The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Remember Sarah Palin? I know, I've been trying to forget her too, but every now and again she comes up with an unintentionally laugh-worthy quote which both makes me chuckle and thankful she was never Vice President. After ESPN suspended Curt Schilling for his racist and historically inaccurate anti-Muslim tweet, Palin posted the following message on her Facebook page: "ESPN IS A JOURNALISTIC EMBARRASSMENT ESPN - what happened to you? Your intolerant PC police are running amok and making a joke out of you! By picking and choosing who they'll tolerate and who they'll try to destroy, ESPN has zero credibility as a sound and reasonable media outlet. They suspended former major league great Curt Schilling because of his tweet: 'Only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How'd that go?' ESPN reacted about as fast as a Schilling pitch, wimpering, 'Curt's tweet was completely unacceptable, and in no way repres...

I thought I'd finally reached a point where no right-wing "religious liberty" argument would surprise me enough to feel the need to write about it. Sadly, Texas Senator Ted Cruz proved me wrong. In a recent interview with Newsmax 's Ed Berliner, Cruz said the following on the matter: "Imagine if this were inverted. Imagine if there weer a gay florist - now I know that's hard to imagine, a gay florist - but just go with the hypo[thetical] for a second. Imagine if two evangelical Christians came to a gay florist and they wanted to get married, and the florist said, 'You know what? I disagree with your faith. I have problems with your faith.' You have no entitlement to force that florist to provide flowers at the Christians' wedding. We are a pluralistic nation that tolerates diversity." Actually, history would showcase otherwise, Mr. Cruz, for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 says that, "All persons shall be entitled to the full and equa...

Tell me if you've heard this one before: Texas Senator Ted Cruz threatens a federal government shutdown if he doesn't get his way about something but lays claim that if the government should shut down due to this, it won't be his fault. That's right, almost two years after he decided to play a big part in shutting down the federal government for a couple weeks due to the Affordable Care Act not getting defunded, Ted Cruz has taken a similar stance regarding Planned Parenthood. However, according to him, just as the first shutdown wasn't his fault, this potential shutdown won't be his doing either. In a conference call with pastors last week, Cruz said he'd try to defund Planned Parenthood by tying it to an appropriations bill funding the federal government, adding: "We can expect President Obama and many of the congressional Democrats to cry loudly that if Congress uses its authority, Congress will be quote 'shutting down the government.' ...

Almost immediately after I stepped into a bar last night, I was approached by someone who wanted to tell me about a Fox News segment he recently saw regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. I didn't say much of anything because I could tell he was intoxicated, the two of us were on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and four days following the death of a friend, I was really in no mood to involve myself in a heated argument. So, as I often times do, I just listened, tried understanding his point of view, but in the end, felt he missed the bigger picture. His major point, as I often times hear with conservatives, was, "Black lives matter? What about black-on-black crime? Blacks are killing other blacks, so why don't these blacks prove that black lives matter by not killing each other?" He then cleverly looked at the opposing argument, saying, "I got into a heated debate with a black friend of mine, who pointed out white-on-white crime, but there's ...

What is it with the sports media's seeming obsession to take athletes' comments out of context recently? I already wrote about how this occurred with Washington Redskins starting quarterback Robert Griffin III last week, when a solid majority of the sports media focused on a small percentage of his quote, only drawing attention to the words, "RG III thinks he's the best quarterback in the league," and completely missing his intent and point with the full quote. This week, it's Detroit Lions safety Glover Quin's turn. When being asked about Green Bay Packers receiver Jordy Nelson's season-ending injury, a majority of headlines from the sports media only quoted Quin as saying, "God meant for Jordy to get hurt." His full quote is as follows: "I hated Jordy got hurt, but in my beliefs, and the way I believe, it was - God meant for Jordy to get hurt. So if he wouldn't have got hurt today, if he wouldn't have played in that game,...

From the outset, I admit to having been quite leery about Twitter. An old friend of mine suggested I give it a gander 4 years ago, so I tentatively did, but once I created an account, I kind of shrugged my shoulders and thought, "Okay, now what?" I had just recovered from a 2 year health battle, had started getting into writing again, but had no real plan of what my next steps were going to be. So I simply tweeted random humorous thoughts of mine, kept in touch with friends and their seeming need to show me everything they ate and regularly update me on their sleep schedules. I finally reached a point where I thought there was really no point to tweeting and I'd be better off not condensing my thoughts and writings to 140 characters, and instead writing on a blog and Tumblr. Three years later, after appearing on a radio show to promote my written work, being mentioned on another, and writing like a madman who's been given a lifetime supply of speed and only one year t...

Yesterday I noted I lost a friend of mine to cancer late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, and as always during such times, it really made me pause to think about my life and life in general. Since he was only given 6 months to live initially and lasted 7 years, it was quite miraculous for him to have lived as long as he did, yet at the same time, it's difficult to believe that final chapter of his life has actually closed. It's somewhat reminiscent to my grandfather, who passed in February of this year. The guy had been in and out of the hospital for 5-10 consecutive years it seemed, yet regardless of the complications, he always seemed to battle through them and be around when I was back in town over the holidays. I guess no matter how hard we mentally and emotionally try to prepare for the loss of a loved one, it's never enough to fully brace ourselves for the deep impact we'll feel when they finally do pass. It's quite different to imagine life without a pers...

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 26,040 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

It's very sad for me to report that I lost a friend over the weekend. As I'm sure is common amongst a majority of people, whenever someone I know passes on, I start reflecting on my own life and life in general. My friend, Gary, led quite a life. Having fun seemed to be easy for him throughout most of his 64 years, but then when he was diagnosed with cancer 7 years ago and given 6 months to live, he proved time and time again he was the ultimate fighter too. Throughout it all, he continued to live life on his terms, much to the dismay of his doctors, for if he was going to die, he was going to die with a smile on his face. While I probably wouldn't advise people with a similar condition to do this, my friend wasn't about following rules; he was about simultaneously defying odds and enjoying himself as much as life would allow him. Through this, he inspired me and earned my utmost respect. I think one reason I felt a special connection with Gary, who was 30 years ...

