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Sparrowdown

@sparrowdown.bsky.social
296 followers 70 following 46 posts

Queer artist & writer He/him

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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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victoria scott @victoriascott.bsky.social · 23h
This is just a fucking carjacking. How the hell was he supposed to know it was a state sponsored carjacking. what the fuck are we doing here.
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 19h
Man, when BMW says "that's too fascist for us"
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30-50 feral lasagnahogs @lasagnahog.bsky.social · 14h
And I would do it again.
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Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
this is the only reason why certain people wanted to know—and spread—her name without her consent. so they can abuse her, too.
cnn.com
Cornell’s Jane Doe is ‘terrified’ after death threats and a swatting incident, her lawyer says | CNN
One month ago, the woman now known to America as Cornell’s Jane Doe was living in New York City and trying to break into the hotel industry, her lawyer says. Now she’s facing threats and hiding out at...
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Haley's Headless Mechanic 🏳️‍⚧️ @mecha-bunny.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
If I lived in Wesr Virginia I'd be making plans to chain myself to a tree.
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Aleksandra Vaca @transiticsnews.com · 07/10/2026
Arizona and Virginia, both of which are governed by Democrats, are ending Medicaid coverage of care for trans youth, Transitics has learned. The bans, which go into effect on October 13th, mark the most significant Democratic capitulation to Trump's anti-trans demands yet. Cowards.
transiticsnews.com
Democrat-led Arizona, Virginia Quietly End Medicaid Coverage of Care for Trans Youth, Acquiescing to Trump Demands
The policy changes, which go into effect on October 13th, see Arizona and Virginia join Kansas as states where Democrats have needlessly opted to restrict Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care.
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Rose Schmits @roseschmits.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Something that i dont see talked about regarding the famous Laverne Cox trans tipping point cover is that the trans representation that was being celebrated and “normalised“ was the depiction of a trans woman abused in prison Dunno looking back im a bit like, oh, yeah
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Casey S. Pumpkins 🎃 @caseyexplosion.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Hire trans people, support trans people, let trans people thrive.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 07/10/2026
One of the reasons public opinion on trans health care is where it is is because a lot of cis people will never ever believe just how corrupt the professional medical class running our health care really is.
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 07/10/2026
We may cover this tomorrow, but I just wanted to signal boost this. After months of pushing the administration to make good on its promises for trans youth, NYC appears to be taking steps to do so. I do believe the city can be doing much more, but this is a wonderful start from Mayor Mamdani.
gothamist.com
NYC moves to spend nearly $9M of gender-affirming care fund for minors
The funding is part of a $15 million investment announced in June as major hospitals retreated from providing such care.
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 07/10/2026
Following reporting from Erin In The Morning, the Equality Caucus has come out with a more forceful response against Democrat Marcy Kaptur's anti-trans ads. "This is a red line for us." The large Democratic caucus will not support her reelection. Subscribe to support our journalism.
erininthemorning.com
Equality Caucus: Marcy Kaptur’s Anti-Trans Ads "Deeply Offensive," Will Not Support Her Campaign
"The Equality Caucus is not going to stand by passively and allow anyone to scapegoat the trans community. It is a red line for us."
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JD Bunchajumpscares @jdbunchanumbers.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Yeah, prison abolition seems pretty reasonable to me.
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𝔫𝔬𝔯𝔞 𝔫𝔢𝔠𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔦𝔰𝔪𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔯 🏳️‍⚧️ @neurosismancer.gay · 07/10/2026
YOOOO LETS FUCKIN GOOOOOOOOO
gothamist.com
NYC moves to spend nearly $9M of gender-affirming care fund for minors
The funding is part of a $15 million investment announced in June as major hospitals retreated from providing such care.
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JoCat is slow at making videos @jocat.net · 06/10/2026
"this wouldn't have existed without AI anyway, it's not taking away any potential jobs or opportunities" if you do not have the willingness or drive to make something without AI, then it shouldn't exist AI is built off of stolen labor. Want art? Do or fund the labor.
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David Forbes @davidforbes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Notably this is just at the federal and gubernatorial level. If we start adding in state legislators and local Dems who've gone openly anti-trans we'd have a whole goddamn book.
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mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @mady.cat · 06/10/2026
a good example of how Democratic party politicians love to come out as transphobic and then victim-blame trans people when we inevitably reject their program of segregation: "They blame the Pride Caucus for the bad press caused by ODP and the Acton/ Kaptur campaigns."
