TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 742.

CLINTON/STEPHANOPOULOS STREET ART POPPING UP IN NEW YORK: A reader reports that these pics are all around the ABC studios and Good Morning America Times Square set.

Funny, but it seems that people on the right are really getting into this Guerrilla Art stuff:

UPDATE: Heh.

MEGAN MCARDLE: U.S. Workers Brought the ‘Great Reset’ on Themselves.

College professors. Manufacturing workers. Recent college graduates. What do they all have in common?

They are all, as a group, seeing the terms of their employment reset downward. The average package available to those people is worse than what similarly situated people got a generation ago, Tyler Cowen writes in the New York Times. Tenure lines are being dropped in favor of adjunct jobs that pay worse and have no protection from firing. New manufacturing workers get lower wages and benefits. Recent college grads find fewer well paying, steady jobs. This is the end of a long process, not a sudden bump, but as Cowen notes, “Such processes are scary because we may be watching the slow unfolding of a hand that, in its fundamentals, has already been dealt.”

As this hand is played, the common response is to demand that we go back to the last hand, which was much better. It has become customary, almost a required ritual, for any academic writing about adjunct faculty in any context to insert a call for their work to be done by well-paid tenure-track faculty. No meditation on “American manufacturing” is complete without explaining why those workers need stronger unions to get them higher pay (or at least an explanation of why that won’t work). And I don’t need to tell you how much ink has been spilled on the plight of college graduates and their student loans.

The average American is at the heart of this story — as the victim and as the perpetrator. We suffer as employees because we exert influence as consumers.

Read the whole thing.

THEY’RE NOT SCIENCE DENIERS, THEY’RE SCIENCE FAKERS: What is it about progressives and their manipulation of scientific data?  It’s not just global warming climate change; now it’s social science on gay marriage.

According to the study, people from communities hostile to gay marriage could have their opinions shift dramatically after spending just a few minutes speaking with a gay person who canvassed their neighborhood promoting gay marriage. . . .

The study, among other things, lent support to the notion that those opposed to gay marriage simply don’t know or interact with open homosexuals. More broadly, it was seen as an important development in the science of how people can be convinced to change their minds on ideologically-charged issues.

The study began to fall apart when students at the University of California at Berkeley sought to conduct additional research building off of it, only to find major irregularities in how its research was apparently conducted. . . . 

Donald Green, a professor at Columbia University and a co-author of the paper, made the decision to retract it after having a confrontation with co-author Michael LaCour, a graduate student at UCLA. While LaCour maintained that he hadn’t fabricated the data, he was also unable to produce the original source files supposedly used to produce it. When he failed to write-up a retraction, Green took the initiative and did so himself.

Guess some folks think they can fake it ’til they make it.  Or maybe it’s just Alinsky’s “the ends justify the means.“

WELL, THAT WOULD MAKE ME FEEL SECURE: Cops Who Lost Guns Still on GOP Leaders’ Details.

Related: Democrats complain Capitol Police being “more aggressive” in removing Democrat-linked protesters from hearings.

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BUT OF COURSE: Columbia mattress girl looking to cash in on art project.

Emma Sulkowicz, known for carrying a mattress around campus for what she claims is a protest of Columbia University’s failure to punish her rapist, is hoping to cash in on her alleged art project.

Sulkowicz told the New York Times after her graduation on Tuesday — where she carried her mattress across the stage — that she would sell the mattress if offered.

“If some sort of museum wants to buy it, then I’m open to that,” she said, “but I’m not going to just throw it away.”

Sulkowicz has for the past year carried her mattress around for course credit at Columbia, and said she would do so until the man she accused of rape either graduated or was expelled. On Tuesday, both Sulkowicz and the man she accused — Paul Nungesser — graduated.

Nungesser is suing Columbia for engaging in Sulkowicz’s harassment campaign against him. Nungesser was cleared of wrongdoing by a campus hearing and the police. He has also released Facebook messages showing friendly and loving messages between he and Sulkowicz after the allegedly brutal rape.

She was jilted, this was her crazy revenge, Columbia went along. Male students may reasonably fear that Columbia maintains a hostile educational environment on the basis of sex.

OH, LOOK, ANOTHER DEMOCRATIC TODD AKIN: National Journal: Democrats Have a Todd Akin Problem: Alan Grayson is getting closer to a Senate campaign in Florida. He could cost them a must-win seat—and threaten their chances at a Senate majority.

