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☆ Opinion: Musk, McCarthy and Romney are three kinds of leaders
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +21 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. A vain and ambitious cigar-smoking bully who wore riding breeches, a polished helmet and boots and carried ivory-handled revolvers, he led troops on successful lightning strikes through German-held territory near the end of World War II. Musk has repeatedly been criticized for enabling and boosting antisemitic content on the platform.”“Isaacson tries to square these two Musks. During Trump’s first impeachment, Romney became the first senator in US history to vote to remove a president of his own party from office. He has been willing to do what he believes to be right — consequences be damned.”The differences between Romney and Trump were many.

Persons: CNN — “ Troy, Hadrian, …, ”, George S, Patton, “, Stephen D, Clay Jones, Elon Musks, Elon, Nicole Hemmer’s, Walter Isaacson, Musk “, Musk, ” “ Isaacson, Isaacson, ” Hemmer, Walt Handelsman, Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump, McCarthy, Joe Biden, “ Trump, impeaching Biden, Norman Eisen, Trump, ” Eisen, Biden, James Antle III, ’, Hunter, McCarthy “, John Avlon, Dennis Aftergut, Lindsey Graham wasn’t, Michelle Lujan Grisham, she’s, Hunter Biden, Robert J, Spitzer, It’s, ” Vladimir, Kim, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong, Frida Ghitis, Putin, vaingloriously, Peter the Great, Sébastien Roblin, Don’t, Romney Francis Chung, AP Sen, Mitt Romney, Romney, Sen, John McCain, Trump’s, Lanhee J, Chen, Lisa Benson, Kate Bahn, ’ I’m, —, Dana Peterson, Erik Lundh, ” Dana Summers, Kunis Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson, Jill Filipovic, “ Kutcher, Kunis, Kutcher, Masterson, Danilo Cavalcante, Arick, Scott Stantis, Jeff Yang, Jets Phil Hands, Julian Zelizer, Aaron Rodgers ’, ” Don’t, Nick Anderson, Tess Taylor, Tommy Tuberville, Mahnaz, Roxanne Jones, Coco Gauff, Amanda Tyler, Lara Setrakian, Paul Hockenos, Don Lincoln, Sophia Nelson, Tim Scott, Kenneth Branagh, Agatha Christie’s, Hercule Poirot, Noah Berlatsky, Poirot, Branagh, Sara Stewart, Winona Ryder Organizations: CNN, US, Marine Corps, Third Army, Vostochny, Twitter, Defamation League, Agency, Caucus, Republicans, Democrats, White, North, Putin, AP, Senate, Hollywood, Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Peugeot, United Auto Workers, UAW, “, Federal Reserve, Conference Board, Ninth, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, REUTERS, Reuters, Apple, European Union, Jets, Boston Red Sox, The Chicago Cubs, The New York Jets, New York Jets, MetLife, Tribune, Studios Locations: China, Washington, New Mexico, Detroit, Russia’s, South Africa, Hunter Biden’s, Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, Russia, Ukraine, ”, Los Angeles , California, U.S, Aude, Pennsylvania, Brazil, Cupertino , California, Iran, New Texas, Venice

☆ DeSantis is taking aim at 'zombie studies' on the campaign trail. It's a real thing
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Her course lessons include chemical zombification, bacterial zombification and fungal zombification. Lauro, the University of Tampa professor, is scheduled to give a talk in Frankfurt, Germany, this month called, "Who's Afraid of Zombie Studies?" "The talk is pretty much entirely about this DeSantis nonsense, as well as what DeSantis is doing to education in Florida," Lauro said. Since DeSantis has taken aim at Black history, I think we can connect the dots on why the idea of 'zombie studies' gets under his skin so much. The first wave of zombie fiction hit the U.S. in the late 1920s, during the time of the Great Depression.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Paul Hennessy, Lightrocket, Eric Smaw, DeSantis, Smaw, automatism, Tatiana Tatum, Tatum, Gino Del Guercio, Del Guercio, Lauro, Sarah Juliet Lauro Organizations: Florida Gov, Rollins College, Rollins College In, Saint Xavier University in, Getty, Harvard Magazine, University of Tampa, Studies, Florida's Department of Education Locations: Florida, Auburndale , Florida, Winter Park , Florida, Canadian, Saint Xavier University in Chicago, tetrodotoxin, pufferfish, Haiti, Frankfurt, Germany, Africa, Caribbean, Hollywood

☆ Unreasonable? Israel's Judicial Overhaul Dismays Environmentalists
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +6 min

Under the changes passed so far, the government and ministers are now exempt from judicial oversight based on the so-called "reasonableness clause". The prime minister's office and ministries involved in the inquiry said they were not responsible. The 15-judge Supreme Court will hear an appeal on Sept. 12 against this amendment. It was launched before the judicial overhaul and sought a ruling based on the application of the reasonableness clause. The prime minister's office and environmental protection minister's office declined to comment for this article.

