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Derek Houck

@derekhouck.com
268 followers 271 following 84 posts

He/him. The Venn diagram of X-Men, professional wrestling, and Kevin Costner movies. Ruby on Rails software engineer. Former actor. Textbook Napoleon complex. derekhouck.com

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Reposted by Derek Houck
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 57m
If you're a fraternity alum (from any school/state) who experienced sexual violence as a member, I'm here to listen. I understand this is extremely sensitive and I will treat your story with the utmost discretion and care. Reach out— Signal: marisakabas.04 Email: marisa@thehandbasket.co
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Greenb3ar @greenb3ar.bsky.social · 20h
Okay the best political ad of the year is here from LA-DSA
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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 17h
Political polarization breeds inferior criminals, and I’m against it.
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Derek Houck @derekhouck.com · 12/10/2026
Panera frittata Quite an odd little phrase Panera frittata Must be a passing phase
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854
Taxing Entrepreneurial Wealth: Evidence from
Norway, 2021-2025
Marius A. K. Ring
WORKING PAPER 35854|
DOl 10.3386/w35854
ISSUE DATE October 2026
Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021-2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an "exodus" of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times,
2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners' firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners' savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms.
Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms,…
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 09/10/2026
People in California who are facing a terrible ICE surge: remember that if you need whistles, we are still sending them out for free. In fact, we just passed 1.7 million whistles sent out. linktr.ee/3Dwhistles
linktr.ee
3D Printed Whistles | Linktree
We ship community protection whistles for free. Need some? Click the email link below & tell us how many you need (between 100 - 3000) & where to send them.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 08/10/2026
From The Archive: DOJ To Bring Back Firing Squad As Means Of Entertainment
theonion.com
DOJ To Bring Back Firing Squad As Means Of Entertainment
WASHINGTON—In an effort to provide some joy to the nation and boost overall well-being, Justice Department officials announced plans Monday to bring back firing squads as a means of entertainment. “Fo...
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Horrifying: Arizona Democratic congressional candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia was raped by a man after he knocked her out. Another man approached her to do the same. “She began swinging her foot at him. ‘Not even worth it,’ she heard the man say as he moved away.”
phoenixnewtimes.com
Congressional candidate is raped while repairing her campaign signs
Embarrassed, she initially didn’t want to report attack. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office's investigation is ongoing.
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 03/10/2026
the Cornell case should make us question prosecutors and police all the time: the same DA offices discounting college students’ sexual assault cases (the lacking investigations, the disbelief) are happy to jail countless women for far less, day in and day out, when most people aren’t watching
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Today, 8 years ago, my friend, Saudi Journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered.
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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Things Gavin Newsom has vetoed this week: -A ban on secretly recording people with smart glasses -A ban on ICE agents working for the state government -A ban on websites selling your data -A bill giving native tribes more say over water rights -A bill protecting transgender healthcare providers
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...
But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.
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Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
One of the things to come from GamerGate was the gamification of torturing real, live women...hounding them out of their homes, making them look over their shoulders for years. It was treated as a joke, nbd, the work of a few bad apples--as all terrorism against women is--& that failure leads here.
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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
yes my bull went rogue in your china shop but I think we can all agree there’s no liability here it’s an agentic being
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Mike Eliason @holz-bau.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
chat is this good?
all construction dropping massively.
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Jules @ds9official.singles · 23/09/2026
one thing about newsom is that once you notice his gul dukat vibe you can't unsee it
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Whitney Curry Wimbish @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The youngest person his pager attack killed was 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah, who had just started 4th grade. The pager was on a table when it went off and she picked it up to take to her dad. It exploded in her face and reports said it covered the room in her blood. She wanted to learn English.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
one common thread (among the horrifying many) between the numerous ICE shootings/murders is that no first aid was administered to the victim. armed combatants of the government shot to kill, and if they didn’t kill right away, they gave time for it to happen anyway. it is absolutely grotesque.
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Nick Field @nickfield.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The State AGs were on pace to kill the Paramount/Warner Bros by litigation and delay until Gavin Newsom stepped in and turned the tide. Now the Trump loyalist Ellisons will control CNN and HBO. Don't ever, ever forget that Newsom stabbed us in the back www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Newsom Expresses Concerns About State Antitrust Suit Against Paramount
The California governor has told people involved in the suit that blocking the $81 billion deal could harm Hollywood jobs.
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 21/09/2026
for your future voting knowledge, Gavin Newsom was central in pressuring the AGs to settle their antitrust lawsuit against Paramount:
deadline.com
Done! Paramount Settles Antitrust Suit, Set To Seal Deal For Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount agreed to settle an antitrust suit by a dozen State Attorneys General led by California's Rob Bonta, the last obstacle to its merger with WBD.
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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 21/09/2026
ICE shot a DoorDash delivery guy.
statesman.com
Attorney: Austin man shot by ICE agent was making DoorDash delivery
A Venezuelan man shot by an ICE agent in Austin was making a DoorDash delivery, his attorney said. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was later released from the hospital into ICE custody.
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Great system, no notes www.propublica.org/article/scho...
Voucher programs and the private schools they increasingly fund have proliferated across the country. Yet those schools often reject children with disabilities — the very kids who were used to help sell early voucher programs to lawmakers and the public - for having needs that are too costly, complex or disruptive. That leaves those children with few options beyond the public schools. And as public schools lose enrollment as a result of more and more
voucher use, they lose resources that would benefit children who remain, including those with disabilities.
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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
every single republican president of my lifetime has started a war in the middle east and destroyed the economy
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IGN Creators Guild @ignunion.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
We are tired of posting statements like these.
Today was an awful day at IGN. We were blindsided by the layoff of four union members and many more people across the organization who contributed years of their careers to making IGN an unparalleled voice in games and entertainment. 

