Friday, June 05, 2026

Finding Meaning in Suffering

 

Finding Meaning in Suffering

Dispatch Faith:  The World Needs to Recover True Lament. Christianity Can Teach It., by Kelly M. Kapic (Covenant College), M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall (Biola University) & Jason McMartin (Biola University) (Co-Authors, When the Journey Hurts: Finding Meaning in Suffering for Heart, Mind, and Soul(2026)):

Benjamin Franklin famously declared that only death and taxes are certain. But he forgot one thing: Suffering is the third universal—as inescapable as mortality, as indifferent as the IRS.

Every major religion or philosophical system in human history has addressed the problem of suffering. Buddhism teaches acceptance and detachment—the goal is to loosen the grip of craving and desire that amplify pain, ultimately freeing the self from suffering’s hold. Secular modernity largely hands suffering to experts: therapists, physicians, pharmaceuticals, and self-optimization regimens. Suffering becomes a problem to be solved, a malfunction to be corrected. Stoicism, of the ancient and current life hack varieties, encourages cultivating indifference and yielding to fate. 

But Judaism and Christianity, at their best and growing out of their shared biblical tradition, offer something none of these does: a structured, communal practice for bringing honest anguish into relationship with a God who, the psalms insist, neither despises nor ignores the cry of the afflicted.

That practice is called lament. In the psalms, lament is a structured form of prayer that follows a discernible pattern: crying out to God, complaining, requesting, remembering God’s works, and—perhaps most surprisingly—often ending in praise of God. And for much of contemporary American Christianity, which we know best and have been studying for years, it has quietly disappeared. But research we’ve been conducting suggests the costs are both deeper and wider than most churches recognize.

The current season of Lent is a time for honest reckoning—40 days of sitting with mortality, limitation, and the long ache of a world not yet whole. It is, at least in theory, the one time of year when Christianity makes room for suffering rather than rushing past it. And yet for many people, Lent passes without ever touching what is actually hardest in their lives. 

That gap between what the church’s calendar invites and what its culture permits is where our research—compiled for our forthcoming book, When the Journey Hurts—begins.

When one of our research participants was asked what lament had done for her, she said something we’ve heard in different forms from many people we’ve interviewed: “I never gave myself permission to be honest with God. I think for a long time I really felt like I needed to put up a face for him because I wanted to give him what he wanted. But I had a wrong idea of what he wanted. He wants honesty from us.” …

 

Bloomberg: “Biofuel Groups Push IRS for New Model to Calculate Tax Credit”

Erin Schilling (Bloomberg): Biofuel Groups Push IRS for New Model to Calculate Tax Credit:


Saez and Zucman: The Case for California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax

Emmanuel Saez (Berkeley-Economics) and Gabriel Zucman (Paris School of Economics) have published a guest essay in the New York Times: “The Case for California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax.” From the article:

On taxes and much else, California has often led the country. In 1978 the state’s voters approved Proposition 13, which strongly limited tax increases. Prop 13 was the opening salvo in Ronald Reagan’s antitax revolution, which swept the United States two years later.

This year California’s voters could spearhead a shift in the opposite direction. A large labor union representing health care workers and advised by academic experts — including the two of us — got the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act on this November’s ballot. The proposed tax would be a one-time levy of 5 percent on billionaire wealth, spread over five years. If the measure passes, it would be the first tax targeted at the combined personal and business wealth of billionaires enacted anywhere in the world.

California is an ideal place to test this idea. The state needs money to fill a budget hole that the Trump administration created when it cut, among other things, Medicaid, a state-federal partnership that provides health coverage to low-income people. Without more state tax revenue to fill the loss in federal funding, the fraction of uninsured Californians will increase substantially, reversing part of the progress made since Obamacare.

More TaxProf Blog coverage on California’s billionaire wealth tax:

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KPMG and Accontinb Mob - Aussie media calls for new ATO powers in big tech news war

Disgraced KPMG executive’s cushion: board overrules legal and HR chiefs

The Albanese government is considering banning KPMG from public sector contracts as data reveals the embattled firm holds $27.4m in government audit deals.
DAVID ROSS and TANSY HARCOURT
June 5, 2026
Demoted KPMG Australia chief operating officer Eileen Hoggett in Sydney on Thursday. 

