A second walk, in the mists of noon:
And then, finally, some sun came out and made the woodland phlox look quite jaunty:
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Houston weather over the weekend was very pleasant with highs in the low 70s. Climate change has us over 90 today. 90s actually isn't abnormal for May, and I was kidding about the climate part. Still, it was a noticeable change in two days and shortened our afternoon walk to just a mile.
It was 90 here on Friday (SW Idaho) and today, it got up to 59.
Yeah, Texas has had a lovely, gentle spring, extended benevolence compared to past years, but today, and for the rest of this week, somebody has taken the tarp off summer. Hot.
A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a Wisconsin judge (Hannah Dugan) accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, allowing the case against her to continue. - AP
I'm planning a train trip across the Canadian Rockies for spring. I hope there will be no unpleasantness at the borders with Alberta. Maybe they'll seal the train, like the one the Germans used to send Lenin to St Petersburg.
Aggie - Yes sir. Been nice so far. No more.
Jim at said...
"A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a Wisconsin judge (Hannah Dugan) accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, allowing the case against her to continue. - AP"
And the stock market is up, Ukraine's trade bluff was called, China trade bluff called, Bidenflation down to pre-Biden levels, Der Starmer is now changing his tune after Labour's bloodbath...
I don't have many spaces left on my Rich/Kak/Dinky/Sockpuppet- is -a-dumbass-tool-wrong-about-everything bingo card.
Hey! I think I've found out what became of Inga!
For those who missed Sunday's marginal revolution:
IRS Officials' Stock Holdings and Corporate Tax Outcomes
49 Pages Posted: 8 May 2025 Last revised: 8 May 2025
Michael Mayberry
University of Florida - Fisher School of Accounting
Eashwar Nagaraj
University of Florida - Fisher School of Accounting
Scott G. Rane
University of Florida - Fisher School of Accounting
Date Written: May 06, 2025
Abstract
We investigate the information content of personal stock trades by IRS officials. We collect transaction-level data on over five thousand IRS officials' personal investments and document substantial trading activity in individual stocks by officials across IRS departments. We find that IRS officials' trades, predominantly their purchases, generate positive abnormal returns on average, consistent with officials' information being not yet fully impounded into stock price. Next, we examine whether stock trades by these officials are associated with the firm's future tax enforcement outcomes. For a given firm, we find IRS officials' purchases are associated with subsequent decreases in tax reserves and specifically lapses in the statute of limitations. We also find that IRS officials' sales are associated with subsequent unfavorable tax settlements. These findings suggest that IRS officials possess, and trade on, material tax-related information and that these trades are associated with future tax enforcement outcomes for firms.
Corruption on a par with any 3rd world nation
What happened to making sure the gold was still at Fort Knox?
I love the seamless water and sky, when you can't tell them apart. 🤭
Why are the Winnipeg Jets, "The Jets"?
WA-mom said..."What happened to making sure the gold was still at Fort Knox?"
Clearly, it's missing and they're trying to figure out what to say next. Amirite?
YouTube: Gambling Rose
I'm tired of Judges trying to substitute on the legislative side just because the Dems lost there. If I were a judge I'd injunct one of these nationwide injunctions in my district. I'd say the nationwide injunction didn't apply in my district, that I had as much right to decide that it didn't apply as some other judge in some other district had to say that it did apply in my district. In fact, I'd reject all 87 injunctions in my district and then I'd say that the injunctions weren't nationwide any more because they didn't apply in my district. So they were all over. And let the good times roll.
Carrying on from the baseball thread - as if anybody cares - an personal note about Cal Ripken's streak: Cal started his streak the day I graduated high school in 1982. He ended the streak (voluntarily, I may add) the day I got married in 1998.
I cannot begin to account for all the life events between those two dates, but during that whole period he suited up 162 times for more than 16 years.
Forgot to add, my wife met Ripken at a work-related event. She got him to autograph the back of my HS diploma and the back of our marriage license. He got a kick out of it.
Now we suspect that The Don has moved all the gold in Fort Knox to a bank in Qatar in his own name. He is in the process of converting it into crypto coin.
Sun's coming up.
Like a big bald head.
Poking up over the grocery store.
It's Sharkey's day.
It's Sharkey's day today.
Sharkey wakes up and Sharkey says: There was this man...
And there was this road...
And if only I could remember these dreams...
I know they're trying to tell me...
something.
Ooooeee.
Strange dreams.(Strange dreams).
Oh yeah.
And Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear.
I turn around aagain And it's love.
Oh yeah.
Strange dreams.
And the little girls sing:
Oooee Sharkey.
And the manager says: Mr.
Sharkey?