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mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @mady.cat · 06/10/2026
every "pride" Democrat org: "For party leadership, the caucus is simply a recruitment and sales team. The job, in their eyes, is not to represent the LGBTQ+ community to the party, but to sell Democratic candidates to the LGBTQ+ community, regardless of the harm those candidates may cause."
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
ProPublica has made a database of all the incidents they could find where ICE detained citizens. Important work. This kind of data is too often hidden and lost.
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Ghost Planet @ghostplanet.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Drunk and Tired Bugs Bunny from Carrotblanca
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amb @amb.fyi · 05/10/2026
"The national public is getting a shotgun blast of Texas style transphobic bigotry and like none of this stuff matters to regular voters right now? Like dawg have you seen how much we're spending at the pump? Who cares about what some trans kid is doing somewhere?"
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Alex Awoos @alex-awoos-backup.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I feel like more people should be talking about this part
Screenshot from the article that reads, The Stud, San Francisco's oldest gay bar, was only able to have its Meta pages restored because of the bars popularity among gay tech executives with connections to Meta
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Jeremy Kun @jeremykun.com · 29/09/2026
3rd circuit rules AI training on copyrighted material is NOT fair use. Wow! chatgptiseatingtheworld.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
chatgptiseatingtheworld.substack.com
BREAKING News: Third Circuit affirms summary judgment rejection of fair use defense by ROSS Intelligence in AI training
Opinion under seal for now.
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damniel spookradski @self.agency · 01/10/2026
THEY'RE DEPORTING AN ISRAELI HASID FOR BEING ANTI-ZIONIST
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Institute for Policy Studies @ips-dc.org · 30/09/2026
NEW: Starbucks repeatedly violates labor law, refuses to bargain with its union @sbworkersunited.org, and just announced it's closing 250 stores. Yet CEO Brian Niccol alone took home $31 MILLION last year. End CEO greed. Listen to workers. Boycott Starbucks.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 29/09/2026
Oh bsky.app/profile/ecmc...
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Teach your son to wait. Teach him that other people are as important as he is. Teach him to apologize and go back to the end of the line if he made an entitled decision. Teach him that girls and women deserve respect in *all* scenarios—not just during sex.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 28/09/2026
Also like we're five years into a conservative cultural project to keep kids from learning that LGBTQ even exist in the first place.
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The Trandalorian @charliejaneanders.com · 28/09/2026
The "social contagion" thing drives me screaming angry. When I was young I had no clue trans ppl existed. I'd never met anyone trans. I saw cruel caricatures in pop culture occasionally. When I realized trans was a thing someone could be, it hit like a lightning bolt. My life felt newly possible.
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Bruno Dies @brunodias.dev · 28/09/2026
It really doesn't make sense to attribute those job losses to AI-the-technology, because if that were the case we'd be observing AI outputs displacing conventional entertainment products, and they're clearly not. Rather, the impact of AI is that AI-the-business is crowding out other investment.
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
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Kieran @toadally.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Therapy can’t fix poverty or an unjust society but it can help one understand themselves better and build a toolkit to manage the worst parts of stress. It’s not a 100% fix, it has never been that way, but it is still a worthy pursuit to expand your emotional skillset and knowledge.
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Chris Conaton @conatonc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A familiar story for anyone who follows @volts.wtf. “The Chronicle spoke to more than half a dozen grid experts…to try to understand why Texas’s notoriously unreliable grid had a remarkably reliable summer. The answer was unanimous: solar panels and batteries.”
houstonchronicle.com
Texas shattered energy demand records this summer. Here's why the grid held up.
Texas repeatedly broke electricity demand records this summer, but ERCOT avoided emergencies as booming solar and battery capacity helped keep the grid stable.
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Project Salt Box @projectsaltbox.com · 25/09/2026
It's this, btw. 900 square foot modular detention cells.
projectsaltbox.com
ICE seeks ‘modular’ detention units for 50 field offices, saying increased arrests have exceeded its space
A request for information seeks ready-made detention, interview and courtroom units, with no limits on how many people the units would hold or for how long.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 25/09/2026
Folks
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🐺 Wolf Nanaki 🏳️‍⚧️ @wolfnanaki.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I pissed off a lot of AI bros with this one. :v
Screenshot of a tweet by Wolf Nanaki. In her tweet is a screenshot of a quote-tweet. The original post from the account Cartoons on the Moon reads: “Forgotten Island by DreamWorks includes a message in the credits: ‘This work cannot be used to train AI.’” It was quote tweeted by an account called GeoMenes, reading: “Download the movie and upload it to Grok. Notes.”
