The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Last night, I read an article by a pastor by the name of Rob Shepherd with regard to the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling and how people on both sides of the marriage equality debate should be more empathetic of one another. To his credit, Shepherd wrote in a very respectful manner and seemed to genuinely believe what he was saying. In most instances, I'd say he makes a great point, but I don't think that's the case here. Both he and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly made sports analogies with regard to the public's reaction, saying that those celebrating were like sore winners, rubbing the victory in the face of their opponents, I'm sorry, but I just don't see things like that. I see it more like an athlete, embattled with health issues for most of his or her life, fighting through to qualify in and win a gold medal in the Olympics, and celebrating. This is what the LGBT community has had do deal with for all of their lives. Many tried to deny who they w...

Here's the URL to my Facebook business page. I update it fairly regularly, but still haven't put forth a great deal of effort yet in researching matters and attempting to make the most out of it. In any case, it can be perused here: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCraigRozniecki?ref=hl Up next is my Twitter page. I'm still not 100% certain what I'm doing on there yet, but feel I'm gradually getting the hang of it and am up to 24,066 followers. I update it daily with many of my own tweets, but also by retweeting some others'. It can be found here: https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki Lastly, here's my Tumblr page, which I've neglected quite a bit recently, but if you're at all curious, you can find it at the following link: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/rozzy81

For new readers (and regular ones, I suppose), here's some information pertaining to my books. All twelve of my books can be purchased in paperback form at the following site (and others): http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=craig+rozniecki&x=7&y=5&sitesearch=lulu.com&q= The ten books I've written and released in the past 4 years (yes, I've been on a roll) can be purchased for much cheaper in Kindle form at the following link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_22?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=craig%20rozniecki%20kindle&sprefix=craig+rozniecki+kindle%2Caps%2C228&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acraig%20rozniecki%20kindle

After several listens through, the time has finally come for me to review the new Muse album, Drones . I'll start by describing and grading each and every song (also sharing a link to the songs) before providing my overall review of the album. 1. "Dead Inside" (8.25/10): This song, the first official single off the album, is definitely a grower. I had no idea what to think upon first hearing it. The first couple of seconds made me wonder if I was about to listen to a Backstreet Boys song, before it settles into a nice funky groove, juxtaposing a catchy, upbeat tempo with a dark theme. In the latter part of the song, Matt Bellamy sings with more soul than I've heard in quite some time, which is both quite powerful as well as refreshing. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTcJWhmdzpg) 2 and 3. "Drill Sergeant" + "Psycho" (8/10): While this song was not technically released as a single, it was the first song released from the album. It begins with a...

Following the Supreme Court's landmark marriage equality ruling on Friday morning, social networking sites spread the news faster than the NRA spreads fear and paranoia, and while most of the posters (from my vantage point anyway) appeared to be in quite the celebratory mood, there were of course a few whom were disappointed. With regard to the latter group, one such post I read was a Facebook meme, attributed to Duck Dynasty 's Phil Robertson, but which was really said by pastor Rick Warren, and said this: "Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate." First of all, these words weren't uttered by Phil Robertson, so please stop including his picture on the memes. Secondly, and more importantly, stop refe...

After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality on Friday morning, it was all but inevitable that far-right politicians and talking heads would fill the airwaves with lovely commentary. Here are ten of my favorites: Canada: Some conservatives said, "If gay marriage is legalized here, we're moving to Canada!" First of all, why is it always Canada? I suppose it is our neighbor to the north, but still, whenever one threatens to move somewhere, it seems to always be Canada. Secondly, Canada legalized gay marriage in 2005, so it looks just a tad silly to move from one country, due to gay marriage being legalized, to another that's had it legalized for ten years. It reminds me of some conservatives' reaction to Obamacare. They said, "If Obamacare is passed, we're moving to Cuba!" Guess who has universal health care? That's right, Cuba. While these conservatives are at it, they should make the following threat: "If these gun control ...

I don't do this very often, but I'm going to come to the defense of two conservatives: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol Palin. Jindal has been the butt of a lot of jokes this week concerning a video where he announced he was going to be running for president, and Palin has received criticism for once again getting pregnant. While I'd be the first to admit that Jindal's video appeared to be a tad on the creepy side, I also prefer how he went about things (minus the video) over how most other candidates go about making such announcements. I thought it was kind of nice that he sat with his family and talked to his kids about his decision, and even went so far as to ask what they thought. I respect that. I don't agree with Jindal on much of anything as far as politics are concerned, but while the video provides material for easy, cheap jokes and laughter, I think people should lay off him for this. It's nice to see a politici...