I often find it that many people are being racist without knowing they're being racist. Whenever I observe this, I think to myself, "Do they realize what they just said? I'm guessing not..." Here are just a few such examples (told from a white person's perspective, who grew up around mostly whites in Nebraska): I'll start with the definition of racist : "a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that one's own racial group is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others." 1) "He speaks so well!" Ever heard someone listen to another speak and whisper to you, "He (or She) speaks so well!"? From my own personal experience with this, I'd say there's approximately a 90% chance the speaker has a darker skin tone than myself (most likely black) and the commentator is white. On the surface, it may sound complimentary. However, I've never heard a white friend or family member make such a co...

I think most people would agree that it's often times difficult to admit when we're wrong, but it happens to all of us, and the best way to learn from our mistakes is to admit them and attempt to make the necessary changes so we don't make those same mistakes in the future. Some people definitely have more trouble admitting those very mistakes than others, however, and one such group in recent days has been sportswriters.  Following his interview with WJLA, Washington Redskins starting quarterback Robert Griffin III saw these headlines across most sports websites:  - "Robert Griffin III thinks he's the best quarterback in the league" - "RG III feels he's the best quarterback in the NFL" Did the Redskins quarterback technically say those very words in succession? Yes. However, when included with the rest of the surrounding context, was that ultimately the message and point of his comment, and did readers garner an accurate picture o...

A little over two months ago, I found myself addicted to a Twitter hashtag on a Saturday afternoon, which was entitled, #ThingsJesusNeverSaid. As former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott used to say, I was like butter, because I was on a roll. When all was said and done, I think I came up with between 40 and 50 tweets regarding that hashtag until I finally decided to get off my lazy bum and head out for a bit. One of my tweets received so many favorites and retweets, it was regarded as one of Fusion.net 's Tweets of the Week. Well, that very hashtag made its presence known yet again on Twitter over the past 36 hours, and while it didn't trend as long as it had previously (yeah, it went from Monday to Tuesday as opposed to Saturday to Monday last time) and I didn't garner as much traction on my 13 tweets, I had fun and thought I'd share them:  1) "I died for every one of you, except for the homos. Sure, I can forgive murderers, but Lance Bass is just too...

Just yesterday, I got into a rather heated Twitter debate with a die-hard Bernie Sanders supporter, who told me that due to Black Lives Matter activists Marissa Janae Johnson and Mara Jacqueline Willaford interrupting a Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle a little over a week ago, he was no longer a BLM supporter. Sanders allowed the activists to speak at the rally, which I found to be a classy move, however, he himself didn't get to speak for more than a minute, which left many attendees highly disappointed. In the week plus since then, a decent number of progressive blog posts and comments have read as follows: - "Thank you, Marissa Janae Johnson and Mara Jacqueline Willaford! Black Lives Matter!" - "Bernie Sanders Has Always Been a Civil Rights Leader!" - "BLM Activists Should Apologize To Bernie Sanders!" - "Bernie Sanders Should Apologize to BLM Activists!" The two camps have been pointing fingers at one another and bickering ever ...

As long-time readers would know, my life has been anything but an easy one on the health front. Not long after the recession started, I fell ill for most of 2009 and 2010. No doctor nor specialist could seem to fully conclude on what the problem was, so I became like a pinball, being passed around from clinic to clinic between Columbus and Cleveland. I then suffered a gallstone attack in 2011, underwent surgery a week later, and hurting financially from both the recession and health setbacks, I was unable to pay a month's worth of my insurance, and was abruptly dropped from the plan. I attempted to contact other insurance companies to receive coverage, but was rejected due to the Affordable Care Act not being fully implemented at that point and having "preexisting conditions." At the start of 2014, however, I was able to finally attain health insurance coverage again, due to the Affordable Care Act prohibiting the rejection of customers due to preexisting conditions. Stil...

I've been saying this for the past few years: ESPN has increasingly become a hybrid of their former selves and TMZ. A report I read this morning by Shutdown Corner's Frank Schwab further proves this. It was with regard to a recent interview Washington Redskins starting quarterback Robert Griffin III had with WJLA, and entitled, "Robert Griffin III gives great interview, then gets his words twisted around." Before I get into this, let me say that, for the record, I'm not a fan nor foe of RGIII, and while I've been highly critical of ESPN reports and articles over the past year or two, in particular, I'd be lying if I said I couldn't stand anything about the 24-hour sports news network. Over the past 24 hours, if you were to Google "Robert Griffin III" or "RG III," here are what the top search results would be: - "RG III: Feel like best QB in NFL" - ESPN - "Robert Griffin III thinks he's the best quarterback...

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 25,779 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

One would only need to look at the title of Liz Peek's latest Fiscal Times article to conclude that it could go down as one of the most ridiculous articles of the year. It's so ridiculous, after reading the title, one would likely have to double-check the source to make certain it wasn't written by someone at the satire site, The Onion . The title of the article is, "Obama's Massive Failure Has Delivered Trump's Success." Oh, it gets better... Let's take a closer, more in-depth look, shall we? Ms. Peek starts her article with this: "No president in our country's history has been more concerned about his legacy than has Barack Obama. How ironic that people might someday best remember our first African-American Commander in Chief for having inspired the candidacy of Donald Trump." Right, because all preceding presidents didn't care one iota about their legacies. All presidents before entering the Oval Office: "I want to be ...