The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Here's my exaggerated rendition of last night's CNBC Republican debate: John Harwood: "As they ask you in job interviews and without saying things like, 'I'm too hard of a worker,' what's your biggest weakness?" John Kasich: "Let me go into my closing statement first. I'm better than all these other people on the stage tonight. I've gotten things done in Ohio; gotten things done in Washington; and gotten things done in my own home on occasion, namely, my wife. So if you want someone that regularly gets things done both in and out of the house, I'm your guy! If you don't want that, then choose one of these other wackadoodles." Rand Paul: "My biggest weakness is that I love the Constitution so much, I sometimes hand-feed it chocolates by a burning fire on a cold winter's night, before reading it French poetry in English." Carly Fiorina: "Whatever Donald Trump says it is. How about it Donald? You up for...

While I'm an admitted progressive/liberal, I'm not blind to biases displayed on both sides of the political spectrum. I'll be the first to admit MSNBC leans to the left, but would be remiss if I didn't also say Fox News leaned to the right. I read and research more concerning the world of politics than I care to admit (yes, an AA-type meeting may be just around the corner). It's reached the point where even die-hard conservatives I know won't engage in political banter with me, because I rarely, if ever, make a statement without having researched and fact-checked it first, and if they utter a statement they haven't fully researched, they know darn well I'll likely be able to fact-check and debunk their claim within a matter of seconds. To this point in the seemingly never-ending election season (isn't the election next year?), I've watched each and every debate, from the three Republican junior varsity debates, to the one Democratic debate, to th...

On September 17th, I posted a blog where I ranked the then 15 Republican candidates in descending order based on my own personal opinion (http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2015/09/my-updated-gop-candidate-rankings-were.html). Following three debates (well, six if you include the three junior varsity debates), I thought I'd re-rank the now 14 GOP candidates. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was the only candidate to drop out of the race between the 2nd and 3rd debates. Here were my rankings on September 17th: 15) Ted Cruz 14) Bobby Jindal 13) Mike Huckabee 12) Scott Walker 11) Rick Santorum 10) Marco Rubio 9) Donald Trump 8) Carly Fiorina 7) Lindsey Graham 6) Ben Carson 5) Chris Christie 4) George Pataki 3) Jeb Bush 2) Rand Paul 1) John Kasich Here now are my updated rankings: 14) Ted Cruz (up 1 spot): The only reason he moved up one spot was the fact Scott Walker exited the race. As former President George W. Bush recently said, ...

Mistakes are a part of life. I've made them; you've made them; even Gandhi made them. We've all said and done things we haven't been proud about, wished these moments never took place, and often promised ourselves we'd learn from such experiences so we didn't repeat them. When another is hurt by our mishandling of a situation, it's common to make amends by apologizing. While some may be more hard-headed than others when it comes to admitting mistakes and apologizing for them, I think a large majority of people whom aren't in serious denial know when they've done wrong and when it's time to offer a sincere apology for this wrongdoing. So long as the same mistakes aren't being committed, leading to the same apologies, a sincere apology can be quite a helpful tool in calming a situation, regaining another's trust, and helping progress the relationship. Apologies aren't always sincere, however, and it's during these very instances w...

While it appeared that the sports media fell in love with Indianapolis Colts #1 draft pick Andrew Luck in 2012, I said they should settle down, pointed out the Colts played one of the easiest, if not the easiest schedule in all of football, and while Luck showed hope for a long and successful NFL career, his numbers were anything but spectacular; in fact, they were quite rookie-like (http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2012/12/andrew-lucks-performance-has-been.html). I then noticed Luck's continuing progression as an NFL quarterback between his rookie and sophomore seasons, as well as between his 2nd and 3rd years in the league. Now, with the Colts at 3-4 and Andrew Luck struggling, the sports media has appeared to go the other extreme, wondering if Andrew Luck has regressed as a quarterback, if the league has caught up to him, and whether or not he's already reached his peak. Once again, I'm going to tell the sports media they need to calm down. Former Washingt...