He's not at his desk right now.
Could I take a message?
And the little girls sing:
Oooeee Sharkey.
He's Mister Heartbreak.
They sing: Oooeee Sharkey.
Yeah.
He's Mister Heartbreak.
And Sharkey says: All of nature talks to me.
If I could just figure out what it was trying to tell me.
Listen!
Trees are swinging in the breeze.
They're talking to me.
Insects are rubbing their legs together.
They're all talking.
They're talking to me.
And short animals- They're bucking up on their hind legs.
Talking.
Talking to me.
Hey!
Look out!
Bugs are crawling up my legs!
You know?
I'd rather see this on TV.
Tones it down.
@Jim at (11:33) that’s fantastic
The gold left over at Fort Knox was traded for all the tea in China. It was not a good deal… clearly… not a good deal. I wouldn’t have made that deal.
The annual inflation rate eased to 2.3 percent in April, the lowest since February 2021, showing that Joe Biden's attempted destruction of the U.S. economy can be reversed.
And JP Morgan says there isn’t going to be a recession after all. In the hands of Democrats economics is just another example of junk science.
Jim at said... during that whole period he suited up 162 times for more than 16 years.
Except for all the times he went on strike.
Cal Ripken’s “streak” is a fraud.
‘Rat People’: China’s Gen Z Takes ‘Lying Flat’ Lifestyle to New Level
"As Beijing urges the younger generation to endure hardships, many Gen Zers are embracing a more relaxed lifestyle, identifying themselves as “rat people.” Some China analysts say that this phenomenon underscores a troubling sense of despair and hopelessness among the youth regarding their future amid China’s economic decline and bleak job prospects.
The buzzword has recently gained momentum across Chinese social media. These self-identified “rat people” share videos showing how they spend most of their time in bed, getting up only for bathroom breaks and retrieving food deliveries left at their doorstep.
Describing their lifestyle as “low energy,” these netizens tend to shy away from socializing or going out. Some said in posts that they can stay in bed for up to 23 hours per day.
Videos and posts about “rat people” have gained hundreds of millions of views on platforms such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and Weibo, the equivalent of X. The hashtag “rat people” has garnered more than 10 million views on Weibo as of May 9, indicating a growing trend.
In a viral video, a 27-year-old jobless blogger who identifies as a “rat person” shares a glimpse into her daily routine that resonates with many viewers. She starts by explaining that she wakes up at 11 a.m. and pretends to be productive by ordering coffee and browsing her phone. At 2 p.m., she goes back to sleep. By 5 p.m., she gets up to use the bathroom and collects the coffee delivery left on her doorstep. At 6 p.m., she enjoys her coffee while watching videos on her phone. At 7 p.m., she checks her dinner options on her phone and orders takeout. Finally, at 9 p.m., she has her first meal of the day.
As of May 9, the vlog received 45,000 likes on Douyin and more than 2,100 likes on Weibo, garnering many comments. Most viewers expressed admiration for this leisurely lifestyle, while others shared that they have been living this way for years.
One netizen commented: “I’ve been a rat man for five years. ... I don’t socialize at all.”
Some China observers say the buzzword reflects a widespread pessimism and resignation among the Gen Zers.
“Young people see little hope for society and the governments,” Li Yuanhua, an Australia-based history scholar and former associate professor at Beijing’s Capital Normal University, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times.
“They express their quiet defiance through this kind of giving up, self-abandonment, and maintaining a lifestyle that meets only their basic daily needs.”
Li said these young people think, “I don’t want to work hard, because hard work won’t make a difference.”
This recent phenomenon echoes a trend that went viral four years ago, when many young people in China rejected the rat race, in favor of a lifestyle known as “lying flat.”
They rejected the demanding work culture of long hours, especially the “996” style—working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—which is prevalent in the country’s tech and digital sectors. Frustrated by constant competition and pressure, many opt for a simpler life that shuns expensive products, starting a family, or buying their own homes.
That mindset has drawn criticism from the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Xi Jinping, the Party’s leader, has publicly cautioned against “lying flat” and called on the Gen Zers to work hard and be able to “eat bitterness,” a Chinese expression for enduring hardship.
Xi reiterated the message on Youth Day, on May 4. In a front-page article published in People’s Daily, the Party’s official newspaper, he told young adults to move to the countryside to work and support the Party’s version of modernization."
More at the link.
This is just plane crazy. ✈️
With Trump Visit, Qatar’s Image Makeover Scores Another
Success ~ NYT
"The emirate, once called “a funder of terrorism” by President Trump, has spent lavishly on overhauling its global reputation."