Rep. Alan Grayson is the Todd Akin of the Democrats—except that he’s louder, more outrageous, and has millions of his own fortune to spend however he sees fit. And Democrats are nervously expecting the former trial lawyer to enter the pivotal Senate race, challenge the candidate party leaders view as more electable, and raise holy hell in the process. . . .

The list of Grayson’s greatest hits is long—and contains equal-opportunity vitriol against Republicans, Democrats, and reporters alike. He reportedly called Murphy a “piece of shit” when recently meeting with DSCC Chairman Jon Tester. In the run-up to a 2010 landslide loss against GOP Rep. Daniel Webster, he aired an ad labeling his opponent as “Taliban Dan” and, without basis, accused him of wanting to outlaw divorce for abused women. Grayson called a Federal Reserve adviser a “K Street whore” and told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that Dick Cheney has blood “dripping from his teeth” when talking. He threatened a conservative constituent with five years of prison time for launching a website titled mycongressmanisnuts.com. Most recently, he asked Tampa Bay Times political reporter Adam Smith whether he was some kind of “shitting robot” when confronted with questions surrounding his offshore investments.

Grayson also is enmeshed in an ugly divorce battle with his wife of 24 years, who has accused him of domestic abuse. He’s vigorously denied the allegations, and has accused her of engaging in bigamy and being a “gold digger.” . . .

Senate Democrats have avoided the intra-party contentiousness, at least in races that are competitive in the general election. They’ve faced little resistance to their strategy of anointing a favorite candidate and watching any opposition dissipate. But if Grayson moves on with a Senate campaign, he’d be a glaring exception to the rule—and his force of personality would ensure his antics wouldn’t necessarily be confined to Florida.

“If you’re Russ Feingold, it would be a distraction. Every day any Democratic campaign could have to respond to what a guy in Florida said, it’s a problem,” said Schale. “There’s a reason why Republicans want Alan Grayson run for the U.S. Senate.”

Related: Anti-Corporate Hero Alan Grayson Keeps Millions in Offshore Tax Shelters.

KEN WHITE: How To Spot And Critique Censorship Tropes In The Media’s Coverage Of Free Speech Controversies. “In discussing our First Amendment rights, the media routinely begs the question — it adopts stock phrases and concepts that presume that censorship is desirable or constitutional, and then tries to pass the result off as neutral analysis. This promotes civic ignorance and empowers deliberate censors. Fortunately, this ain’t rocket science. Americans can train themselves to detect and question the media’s pro-censorship tropes. I’ve collected some of the most pervasive and familiar ones. This post is designed as a resource, and I’ll add to it as people point out more examples and more tropes. When you see the media using these tropes, ask yourself: what normative message is the author advancing, and does it have any basis in law?”

SHE’S SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S TODD AKIN: Roll Call: Loretta Sanchez Stumbles Prompt SoCal Angst.

It has been a rough few days for Sanchez.

A mere three days after announcing her candidacy, Sanchez mimicked a Native American “war cry” at an event at the state party convention. She apologized, but “no doubt hurt herself,” said Eric Bauman, vice chairman of the California Democratic Party.

And just before making her candidacy official, a draft email about her plans leaked, leading Sanchez to frantically deny her announcement was imminent. She ultimately launched her bid in the exact manner the draft email laid out.

Her early errors — especially the weekend remark dubbed racially insensitive — could leave donors crucial to her success hesitant to contribute to her campaign.

Not ready for prime time.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, SURPRISINGLY SENSIBLE APPROACHES EDITION: Amazing. UW-Madison Able to Eliminate 434 Positions Without Laying Off Any Faculty. A couple of astute observations:

1.) That UW-Madison was able to eliminate 434 positions with only 70 layoffs ought to tell you that there was fat to trim. No, I’m not cheering the job losses for the 70, but it is amazing that the administration was able to find 364 positions that don’t need to be filled.

2.) That UW-Madison was able to eliminate 434 positions without laying off a single faculty member provides a glimpse of just how many layers of employment exist outside of the faculty who should be providing class instruction. If the elimination of these positions force more professors into the class, this is a good thing.

Indeed. Plus: “In fact, the worst thing about these position cuts is that they don’t appear to include any six-figure administrators but target graduate assistants and academic staff. Nevertheless, fat is being trimmed.” Well, there’s always next time.

JOHN TABIN: Hillary’s private spy and their shady foreign policy.