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 29,114 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

Thursday Game: Miami at New England Prediction: Miami - While New England is a very good team and is the probable favorite to win the AFC this year, they are not without their flaws, I have an incredibly difficult time seeing them run the table, and in a shortened practice week to prepare for the suddenly hot Miami Dolphins, I'm going to go with the upset in this one. I was quite skeptical of an early-season coaching change making much difference for the Dolphins, but they've outscored their competition 82-36 in their two games since the move was made, appear to be playing with passion and intensity again, and I look for that to continue in this Thursday night, as the resurgent Dolphins win by 4. Result: New England 36 Miami 7 Record: 0-1 Sunday Game: Detroit vs. Kansas City (in London) Prediction: Detroit - With the combined record of 3-11, the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs are two of the most disappointing teams in football, yet also two tea...

In Week 7 of the NFL season, I learned... - ...Buffalo is as unpredictable as a David Lynch movie while tripping acid. - ...Colin Kaepernick likes facing Seattle's defense about as much as GOP candidates like facing fact-checkers. - ...Landry Jones isn't a Ben Roethlisberger clone after all. - ..., if George Carlin were still alive, he'd likely say this about the Atlanta-Tennessee game: "It was like what I said about golf one time. Watching the Atlanta Falcons-Tennessee Titans game was like watching flies f**k." - ...the St. Louis Rams are bound to start making money off Todd Gurley's name, with phrases like: "Don't mess with our Gurley!," "Gurley just wants to have fun!," "I kissed a Gurley and I liked it!," "The Gurley bird catches the worm," among others. - ...the Cleveland Browns are in the process of a 30-year rebuilding project. - ...Ryan Fitzpatrick blames the creature living in his beard for the...

I continue to be amazed by how an intelligent former neurosurgeon like Ben Carson can regularly come across as both delusional and moronic. It seems that whenever the GOP candidate gets asked about something he dislikes, he feels the need to compare it to either the Holocaust or slavery. When he was asked about the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), what'd he compare it to? Slavery. When he was asked about gun control, what'd he compare it to? The Holocaust. Just this past Sunday, when Meet the Press host Chuck Todd asked Carson about abortion, here's what one of the GOP front-runners had to say: "Think about this. During slavery - and I know that one of those words you're not supposed to say - but I'm saying it. During slavery, a lot of the slave owners thought they had the right to do whatever they wanted to that slave, anything that they chose to do. And what if the abolitionists had said, 'You know, I don't believe in slavery, I think it's...

After seeing a Facebook friend post a meme saying, "If you think every person should need an ID to vote, like this," I decided to respond with the following: I don't usually chime in when it comes to politically-oriented posts, but as I feel the voter ID law debate is, for the most part, being inaccurately painted in a black-or-white manner, I thought I'd add a few shades of grey to the mix. Here's a more thorough overview of the controversy surrounding the implementation of stricter voter ID laws - http://theweek.com/articles/442819/everything-need-know-about-voter-controversy The stricter voter ID laws have affected the following demographics more than any other: Women, elders, minorities, students, and veterans. I'll now post quotes and links to articles pertaining to each and every one of those demographics and how they're directly impacted by the stricter voter ID laws: Women - "Here's where women get stuck. American women change th...

I've found the Donald Trump-Jeb Bush Twitter debate oddly amusing. Perhaps I find it sadly humorous that two 60+-year-old men running for president would engage in such a juvenile discussion, or I'm just easily entertained. For anyone who hasn't heard about this back-and-forth among the two Republican candidates, it started with Donald Trump's criticism of Jeb's older brother, former president George W. Bush, at the GOP CNN debate last month. Jeb responded by adamantly defending his brother, contending that he kept America safe. About a month later, the Donald decided to resort back to the topic, stating outright that 9/11 occurred on George W. Bush's watch, which, as history would tell us, is accurate. Jeb Bush then responded with this tweet: "How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11. We were attacked & my brother kept us safe." Read that tweet again. Yes, you read it correctly - "We were attacked & my...

