iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I think that's a Commonwealth country thing, but could be other places also.

Glad you replied, it shoul keep these viewable. You can search these or just a general search about when an animal is euthanized or not. My guess is that this will be a "not" scenario. I don't know where you get your information, but I suggest you improve it. bsky.app/profile/para...

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 50m

Such a sweet thing to do. Such good nature.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 56m

Colin is full of shot. He's just throwing out opinions because he can.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 58m

Colin hid replies that accurately call this out as "trust me bro" bs

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 1h

Oh, so antitrust laws still exist? Looking around, I figured they were as dead as disco.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 1h

Trump, again, shows that he has no idea how things actually work. And Trump siding with Putin, again. I'm in the "Trump is a traitor" camp.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 2h

Ahh, Reddit. It'll be the death of us. It seems like some Ai primarily scrapes Reddit and it's wrong soooo often I worry that hypervisibility is taking away the privilege of youth to be silly and stupid But as a gay kid I found ppl online I wouldn't have otherwise, a real lifesaver, so who knows

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 4h

I just mean publicly. This should be an annoying conversation among fellow 18yos. Sorry if I overstated.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 6h

I wish Tru p was more like Hitler. When Hitler was Trump's age he'd been dead for 24 years.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 6h

My man looks like a guy with a communications degree.

The dude who is whining about getting the attention he desired in front of a bunch of pumpkins. Not a pumpkin patch, mind you, but a bunch of loose pumpkins they do for people who will count this as getting in touch with nature.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 6h

Temu Ivanka and Miller.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 6h

Republican? Gotta be a Republican.

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 7h

The other important thing to know about Rhodesia (and Ian Smith) fandom in the US is that it has a long history on the radical (and not so radical) right. Here’s the American Conservative Union, the people behind CPAC, stanning Rhodesia in 1978.

OFFICERS
CHAIRMAN
Hon. Philip M. Crane
Member of Congress, Illinois FIRST VICE CHAIRMAN
Thomas S. Winter
SECOND VICE CHAIRMAN
Jamesoo Campaigne, Jr.
Publisher
SECRETARY
Stefan T. Possony, Ph.D.
Author and Lecturer
TREASURER
Hon. Mickey Edwards
Member of Congress, Oklahoma
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Hon. John Ashbrook
Member of Congress, Ohio
C. Lee Barron
Coral, Idaho
Hon. Robert E. Bauman
Member of Congress, Maryland
Jeffrey Bell
Trenton, New Jersey JohnS. Buckley
Chairman, Young Americans
Sor Freedom
John Chamberlain
Author and Columnist
Leroy D. Corey
The American
Conservative Union
316 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 546-6555
October 18, 1978
Mr. Ron Dreeszen
421 Southwest Fifth Avenue
Portland, OR
97204
Dear Mr. Dreeszen:
ACU, as a public interest lobbying organization, is continually involved
As a leader in the American Legion, I believe you are probably concerned
about many of the same issues with which we are also concerned.
Al though I
realize you have a very busy schedule, please read this letter with the
COON OTOW
thought of strengthening lines of communication between us.
Ronald B. Dear
Attorney, Houston, Texas
Donald J. Devine
University of Maryland
M. Stanton Evans
Editor and Author
Hon. Jake Gam
U.S. Senator, Utah
Alan M. Gotteb
Critens Committee for the Right to Keep and
in many areas and we would like to share a few with you.
One such area is
that of national defense.
Through an ACU television documentary entitled,
"Soviet Might/American Myth:
The United States in Retreat,
ing to do our part to bring the tragedy of the weakened
we are attempt-state of our defense
system to as many Americans as possible. The film features Senators Barry Goldwater and Jake Garn, General John Singlaub, Admiral Thomas Moorer,
Richard Harvey
President,
Congressman Richard Ichord and ACU Chairman Congressman Philip M. Crane. Our
Texas Freedom Forum
Hon. Jesse Helms
goal
is to air the film throughout every state.
Enclosed is the November
U.S. Senator, North Caro…

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 6h

Meh. Pretty standard. Some people have difficulty transitioning from secondary school to college. I think it's unfortunate that this stuff gets put on blast. Navigating young adulthood is tough stuff.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 7h

Nah. This is pretty standard 18yo behavior for a certain set. Always has been. You were cool so you weren't around these types or immediately dismissed them as not worth your time. I did a lot of mentoring in my 20s and it was an eye opener to see 17-20yos look at a 25yo as a sage old adult.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 7h

I think a great many of us sensed this right out of the gate. There's not enough economic activity to serve the capital being thrown at it. And that's if it were in isolation, which it is not. AI may destroy the world, but not like you think. It's standard greed that will do it, supercharged by AI

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 10h

If I built an AI lab and it went rogue and deleted all student loan information, I'm betting they'd suddenly figure out how to prosecute me.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

raise revenue and undercut right-populism with One Weird Trick (capitalists HATE this)

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 23h

If they start calling him "Tala-Four-Loko" then he's gonna win for sure.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 23h

Trump would have said the same thing about gas lanterns. He's an idiot. And omg, converting lighting to electricity is so obviously better that nobody even discusses it anymore.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

