“Wisdom is like a fermented wine. It’s only appreciated when shared.”

Andrew-Knox Kaniki

Uber and Lyft to Pay New York Drivers $328 Million Following AG Wage Theft Probe The City

Italy judge seizes 780 mln euros from Airbnb in tax probe

Peter_Fitz on Ad and spelling

Dylan Whitelaw set up lobbying firm Macquarie Advisory Group late last year after working as a “senior advisor” to former NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, and within weeks disclosed a string of major property clients.

Despite his firm having no telephone, website or office, Whitelaw was hired to “lobby” the NSW Government by ten different companies, including Sydney commercial building company J Group and UAE-based developer Arada, run by Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi and Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal.

Others included western Sydney land developer Dartanyon, property developer Pacific Community Housing, Pacific Planning, and construction waste recycling group KLF Holdings.

In a spectacular reversal of fortunes, it can be revealed all but one — a company called Hanmari Pty Limited registered in Sydney’s Parramatta — has hit the exits.

22-year-old “lobbying” tycoon hits skids as ICAC hovers 

George Orwell’s 1984 in Washington The American Conservative. Syria.

Analysis

China relations

Two PMs entered the Temple of Heaven. They had very different missions

Anthony Albanese’s visit comes with a catch. Chinese President Xi Jinping is seeking to realign the relationship for the decades ahead.

David Crowe

Brian Deese (MIT) & David Kamin (NYU), Principles for the 2025 Tax Debate, 181 Tax Notes Fed. 443 (Oct. 16, 2023):

In this article, Deese and Kamin identify core principles for evaluating proposals to address the tax cuts expiring at the end of 2025 and to reform the code more broadly, and they place the 2025 debate in the context of a multidecade strategy to reduce the U.S. revenue base through regressive tax cuts.

Conclusion
As the tax cut expirations in 2025 approach, policymakers should avoid the tendency to view the coming “tax cliff” in narrow terms. In the face of a multidecade strategy to starve our country of revenue and tilt the tax system toward benefiting upper-income taxpayers, 2025 is a moment when we need to think big and do better.

If policymakers can keep their focus on the principles outlined here, 2025 will represent a historic opportunity. While 2025 will not be the last word on tax reform in America, it could be the most consequential moment in a generation to lay the groundwork for the tax system that this country deserves — a tax system that is fairer and can finance the services and investments that Americans support.

Bruce the boss is exactly the same age as me, the same height (!), and lives in the same US state of New Jersey.  His stories, in many ways, are my stories.

Meeting Across the River

Charlotte  Maher is an investigative journalist and previously worked at the BBC, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Seen, among others. “In a time of crisis, social media is flooded with images, videos and bold claims. This can be useful for researchers like ourselves but overwhelming for the general public seeking the facts. At Bellingcat, we pride ourselves on providing tools and resources for our audience to think critically about sources they find online. In this short guide, we give a few tips on what to consider when confronted with an abundance of footage and claims. Here’s how to separate fact from fiction with real, recent examples of misinformation….”

Fact-checking isn’t enough. We need fact-crusading

Stop The Presses, Mark Jacob: “As the right wing keeps pushing disinformation, journalists keep fact-checking. They dissect quotes. They consult experts. They cite statistics. But it’s not enough. We need fact-crusading, not just fact-checking. Yes, fact-crusading. News media must hold the facts in such high regard that the enemies of truth become their adversaries – to be called out and confronted, not just corrected. Journalists’ job is to give people information that helps them navigate their lives. Liars sabotage what journalists do, and journalists ought to be offended. 

If you were a barista and someone slipped toxic sludge into your coffee drinks, you wouldn’t just warn your customers that their drink had sludge in it. You’d try to keep the sludge out of the drink. Fighting against disinformation – instead of just cleaning up after it – is an activist role that some journalists shy away from. But it’s desperately needed. We’re in a crisis that threatens to destroy the concept of shared facts – and therefore our ability to maintain a democracy…”