The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Former  The Daily Show correspondent Michelle Wolf took to the stage as the guest speaker to this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner over the weekend. As is typical, she received her fair share of criticism, mostly pointed in the direction of her cracking jokes about Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders and also making a quip about abortion. As former Saturday Night Live Weekend Update anchors Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers used to say, "Really? Really? I mean, Really?!?" Look, I personally didn't find Ms. Wolf's abortion joke humorous, but often times comedy is more about pushing the envelope than stimulating laughter. Also, how can people really be THAT offended by a female comedian roasting this president? The criticisms have reached the point of Trump saying we should no longer have a White House Correspondents' Dinner. Again, really? Why is it that comedians are often times held to a higher standard than the President of the United States, D...

On September 28th of last year, I posted a blog where I analyzed a few NBA teams' off-season moves and predicted how these moves would impact their coming season, especially if they were to square off against Golden State in the finals. If curious, you can read the post in its entirety here -  http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2017/09/chasing-warriors.html . In this blog, I wrote the following about the Oklahoma City Thunder: "Oklahoma City Thunder Off-season acquisitions: Paul George and Carmelo Anthony Starting Line-up: PG Russell Westbrook, SG Andre Roberson, SF Paul George, PF Carmelo Anthony, and C Steven Adams Projection: I'm probably in the minority on this, but I honestly don't see what all the hoopla is about regarding the Thunder's off-season moves. Yes, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony have all been stars in the league, and Westbrook was fully deserving of the MVP award for his efforts last season, but while the te...

The Cleveland Browns' search for a franchise quarterback started in '99 when they selected Tim Couch with the #1 draft pick. Here's a list of their starting quarterbacks and the number of games each has started since then: 1) Tim Couch: 59 (22-37, .373) 2) Ty Detmer: 2 (0-2, .000) 3) Doug Pederson: 8 (1-7, .125) 4) Spergon Wynn: 1 (0-1, .000) 5) Kelly Holcomb: 12 (4-8, .333) 6) Jeff Garcia: 10 (3-7, .300) 7) Luke McCown: 4 (0-4, .000) 8) Trent Dilfer: 11 (4-7, .364) 9) Charlie Frye: 19 (6-13, .316) 10) Derek Anderson: 34 (16-18, .471) 11) Brady Quinn: 12 (3-9, .250) 12) Ken Dorsey: 3 (0-3, .000) 13) Bruce Gradkowski: 1 (0-1, .000) 14) Colt McCoy: 21 (6-15, .286) 15) Jake Delhomme: 4 (2-2, .500) 16) Seneca Wallace: 7 (1-6, .143) 17) Brandon Weeden: 20 (5-15, .250) 18) Thad Lewis: 1 (0-1, .000) 19) Jason Campbell: 8 (1-7, .125) 20) Brian Hoyer: 16 (10-6, .625) 21) Johnny Manziel: 8 (2-6, .250) 22) Connor Shaw: 1 (0-1, .000) 23) Josh McCown: 11 (1-10, ....

One reason NRA die-hards drive me nuts is the fact they've yet to make a certifiably logical argument against strengthening gun laws. Instead of looking at scientific studies, worldwide legal trends (and their impacts), and/or logic/common sense, they often resort to conspiracy theories and especially bumper-sticker slogans, such as: "Guns don't kill people; people kill people;" "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun;" and "Criminals will always find a way to be criminals." Yes, all of these talking points are ridiculous on different levels, but ironically enough, these same individuals tend to be all for the worldwide war on terror and the belief that, by attacking countries which aren't our biggest fans and which harbor terrorists, we'll find a way to end terror. So where's the consistency? At least with gun reform advocates, we don't tend to look the other way on terrorism and think we should do nothi...

