🇺🇸 Teacher Salaries vs. Home Prices, by State

This is cute, isn't it?

Why would American teachers deserve houses?

I wouldn't give them a cardboard box for their performance since 2019.

And I'd only give them the box for prior to it.

Maybe when the kids can read and add again, we can talk about housing you.

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🌎 Jmail is working with the Economist to produce these neat little Epstein Files graphics.

Hilarious.

Not sure I would've went with the publication with a 26.7% Rothschild family ownership stake, even if it is on sale since late last year.

You know, since they're so well-represented in the breaking Epstein and Wexner stories...

🔻 I N T E L R U N N E R 🔻

🇲🇽 Where Violence Has Flared In Mexico

These are the states where road blocks were reported on Sunday.

Largely not happening in Sinaloa territory. The early hypothesis would be a leadership struggle among CJNG (after the assassination of their leader by the fédérales), but maybe it's become something more...

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🌍 Primary language of instruction in medical education...

🌍 I N T E L R U N N E R 🌍

🇺🇸 S&P 500 Stock Short Interest as a Percent of Market Cap

Both metrics have increased sharply since the 2021-2022 lows (when massive effusions of new money rendered shorting perilous). The 90th percentile stock is up to 11%, while the median stock is only 2.7%.

The spread between heavily shorted & median stocks having compressed, we can interpret this as likely portfolio hedging amid concerns over AI's eradication of per-seat software revenue, AI's failure to produce much of its own revenue, and the broader trend against technology and financials.

It's calculated risk reduction as we head toward a decisive summer (Q2 earnings, late cycle signals, additional seasonal rate uncertainty, and historical volatility).

📈 I N T E L R U N N E R 📈

🪙 Bitcoin is up 7.37% today with 3.5 hours remaining in the trading day.

The down trend relents for a moment. We've broken through the first resistance, the down trend line, and the VWAP off the low from the first week of February.

What you want to watch now is what it does between $70.5-$71.5K.

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😀 The 2026 Global Al Brain Race Report – Ranking The Top 30+ Countries Shaping The Next Generation of Al Leaders

🟡The U.S.A. ranks #1 with a final score of 82 cut of 100, leading in R&D, economic integration, and infrastructure, and supported by 26 top Al universities with a strong global average score.

🟡China has over 4x as many top Al universities as the United States. While the U.S. ranks #1 overall, China has 107 top Al universities compared to 26 in the U.S.

🟡The UK ranks 5th with a final score of 33, less than half of the U.S. (82) and far behind China (59), highlighting the clear dominance of the two global Al superpowers.

🟡Only one EU country ranks in the top 10. Germany places #10 with a final score of 28, well behind the U.S. (82) and China (59), highlighting Europe's widening Al competitiveness gap.

America rules AI development (and continues to subsidize energy for it), if not adoption. China is the only near competitor: their relevant education is widespread and their models are strong. This is all consistent, but against prior rankings, India has dropped 3 places to #6 (decent talent, weak infrastructure/governance).

Singapore & South Korea fill out the leaders in the world—half of the top tier is Asian. Switzerland is the standout in Europe (notably not in the EU)...but the question remains: is all of this worth it?

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🌍 The Final Medal Count at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan

🥉 Italy 🇮🇹 10 gold, 6 silver, 14 bronze

🥉 The Netherlands 🇳🇱 10 gold, 7 silver, 3 bronze

🥈 United States of America 🇺🇸 12 gold, 12 silver, 9 bronze

🥇 Norway 🇳🇴 18 gold, 12 silver, 11 bronze

It's technically a tie for third at 10 golds. If preference total medal count, Italy takes third. If you preference number of silvers over number of bronzes, the Netherlands gets third.

Personally, all I care about are gold rankings, and that's tie.

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🇺🇸 Equity Factors This Past Week

Large cap value and mid cap growth did alright this week.

Conversely, mid and small cap value had a rough week, and large cap growth did as well.

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🇺🇸 U.S. Average 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage

The 30Y rate fell to 5.98%, marking the first time it's been under six since 2022.

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