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Rob

@rjgon.bsky.social
591 followers 1.7K following 1.6K posts

Dir/Editor/Journo Nut | Opinions: Me. | Cockfights: The Last Season: youtu.be/GF1wQLagn8w?si=udZ81G20zvO… | Close Meta Accounts | Close X | #CancelParty | #BlueSkyPR

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Reposted by Rob
MissMarplesBack @missmarplesback.bsky.social · 17h
I am currently sat in a bar, on my Jack. On my 4th pint, with tears rolling down my face laughing at this. The lovely lady behind the bar came over to check I was alright & I said yes (it was too hard to explain why). This is why I was crying.
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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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WIRED @wired.com · 09/10/2026
More than two dozen workers at three major publishing houses—HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette—tell WIRED that LLMs are being used for publicity, cover art, back cover copy, and emails, as some execs push junior staff to champion the tech. Read the full story: buff.ly/p0ymGmN
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Julio Ricardo Varela @juliorvarela.com · 11/10/2026
Justice Dept. Is Investigating TV Networks Over Trump Pool Coverage via @nytimes.com
nytimes.com
Justice Dept. Is Investigating TV Networks Over Trump Pool Coverage (Gift Article)
Major TV networks were notified on Friday that the department was examining whether they violated antitrust laws when they suspended pool coverage of President Trump.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 10/10/2026
Forward-Thinking CEO Hoping Company Can Capture New Audience By Making Product Worse In Every Conceivable Way theonion.com/forward-thinking-ceo-h…
Forward-Thinking CEO Hoping Company Can Capture New Audience By Making Product Worse In Every Conceivable Way
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
STILL won’t buy anything from them.
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Krassensteins @krassenstein.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Doing the same on both counts. Fuck em.
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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
“The gift of a $400 million aircraft from Qatar’s royal family stands apart because it involves a transgression the framers identified by name and for which they prescribed impeachment as the remedy: violation of the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause.”
inquirer.com
The Case for Impeachment: In a sea of graft, the gift of a $400 million aircraft stands apart | Opinion
The founders were crystal clear that accepting gifts from foreign governments was constitutionally prohibited and should lead to impeachment.
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Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I’m in DC scheduled to give this talk today. But the organizers flagged slides in my deck that mention racism, structural gaslighting, New Jim Code and other themes that are off limits in the Land of the Free.
APA Women’s Leadership Institute event flyer with “keynote speaker” crossed out with a red X
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The Washington Sun Metro @washsunmetro.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The D.C. Board of Elections submitted an official request asking National Guard troops to steer clear of ballot drop boxes and other voting locations in the city. www.washingtonsun.com/metro/nationa…
washingtonsun.com
D.C. Elections Board Asks National Guard to Stay Away From Ballot Drop Boxes
Guard members were seen standing next to a drop box in Foggy Bottom this week.
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
EXTREMELY disappointing.
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Interesting that all those “The agreement between the states and Meta is a turning point” in protecting kids on Youtube feature parents from Winchester, VA.
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Luis Bustos @luisbustos.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
¡Buenas noches!✨
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I’ve cancelled both Paramount+ and HBOMax. I’ll buy some movies I want to have in my library though… But I won’t give em an endless stream of money. Fuck em.
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Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Fuck anti-democracy billionaire owned Amazon and their Prime Day. If you don't buy my book, know that all the books are on free shipping from Bookshop.org that supports local bookstores until midnight tonight.
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I was holding off on upgrading but this removal tool would send me over to the new OS. My personal hack for disabling Apple Intelligence is keeping Siri operating in spanish while the OS language is set to English. Bilingualism is too much for the models I guess.
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Kristen Seversky @kr1573n.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I feel a new list brewing. One that highlights all the companies and tools that are shifting away from the "AI IS INEVITABLE" energy. We just want to use stuff when we need it?