 Albanese government is considering a freeze on KPMG after data showed the embattled firm collected millions in public sector audit contracts and as partners continue to depart.

The Albanese government is considering a freeze on KPMG after data showed the embattled firm collected millions in public sector audit contracts and as partners continue to depart.

Amid another bruising day of parliamentary hearings, which have focused on the firm’s links with the public service, Greens senator Barbara Pocock said it was time to ban KPMG from ­future spending. 
The Greens have pointed to AusTender data that shows the public service has dozens of audit contracts directly with KPMG worth $27.4m. 
The deepening scandal has claimed the scalps of the CEO Andrew Yates and head of audit Julian McPherson and led to the demotion of chief operating officer Eileen Hoggett. 
The Australian understands KPMG chief legal counsel Louise Capon and head of people Dorothy Hisgrove had recommended a significantly tougher penalty for Ms Hoggett after the firm’s own internal investigation and a review by legal firm Ashurst, but were overruled on the basis the issue sat with the board.
KPMG’s audit teams are facing multiple regulatory probes, amid allegations they leaked confidential documents to others in the firm to help them win work. Among the public deals is a $6.4m contract struck with the Australian National Audit Office, with KPMG supplementing the work of the agency charged with scrutinising public spending. 
Greens senator Barbara Pocock says KPMG has abused the system for its gain. Picture: Martin Ollman / NewsWire
Greens senator Barbara Pocock says KPMG has abused the system for its gain. Picture: Martin Ollman / NewsWire
KPMG also holds a $2.1m audit contract with the Bureau of Meteorology, and a $1.7m audit deal with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. 
KPMG also has a $4.9m internal audit contract with the CSIRO. 
The Greens said KPMG should have no role in government audits, with Senator Pocock saying the firm had shown itself unfit for government contracts after repeated scandals. 
“It’s clear that KPMG’s rot spans far and wide in government,” she said. 
“Labor must immediately ban KPMG and stop these corrupt firms from milking taxpayers of millions of dollars while abusing the system for their gain.”
The warning comes as state governments mull over their dealings with KPMG, after NSW said the firm had to provide assurances about its dealings with that state’s public service and give an account of what went wrong. 
KPMG has been under fire since whistleblower reports emerged suggesting partners at the firm had shared confidential audit documents with others in the business. 
These were used in a bid to try to win business from the rivals of KPMG’s audit customers. 
The regulatory response to the scandal has seen six partners at KPMG allegedly implicated in the audit misuse. Three of them have self-reported to Chartered Accountants Australia New ­Zealand, but the Australian Securities & Investments Commission only holds the power to pursue the audit partners, and not those within KPMG’s consulting division who helped misuse the documents. 
Clockwise from top left: Martin Sheppard, chairman of KPMG Asia Pacific; interim CEO Stan Stavros and former CEO Andrew Yates
Clockwise from top left: Martin Sheppard, chairman of KPMG Asia Pacific; interim CEO Stan Stavros and former CEO Andrew Yates
Senator Pocock took aim at the regulation blindspot, saying the self-regulatory model for the big four consulting firms was failing. “Labor needs to put an end to their special treatment – on tax, public reporting, professional liability and whistleblower protections – and regulate the big four like other large Australian firms,” she said. 
“The latest KPMG scandals show the big four consultancy firms making a mockery of the parliament yet again. They have made millions of dollars from government work and abused the system.”
Rival PwC Australia faced a similar baptism of fire after that firm was alleged to have misused confidential federal government tax briefings to prepare strategies for clients, in breach of ­undertakings. 
PwC’s government consulting arm was ultimately carved off from the firm as the scandal saw it frozen out from new commonwealth contracts. 
Multiple KPMG partners are now understood to be actively searching for a new employer, amid concern over the future of work with the firm. 
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, right, alongside Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, right, alongside Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Already KPMG’s chief executive Andrew Yates has quit, replaced by Stan Stavros, while several other partners have been punted or demoted. 
It’s chair, Martin Sheppard, is clinging on.
Appearing at a Senate estimates hearings, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the government was seriously concerned about the scandal, with the Department of Finance preparing to take further action. 
This could see KPMG banned from the Management Advisory Services Panel or an agreement sought from the firm not to tender for government contracts for some time. 
The Department of Treasury told Senate estimates that KPMG had provided assurances to the federal government that none of its staff involved in the firm’s audit scandal was involved in contracts with it. 
Treasury deputy secretary Katrina Demarco said KPMG had contacted the department on Wednesday “to confirm none of the matters provided to Fin­ance concern the performance of services to Treasury”. 
Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson, however, said issues around KPMG were “very serious” and would come into consideration about how the public service responded to future contracting with it. The Queensland government is also scrutinising how it will deal with KPMG, with $85m in public service contracts now at risk.

