By my read, this is the core of the articles argument:

But if these billionaires’ largesse was designed to retain the conservative judge on the country’s highest court, the donations might fall outside of the definition of tax-free gifts, which according to the Supreme Court must stem from “detached and disinterested generosity.” If the benefits showered on Thomas were designed to elicit court actions or job decisions, they could be considered taxable income, whether or not there is definitive proof of quid pro quo on Thomas’s part.

Agreed. A lot of people in this thread are confusing what they believe should be illegal discrimination with what is actually illegal discrimination. Or they believe discrimination laws are more broadly encompassing than they are. There are a lot of kinds of discrimination that most of us agree is bad and shouldn’t be allowed… but unfortunately is not illegal.

I think this is helpful context from the actual report (linked at the top of the WaPo article):

In 2022, half as many (47%) of adolescent girls and young women acquired HIV as in 2010. Even with this decline, we are not on track to meet our 2030 target to end new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women.

The global sex-distribution of new HIV infections among adolescents is driven largely by sub-Saharan Africa, which carries the overwhelming global burden of HIV. In 2022, 33% of older adolescents aged 15-19 years newly infected with HIV lived outside of the region. In the Middle East and North Africa region, the number of young people living with HIV has increased by 13% since 2010. In East Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, two thirds of new adolescent infections, age 10-19 years, occur in boys. Stigma, discrimination, societal inequalities and violence sabotage the efforts of adolescents and young people to protect themselves against HIV and other health threats. Young key populations are especially vulnerable.

Edit: I just realized your comment wasn’t directed at the IRS specifically. I’ll leave my comment up because I still find the info interesting.

I think the IRS tries to be agnostic to the legality of income. Yes, taxes are set in accordance with law, but their role isn’t make sure you obtained your income legally or ethically… not that I would trust them not to “tattle”.

Here is an overview on the IRS’s guidance for reporting illegal income:

https://taxfoundation.org/blog/irs-guidance-thieves-drug-dealers-and-corrupt-officials/

A total fine of $25m USD spread across three carriers. I have no idea what the scale is of the mobile providers are in SK. Is $25m much money or is this a US-style slap on the wrist fine (aka “the cost of doing business”)?

Your post inspired me to try to fix my silcocks because I too hate that whine.

I looked at the reviews for the vacuum breakers available at Home Depot and, interestingly, I’m not seeing any of the reviews mentioning whine/hum/noise. This leads me to assume that a new vacuum breaker will work fine and that the whine ends up happening when the VB ages (or if you get a defective unit).

, removed the old one using slip joint pliers, cleaned the threads, applied liquid pipe thread sealant, and screwed on the new one.

So far, no noise. Time will tell whether this is a short term solution or if it’ll last a reasonable number of years.

Note that some silcocks will have fine threads for a VB, some not. Make sure you get the right threading for your application.

If your dad already removed the VB then you don’t have this issue, but for others that might stumble on this conversation: Many VBs have a set screw in the side, which is screwed in and then broken off to prevent removal. Code often requires this. If yours is like that, you’ll need to drill out the set screw before you can take off the old one.

Voyager has good features for hiding posts as well as marking posts read and hiding read posts.

You might give the Voyager app a try. It’s what I use. It has a hide post option, as well as a “mark read on scroll” option and a button to hide read posts. I think you have to enable the last two in its settings.

You should edit your comment to remove the mischaracterization. The nsfw mod was WAY more clear than what you say.

As a layman, this doesn’t sound any different than what my (vague) picture of what the “great firewall” already is. My assumption is that the great firewall is generally about:

-preventing those inside China from access unapproved content from outside

-preventing those outside China from accessing unapproved content from inside China

-monitoring and controlling content inside China

Can anyone speak to how this could be notably different than what China has already been doing in that realm? Or correct my understanding of what we believe China already has in place?

That is a great article. Everyone here should click over and read that one!