Jozef Imrich, name worthy of Kafka, has his finger on the pulse of any irony of interest and shares his findings to keep you in-the-know with the savviest trend setters and infomaniacs.
''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut
Michael William Duncan (born February 14, 1980) is an American political history podcaster and author. Revolutions, ran for ten seasons over the course of nine years, covering the American, French, and Russian revolutions, among others.
Mike Duncan discusses the Velvet Revolution and "Velvet Divorce" in a podcast episode of
"Everything Everywhere Daily". The Velvet Revolution was the 1989 non-violent transition of power in Czechoslovakia, while "Velvet Divorce" refers to the subsequent peaceful split of the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Duncan is the host of the history podcasts "Revolutions" and "The History of Rome".
Velvet Revolution: A non-violent, peaceful transition of power in Czechoslovakia that occurred from November 17 to December 28, 1989.
Velvet Divorce: The subsequent, equally peaceful separation of Czechoslovakia into the two independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which took effect on January 1, 1993
If you're born poor and succeed you're conservative.
If you're born rich and fail you're communist
From eating caviar on luxury boats to dancing with John Travolta to reporting on the Bali bombings, former TV journalist Kellie Sloane’s path to NSW Liberal leadership spans a colourful career in politics, media and business.
Conseek CLEAR Decisions. Defensible Outcomes. Your Incident & Investigation Experts We help organisations manage serious incidents, run defensible investigations, and protect their people and reputation.
The Verge: “Documents released by the House Oversight Committee shed light on Epstein’s day-to-day, largely via email — including his preoccupation with his Google presence…”
AndNational PSA Calling for Release of ALL the Epstein Files – For five administrations, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein have been left in the dark, waiting for answers and accountability. After three decades, it’s finally time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. We are demanding the release of ALL the Epstein files.
“The IRS accessed a database of hundreds of millions of travel records, which show when and where a specific person flew and the credit card they used, without obtaining a warrant, according to a letter signed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and shared with 404 Media.
The country’s major airlines, including Delta, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest, funnel customer records to a data broker they co-own called the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), which then sells access to peoples’ travel data to government agencies.
The IRS case in the letter is the clearest example yet of how agencies are searching the massive trove of travel data without a search warrant, court order, or similar legal mechanism. Instead, because the data is being sold commercially, agencies are able to simply buy access. In the letter addressed to nine major airlines, the lawmakers urge them to shut down the data selling program.
“Disclosures made by the IRS to Senator Wyden confirm that it did not follow federal law and its own policies in purchasing airline data from ARC,” the letter reads. The letter says the IRS “confirmed that it did not conduct a legal review to determine if the purchase of Americans’ travel data requires a warrant.”
The signatories on the letter are Senator Ron Wyden, Congressman Andy Biggs, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Adriano Espaillat, and Senator Cynthia Lummis. The co-owners of ARC include United, American, Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska, Lufthansa, Air France, and Air Canada, according to the letter. Each of those airlines has a representative on ARC’s board of directors…”
NEWS YOU CAN USE: IRS unveils Roth IRA income limits for 2026. “In its release on Thursday, the agency increased the 2026 IRA contribution limit to $7,500, up from $7,000 in 2025. The IRS also boosted the IRA catch-up contributions for investors age 50 and older to $1,100, up from $1,000 in 2025.”
Traders Magazine: “The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published its Final Report on the Tokenization of Financial Assets. The financial sector has been actively exploring distributed ledger technology (DLT) to deliver services and tokenize financial assets. While tokenization may enhance efficiency and transparency, it also introduces new risks — or amplifies existing ones — that regulators must understand and address to protect investors.”
New Comprehensive Guide to Help Newsrooms Protect Journalists from Online Abuse
PEN America: “In response to the alarming rise of abuse and threats targeting journalists, PEN America and the Coalition Against Online Violence have released a groundbreaking guide, Best Practices for News Organizations: How to Protect and Support Journalists Harassed Online, to empower industry leaders to protect their people amidst an escalating crackdown on the free press in the U.S. and internationally. Developed in close consultation with over a dozen newsrooms and civil society organizations, the guide addresses the rapidly evolving intimidation tactics journalists face—including doxing, impersonation, threats, cyber mobs, and coordinated harassment campaigns—and provides newsroom leaders, managers, and editors with actionable strategies for safeguarding staff and freelancers.
“Journalists must be online to do their jobs. But that visibility, alongside their role holding power to account, can make journalists lightning rods for harassment and threats,” said Viktorya Vilk, Director of Digital Safety and Free Expression at PEN America and co-lead on the project. “Unchecked abuse doesn’t just silence individual journalists, it is deliberately deployed to drive talent out of the profession and undermine a free and independent press.”
M“Online abuse does not affect every journalist equally or in the same ways. Journalists from historically marginalized identities are disproportionately targeted not only for their work, but for who they are, leading some to leave the industry altogether,” said Jeje Mohamed, holistic safety and security consultant and co-lead on the project.
