The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Here are my Twitter trending-hashtag posts for the past couple of weeks. As usual, they're ordered from the most popular to the least popular (all my tweets can be viewed here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) Donald Trump wants to investigate a comedy that's been around 44+ years. Devin Nunes wants to sue parody accounts. ...and they call liberals snowflakes? Hey, at least we can laugh. #DevinNunes #SNL 3,743 Likes, 842 Retweets 2) 1) In an interview, Trump encourages his "tough" supporters to get violent & posts a tweet about it. 2) One of his supporters kills 49 people. 3) Trump deletes the tweet and sends his "warmest sympathies" to the victims. Yeah, that seems genuine... #NewZealandShooting 1,002 Likes, 514 Retweets 3) Donald Trump may not be legally responsible for the attack in New Zealand, but to say he doesn't bear any responsibility is wrong. He has continually encouraged/legitimized anger, hatred, prejudice, viole...

From the outset, I have been wary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. This is because it appeared as though his scope was rather limited, and not only that, collusion is such a broad term (and not a legal one), it'd be incredibly difficult to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt, at least when it comes to Donald Trump and/or his inner-circle actually conspiring (the actual legal term) with Russia. So when news came that Mueller had sent his report to Attorney General William Barr and Barr wrote in a letter that the president did not collude with Russia and that there was not enough evidence to charge nor exonerate him of obstruction of justice, I can't say I was terribly surprised. I was disappointed, sure, but not in any way shocked. What I've been even more disappointed by throughout these Mueller proceedings has been the media. Donald Trump may be an incompetent moron who doesn't know his ass from pinky, but for as unintentional as it may be, he h...

Following the mass shooting in New Zealand a couple weeks ago, I took to social media to speak out against gun violence and advocate for stricter gun laws. While roughly four-fifths of the responses were positive, the other fifth was not. These individuals tended to reply with, "Now is not the time," "It's too soon," or "Show some respect and sympathy for the grieving families." In a utopic society, I could understand this train of thought. Hell, I used to be in the same camp as these negative-responders. I used to think, after a mass shooting, it was insensitive to make things political while the victims' families continually sobbed for days on end about the loss of their loved ones. But things change, people evolve (well, some of us), and in saying that, my viewpoint on the subject at hand has evolved as well. Do you notice there seems to never be a good time to talk about gun violence and what we, as a nation, can do to condense the high fre...

Over the weekend I heard a well-off, middle-aged man provide his thoughts on what he'd do if he became president, at least with regard to taxes. The idea he shared was that he'd eliminate federal income taxes and replace them with a national sales tax. While I cringed when first hearing this suggestion, I hadn't done thorough research on the subject yet, so I kept my mouth shut until doing so. Well, now that I have researched the matter, it appears as though my first reaction was indeed the correct one. It's estimated that the revenue in this country for 2019 will be approximately $3.44 trillion and that 50% of that, or $1.824 trillion, will come from individuals' income taxes. In order for us to make up that lost revenue, we'd need to increase the (exclusive) sales tax rate to 44%. The average state sales tax (including D.C.) is 5.1%. So an item which costs $20 before tax currently averages to cost $21.02 after tax. If a national sales tax were implemented, h...

I haven't been quite as active over the past week and a half with trending hashtags on Twitter, but here they are, ordered from the most to the least popular (all my tweets can be seen here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki ): 1) Trump: "I was first in my class!" Fact-checker: "Eh, no you weren't." Trump: "You didn't let me finish what I was gonna say! I was first in my class to sell the country out to Russia!" #SummaCumLiar #Snark 502 Likes, 142 Retweets 2) A white man found guilty of 8+ felonies Judge: "Eh, how's 4 years sound?" A black man steals a pack of gum from the Dollar Store Judge: "Life sentence!!! No gum for you!" #ManafortSentencing #Snark 271 Likes, 73 Retweets 3) Cops: "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." Translations: For whites: "Do the crime and you'll be back home in time for the nightly news." For everyone else: "Whether you do ...

Art. Such a simple word at face-value, yet those three conjoined letters don't begin to scratch the surface of its true meaning. If you were to ask ten random people what their definition of art was, chances are you'd receive ten different responses. Whether it be a film, a song, a book, or a portrait, art is built upon emotion and nuance. Regardless if a painter or an author envisioned a similar message when concocting their work as was received by a consumer, that doesn't dismiss said consumer's thoughts and feelings when indulging in the piece. Art touches on our humanity in a way nothing else can. It seems to magically bring together our wretched past, our rocky present, our hopeful future, and our perhaps unattainable yet lingering dreams. Whether a song brings back sad memories of our father's passing or brings back happy memories of our college graduation, art possesses a significant power over us, ironically touching us personally when the composer likely ...

