Billion-Dollar Idea / Can’t-Lose Bet July 28, 2024July 28, 2024 BILLION DOLLAR IDEA Not original with me, but yes! A smoke alarm that shuts off when you yell, “I’m just cooking!” Alexa — are you listening? Of course she is. Especially because: WINDOWS-H I’m typing this paragraph with my voice! Try it! If you’re using a PC, just hold down the Windows key and press H. A microphone appears. Start talking. CAN’T-LOSE BET Will Trump fire Vance? Currently, the betting market puts the chances at just 12%. I think it’s way higher — and dearly hope I’m wrong. But if he does fire Vance and we’ve taken that bet, at least we make some money. Either way, we win. (I’m not actually bothering to do this myself but thought you might want to.) Vance is a disaster. There are so many links to share. You’ve doubtless seen a million already so I’ll mostly spare you. Here’s two minutes making the case that, for all his smarts and academic achievement, he’s a moron. Or else just very brave: “It’s bold for someone seeking votes to home in on ‘childless cat ladies’ when the leader of Childless Cat Ladies is Taylor Swift,” British writer Caitlin Moran posted on X,” reports the BBC. We’ve long known Trump is a terrible judge of people. (The utter collapse of Donald Trump’s ‘best people’ boast – 2018.) And it’s not as though he had to make a snap decision; he had four years to think about this. But his sons liked Vance, and Russia likes Vance, so there you go. Kamala has a much shorter window for choosing her running mate, and she’s got some great ones to choose from (none of whom has ever called her “America’s Hitler”): Andy Beshear! Josh Shapiro! Roy Cooper! Chris Coons! Mitch Landrieu! Governor Tim Walz could shore up “the blue wall”. Senator Mark Kelly could highlight solutions to Trump’s border crisis. It was solved until Trump insisted it be extended for a year. “He alone” kept it from being fixed so he could campaign on it. It’s his crisis now. He alone now deserves 100% of the blame. BONUS: THE VIEW FROM DOWN UNDER Now that our campaign is filled with excitement and laughter, enjoy this Aussie review of the Republican Convention. Most Republicans are fine people . . . hopefully they’ll see the humor here, too. And the money and support keep pouring in.