Interesting Links for 17-05-2017

[andrewducker]

The original Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith ending had Padme founding the Rebel Alliance and almost killing Anakin

(tags: StarWars )

Pirates pirate Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and demand ransom from Disney

(tags: Disney piracy movies copyright )

Man creates single-person Tinder clone, is surprised when they take a legal interest

(tags: relationships dating Technology apps intellectual_property )

Labour looks to replace Council Tax with a Land Value Tax

I'm tentatively in favour. Anyone care to tell me why I shouldn't be?
(tags: tax wealth uk labour )

UK gave Google’s DeepMind access to patient data without legal basis

(tags: data ai google privacy uk )

"My family's slave" (warning: made me cry at the end)

(tags: history slavery USA sad )

EU national parliaments won't get Brexit trade deal veto after new ECJ ruling

(tags: europe uk trade law )

Oh yay, Trump has pissed off Mossad!

(tags: intelligence spying usa israel fail )

There is a new consensus in Germany – Brexit should be clean, and Britain should pay for it

(tags: UK Europe germany )

Two questions about Labour's manifesto

Note: Nationalising the railways shouldn't cost anything, as the proposal is to wait for the franchises to end. However, Royal Mail will cost, as will some of their other nationalisation targets.
(tags: labour welfare politics uk )

Christian Mother Mourns Loss of Son She Abandoned for Being Gay (On His Wedding Day)

(tags: lgbt religion christianity OhForFucksSake )

Tonbridge company apologises to jobseeker for calling her a "home educated oddball"

(tags: business OhForFucksSake jobs )

Comments

[cmcmck]

My mother may have abandoned me for being trans but at least she never claimed that God told her to.

Oddly enough, I'm the one with the religious faith, being a Quaker.

[armiphlage]

*hugs*

[wildeabandon]

AFAICT, the best argument against an LVT is that assessing the market value of land which hasn't been sold recently is a hard problem.

[andrewducker]

True. I wonder how they would plan to do that.

[armiphlage]

It works fairly well in Canada. Every bit of real estate has an assessed value generated by a government representative, based on recent sales in the vicinity, aerial photos, and guesswork. It's often a bit less than full market value, so people usually don't complain, for fear the appeals committee will raise it higher. There's an appeals process if you think your property should be valued less than that of your neighbours. Nobody ever tries to claim their property is worth more than the assessed value, unless it's about to be expropriated to build a road or airport.

At tax time, the municipality adds up the total assessed value of real estate, and adds up their budgeted expenses. Dividing the two gives the property tax rate (around 0.5%).

[heron61]

Oh yay, Trump has pissed off Mossad!

I'm very much hoping that they start their own Trump/Russia investigation (if they already haven't) and help get 45 the hell out of office (and if possible, into an orange jumpsuit).

[nancylebov]

Thank you. I was so annoyed with people who were hoping Mossad would kill him that I didn't think of Mossad just legitimately helping with the investigation.

[heron61]

Even leaving all moral and ethical considerations aside, that's an astonishingly stupid thing to wish for, since it would simultaneously make that putrid stain into a martyr and result in the US going to war with Israel over his death. From my PoV, by far the best way to keep another of his ilk from arising is for him to be tossed out of the White House in total disgrace (and preferably in handcuffs).

[armiphlage]

Plus "President Pence".

[heron61]

Getting 45 out is worth a lot, and if he is impeached/resigns due to connection with Russia, Pence either never gets to be president because he's too close/knew too much, or he's in a very precarious position, since both the presidency and the GOP will have taken a major hit - also, I'm betting more on President Ryan (who is also deeply horrible, but if 45 & Pence both go, then the GOP will be in shambles, and Ryan starts out as a lame duck.