Free Republic

A new rule adopted by the Office of Personnel Management boosts protections for government employees, making it harder to fire them. The Biden administration has issued a new rule that makes it harder to fire government employees in an apparent bid to thwart former President Donald Trump’s pledge to fire “rogue bureaucrats” and radically reshape the federal workforce. The new rule, which bolsters job protections for career civil servants, was issued on April 4 by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which hinted in a statement that it’s targeting a promised move by a potential second Trump presidency to...

MY getting ordered out of the library today. *suddenly* masks are required to enter AGAIN. New rule because the hellhole of denver, colorado runs the library system. "Sir, you can't come in here without a mask!" quoth the mask enforcer. "This is bullsh*t" quoth Dynachrome *New rule" quoth the mask stalinist. "Bullsh*t quoth Dynachrome and exited while giving the finger to the sad looking little gulag guard.

6:06 videoI Feel Petty

Banks Get New Rules on Property By LINGLING WEI Federal bank regulators issued guidelines allowing banks to keep loans on their books as "performing" even if the value of the underlying properties have fallen below the loan amount. The volume of troubled commercial real-estate loans is skyrocketing. Regulators said that the rules were designed to encourage banks to restructure problem commercial mortgages with borrowers rather than foreclose on them. But the move has prompted criticism that regulators are simply prolonging the financial crisis by not forcing borrowers and lenders to confront, rather than delay, inevitable problems.

...Another factor some traders say is causing turmoil: an arcane rule change -- referred to as the "downtick" rule -- that kicked into effect in July that makes it easier for investors to bet on stock-price declines. Before July, investors typically had to wait until a stock was actually rising to bet on its downfall. Lots of selling can feed off itself, prompting nervous investors to sell more, which adds to volatility. Often, heavily shorted stocks can be particularly volatile. The old rule generally prohibited the shorting of a stock while its price was falling, or experiencing a "downtick" in...

Anyone remember that so called "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" act that was passed a couple years ago? That bill was rather bland, but did have a couple provisions that could be beneficial to a few people. Actually, I thought the IRS would just disregard it, as they do with most laws and court rulings they don't like. But, then I stumbled upon a new Internal Revenue Service "Notice of proposed rulemaking." The March 5 Federal register (Volume 67, Number 43; page 9929-9934) announces 26 CFR Part 301 [Reg-107366-00], which is a proposed rule to provide for a "Civil Cause of...