Move Over Pinocchio

Yep, ran last night in tee shirt and shorts, bundled up for the 28 degrees this AM.  I was very pleased, though, to get in 70+ miles this week.  And, I'm a bit tired, but more so from lack of sleep than the exercise; no aches/pains either.  I'll cut back next week.

I heard a great one this morning on a black radio talk show.  It was "Pinocchio move over.  Here comes Hillary Clinton." To be fair, there was also talk of Trump in the lying department, but the Pinocchio reference was directed at Clinton.

I guess there were collisions (?) between Trump supporters and Trump protesters last night, too.  Trump canceled his talk, claiming he did so at the request of the police.  Someone's lying.  The police claimed they had no contact with the Trump people.  Hmmm......  Yep, someone's lying and someone has a long history of it.

It seems to me that we have a big problem.  (Oh, no, here he goes with that history stuff again!)  In Weimar Germany, post-WW1/late '20s/start of the Depression, people were quite dissatisfied with German life.  (But only after the Depression hit and hit hard, not in the immediately preceding years.)  Along came Hitler and appealed to people who were frustrated, angry, and alienated, at least from their government.  Roving gangs in the streets clashed as speakers, Hitler and others, made their cases.  (Hitler was a joke of sorts before the Depression; his attempted coup in '23 was right out of the Three Stooges.)

Think of today.  Many people are angry, frustrated, and alienated.  Those feelings, correctly so, are directed at the government, Dems and Reps alike.  Last night was an ugly scene, reminiscent of Germany of 85 or so years ago.

Trump's followers have been name-called; "fascists" is the latest.  It seems to me that the name-callers have employed typical fascist tactics in trying to silence ideas they oppose.  Both sides are reprehensible.

No doubt Trump will catch some flak on this (but who knows how much or so little due to our weasel-like media?).  He deserves it.  Remember his talks of "punch 'em in the mouth" and worse?  Can words incite?  Do words mean anything?  Can words be used to get people to act?

But I recall 7 or 8 years ago.  Do you?  "If they bring a knife to a fight, we bring a gun."  Yep, that's a direct quote from none other than Obama.  So, how is that different from Trump's admittedly inflammatory comments, repeated?

I know Obama didn't attend either Justice Scalia's funeral or Nancy Reagan's funeral.  More than anything I think that's a measure of the smallness of the man.  I am also aware of the tradition/history of such funerals.  Presidents often don't attend and usually send the First Ladies to funerals of past First Ladies.  Presidents have a record of attending funerals of justices appointed by Presidents of their own kind, but not those appointed by the Presidents of the other party.  And, knowing this, I still think Obama is a small man.  In both cases, he had an opportunity to demonstrate (and, remember, he's the great unifier, the great healer!) that some in Washington can rise above the pettiness of politics.  But he chose not to.  Remember, he was supposed to be different.  It's like the lying and other shenanigans.  His defenders often resort to, "Well, they all do it."  Of course, but is that an excuse?  Does someone get a free pass for lying, etc., just because "they all do it?"  Again, he was supposed to be different--but is worse.