The Frankish Reich

No. I don’t know your situation, and I’m sure the majority of business owners are on the up and up. Look, I hate our tax system. If I could be assured that the progressive income tax would never come back, I’d be all for a VAT/consumption tax + a low flat tax to finance the government. Tax compliance exerts a dead weight cost on all US economic activity. But that’s not what we have now, so we need to trust but verify. And audits are hated, but how else do you verify?

I asked our accountants to weigh in. So that’s exactly what I said: my impression. And no, it hasn’t “escaped the IRS.” That’s why they want to shore up the ranks of auditors. I thought that’s what we were discussing. You sound almost like someone with something to hide … And believe me, it’s not all high end taxpayers. Many were recent immigrants claiming 5 “nephews” they had custody of, getting back way more in so called “refundable” tax credits than they ever paid in, all assisted by tax preparers who sometimes did it this way without their knowledge.

I know we have some accountants who comment here. I’d like to hear their take on this. I’m not an accountant, but I have had occasion to review lots of tax filings in my line of work. My impression: there’s not all that much cheating (or room to cheat) among salaried employees, even those who are very well compensated. But the world of business owners/self-employed/consultants? That’s a different story. And it includes the big money types (Trump’s taxes) all the way down to the construction contractor. And they rarely get audited.

Look, there’s a lot, lot of tax cheating going on. Including on things like child tax credits, including tax returns from middle and lower income people, some of whom happen to be the immigrants decried for getting tax payer funded benefits. I pay my share honestly. I have no problem with a government making sure that other people do too.

WOWY — With Or Without You. From The Ringer, on Miami and Tua: “Miami’s only win in a game without him came against Joe Flacco and the Jets in Week 18. Tagovailoa also finished the season third in EPA per dropback (0.18), behind Mahomes and Allen; backups Teddy Bridgewater and Skylar Thompson averaged minus-0.03 and minus-0.27 EPA per dropback, respectively.” https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2023/1/10/23547484/nfl-power-rankings-wild-card-playoffs-eagles-bills-chiefs-bengals In a futile attempt to prevent “Tua is garbage” responses: No, he is not Josh Allen. We all know that. But he is essential to this Dolphins offense. Teddy Bridgewater is a better than average backup, but they’ve been terrible with him. Skyler Thompson actually is replacement level garbage. If Tua is in there (and stays in there) and doesn’t show any immediate ill effects of the latest concussion, this will be a game. If he’s out, it’s a blowout.

Bolsonaro in Florida. My questions/comments. - did he travel on a diplomatic passport? Or a regular passport/tourist visa? If the latter, we’d expect it to be a 6-month stay. If he wants to stay longer, well, I guess he could apply for asylum. Everyone else does. - Assuming he was admitted for 6 months, you really can’t get rid of him until his visa expires (assuming no asylum application), or until Brazil initiates a formal extradition request (which still takes time - he could fight it, including by claiming he’d be tortured if we send him back). Reminds me of the Shah of Iran situation. (Someone revive all those “Shah’s Spleen” threads!) - DeSantis would have nothing to do with this. He doesn’t issue passports/visas and doesn’t work the CBP inspection stations at the airport. Did Bolsonaro think Florida would provide him with a lot of support? Of course he did. And he’s right I’m because there’s probably tens of thousands of very politically active Brazilians there who like him, and Florida politicians are responsive to them. But that’s just Florida, not Ron.

Not their fault that the Broncos and Raiders both collapsed at the same time. KC is now like the Pats of old, basically starting every season with at least 4-6 wins in the bath thanks to their weak divisional schedule. Exactly. For years people have said the Monday after the SB - America’s leading call-in sick day - should be a holiday. And now the Super Bowl is just one week before the long Presidents Day weekend. They’re on a collision course. Just do it already. Super Bowl/Presidents Day long weekend.

Geno was really good this year, including in the win over the Rams. One of his TD passes was just amazingly perfect, absolutely the equal of Josh. I have no idea where this came from. He showed signs last year subbing for Wilson, but I just assumed the start to this year was a lucky streak. But no. Really good. Like “second tier behind Mahomes/Allen/Burrow/Herbert” good. So after a year and 4 games or whatever, I am now convinced he is the next Rich Gannon, late career bloomer.

Good one. And I’ve just gotta say: what a remarkable recovery that we now feel able to laugh again.

I agree. I think they would have been about the same mediocre team with Trubisky starting all year instead of turning the reins over to Pickett. As for Trubisky thinking he would’ve fared better elsewhere: where, exactly? I’m assuming he wanted another shot at starting, but no GM thought of him as anything more than a backup or caretaker starter at most. The Steelers probably gave him the best shot. He failed.

Wow. I didn’t know that. Not sure how Roger’s doing today, but he was clearly fine for the first couple decades at least of his retirement, making tons of money in commercial real estate.

Nathan Peterman 1, Davis Mills 0.

I can’t agree with this. The game was canceled by the NFL and not rescheduled by the NFL. There’s kind of an undercurrent here of “but it was canceled because your guy was hurt.” So if he’d been hurt on a play in which the Bengals player was penalized the result should have been different? If the game had been canceled because Cincy had a rare earthquake would that alter people’s opinion? To me, canceled is canceled, whatever the reason. I still thin a coin flip between the teams with an equal number of losses was the only fair way to determine the seeds.

