Their worst sin in my opinion is actually how they split off the end of the Smaug storyline to be resolved in, like, the first five minutes of the third movie (literally before the title) rather than resolving it in the second movie. Huge pacing mistake.

There definitely are better taxes than property taxes. But, since it’s a red state, they would probably replace it with a worse one. Or just debt.

This is just a dog-whistle for racism, right? Barely even a dog-whistle. Making fun of a name because it’s not european is pretty blatantly racist.

I’m pretty sure this is not the type of mirage you linked (which would be above the real horizon) but rather one that is below the real horizon. That is, the ship is seen above the real horizon, but the water near the horizon is hidden by a mirage of the sky. You can faintly make out the real horizon, as well.