“Even newsrooms that are committed to journalist safety don’t always know where to start. This guide provides step-by-step support.” The Best Practices guide offers a menu of flexible recommendations tailored to newsrooms of all sizes, covering critical areas such as:
Raising awareness and shifting newsroom culture on journalists’ safety
Developing policies and protocols to address online abuse and other safety challenges
Providing digital safety training and building capacity for managers, staff, and freelancers
Bolstering organizational and individual digital security
Fostering a supportive environment for targeted journalists
Issuing statements of support for targeted journalists and news organizations
Documenting harassment and delegating monitoring and review..”
To 23+ Australian citizens. Violet from Adzuna has a solid freelance gig on offer. Home-based, around 1.5 hours daily, and the commissions are a cracker—totally unexpected. If you fit the bill, shoot "yes" for the full lowdown.
Amid various redundancies in the consulting sector at the top end of town, KPMG consulting is going against the grain and hiring up to 200 roles.
Following news of EY’s most recent cut to its consulting arm with the slashing of 50 jobs, news has surfaced that KPMG is looking to build out its consulting sector with a substantial number of additional roles.
On Thursday (20 November), The Aussie Corporateposted that the professional services firm wasn’t following suit in terms of a “plummeting” consulting arm and was looking to increase its operation.
The popular professional services Instagram page posted a message that read: “To balance out the redundancy chat, KPMG Consulting is recruiting over 200 roles. New national managing partner righting some previous wrongs”.
In conversation with Accounting Times, a KPMGspokesperson responded positively, yet neither confirmed nor denied the number of positions it was looking to hire for.
The spokesperson said the firm had, and was, looking to open roles within its consulting branch to bolster both opportunities and capabilities.
“We have opened up a number of roles in our consulting division as we respond to client demands and provide opportunities to our people to grow,” they said.
“The new hires will build on our existing capabilities.”
The expansion comes after chief financial officer, Brad Miller, was appointed as head of the firm’s consulting division in September after senior partner Paul Howes left for the rebranded Sayers Group.
With the appointment, Miller’s priority was outlined to “conduct a national listening tour of partners and staff in the struggling division to determine what is working and what is not working”, according to a report by the AFR.
The expansion of KPMG’s consulting branch also contradicts its earlier downturn in annual revenue, which suffered a 20 per cent decrease from $915 million to $749 million.
Liquidators of a Melbourne business are hunting for answers after the company’s director mysteriously “disappeared”, abandoning employees and owing millions in tax and superannuation.
The director of a collapsed Melbourne company has reportedly “disappeared” without a trace.
The director of a collapsed Melbourne company has reportedly “disappeared” without a trace, leaving behind a whopping $7m tax bill.
Colab Melbourne Project, which was understood to provide glass facades and window installation services, was ordered into liquidation following legal action from the ATO, with over $7.1m owed in taxes and superannuation.
Appointed liquidator Philip Newman of PCI Partners claimed he was told by a former employee that the director vanished late last year.
Company records reveal Vasanthnath Daka as the current sole director and shareholder of the business.
“(An ex-employee) advised that the director disappeared in around November 2024, and he has been unable to contact anyone from the company since then,” Mr Newman said in his report to creditors.
The liquidator said he will now report Mr Daka to the corporate regulator for “possible prosecution” after failing to handover the company’s financial details.
Colab Melbourne Project was understood to provide glass facades and window installation services.
“To date, my attempts to contact the director have been unsuccessful,” he said.
“Further, I have not been provided with any books and records of the company.
“I will shortly be reporting the failure of the director to provide me with (books and records) to the ASIC for investigation and possible prosecution.”
He also reached out to the company’s listed accountant, who said the firm had never provided any services to the business.
“I wrote to the company’s pre-appointment accountant identified from the ASIC search to seek copies of any records they hold,” he said.
“This accountant advised that they never provided accounting services and have no company records.”
The company, established in October 2023, has a registered office and principal place of business in the Docklands, Melbourne.
“My enquiries with the agent engaged to market this property indicated that the company no longer operates from this site and they have no contact details available for the company or director,” Mr Newman said.
The ATO claimed $3.6m was owed in superannuation, Mr Newman said, with a further $3.4m owed to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation.
The liquidator said he will now report Mr Daka to the corporate regulator after failing to handover the company’s financial details.
No secured claims against the company or bank accounts held in the business’ name were identified during Mr Newman’s initial investigations.
“Given the lack of any bank accounts identified for the company I have been unable to assess any trading activity that may have been conducted prior to the liquidation commencing,” he said.
Searches revealed no cars or real estate owned by the business, nor any property registered under Mr Daka’s name.
Mr Newman said his probe into the company’s affairs had so far relied on tips from creditors and other third parties.
“In the absence of the director’s co-operation, I have been unable to determine the reasons for the failure of the business other than the non-payment of the debt owing to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation,” he said.
Mr Newman was first appointed to the company by the Federal Court of Australia on July 30, after the tax office launched a winding up order against the company.