Yeah, give the Broncos a playoff spot just to create an even number of teams! The underlying problem is the odd number of teams. And the reason for that is the latest expansion of the playoffs, done for one reason and one reason only: revenue.

Mahomes has thrown 3,000 passes in his career. 49 have been intercepted. 1.6%. Every QB has lucky/unlucky INT streaks, but when you’re looking at a big sample size like that, the numbers don’t lie.

Same here. Basically 10 lbs per decade. Sneaky fast.

Weather forecasting has improved by leaps and bounds over the last decade or so. But probably the most difficult place to call a week in advance is Buffalo in the winter since lake effect snow is so localized. I'll check back on Wednesday ...

So pure box score scouting here (who in their right mind would've been watching the Bears-Vikings this afternoon?): looks like Peterman gave them exactly what they wanted. A conservative style of play, 11-19, 114 yards (!), one TD, and amazingly, no INTs. Most importantly, it allowed the Bears to lose in a respectable manner that didn't have anyone saying they threw the game to get the 1st draft pick, even though the strategy was to throw the game to get the first draft pick. Nathan Peterman, Bears fans someday will thank you for taking one for the team.

Denver. 1. Weather averages: high of 45, generally sunny. Chance of snow quite low. 2. "Close" to KC (9 hours drive, short flight) 3. Local fans hate the Chiefs so to the extent they get tickets, it's 100% Bills fanbase. 4. Lots of hotel rooms. Add in a ski trip too. 5. I can easily go and will pay whatever the ticket costs. This is the deciding factor, NFL.

I used to like to use this William F. Buckley quote: "I'd rather entrust to government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University." I don't anymore. Somehow we are not finding 400 citizen-legislators our there. We are selecting for a lot of people who are far lesser than any 435 random people: George Santos is the ultimate. I'd like to say we've hit bottom, but have we? - Lauren Boebert from my great state of Colorado. High school dropout. Generally unsuccessful business owner, doing clownish things like starting a diner where all the waitstaff carry guns. - Marjorie Taylor Greene. Inherited a successful construction company from her father but showed no interest in running it. Became more concerned with the dating opportunities afforded by Cross Fit, which reawakened her sex life but did not result in a successful business plan. Switched to wild conspiracy mongering and rode that into a congressional seat, where part of her party now views her as some kind of leader. - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Over-educated millennial bartender who rode her generation's grievances into a congressional seat, where she is (where have we heard this before?) somehow seen as a thought leader by many of her peers. - Matt Gaetz. Overgrown frat boy, son of the Florida Senate's president. Did get a law degree, but then actually worked in law for a year or so before following daddy into politics. Ran into trouble when his dalliances with very young women (and what about that Cuban boy in his home? who knows?) became public, so doubled down on his crusade against the entrenched bureaucracy he was born into, now openly settling scores against those he thinks weren't sufficiently supportive of him in his time of need. - Andy Biggs. Small town lawyer who (I am not making this up) won the "you may have already won" $10 million Publisher's Clearinghouse sweepstakes and parlayed that into a congressional seat. - Kamala Harris. Well known in SF (I lived there at the time) as married Mayor Willie Brown's paramour. Got appointed to boards involving things she had no experience in thanks to that connection. Parlayed those appointments into the SF DA job, then Senator, then, without any meaningful record of accomplishment, into the a place where a failed heartbeat of an 80 year old man will make her President. Oh, for the days of country actually run by "elites."

Neal just looked the most devastated by Hamlin going down of all the Bills players. They must be very close. I hope the good news now helps him through it.

The big loss is in run support, particularly since NE will have to run effectively to stay in this one. And it’s awfully hard to see who fills that role. Siran Neal? He’s a mainstay on special teams, and I’d have more faith in him on run support than the other candidates.

Yes, there is a serious issue here, buried underneath the clownish behavior of the anti-McCarthy Repubs. In the House, it's the Hastert Rule, named after Republican Speaker Denny Hastert: the Speaker will not bring a bill to a floor vote unless it is supported by a majority of his caucus (the Republican members). This effectively destroys ANY bipartisan legislation from moving through the House. Under the current composition of the House, you could have 200 Republicans and 200 Democrats support a bill -- 90% of the House -- support a bill and it would never see the light of day because 22 Republicans oppose it. This is crazy, and it needs to change. It's not some kind of time-honored rule in place since 1800; it was created in 2006 (although I see some people say Newt Gingrich created it in practice in the 1990s). In the Senate, it's the filibuster rule. I'm a bit more ambivalent about that one, but we need to have an honest debate there too. What we're doing now in both houses isn't working so well.

I dunno. Some of these are pretty funny. Gotta love that the so-called "conservative website" sees fit to publish the jokes under the guise of rolling their eyes at the jokesters who wrote them. Seems to me he might have gotten a laugh or two himself-- 2) "Can't wait to see this go to penalty kicks tomorrow on the House floor." 3) "Well GOP crazies actually did stop the transfer of power – to themselves." 7) "It's outrageous that Antifa has delayed Kevin McCarthy's ascension to Speaker." 9) "They should start the next Speaker vote with a runner on second base." 11) "Straightforward from here – McCarthy needs to call Brad Raffensperger and ask him to find nine votes." (1:26 p.m.)

Well, you had enough patience to read it and to comment. EDIT: Your 6th comment on PPP today! So much for the "zero patience for pathetic petty political nonsense." Good news: Just 4 more comments to go to catch up with the number of Kevin McCarthy floor votes! I'll take the over.