Nanaki’s message: “Hot take but this feels like "rape culture" to me. We ask AI bros to not touch our stuff, but they refuse to accept "no" for an answer. They want unfiltered access to everything we have and to do whatever they want with it.”
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 25/09/2026
Sigh
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⚡⚡MAD DOCTOR IMPOSSIBLE⚡⚡ @impossiblephd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Hey, researchers, and especially those of you who work in the field! This is an important and well-written guide to help you meet the needs of your trans teammembers!
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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
That's because the anti-intellectualism of the populists and Far Right is in direct contradiction to the basic foundations of any civilisation
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Joyce Park @troutgirl.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 24/09/2026
Our latest story. Like this is the entire Democratic Party of Ohio. There's reason for concern here. bsky.app/profile/erin...
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Jesspooka Kant 🎃 @jessdkant.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Anti-trans policies are policies of deliberate harm. When they ban surgery, they make sure to provide allowances for non-consensual intersex surgeries. If they ban HRT, they always specify for trans people. They workshop these to avoid being enjoined in courts that might care about you but not us.
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Mark Follman @markfollman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
NEWS: My new investigation uncovers the horrific ChatGPT history of the Tumbler Ridge school shooter. OpenAI’s chatbot fueled the shooter's violent fantasies and plans up to the day of the massacre. Chats about guns, timing of attacks, becoming infamous, and more. www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 24/09/2026
We call this a concentration camp, your honor.
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Taulby Edmondson @taulby.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Human targets were marked by the IDF by hacking into cell phone networks. One interviewee estimated 60-70k Gazans had been marked-clearly including many, many people beyond those considered Hamas fighters-and another said it did not distinguish between kids and adults. The interviewees said the targets were hit at night when they were home with their families, who they could hear through their phones before initiating strikes. "How could you bomb when you hear a crying baby inside?" Abraham asked one of them.
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Dieselbrain @dieselbrain.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
locked out of discord servers? Friends locked out? if youre a US citizen, you should yell at your representatives re: AV laws
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Incredible. First Secretary Mullin claimed that DHS had identified 15,903 noncitizens on Nevada’s voter roll. Then DHS officials told a skeptical Nevada, no no no, that’s just people we flagged. Here are the names of 185 people we KNOW aren’t citizens. All 185 were citizens. DHS got 100% wrong.
When the Department of Homeland Security sent Nevada a list of 185 names last month that it claimed identified noncitizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote, state election officials got to work.
On Tuesday, the state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen.
"As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens," Greg D. Ott, a deputy attorney general in Nevada, wrote, according to a copy of a letter sent to Department of Homeland Security officials obtained through open records requests.
"You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise."Following the meeting, Ms. Vogt sent a clarifying email to Nevada officials. "I also wanted to be sure I clarified that we did not reduce the 15,903 to 185," she wrote. "We've manually reviewed some of the 15,903 and confirmed 185 are not U.S. Citizens."
Now, Nevada officials are saying even that 185 number is wrong. They also took issue with a letter D.H.S. sent them in early September, in which the agency reiterated its initial claims about nearly 16,000 noncitizens on the rolls and pressured state officials to review each case in a letter to Nevada officials in early September.
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Doc Vivi Leandra【 VTC 】- Real-Life Scientist VTuber 🧬🖥️ @docvivileandra.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Never been a more appropriate time for this tweet
Being a billionaire must be insane. You can buy new teeth, new skin. All your chairs cost 20,000 dollars and weigh 2,000 pounds. Your life is just a series of your own preferences. In terms of cognitive impairment it's probably like being kicked in the head by a horse every day
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Genie Lauren @moreandagain.me · 24/09/2026
The idea that everything should be a computer is one of the worst ideas people have ever had arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
arstechnica.com
Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges
So absurd and embarrassing ..."
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jess m. ☕🍂 @jametc.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
it's gonna get hacked in like 3 days and everyone's verification materials that discord insists they don't keep is gonna get leaked. I fear that even if we had alternatives, nobody would move. Maybe if it screws enough people, maybe? everyone's so baked into this service though
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