TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 325. Jailing Lois Lerner under the House’s “inherent contempt” power: “Lerner could be held until January 2015 when a new Congress is seated, which could issue another subpoena and throw her in the clink again if she still balks at testifying. According to a 2012 Congressional Research Service report, inherent contempt has the unique advantage that it doesn’t require ‘the cooperation or assistance of either the executive or judicial branches. The House or Senate can, on its own, conduct summary proceedings and cite the offender for contempt.'”

ADVICE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, from Charles Murray. One piece of advice is to consider marrying early:

The age of marriage for college graduates has been increasing for decades, and this cultural shift has been a good thing. Many 22-year-olds are saved from bad marriages because they go into relationships at that age assuming that marriage is still out of the question.

But should you assume that marriage is still out of the question when you’re 25? Twenty-seven? I’m not suggesting that you decide ahead of time that you will get married in your 20s. You’ve got to wait until the right person comes along. I’m just pointing out that you shouldn’t exclude the possibility. If you wait until your 30s, your marriage is likely to be a merger. If you get married in your 20s, it is likely to be a startup.

Merger marriages are what you tend to see on the weddings pages of the Sunday New York Times: highly educated couples in their 30s, both people well on their way to success. Lots of things can be said in favor of merger marriages. The bride and groom may be more mature, less likely to outgrow each other or to feel impelled, 10 years into the marriage, to make up for their lost youth.

But let me put in a word for startup marriages, in which the success of the partners isn’t yet assured. The groom with his new architecture degree is still designing stairwells, and the bride is starting her third year of medical school. Their income doesn’t leave them impoverished, but they have to watch every penny.

What are the advantages of a startup marriage? For one thing, you will both have memories of your life together when it was all still up in the air. You’ll have fun remembering the years when you went from being scared newcomers to the point at which you realized you were going to make it.

Even more important, you and your spouse will have made your way together. Whatever happens, you will have shared the experience. And each of you will know that you wouldn’t have become the person you are without the other.

Many merger marriages are happy, but a certain kind of symbiosis, where two people become more than the sum of the individuals, is perhaps more common in startups.

Much more at the link. It’s all from his new book, The Curmudgeon’s Guide To Getting Ahead.

A VICTIM OF POLITICAL THUGGERY AND PROSECUTORIAL ABUSE: Caught in the Political Grinder: The woman who became collateral damage in the prosecutorial pursuit of Scott Walker talks about her story for the first time. “It’s a cautionary tale about what it’s like to get caught in the grinder of modern winner-take-all politics.” Another reason why we need more prosecutorial accountability.

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JAMES TARANTO: Yee Gods! The Astounding Story Of Leland Yee.

A child psychologist, he backed a law “to ban the sale of violent videogames to minors,” which the Supreme Court struck down by a 7-2 vote in the 2011 case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association . The most interesting aspect of that case was the two very different dissents: Justice Clarence Thomas would have upheld the law on the ground that the First Amendment was never meant to apply to children, while Justice Stephen Breyer argued that it was constitutional because it was based on sound social science.

But on one topic he held to the standard liberal line. “He was involved in efforts to regulate guns, particularly after the 2012 mass murder of children at a Connecticut elementary school, a tragedy that Yee said touched him,” the Times notes. National Review’s Tim Cavanaugh elaborates, noting that his arrest in the alleged gun-running conspiracy comes “less than a year after [he was] pushing wide-ranging bills to require micro-stamping, restrict magazine choice, and regulate private handling of legally owned weapons.”

By contrast, the Times reports that in dealing with his alleged co-conspirators, “the senator’s approach to arms dealing was ‘agnostic,’ the 137-page [affidavit] says. ‘People want to get whatever they want to get. Do I care? No, I don’t care,’ Yee allegedly said. ‘People need certain things.’ ”

One marvels at the evident hypocrisy. Was Yee’s zeal for gun control an expression of a guilty conscience–a moralist’s battle with his own inner demons? Or was he consistent in doing whatever seemed expedient? Perhaps that enigma will be unraveled as the case proceeds.

Indeed.

IT’S LIKE THE WHOLE THING IS SOME KIND OF DEMOCRATIC VOTER FRAUD SETUP: Local couple upset after receiving pre-marked voter registration card from Covered California.

A local couple called 10News concerned after they received an envelope from the state’s Obamacare website, Covered California. Inside was a letter discussing voter registration and a registration card pre-marked with an “x” in the box next to Democratic Party.

