“His wild eyes were like bees trapped on the wrong side of a window, bouncing along the glass.”
– William Trevor
The pressure is on tax practitioners to stay abreast of the rapid shifts and changes to Australia’s legal and regulatory landscape, as the Australian Government continues its tax reform efforts,” Mr Mills said. “The Tax Institute is the premier tax body that will amplify the voice of tax professionals, recommend improvements to the tax system, and lead the charge to help the tax community navigate through these difficult times.”
“The Tax Institute appoints former ATO Second Commissioner Andrew Mills as Director, Tax Policy and Technical” (Mark Konza might be joining Mr Mills)
We are where we are in American politics, in part, because all these big-picture projects succeeded in enriching private interests … but failed to achieve their stated public goals. The “shock therapy” delivered to Russia midwifed Putinism instead of a prosperous American ally. The war in Iraq ushered in a regional conflict that’s still burning to this day. Chimerica worked out better for the Chinese than for many working-class Americans, and far better for the Chinese Politburo than for the cause of liberty. And the self-justifying doctrine of the present elite — that you can serve the common good while in office and do well for yourself afterward — became far more implausible when the elite’s projects kept failing even as the officeholders kept on cashing in.
“To have been happy, madame, leads to calamity.” Beaumont and Fletcher, The Fair Maid of the Inn Continue reading Almanac: Beaumont and Fletcher on happiness at... [read more] Silly Walks via Shire's Walking Johny aka Johnny Walker
Even before the pandemic forced all of us into quarantine, deprivation and isolation had become lifestyle signifiers. Meet the man who escaped into the dark
China asked WHO to cover up coronavirus outbr... | Taiwan News
Take the Shutdown Skeptics Seriously - The Atlantic.
What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy (PDF) Annual Review of Sociology. “Platforms represent a distinct type of governance mechanism, different from markets, hierarchies, or networks, and therefore pose a unique set of problems for regulators, workers, and their competitors in the conventional economy. Reflecting the instability of the platform structure, struggles over regulatory regimes are dynamic and difficult to predict, but they are sure to gain in prominence as the platform economy grows.”
“To have been happy, madame, leads to calamity.” Beaumont and Fletcher, The Fair Maid of the Inn Continue reading Almanac: Beaumont and Fletcher on happiness at... [read more] Silly Walks via Shire's Walking Johny aka Johnny Walker
Even before the pandemic forced all of us into quarantine, deprivation and isolation had become lifestyle signifiers. Meet the man who escaped into the dark
Didn’t your mommies teach you that if someone says you have to close on the deal right now, with no time to consider alternatives it means you’re being fleeced?
China asked WHO to cover up coronavirus outbr... | Taiwan News
Government spending on consultants still soars despite economic calamity
SQUARING THE CIRCLE ON THE HOUSE GOP’S DEFENSE OF THE FBI: Tucker Carlson’s pointed questioning of Trey Gowdy last night has a lot of people asking why he and others defended the FBI and intelligence agencies when it now appears they knew there was no “there” there with regard to collusion, Gen. Flynn, etc., suggesting that they were secretly happy to get rid of President Trump. I suggest that, in light of the unaccountable powers these agencies wield now, the historical abuses in which such secret agencies around the world have traditionally engaged, and Sen. Schumer’s famous remark that “you take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,” we can’t rule out the possibility that some members of Congress didn’t feel like they had a choice.
The general point is that minimizing the number of COVID-19 deaths today or a month from now or six months from now may or may notminimize the human costs of the pandemic when the full spectrum of human consequences is considered. The last global depression created conditions for a catastrophic world war that killed roughly 75 to 80 million people. Is that a possibility? The downside risks and costs of every approach are real, frightening, and depressing, no matter how little one thinks of reopening now.
Screen New Deal Intercept Today’s must read.
One of the creepiest and most dystopian things I’ve seen since the pandemic began: a terrifying camera-equipped remote-controlled robot patrols Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in Singapore to — for now — warn about social distancing. Look at the fear. Story: https://t.co/12QfT1mcyZpic.twitter.com/hBGUhmC7N7— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 8, 2020
What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy (PDF) Annual Review of Sociology. “Platforms represent a distinct type of governance mechanism, different from markets, hierarchies, or networks, and therefore pose a unique set of problems for regulators, workers, and their competitors in the conventional economy. Reflecting the instability of the platform structure, struggles over regulatory regimes are dynamic and difficult to predict, but they are sure to gain in prominence as the platform economy grows.”
In The New York Times Motoko Rich finds: 'Mieko Kawakami, whose novel Breasts and Eggs was just published in English, has become something of a feminist icon in her male-dominated country' in her profile, A Novelist Breaks the Code of Being a Woman in Japan.
LA Times via Yahoo – “In the wee hours of Monday morning, Bookshop.org — an online bookseller whose goal is to offer financial support to independent bookstores — earned $1 million for local bookstores across the country struggling to survive during the pandemic. Earlier this month, Bookshop partnered with Simon & Schuster in a campaign to bolster those efforts. As of Wednesday morning, the digital bookstore had earned $1,072,126, a massive jump from the $10,000 raised in its first month of operations, before the coronavirus outbreak forced bookstores to close their doors. “[This milestone] means that we’re accomplishing our mission of being a real meaningful support for independent bookstores,” said Andy Hunter, Bookshop’s founder and CEO. “We’re exceedingly pleased with how much we’ve been able to earn for the stores, and many stores are also grateful.”
@Bookshop_Org will hit $1,000,000 earned for local bookstores sometime in the wee hours of tomorrow morning. (I hope I’m not awake for it.) pic.twitter.com/uTW8cqcn1X – Andy Hunter (@AndyHunter777) April 27, 2020
Bookshop, a Certified B corporation, was launched in January with a mission to help indie bookstores, which for years fought to compete with chains like Barnes & Noble and then the online retail giant Amazon. “Our goal is to take the conscious consumers away from Amazon and put them in a channel that supports local independent businesses and keeps bookstores in their communities,” said Hunter, which “are really essential to our cultural fabric when it comes to books.” Customers can choose to purchase from a specific indie bookstore affiliated with Bookshop or buy directly from the site…” [emphasis added – hint hint[