leh-nerd skin-erd

I'll ask again about this latest celebrity endorsement. Did she speak truth to power about the Harris wealth tax, her acknowledgement that she wasn't fair-sharin' (or confirmation that she was out way ahead of that request), and agree to retroactively honor the capital gains adjustment?

They did a great job. Frankish was flumoxed.

There's a huge difference between private conversations amongst friends and family of an intensely emotional and often painful process, and politicking for votes at the level Walz plays at. He knows that, he's adept at the game and seems to be consistently pretty careless with his "nuance".

Underestimating any opponent is a mistake. In spite of Biden's horsec@ckery after decades in office, his being laughed out of a couple presidential races for preposterous lies easily fact-checked even then (or, if one prefers, not lying but making things up that were not true), and the parents and grandparents of today's Bidenistas sending him packing, people always vote their self-interests as they see them at the time. While complaining about Trump's comments about women, they would rationalize Biden's inappropriate fondling of women. While complaining about Trump's lies or half-truths, they would say that Biden's lie were less liarly. When the whole #metoo and #ibelieveher campaign was afoot, it's important to remember who one of the patriarch's of the party is--WJC. Harris's unlikability (and lack of popularity on the national stage)was on display for all to see just a few short years ago. All the base needs is a new heroine, being pointed in the right direction and they will follow.

It's possible of course. However, it is interesting to note that it's the approaching the last week of summer, school starts soon, people spending time with family and friends. Politics is top of mind for some, but for most, this is play time regardless of whether Trump, Harris, Biden or JFK hisself is in office. Let's see how the next couple months go.

Well, he’s a Kennedy and a lifelong democrat, so yeah. In fact, throw in a death of a personal attorney by suicide in a park, a chef and a paddle board on Martha’s Vineyard, I think he’s your Dem keynote speaker most years.

Well, never underestimate the ability of a Kennedy to impact a news cycle. Should be interesting.

I haven’t watched it yet, but did he address preemptively complying with the Harris/Walz wealth tax? That would be pretty cool.

Oh, you made it weird. Everyone is into something, I guess. As for your plan, sure, but what you're describing is the rudimentary framework of a process. That's all I was talking about but you went all Brittney Spears over it.

Assuming it passed, for now.

You see a recitation of facts as “grandstanding”? Congrats on having the softest life ever. I’ve never considered receiving a medal (or certificate even!) for driving on the correct side of the road, or stopping at stop sign, I’m not sure where that came from. I will tell you, though, that using your analogy, a reasonable person would assume that when a driver disregards the aforementioned stop sign, it would not be unusual or unreasonable or unfair for the driver to be stopped, detained, asked for papers, and issued a citation, or in extreme cases, arrested and/or vehicle impounded. Obviously one could run with the “Stop signs are socialist” play, or the old “People are driving on these roads everyday so why not just let me ignore the stop sign” or complain the Officer was grandstanding, but you would support a reasonable punishment of some sort for disregarding the laws (customs/standards) that regulate human behavior, yes? I mean, I do, and I’m not certain that makes me an outlier. Anyway, yes, a sensible process to address immigration makes sense to me, as does welcoming those looking for a better way of life. Oh, and you may be soft as butter on what constitutes grandstanding, but nice word play on scones.

Yes, I knew. 🫡 On the citizenship issue, I do not recall how he worked it out besides working with an attorney and becoming a citizen.

I like people as a general rule. I enjoy learning about different cultures, what it's like in these far off places, and the family structure and how it all works. I'm also blessed in that my business finds me interacting with all sorts of people from all sorts of places. Just off the top of my head...family/business connections include/included people from Guyana, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, South America, the Caribbean, Germany, Afghanistan, Puerto Rico, Poland, Africa, Italy, and a few more that escape me at the moment. In that regard, I'm a typical American living a melting pot life and interacting quite nicely with people. One of my business friends told me he crossed illegally into the US as a young guy, he owns three restaurants and 6 or 7 apartment buildings. He's a success story, a hard worked and I admire him. Still, when I cross the bridge to Canada, I wait in line.

I think we know you're not comfortable answering the question posed. That's pretty common, actually. ::sigh:: Yes, perhaps. At the same time, it's not at all uncommon for we children of immigrants to be expected to follow the rule of law of our society. We stand in line where necessary, we present our papers under certain situations, contribute to the tax base as directed, wait at border crossings in and border crossings out. When traveling to foreign lands, we wait in the lines established by the hosts who welcome us, fill out forms as directed, empty our pockets, take off our shoes, and do the best we can to follow their customs. It's a complicated but relatively straightforward process, yet when that's discussed, we get sanctimonious lectures about being immigrants/children of immigrants as if that magically addresses the problem.

Round-Dude, you sent a tweet that sung the praises of Barrack moving away from a Not In My Backyard mentality. I asked about backyards of the people making the statements, and you're saying I'm not making sense? I was unfamiliar with the phrase "Euclidean Zoning" and did a quick check of the web. I can see how it meshes with your pod city goal and the movement away from safe home spaces in suburbs and towns across the country. It also leads me back to the NIMBY question earlier--who challenges the local regulations to increase density for the greater good--Barrack, Biden or Harris? Thanks for the reference on the zoning. I'll read up on that.