I've long said the Republican Party often gets itself into trouble due to its self-branding of the party of God, family values, and morality. This sets them up for ridicule and mockery if and when a member of their party speaks or behaves in a manner which runs contrary to said branding. Sure, any and every politician should face criticism after being caught paying off a hooker, especially if a spouse and/or kids are in the picture. However, this behavior receives even more scrutiny (and deservedly so) when the politician in question has repeatedly labeled himself as a man of God, family values, and morality; has bashed and voted against the LGBT community; and then gets caught paying a man to have sex with him while his wife and kids are at home waiting. Democrats are running into a similar problem when it comes to political correctness. One major reason why I favor the Democratic Party over the Republican Party is their inclusivity. Democrats have essentially branded themselves...

Like all presidential hopefuls, Donald Trump made his fair share of promises leading up to the 2016 election. The way Trump has been talking post-election, he's made it sound as though he's kept every promise he's ever made, even those he didn't make. Let's look back at some of Trump's biggest campaign promises, shall we? 1) Free Border Wall - Sure, he's increasingly refrained from saying that Mexico would pay for it, but whatever happened to that big, beautiful border wall? He shut down the government for a record 35 days in an attempt to get Congress to include funding for it in a budget deal. That didn't work. He's since declared a national emergency over the matter, only to see his Republican brethren join Democrats in shooting it down. Even the layout of the wall has changed more times than Trump can count (yes, over 2). It went from a "big, beautiful wall, the likes of which we've never seen" to "a barrier, wall, thingofam...

I hate to say this, but for as much as I'd love for "President" Donald Trump to be impeached, now is not the time. Let me explain why. 1) Mission:Impossible : While Democrats control the House and you only need a simple majority in the House to impeach a president, you need a 2/3 majority in the Senate and Republicans have a 53-47 advantage there. In other words, assuming all 47 Democrats supported impeachment, 20 of 53 Republicans would have to do the same, and that's less likely than Elvis Presley winning next week's lottery. So while being impeached by the House may look good on paper, it's not going to result in Trump being ousted from the presidency, so what really is the point? 2) Possible Backlash : When Bill Clinton faced impeachment, his approval numbers rose by 10 points. The Republican Party's net approval decreased to -26% while the Democratic Party's increased to +27%, a staggering difference of 53%! Do I really think the impact of ...

Ever have a dream where a person you haven't seen in 10-20 years makes an appearance and you wake up asking, "WTF?!?" This happened to me recently, where a high school friend of mine I haven't seen in 15 years appeared and I was wondering why. Granted, in the Facebook age, I have to think it's more common today than it was in yesteryear for a friend from 10-20 years ago to make an appearance in a dream. No matter how long ago it was you saw him/her face-to-face, they're seemingly always on your Facebook newsfeed. The last time I saw this person was roughly 15 years ago, so we'll say 2004. I was 23 years old, a year removed from brain surgery, about to earn my bachelor's degree, with a world of possibilities ahead of me. He and I were fairly close between the ages of 17 and 19, but then he kind of disappeared on me. I had never known why. While we lived different lives - me invested in school and him invested in partying - we still managed to have fun...

As I noted a week ago, my latest book is now available for purchase. It's entitled, The Kind-Hearted Smartass - Volume 3: Maybe the Best of the Trilogy , and is available for $4.99 on Kindle and $14.75 on paperback. The Kindle version can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Kind-Hearted-Smartass-Maybe-Best-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B07P61CDPD/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=kind-hearted+smartass&qid=1551662321&s=digital-text&sr=1-1-fkmrnull The paperback version can be found here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/craig-rozniecki/the-kind-hearted-smartass-volume-3-maybe-the-best-of-the-trilogy/paperback/product-23989342.html If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

For as odd as it may sound, being the political geek I am, Michael Cohen's public testimony before the House Oversight Committee was received as an early birthday present for me, coming 24 hours before I turned 30 yet again. I unashamedly watched it from beginning to end, only taking bathroom breaks when Majority Chair Elijah Cummings granted recess. Yes, I was glued to the tube last Wednesday like a perverted chicken gets stuck to a blow-up duck while crossing the road. Ever since Donald Trump got "elected" president, the meme has been going around, saying, "Elect a clown, expect a circus," and from the hearing's outset, that's what we had - a circus. North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows started the circus off by protesting the hearing, saying they should postpone it due to Michael Cohen speaking after midnight or something along those lines. Since Democrats control the House, this motion was obviously struck down. This cycle would continue throughout t...