At a discussion at the Central European Form in Bratislava last November, he spoke on the role of the intellectual in today’s world: “The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman said that if you want to be a star in your society you need to invent yourself either as celebrity or as victim. But I think there is also a third way out for the intellectuals, who way too often become fear-mongers. This is in my opinion their sin against societies. At the same time, we still have many sober voices resisting this temptation. The principle of intellectual or journalistic work is not to scare or paralyze people. The best thing to do now is to encourage audiences to live their lives without fear, in dignity.”
“The great paradox of modernity is that everything is very close to its polarity, to its own antidote. For instance, in terms of political existence, I am afraid Europe will become even more securitized and surveilled. But the crucial thing is to defend the humanistic legacy of Europe. First and foremost, our task is not to become paranoid or fear-ridden. The challenge for the 21st century is to protect democratic Europe with respect to our humanistic sensibilities, and respect to human rights and civic liberties. This will be quite difficult, but we must stand together for it, especially given the rise of violent political extremism.”
Peter Baldwin was a Left-wing Labor minister. But now the Left has
changed into a neo-fascist force that promotes racism, anti-Semitism and
a violent intolerance of debate. Baldwin unleashes.
As you can see by the purple tags I've put in Marian Wilkinson's book
The Fixer, there are lots and lots and lots of pages about the Baldwin
bashing. And Marian's book is about Graham Richardson.
In 2005, The Sydney Morning Herald said this...
To other certainties of Life for the little creatures ... As served to SB and JI during the Happy Lattitude Hours
Debt collectors hired by the Tax Office are putting prices on the heads
of tax debts, with individual operators promised bonuses and incentives
to "convince" debtors to pay-up.
Via US IRS cybercrime area:
The IRS has issued a heads up for tax practitioners and taxpayers who use its e-services.
IRS Announces Two-Step Verification as of October 24: To access IRS services as of that
date, you’ll have to validate your identity using financial information and a texted confirmation number. The move comes after hackers made off with personal information on taxpayers. IRS Verification
You achieve genius when you have no income at all. Trump to Clinton: Paying No Income Taxes ‘Makes Me Smart’ (Accounting Today)
News from the Profession. PwC’s Recruiting Never Sleeps (Caleb Newquist, Going Concern).
Joseph Henchman, Live TF Updates Tonight on Presidential Debate; Trump Plan Questioned on Whose Taxes Get Raised; IRS Stiffens Security for Online Access; Revenue Updates for North Dakota and Rhode Island. Joseph’s “Lunch links” from yesterday includes this: “The British government hired a firm to help clamp down on fraud associated with their low-income tax credits, and the call center workers dealing with appeals were overwhelmed by the emotional nature of many of the calls: people crying and threatening suicide if their tax credit was cut off.”
Peter Reilly, IRS Announces Private Collection Firms – They Start In The Spring. “I suspect that this program will end up looking good as it grabs some low hanging fruit.” I think Peter and I are the only tax bloggers who think this might be a good idea.
Kay Bell, IRS selects 4 private collection agencies to go after overdue tax debts in 2017. “If you have an old federal tax debt, you might be getting a call from a private debt collection agency next year.” One is out of Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Leslie Book, Grab Bag: Posts and Articles of Note on EITC, Compliance, IRS Guidance, Alimony, Private Debt Collectors and Tax Return Simplification (Procedurally Taxing)
Jack Townsend, Update on Judge Kroupa Prosecution – Her Husband Pleads Guilty. “There is no information as to whether he will have to cooperate in the continuing prosecution of his wife. The indication is that they are in the process of getting a divorce, so it may well be that cooperation was a price he had to pay and was willing to pay.”