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Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 06/10/2026
“We did not do this to become big artists,” Reinaldo Conzález said. “We do it because we enjoy it, and we enjoy bringing joy to people.” buff.ly/lZcwCKw
buff.ly
Zona Libre Shares Puerto Rican Music With Mississippi Gulf Coast’s Latin Community
Pascagoula residents Reinaldo Conzález and Vilmarie Méndez founded Zona Libre as a way to bring Puerto Rican music to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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The Alexandria Brief @alexandriabrief.com · 06/10/2026
Alexandria police ran 1,557 searches of their license plate reader system in September, according to a chart the department updated Monday on its license plate reader page.
dlvr.it
Alexandria police ran 1,557 license plate reader searches in September, newly dated chart shows
A second public figure, on the department's Flock portal, shows 349 "search sessions" over 30 days. Neither page explains the difference.
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ALXnow @alxnow.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
APD releases Flock camera map, reveals 21K queries led to 137 charges in one year
alxnow.com
APD releases Flock camera map, reveals 21K queries led to 137 charges in one year | ALXnow
Under mounting privacy fears from residents, APD has answered more City Council questions on Flock surveillance cameras and released a map of where 61 of the automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are...
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materialsdan @materialsdan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Seriously, check your voter registration, many people are reporting being unexpectedly purged with no warning
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
“Sponsored by…”?
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Canceled HBOMax this week. Fuck em.
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Websites are becoming increasingly fucking useless. They’ve now introduced screen-filling ads that pop up every time you navigate to a new page or after a few scrolls. Some screencaps from @insideevs.com and @macrumors.bsky.social. Yes, I’m not going to promote the ad buyers.
A screen filling ad from the Inside EVs blog. The annoying ad would pop-up everytime I navigated to a new page. Screen filling ad covering Macrumors.com. The ad would pop-up after a few scrolls.
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Eco-City Alexandria VA @ecocityalx.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's Transportation Week of Energy Awareness Month! Come check out an EV Ride & Drive and get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle! Join us October 4 from 1–4 p.m. at Lindsay Motors or October 7 from 11 a.m.–1:30 p.m. at Carlyle Square. Learn more at alexandriava.gov/go/8658.
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Earlier this week, I agreed to interviews with two USA Today journalists. They wrote fantastic articles about the Cornell case that I'm proud to have been a part of. What I did not know is that their employer considers interviews to proprietary and opens up recordings to be used by any journalist.
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
static.klipy.com
DJ Khaled's Iconic 'Another One' Moment
Alt: DJ Khaled's Iconic 'Another One' Moment
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 02/10/2026
Today in New York City, it got easier to escape subscription traps.
motherjones.com
A little law gives hope that government can suck less and make people’s lives better
New York City wants to make it easier for you to cancel subscriptions.
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WIRED @wired.com · 02/10/2026
A hospital giant and radiology network turned to Palantir to streamline scheduling, but nurses and other staff say the new software is causing errors, burnout, and frustration. www.wired.com/story/health...
wired.com
Health Care Workers Are Tired of Cleaning Up Palantir’s Mess
A hospital giant and radiology network turned to Palantir to streamline scheduling, but nurses and other staff say the new software is causing errors, burnout, and frustration.
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Hello! Are you guys aware that the whole point of ads on a website is that people should want to visit and read articles? How do you achieve that when this obscures your content from readers every few scrolls? On top of that, IT’S TIMED?! Great way to retain repeat visitors.
Full screen pop up ad on macrumors.com. The brand is obscured because fuck that.
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Ruth Delgado @heylookitsruth.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
And I’ll say it again 🗣️ FUCK ICE We were able to successfully chase out five 🧊 vehicles from their hiding spot in Passaic, NJ. ‼️ ICE OUT OF PASSAIC ‼️
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A federal judge has ruled that Roger Rogoff, the judicially appointed U.S. attorney in Seattle, has been illegally fired by the Trump admin and must be provisionally reinstated by the Justice Department.
washingtonpost.com
Trump illegally fired Seattle’s U.S. attorney, judge rules
The ruling is the latest in a string of decisions finding that the administration bent federal law to keep loyalists in key prosecutorial posts.