Persons: Ari Rabinovitch JERUSALEM, Amit Bracha, Adam Teva V'Din, Benjamin Netanyahu, Barry Levenfeld, Arnon Tadmor Levy, ATD, Netanyahu, Aryeh Deri, Silman, Netanyahu's, Lahav, Ari Rabinovitch, Edmund Blair Organizations: Tel, Israel Union, Environmental Defense, Supreme, Likud Locations: Tel Aviv, Herzliya

☆ LA media company settles first SEC enforcement case over NFTs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Signage is seen at the headquarters of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. The SEC said Impact Theory marketed its Founder's Keys--sold in "Legendary," "Heroic" and "Relentless" tiers--as a means to profit from its business by investing at an early stage. Impact Theory allegedly raised $29.9 million by selling 13,921 Founder's Keys in late 2021, and received $978,000 of royalties from secondary sales. The SEC said Impact Theory also compared its NFTs with "handing ($20) to Mark Zuckerberg in his dorm room," referring to the billionaire Facebook co-founder. SEC commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda partially dissented from Monday's settlement, saying the regulator owed investors better guidance on NFTs.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Disney, Mickey Mouse, Willie, Mark Zuckerberg, Antonia Apps, Hester Peirce, Mark Uyeda, Peirce, Uyeda, Nathaniel Chastain, Jonathan Stempel, David Gregorio Our Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Washington , D.C, REUTERS, Los, U.S, Securities, Walt Disney, Disney, Facebook, Thomson Locations: Washington ,, Los Angeles, York, Manhattan, New York

A woman visits a makeshift memorial near the former PMC Wagner Centre, associated with the founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in Saint Petersburg, Russia August 24. "From the point of view of Putin, as well as many among the security forces and the military, Prigozhin's death should be a lesson to any potential followers." Putin, who has spoken in the past of his hatred of traitors, described it at the time as a "stab in the back". 'GAME OF THRONES'But the death of Prigozhin, if confirmed, is not without cost to Putin. If Putin was responsible for Prigozhin's death, he said, it demonstrated he was willing to engage in brutal repression of any kind of dissent.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Anastasia Barashkova, Putin, Wagner, Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin, Tatiana Stanovaya, Abbas Gallyamov, Gallyamov, Andrew Borene, Samuel Ramani, RUSI, Ramani, Sergei Surovikin, Surovikin, Robert Horvath, Mark Trevelyan, Gareth Jones, Andrew Heavens Organizations: PMC Wagner, Wagner Group, REUTERS, Reuters, Analysts, Kremlin, Central African, Putin, La Trobe University, Thomson Locations: Saint Petersburg, Russia, Kremlin, Ukraine, Africa, Moscow, United States, Belarus, Mali, Central African Republic, France, U.S, Melbourne

☆ Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark can’t avoid arrest in Georgia election subversion case, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A federal judge on Wednesday rejected efforts by former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and ex-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to avoid arrest if they fail to turn themselves in by Friday’s deadline in the Georgia election subversion case. US District Judge Steve Jones declined the emergency requests by Meadows and Clark, who are both trying to move Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ prosecution to federal court. Meadows argued he should be allowed to avoid processing in the Fulton County election subversion case that has been brought against former President Donald Trump and 18 others ahead of a hearing scheduled Monday. Such rulings would require state court proceedings for entire case – for all the defendants – to automatically be paused and moved to federal court, Clark argued in court filings earlier this week. She submitted to the federal court a state court ruling during those proceedings that described the special grand jury as criminal in nature.

