When Donald Trump supporters or undecideds call Hillary Clinton a liar...

Whenever I discuss the 2016 election with a person and he or she states matter-of-factly, "Hillary Clinton is a liar," I'm, for lack of a better word, floored. Now, is it true that Hillary Clinton has uttered falsehoods during her political career, including this current campaign? Yes, of course. But, unless we want to be naive, what politician hasn't? Saying a politician lies is like saying a dog barks, a cat meows, or wind storms tend to be quite windy. So, if a person were to tell me, "Like all other politicians, Hillary Clinton lies," that would be an accurate statement. However, that's not what most people are implying when they utter such a line. What they're saying is, "Hillary Clinton lies more than Donald Trump," which is more ridiculous than if I were to say, "Casper is more orange than an Oompa Loompa."

The Pulitzer-Prize winning fact-checking site Politifact.com has graded 266 claims made by Hillary Clinton and 285 made by Donald Trump. Here's how those numbers currently break down:

Hillary Clinton
Total: 266
True: 62 (23%)
Mostly True: 73 (27%)
Half True/Half False: 58 (22%)
Mostly False: 40 (15%)
False: 27 (10%)
Pants on Fire: 6 (2%)

Donald Trump
Total: 285
True: 12 (4%)
Mostly True: 33 (12%)
Half True/Half False: 40 (14%)
Mostly False: 51 (18%)
False: 100 (35%)
Pants on Fire: 49 (17%)

So, if we exclude the Half True/Half False grades (because which way we'd see them leaning would likely indicate some kind of bias), here's how the candidates' numbers would read:

Clinton
True/Mostly True: 50%
False/Mostly False/Pants on Fire: 27%
Net: +23%

Trump
True/Mostly True: 16%
False/Mostly False/Pants on Fire: 70%
Net: -54%

Difference: Clinton +77%/Trump -77%

Even if we were to rule all of Clinton's Half True/Half False statements as false and all of Trump's such rulings as true, Trump would still be the bigger liar between the two (Clinton: 50/50 vs. Trump 30/70) - by an astounding 20%!

Here are some other "wow" numbers when comparing the two candidates' levels of honesty:

- Donald Trump has more Pants on Fire grades (49) than True and Mostly True grades (45)

- Donald Trump has 27 more False grades (100) than Hillary Clinton has False, Mostly False, and Pants on Fire grades (73)

- If he were to make 100 claims, on average, Donald Trump would be telling the full truth just 4 times

If that weren't enough, renowned Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler, when fact-checking last night's debate, provided 25 fact-checks, 22 for Donald Trump and just 3 for Hillary Clinton. Why? Because Donald Trump lies more than Jack Nicholson washes his hands in As Good As It Gets, and to call Hillary Clinton a liar when comparing her to Trump would be like me calling Jimmy Carter a man-whore when comparing him to Charlie Sheen.

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/hillary-clinton/

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/

Another look at "The Nightly Show" with Larry Wilmore

After its first week, I gave The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore a B+ grade. While I didn't think the show appeared to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, I also liked the Daily Show meets Politically Incorrect vibe I got from it, and thought, with the proper adjustments, the show would indeed provide a great fill-in for The Colbert Report . In the show's succeeding weeks, however, I've been less impressed by it and think that if it doesn't make certain adjustments, it could be in jeopardy of losing many long-time viewers of the show's time slot. One major issue I think the show's had to this point is a lack of direction. It's been unable to decide whether it wants to be a comedy show with serious conversation sprinkled in or a serious show with comedy sprinkled in. It's almost as if the show's writers want to give The Nightly Show a Real Time with Bill Maher feel. The problem with that idea or format is the fact Real Time is an hour lon...

My first book review of "Penetrating the Heart of Life: Ambiguous In Thought, Ambivalent In Feeling"

Well, I received my first book review on this poetry-compilation book I completed and published late last year, but have finally gotten around to marketing now. The reviewer gave it 5 out of 5 stars and said: "I enjoyed the poetic journey the writer has taken me on. From darkest days and hopeful optimism to the conclusion of hope realized. The visual images that the poem titled "Room Temperature" elicits, made me think of the song, "Horse With No Name" sung by the band America. In a similar manner, another poem – "Deafening Sigh-lence" reminded me a great deal of Simon & Garfunkel’s song, "The Sound of Silence". There are so many poems in this book that I related to, that I felt a connection to the author and felt that we were traveling on this journey together." http://www.lulu.com/shop/craig-rozniecki/penetrating-the-heart-of-life-ambiguous-in-thought-ambivalent-in-feeling/paperback/product-18677501.html

A closer look at the Scramble With Friends power-ups

I am unashamed to admit that I'm a nerd. My idea of a good time is playing a word game like Boggle or Scrabble. Thankfully, I (and many others) can play such games via Facebook and/or my (our) cell phone(s). While it seems that cheating has become more commonplace in these games (Words With Friends in particular) than San Diego has had nice weather, I've yet to give in to that craze. One element present with the game Scramble With Friends (Boggle) not present in Words With Friends (Scrabble) are legal boosts called "power-ups," which cost a number of tokens from the 15 available. I've now tried all five power-ups, including the latest one which costs money. So, in case anyone's curious about playing the game or giving these power-ups a gander, here's a rundown of them all: Freeze - I think this is probably my favorite of all the power-ups. With the freeze, time stands still for a matter of seconds, which allows you more time to find words and improve...

The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Search This Blog