court. The man, who identified himself as James Morrison, had been closely following a bus carrying jury members, police said. Morrison then reportedly told law enforcement officials he had been instructed by his supervisor in New York to tail the vehicle.

As a result, Schroeder instructed the court to deny MSNBC entrance to the courthouse.

“I have instructed that no one from MSNBC will be permitted in this building for the duration of this trial,” he said. “This is a very serious matter, and I don’t know what the ultimate truth of it is. But absolutely it would go without much thinking that someone who is following the jury bus — that is a very extremely serious matter.”

He concluded by saying the matter will be referred to the proper authorities for “further action.”

NBC News released a statement admitting to at least part of the allegations leveled against its producer.

“Last night, a freelancer received a traffic citation,” the network said in a statement. “While the traffic violation took place near the jury van, the freelancer never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them.”

It added, “We regret the incident and will fully cooperate with the authorities on any investigation.”

Pay close attention to what NBC is doing. When Schroeder informed the court of Morrison’s traffic citation and the allegation that the NBC employee was instructed to tail the bus, the judge never accused the producer of attempting to contact or photograph jurors. By focusing almost entirely on things Schroeder never said, NBC is attempting to distract from the substance of the allegations law enforcement officials leveled against its producer. NBC glosses over where Morrison is said to have tailed jurors. NBC also glosses over the part where Morrison allegedly told police his supervisors ordered him to follow the bus. NBC admits to the traffic violation — it can’t weasel out of that one — but it then distracts from what Kenosha police actually said in favor of that which nobody said.

Close enough

The infamous Steele dossier that the FBI used as justification to spy on onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page is most likely a work of total fiction.

The dossier, which also served as the foundation for the press’s frenetic coverage of the supposed conspiracy between Moscow and the Trump campaign, may itself be a Russian counterintelligence propaganda product.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for mea culpas from the members of the press who did the most to promote a document whose primary source has since been indicted on five counts of lying to federal investigators. Many of them argue now their efforts to legitimize what was always a deeply dubious work of opposition research is justified by the fact that Russia did indeed interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

“Even if every single word in the Steele dossier was wrong, that would not change the fact that the Russians sought to manipulate the U.S. election using hacked material and a disinformation campaign,” the Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum said last week.

The chief problem with this attitude, aside from the fact that it’s devoid of even a fraction of humility, is that it ignores the fact that the FBI used a fake document to spy on an actual presidential campaign.

Applebaum’s argument is even more absurd when one remembers the lengths she went to legitimize the dossier.

In 2017, she promoted a New York Times story titled, “How a sensational, unverified dossier became a crisis for Donald Trump.” Applebaum later alleged, “The political origins of the dossier have long been known. Problem was that so many European intelligence agencies had similar information.”

Now, she has tweaked her position slightly to give herself cover.

“Given the fact that the Russians sought to manipulate the U.S. election campaign using hacked material and a disinformation campaign, it was not stupid for the FBI to take the Steele dossier seriously,” Applebaum said. “Was a mistake to publish it, but that wasn’t the FBI’s fault.”

She added, “Some of the confused responses to this very uncomplicated and uncontroversial statement reflect just how much damage Trump’s lies have done to the American psyche. Tragic that so many of you fell for them.”

Sure, the dossier may be a lie, Applebaum says. Sure the federal intelligence apparatus was weaponized against a presidential campaign — and all because of a document that may or may not also be the product of actual Russian disinformation. But this doesn’t change the fact Russia and Trump are bad!

Fellow dossier enthusiast Jane Mayer made a similar argument.

“Steele’s overall thrust was that Russia was trying to interfere in the 2016 election,” the New Yorker journalist said. “And about that he was absolutely right, correct?”

No, the overall thrust of the dossier was not that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Russia has been interfering for years. Just ask former President Barack Obama and former Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

The overall thrust of the dossier was that there was an explicit and coordinated “conspiracy of cooperation” between the Trump 2016 campaign and senior officials in Moscow. This is an explosive claim — one that suggests criminal activity on Trump’s part.

A little humility would go a long way toward reestablishing whatever credibility may be salvaged by our press, but some of these people are too proud to do even that.