The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

As long-time readers should know, I'm not a fan of the conservative right, and this is especially the case of hyperbole-obsessed right-wing media personalities. Regular readers should also know I've long stood by our Constitutional right to freedom of speech, but even so, believe freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequence. This brings me to the recent such case involving Fox News personality Laura Ingraham, who has come under fire for posting this tweet about Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg: "David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://www.dailywire.com/news/28770/gun-rights-provocateur-david-hogg-rejected-four-joseph-curl" Mr. Hogg responded by calling on Ingraham's advertisers to cut ties with her show. Many have done so, which has prompted Ms. Ingraham to apologize via Twitter and take what she has termed a ...

Due to a tweet of mine, I got mentioned on The Daily Dot . If you're curious, you can check out the mention here: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/mark-conditt-very-challenged/ If you'd like to check out the rest of my tweets, my page can be found at this link:  https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki

I had some fun with trending hashtags on Twitter over the past week or so. Here are my posts, ordered from the most popular to the least popular (all my tweets can be seen at this link: https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) Trumpsters: "Stormy Daniels was caught lying 3 times in her life! She can't be trusted!" There have been times when Donald Trump has lied 3 times in a single sentence. Just sayin'... #StormyDaniels 2,610 Likes, 840 Retweets 2) Dear Mr. Santorum: The odds of reviving an AR-15 victim via CPR is similar to the odds of you ever becoming president. #Santorum 900 Likes, 317 Retweets 3) A white guy places bombs all over a city GOP: "He was a very challenged individual." A darker skinned guy brings a clock to school GOP: "He might be the leader of ISIS." #MarkAnthonyConditt 539 Likes, 274 Retweets 4) Dear GOP: If you think there's a large turnout at #MarchForOurLives, you haven't seen anything yet. Ju...

Fraud: "intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right; a person who is not what he or she pretends to be." The Christian right has long claimed they value: The teachings of Jesus, morality, family, etc. They've long contended that they vote the way God would vote. This is why they've tended to vote against politicians whom support women's reproductive rights and/or those that support marriage equality for the LGBT community. According to them, both abortion and homosexuality are abominations to God and of far greater importance than anything else mentioned in the book of Leviticus or the Ten Commandments. Well, dear readers, I'm here to tell you it's all a lie. The Christian right is a fraud, and whether it was intentional or not, Donald Trump ultimately proved this. Donald Trump's approval among the general public is at approximately 40%. His approval with evangelicals is a...

Former U.S. Senator and current CNN talking blowhard, Rick Santorum, had a few words of advice for the anti-gun violence protesters who marched in this nation's capital over the weekend. He said: "How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that... They took action to ask someone to pass a law. They didn't take action to say, 'How do I, as an individual, deal with this problem? How am I going to do something about stopping bullying within my own community? What am I going to do to actually help respond to a shooter?' ... Those are the kind of things where you can take it internally, and say, 'Here's how I'm going to deal with this. Here's how I'm going to help the situation,' instead of going and protesting and saying, 'Oh, someone else needs to pass a law to p...

Former George W. Bush speechwriter and current Fox News contributor, Marc Thiessen, wrote an article yesterday which I felt needed mentioning. The article is entitled, "...Here's why conservative Christians are sticking with the president," and here's how it begins: "As '60 Minutes' prepares to air its interview with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, conservative Christians are being accused of hypocrisy. How can so-called 'values voters' continue to stand with President Trump despite revelations that he allegedly had affairs with a porn star and a Playboy model, and paid them for their silence? No doubt some Christian leaders have gone too far in rationalizing Trump's past personal behavior and excusing his offensive comments while in office. He is a deeply flawed man. But Trump does have one moral quality that deserves admiration: He keeps his promises." That's right, ladies and gentlemen - Donald Trump's most moral quali...

I don't have a lot to say about the anti-gun violence marches from this past weekend just yet. Seeing and hearing those kids bravely stand up to politicians and lobbyists; the unbridled pain, emotion, and conviction in their voices; it left me speechless on Saturday and I remain speechless on Monday. Adults in this country, especially those in Congress, could learn a thing or two from our kids. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, they do so, fight for the safety of our children over the money of the gun lobby, and if not, pay the price at the election booths in November of this year and beyond. Here are a few of the best signs from the protest: - "My Right To Live > A Gun" - "If You Need A Machine Gun To Hunt, You Suck At It." - "I Miss Earthquake Drills" - "The Scariest Thing In A School Should Be My Grades" - "Pack Lunches Not Heat!!!" - "I'm a 1st grade teacher. Trump's solution to school violence i...