Persons: Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, Steve Jones, Fani Willis, Meadows, Donald Trump, ” Jones, Jones, Willis, ” Willis ’, Clark, Defendant Clark, ” Willis, ’ Willis, “, –, Trump, Brad Raffensperger, ” Organizations: CNN, Trump White House, Justice, Fulton County Authorities, Staff, Trump, Georgia, White House Locations: Georgia, Meadows, Clark, Fulton County, Fulton, United States, Atlanta, Trump, ’, enjoin

☆ Welcome to the rabbit hole of agony aunt-killer subreddits, where users discuss money, love, and villainy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Today, Reddit's subreddits take center stage. But these advice subreddits might not be so different from the agony aunt advice columns of yesteryear. But beyond them is a funky constellation of subreddits where users come to pour out their innermost thoughts and burning questions. The poster wrote, "I feel like even at 28, no matter how hard I try to fit in and be nice, I somehow mess it up." AdvertisementAdvertisementTo be sure, Reddit's public advice columns are not without their detractors.

Persons: Abby, Dan Savage, Reddit's, —, Redditors, University of Tampa's David Gudelunas, Dorothy Dix, Ann Landers, Gudelunas Organizations: Morning, University of Tampa's Locations: London

☆ Patrol dogs are terrorizing and mauling prisoners inside the United States
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Hannah Beckler | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +64 min

But prison patrol dogs aren't deployed for chases; they are used inside the prison walls. Tri-State Canines training facility, Warren, OhioVirginia Department of Corrections patrol dogs are typically Belgian Malinois, Czech shepherds, or German shepherds. Department patrol dogs are trained to bite once and hold to minimize flesh tears and lacerations. Patrol dog kennels, Virginia Department of CorrectionsThe patrol dog kennels are even smaller, at 6 feet by 10. A veterinary technician who treated patrol dogs at a clinic in Lebanon, Virginia, said she was told not to touch the patrol dogs in her care without their handler present.

Persons: Santos Cardona, Michael Smith, Smith, Marco, crouch, Mohammed Bollendia, protectively, Ashraf Abdullah Ahsy, Ivan L, Frederick II, Cardona, Abu, John Ketzer, Ketzer, Michael J, Donald Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld, Abu Ghraib, Lane McCotter, Gary DeLand, Terry Bartlett, Richard Billings, Larry DuBois, John Armstrong, Terry Stewart, Charles Ryan, Ryan, Stewart, Adrian Duran, cradled, Duran he'd, Duran, Blackie, growled, he'd, It's, extractions, they're, Jerko, Jeremy Defour, Bert, Antwon Whitten, Virginia, Peter C, Meade, —, Oikeutta eläimille, Dave Blosser, Blosser, Eli Hiller, he's, Matthew Johnson, Oscar, Johnson, Oscar growled, Boris, Cajos, Linwood Mathias, Lucas Pruitt, Mathias, Xavia Goodwyn, sicced Lojzo, Edris, Michael Watson, Watson, Thomas Rose, Rose, Goodwyn, Red, Rick White, Ron Angelone, Wallens, Tyler Parry, Charlton Yingling, Parry, Eugene, Bull, Connor, Bill Hudson, Yingling, Solomon Northup, Solomon, Walter Gadsden, Malcolm X, Michael Brown, Ferguson, They're, Jeffery, White, Curtis Garrett, Garrett, Kathleen Dennehy, Dennehy, Aaron Fedor, Jimmy Stanley, Dora Schriro, Schriro, Omar, Dionisio Paulino, Paulino, Robert Silva, Adrian Duran's, Adrian Duran Duran, Adrian, unwound, Sussex II, Whitten, Western District of Virginia Jeremy Defour, Defour, Kenneth Licklider, Chris Robbins, Rivan, she'd, They've, Stephen McReynolds, McReynolds, Daniel Clinton, Tom, Clinton, basketballs, Clinton's, Fuga, Jamie Elliott, Elliott, Duran couldn't, Bodhi, Jamie, Jawan Lee, Lee, Lee's Organizations: US, Business, Associated Press, Department of, Rights, Department, Justice, Department of Justice, Virginia Department of Corrections Police, Human Rights Watch, Virginia Department of Corrections, University of Virginia School of Law, Sussex II, Police, Kern Medical, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, The Indiana Department of Correction, Delaware Department of Correction, South, New Jersey Department of Corrections, Tri, Warren , Ohio Virginia Department of Corrections, State Canine Services, Court, Western District of, Red, View Regional, Onion, North Correctional Center, Corrections, Goodwyn, FBI, Ku Klux Klan, Human Rights, University of Nevada, University of Louisville, AP, Breeders, Ferguson Police Department, Souza, Baranowski, Commonwealth, Baranowski Correctional, Prentice, Black, United States, District, Massachusetts, Housing, Virginia Commonwealth University Health, Virginia, Housing Unit, Patrol, Southwest, Southwest Virginia Veterinary Services Locations: Abu Ghraib, Iraq, Belgian, Baghdad, Abu, United States, New Mexico, Utah, DeLand, Billings, Bartlett, Arizona, DuBois, Massachusetts, Armstrong, Connecticut, Arizona , Connecticut, Delaware , Indiana , Iowa , Massachusetts , New Jersey, Virginia, Alexandria , Virginia, Los Angeles, backyards, Sussex, lunging, Indiana, Richmond , Virginia, Iowa, Augusta, Ridge, New Jersey, South Woods, Warren ,, Czech, Europe, , Virginia, Western District, Western District of Virginia, Warren , Ohio, Holland, Tri, Canton , Ohio, Wallens, Onion, Red Onion, View, Norton , Virginia, Portsmouth , Virginia, Kentucky, Birmingham , Alabama, Las Vegas, Americas, Caribbean, American, Ferguson , Missouri, Lancaster , Massachusetts, Richmond, Lebanon , Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Lebanon, Waverly , Virginia, chihuahua