So, I just looked outside and noticed the world hasn't ended yet. I know, shocking, isn't it? Sarcasm aside, it's about damn time! Some conservatives, however, seem to be confused by the word oppression , in claiming that the Supreme Court's ruling is an oppression on religious beliefs. I'm sorry, but that's not oppression. People are still free to believe as they so choose. Oppression is a person being disowned by family after coming to terms with who they are. Oppression is being fired from a job due to whom they're sexually attracted. Oppression is being denied hospital visit rights of a partner. Oppression is being denied service because of who a person is. Oppression is being beaten on the streets for looking a certain way. Oppression is being withheld equal rights under the law. The LGBT community has been oppressed for far too long and it's about damn time they're provided equal marriage rights! Congratulations to all of my gay and lesbian f...

While Republicans talking about their party's history with regard to slavery has been trending more in the past year or so, it reached a head this past week when Confederate flags started getting banned more than selfie sticks at construction jobs. I can't tell you how many times over this past week I've read memes, seen videos, or heard comments from conservatives claiming that the Democratic Party is the true party of slavery, insinuating it'd be wise for African-Americans to vote for the anti-slavery Republican Party. While the GOP may think they can only benefit their party's image by doing this, attempting to live in the past is only going to hurt them, and with that, the country at large. Firstly, as I've said time and time again, the two parties are not what they used to be. When Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the two parties slowly began to swap identities. Progressive Republicans slowly started becoming Democrats and...

It's really starting to crack me up how some on the far-right end of the political spectrum are flipping out over the Confederate flag debate not going their way. Last night, I wrote about Breitbart writer John Nolte and Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association comparing the rainbow flag to the Confederate and Nazi flags, suggesting that if and when the Confederate flag gets taken down, so too should the rainbow flag. Yes, because just like African-Americans were enslaved in the South, Christians have been enslaved by homosexuals. The situations are as identical as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. Well, Fox News' Sean Hannity decided to join the crazy party when he made the following comments on his radio show yesterday: "A lot of music by those [rap] artists is chock full of the n-word and the b-word and the h-word, and racist, misogynist, sexist anti-woman slurs none of those retail executes would be caught dead using. If it's OK for Obama's te...

As stock in the Confederate flag is falling faster than Donald Trump for himself, some far-right conservatives have decided to counter this movement by equating the Confederate flag to the rainbow flag, insinuating that the two are equal, and if liberals can take down Confederate flags, conservatives should be able to take down the rainbow flags. John Nolte, Breitbart writer, posted these tweets on the matter (@NolteNC), with all of the posts featuring a picture of a rainbow flag: - "When will this symbol of anti-Christian hate come down?" - "The hateful symbol of bigots who smear Christianity as hate speech must come down..." - "Anyone who doesn't think the gay flag has become a symbol of bigotry and hate hasn't been paying attention." Nolte followed these tweets with a writing entitled, "Take Down The Fascist, Anti-Christian Gay Pride Flag," where he wrote this: "Under the banner of what is dishonestly called a gay prid...

As long-time readers will know, I've unfortunately had my share of health issues through my 34 years. It reached a point three years ago where, due to being unable to pay for my insurance for a month, I was dropped by the insurance company. I was then rejected by insurance companies due to preexisting conditions, and it wasn't until January 1st of 2014 when I was finally able to obtain health insurance again, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibiting insurance companies from rejecting those with preexisting conditions. Fortunately, I hadn't suffered any health setbacks for the past year and a half until just recently, when I sprained my right foot (the insanity beachbody workout is definitely insane). Due to this, I was forced to go to urgent care, tell a doctor about my predicament, get a prescription, and hope it wasn't very costly. While the copay did cost a few bucks, I was prescribed two medications, and it was 100% covered by my insurance. When informing...