Here are the trending hashtags I had fun with on Twitter over the past week or so. My posts will be ordered from the most popular to the least popular (all my tweets can be viewed at this link - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) Trump: "Mission accomplished!" Reporter: "What was the mission?" Trump: "I don't know, but it was accomplished." Reporter: "What was accomplished?" Trump: "The mission" Reporter: "Which was?" Trump: "Which was what? What are you talking about?" #MissionAccomplished 421 Likes, 190 Retweets 2) For the record, Donald Trump is not smart. When a flat-earther convinces another to be a flat-earther, neither individual can be objectively classified as intelligent. It's just one idiot persuading another to hop on the idiot train. #ComeyInterview 342 Likes, 96 Retweets 3) BREAKING NEWS: "Donald Trump to give a speech in front of a banner he crafted himself, which re...

I love music and enjoy hitting the bar(s) over the weekend, so naturally, when the mood strikes me, I've never been coy about playing some songs on the jukebox. This past Thursday, a friend of mine turned 50, so several friends of her's, including myself, all met up to celebrate the occasion. At around 9:30, a friend of mine and I both chipped in $5 to play some songs on the jukebox. Four hours and 231 skips later, we gave up on hearing the songs we had selected, and went home knowing we had just wasted $5. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me (and many others), and due to that, I'll be boycotting jukeboxes. Why? The scam known as TouchTunes. You see, here's how the plot typically breaks down. A person (or group of people) downloads the TouchTunes app on his/her phone, consumes one too many adult beverages, and due to this, has less care for spending extra money to hear the songs of their choosing right NOW. That's the thing with TouchTun...

Without wasting any time, here's the much talked about back-and-forth CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and Ohio Representative Jim Jordan engaged in over the past week: Jim Jordan: "He's (Trump) always been square with me." Anderson Cooper: "What about the American people?" Jordan: "The American people elected him President of the United States." Cooper: "But I mean, have you ever heard the President lie? That's why I'm asking you." Jordan: "I have not. And the American people feel like what the treatment he's receiving from the top people of the FBI..." Cooper: "I don't think you can talk about all the American people. But I'm asking you -- just yourself, have you ever heard the President lie?" Jordan: "I have not." Wow... Through January 10th, Washington Post fact-checkers Glenn Kessler and Meg Kelly tallied 2,001 misleading claims spouted by Donald Trump through his first 355 ...

One of the most surprising quotes from James Comey's interview on ABC last night was when he contended that Donald Trump has "above-average intelligence." After making some quips about the remark on Twitter, a fellow progressive defended Comey, saying, "Trump would have to be smart to dupe so many people!" Okay, let's just get this out of the way - Donald Trump is not smart. A rich man does not make a smart man. The Donald was born into money, was always surrounded by people who knew money, and as a result, guess what? The guy has money. Also, it doesn't take a genius to use bullsh*t to persuade another to also believe bullsh*t. It has been scientifically proven that the earth is round. Even so, there are people who deny this fact and believe it to be flat. So if one flat-earther convinces another to be a flat-earther, can other be constituted as smart? I don't think so. It's just one idiot persuading another to hop on the idiot train. Let...

Like a lot of people, I was tuned into the James Comey interview last night on ABC. While I think the exchange between Comey and reporter George Stephanopoulos was certainly interesting, I didn't find it to be the earth-shattering back and forth a lot of my fellow progressives did. Perhaps that's partially due to me consistently keeping myself informed about the world of news and politics, but I digress. To his credit, former FBI Director Comey came across as calm, intelligent, and honest. He was very careful with his words, was reluctant on going the absolutist route with any of his answers regarding the Russia probe, and while he appeared to be a man wanting to clear his name and reputation on his previous actions, he also came across as a man who was struggling to come to concise answers on how exactly those previous actions (potentially) impacted this country. Nothing Comey said really surprised me. In saying that, though, here were a few of the more eye-catching moment...

Since 1972, worldwide there have been 18,483 fatalities via plane crash. Since 2001, there have been 3,222 fatalities in the United States via terrorism, 2,902 of those occurring on September 11th of 2001. Combined, that's 21,705 fatalities. So, on average, there are approximately 528 deaths via plane crash worldwide every year and 190 deaths via terrorism in the United States on an annual basis. If we were to strip 9/11 from said equation, that average would decrease to 20 per year. Even if we go with the high end of that range, the two variables would combine for an average of 718 deaths every year. In other words, it's probably more likely for a person to die by getting struck by lightning than for him/her to die in a plane crash or by an act of terror. Yet we seem to be more paranoid than ever of being victimized by these lottery-jackpot odds, enough so that we've nonchalantly allowed our freedoms to be infringed for a false sense of security. I say this because of a ...

