Opinion: So you want to tax the rich? Okay, let’s start with Harvard.

David Leave a comment

2021-04-27 Henry Olsen

America’s charitable foundations and billionaire universities hold at least $1.5 trillion in assets. That’s far more wealth than that of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and the founders of Google and Oracle combined.

Democrats often criticize these billionaires for not paying their fair shares, but they pay a lot more than these wealthy institutions. Rich universities and grant-making foundations pay a mere 1.4 percent in federal taxes on their net investment income, a fraction of the 23.8 percent rich people pay on their capital gains.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/27/so-you-want-tax-rich-okay-lets-start-with-harvard/

 

It’s good that a left-leaning publication published a critique of a policy of some Democrats.

Comment on shooting

David Leave a comment

2021-03-23 GFGates

Law enforcement, and our legal system, is entirely reactive, not proactive. There is almost nothing law enforcement can do until a crime has been committed. And that’s the way it should be. Further, there is very little the government can do to prevent gun crime because criminals don’t obey the law. The one person ultimately responsible for your safety is YOU. And if you’re an honest, law-abiding citizen and want to personally do something to protect yourself and reduce gun crime — carry a gun.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/boulder-colorado-shooter-meena-harris-kamala-niece-tweet

Illegal Content and the Blockchain

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2021-03-17 Bruce Schneier

Security researchers have recently discovered a botnet with a novel defense against takedowns. Normally, authorities can disable a botnet by taking over its command-and-control server. With nowhere to go for instructions, the botnet is rendered useless. But over the years, botnet designers have come up with ways to make this counterattack harder. Now the content-delivery network Akamai has reported on a new method: a botnet that uses the Bitcoin blockchain ledger. Since the blockchain is globally accessible and hard to take down, the botnet’s operators appear to be safe.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/03/illegal-content-and-the-blockchain.html

Also

https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-bitcoins-greatest-feature-is-also-its-existential-threat/

 

Most surgeries are ineffective

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2021-01-21 Paras Chopra

surgery is different than medicine. All new pharmaceutical molecules are subjected to rigorous clinical trials where they’re tested against placebo or doing nothing. In many countries, there’s no such procedure for surgical treatments. If there is a procedure for new surgical procedures, nobody is testing old ones that have been getting performed every day without evidence.

https://invertedpassion.com/most-surgeries-are-ineffective/

On US Capitol Security — By Someone Who Manages Arena-Rock-Concert Security

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2021-01-13 Bruce Schneier

There’s not ever going to be enough police or security at any event to stop people if they all act in unison; if enough people want to get to Vanilla Ice at the same time, they’re going to get to Vanilla Ice. Social constructs and basic decency, not lightweight security gates, are what hold everyone except the outliers back in a typical crowd.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/01/on-us-capitol-security-by-someone-who-manages-arena-rock-concert-security.html