While some conservatives have openly admitted that, "It's inevitable; we're going to lose the gay marriage rights battle," others continue to be in denial. One such group is the Family Research Council (FRC), which wrote the following in their daily email blast: "[There is] growing opposition [among middle-aged adults]. The gap is widening between Millennials and their Generation X counterparts. ...the children of Madonna and Ferris Bueller are noticeably more reluctant to redefine marriage than they used to be." This claim was made due to the results found in two Pew Research Center polls released in 2005 and 2015. In 2005, the gap between Millennials and Generation Xers on marriage equality was 5%, whereas that gap in 2015 is 14%. Technically speaking, the Family Research Council is accurate in their reported numbers (gaps), but they're quite inaccurate when it comes to their assertion that Generation Xers' support for same-sex marriage has d...

Over the past year or two, I've heard with growing frequency, Republican politicians and commentators saying, "Why do minorities support Democrats? Republicans were the ones that voted to abolish slavery, the ones that fought for their Civil Rights!" When discussing the Charleston, South Carolina shooting and Confederate flag debate on C-SPAN recently, conservative author and woman voted most likely to have been a demon-skeleton in a past life - Ann Coulter - continued this trend, as she said the following: "I think it's completely moronic (debating the Confederate flag) . ...This is an awful, awful thing that happened in Charleston. Luckily, it's quite rare. To jump on this and go back to a litany of liberal talking points that make Republicans look bad, how about banning the Democratic Party? They were the ones on the Confederate side of the Civil War. They were the ones who supported segregation for 100 years." This is the point many Republicans...

Unsurprisingly, far right-wing site Breitbart has decided to go a different direction from the mainstream media when it comes to reporting on the Charleston, South Carolina shooting and its aftermath. The site has gone on to compare Dylann Roof to William Ayers, because President Obama and Ayers used to spoon together after speaking at "Hate America" meetings or something to that effect, so the site felt the need to let it be known that since Obama used to associate with Ayers, he has no room to lecture the country about racism and race wars. Not long after, the website posted this headline: "Serial Lies: Politifact blasts Obama over gun claim about mass killings in other countries." Yes, that's a bigger exaggeration than if I said I'd slept with more women than Wilt Chamberlain and Gene Simmons combined. The Politifact headline read, "Is Barack Obama correct that mass shootings don't happen in other countries?" While the site ruled his...

While I'm happy to see pressure placed on states like South Carolina and Mississippi to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitols (and slightly alter the Mississippi state flag), I hope this doesn't result in us bypassing the more important issues of gun violence and (human) racism. Granted, the Confederate flag has long stood as a symbol for hatred and intolerance, but with or without it, racism will still be present. With or without it, Dylann Roof would still have shot and killed nine African-Americans at the Emanuel Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina last week. I, for one, would be glad to see the Confederate flag removed from South Carolina's Capitol, but I think it's of greater importance for the country to start discussing race and guns more openly, come to a nationwide agreement that we continue to have problems in those two areas, and to try and come together to make the changes necessary to decrease their frequency in the years ...

It's official: Stupid Facebook memes have become just as ubiquitous as Starbucks coffee shops. In fact, if anything, that may be understating matters. This especially seems to be the case after gun-related tragedies, like the one that took place in Charleston, South Carolina last week, come to the news-front. Just yesterday, I saw a Facebook meme which showcased the character Stewie from  Family Guy  sporting a gun and supposedly uttering these words: "So if guns kill people, I guess pencils mis spell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat." Yes, we've heard similar arguments before; yes, they've been debunked by Critical Thinking professors nationwide; and no, it doesn't seem these individuals will ever get the point, but still, I feel the need to rebut it. First off, I find it quite humorous that this meme's author, in trying to appear clever, actually misspelled the word misspell (no, it's not "mis spell"). However, give...

Here's the URL to my Facebook business page. I update it fairly regularly, but still haven't put forth a great deal of effort yet in researching matters and attempting to make the most out of it. In any case, it can be perused here: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCraigRozniecki?ref=hl Up next is my Twitter page. I'm still not 100% certain what I'm doing on there yet, but feel I'm gradually getting the hang of it and am up to 23,816 followers. I update it daily with many of my own tweets, but also by retweeting some others'. It can be found here: https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki Lastly, here's my Tumblr page, which I've neglected quite a bit recently, but if you're at all curious, you can find it at the following link: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/rozzy81

For new readers (and regular ones, I suppose), here's some information pertaining to my books. All twelve of my books can be purchased in paperback form at the following site (and others): http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=craig+rozniecki&x=7&y=5&sitesearch=lulu.com&q= The ten books I've written and released in the past 4 years (yes, I've been on a roll) can be purchased for much cheaper in Kindle form at the following link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_22?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=craig%20rozniecki%20kindle&sprefix=craig+rozniecki+kindle%2Caps%2C228&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acraig%20rozniecki%20kindle