Thursday Game: Seattle at San Francisco Prediction: Seattle - It's do or die time for the Seattle Seahawks. At 2-4 and two games behind first place Arizona, the Seahawks are going to have to start winning games in a hurry, especially against NFC West foes. If they don't win this game, they'll find themselves at 2-5, likely 3 games behind Arizona and in last place in the division. San Francisco has been a much better home than road team this year, but with defending NFC champion Seattle in desperation mode, I'm going to give them the edge. Seahawks by 6. Result: Seattle 20 San Francisco 3 Record: 1-0 Sunday Game: Buffalo vs. Jacksonville (in London) Prediction: Buffalo - Buffalo continues to be one of the most unpredictable teams in the league this year, while Jacksonville seems to continue finding ways to lose at game's end. Whether it's Tyrod Taylor or E.J. Manuel behind center, though, I give the edge to the Bills. I'll take Buffalo by a touc...

In Week 6 of the NFL season, I learned... - ...the Pittsburgh Steelers are the Ohio State Buckeyes of the NFL, as it's their goal to win as many games as possible with three different quarterbacks. - ...Seattle Seahawks upper management is currently inquiring Mariano Rivera if he'd like to make a comeback as the team's closer. - ..., when the answer is, "What is a catch?,"  Jeopardy host Alex Trebek is bound to say, "This is what the NFL pretends to be an expert on, but actually knows nothing about." - ...it's Cam Heyward and DeAngelo Williams' goal to make Roger Goodell the second most hated man in America, behind Turing CEO Martin Shkreli. - ...the Cleveland Browns tease their fans so much, the team might as well be renamed the Cleveland Blue Balls. - ...the Miami Dolphins aren't malfunctioning droids after all. - ...Jim and John Harbaugh are likely doing the Three Wise Men shot, asking one another, "If we're two of t...

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 28,867 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

Following the seemingly countless mass shootings and President Obama's call to strengthen the nation's gun laws, the Republican Party, led by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, has come out with an answer to gun violence. Earlier today, Huckabee led the effort by providing the following video clip on his campaign website: "As you all know, I'm a very devoted Christian man. I firmly believe the Bible is the ultimate source of truth. I'm also a firm believer in the Constitution, especially the 2nd Amendment. When I'm having a great day, I'm usually holding a rifle in one hand and a Bible in the other. Even though I'm a lover of guns and Jesus probably wasn't much of a sportsman, the thing Jesus loved yet despised even more than guns was gay people. In Leviticus, Jesus even said, 'Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,' and this brings me to the real answer, the real reason why we're seeing so many of these mass shootings. It's becaus...

It's largely known Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz has a way with numbers, and due to that, has decided to take the next step forward and become a college math professor. Earlier this year, Representative Chaffetz blew the minds of many when he lectured Planned Parenthood foes and supporters on the family planning organization's services, providing a chart which showcased that, while cancer screening & prevention services have decreased over the past 7 years, abortion procedures have increased in that same time-frame, and due to that, the 327,000 abortions Planned Parenthood was responsible for in 2013 was greater than the 935,573 cancer screening & prevention services the organization provided in that same year. Given that, the Utah Representative was kind enough to send me a copy of his first class lecture, which will go as follows:  "For our first class, I'm going to talk to you about numbers, but not just any numbers; I'm going to talk to ...

As regular readers should know by now, while I personally don't care what one's religious beliefs are, I myself am not religious. I'm fascinated by religion, have read about and studied several from around the world, but in the end, there hasn't been one which has convinced me it's more valid than all the others. Given that, I got into a discussion with a rather religious individual over the weekend and, while I know she meant well with her words, they still kind of rubbed me the wrong way. We were discussing health ordeals, and when I informed her I was once riddled with a brain tumor and underwent surgery to remove it, she kept repeating the line, "God's looking out for you" and "God's got plans for you!" I know people mean well when they say such things, yet whenever I hear these lines, an array of questions come to mind, such as: "Does this mean God wasn't looking out for the 3-year-old that was shot and killed the other d...

While I'll be the first to admit I think most parents tend to believe their children are a bit brighter than they actually are, JP Fugler's recent blog post, entitled, "Your Child Is Not Special," still rubbed me the wrong way. Fugler starts his piece with this: "'You don't understand. My kid always makes straight As.' That might be the most damaging statement to a child's education. Like many teachers, I receive a version of that story multiple times in e-mails, phone conversations, and parent-teacher conferences regularly. The parent is always well-intentioned when they say it, but this mentality is becoming an epidemic threatening educators nationwide." I admit I'm interested initially. Please continue... "I wish more parents understood that their child is not special. That they would listen to teachers like David McCullough Jr. when he told the 2012 graduating class of his school that there were 37,000 valedictorians in...