With each successive layoff, core parts of IGN’s operation continue to be stripped away. Today, IGN has decided to do away with many of our talented producers, editors, hosts, and other crucial roles, both within and out of the union. How many layoffs will occur before we no longer recognize the company we work for and the content that we make? 


While we recognize the challenges the media industry is facing as a whole, it is difficult to understand how laying off valuable employees better positions us to meet those challenges. In turn, remaining employees bear additional workloads worsened by anxiety over the ever-looming threat of another layoff.

We are devastated, angry, and heartbroken for our colleagues.
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Aftermath @aftermath.site · 15/09/2026
IGN's union tells us one worker was given an ultimatum to move to LA or be laid off, and that the union was not even given a courtesy heads-up about today's moves: aftermath.site/ign-layoffs-...
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Bo Moore @usebomswisely.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
My team had a huge content day today on IGN, covering the launch of Valve's Steam Frame. So this seems like a good time as any to say that I was affected by today's layoffs.
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Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Another clear and knowable downstream consequence of letting scammers get rich off crypto was that that money would boomerang back into politics in ways that were highly likely to try to skirt around fundraising laws and distort policy incentives.
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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 13/09/2026
Flight attendants have the right to organize a union without intimidation or interference. I've received reports that Delta threatened pay and benefits, and encouraged new workers to report colleagues for even mentioning a union. I'm pushing back against union-busting tactics.
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 11/09/2026
Pretending the days after Sept. 11, 2001 were some kind of gauzy Hallmark special when we came together as a country is nauseating and ahistorical. The country went completely insane and has not recovered
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 12/09/2026
"don't you care about fairness in sports?" No actually, I don't. Nobody does
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
If you made software not intended to kill everyone and now you think it might kill everyone that sounds like a product liability issue. You should go fix it and stop bothering me
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John Michael McGrath @jm-mcgrath.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
"we should rename Mar-a-Lago something funny, make Google display that" My brother in Christ, the Ontario legislature can declare Google's workers in Ontario to be unionized and assign their collective labour rights to whichever union will be most militant, think bigger
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Derek Houck @derekhouck.com · 29/08/2026
Four teenagers escape to a farm after fighting in an antique shop.
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SAG-AFTRA @sagaftra.org · 26/08/2026
We are saddened by the loss of the iconic Tim Curry. He became a cultural icon as Dr. Frank-N-Furter & terrified audiences as Pennywise, while earning 3 Tony nominations. His unforgettable performances left an indelible mark on generations of audiences. #SagAftraMember since 1974
Tim Curry, against a black background, smiling. Photo credit: PhotofestTim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter smiling and dancing while wearing a corset and fishnet stockings. 
Photo credit: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp./Photofest © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.Tim Curry as Pennywise, holding colorful balloons and smiling against an eerie background.
Photo credit: Warner Bros./Photofest © Warner Bros.
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Joel @itsjoels.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This is the letter kids got at the end of Dolly’s Imagination Library. I defy you to read this and not cry.
Sorry, I can’t type that.
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SAG-AFTRA @sagaftra.org · 25/08/2026
SAG-AFTRA mourns the loss of legendary performer and recording artist Dolly Parton, who has died at 80. Read more: ow.ly/cMwp50ZFovN
Dolly Parton smiling. 
Credit: RCA Records / Photofest © RCA Records Photo: David GahrDolly Parton singing into a microphone while smiling.
Credit: ABC/Photofest © ABC Photographer: Ida Mae Astute
