Keanan

[Keanan @08keanan]

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

JUST IN: Anthropic recorded a staggering $80,000,000,000.00 net loss in the first half of 2026.

[Kara @UTDKarra]

When I said Rashford would negatively impact the team whether he was playing or not, you all came for me.

Football is more than you think, and that’s exactly what we’re witnessing right now.

Cunha, Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Sesko all fought to help Manchester United secure UCL football, only for the club to bring Rashford back and pay him over £350K a week while he contributes absolutely nothing.

These players are human beings. Do you honestly think they won’t feel some type of way about that? Resentment can build when players feel that standards and rewards aren’t being applied equally.

The sooner we get rid of these bad vibes at Manchester United, the better. Some of you will learn the hard way.

[Keanan @08keanan]

@Wixccc @LFC nah that was a beautiful goal icl

[Keanan @08keanan]

yoh, do i want to watch this united game tonight...

[RTRussia @RT_Russia_]

Man in Sri Lanka LIGHTS UP after discovering tourists are Russian — then surprises them with his FLUENT Russian

He says he studied the language 10 years ago and enthusiastically lists cities, from Moscow to Murmansk

[Keanan @08keanan]

@TheUFCStats directed at the OP for this horrible take

[Keanan @08keanan]

@LudidiVelani This is probably true. And we're probably in the middle of the confidence building process referred to. Thing is, these things take decades. But we're getting there.

[Keanan @08keanan]

@LudidiVelani Thanks for that. I'm able to infer an answer from that, but could you humour me with a direct "yes" or "no" answer to my question? Are YOU saying "Yes, there is no anger", or "No, there is anger, but the historical loyalty outweighs the anger", or something else?

[Keanan @08keanan]

@LudidiVelani i agree with YOU, but do you agree with ME, that there seems to be absolutely no anger with the incumbent? Voting for them indicates insufficient to no anger. not voting for ANYONE is more justifiable than voting for the ANC in that environment

[Steve Stewart-Williams @SteveStuWill]

“In this post, I’ll outline three major findings from the research that challenge the entire edifice on which the social-justice narrative is built.”

https://t.co/YO8YxXmhGR

[Keanan @08keanan]

@FPLProp I'm only just discovering this hahaha 😆

[Khangisa (Prof. ) @Siyakhangisa]

48%.

That is the effective tax burden on someone earning R30,000 a month in South Africa. Same rate as someone earning R432,000 a month in a top European country.

The numbers sound wrong. They are not.

​​Where the 48% comes from.​​

PAYE is what people see on the payslip. It is not the whole picture.

VAT - 15% on almost everything. Every swipe. Every fill-up. Most people do not think of VAT as a tax. It is the largest single source of government revenue after income tax.

Fuel levy - built into every litre. Petrol at R26.92 inland includes roughly R3.80 in fuel levy and Road Accident Fund levy. That is a tax on getting to work.

Then there are the charges that look like fees but function like taxes. E-tolls. Municipal surcharges. Electricity tariffs with embedded levies.

Add the visible and the invisible - you get 48%.

​​The key difference with Europe.​​

In the Netherlands. In Denmark. In Germany. High taxes come with a social contract.

Free tertiary education. Universal healthcare that does not require medical aid. Childcare subsidies. Paid parental leave that covers an actual year. Robust unemployment support.

You pay 45%. And you get services back.

In South Africa you pay 48%. And then you pay again - privately.

Medical aid because public healthcare is collapsed. Security because policing is broken. Private schools because public education cannot be trusted. Solar panels or a generator because Eskom cannot guarantee power. Water tanks because the municipality cannot guarantee supply.

The middle-class earner pays twice. Once in tax. Once in escape.

​​Who actually pays.​​

There are about 8.3 million personal income taxpayers in South Africa. A relatively small slice of the population. The top earners supply most of the revenue.

Corporations optimise. The wealthy structure. Offshore trusts. Semigration. Emigration. The R30,000 earner cannot escape - it comes out before they see the money.

The base is narrow. The burden is concentrated. The services are not.

​​Why it accumulated this way.​​

No one designed this system. It grew.

Income tax funds the general budget. VAT funds the general budget. Fuel levy funds roads and the general budget. Each mechanism made sense when it was introduced. Each one expanded quietly.

Raising income tax visibly upsets people. Raising VAT is less visible - it is embedded in the price. Raising fuel levy is buried in the pump price. Municipal charges are non-negotiable.

The objective was not fairness to the middle class. It was revenue extraction with minimum political friction.

​​The uncomfortable part.​​

This is not a policy failure. It is a policy success. The system extracts efficiently. It offends quietly. And the people who carry it do not have the means to opt out.

The question is not whether 48% is too high.

It is how long the R30,000 earner can pay twice - once in tax and once in escape - before something breaks.

[Keanan @08keanan]

@Aesthet66314282 @bobby_role Bruh

[Keanan @08keanan]

@realDonaldTrump What in the actual

[Keanan @08keanan]

@Wi_LaansDiary honestly i'm sure they do, and i'm sure he's receptive coz he's a hard worker but i'm starting to believe that he's just reached his ceiling and can't improve his level

[Norm Macdonald @normmacdonald]

At times, the joy that life attacks me with is unbearable and leads to gasping hysterical laughter. I find myself completely out of control and wonder how could life could surprise me again and again and again, so completely. How could a man be a cynic? It is a sin.

[Keanan @08keanan]

@rasta_notrasta that's crazy man, sorry to hear bru