Not long ago, Louisville's 2013 national championship in the college basketball world got vacated because of NCAA violations. In the record books, next to 2013 national champion, reads "Louisville (vacated)." This has also occurred with USC's 2004 college football title. I'm sorry, but this is stupid. It's documented that these games took place. The players played them. The coaches coached them. We watched them. To say otherwise is to call the world crazy. If the NCAA wants to place asterisks next to such violators in the record books, fine, but to pretend the games never took place is crazy in and of itself. Regardless, the winning coaches and players still have their championship rings and, most importantly, their memories of the title runs, and the NCAA can never take that away from them.

On Friday's episode of Chris Russo's Sirius XM show Mad Dog Unleashed , CBS Sports chairman Steve McManus said the following: "From a television standpoint, you really root for the big teams. Last night's Kentucky outcome was not good for us and not good for TBS at all. Kentucky being the blue bloods that they are, and having the television draw that they have, that really hurt us. Kansas State winning - I have nothing against Kansas State as a school or a team - but that really hurt us." He added: "It's [Loyola-Chicago] a great story, I think Sister Jean is terrific, but to have an upstart like that go this far is not a disaster obviously, but not the bets of all scenarios for us." I'm sorry, but this is BS. Why does he think the NCAA Tournament is nicknamed March Madness? Because it's good for the predictable to always occur? I don't think so. The movies about college basketball that come out of Hollywood, do they tend to revolv...

I didn't expect this reaction, but right from the start of the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 Minutes last night, a knot formed at the pit of my stomach, and a feeling of nausea and discomfort came over me. It was odd, for not much new material was revealed in Ms. Daniels' interview with Anderson Cooper. At the same time, though, there was no mistaking that near vomit-inducing sensation which had seemingly taken over my body throughout the duration of the back and forth. I think one reason for this unanticipated reaction is the fact it's starkly different to hear and see a person talk about a traumatic experience than it is to simply read about it in a newspaper. This is why viewing a documentary can possess greater sway and power than an autobiography regarding the same individual/event, because we get to actually see and hear people's stories and emotions. Reading about how a person cried uncontrollably doesn't tend to impact us as much as actually seeing and he...

When it comes to the Trump-Russia probe and the possibility of an obstruction of justice charge, I hear two comments from analysts far more than any other: 1) Trump is likely guilty of it. and 2) It'll be difficult to prove. Why is this? Allow Cornell Law School to share with us the reason: "Obstruction of justice is defined in the omnibus clause of 18 U.S.C. 1503, which provides that 'whoever....corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice, shall be (guilty of an offense).' Persons charged under this statute based on allegations that a defendant intended to interfere with an official proceeding, by doing things such as destroying evidence, or interfering with the duties of jurors or court officers. A person obstructs justice when they have a specific intent to obstruct or interfere with a judicial proceeding. For ...

With this being March Madness and all and the seemingly ubiquitous departures from the White House, I felt a sports analogy was in order for the Trump administration. Here's a running list of the administration's officials whom have either been fired or left on their own volition: 1) Acting Attorney General Sally Yates 2) National Security Adviser Michael Flynn 3) Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh 4) Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland 5) FBI Director James Comey 6) Communications Director Mike Dubke 7) Spokesman for Trump's legal team Mark Corallo 8) Press Secretary and Communications Director Sean Spicer 9) Press Aide Michael Short 10) National Security Council Member Derek Harvey 11) Chief of Staff Reince Priebus 12) Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci 13) National Security Council Senior Director Ezra Cohen-Watnick 14) National Security Council Director of Strategic Planning Rich Higgins 15) Office of Public Liaison George Sifakis 1...

 I think Spike Lee is one of the greatest modern-day directors; Samuel L. Jackson is an Oscar-caliber actor; and Charles Barkley is a Hall-of-Fame basketball player and oddly entertaining commentator. However, combining all three talents in Capital One commercials this March Madness has resulted in me getting headaches while providing the expression which will be in the dictionary next to WTF-face . In one commercial, the three are in a car, singing "Home of the Brave," as Barkley incorrectly sings about the deer and the cantaloupe playing. In another, they're singing "I've Got Friends in Low Places" while on donkeys and horses. Yes, Spike Lee is the shortest of the three of them and is on the donkey. Get it? To their credit, the three stars try to make the best of what they've been given, but the writing is so lazy, not even Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks could have made it work. It's like the writers placed a bunch of song titles into a hat, drew a...

