INFLATION, ONCE UNLEASHED, IS DIFFICULT AND PAINFUL TO REIN BACK IN: The Fed just dashed hopes for lower mortgage rates. What homebuyers need to know.

So far, the MBS roll-off has lagged the Fed’s $35 billion cap because of the slower housing market. They’ve been hovering at $15 billion per month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after the Fed’s policy meeting last week.

But if sales accelerate in the spring-summer buying season, homebuyers could see an uptick in mortgage rates. The more likely scenario, though, is that mortgage rates just won’t drop, financial and real estate experts said.

“Lower mortgage rates continue to feel more out of reach in this perfect storm of persistent inflation, rising treasury yields, and the Fed’s continued run-off of its MBS holdings,” Orenstein said.

Plus: Fed may need to hold rates steady all year, Kashkari says.

KEVIN DOWNEY JR: How ‘Woke’ Social Conditioning Almost Cost My Friend His Life and Is Killing Our Nation.

LIVE RESULTS: It’s Hoosier Primary Day!

BREAKING: Trump Classified Docs Trial Postponed Indefinitely.

“CONSPIRACY THEORY” NOW JUST MEANS “A LITTLE AHEAD OF THE NEWS CYCLE”: Monday’s Conspiracy Theory About Joe Biden Is Tuesday’s Fact.

SHOCKER: Disney LIED About Star Wars. “It’s really easy to show a profit when you include revenues but conveniently leave out major expenses.”

UPDATE (From Ed): One easy way for Disney to generate some quick revenue on its investment? Release the original versions of the first three films! But as James Joyner wrote on Sunday in “The Real Star Wars Films,” “I’m honestly shocked Disney hasn’t already done that, given that there are surely millions of folks who would shell out to own the originals.”

Related: Iger: We’re Reducing Output Because Audiences Realized We Serve Up C***.

BLUE CITY BLUES: Given The Chance, Austin Voters Escape Austin. “Three areas voted to disannex from Austin after saying they’re paying for services they don’t receive.”

CORN, POPPED: I Dare You. “Donald Trump is now daring the judge in his Manhattan trial to throw him in jail for violating his gag order.”

PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE, HOW DOES IT WORK?

Actually even that is not enough to acquit. Trump has to have not known about the $130,000 hush money payment at the time he was reimbursing Cohen for it! https://t.co/b3UZH03Xvo

— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) May 6, 2024

This is just embarrassing for an attorney but par for an MSNBC legal analyst.

LOW-G FITNESS: Astronauts could run round ‘Wall of Death’ to keep fit on moon, say scientists. “Using a rented Wall of Death – a giant wooden cylinder used by motorcycle stunt performers in their gravity-defying fairground act – a 36m-high telescopic crane, and some bungee cords, researchers showed it was possible for a human to run fast enough in lunar gravity not only to remain on the wall, but to generate sufficient lateral force to combat bone and muscle wasting.”

It looks like fun, too.

VICTORIA TAFT: Trump Isn’t the Only One Silenced at His Trial. “The man who might be the most important witness to Donald Trump’s defense in Manhattan has been effectively silenced, much like the defendant himself. Now why would that be?”

TRAVELING TO RUSSIA IS INVITING YOURSELF TO BECOME A HOSTAGE: US soldier was arrested in Russia last week, officials say. “There are a number of Americans being held in Russia, including two who have been declared as wrongfully detained by the US State Department – Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan.”

DON’T BE A SOFT TARGET: A Foiled Church Shooting Demonstrates the Need for Churches to Have Security Teams.

WOEING: FAA Opens New Boeing Inquiry Over 787 Inspections.

Federal air-safety regulators have opened a new investigation into Boeing after the jet maker recently disclosed that its employees may have skipped some inspections on 787 Dreamliners and falsified records, the latest quality issue at the manufacturer.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane maker notified the agency in April that it may not have completed required inspections related to the electrical safeguards of bonding and grounding where wings join the fuselage on certain aircraft.

The FAA said it was investigating “whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records.” The agency has been scrutinizing Boeing’s production since the Jan. 5 midair blowout of a door plug on a 737 MAX jet flown by Alaska Airlines.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether any 787 Dreamliners currently flying passengers around the world would need to be pulled out of service for inspections. The agency said Boeing was reinspecting all 787s in production and must formulate a plan to address the in-service Dreamliner fleet.

Then there’s this from March: Video of Boeing engineers goes viral – “I wouldn’t fly on one of these planes.”

