The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I keep seeing and hearing self-described liberals/progressives saying things such as, “We’re done with the Democratic Party!” “The Democratic Party is just as bad as the Republican Party!” and “I’m either not voting or voting 3 rd party from here on!” First off, the two parties are not remotely the same. Let’s compare January 6 th from 2021 to 2025. Notice any differences? If not, I seriously recommend you schedule an appointment with your optometrist, stat! Given the fact so many registered Democrats stayed home this past November, however, it seems rather obvious to me some changes need to be made moving forward. Yes, I’m going to run through said changes. 1)     1)   Chutes for Leaders : With all due respect to the likes of Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi, amongst others, it’s high past time for party leaders to get a makeover. No, I don’t mean Senator Schumer should go Twisted Sister; I mean it’s time for some new faces atop the Democratic P...

It's been a week since Donald Trump was announced as the winner of the 2024 presidential election. I've since gone through four of the five stages of grief, and am currently between depression and acceptance. The thing about it is, while I've accepted the fact Trump will be this country's next president, I can't for the life of me accept the fact so many people - people I personally know and love - voted for him. That's what I'm having trouble accepting. In 2016, I was honestly shocked by Trump's election victory over Hillary Clinton. Sure, Clinton's approval rating was never exceptionally high, but Donald Trump was viewed by many as a joke of a candidate - a reality star just striving for attention. While I thought his presidency would be a disaster (I was right), I accepted people wanting a change from the status quo - a seemingly apolitical businessman to shake up the political in Washington.  Following a lie-, drama-, and crisis-filled 4 years in...

Following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend, which resulted in 3 deaths and several injuries, while President Donald Trump has remained relatively silent regarding the event and tragedy, several Republicans condemned the acts, even going so far as to say, "This is not us." For as much as I'd hate to disagree, I have to call a spade a spade - Charlottesville is what the modern-day Republican Party has become, and unless moderates fight to retain control of the GOP, this is what the party will be in the future. Of course, when making such a claim, many self-described Republicans will say: "These are fringe extremists! They're not actually Republicans!," "That'd be like saying all Democrats are like the hate group Black Lives Matter!," and "Trump had nothing to do with this!" First off, these "fringe extremists" were referred to as "Unite the Right." That's not to say they...

Almost every day someone asks me, "How could you let someone like Donald Trump get elected president? Was it as shocking for you as it was for me?" Honestly, no. Donald Trump is simply the product of years of lies promulgated by leaders of the conservative movement and the Republican Party, and for as much as I hate to say it, my Republican friends, you've been had! Liberals like myself are fairly notorious for innocuous language, so I think it's about time to take off the kid gloves and get real! While neither party is perfect (far from it) and both are controlled by big money, let's get something straight, the Republican Party is not the party of morality, God, the middle class, family values, or personal responsibility! In fact, if anything, it's become the antithesis of them! People change, and with that, parties change too, and the modern-day GOP is nothing like the Republican Party in the days of Lincoln, Eisenhower, or even Reagan. Let's look at...

I know that snapping my fingers won't get America's attention. Facts and logic don't seem to either. Police brutality apparently doesn't. Sadly enough, neither do mass shootings. When is America going to finally wake up from its seemingly permanent slumber and realize we have a problem? Sure, we can pretend that racism no longer exists, especially in light of the fact we elected and re-elected an African-American president. We can pretend that 99% of police brutality cases involving African-Americans were prompted by the eventual victims disobeying the officers' orders. We can pretend that people like Dylann Roof are simply messed up in the head, are aberrations, and there's nothing we could have done to have stopped them. We can also pretend that guns don't kill, that the more we have of them the safer we'll be, and that no law would be able to decrease the frequency of gun violence. But, I'm sorry, that's all complete and utter bullsh*t and i...

Ever since Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the controversial RFRA bill (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) and Walkerton, Indiana pizza shop Memories Pizza stated they'd never provide pizzas for gay wedding celebrations, only to receive a great deal of backlash from moderates and progressives, many conservatives have decided to respond with the following argument: "Weren't liberals supposed to be the people all about tolerance? Them speaking out against our beliefs and calling us homophobes just goes to show how big of hypocrites they really are!" This isn't the first time I've heard such an argument. I've heard it used before, often times with regard to the battle over the rights of the LGBT community. I'm sorry to upset these conservatives, but they're sorely mistaken, for speaking out against those preventing equality is not the same as speaking out against equality. While I and many other progressives may not agree with conservatives o...

The sports media cracks me up sometimes (not literally, thank goodness). Often times it seems that many members of the sports media are about as fickle as politicians during election season when it comes to how coaches and players interact with them. When players and coaches read directly from the book, entitled, "Sports Cliches 101," media personalities seem to yawn and not talk about these seemingly over-rehearsed comments. Then when some sports personalities, like San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich gets rather blunt with his responses, many in the media will almost say in unison, "It's nice to finally talk to someone who just tells it like it is." However, there are still other tell-it-like-it-is comments which seem to receive a great deal of backlash, where these same media talking heads simultaneously utter, "Whoa! He did not just say that! Can you believe that?" The latest such case revolves around Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Grif...

About a year ago, President Obama nominated Vivek Murthy to serve as the next Surgeon General. However, with the NRA leading the way, Congressional Republicans blocked the nomination and there's been little movement on the matter since then. Now with Ebola hysteria seemingly increasing by the day, this vacancy is becoming all the more noticeable. On Sunday's Meet the Press , host Chuck Todd engaged in the following back-and-forth regarding the matter with Senator Roy Blunt (Republican - Missouri): Todd: "The NRA said they were going to score the vote and suddenly everybody froze him. That seems a little petty in hindsight, does it not?" Blunt: "Well, the president really ought to nominate people that can be confirmed to these jobs, and frankly then we should confirm them, there's no question about that." The NRA led the charge to block Murthy's nomination because he stated that we should expand background checks on gun purchases and feels gun...