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Alex Zalben @azalben.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton, among a thousand other amazing things she did in her life, gifted over 330 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the world, but you can support the program today to keep it going imaginationlibrary.com
imaginationlibrary.com
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AU
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth until they begin school in participating areas.
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Brandon - "Fietser" @americanfietser.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Humanity lost a great person today.
theguardian.com
Dolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80
Songwriter of I Will Always Love You, Jolene and 9 to 5 also invested millions in child literacy, Covid-19 vaccine development and other causes
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Derek Houck @derekhouck.com · 23/08/2026
Why does Heidi Gardner want to shoot me? What did I ever do to her?
A truncated news headline saying, "Heidi Garnder returns to Kansas City to shoot new movie -- and you..."
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Derek Houck @derekhouck.com · 21/08/2026
I’m sorry. Who is coming to town now?
A screenshot of the Apple Music app advertising an upcoming concert for Whitney Houston, who died in 2012.
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Chance the Lawyer @chancethelawyer.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
say what you will about the myriad valid concerns with current LLMs but I personally will never get over the fact that Aaron Swartz was prosecuted to his literal death for downloading JSTOR and then a decade later, they downloaded & ingested the entire world and our IP laws just went ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Jen Taub @jentaub.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.” ysph.yale.edu/news-article...
ysph.yale.edu
Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects
A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it
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Ross Sayers @rosssayers.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
[James Stewart as Odysseus] now listen here, Agamemnon, I'm going home, y'see. You keep your fancy armour, I'm getting off this crummy ol' beach. [Spotting the Cyclops] now here's a curious fella, he's only got one peeper
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
It sometimes feels like we're living in a ridiculously exaggerated folk tale with wildly implausible villains. For example, as the president takes billions for himself and his family and *coats his things in gold,* the soldiers fighting his war can't get toothpaste, hot water, or a clean toilet.
ms.now
Moldy showers and no soap: Military families are outraged by conditions on USS Lincoln
The aircraft carrier's long deployment in the Iran war is raising concerns that the sailors and Marines on board are facing poor conditions, low supplies and fatigue.
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Rebekah Valentine @duckvalentine.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
GOOD MORNING KANSAS CITY IT'S VOTIN' TIME FUCK NO TO MISSOURI STATE AMMENDMENTS 4 AND 5
A photo of someone's chest wearing an I Voted sticker
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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 30/07/2026
People still complain about “lockdowns” but we had none in the US. We had stay-at-home orders, where although businesses were closed, you could still go outside whenever you wanted. Other countries had far stricter rules, and yet have been much more accepting of them as they saved many more lives.
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Chad Loder @chadloder.dev · 02/08/2026
The diarrhea lettuce company, Taylor Farms, uses slave labor contracted from the Arizona Dept. of Corrections. The backbreaking labor is often performed by imprisoned Mexican nationals who would be otherwise ineligble to work in the US. They are paid $1.50 an hour.
futurism.com
The Diarrhea Lettuce Company Has Been Linked to Forced Labor
The lettuce-producing Taylor Farms was linked to the widespread use of prison labor before its involvement in a cyclospora outbreak.
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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
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Jessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
What's the difference between a landlord who sneaks into your apartment to rifle through your underwear drawer and an AG who sues for your abortion records? The state health director keeping a spreadsheet of women’s periods isn’t any less creepy than the abusive ex who still tracks your location.
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