Robert Carmichael

South African writer, editor, ex-journo. My book on Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge and justice, published by Little, Brown in 2019, is here:

[Szabolcs Panyi @panyiszabolcs]

💥SCOOP: Rumors intensifying that Viktor Orbán's MAGA allies want to throw him a lifeline: a top UN job, with diplomatic immunity attached, to shield him from prosecution back home in Hungary.

🔗More in @VSquare_Project's latest Goulash newsletter: https://t.co/CJ80zq7nIl

[Etan Nechin @Etanetan23]

@davidfrum A despicable argument against journalists bringing facts from the ground despite targeting by the Israeli gov, Hamas, and their collaborators in the U.S. and elsewhere.

You know nothing about Israel. You’re simply a useful idiot for Ben Gvir and Netanyahu
https://t.co/StwMdyzwp2

[Gabriel Zucman @gabriel_zucman]

Hello @JeffBezos, since you question the results of our studies on the unfairness of the US tax system, please allow me to remind you of the main conclusions of our work, the most comprehensive research to date on this issue.

[Robert Carmichael @Carmichael_Rob]

@jeffbezos getting a ton of negativity in the comments. Worth a read. And wholly deserved. A wealth tax is long long long overdue.

[Jeff Bezos @JeffBezos]

Yes, the United States has the most progressive tax system in the world. The top 1% pay 40% of taxes, the bottom 50% pay 3% of taxes. We can make it even more progressive by zeroing out taxes on the bottom half. It’s a small amount of the total tax revenue but very meaningful to people in this group.

[Rathbone @_rathbone]

Bezos relies on your ignorance. The 40% statistic he refers to is just the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). It conspicuously leaves out the vast “passive” fortune of ~$8 trillion held by the billionaire class in the U.S. that is not taxed.

It’s misleading because billionaires don’t earn an income or a salary. That’s for goyim peasants. They use a strategy called “buy, borrow, die”. Trillions of dollars in capital gains, not taxed (because they lobbied the tax code to be that way).

They call it “unrealized capital gains” although when they need to “realize” it, they leverage that wealth to borrow huge sums of money which cannot be taxed (because it’s technically a loan).

And that’s how they live and cavort around the world in megayachts, etc. They all do this. Elon Musk did this to buy Twitter, for example. And that’s how they skirt paying taxes and pretend they’re pious because they “don’t take a cash salary”. They don’t play the same game as us.

When you look at the big picture, the true tax rate Jeff Bezos pays on his vast fortune is less than one percentage point (.9%), less than the nurse in Queens he uses as a political prop to advance his agenda.

https://t.co/IB1VFi5NYX

[Christopher Miller @ChristopherJM]

Zelenskyy warns large-scale Russian air attack likely imminent, citing American and European intelligence. He says Russia possibly preparing an Oreshnik missile launch.

[Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D @RVAwonk]

In some instances, locals believe that the hospitals are killing people because they see Ebola patients (their family, friends, neighbors) go into the hospital alive and then come out dead. The other major factor is that people who die of Ebola aren’t released to families for traditional burials because people have the highest viral load right after they die from the virus, and traditional burials typically involve washing the body, kissing/touching the body, sometimes laying down on the body, etc, which are obviously extremely high risk activities — but they’re also viewed as extremely important burial rituals, so being told you can’t give your loved one a proper burial is often a source of conflict during outbreaks.

[Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D @RVAwonk]

This is a bad sign. People are attempting to break into a hospital in eastern DRC to retrieve the bodies of patients who died from Ebola. You can hear gunshots in the video. This happened repeatedly in the 2014 outbreaks, which greatly complicated relief efforts.

[John McDonnell @johnmcdonnellMP]

There should be no surprise at behaviour of Ben-Gvir. He , like Netanyahu & his regime, has long ago lost any sense of decency & humanity.What should shock us is our own government continues to sell arms to Israel, refuses to sanction the regime & hasn’t kicked out its ambassador

[Anita Komuves @AnitaKomuves]

Orban's media empire crumbles faster than anyone expected after his election defeat at the April 12 Hungary election - my story today https://t.co/bFzfv4o838

[Kateryna Lisunova @KaterynaLis]

ZELENSKYY: I instructed the Defense Forces of Ukraine and the special services to propose possible formats for our response to this Russian attack.

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Could you imagine the international uproar if Ukraine spent 15 hours sending 1500 missiles and drones into population centers all over Russia, mainly into apartment buildings, killing 15 people, including children?

Russia just did this, and no one cares, especially the White House.

[Szabolcs Panyi @panyiszabolcs]

💥Hungary’s new PM Péter Magyar inaugurated his 16-member government today. First time since 2010: education and health each have their own ministry.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ For the first time in history: a blind minister, Vilmos Kátai-Németh. He’s in charge of social and family affairs.

[Faisal Islam @faisalislam]

Euston, we have a problem.

[Patrick Oppmann CNN @CNN_Oppmann]

US intelligence-gathering flights are surging off Cuba, following a pattern similar to lead up to military operations in Iran and Venezuela.

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

War surgeon Dr Mohammed Tahir, who has worked in Gaza and south Lebanon, told Al Jazeera that Israel is “turning the south of Lebanon into Gaza” and “wiping the south off the map”, with over a million people displaced and many medical staff killed.

[Andrew Feinberg @AndrewFeinberg]

I don’t know how many times I’ll have to repeat this, but here we go.

The money he keeps ranting about was Iran’s money that we owed for military equipment the Shah bought but we never delivered (plus interest). We repaid it to settle a dispute before the Iran-US Claims Tribunal because we would’ve had to pay far more if the tribunal had ruled in that case.

The cash he’s talking about was delivered in Swiss Francs and Euros because we could not actually transfer dollars to Iran.

[Robert Peston @Peston]

From a minister about the future of the prime minister:

“I don’t see how he survives the week. I think the pressure cooker pops. The Catherine West thing will get more support than people think and if not her someone else will do it. I think ministers will start resigning.”

[Max du Preez @MaxduPreez]

Isn't it striking that the King of State Capture and accused fraudster, Jacob Zuma, still lives in freedom and luxury, protected by the state, and leads a political party, but the president accused of impropriety not involving state funds will now face an impeachment process?

[Robert Carmichael @Carmichael_Rob]

@jpwarchaeology Ha! Thanks. I was under no illusion that it was a scam but played along to see how much they'd want to charge me to be shortlisted for their book club award. In the back-and-forth it went from about $250 to "how much can you pay". I pleaded poverty as a writer. :)