Aussie media calls for new ATO powers in big tech news war 

by Sam Buckingham-Jones 

A coalition of Australian media companies has called for robust powers to be granted to the nation’s tax chief, who could demand tech giants like Meta, Google and TikTok reveal the full extent of their local revenue amid concerns they are shifting billions overseas to minimise tax.

Google, which owns YouTube, Gmail and its dominant search engine, and Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, transferred at least $11 billion out of the country to related entities last year as part of internal transfer pricing deals buying advertising space, which they then on-sell to Australians.

The Albanese government’s proposed News Bargaining Incentive includes a 2.25 per cent charge on TikTok, Meta and Google’s group revenue. Michaela Pollock

But a new law the Albanese government is seeking to pass in coming weeks will impose a levy on the three tech giants’ “consolidated revenue” – unless they negotiate commercial deals to pay Australian media companies for their news content.

The proposed News Bargaining Incentive includes a 2.25 per cent charge on TikTok, Meta and Google’s group revenue that can be fully offset if they strike deals worth 1.5 per cent of that broad revenue figure. It adds to the News Media Bargaining Code, a 2021 law that prompted Google and Meta to strike deals worth roughly $200 million a year – until Meta pulled out.

The problem is that it is unclear exactly how much money the tech giants make from Australia. The government has estimated the policy will raise between $200 and $250 million, suggesting it thinks those companies make between $13 and $16 billion from Australians – figures not reflected in the accounts they lodge locally.

The competition regulator has previously estimated Meta makes more than $5 billion from Australians – it reported $1.8 billion last year. The rest is believed to come from Australians buying ads on Facebook and Instagram companies based in low-tax places overseas, like Ireland. Irish media reported Meta wrote revenue of €85 billion ($138 billion) in 2024 in the country, which has a population roughly one-quarter of Australia.

“The tax office needs to have express powers to interrogate what revenue is generated in this territory for the purposes of this scheme”: Free TV chief executive Bridget Fair. Louie Douvis

Now a lobby group representing Nine Entertainment, Southern Cross Media and Network Ten has called for new “robust” powers to be added to the law to allow the taxation commissioner to probe major tech platforms.

While the incentive calls for a levy on those three companies’ “consolidated revenue attributable to Australia”, Free TV told the government it was concerned transfer pricing and other practices made it difficult to find the true figure to tax.

“This whole scheme is trying to recognise the value these companies generate in Australia based off, to some extent, the news content of broadcasters and other news providers, and that needs to be recognised in total – not after complicated accounting treatments to minimise what that looks like,” said Free TV chief executive Bridget Fair.

“The tax office needs to have express powers to interrogate what revenue is generated in this territory for the purposes of this scheme. Since we’re doing this, why not design it in a way to get to the bottom of how much they make?”

Free TV has also called for the scheme’s levy rate to be far higher than 2.25 per cent. Similar rules introduced by the government, forcing streaming companies to spend money making Australian content, set the percentage at 7.5 per cent of revenue. There are “no policy reasons”, Free TV wrote in its submission, that the rate is so much lower.

