Bernie Hendriks
@berniehendriks.bsky.social
Husband, dad, tax lawyer, Canadian, big football fan. Not my real name, opinions my own.
As to the badness of the foundation itself, I had one individual try to convince me via an article I didn't find very persuasive, but they blocked me, so I guess I'm ending that convo with my mind unchanged.
February 4, 2026 at 5:47 PM
As to the badness of the foundation itself, I had one individual try to convince me via an article I didn't find very persuasive, but they blocked me, so I guess I'm ending that convo with my mind unchanged.
I'm trying to approach things with appropriate humility. I don't deeply research this stuff, so I carry my priors with a grain of salt.
I do agree with OP that this would be better and more fairly managed via taxes, but in the absence of a big change I'd err towards allowing the money to do good.
I do agree with OP that this would be better and more fairly managed via taxes, but in the absence of a big change I'd err towards allowing the money to do good.
February 4, 2026 at 5:43 PM
I'm trying to approach things with appropriate humility. I don't deeply research this stuff, so I carry my priors with a grain of salt.
I do agree with OP that this would be better and more fairly managed via taxes, but in the absence of a big change I'd err towards allowing the money to do good.
I do agree with OP that this would be better and more fairly managed via taxes, but in the absence of a big change I'd err towards allowing the money to do good.
In my case, it's usually a gladhanding corporate lawyer rainmaker type who doesn't really do any legal work but seems to always be golfing with another lucrative client.
February 4, 2026 at 2:24 AM
In my case, it's usually a gladhanding corporate lawyer rainmaker type who doesn't really do any legal work but seems to always be golfing with another lucrative client.
I'm not any kind of expert, but most of my clients are quite rich, and they seem to often have very deep networks of other rich people, often with specific people acting as hubs who benefit financially from connecting people to each other. I suspect Epstein (sex crimes aside) was such a hub.
February 4, 2026 at 2:22 AM
I'm not any kind of expert, but most of my clients are quite rich, and they seem to often have very deep networks of other rich people, often with specific people acting as hubs who benefit financially from connecting people to each other. I suspect Epstein (sex crimes aside) was such a hub.
You'd know better than me. Taking your point, certainly Gates would need to step down as chairperson for me to feel at all ok with an organization taking that money, and it might take more than that.
I'm just a layperson, and looking at the website, the goals seem at least prima facie good. YMMV.
I'm just a layperson, and looking at the website, the goals seem at least prima facie good. YMMV.
February 3, 2026 at 10:07 PM
You'd know better than me. Taking your point, certainly Gates would need to step down as chairperson for me to feel at all ok with an organization taking that money, and it might take more than that.
I'm just a layperson, and looking at the website, the goals seem at least prima facie good. YMMV.
I'm just a layperson, and looking at the website, the goals seem at least prima facie good. YMMV.
I really like Slobodian (Crack up Capitalism was great) but I'm unclear from reading this what the ills of foundation are meant to be. There's a throwaway line about Gates maybe blocking a nonprofit covid vaccine? The rest seems to be largely "who elected him", which is fair, but not the same thing.
February 3, 2026 at 10:02 PM
I really like Slobodian (Crack up Capitalism was great) but I'm unclear from reading this what the ills of foundation are meant to be. There's a throwaway line about Gates maybe blocking a nonprofit covid vaccine? The rest seems to be largely "who elected him", which is fair, but not the same thing.
Seems sensible. Always kind of unclear the degree to which that kind of thing is doable, particularly without his sign-off.
February 3, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Seems sensible. Always kind of unclear the degree to which that kind of thing is doable, particularly without his sign-off.
IMO, it's down to how much control the foundation is allowed to wield. The money isn't guilty of anything, and it can do a lot of good (and seems to have done). Obviously, Bill Gates should have no say in it, and the orgs shouldn't accept money from the foundation if he insists on it.
February 3, 2026 at 9:16 PM
IMO, it's down to how much control the foundation is allowed to wield. The money isn't guilty of anything, and it can do a lot of good (and seems to have done). Obviously, Bill Gates should have no say in it, and the orgs shouldn't accept money from the foundation if he insists on it.
An interesting question to put to these guys would be::
"OK, what if we create a high UBI by taxing rich people, thereby encouraging everyone to worry less about work (less need + less upside), and more about their personal lives?"
I suspect they'd be less curious about that intervention.
"OK, what if we create a high UBI by taxing rich people, thereby encouraging everyone to worry less about work (less need + less upside), and more about their personal lives?"
I suspect they'd be less curious about that intervention.
February 3, 2026 at 3:40 PM
An interesting question to put to these guys would be::
"OK, what if we create a high UBI by taxing rich people, thereby encouraging everyone to worry less about work (less need + less upside), and more about their personal lives?"
I suspect they'd be less curious about that intervention.
"OK, what if we create a high UBI by taxing rich people, thereby encouraging everyone to worry less about work (less need + less upside), and more about their personal lives?"
