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Thursday, December 02, 2021

Age quod agis - Google Scholar - Best Practices in Tax Rulings Transparency:

Age quod agis 

Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, offered advice with perhaps the most powerful Latin phrase for the Resilient Worker: Age Quod Agis. Literally translated, it is “Do what you are doing”. But practically, it is encouragement to keep going and focus on the task at hand


World’s richest man Elon Musk mocks Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal with Stalin tweet


Fast Company – Delta variant: This online tool shows the chances someone at your Thanksgiving gathering has Covid-19 – “The likelihood of someone having Covid-19 at a twenty-person Thanksgiving event in NYC is 11%. In Big Horn, Montana it’s 74%.”


Harvard Business: One Way To Fight The Great Resignation? Re-Recruit Your Current Employees.


Fast Company: This Leader Helped Change The World. Heres What She Learned About Motivating People


Only 57% Of White Students At Harvard Are Admitted On Merit


Data tax’ could be next blow to Chinese tech giants Asia Times


Would the UN do a better job on international tax than the OECD?


Dr Rasmus Christensen is a postdoctoral researcher at Copenhagen Business School. We know each other. Indeed, we are both working on the Time Mirror project
Read the full article…



As Calls to Ban Books Intensify, Digital Librarians Offer Perspective

Internet Archive Blogs: “From Texas to Virginia to Pennsylvania, there is a growing movement to challenge books in schools that some suggest are inappropriate for students. Concern goes beyond explicit content; it now includes opposition to LGBTQIA material, the history of racism, and material that may cause discomfort to readers. While efforts to ban books are not new, the solutions to counter censorship are—thanks to technology that is used to create access for all.  The Internet Archive’s Open Library (https://openlibrary.org) does not face the same local pressures that many school districts or school libraries do. At a time when students and teachers may be encountering limited access to content in their local community, the Internet Archive acquires and digitizes material for its online library, and lends a wide array of books for free to anyone, anytime…”


The Best Dark Web Websites You Won’t Find on Google By Dan Price Updated May 03, 2021 The dark web isn’t for everyone, but some of it is worth exploring. Here are the best dark web websites worth checking out. - MakeUseOf (MUD)

MakeUseOf (MUD) – “You’ve heard of it before: the mysterious dark web. You’re probably equally curious and apprehensive about the whole thing. But what is the dark web? And more importantly, what cool dark web sites are out there Here’s our list of the best dark web websites to visit…

DuckDuckGo is one of the leading private internet search engines on the open web. It doesn’t track your browsing history, location, or any other data. There’s also a dark web version of the search engine. It’s a great dark web search engine that affords users an extra layer of protection and anonymity…”



NSW Health has confirmed a sixth returned traveller in the state has tested positive for the Omicron COVID-19 variant of concern.

Mindy Herzfeld (Florida) presents Taxes Are Not Binary: The Unfortunate Consequences of Splitting Taxes Into Arbitrary Categories at NYU today as part of its Tax Policy and Public Finance Colloquium hosted by Daniel Shaviro


Leandra Lederman (Indiana; Google Scholar), Best Practices in Tax Rulings Transparency:

Tax rulings reflect agreement by a tax administration to a particular tax treatment of a planned transaction. They provide certainty to taxpayers and the government, lowering costs on both sides. Such rulings are therefore used by many countries. Yet, secrecy that is followed by leaks and criticism is a recurring aspect of these rulings. Perhaps most well known in this regard is the 2014 LuxLeaks scandal. LuxLeaks revealed numerous tax rulings issued by the European country of Luxembourg containing what the press sometimes termed “sweetheart deals” between the Luxembourg tax authority and multinational companies. The United States has also experienced embarrassing revelations in the tax rulings context, such as during the period before it began disclosing anonymized versions of letter rulings.


Statement in Support of the Freedom to Vote Act

Democracy Letter November 2021: “We, the undersigned, are scholars of democracy writing in support of the Freedom to Vote Act, the most important piece of legislation to defend and strengthen American democracy since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This bill would protect our elections from interference, partisan gerrymandering, dark money, and voter suppression. 

We urge all members of Congress to pass the bill, if necessary by suspending the Senate filibuster rule and using a simple majority vote. 

This is no ordinary moment in the course of our democracy. It is a moment of great peril and risk. Though disputes over the legitimacy of America’s elections have been growing for two decades, they have taken a catastrophic turn since the 2020 election. The “Big Lie” of a stolen election is now widely accepted among Republican voters, and support for it has become a litmus test for Republicans running for public office. 

Republican state legislatures in Georgia, Florida, Texas, and across the country have enacted partisan laws intended to make it harder for Democrats to win elections. Most alarmingly, these laws have forged legal pathways for partisan politicians to overturn state election results if they are dissatisfied with the outcome…”The Best Dark Web Websites You Won’t Find on Google By Dan Price Updated May 03, 2021 The dark web isn’t for everyone, but some of it is worth exploring. Here are the best dark web websites worth checking out. - MakeUseOf (MUD)


The Guardian – “Mask-wearing is the single most effective public health measure at tackling Covid, according to the first global study of its kind, which found that the measure was linked to a 53% fall in the incidence of the disease. Vaccines are safe and effective and saving lives around the world. But most do not confer 100% protection, most countries have not vaccinated everyone, and it is not yet known if jabs will prevent future transmission of emerging coronavirus variants. Globally, Covid cases exceeded 250 million this month. The virus is still infecting 50 million people worldwide every 90 days due to the highly transmissible Delta variant, with thousands dying each day. Now a systematic review and meta analysis of non-pharmaceutical interventions has found for the first time that mask wearing, social distancing and handwashing are all effective measures at curbing cases – with mask wearing the most effective. “This systematic review and meta analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence of Covid-19,” the researchers wrote in the BMJ [free full text]. They said the results highlight the need to continue mask wearing, social distancing and handwashing alongside vaccine programmes…”