“It’s only going to end up generating about the same as we were getting five years ago,” she said, “despite massive growth in the advertising market that these people have enjoyed. It’s more companies, but the same number.”

While the incentive has been welcomed by Australian news publishers, it has been savaged by the tech companies. On Wednesday morning, Meta published a scathing blog post describing the policy as “a discriminatory, retroactive tax targeting a handful of foreign companies”.

It echoed aggressive comments from powerful US business lobby groups that warned it formed part of a “deteriorating tax environment” for investment in Australia. The White House criticised it as “foreign extortion”.

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 is the media, marketing and telecommunications reporter at The Australian Financial Review. Send tips about the media and the telco sectors via encrypted messaging platform Signal (@samebjones.18) or email. Email Sam at sam.buckinghamjones@afr.com

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100 Iconic Moments From Sir David Attenborough

 

Make Way for Beavers


100 Iconic Moments From Sir David Attenborough


Let’s the keep the David Attenborough love going: this is a six-hour video featuring 100 of the most iconic moments from the famed naturalist’s work. I got this via Enrique, who rightly asserts that “There’s no such thing as too much David Attenborough.”

See also Three Hours of Unbelievable Moments From Nature, Narrated by David Attenborough.

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The Butterfly Effect: How Tiny Actions Unleash Global Consequences

I used to live in New York City. If I guy got on my train with a Nazi shirt, I'd get off. Or, more accurately, he would.


The Butterfly Effect: How Tiny Actions Unleash Global Consequences 

In Stephen King’s 11/22/63, a man named Jake discovers a portal that transports him back to 16 May 1958. Determined to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, he believes this single act will benefit humanity. After years of meticulous planning, he succeeds in altering history. But when he returns to the present, he finds a world ravaged by earthquakes and nuclear war—a dystopian reality far worse than the one he left behind. Devastated, Jake goes back once more to reset the timeline.



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Thursday, June 04, 2026

Amalfi Ettalong

Last month we watched the opening sequence of Hotel Costiera, the new Amazon series starring Jesse Williams as an ex-marine -cum- fixer at a luxury hotel on the Amalfi Coast. For a few glorious minutes, Williams cruises down an empty Strada Statale 163 on cherry red Vespa Primavera - no cars, no people, just curves and sea. Add some lemons and you have the Amalfi Coast dream.

 

Today the streets at Woy Woy and Umina were also empty …


It was the rainbow theme at Ettalong that made our day as well as the Italian dishes shared with  A & B at Amalfi - which were divine …

Antipodean Amalfi











Amalfi Coast, Italy
By Ondine CohanePhotographs by Gianni Cipriano
Ondine Cohane is a regular contributor to the New York Times Travel section and lives in Pienza, Italy.
On a cerulean sea, fishing boats bob under villages suspended like cliffside bird’s nests. Huge lemons hang from ancient groves, and barefoot-chic restaurants grill just-caught fish. There are blue and gold Byzantine domed churches, and nearby, some of the world’s most important archeological complexes. Sounds like a heavenly idyll? It is. The problem is that much of the world thinks this part of the Italian coast is, too, and the congestion is increasingly horrible on the roads of the 30-mile region in summer. Luckily, May and early June are less trafficked in every sense, so one can more easily plan excursions by sea or by land. With trails and coastal routes that draw only a fraction of the high season’s crowds, the land of sirens becomes particularly seductive this time of year.

Recommendations

  • The evocative Museo della Carta, or Paper Museum, is housed in a 13th-century mill in the town of Amalfi.
  • The picturesque Cattedrale di Sant’Andrea, near the town’s harbor, dates back to 987 but has been renovated several times over the centuries.
  • Renting a private boat is a worthwhile splurge. Lucibello is one company that sets up the vessel with a captain.
  • Take a leisurely passeggiata, or stroll, through the town of Sorrento, a gateway to the Amalfi Coast.