☆ Zelensky gets a NATO boost and rockstar's welcome in Vilnius
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But while Ukraine’s NATO allies reaffirmed their support for Kyiv’s bid for membership, they remained vague about the timing. “Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” the leaders of the alliance declared in the summit’s final communique. This will change Ukraine’s membership path from a two-step process to a one-step process,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltengberg told reporters on Tuesday. The process can be a burdensome and lengthy and its removal could significantly streamline Ukraine’s membership bid once it is formally invited to apply. It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance,” Zelensky said.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, –, Zelensky, ”, Jens Stoltengberg, Stoltenberg, ” Biden, Susan Walsh, “, Joe Biden, “ We’re, We’re, Ben Wallace, Wallace, General, Biden, ” Zelensky, Odd Anderson, Gitanas Nauseda, – Zelensky, Ukraine “, Lenin Organizations: CNN, NATO, AP NATO, United Nations, OSCE, CNN Sunday, Alliance, Getty, Lithuanian, Lukiskes, “ Locations: Vilnius, Ukraine, Russia, ” Ukraine, “, Crimea, Kyiv, NATO, Vilnius –, Lithuania, Soviet Union, Bakhmut, Russian, Ukrainian

☆ Venezuela blasts U.S. for critique over barred opposition candidate
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CARACAS, July 1 (Reuters) - Venezuela's government on Saturday said it rejected the U.S. stance around the South American country's upcoming elections, calling it "interference," a day after the U.S. criticized Venezuela's decision to disqualify an opposition candidate. Maria Corina Machado, one of the favorites to win the Venezuelan opposition's nomination for president in an October primary, has been barred from holding public office for 15 years. In response, the U.S. State Department said Venezuelans should be able to act freely in the 2024 presidential elections, and disqualifying Machado "deprives" them of political rights. The Washington-based Organization of American States also rejected the decision to bar Machado and called for free and transparent elections. Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Venezuela's, Maria Corina Machado, disqualifying Machado, deprives, Machado, Deisy Buitrago, Daina Beth Solomon, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Venezuelan, U.S . State Department, American, Thomson Locations: CARACAS, U.S, United States, Washington

☆ How do you solve a problem like AI? Tax it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The chances of “generative AI” being put back in its box are very small. Goldman Sachs economists estimate that 18% of work could be automated globally, and that 7% of the U.S. workforce might be substituted by AI. Moreover, while AI will create profit windfalls, many countries don’t tax those as effectively as they ought to. But a dollar of saved costs for a company creates only 21 cents in corporate income tax revenue. Capital gains are still taxed below the level of income in most countries.