I suspect they'd be less curious about that intervention.
I mean yes, but also, isn't Matt Damon in the lead? That is not a Mediterranean looking dude! An ancient Greek would have thought Matt Damon looked AT LEAST as unusual as Lupita.
February 2, 2026 at 9:30 PM
I mean yes, but also, isn't Matt Damon in the lead? That is not a Mediterranean looking dude! An ancient Greek would have thought Matt Damon looked AT LEAST as unusual as Lupita.
A website of Martin Princes cosplaying as combination Lisa Simpson/Che Guevara figures.
February 2, 2026 at 6:17 PM
A website of Martin Princes cosplaying as combination Lisa Simpson/Che Guevara figures.
It is indeed true that "We called the billionaire pedophile ring..." is somewhat blunted by "...and drove the election of one of it's pre-eminent pedophiles to the most powerful office in the world".
February 2, 2026 at 2:20 PM
It is indeed true that "We called the billionaire pedophile ring..." is somewhat blunted by "...and drove the election of one of it's pre-eminent pedophiles to the most powerful office in the world".
I mean, Weimar Germany was a democracy, too.
February 2, 2026 at 2:10 PM
I mean, Weimar Germany was a democracy, too.
That's not exactly fair.
"*Epstein linked* white supremacist extremist, (with a) long history of empty promises and fraud"
is far more accurate.
"*Epstein linked* white supremacist extremist, (with a) long history of empty promises and fraud"
is far more accurate.
February 2, 2026 at 2:06 PM
That's not exactly fair.
"*Epstein linked* white supremacist extremist, (with a) long history of empty promises and fraud"
is far more accurate.
"*Epstein linked* white supremacist extremist, (with a) long history of empty promises and fraud"
is far more accurate.
I watch both games, do you? Literally nobody says either sport is "changing constantly", and I'm not exactly the first person to point this out either:
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:00 PM
I watch both games, do you? Literally nobody says either sport is "changing constantly", and I'm not exactly the first person to point this out either:
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
I disagree. Different conditions = more flexible strategy. If you might have to play in a blizzard, you better have some idea of how to pound the rock. The climate controlled NBA and NHL are dominated by the same strategies over and over. They're broadly solved games. They get boring quick.
January 30, 2026 at 9:48 PM
I disagree. Different conditions = more flexible strategy. If you might have to play in a blizzard, you better have some idea of how to pound the rock. The climate controlled NBA and NHL are dominated by the same strategies over and over. They're broadly solved games. They get boring quick.
Like, your standard AB separatist says "we'd be like the UAE" and no, you're going to be Honduras with no ocean access.
January 29, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Like, your standard AB separatist says "we'd be like the UAE" and no, you're going to be Honduras with no ocean access.
At the risk of taking a non-serious point of view seriously, the point is just to whine about taxes & equalization. It seems reasonable until you think about how other single export banana republics get treated on sales of their one product, and what happens when the prices go down.
January 29, 2026 at 8:45 PM
At the risk of taking a non-serious point of view seriously, the point is just to whine about taxes & equalization. It seems reasonable until you think about how other single export banana republics get treated on sales of their one product, and what happens when the prices go down.
As someone who doesn't want the conservatives to win, I'm kinda rooting for Poilievre. As someone who wants Canada to have a non-insane opposition (and ideally for someone (anyone!) to force Carney to deliver for normal people at all) I'm hoping he somehow loses. A real conundrum!
January 29, 2026 at 5:17 PM
As someone who doesn't want the conservatives to win, I'm kinda rooting for Poilievre. As someone who wants Canada to have a non-insane opposition (and ideally for someone (anyone!) to force Carney to deliver for normal people at all) I'm hoping he somehow loses. A real conundrum!
As to owners, I would be shocked if any big four league has owners that skew really at all liberal. These are very rich people, I'd have an extremely strong prior that they mostly have the politics of ordinary rich people.
January 27, 2026 at 11:00 PM
As to owners, I would be shocked if any big four league has owners that skew really at all liberal. These are very rich people, I'd have an extremely strong prior that they mostly have the politics of ordinary rich people.
Right, so you'll note that you don't see big name MLB or NHL players speaking out, either, even though their fans are a fair bit more liberal than football fans. To me, that points to it being a locker room issue, not a fan issue.
January 27, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Right, so you'll note that you don't see big name MLB or NHL players speaking out, either, even though their fans are a fair bit more liberal than football fans. To me, that points to it being a locker room issue, not a fan issue.
My guy, it is just a fact that NFL players are more conservative than NBA players:
thehill.com/blogs/in-the...
thehill.com/blogs/in-the...
thehill.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:20 PM
My guy, it is just a fact that NFL players are more conservative than NBA players:
thehill.com/blogs/in-the...
thehill.com/blogs/in-the...
Like NFL players barely publicly called out Riley Cooper! That was a videotaped n-bomb!
January 27, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Like NFL players barely publicly called out Riley Cooper! That was a videotaped n-bomb!