And after all, isn't that, quality of life for the population, the preferred objective of government? And, they still have billionaires. Indeed, I'll guess that general welfare is part of why they stay. They like it. But regardless, I'm with you. Let's give it a shot.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The whole thing is funny because there's this great hand wringing about billionaires. I posit that the concern is irrelevant. Take Norway and their dozen billionaires. Fewer than 'Taxachusetts' but Norway has about the same economic size and population, but better quality of life for regular ppl.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

There are billionaires in Norway.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Orin, you get that you're making the same essential statement, right? Just to reiterate, you're drifting from your initial assertion that I responded to about boarders and language, issues that don't exist in tbe MA example, a thing that actually happened.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

If these people weren't already completely disconnected from reality, this will only make it worse. One real problem with wealth and power is becoming *more* isolated in a non-reality. That would be fine, except they have tons of power that they use in ways that impact everyone else.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

It's so weird because the whole tone has a vibe of absolute confidence in how markets work and then completely misses that yea companies pump an anniversary product for profits by selling many. I bet this dope has been buying $20 rolls of pennies thinking they'll become collectibles he can flip.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

22 California billionaires have spent a combined $150 million so far to defeat Prop 40. By spending their fortunes trying to stop California from taxing billionaires, they're making the argument for a billionaire wealth tax more clearly and articulately than anyone else possibly could.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Jumped out at me too. That person has a very distorted view of the world. The overall vibe is that they're owed an outsized reward for taking a risk. I wonder how that power tool reselling business is going lol Oh, and complaining that an anniversary set was overproduced is objectively hilarious

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I keep thinking about Joseph Choate and his gloom and doom arguments. Funny stuff.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Lol. People were screaming from the rooftops that people would flee if such a thing were to happen ...and then it didn't. That's the point you're missing and obscuring with additional arguments. Incidentally, Norway and MA are about the same size in terms of economy and population. Just sayin'

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

You were citing the usual differentiators that get offered all the time. Norway is different culturally, language/nat borders distort the effect, or France is weird or those countries are smaller or bigger or ...whatever. It's funny because it's so predictable.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

K bsky.app/profile/real...

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Orin: language and national borders make moving difficult, that probably explains it Me: MA millionaire tax was a migration wash, but I bet you'll move the goalposts Orin: *moves goalposts* Me: told ya Orin: *some bit of condescension* Me: cool, bruh www.wbur.org/news/2025/04...

wbur.org

Not fleeing: New report shows more wealthy residents in Mass., 2 years into 'millionaire's tax'

Despite previous concerns, Massachusetts' "millionaire's tax" hasn't seemed to deter high-earners from continuing to live here, according to a new study from the Institute for Policy Studies.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

And there we go, dismissing it and choosing a convenient basis to differentiate. If you're looking for it, you'll find it. It's ok, buddy. Your response is entirely unsurprising. I've listened to people complain about Taxachusetts for 50 years and the wealthy still hang there just the same.

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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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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

My understanding is the millionaire tax in MA has had success as well as similar outcomes of wealthy people not fleeing. But, sure, that could probably be differentiated as well. Just choose some special goalposts like idk, different size or culture or whatever, if that's what you're into.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I know the type and the group well.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

One of the best lines in all of cinema: The Wizard of Oz (1939) Dorothy: We melted her!

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Dorothy: We melted her!

Young Dorothy with the red hair and cheery disposition was very excited because she did good, as she was told, and has now come to claim her prize. It's the part where the troupe has come back to The Wizard after having (accidentally) killed the wicked witch and retrieved her broom. Dorothy (accidentally?) melted her with a conveniently nearby bucket of water.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

That's one of the problems. Another is that even when they do, they don't. They twist it to their ends and avoid deep therapeutic work. They're so well defended. They're nearly untreatable. In the old days he'd be a financially stable weirdo not a billionaire supervilain. Society messed up bigly.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

He's really good at this. It's interesting how ICE has made it possible to talk about the excesses and violence of law enforcement entities without it being a direct critique of local law enforcement that would draw vicious counter attacks.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Amodei continued by emphasizing that such behavior is only acceptable towards other people or oneself.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

In 2013 China's state television network broadcast the Naw Kham Execution Special. Even they stopped before the actual execution. But I don't think MAGA is concerned with that kind of thing. They seem to have a blood lust. It's not civilized. It is grotesque and everyone should feel ashamed.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I remember finding one of these in a cupboard as a kid. Little boxes full of replacements. Fun as heck to set off in your brother's face.

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The man needs therapy. He's so bamboozled by consciousness that's he's effectively living in an unconscious state where he's manifesting all his fears. That would be fascinating if it wasn't backed by billions of dollars generating real power over other people. We're in a bad world. It must change

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Ben K 🌈 @realbenk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Cool, bro. He's not immortal. He's 58. The broader system we have gives outsized rewards to people like him. We can change it. We have to change it. If we don't then we regular 0pl are f'd. The tech wealth boom has paradoxically thrown us backwards in time, making ppl like him possible again.

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