☆ Biden Said He’d Veer From Trump on Immigration. The Reality Is More Complicated.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Michael D. Shear | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — In his final debate with Donald J. Trump on Oct. 22, 2020, Joseph R. Biden Jr., then a candidate, excoriated his rival for radically undermining America’s decades-long tradition of welcoming people who seek asylum at the country’s borders. “This is the first president in the history of the United States of America that anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country,” Mr. Biden said, referring to one of hundreds of Trump-era immigration policies aimed at shutting down the border. Like Mr. Trump’s policy, the new approach is likely to lead to many migrants being deported in a swift process that critics say deprives them of due process. After nearly two and a half years in office, Mr. Biden has struggled to settle on an approach to immigration that satisfies his critics on the right or the left. In some cases, he has embraced his predecessor’s use of aggressive measures aimed at keeping a surge of migrants at bay along the southern border.

☆ Nice Guy Meets Iron Man in the First Novel by Tom Hanks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Alexandra Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

THE MAKING OF ANOTHER MAJOR MOTION PICTURE MASTERPIECE, by Tom Hanks. Sidelined by the pandemic, some actors fired up ceramics or sang fragments of “Imagine.” Tom Hanks, one of the most prominent to contract an early case of Covid, bounced back by making a run at the Great American Novel. Alas, it is more Forrest Gump trotting from coast to coast than Sully landing on the Hudson. Titled “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” the book arrives at a crossroads for Hollywood. The novel also acknowledges a fading time when leading actors, even avatars of Everyman decency like the author, were royalty: their work shown not in living rooms but red-velvet-swagged “palaces.”

☆ Opinion | Dianne Feinstein Has to Act
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Without Senator Dianne Feinstein, there might never have been an assault weapons ban in 1994. Or the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994. Her absence is a failure that deprives American voters of full representation on legislation and appointments that will affect them for decades to come. (Proxy voting is allowed in the committee, but a proxy cannot be the decisive vote if the committee is otherwise evenly divided, as it often is.) Ms. Feinstein offered to step away from the committee, but Republican senators blocked any effort at appointing a temporary replacement.

☆ Bosnia Serb leader Dodik threatens to declare indepdendence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BELGRADE, April 14 (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Friday told his ally Serbia he was seriously considering declaring the autonomous Serb Republic independent from the rest of Bosnia unless a row over a property law is resolved. Dodik's hardline Serb nationalism and pro-Russian stance have raised concern that Bosnia might fracture again along ethnic lines, a generation after its devastating war. According to constitution, the national parliament must adopt a property law that would be valid across Bosnia, but Dodik, who is president of the Serb Republic, says that deprives the Serb region in Bosnia of the right to its land, rivers and forests. During his 25 years in power either as the region's president or premier, Dodik has acted to strengthen the autonomy of the Serb region. Last month, Dodik ordered that Serb officials should halt all contacts and communication with US and UK ambassadors in Bosnia, after they had criticised his inflammatory rhetoric.

Launched in February 2022, the FTX Future Fund was part of the FTX Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire which fell apart last year, in what U.S. prosecutors called an "epic" fraud. Representatives for FTX also declined to comment and declined to say whether the FTX Foundation is included in the bankruptcy proceedings. The FTX Future Fund supported research into topics that "improve humanity's long-term prospects" and was funded primarily by Bankman-Fried, according to a profile of its activities published on Twitter. FTX's statement did not reference the FTX Future Fund specifically. One FTX Future Fund beneficiary in the U.S., who asked not to be named, said they received a grant of more than $150,000.

☆ America needs immigration reform, or it risks of losing an entire generation of tech workers to countries like Canada, the UK, and Japan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Emilia David | Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

While the US still attracts talent, workers increasingly go to places like the UK or Canada. With other countries easing immigration for tech workers, the US may find itself lagging. Without change, and fast, experts say this could mean an entire lost generation of tech talent for American tech. "Foreign countries have figured out ways to more aggressively attack top-tier tech talent," Hiba Anver, an immigration attorney with Erickson Immigration Group, told Insider. America's loss is other countries' gainMeanwhile, other countries are making it easier for tech workers like Negandhi and students to immigrate.

☆ Deel Speed: The inside story of a $12 billion HR startup's breakneck growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +32 min

Insider spoke with more than 30 current or former Deel workers about the HR company's extraordinary rise, and the unconventional tactics that made it possible. "I think if you talk to anyone, they would say that Alex is the face but all decisions run through Phillipe," one former Deel worker told Insider. "They lose every employment and labor protection," Valerio De Stefano, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, said of independent contractors. Alex Bouaziz, Deel on Centre Stage during day two of Collision 2022 at Enercare Centre in Toronto, Canada. The company didn't have an internal human-resources team until sometime in 2021, by which point it had grown to hundreds of people.