I know that snapping my fingers won't get America's attention. Facts and logic don't seem to either. Police brutality apparently doesn't. Sadly enough, neither do mass shootings. When is America going to finally wake up from its seemingly permanent slumber and realize we have a problem? Sure, we can pretend that racism no longer exists, especially in light of the fact we elected and re-elected an African-American president. We can pretend that 99% of police brutality cases involving African-Americans were prompted by the eventual victims disobeying the officers' orders. We can pretend that people like Dylann Roof are simply messed up in the head, are aberrations, and there's nothing we could have done to have stopped them. We can also pretend that guns don't kill, that the more we have of them the safer we'll be, and that no law would be able to decrease the frequency of gun violence. But, I'm sorry, that's all complete and utter bullsh*t and i...

It's a wonder sometimes why I'm into sports as much as I am. Most times, sports are looked at from a black-and-white perspective. They're numbers-dominated, especially now in the fantasy-sports era, which leaves us with the good and the bad, the winners and the losers. However, for as much as most sports analysts and commentators like to look at things from this black-and-white vantage point, I think they often times look past the many shades of grey when analyzing a particular, sport, team, or player. Every year, especially now with the Internet and 24-hour news networks, many seemingly obsess over the concepts of legacies and how certain teams and players would rank among the very best throughout the history of the sport. The glaring problem with such comparisons and analyses is the fact sports have consistently changed over time, so it'd be virtually impossible to accurately conclude on whether a particular team or player would be less, just as, or more dominant du...

Okay, so perhaps that's just wishful thinking on my part, but in any case, it appears as if Donald Trump is going to run for president, joining the other 9,473 Republicans running for the highest office in the land. This has to thrill the likes of Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Larry Wilmore, and the rest of the late-night talk show gang. Under comedy gold in the dictionary should be a picture of Donald Trump's "hairpiece" (or whatever that thing is), with the words "I'm running for president" directly underneath it. Yes, after hearing the news a few minutes ago, Jon Stewart was likely seen at his desk in deep contemplation, picking the petals off a daisy, as he recited lyrics to The Clash song, "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" It's still unknown at this time whether the final petal signified that he should stay or go. Segueing from that, I thought I'd have a little fun with some Donald Trump quotes. Keep in mind as you read ...

Here's the URL to my Facebook business page. I update it fairly regularly, but still haven't put forth a great deal of effort yet in researching matters and attempting to make the most out of it. In any case, it can be perused here: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCraigRozniecki?ref=hl Up next is my Twitter page. I'm still not 100% certain what I'm doing on there yet, but feel I'm gradually getting the hang of it and am up to 23,467 followers. I update it daily with many of my own tweets, but also by retweeting some others'. It can be found here: https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki Lastly, here's my Tumblr page, which I've neglected quite a bit recently, but if you're at all curious, you can find it at the following link: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/rozzy81

For new readers (and regular ones, I suppose), here's some information pertaining to my books. All twelve of my books can be purchased in paperback form at the following site (and others): http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=craig+rozniecki&x=7&y=5&sitesearch=lulu.com&q= The ten books I've written and released in the past 4 years (yes, I've been on a roll) can be purchased for much cheaper in Kindle form at the following link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_22?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=craig%20rozniecki%20kindle&sprefix=craig+rozniecki+kindle%2Caps%2C228&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acraig%20rozniecki%20kindle

Last week, I posted a blog where I criticized Timeout.com 's Oliver Keens for a review he wrote for British prog rock group Muse's latest album, Drones . I use the term review loosely because Keens didn't spend any time reviewing the actual music on the album. No, he decided to go on a rant about what he perceived the concept of the album to be, being mistaken on that front, and leaving many to wonder if he listened to the album at all. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't the only one who disapproved of this piece of writing, and felt the need to share people's criticism of this review's criticism. First off, here again is Oliver Keens' review of Drones , where he gave the album one out of a possible five stars:   "It's a shame that Matt Bellamy  (the band's singer and song writer)  has never been to North Waziristan. If he had, he'd know first-hand how this area of Pakistan is to drones what lamps are to moths. He'd have seen how the notion of a...