Government
Most Dictators Self Destruct. Why?
These are all very human errors of judgment. Dictators are people, too, and sometimes they'll act on imperfect information or erroneous gut feeling. But Treisman makes the point that they may be prone to such errors precisely because they are dictators. They'll be fooled by polls which people don't answer sincerely, taken in by their own propaganda (like Malawi ruler Hastings Banda, who called and lost a referendum in 1993 because he'd been impressed by the high turnout at rallies in his support even though people had been forced to attend them). And sometimes they'll rule for so long that their mental faculties will be less sharp than at the outset.
Broken Property-Tax System Blocks Black Wealth Building – Bloomberg
BlueLeaks – Distributed Denial of Secrets
Yes, It’s Horseshit
I still think it’s horseshit 💩that I have to manually upload and process my taxes, when the federal and state government automatically receives all my tax information 📄 from the big banks and corporations that either pay interest, dividends, or salary. 🤑
On Tax Returns, Why Enter What the I.R.S. Already Knows?
Filing your income taxes is a pain, and that is not an accident
Elizabeth Warren Is Right About Pre-Filled Tax Returns
The 10-Second Tax Return
NPR
The U.S. Supreme Court seemed ready on Tuesday to uphold Arizona's restrictive voting laws, setting the stage for what happens in the coming months and years, as Republican-dominated state legislatures seek to make voting more difficult.
This is unfortunate as voting should be as easy as possible to maximize participation, and not to munipulate the output if folks don't agree with the conclusions.
USPS Awards Contract for New, Very Weird-Looking Delivery Truck
Unfortunately, the USPS has decided not to lead the way on the electric vehicle future as so many hoped just a few weeks ago. As I tried to warn you, it was always exceedingly unlikely the USPS would buy an electric-only fleet, and indeed that has come to pass.?
The new vehicle will have both an internal combustion engine and electric version, according to the press release, but did not say how many of each would be made. The electric versions "can be retrofitted to keep pace with advances in electric vehicle technologies," the press release added, although it's not clear what exactly this means. I initially read this as leaving open the possibility that gas versions could later be converted to electric, although that is a time-consuming, expensive, and laborious undertaking for one car, much less tens of thousands of them. It could also mean the EV versions can have batteries and drivetrains easily swapped, but as anyone who has, say, had an engine or transmission replaced in their gas car knows, that's not particularly novel. The USPS did not respond to a request for more information on these questions before publication.