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Pete is lost in terms of modern war. I use the example of this outgunned Ukrainian army officer who successfully terrorized a Russian unit for weeks because she "did the math." At the time, someone commented, "yeah, in combat, 'I did the math' beats 'I can do 100 pushups' every time."
Ukrainian female soldier: Okay, I said the idea is this: There is enough time to empty one full can of 32 grenades and be gone by the time the return mortar fire reaches us. I did the math.
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The Alexandria Brief @alexandriabrief.com · 30/09/2026
An automated license plate reader system goes live Friday in the parking garage at Park + Ford, a 435-unit apartment building on Ford Avenue, over the objections of 109 residents who signed a petition asking management to stop it.
dlvr.it
License plate readers go live Friday at a West End apartment building
A petition signed by 109 residents asked Bozzuto to stop the rollout. Metropolis says its platform is opt-in; the building told residents an account is required to keep parking.
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Might Scare-ger @mikesager.net · 01/10/2026
Fucking Yankees.
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Jonathan Slater @jonathanslater.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Italian photographer Valerio Minato spent 6 years trying to capture one perfect shot near Turin, Italy, where the Basilica of Superga, the Monviso mountain, and the Moon lined up in a single frame. Good Morning Blue Sky
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 01/10/2026
Promises that the Iran war would end quickly sound an awful lot like what we heard in 2002 about the Iraq war. Anyways, the last US soldiers officially left Iraq on Wednesday...23 years later.
motherjones.com
The war in Iraq is finally over
The last of the Pentagon's "military advisers" left Wednesday, ending a 23-year presence.
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404 Media @404media.co · 30/09/2026
BREAKING: The Trump administration is using a grant program from the 1980s to force cities around the US to funnel their ongoing collection of Flock, Axon, and other ALPR data into large federal surveillance centers that fall under the White House’s jurisdiction, 404 Media has learned
404media.co
How Cities Are Forced to Funnel License Plate Data to a Massive Federal Surveillance Program
How the federal government built a massive database of license plate reader data through an anti-drug trafficking program.
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This framing is super interesting (some states vetoing others). To me it brings into focus the ends of their project: a slow moving Civil War where instead of bloodshed and spending money on weapons, they create judicial conditions where the only way out of inequality is to secede. Wild.
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Free Press @freepress.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We're disappointed that Federal Court Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved the Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery mega-merger – and that our elected officials’ capitulation made it possible. But we're taking this as a call to action against billionaire control of the media. >>>
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404 Media @404media.co · 30/09/2026
This New Mexico lawyer is representing a man who was found guilty of killing his wife earlier this year. Here he is being ripped apart by judges who found that he used ChatGPT to make up nonexistent witnesses and testimony. Read more: www.404media.co/chatgpt-fake...
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Adam Klasfeld @klasfeldreports.com · 30/09/2026
The ACLU's Jeffrey Stein called the ruling a "huge step in the right direction." “The public deserves to know how our government is justifying the cold-blooded murder of hundreds of civilians." 🔽
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Ha Ha Nelson
Alt: Ha Ha Nelson from The Simpsons
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Now the POST OFFICE is going to scan everything?! JFC!
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ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Circus Performers, by Walt Kuhn, 1978, 📸 via @marisakabas.bsky.social
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s also really clear to me this week that the people telling us that AI will transform work…haven’t seen a lot of jobs where people work.
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Sad, lonely people trying to make everyone else sad and lonely.
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Eyes Off ALX @eyesoffalx.org · 29/09/2026
APD says ALPRs don't do facial recognition. But once the data exists, third parties can AI-augment it with personalized profiles, including racial and gender analysis. Was that risk weighed before these cameras went up in ALX? No. ALX must take ALPRs down now and build a real review process!
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Rob @rjgon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
2019 throwback…
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