The Greatest Salesman Whoever Lived

One of, if not the best, John Candy movie is the Thanksgiving holiday film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. If you’re not familiar with its basic premise, the movie is about an ad executive’s (Steve Martin) quest to get home for Thanksgiving after his flight is grounded by a snowstorm. Del Griffith (John Candy) is a hapless, shower curtain ring salesman Neal Page (Martin) is stranded with and the guy who makes Neal’s simple diversion a version of hell-on-earth.

Around 30 muntes into the movie, the two men part ways (one of many parting of ways) and Del, left to manage his own way home, invokes his salesman impulse and makes deals. He cajoles his naive, and frustrated fellow passengers into believing his shower curtain rings are helium-filled earrings, Walter Cronkite moon rings, or age progression miracle workers for teenage girls. VIDEO – Shower Curtain Ring Scene

There is a strong argument for comparison between Donald and Del. Trump is the shower curtain ring salesman. If you need a signed Darryl Strawberry earring, Trump’s your man! If you need a says-it-like-it-is, southern border wall builder, isolationist foreign policy candidate, “Vote for Trump!” On the other hand, if you need a regret-filled, virtual southern wall builder, “softening because we don’t want to hurt people” candidate, “Vote for Trump!”

Whether or not 69 days from today, Donald Trump wins the world’s most honored prize, he will most probably be the greatest salesman whoever lived.

Can’t We Just All Get Along?

After enduring a brutal few days of police ordering burkini-clad women to disrobe, and political opportunists adding weight to hysteria, Bernard Cazeneuve, France’s Minister of the Interior (equivalent to US Department of Homeland Security), is making a pitch to his French countrymen: Quit targeting a phantom enemy and come together as a country in an offensive against terrorism.

Cazeneuve, speaking to reporters, said a “strong and calm” relationship with Muslims is “urgent and particularly necessary.”

“France is at war with terrorists, at war with an enemy trying to divide it and pit the French against each other, fracture the nation’s body, sap the republic,” Cazeneuve said.

“We must not fall into this mortal trap.”  – Associated Press, August 29, 2016

Sound advice.

323 Reindeer Die During a Single Lightening Storm

Last Friday an inspector from the operations arm of Norway’s equivalent to our US EPA was on a routine scout of a private hunting area recently opened for the season when he happened upon a herd of “caribou” lying close together and all dead.

“We’ve heard about animals being struck by lightning and killed, but I don’t remember hearing about lightning killing animals on this scale before. We don’t know if it was one or more lighting strike; that would only be speculation,” Knut Nylend of Norwegian Nature Inspectorate, said.  – The Local Norway, August 29,2016

P.S. How exactly did lightning kill 323 reindeer in Norway?

In this case, the animals seem to be in an area that was 50 to 80 feet in diameter and on a hillside, which gives you some idea that lightning can travel a good distance and still be deadly. Lightning doesn’t always travel deep into the ground.

WikiLeaks: Sorry. No October Surprise

Julian Assange has begun trolling the cybersphere panhandling for a morsel of entertainment value information and WikiLeaks is offering a financial promise to the courageous soul who sat in his basement peeping through Hillary’s and Trump’s webcam.

“Police rewards produce results. So do journalist rewards,” WikiLeaks said in a statement. “Those who take the truth seriously leave no stone unturned to find it.”

The “dirt” WikiLeaks is cyber-begging for is not “restricted official materials involving war, spying and corruption.”

Is it?

In a Twitter post, the Julian Assange-led organisation said it will soon “issue a reward” for documents specifically relating to the upcoming presidential election in the US. Other examples included the tax returns of Donald Trump and information on the lucrative relationship between Hillary Clinton and Goldman Sachs.

Embarrassing? Check. Corruption? Not so far.

Assange’s got nothin’! He sounds desperate. Aren’t rewards normally last resorts for desperate families when the well of information runs dry?

In this instance, WikiLeaks is misunderstanding the true ire across the country. It’s not what’s in his tax records, it’s that Trump isn’t sharing them with the American voting public. It’s that “trustworthy” word again. It’s not as much that Clinton has a relationship with Goldman Sachs. She’s judged as not trustworthy because she’s not letting us see.

“Ok, but what’s in your other hand.”

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