☆ Congress Enacts a Tax Nobody Can Understand
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Travis Nix | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

For a tax system to be fair and efficient, taxpayers must, at a minimum, be able to determine what they owe by consulting published codes. In the U.S., however, a new tax—the book minimum tax, also known as the corporate alternative minimum tax—went into effect at the beginning of 2023. The legislation establishing the levy is vague, and the Internal Revenue Service hasn’t issued clear rules. The lack of clear tax rules allows the IRS to write new rules during audits. It may even be unconstitutional: The lack of clear rules deprives taxpayers of due process, and delegating the definition of the tax to executive-branch agencies is a dereliction of Congress’s duty to write tax laws.

☆ 9/11 victims are blocked from seizing $3.5 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan because Biden would have to recognize the Taliban
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The families of 9/11 victims are blocked from seizing $3.5B in frozen Afghan central bank funds. A federal judge ruled that seizing the funds would mean recognizing the Taliban as legitimate rulers. A group of families of 9/11 victims had previously sued the Taliban for their losses, winning a default judgment when the militant group did not turn up to court. Last February, Biden cleared a legal path for relatives to pursue the $3.5 billion held in Afghanistan's central bank to pay off the judgment debts. "This decision deprives over 10,000 members of the 9/11 community of their right to collect compensation from the Taliban," he said.

NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said on Tuesday victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are not entitled to seize $3.5 billion of assets belonging to Afghanistan's central bank to satisfy court judgments they obtained against the Taliban. U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said he was "constitutionally restrained" from finding that the Taliban was Afghanistan's legitimate government, a precursor for attaching assets belonging to Da Afghanistan Bank, or DAB. Daniels said letting victims seize those assets would amount to a ruling that the Taliban are Afghanistan's legitimate government. He said U.S. courts lack power to reach that conclusion, noting that Biden administration does not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's government. The case is In re Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

☆ EU sues Poland over violations of EU law by Constitutional Tribunal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Jan Strupczewski | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The European Commission sued Poland on Wednesday in the EU's top court over violations of EU law by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and its case law, the Commission said in a statement. The Commission's move on Wednesday was triggered by rulings by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal from July and October 2021 that provisions of EU Treaties were incompatible with the Polish constitution, expressly challenging the primacy of EU law over national law. "The Constitutional Tribunal with these rulings breached the general principles of autonomy, primacy, effectiveness, uniform application of Union law and the binding effect of rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU," the Commission said. Primacy of EU law ensures equal application of EU law across the Union," the Commission said. The Constitutional Tribunal is charged with checking if laws passed by parliament and signed by the president into law are compatible with the Polish constitution.

That's when personal loans can really shine as a valuable financial tool. These loans come with all sorts of different terms and conditions, which can stick even the shrewdest shopper with unnecessary fees and interest payments. Select a lender that doesn't charge origination or application feesSome — but not all — personal loan lenders may charge fees for submitting an application and originating the loan. It involves replacing your current loan with a new one that carries a lower interest rate, saving you money on your interest payments. Bottom lineKnowing how to save money on a personal loan can help you get the most from this flexible financial tool.

☆ If you're a gig worker, your boss might be using a technicality to underpay you
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Many workers are classified by employers as independent contractors, rather than employees. The Biden administration has proposed a rule making it easier for gig workers to be counted as employees. NELP finds that 10% to 30% of employers — and potentially more — misclassify workers as independent contractors, "which indicates that several million workers nationally may be misclassified." Truck drivers misclassified as independent contractors may lose between $11,076 and $18,053, according to EPI's estimates. The Biden administration is taking aim at misclassification, hoping to crack down on it and offer an easier pathway for independent contractors to be considered employees.

☆ Naftogaz CEO says the Ukrainian state energy giant will be out of default soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The CEO of Ukrainian state energy giant Naftogaz said the company is working toward resolving its debt default problems quickly. Yuriy Vitrenko told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that he is in the final stages of getting the company back on track. "By the end of this month, we're planning to find the consent solicitation with our bondholders to restructure," Vitrenko said. Naftogaz was the first Ukrainian government-owned entity to default since Russia invaded the country in February. Last year, the company said the deadline for payments to holders of Naftogaz Eurobonds expired on July 26 without payment taking place.

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