Itinerary

Friday

5 p.m. Start your own Grand Tour
Some visitors to the region bypass Sorrento, which is only about an hour southwest of Pompeii, and whiz farther along the Amalfi coast. It’s their loss. Take a passeggiata (stroll) on the Corso Italia, the city’s main thoroughfare, followed by a sunset aperitivo on the terrace of La Minervetta hotel (open to nonguests) as your prize. Try its signature concoction with Sorrento lemon, sea salt, gin, rosemary and blue chamomile (30 euros, or about $35, with complimentary local snacks; call for a reservation).
A terrace with colorful umbrellas, tables and deck chairs looking over the sea.
La Minervetta
8:30 p.m. Eat the region’s best produce
While there are several Michelin-starred options in and around the Sorrento, worth a look is the exciting arrival Ndre, run by the local chef Andrea Napolitano. Standouts include mackerel with a sauce made from peaches grown on the slopes of Sicily’s Mount Etna (€30), and fresh egg ravioli, stuffed with creamy ricotta and Agerola provola, a Campanian cheese (€28). Meanwhile at Pizzeria da Franco, the line of regulars is a tip off that this is the best spot for pizza in Sorrento. The pizzas (from about €10) are done in the style of Vico Equense, a nearby town, which is a long pie with an extra crispy crust.
A plate with a small piece of cooked fish topped with a crisp lattice on top.
Ndre
Take a passeggiata on the Corso Italia, Sorrento’s main thoroughfare.

Saturday

9 a.m. Take a stairway to heaven
To get from Sorrento to Amalfi, the best, and most picturesque, way is by ferry (about an hour and a half, depending on stops, about €25). Close to Amalfi’s harbor, its cathedral, called Cattedrale di Sant’Andrea but known more popularly as the Duomo di Amalfi, dates to 987 but has been renovated several times over the centuries (entry €3). The Romanesque and Byzantine elements illustrate how the port town was connected to other maritime powers during its heyday. According to legend, if you go up the stairs (62 in total) hand in hand with the person you love you won’t end up marrying them. After checking out the sacred site, return to the earthly realm with a cappuccino and cornetto at the beloved Pasticceria Pansa, a cafe and bar beside the cathedral (€12 at a table, €4 if you are standing at the bar).
The interior of a grand church.
Cattedrale di Sant’Andrea
10 a.m. Hike a serene trail
Above Amalfi, the Path of the Gods, a hiking trail with olive trees, vineyards and lemon groves hanging over the Mediterranean, is busy in high season. But the quieter, more secluded, shaded and adjacent hike is the Valle delle Ferriere, which passes by the ruins of paper mills that used to be a prime source of income here. The full three-hour-or-so loop also leads into a nature reserve with stately poplars, and the picturesque medieval village of Pontone, but you can edit your route to a shorter distance. After your hike, check out Amalfi’s Museo della Carta, or the Paper Museum, in a 13th-century mill and lovingly restored in 1971 with original wooden mauls and printing press on display (admission €3).
Two people wearing backpacks walk along a path that overlooks a village surrounded by cliffs.
Valle delle Ferriere
1 p.m. Visit a seaside classic
Jackie Kennedy put La Tonnarella, a simple but charming beachside restaurant that its owners say she frequented, on the map during the time she was falling in love with the region. It’s worth the hundreds of steps down from the quiet fishing village of Conca dei Marini, about a 10-minute taxi ride from Amalfi’s harbor (about €24 to €29; catch one from the stand). Dishes include tiny fried calamari and spaghetti with fresh lobster. Lunch for two, without wine, about €100.
A busy beachside restaurant with two small boats parked on the shore out front.
La Tonnarella
5 p.m. Knock over the shopping in one stop
From Conca dei Marini, take the Sita Sud bus (about 25 minutes) to Positano, the epicenter of the Amalfi Coast’s shopping: Ceramiche Casola has been creating handpainted plates and the like since 1925. The colorful plates cost about €80 each and the store can ship bigger items, like flowerpots, home. Bottega di Brunella kimonos and dresses in silk and linen are designed and made right in town (the organic linen pants cost €225). Meanwhile at Safari Positano, handmade sandals (from €85) come in almost every combination of style and color imaginable. After shopping, reward yourself with a cup from Buca di Bacco gelateria — try the Limone di Amalfi or strawberry (€5 for two flavors).
A person stands behind a retail display of shoes, with many more shoes on display on the back wall.
Safari Positano
7 p.m. Eat, swim and lounge at an iconic hotel
In a 1953 Harper’s Bazaar essay, John Steinbeck wrote of Positano as a small, remote fishing village with few visitors. Now the town has sadly become quite overrun, but Le Sirenuse has the same legendary family ownership as when Steinbeck visited it. Antonio and Carla Sersale keep the property both comfortingly familiar but always updated. One of the hotel’s bars, Franco’s, is named after the beloved patriarch and is one of the best locales for aperitivo (classic Negroni, €25). A new mosaic-tile artwork, designed by Nicolas Party, was added to the hotel’s much-photographed swimming pool in 2024. And this year, Le Sirenuse launched a chic beach club in Nerano, 25 minutes away (open to nonguests). At the restaurant, La Sponda, hundreds of candles on the terrace add to the romantic vibe, but the €160 minimum spend per person for nonguests might be prohibitive. Aldo’s, also in the hotel, is the more casual option (dinner for two, about €160).
People sit on a terrace overlooking a village with buildings built onto a steep cliff.
Le Sirenuse
10 p.m. Dance in a cave
For those looking for a nightlife experience in a cave overlooking the sea, Music on the Rocks in Positano is open from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily with V.I.P. booths and D.J.s playing everything from the 70’s to Lady Gaga (entry €30 to €50, including a drink). Clubs carved into the rocks seems to be an Amalfi signature: Il Pirata in Praiano, a town that’s one of the coast’s under-the-radar treasures, morphs from beach club and restaurant to a sophisticated bar-lounge after hours until 1 a.m.. Try the Mr. Negroni Goes to the Coast, with housemade vermouth, Campari, Solaro Capri Gin and limoncello foam (€20).
A D.J. plays before a crowd in a lit-up cave.
Music on the Rocks
A bird's-eye view of blue-and-white umbrellas and blue deck chairs on a beach.
An aerial view of a beach in Positano.

