Just look at the numbers. Harris will probably finish 15 million votes behind Biden 2020. Those are people who could have voted, but didn’t.

Nobody is under the illusion that Trump is better for the situation in Gaza than Harris.

But, too many left-leaning voters feel they have to “take a stand” by staying home or voting third party. I have several friends who did exactly that, even though it’s abundantly clear that staying home is effectively a vote for Trump.

Meanwhile, NOBODY on the conservative side is doing that shit. It’s been true since the Reagan era, the conservatives put aside any personal distaste they have, and they get behind their candidate.

I mean, there’s a whole lot that went wrong, but the big one was subverting the democratic process with primaries that didn’t really pick a popular candidate (2016 and 2024).

The primaries are the time for the candidate to energize a base of support. Harris has never energized anybody, and it was silly to think that affection for Biden would carry her.

Conservatives vote in force to signal their loyalty to their chosen community.

Progressives stay home when they perceive that their community doesn’t chose them. Harris’ vote totals at the end of this will sit somewhere below Biden 2020, for that reason.

People can come to their own conclusion. I did not vote for Trump and I won’t defend him, but I think the people complaining are ignoring the full context.

Here’s the quote in context:

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face. You know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying ‘Oh gee, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.’ But she’s a stupid person, and I used to have, I have meetings, with a lot of people, and she always wanted to go to war with people.

I smell the poop of a warrior!

That was my reading in 2016 – before the election, I realized that the “thrill vote” would go to Trump, and the average folks were going to sit it out because Hillary Clinton couldn’t energize anybody.

I’m getting a lot of those feelings around KH too. I just hope folks come out for the anti-Trump vote, at least.

They just took an old Matt Gaetz investigative report and did a search-replace on it.

Is the US government (or any national government) going to evaluate the value of paintings or baseball memorabilia or the portfolio of song rights for the The Turtles?

My sense is that it’s easier to establish value for things – and make a case for taxes – when they are sold in a market or used as a financial instrument (e.g. to collateralize a loan).

making compliance easy and cheap/mostly free

I’m not sure that’s how taxes work, though.