And: Boeing, Boeing, GONE: Another Whistleblower Has ‘Died Suddenly.’

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Dems’ Alternative Reality Gets Weirder by the Day. “We’re just a little under six months away from the election to end all elections. Seriously. People on both sides of the aisle swear that there won’t be any more free elections in the United States if the other guy wins. The difference in the two versions of the story is that one side is still mostly reality-based.”

GENERATIONAL CHANGE:

The divide between younger and older Black voters was seen during the 2020 primary, and I see it again now… Sample sizes are smaller, so I had to average across polls… Still, Black voters under 45: Biden 60%, Trump 32%. Black voters 45+: Biden 75%, Trump 12%…

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) May 6, 2024

Previously: Biden Loses Support Among Black Men, WSJ Poll Finds.” While most Black men said they intend to support Biden, some 30% of them in the poll said they were either definitely or probably going to vote for the former Republican president. There isn’t comparable WSJ swing-state polling from 2020, but Trump received votes from 12% of Black men nationwide that year, as recorded by AP VoteCast, a large poll of the electorate.”

WELCOME TO THE KLEPTOGERONTOCRACY: At Least He Isn’t Running for President: 82-Year-Old Bernie to Run for Senate Again.

THEY AREN’T CITIZENS OR EVEN LEGAL RESIDENTS AND SHOULDN’T COUNT: Illegal Aliens Skew Elections By Inflating Certain States’ Electoral Power. This Bill Would Change That.

When former President Donald Trump signed a memo in July 2020 barring illegal aliens from being counted in the census, it was promptly met with a flurry of challenges. A handful of judges blocked the memo, and President Joe Biden eventually reversed the policy.

Democrat New York Rep. Yvette Clark made it crystal clear why Democrats support including illegal aliens in their apportionment tallies when she said in 2021 that her district could “absorb a significant number of these migrants” because “I need more people in my district, just for redistricting purposes.” As droves of Californians and New Yorkers head to red states like Florida and Texas, Democrats are desperate to recoup their population losses to maintain their electoral advantages. Through policies like sanctuary cities — which drain government resources and often invite violence — Democrats have incentivized a boom in illegal immigration to blue areas, which in turn inflates census data in Democrats’ favor.

Red state voters aren’t being replaced (yet) but they are being shoved aside.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Former Biden DOJ Official Prosecuting Trump Was on DNC Payroll.

COLORADO: Mountain lion hunting ban working its way towards Colorado’s 2024 ballot.

If it makes the ballot and passes, Initiative #91 would bar what the measure refers to as the “trophy hunting” of mountain lions—along with bobcats or lynx–in Colorado. The measure has been approved for circulation and the group “Cats Aren’t Trophies” had already raised nearly $220,000 by the Jan. 16 campaign finance filing date. The next filing is due May 6. The group also registered with the Secretary of Sate as a licensed petition entity on April 11, meaning they can pay people directly for signature gathering. Proponents must gather more than 126,000 valid signatures from registered voters by August to make the ballot.

Trophy hunting is generally considered as the hunting of wild animals just for sport and not for food, but Initiative 91 broadly defines the practice as the “intentional killing, wounding, pursing or entrapping of a mountain lion, bobcat or lynx.”

Trophy hunting is banned in most places in the US unless there is a temporary need to balance out a population. In Colorado, the hunting of mountain lions (as well as bobcats and lynx), which runs yearly from November to March (with additional hunting in April if needed) is already prohibited unless the meat of the animal is harvested for consumption.

If it makes the ballot, I suspect it will pass.

PAULA BOLYARD: This Is What Terrifies Me About the Mainstream Media.

WOW: CRIPSR gene editing leads to improvements in vision for people with inherited blindness, clinical trial shows. “While more research is needed to determine who may benefit most, we consider the early results promising. To hear from several participants how thrilled they were that they could finally see the food on their plates –that is a big deal. These were individuals who could not read any lines on an eye chart and who had no treatment options, which is the unfortunate reality for most people with inherited retinal disorders.”

I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE’D BE DOING DIFFERENTLY: Does Biden Want a ‘Forever War’ in Gaza?

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to watch NASA’s first Boeing Starliner crewed flight launch today “Watch along today as NASA’s Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test finally — most likely — blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA should start streaming its coverage at 6:30PM ET on its YouTube channel, with the official launch set for 10:34PM ET. The spacecraft will carry two astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.”

MATH IS HARD: Jon Stewart Says Biden Is Too ‘F***ing Old’ to Be President and… Hello, Math Much?