I've been trending this way for a while, but it's now official: I'm anti-foul out in basketball. After pondering about it some more, I think it may be the stupidest rule in all of sports, especially if a game goes to overtime. In what other sport does a player get kicked out for committing five or six potentially minor infractions? In what sport do fans pay good money to watch the officials kick out a star player over watching said star player? If the goal of a season is to discover which team is the best, how is it then logical to kick out the best players because they lightly tapped an opponent on the wrist 5 or 6 times during the course of a game? Can you imagine if New England Patriots MVP Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady got kicked out of a playoff game because he was responsible for 5 or 6 false start and/or delay of game penalties? Ridiculous, right? That's how stupid the foul-out rule is in basketball. Fouls aren't objective. While referees may b...

It's a tad surreal to be involved in comedy during this time in our history. Comedians have, throughout history, consistently tried pushing the envelope as far as appropriateness goes. In yesteryear, if a joke went too far, they'd remove it from their routine, try something else, and the earth would continue to move. That was before the advent of the Internet and social media, however. As times has progressed, so too has the call for increased sensitivities to all demographics. Nowadays, if a joke goes too far, social media sites like Twitter attempt to temporarily stop the world as they try and put the comedian out of business. There's always been a fine line for comedians to walk down, but that line has progressively become longer and narrower, making it ever more difficult to keep one's balance. So where do we draw the line? This isn't just limited to comedians. Is there a similar balancing act politically-correct free speech supporters can walk to help preserv...

Due to a #KeepAmericaGreat tweet of mine, I got mentioned on the site, Hello Giggles , which can be seen here - https://hellogiggles.com/news/keep-america-great-trump-twitter/ If you're curious to see my other posts on Twitter, you may do so at this link -  https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki

I had some more fun with trending hashtags on Twitter this past week. Here are my posts, ordered from the most popular to the least popular (all my tweets can be read here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) 9/11: 2,974 deaths via terrorism, $4.79 trillion spent on defense in response '02-'16: 485,427 deaths via guns, still waiting for sufficient action It's time politicians learn a thing or two from our students & choose children's safety over money/guns. #NationalStudentWalkout 1,390 Likes, 546 Retweets 2) Dear GOP: These students have no ties to lobbyists like the NRA. All they want is safety. So you have to decide, what's more important, money or kids? The choice is yours, but if you choose the former, don't ever think about calling yourselves "pro-life." #NationalWalkoutDay 801 Likes, 287 Retweets 3) 17 are shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida Students: "We're going to ...

While there's always a critique here and there when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee announces the 68-team field, the criticism was bumped up a notch this year, especially from yours truly. After the field was set, most college basketball analysts rightfully complained that there was no good reason to invite Arizona State and UCLA over USC or Oklahoma over Oklahoma State. USC finished 2nd in the Pac-12, lost in the conference title game to top seeded Arizona, and both Arizona State and UCLA finished near the middle of the pack in the conference standings. Meanwhile Oklahoma State defeated Oklahoma twice during the course of the season and the Sooners struggled more during the tail end of the season than a drunk blind man struggles at the urinal. So when it comes to these gripes, I completely agree with the ESPN commentators, but that's where the agreements ended. Two teams who were fully deserving of earning a spot in the field of 68 were Middle Tennessee State and S...

So I had an interesting few days. I was contacted by a grad student at Columbia University who asked if I'd be interested in partaking in a Capstone Workshop of which he was a part. Apparently, along with some big-name celebrities whose identities couldn't be revealed, via Alto Data Analytics, I was listed as one of the 400 "key Twitter influencers" in the country and then became one of 60 to be interviewed for the project. Another Columbia grad student flew in from New York on Thursday to conduct the interview, which was supposed to go on for an hour, lasted two, and I walked away feeling pretty good about the experience. The results are supposed to be released on or around May 11th. It was a neat and eye-opening experience. I'm glad I was a part of it. If curious, you can read more about it here: https://sipa.columbia.edu/academics/capstone-projects/mapping-conversation-big-data-real-voices-trump-supporters-and-opposers

One reason why I don't care for Donald Trump is his rhetoric. The man's native tongue seems to be hyperbole. When's the last time you heard a speech or even an individual quote where the president didn't include one of the following words: Biggest, huge (yuuuge), best, greatest, etc.? I can't remember one. Having said that, I'm not going to mince words here. Even though there remains a minority of reasonable, respectable Republicans, in large part the GOP has sold its soul to the devil. The once highly respectable Republican Party is officially on life support and trending towards death at a rapid pace. While the Democratic Party is anything but perfect, it at least tries to fight for more than just their own wallets. That's no longer the case with the Republican Party. They continually get voted in by the people and wind up representing just themselves. Not only that, but they've taken a stand against: Science, equality across the board (whether it ...