Re: MadTownGuy's post above about "rat people" and a bit on neo yesterday or so from Dave Barry about a higher incidence of dementia among married people, hypothesized to be linked to "outsourcing" some daily mental tasks to your spouse... I'm feeling a little uneasy about paying a guy today to come replace our door hardware.
Probably not uneasy enough to cancel. It's going to be hot in Houston today...
Colorado is lost. Leave as quick as you can.
"The annual inflation rate eased to 2.3 percent in April, the lowest since February 2021, showing that Joe Biden's attempted destruction of the U.S. economy can be reversed."
Remember: Abacus Boy LLR-democratical Rich declared it an impossibility, a literal impossiblity, for inflation to decrease.
Keeping alive LLR-democratical Rich's astonishing years-long 100% Failed Prediction/Assessment/"Analysis" rate
So what will be today's WOTD? (wishcast of the day)
Keep hope alive!
The rat people in China sound an awful lot like the base of the Democrat Party here. Lying flat is something they're very good at.
Let's remember Trump's effect on the economy hasn't had time to take effect yet by his own admission (only last week telling us that the 0.3% contraction in the economy was down to Biden not him as it's too early for his influence to be felt). So we should be celebrating this drop as Biden's good work, as I'm sure Comrade Drago will acknowledge. 🥃
Annual inflation figures once again masking monthly changes.
What actually happened — the 0.3% monthly CPI print from 4/30/24 fell out of the data series, replaced with a 0.2% monthly CPI print for 4/30/25. Hence the annual figure looks better. However, if we look at the other missing bit of context - that March 25 CPI print was actually negative - the current month print represents a 0.3% from most recent trends.
Not quite as rosy as our MAGA friends would seem to believe it is. Yes yes, I know... data analysis is a symptom of TDS too, probably. Let's see how things shake out by the end of summer.
LLR-democratical Rich: "Let's see how things shake out by the end of summer."
LOL
This suggestion to wait until end of summer is precisely the current DNC talking point (literally a new lie that lack of increased inflation is "transitory"...a flip of the script from the 4 year dem/LLR-dem lie that bidens massive inflationary effects (which Rich denied) at first did not exist, then when finally acknowledged were falsely labeled transitory only...which Rich also pushed!)
Even better, it was just a few weeks back that the Total Collapse of every single Abacus Boy economic prediction led our weak-kneed Harry Sisson type to declare we should drop any further discussion of economic performance until the end of this calendar year!
Poor Rich.
Naturally he was called out for immediately posting new waves of economic performance lies right after calling for the "ceasefire"!!
Now just how funny is that?
And now here we go again!
Althouse might have to come up with a "Civility BS" type equivalent key word that captures Rich's amazing incompetence married to his mendaciousness married to his unserious faux calls for rhetorical disarmament just to save his New Soviet Democratical pro-ChiCom arse!
I am still waiting for LLR-democratical Rich to "discover" our US Central Command forward base and joint UK/US Airbase in Doha.
Rich, ignorant of all things military (which is why he spent months arguing Jazzy Spirit Fingers Stolen-Valor Walz was a literal war hero), will be quite shocked to find out whats there and how the obama/biden regimes sent hundreds of billions to the mad mullahs as well as pallets of billions of dollars for easy distribution to Iran's terrorist proxies across thecMidfle East while striving to help the mad mullahs accelerate their nukevprograms.
Try to find a love as strong as the dems/LLR-dems passionate love for the islamic supremacist 7th century death cults.
Look @ Drago spin — wind him up and watch him go. 😵💫
Did anyone expect the Liberation Day tariffs to impact the inflation already in April?
I mean, besides Drago — MAGA seems to be very relieved that they didn't. It’s almost like Drago is have a closed loop conversation with himself 🤣🥃🥃
Rich is exposed, and squirming. Like David Hogg.
The old saying is the dogs bark but the caravan moves on, which it is. But after the last decade of lies, the lefty dog barks aren't even registering anymore.
BTW, when and where will Rich be attending his next pro-hamas/pro-MS13 RALLY? Its always hard to tell since the dems throw so many.
So ,if "Trump's effect on the economy hasn't had time to take effect yet"...
Why were certain individuals wetting themselves a few weeks' back over the sudden moves in the market? And making all sorts of dire prognostications? Just more wishcasting that didn't turn out as promised. The market moves didn't matter then, they don't matter now.
kaKAW! kaKAW!! kaKAWWWwwww!!!
Truths from this mook are rarer than hen’s teeth.
"Let's see how things shake out by the end of summer."
But you won't. Wait, that is. You couldn't shut up if your life depended upon it.
Let me just go check my Tesla stock.(comes back)
Ha ha ha ha ahhhhhh.
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