*Kremlin fails to respond to poisoning probe by Britain's midnight deadline
Julie Bishop doesn't rule out following UK in imposing harsh sanctions on Russia after spy attack
Londongrad: As Putin's opponents flocked, his spies followed
"Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov found dead at his London home"
Donald Trump fires Rex Tillerson as secretary of state
A pretty fascinating story from inside Reddit’s “Policy Update War Room” about its efforts to fix the toxic web
Australia’s tax system gives “draconian” powers to just one person – Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan – making the Tax Office’s pledge to try and bring about cultural change, and external checks and balances, more important than ever, says one of Australia’s most respected tax experts, Mark Leibler Tax Commissioner's power 'lurks beneath surface like a salt-water crocodile': expert.
PRETTY IMPRESSIVE, Canadian Double Dragon Publishing Rocks EH? Could Jordan Peterson Become The Bestselling Canadian Author of All Time?
Well, he’s still #1 on Amazon
As a nice coda to recent post on gentrification in Los Angeles, the adroit Ann Friedman tells us how not to ruin her adopted city.
I like to think I’m one of the good transplants. (Don’t we all?) I came to California seven years ago when most New Yorkers were still turning up their noses at this city. I had a local job — not a work-remote situation. I befriended my neighbors. I patronized burrito joints that were not endorsed by Anthony Bourdain. I got a public library card. I learned the bus routes near my house. I made sure to vote in local elections.
Image via Rafa Esparza, who asks “What can citizenship outside of colonization and more in tune with cultural stewardship look like?”
This is the question for L.A.’s economically privileged new arrivals: How do you help care for the city that drew you in, rather than allow your presence to steamroll its culture?
OUTLIVING YOUR ENEMIES IS HIGHLY GRATIFYING: Israeli pilot on hit list was beloved high school teacher
Fresh charges likely in Cranston tax fraud case, court told
According to Labor, the policy would impact 8% of individual taxpayers (typically low-income self-funded retirees) and around 200,000 SMSFs. Labor said the policy would only have a "small impact" on large APRA super funds. The measure is expected to save $11.4bn over the forward estimates. See further the ALP fact sheet, A Fairer Tax System: Ending cash refunds for excess imputation [LABOR PROPOSAL TO MAKE FRANKING CREDITS NON-REFUNDABLE]
Blundys are laughing in the balmy Bahahamas
First rising tides, now sinking shores: Study finds new trouble for Bay Area San Francisco Chronicle
Bernie hosting town hall on income inequality with Michael Moore and Elizabeth Warren NationofChange
DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE AND THE NEWSPEAK DICTIONARY: NYT Journalist Sounds Off on College Campus Vocabulary
Students on today’s college campuses are being turned into “wusses,” according to New York Times journalist Jeremy Peters, who spoke candidly on “Morning Joe” Thursday.The school’s war on words is partly to blame.“That term ‘microaggression,’ that you are actually wounding someone, it’s totally changed the way that we interact with one another, and really, I think made wusses out of our college kids,” Peters said.
The question lurking behind these attractions and choices is not one of enchantment but: how does one overcome the wall? But perhaps this question is misleading. When discussing his early frustrations with writing, the author who described Saul Bellow's tone of voice talks about what he learned from certain authors:
Proust had given me the confidence to fail, had driven home to me the lesson that if you come up against a brick wall perhaps the way forward is to incorporate the wall and your effort to scale it into the work. I had read Robbe-Grillet and Marguerite Duras, and been excited by the way they reinvented the form of the novel to suit their purposes – everything is possible, they seemed to say. But when you start to write all that falls away. You are alone with the page and your violent urges, urges, which no amount of reading will teach you how to channel. ‘Zey srew me in ze vater and I had to svim,’ as Schoenberg is reported to have said. That is why I so hate creative writing courses – they teach you how to avoid brick walls, but I think hitting them allows you to discover what you and only you want to/can/must say.The walled and the book
Starbucks boss Howard Schultz on Trump, tax and the coffee chain
Blog: The 'lore' of failure
What is the story your organisation tells about its failures? Are you taught to fear failure more than you are taught to try something new? Read the latest blog about how the 'lore' of failure can permeate public sector culture and stifle innovation. If it resonates with you or, better yet, if you've found a good way to push back on this kind of storytelling, tell us on Twitter #loreoffailureNew Study Delivers Deeply Depressing News About Spread Of Fake News
The massive new study analyzes every major contested news story in English across the span of Twitter’s existence—some 126,000 stories, tweeted by 3 million users, over more than 10 years—and finds that the truth simply cannot compete with hoax and rumor. By every common metric, falsehood consistently dominates the truth on Twitter, the study finds: Fake news and false rumors reach more people, penetrate deeper into the social network, and spread much faster than accurate stories. … Read More
Brighton's worst burglar caught crawling on floor in bizarre CCTV
Brighton's worst burglar caught crawling on floor in bizarre CCTV