Oddly enough, besides love , no term seems to generate as much debate with regard to meaning as  terrorist . When a man in Las Vegas shot and killed hundreds of concert goers, while it may have been referred to as an act of terror, most were remiss of calling the individual a terrorist. Yet when a person destroys a building by bombing it, but no one is harmed in the process, and the individual's intent was religious/political, then it's said to be a terrorist act. So, what gives? The quantity of deaths obviously isn't a determining factor. The costs of an attack's destruction aren't either. All that seems to matter is the person or group's intent. If the attack was politically-motivated, it's said to be terrorism, but if it wasn't motivated by politics, that very terminology isn't used to describe it. Here's the technical definition of terrorist : "A person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the p...

While I was at a bar last night, I overheard a drunk man exclaim, "Trump has done more in his first year than Obama did in all his years!" I had to simultaneously chuckle and give myself a facepalm at this declaration. It's ironically humorous that this individual feels this way, for he's about one thing and one thing only - money. When Barack Obama entered the Oval Office, we were dealing with the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were being lost every month, to the point where the unemployment rate increased to 10.0%. People were losing their jobs, money, homes at a pace not seen in 70 years. Under Obama's leadership, however, the economy was able to stabilize, and the unemployment rate decreased to 4.8% as a result. So it's quite amazing and ignorant for this drunken individual to lay claim that a man who inherited a strong economy has done more for it in a single year than one who inherited the Great Reces...

I have a 5-year-old Siberian Husky rescue named Lexi. She's my third husky, fourth dog overall, and although I might be a tad biased, I think she may be the best dog ever. Huskies are typically great dogs. They're: Full of energy; always in the puppy stage; great with kids; force their owners to give them exercise and attention, improving their health in the process; and tend to see everyone as their best friend. Having said all this, though, huskies are also typically not the most loyal bunch of dogs and are rather notorious for being escape artists. My second husky, the biggest of the three, still found a way to work her Houdini act on numerous occasions, where she'd dig under the backyard fence and roam about the neighborhood. My first husky wasn't so eager to leave the backyard, yet if a strong wind knocked the gate or a door open, she was off to the races. They had starkly different personalities, as one was fearful of walking down to the basement and ran outside...

Over the past couple of weeks, I've viewed two of the best movies I think I've ever seen and felt the need to share a bit about them. In addition to these two, I also saw the Daniel Day-Lewis-led film, There Will Be Blood , and highly recommend that as well. Lewis is electrifying and deserved his Oscar for Best Actor. Since that film was released over a decade ago, though, I'll focus the brunt of my attention on the two more recently released films which caught my attention upon first watching them and haven't let go two weeks later, The Square and The Shape of Water . What these two films have in common are they're both: Unique/unusual; powerful; well produced, directed, and acted; are not what they may appear to be; and will likely stay with you long after the closing credits. The Square is a Swedish film directed by star writer/director in-the-making Ruben Ostlund. It is essentially a satire on modern society, where a well respected art museum curator present...

Shifting away from the more serious tone of my typical posts, I thought I'd go a lighter route by providing brief reviews of some shows I've been watching over the past few weeks. The Big Bang Theory  (A-): The show may not be at its peak, but it's still one of the better sitcoms on television right now. The cast's chemistry is still strong and for at least one more season, fellow geeks can rejoice Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj "talking nerdy to me." See what I did there? Yes, the dad joke/nerd talk hybrid. Bucket list? Check. Black-ish (A): Funny, smart, and topical. When it comes to combining humor with power, Black-ish is the best sitcom on television right now. No episode was more powerful than the post-Trump election episode. If you haven't had the chance to see it, do yourself a favor, drop what you're doing now (yes, reading this), and go watch it! Black-ish is a show at its peak and I sincerely hope it stays there for seasons to come. ...

Due to a tweet of mine, I got mentioned in People : http://people.com/politics/trump-bonuses-armed-teachers-shooter-drills/ If curious to see other tweets of mine, you may do so here:  https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki

As I so often do, I had fun with trending Twitter hashtags this past week. Here they are, ordered from most popular to least popular (all my tweets can be seen at this site - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) After Colbert jokes about Nunes's memo Nunes: "Conservatives are under attack!" No, you were being poked fun of; students in Parkland, Florida were under attack. #FloridaShooting 583 Likes, 277 Retweets 2) Fox is fake news #TriggerAConservativeIn4Words 507 Likes, 125 Retweets 3) Barack Obama is better #TriggerAConservativeIn4Words 363 Likes, 85 Retweets 4) 37% is not majority #TriggerAConservativeIn4Words 274 Likes, 68 Retweets 5) Dear NRA: If your favorite phrase, "Guns don't kill people; people kill people," is correct (and I'm not saying it is), wouldn't it then make sense to not allow people who kill people access to guns? #WayneLaPierre 207 Likes, 69 Retweets 6) The Earth is round #TriggerAConservativeIn4Wo...