Shoplifting & Donald Trump

When Rosalie came home from work yesterday, she told me about a new ploy shoplifters have been using in some of the Ace stores around the country: sticking a computer-generated image of a barcode on top of an item’s barcode, changing the cost of that item to one considerably lower. Whoa! This isn’t simple kleptomania, a compulsion to pocket an item from the store. This is a careful and complicated method of stealing from a store. I can never get over how much shoplifting takes place today. Businesses have tried to circumvent it by using convex mirrors mounted in the ceilings, fake videocams, real videocams, and microchips inserted on items that would set off an alarm if the chip were not removed before it left the store. And yet the thefts go on. Even here in Sun City West, where we may have more millionaires per square inch than anywhere in the country, shoppers still do quite a bit of lifting. It takes a lot of nerve to slip an item into a pocket or purse, but it would take huge cojones to do the barcode bit.

And speaking of cojones, I just saw this wonderful news on the Net: the Donald, the Trumpster, telling us that he’s no longer considering running for the Republican nomination. “After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency. This decision does not come easily or without regret; especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country. I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election. I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly. Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.” How in the world could he have the stones, the cojones, the balls to say that he would probably win next year’s election? If 51% of the voters all filed into the polling places wearing big red noses, big floppy shoes, and clown hats, he might actually have won. But then we’d have been a nation of clowns being led by the biggest clown of all.