"The only thing that hurts more than paying an income tax is not having to pay an income tax." -
- Thomas Dewar

Sometimes in life we must fight not only without fear, but also without hope.”

 ~ Alessandro Pertini

Tsilly Dagan (Oxford), Re-Imagining Tax Justice in a Globalized World:

In this paper I explain why designing a country’s tax policy with the elasticity of taxpayers’ choices of residency in mind, although a rational welfare-maximizing move by the state as a whole, and possibly even for its immobile as well as mobile constituents, is a policy that may not be justified under a liberal-egalitarian social contract 

ADEM SOMYUREK

Bring out your dead: tales from the branch-stacking front

All political offices should learn from Somyurek's downfall

Senate committees are one of the few bright spots in the battle to hold government to account Daily Bulletin by Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow  It mightn’t sound much, but it had big consequences. Fifty years ago this week, the Senate voted to set up a system of committees to scrutinise government legislation, activity and spending. As it has evolved, this network has given teeth

HBO Max isn't censoring Gone With the Wind, it's reframing it 

Why there's far more at risk than not seeing Fawlty Towers again

DTA embarks on whole-of-government architecture plan to enable APS reform and streamline services

APS DIGITAL STRATEGY & CAPABILITY: Stuart Robert comprised the taskforce with members from Services Australia, the ATO, Home Affairs, and Defence.

Because they are unable to stop the new robot editor selecting stories from external news sites...the remaining human staff have been told to stay alert and delete a version of this article if the robot decides it is of interest..."

PC World: “Choosing the right virtual private network (VPN) service is no simple task. A VPN should keep your internet usage private and secure, but not every service handles your data in the same way. Just look at the critiques of notable computer security experts and online pundits to understand the challenge. Even supposed experts in the field canturn out to be frauds. Rest assured, we’ve done the legwork to determine if a VPN service has a history of good or bad behavior. In order to win our seal of approval, the service has to protect online privacy; allow you to keep anonymity; offer a good variety of locations from which to direct your traffic; offer fast, reliable performance; and provide an easy-to-use interface. Scroll to the bottom of this article to learn more about VPNs and what to look for one choosing one…”

Online Security Guide: 100+ Tips to Stay Safe Against Malware and Scams

MakeUseOf: “One misstep is all it takes to catch a virus, get hacked, or fall for a scam. Here are all of our tips and tricks for staying safe on your computer, phone, and the web!”

 
IN MY EXPERIENCE, WHICH IS EXTENSIVE, GOOD ERGONOMICS MATTERS, BUT CHANGING YOUR POSITION FREQUENTLY MATTERS MORE. Working from home can ravage your spine, but good posture can help fix it.

How to Track the Tech That’s Tracking You Every Day

Gizmodo: “It’s easy to feel helpless right now. Cities across the country are seeing unarmed protesters maimed by police officers who enjoy both the full support of the current presidential administration and of the American legal system itself. Congress is, in 2020, debating whether to make lynching a federal hate crime. And there’s still a pandemic happening! Meanwhile, even the people who emerge from this moment unscathed physically will, undoubtedly, find their digital lives compromised in more ways than we can possibly fathom. This last bit, at least, is something we can make meaningful progress on without risking life and limb. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy. One of the cruelest ironies is that the more you learn about digital privacy, the more helpless you feel. We’re told that the privacy-protecting laws passed both here and abroad will actually protect us from data-hoovering tech, but a bit of research shows that they actually don’t. We’re told that wearing a mask—the way many of us are right now—is a simple enough trick to throw off facial recognition systems, but a bit of reading shows that companies are actively trying to subvert that limitation. A bit of digging shows that every major tech company preaching privacy ideals is, in fact, full of shit…”

Nonfiction Writers Who Prove That Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.” ― Mark Twain, Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World

Snippet from the 'Billions' TV Series Season 5, Episode 6: Axe Turns His Apartment Into a Museum to Duck Fraud Charges
You read that correctly, but let's provide some context. As this week's "Previously On" reminds us, in an earlier episode of the series, Axe engaged in a clever tax fraud scheme: He had replicas of valuable paintings stored away "in a tax-free state," and then had the real things hung up in his palatial Manhattan apartment. Chuck and Condola Rashad's Kate Sacker get wind of this and see an opportunity. As Chuck puts it, "There's something poetic about taking him down the same way as Capone."

Showtime's Billions takes place in a reality all its own. Technically that's true of pretty much every work of fiction, but it feels especially so for the show created by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin.
The whole series is a high-stakes pissing contest that's dressed up like a prestige TV drama set in the world of New York finance. Really, though, Billions takes place in a different, even more heightened world—one where stock bros and members of the federal law enforcement are hyper-articulate and as fluent in sports and film references as they are in obscene insults.

Speaking of Looting…’: Trump Admin. Refuses to Disclose Corporate Recipients of $500 Billion in Coronavirus Bailout Funds

The CARES Act enabled unprecedented, unaccountable corporate looting when passed. The Trump administration follows through on that promise

Chief nurse dropped from No 10 briefing ‘for not backing Cummings’Guardian