Following the first Democratic debate on Tuesday night, I can't tell you how many times I've heard conservative commentators utter this line: "I thought Democrats were the party of diversity! Republicans are the ones with diversity! If anyone is lacking in diversity, it's the Democrats!" Of course, this is with regard to just the presidential candidates, which supposedly reflect the parties at large. Suffice it to say, this couldn't be further from the truth. Granted, the Democratic candidates are comprised of four white men and one white woman, while the Republican candidates include: two Latino-American men, one white woman, one African-American man, one Indian-American man, and seemingly countless white men. So, if we simply want to grade the two parties' diversity on the presidential candidates, surely the Republican Party would be the more diverse of the two. However, that's missing the forest for the trees. In the House of Representatives, De...

It amazes me how many people don't seem to hear themselves when they speak and how many appear to be oblivious to their own prejudices. Rapper T.I.'s recent comments is just the latest example of this. When he was asked about Hillary Clinton's presidential run by Sirius XM's DJ Whoo Kid, he said this: "Not to be sexist but, I can't vote for the leader of the free world to be a woman. Just because, every other position that exists, I think a woman could do well. But the president? It's kinda like, I just know that women make rash decisions emotionally -- they make very permanent, cemented decisions -- and then later, it's kind of like it didn't happen, or they didn't mean for it to happen. And I sure would hate to just set off a nuke. [Other leaders] will not be able to negotiate the right kinds of foreign policy; the world ain't ready yet. I think you might be able to [get] the Lochness Monster elected before you could [get a woman]."...

I have a feeling most racists aren't aware that they are, and this often results in some awkward moments when they're around others. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee appears to be such a person. Just last night, he tweeted the following two posts (four minutes apart): - "I trust @BernieSanders with my tax dollars like I trust a North Korean chef with my labrador! #DemDebate" - "Racism exists because we have a sin problem in America, not a skin problem. #DemDebate" Huckabee's first comment is a bit ironic considering the fact his son David was one of two counselors at a Boy Scout camp to kill a dog 17 years ago. Perhaps he should have rephrased his tweet to: "I trust Bernie Sanders with my tax dollars like I trust my son David with a labrador!" I'm not even 100% sure what Huckabee was getting at with his second comment, yet it's still slightly humorous given the fact he posted a racist tweet just four minutes earlier. So, w...

According to reports, while watching CNN's Democratic debate last night, GOP front-runners Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina suffered from great confusion, migraine headaches, and panic attacks while hearing substantive answers from the Democratic candidates. When I got a hold of witnesses by phone, here's what they told me: Donald Trump's witness - "He started this drinking game where, every time he didn't understand a word that was spoken, he'd have to yell out, 'Loser!,' and take a shot of Bacardi. I've never heard the guy utter that word so much in my life!" Ben Carson's witness - "He started rubbing his head two minutes into the debate, mumbling, 'Why do they have to talk and know so much? At least I know brain surgery, know Jesus, and know Jesus didn't need no brain surgery!' He then started rocking back and forth and quietly sung Queen songs. I'll never forget how he half sung-half mumbled ...

While Fox News hosted the first Republican debate this primary season, CNN has hosted the past two debates, one for both the Republican and Democratic parties. Their Republican debate was mostly moderated by Jake Tapper and the Democratic debate was moderated by Anderson Cooper. Jake Tapper seemed to treat the former of the two debates like a hybrid of a reality television show and a TMZ special. The vaguer and more intense the responses from Republican candidates Tapper got, the more likely he was to get excited and return the favor by asking another series of general yet insensitive questions, hoping to spark a fist-fight. Anderson Cooper, meanwhile, treated the latter of the two debates like a hybrid of an actual debate and a conspiracy forum. At times he'd ask ridiculous questions which seemed to derive from a right-wing conspiracy-oriented website, yet he'd consistently ask each candidate for specifics, and when he wasn't satisfied with a response, he wasn't coy to...