Torr Leonard 🧵

Except for my skeets.

"Doubtless many factors are at work, but this is also precisely what you would expect of a generation of researchers who spent their childhoods glued to screens rather than reading or thinking.

Even books themselves are becoming less complex."

"European nations pledged hundreds of billions in defense spending, with the EU committing about $106 billion for Ukraine, as most U.S. aid to Kyiv has halted."

Ukraine Depended on Western Weaponry. Now That Script Has Flipped. Kyiv’s European allies are snapping up its military know-how as they seek to build up their own defenses.

The “Build With Ukraine” initiative launched its first production facility near Munich, producing Ukrainian-engineered Linza drones.

European nations are adopting Ukrainian innovation to retool militaries and revitalize their defense industries, with Germany providing funding."

UPDATE:

bsky.app/profile/torr...

Thread of background:

bsky.app/profile/torr...

The Iranian Force Built to Defend the Regime Now Faces the Ultimate Test The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is designed to thwart attempts to overthrow the government and outlast more powerful enemies.

"The Iranian Force Built to Defend the Regime Now Faces the Ultimate Test -

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [a parallel government and economic force] is designed to thwart attempts to overthrow the government and outlast more powerful enemies."

"U.S. commanders told troops the war on Iran is a Christian war.

One NCO said they were told the U.S. war is to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus."

Which is true!

This is utterly fascinating.

111 grams = 0.245 pounds, baby!

It's the amount of sugar in 2.8 cans of Coke, which is approx 32 oz, which is a classic "Big Gulp".

Not to be confused with...

44 oz – "Super Big Gulp"

64 oz – "Double Gulp"

What is a Destination Charge? The Obscure Fee Costing You More to Buy a Car Car buyers paid more than $26 billion in “destination charges” last year.

"Dealers and analysts say the "destination charge" is a way for the automakers to help offset tariff costs without raising car prices."

and waxxed.

"The specter of a huge capital-gains tax bill creates another major obstacle to selling."

"This change has encouraged more heirs of vacation properties to sell, said Rachel Dodson, partner at the law firm Ayoub & Dodson.

But it doesn’t meaningfully change the math that encourages homeowners to pass on the home to their heirs in the first place."

"California tightened its property-tax rules in 2021 to limit the circumstances in which heirs can keep a parent’s low tax rate.

So only one of Norris’s homes will benefit from a low property-tax bill after her death."

"This disparity encourages many homeowners to stay put rather than move to a different home and take on a higher tax bill.

A new buyer today can pay 10 times as much property tax as a neighbor who purchased in the 1970s."

"The situation can be traced in part back to 1978, when voters passed Prop 13, which generally caps property-tax increases at 2% a year based on the most recent purchase price.

Longtime owners pay taxes based on decades-old valuations.

New buyers are taxed at much higher current market valuations"

"In California, the typical homeowner stayed put for almost 17 years in 2024.

The national median was about 12 years, according to Redfin."

That limits the state’s supply of homes for sale, pushing prices higher and increasing the incentive not to sell, said Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty in Palo Alto, Calif.

“We’re in this negative feedback loop,” he said.

"But the high rate of homes passed on after death is distorting the state’s housing market, favoring longtime homeowners and their families over all other home buyers."

"The people who inherit these houses enjoy tremendous benefits.

They can move into homes that they otherwise might not be able to buy at current prices, or they can sell them and keep the proceeds without having to pay capital-gains taxes."

"The state’s high rate of inherited homes reflects California’s unique circumstances:

years of skyrocketing home prices, and tax policies that encourage owners to avoid selling their houses before they die."

In California, About the Only Way to Get a House Is to Inherit One Nearly one out of every five property transfers last year was made through inheritance, a record for the state and double the national share.

"California saw a record 18% of property transfers, nearly 60,000 homes, occur through inheritance last year, double the national rate.

High home prices and tax policies, including Proposition 13, encourage California homeowners to retain properties and pass them on."

The Third-Largest Coffee Chain in the U.S. Actually Sells Very Little Hot Coffee By focusing on customizable cold energy drinks, Dutch Bros thinks it has the formula to attract younger customers.

"Gen Z has flocked to Dutch Bros for its eye-popping energy drinks and other cold beverages that people can customize, like Shark Attack Rebel, with 111 grams of sugar for an iced large."

Oh.

"this reform would restore fairness in the tax code by making some of the wealthiest business entities pay their fair share toward critical govt services.

In a free-enterprise system, it's wrong to ask some businesses to pay full freight while their nonprofit competitors contribute nothing."

"The fiscal stakes are enormous.

Taxing the net business income of nonprofits at the standard 21 percent corporate rate could raise $51 billion annually — without raising rates on anyone currently paying taxes.

That’s real money toward deficit reduction."

"Alternatively, adopt a “commerciality test” that taxes any activity where an organization competes in a market, charges market-rate prices, and accumulates profits — regardless of how those profits are later used.

If it walks and quacks like a business, tax it like one."

"The infrastructure exists; nonprofits must already categorize these revenue streams on their tax returns."

"The simplest:

exempt only charitable donations and government grants from taxation, while taxing all commercial revenue — TV deals, insurance payments, ticket sales, royalties and sponsorship income — at standard corporate rates."

"But we must distinguish between true charities and commercial enterprises wearing nonprofit clothing.

Reform could take several paths."