The couple – who did not want their identity revealed – received the letter and voter registration card from their health insurance provider Covered California, the state-run agency that implements President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

They have lived in La Mesa for years and they have always been registered to vote Republican. Now, they are perplexed as to how the voter registration card pre-marked Democrat ended up in their mailbox.

Shut the whole thing down under RICO.

USA TODAY: Obama promised his administration would be transparent, but recent events suggest otherwise. Ya think?

WORRIED: Senate Democrats struggle to define a message that can save their majority. “This is all about turnout. They’re not doing this to win swing voters. . . . They’ve got to do this. Otherwise, they’re totally doomed.”

So more “war on women, Republicans will put y’all back in chains” demagoguery, then.

KEVIN WILLIAMSON: Which Side Are You On? If you don’t care whether Republicans win, care that Democrats lose.

Even if you think that Romney is a squishy RINO Massachusetts technocrat with a secret crush on Obamacare, you have to be on the wrong side of the border between ideologically hardcore and ideologically blinded to conclude that spending four years fighting against the very worst imaginable tendencies of a Romney administration would have been anything other than wine and roses compared with spending four years fighting against the very worst tendencies of an Obama administration, especially when the president is in the position of never having to face another election.

You can tell yourself a just-so story about how the guy you liked who couldn’t beat Romney in the GOP primary would have beaten the mom jeans off of Obama in the general, and maybe you’re right, but it didn’t happen that way. (And maybe you don’t like that the so-called establishment supported Romney. Guess what? You can support candidates, too!) Likewise, if all the senators that conservatives admire weren’t already running for president, one of them might make a majority leader that you’d prefer to McConnell. And Paul Ryan probably would be a more inspiring speaker than Boehner is. Fine, fine, and fine. But that isn’t where we were, and it isn’t where we are.

The question wasn’t “Mitt Romney — yes or no?” It was: “Mitt Romney — compared with what?”

Compared with this.

Read the whole thing.

WITH LEFTIES, THE GULAG ISN’T A BUG, IT’S A FEATURE: Gawker’s Adam Weinstein Wants to Put You in Jail for Being a Climate Change ‘Denier.’

“A HEAVENLY ANSWER TO EVERY REASONABLE MAN’S PRAYERS:” Looking back at Sophia Loren.

IT’S ONLY A “WAR ON WOMEN” IF YOU CAN BLAME REPUBLICANS: Obama refuses to raise human rights issues with Saudis.

WELL, THAT TURNED OUT BADLY THE LAST TIME IT WAS TRIED: Vladimir Putin ‘Wants to Regain Finland’ Says Close Adviser.

JOHN HINDERAKER: Standing Up To The Commie Thugs In Venezuela. And “commie thugs” is not pejorative, but descriptive.

WORRIED ABOUT QUAKES IN L.A. We felt the tremor when we were there last week; last night’s was considerably worse, I gather. If you live in the area, you should have your earthquake kit set up: Water for several days, food, flashlights and spare batteries, go-bag, etc. Here’s an earlier post on earthquake preparedness with links to several more, and this LAFD booklet (PDF) is handy. I saw someone on Twitter worrying that there are too many people in LA now who haven’t experienced a real quake, and are underprepared. Bad idea.

Plus, an earthquake preparedness list.

WOULD YOU EVER RECOMMEND AN AFFAIR? “No more than I would recommend cancer and yet a lot of people finally understand the value of life when they get sick.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “I am such a cynic that when I read stuff like this I can’t help thinking it’s just the left getting assets in place for Hillary’s campaign.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times.

COLD WAR ECHOES under the Arctic ice. Wasn’t the Arctic supposed to be ice-free by now?

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SO DOES THIS MEAN THE CUPCAKE FAD HAS JUMPED THE SHARK? In New York, a “Cupcake ATM.”

REIHAN SALAM: What About Ageism Against The Young And Talented? Since all the ageism talk is just Hillary2016 battlespace preparation, it’s not a useful narrative, so don’t expect to hear much about it.

HMM: Lens-Free Camera Sees Things Differently.

CNN BLACKS OUT COVERAGE OF LELAND YEE’S ARMS-SMUGGLING CHARGES BECAUSE THEY DON’T COVER MERE STATE SENATORS.

Except here’s a page of CNN search results on my state senator, who hasn’t even been charged with a crime. Other than the crime of being a Republican, I guess.

LESSONS FROM the Little Ice Age. Which we may be in danger of repeating.