Above the line deductions reduce your taxable income, from there you take the standard deduction or itemize. You are conflating two separate events

No, deductions for business expenses happen “above the line” so they reduce your taxable income. The standard deduction happens “below the line” and is applied to your taxable income after business expenses etc

Pro tip: if you are actually making side income like this and reporting it to the IRS then in many situations you can deduct the costs of the things you needed to buy in the course of generating that income.

This does not work on W2 income, though, as much as it would be nice to deduct the costs of driving to an office etc

Then it’s fake in a way that The Old Man and the Sea is fake in that it’s a story that reflects on what it’s like to be human

I had a corporate job where I never interacted with customers and I was salaried and my boss would still keep Teams up on his computer all the time and come and check in on my cubicle if I wasn’t showing available on Teams exactly at 7:30 in the morning. I got lectured once for showing up at 7:35. Not late to any meetings, not late on “deliverables”, etc. Just not “professional” enough for him. I have no doubt believing this post.

You mean the fifth book