1854 - The GOP is created in Ripon, Wisconsin

1995 - Sarin gas is used in Tokyo subway, an act of domestic terrorism

COINDIDENCE? I think NOT!

Who said the following statements in real life?

If Hillary Clinton can't satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?

Or,

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese to make US manufacturing non-competitive.

And then there is my favorite:

One of they key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace. Good people don’t go into government.

What a political weakened. 14,000 people show up to watch Bernie speak. The Don's brown shirts are getting more organized, more violent, and more scary. The Don also issues a warning that unless they let him win in Cleveland, there will be riots. Video of the Don's brown shirts came out of them practicing breaking skulls and kicking people.

Even scarier is listening to some of his fans. What words describe them best? Low information? willfully ignorant? Sexist? Racist? Ineffably Stupid? Deranged?

Perhaps calling Trumps enforcers Brown Shirts is inappropriate. Perhaps we should call them NKVD.

Honey and I (one of us reluctantly) went to an estate sale. The only reason I went with was the estate's claims to have a ton of books. Most of them were brain dulling romance novels, lots of novels I already have, and several interesting finds.

A complete set of art books, impressionists, post impressionists, German expressionists, and a couple of artists whose work can mostly be found in the Hermitage. That was a surprise finding, especially in pristine condition and only $1 a volume. Heh.

The real gem was a 1939 book entitled Stalin. It was translated from Russian and published on Stalin's 50th birthday anniversary. It covers his childhood, his yute, and the early days of of the Soviet party. It ends with the assassination of Kirov, the first and second Five Year Plans, and how he erased Trotsky from not only the Party leadership, but from encyclopedias, history books, and literature.

The author, Boris Souvarine, does a very fine job of researching and laying out just who Stalin was, and how totalitarianism and brutal political oppression came to be, despite the Soviet promises that Russia, or USSR, would be empowered by the people, shared by the people, and that the people would be (ahem) the winners with a Soviet revolution. As a former party member who escaped being sent to a gulag, he personally witnessed many of the events and offers fascinating insights into a complex, and often ignored subject. The English translation is superb.

What is scary is how certain facets of Trump seem to mimic Stalin. While some liken his rise and popularity among the least educated in the country, to Mousolini, still others find some similarities in Hitler. After reading this book, I think Stalin makes a rather rich comparison. Perhaps we err by calling Trumps skull-breaking thugs Brown Shirts. Perhaps they would be better called, Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del, or the NKVD, especially when Sheriff Joe is not only sponsoring Teh Don in Arizona, he provides heavily armed guards for him.

It is a pity that it is out of print, given its unique, impressive and historically informative nature. I saw that Amazon can direct you to owners willing to part with it.

If you could not guess the person who stated those things above, it was Teh Don. Who else could be so Trumpenstein-ish?