President Troll

The Democrats are in the midst of a civil war.  The squad, led by AOC, is accusing Speaker Pelosi of being a racist.  Republicans break out the popcorn.  After all, if your opponent is making a fool of herself, the age old advice is to stand back and watch.  President Trump chose otherwise.  He tweeted that the squad should return to their countries of origin, even stating that Nancy Pelosi would be only too happy to make travel arrangements.  PowerLine holds that this was an unforced error that will haunt Trump.  No, I don't think so.  Why not?

To Democrats and Never Trumpers, everything Trump says or does is wrong.

Trump has sided with Nancy Pelosi over AOC and the Squad.

Democrats who side with Speaker Pelosi will be in agreement with Trump.  Unacceptable.

Democrats who side with the Squad will exacerbate the civil war.

Though beloved by the SJW left, the Squad is viewed unfavorably nationwide.  AOC has a 22% favorability while Ilhan Omar has a 9% favorability.

By siding with the more moderate wing of the Democrats, Trump herds Trump-hating Democrats toward the more leftist side and improves his re-election chances.

The veracity of his tweet is irrelevant.  He's trolling.

The Richest Man in Babylon

Want to be wealthy?  This is the book for you.  Written by George S. Clason in 1926, it provides sound financial advice on how to amass a fortune.  The earlier you get started, the better off you will be.

The ten chapters are parables set in ancient Babylon.  In the first, we meet Benzir, a chariot maker, who finds that despite years of work, he is still living a hand to mouth lifestyle while his childhood friend, Arkad, has become the richest man in Babylon.  He had never thought of Arkad as anything special and yet, in the intervening years, Arkad was doing something right and Benzir wanted to know what it was.  Arkad offers insights in how to save and make those savings earn.  The top advice is to 'pay yourself first' with 10% of your income; that is yours to keep.  More is better if you can afford it.  Live off the remainder.  Other suggestions are to invest in what you know, insure your wealth, work and determination will lead to wealth, do not spend beyond your means lest you be enslaved by your debts, and more.

 

It is an easy read, very engaging, and offers excellent financial advice.  I wish I had followed the advice in my youth.

 

The Razor's Edge (1984)

Larry Darrel (Bill Murray) is a well-liked rogue from Illinois who volunteers to drive an ambulance in France during the Great War in the days before the US joined the war.  The war has a profound effect on him and his plans for marriage to Isabel (Catherine Hicks) and get a job as a stock broker no longer appeal to him.  Setting out on a voyage of self-discovery, he works blue-color jobs in France before traveling to India and then Tibet.  By the time he returns, the Depression has hit and Isabel is married.  He is fine with this though Isabel still carries a torch for him, so much so that she becomes jealous of Sophie (Theresa Russell), his fiancé.

 

This was Murray's first big venture into serious acting and it shows.  Viewers who loved him in Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, and Tootsie were baffled by this movie.  I know I was.  Even though this is a 'serious' role, he introduced a lot of comedy, some of it quite funny.  I really enjoyed his flight from the children asking for money in India.  The impression of a seal, silliness with Tibetan vegetables, and other flashes of goofiness all undermine the seriousness of the story.  He feels miscast.  In fact, much of the cast is wrong for their parts.  Catherine Hicks is usually a sunny sort and the conniving didn't come naturally to her.  By contrast, Theresa Russell is probably best known for her role in Black Widow as the woman who kills her husbands, managing to shift from irresistible charm to black-hearted murder quite convincingly.  These two should have swapped parts.

 

An interesting footnote in the mostly comic career of Murray.  In order to get funding for this movie, he agreed to star in another comedy.  When The Razor's Edge wrapped, he went to NYC to start filming that other movie: Ghostbusters.

Ross Perot

My political awakening happened during the 1992 presidential campaign.  Prior to 1991/92, I was mostly oblivious to politics beyond a knee-jerk reaction to the story of the day.  When the campaign began, I was in favor of Bob Kerrey, a Democratic Senator from neighboring Nebraska (I lived in Iowa at the time).  Kerrey had a dim view of Governor Clinton and I adopted that view.  As such, I was less than thrilled when Clinton won the Democratic nomination.  Enter Ross Perot.  Perot was a straight shooter who sang one of my favorite tunes: the government spends too much.  His TV infomercial was highly enjoyable though it was more diagnosis than prescription.  He ripped both Bush and Clinton, but more Bush as I recall.  However, he was also a bit of a crank, offering a nutty story about President Bush threatening to ruin his daughter's wedding.  Huh?  But for his inexplicable withdraw and then return to the campaign, Perot might have actually won.  Probably not but when you consider the alternates were Bush and Clinton, it was possible.  And that may be the spark that brought about the Trump Presidency.

 

Ross Perot wasn't a politician or a general, the two sources for presidential material throughout US history.  Even so, he won 19% of the vote in '92, 8% in '96, and started the Reform Party.  Guess who briefly ran for the nomination in the Reform Party in 2000: Donald Trump.  If a man who reminded me of Little Caesar - "Pizza pizza" - could win almost 20% of the vote after having left the campaign then anything was possible.  If Barry Goldwater's embarrassing defeat was a precursor to Ronald Reagan's two landslide victories, then one could argue that Ross Perot blazed a trail for fellow billionaire Trump to win the White House.

 

RIP