Sunday

10 a.m. Take a boat ride
While the ferry service here is useful and dependable, it’s definitely worth the splurge to have your own vessel for at least half a day. Positano’s Lucibello offers excursions with a captain along the coast (from €650 for 3.5 hours, depending on the size of the boat and how many passengers). The view from the sea gives a different perspective, looking up at towering rock cliffs and little towns tucked into the curves of the landscape. It also provides the perfect opportunity for a dip in one of the coves. Among the favorites are Li Galli (the roosters), islands that are the purported home of the devastating sirens from Greek mythology; the Fjord of Crapolla (yes that’s the name), with Roman ruins on the beach; and Grotta dello Smeraldo. Boats will also drop you at seaside lunch spots. Some hotels have boat shuttles as well, but book well in advance to guarantee availability.
An underground lake.
Grotta dello Smeraldo
2 p.m. Eat by the ocean
After your adventures along the coastline you’ll have worked up an appetite. Lo Scoglio da Tommaso, a family-owned legend since 1956 in Marina del Cantone, is on a wood deck built on top of a boulder. Deservedly beloved for its spaghetti with fresh sea urchin (€38), among other seafood dishes like frutti di mare with pasta or served alone, the restaurant also has excellent vegetables from the restaurant patriarch’s farm nearby. Meanwhile Da Adolfo, a fixture since the 1960s on the beach of Laurito by Positano, has a legendary zuppa alle cozze (mussel soup), €22, and a spot to lounge and swim afterward. There is a complimentary boat shuttle to the restaurant from Positano’s port; look for the red sign with Da Adolfo written on it.
A plate of spaghetti on a plate decorated with illustrations of sea urchins.
Lo Scoglio da Tommaso

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