The most recent foray into NIMBYism on a national, political level involved immigrants being removed from Martha’s Vineyard. I haven’t read any accounts of Barrack and Michelle offering up some of the land at their disposal but it’s possible. Barrack and Michelle own multiple residences, JB owns oceanfront property and a personal residence in Delaware, and according to one article, Harris has several properties in places like San Francisco, Brentwood and DC. Who would you anticipate partners with the government first, cedes/sells some land for a couple of those high rise Lego condos you believe are the future?

So the government passes excessive legislation that causes massive red tape in the housing market, leading to a shortage of housing and difficulties for builders of said homes, but you’re hoping the excessive regulation people will eliminate the regulations they came up with to begin with? Interesting.

I think you're reinventing the run up to the Harris coronation. Let's not pretend that Biden (and Trump) were not fossils in 2019-2020 as well, and there were lots of younger options including Harris (who was really ungoshly unpopular for a non-fossil) to carry the torch. You didn't vote for a 45 year old Biden sharp of mind and wit, you voted for a 78 year old man with pretty obvious signs of old age and did so convincingly. Age wasn't the problem, it was mental capacity and increasingly questionable comments, behavior and judgement. Absent an historically bad (yet completely predictable) performance in July, you all line up again completely convinced by those doing the convincing. Yes, of course he was boxed out because those that seek to convince read the tea leaves, but that wasn't the point of the conversation about Biden and why he tapped out. He tapped out because he was forced to, and what's interesting to me (science experiment interesting) is that in spite of the knowledge that the architects of the party clearly knew he was shot, they had you lining up anyways. They do again. No, thank you, but thanks for writing.

We had a nice moment earlier. You were empathetic about my limitations as you viewed them. I acknowledged your feelings and expressed appreciation that you cared enough to care enough. Most importantly we agree that Biden was convinced to discontinue his run in spite of repeated declarations of his intentions before a debate was scheduled, in the run up to and after the debate. His approach can best be described as “Anytime, Anywhere Pal!”. Now it seems you’re intent on reverse engineering what happened to fit the narrative of an heroic statesman facing a silent crisis of confidence walking away, and the courageous constituency who knew on some level that while he had lost a step, it was really his age that was of concern, not his penchant for using words that don’t exist and talking to dead associates that was a bigger issue than how many birthdays he has had. After consultations with doctors, staff, leadership, family (and a host of enablers on a massive scale), he decided to run. When he struggled, he continued to run. When he crashed like the Hindenburg in the Trump debate, he continued to run. In the week or so after his epic implosion, he continued to declared he was THE man. We don’t know this because I say so, we know this from the words he used and thoughts shared by his advisory team. All the rest is drivel. He was convinced to drop out, he dropped out and that’s about it. As to why, speculation abounds.

Obviously, board members here have a tendency to disagree on just about everything. JB decision to discontinue his run as some sort of noble gesture for party flies in direct contrast to his actions, his words, and his declaration of his intentions. He quite literally spent hours preparing for a nationally televised debate to showcase his grit and competence, shook apart at the seams and suggested he had a cold...bad prep...he was traveling too much..and he was just tired. He declared after the debate that he was staying in the race and would beat DJT, I guess having recovered from the flu-that he picked up in on an international flight-and impacted debate prep and which subsequently left him exhausted and caused him to confuse medicare with the Japanese in 45.

I appreciate your expression of sympathy, compassion is sadly lacking in the world today. We agree that in spite of his repeated declarations that he was running, he was convinced to stand down.

Ah, the Secretly Hoping Society. They were pretty certain that Trump was the only president holding classified documents as I recall, then suddenly became experts on slippage which later morphed into special consideration for electeds. Nice people, a bit naive. It’s entirely possible JB was reading the Secretly Hoping newsletter, where all the Secret Hopers were urging him to rethink his decision. Not probable but possible. But if you prefer the Biden was saying he was running but what he was really saying was he wasn’t running angle, cool. At the end of day, it seems quite clear he was forced to tap out, and there typically is a reason for that sort of thing. Sometimes a velvet glove is used, other times the hammer comes down.

That is a funny interpretation to be sure. As to mature ladies and facial considerations, I believe you’re looking for a different website.

That’s silly. Biden’s family is a mess, his daughter-in-law getting a pass on her misdeeds, his daughter reminisced about some of her odd memories with her dad from childhood, and it’s quite likely Hunter is guilty of much more than we’re hearing about. It seems increasingly likely Biden used his office for financial gain, it is a reasonable assumption that his brother could be targeted for misdeeds in the family business, and Biden is a shell of whatever man he was a decade or two ago. He also left classified document strewn all over the place, which implies he’s a pretty sloppy guy. All it would really take is a threat to his legacy and family. He was rock solid he was running until suddenly, he wasn’t.

I'm not a teetotaler, but find myself drinking less and less as I get older. The world involving anything called anything like "Grand Cru" is completely lost on me. I have a friend who owns a nice liquor store and when we get together, he's always bringing something for the rest of the group to enjoy. Sadly, it's all wasted on me.