IAN TUTTLE: ‘Mattress Girl’ Is a Perfect Icon for the Feminist Left. “Which is why the continued lionization of Sulkowicz has proven so instructive: It has made clear how utterly uninterested the feminist movement is in anything like an appeal to facts or common reason. It is a happy coincidence that Sulkowicz herself may be the best example of exactly this phenomenon. Following Young’s February article, feminist outlet Jezebel attempted to debunk her debunking. Young had noted that Sulkowicz originally agreed to annotate the transcript of the text messages she and Nungesser had exchanged, and then suddenly refused. Jezebel published the exchange between reporter and subject — and the result does not serve Sulkowicz well.”

NATION’S PASTIME IS PAST ITS TIME:  Why children are abandoning baseball.  Sadness. I think it’s just too slow paced for the multi-tasking, frenetic, technology-obsessed generation.

RON FOURNIER: Why Bill and Hillary Clinton May Want to Throttle Me. “Rich, healthy relationships are complicated. Like mine with the Clintons.”

RICK PERRY ON HILLARY: “This is not a lapse of one’s memory. It is a lapse of one’s ethics.”

HMM: Report: Elizabeth Warren Did Not Disclose $1.3 Million Credit Line From Bank Of America.

WELL, THIS SEEMS SENSIBLE:

A key House Republican is promising hearings on how college campuses in Georgia handle some campus rape cases.

State Rep. Earl Ehrhart, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees funding for Georgia’s public universities said he was disturbed by the findings in an April 18 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article which detailed how colleges use secretive judicial proceedings to expel and suspend some students accused of sexual assault.

“If it is a crime it needs to be deal with in the legal system,” the Republican from Powder Springs said. “We shouldn’t be using have an extrajudicial star chamber.”

Of course, some people like extrajudicial star chambers.

YEAH, BIG DEAL. ALL OUR ENEMIES ARE GETTING NUKES: N. Korea: We Can Make Mini Nukes to Fit on Missiles.

HMM: Poof! CNN’s Jake Tapper disappears from Clinton Foundation website:

Until late Tuesday afternoon, the Clinton Foundation website listed CNN anchor Jake Tapper as a “speaker” at a Clinton Global Initiative event scheduled for June 8-10 in Denver. After USA TODAY asked CNN about the event, Tapper’s name was swiftly removed from the Clinton Foundation website.

One reason for CNN’s quick reaction is easy to understand. Last week, ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, once a political operative for former president Bill Clinton, was widely attacked after he failed to disclose $75,000 in donations to the Clinton Foundation even as he covered the Clintons.

Tapper has no comparable connections to the Clintons. But by participating in the event next month, while Hillary Clinton is running for president and the foundation is in the news, he too could face criticism for an overly cozy relationship with the Democrats’ most likely 2016 presidential nominee.

There seems to be a lot of coziness where the Clintons and the press are concerned. But perhaps Tapper withdrew.

UPDATE: More:

Tapper wouldn’t comment on the record. A CNN spokesperson, who asked not to be named, said Tapper was improperly listed as a speaker on the foundation website; he is scheduled to interview former president Clinton at the event and later moderate a panel discussion. The spokesperson said the network-approved interview will be televised. There will be no restrictions on the questions, and Tapper will not be paid by the foundation. Other details are still being negotiated.

That stands in Tapper’s favor, but it does not solve the problem for Tapper or CNN, which is scheduled to host three Republican presidential primary debates. After Stephanopoulos’ donations were reported by the conservative Washington Free Beacon, the ABC anchor withdrew from participation in a Republican debate, a blow to the network that reportedly signed a $105 million contract with the former Clinton White House employee.

Tapper has a far better reputation among Republicans than his controversial former ABC News colleague. But like Stephanopoulos, Tapper has a history on the liberal side of the political fence.

I’ve always known him to be a pretty straight-shooter — if occasionally prickly about what I say on Twitter — and there’s nothing wrong with a no-holds-barred interview with a former President. But the closeness of the Clintons with the press will undoubtedly lead people to wonder if this “get” was an effort to generate gratitude that will benefit Hillary later. Will it work? People will be watching to find out, I guess.

ALZHEIMER’S: Studies Confirm Brain Plaque Can Help Predict Alzheimer’s.

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SO MARK RIPPETOE PASSED THROUGH TOWN. Last night we had beers at The Casual Pint, this morning we worked out together, and then we had a nice lunch at Calhoun’s BBQ before he hit the road again. It was a blast.

You can have a similar experience — with even more of a “blast” — if you come join us at Bullets and Bourbon in December. Mark will be training, Dana Loesch and I will be shooting with folks, Stephen Green will be mixing drinks, Kevin Williamson and Ed Morrissey will be, uh, drinking drinks, and a good time will be had with all. You can enter offer code “glenn100” to get a $100 discount, too.