I have a love-hate relationship with HBO personality and fellow progressive Bill Maher. While I tend to agree with his viewpoints approximately 80% of the time, my opinions run in stark contrast to his the other 20%. Even when I do agree with him on a subject, there's a good chance he'll go so overboard with a rant, it'll make me cringe as a result. Having said all that, I definitely agree with what he said regarding Hollywood's evolution of wokeness in Friday's episode of Real Time . Apparently, Molly Ringwald of the John Hughes teen classic, Breakfast Club , has recently said, in hindsight, she finds that film and others like it to be troubling in the age of the #MeToo movement. Maher responded by saying, "Stop being surprised every time you watch an old movie or TV show and find some of the ideas in it are - old." He added, "It's nuts to blame someone for not being 'woke' 30 years before 'woke' became a thing. I remember the...

When I drove by Dublin Scioto High School in Dublin, Ohio the other day, I was surprised to see four teenage boys holding up anti-abortion signs just outside the school premises. These signs mainly contained pictures of fetuses which had allegedly been aborted. They also noted the group behind the protest was Created Equal. When I returned home, I decided to do some research on the seemingly anti-abortion group. Well, come to find out, there's nothing "seemingly" anti-abortion about Created Equal. They are anti-abortion through and through. Most of their members appear to be white, male, and you know the rest. The portion of the site which garnered my closest attention was its FAQ section. Given that, I thought I'd fact-check some of the group's claims. 1) Question: "No one really knows when life begins, so how can you say abortion is wrong?" Created Equal's response: "The assertion that 'no one knows when life begins' disregards mod...

As I've long said, regardless of how much we don't want to believe it, freedom is not absolute. Whether it be our freedom to say what's on our mind or to own a firearm, there are certain guidelines to each and every "freedom." Having said that, I think law enforcement went too far in arresting Green Bay Packers wide receiver Trevor Davis after he made a bomb joke at Los Angeles International Airport the other day. At the ticket counter, Davis, who was with his girlfriend, was asked if he "was carrying any aerosol cans, knives, weapons or explosives." He then turned to his girlfriend and sarcastically asked if she remembered to pack the explosives. Look, should Davis have been detained and questioned? Yes. But should the guy have been arrested? Give me a break... First off, I've flown hundreds of times and have never been asked if I was carrying any aerosol cans, knives, weapons or explosives. If I were to be asked such a ridiculous question, chan...

Motivational speakers and televangelists are like talking lines of cocaine (from what I've heard). While they may temporarily make you feel good and believe that you can do anything, they often times lead to long-lasting negative effects. That leads me to motivational speaker Tony Robbins, who has gotten himself into some hot water with his recent comments regarding the #MeToo movement. When speaking to a crowd in San Jose, California, he made the following remarks: - "If you use the #MeToo movement to try to get significance and certainty by attacking and destroying someone else, you haven't grown an ounce. All you've done is basically use a drug called significance to make yourself feel good." - "I was with someone the other day. Very famous man, very powerful man. He's saying how stressed he is because he interviewed three people that day. One was a woman, two were men. The woman was better qualified, but she was very attractive, and he knew, ...

Having grown up in the brick-red state of Nebraska and currently residing in a rather conservative town in Ohio, it's safe to say I've been largely surrounded by Republicans for most of my life. Due to that, it was all but inevitable a decent percentage of my friends, or at least those with whom I interacted, would be of that political persuasion. Fortunately, while I tend to try and stray away from political banter with most of these individuals, a majority of them have told me at one time or another that I was their favorite liberal or that, while they may have disagreed with me, they respected me. That brings me to Saturday night, when such a person, who happened to be drunk at the time, approached me right after I entered a bar, and started going on a political rant. As, given his inebriated state at the time, there was really no point in me debating him, I just listened. Here were some of the highlights:  - "Hemorrhoids kill more people than guns!" - ...