prowla

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr52yrgq48no https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cg70xgxl3vmt It's the story of how a journalist - the Atlantic magazine's Jeffrey Goldberg - was added to a Signal platform messaging group which apparently included Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, in addition to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.

Aye. Given that the items were probably manufactured in China regardless, I chose not to patronise the middle-man companies.

I just found I needed some things and thought I'd have to go to eBay or Amazon; then I remembered my AliExpress account, so I bought them there (and they were cheaper!).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cq6y3my01ndt So, it looks like Russia may be interested in a partial ceasefire limited to the areas which suit them.

It could be quite taxing…

I agree - it is an interesting discussion, but best elsewhere. Then again, the main subject appears to be somewhat elastic; I guess that's one of the issues with interweb chats, ie. they seem to branch off in all softs of directions and sub-topics.

I conflated "right" and "duty" to minimise the tax you pay. I certainly didn't say you should pay the most for everything and thereby maximise it!

See - that's conflating avoidance and evasion. I would suggest that it is everybody's duty to avoid paying as much tax as they possibly can.

Yes they are; just government-sponsored incentives. Tax avoidance is used pejoratively by people who conflate it with tax evasion.

Precisely, and that is why tax avoidance is not wrong.

I think it's a little bit different: Trump and Putin have congruent aims: one wants to unite the states of the former USSR and the other wants to subsume the countries of North America (plus the Gaza resort). Putin is playing Trump, but Trump is going along with it because they are on the same path.

If you pay less tax as a result then it is avoidance. It's a common strategy for people in the 60% tax bracket: pay into that on the basis that you'll be in a lower bracket when you come to withdraw it. Hence avoiding tax.

Just choosing to take a dividend at the end of one year or the start of the next is avoidance. (And there's nothing wrong with it.)

Yep. Anybody who has done or had a job done "cash in hand", bought a retail item for cash, etc. has likely contributed to tax evasion.

Wang dang!