The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

On Tuesday morning's episode of Fox & Friends on Fox News, conservative commentator Star Parker, when confronted about the Charlottesville Unite-the-Right rally over the weekend and President Donald Trump's response to it, said this to co-host Steve Doocey: "That is not what happened. Nancy Pelosi is exploiting an opportunity that they think will play to their side. On Saturday, there were two sides that were in an American city that were - then it was escalating very rapidly. No, the question became then, well, do you denounce the one part of it? But you know what's really interesting and really incredible irony here is the same people that are demanding that the Confederate flag comes down are the same people that are insisting that the rainbow flag goes up. These two flags represent the exact same thing. That certain people groups are not welcome here. So if Nancy Pelosi wants to say that we're going to start shutting down First Amendment rights of a certa...

Not long after the Confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina state capitol, someone decided to write the following message on a sign outside their business and post it on Facebook: "IN THE US YOU ARE FREE TO LIVE AS YOU WISH UNLESS YOU'RE WHITE, STRAIGHT, REPUBLICAN, A GUN OWNER OR SOUTHERN." Sadly, this post has already been shared over 250,000 times, with one commenter responding, "...and Christian." I'm sorry, but this is one of the dumbest signs I've ever read. Let me get this straight, the individual who posted this actually believes that minorities, homosexuals, Democrats, non-gun owners, and Northerners are free to live as they'd like, but whites, heterosexuals, Republicans, gun owners, and southerners are not; is that correct (along with over 250,000 others apparently)? Okay... Here's how this sign reads to me: - "In the US, former slaves are more free to live as they wish than their slave-owners." - ...

Approximately 3 weeks after white supremacist Dylann Roof shot and killed nine African-Americans at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, South Carolina lawmakers finally debated whether or not to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol today. How did the festivities begin? With Republican state Senator Lee Bright going on a crazy rant which could very well land him in the loony bin for at least 24 hours, of course. It went a little something like this: "I watch the White House be lit up in the abomination colors! It is time for the church to rise up... Romans chapter 1 is clear, the Bible is clear. This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and they are under assault by men in black robes who were not elected by you. ... Our governor called us in to deal with the flag that sits out front, let's deal with the national sin that we face today! We talk about abortion but this gay marriage thing, I believe will be o...

Is it just me or does it seem as though 70% of this country's businesses were waiting for an awful incident like the one in Charleston, South Carolina three weeks ago in order to provide them an excuse to stop selling anything associated with the Confederate flag? Ever since Dylann Roof shot and killed nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston three weeks ago, it's felt as though at least one major business has publicly announced they'll stop selling anything affiliated with the Confederate flag. Amazon even went as far as to temporarily stop selling games pertaining to the Civil War, before they decided to backtrack and start selling them again. While I can understand many of these companies' decisions regarding the matter, I hope it doesn't reach the point where we pretend this chapter in our history never actually took place. I, for one, think that the Confederate flag should be removed from all government property, except from museums. If one wants to f...

Last week, I wrote about how some conservatives were insisting that if the Confederate flag had to come down due to the hate and intolerance associated with it, so too did the rainbow flag. I know, apples and Big Macs, right? Well, just yesterday, The Washington Post  released an article entitled, "Which is more taboo? The Confederate flag or the rainbow flag?" The article spoke in-depthly about a poll that was conducted by The American Panel Survey (TAPS) in November of last year. The poll revolved around offensiveness - in particular, how offensive the Confederate flag, rainbow flag, n-word, and a burning flag (U.S.) were. While a very high percentage of Republicans and Democrats found the n-word and an American burning flag to be offensive, they greatly differed in opinion with regard to the Confederate and rainbow flags. While less than 50% of Republicans found the Confederate flag to be offensive, close to 70% were offended by the rainbow flag. In contrast, while 75% o...

While Republicans talking about their party's history with regard to slavery has been trending more in the past year or so, it reached a head this past week when Confederate flags started getting banned more than selfie sticks at construction jobs. I can't tell you how many times over this past week I've read memes, seen videos, or heard comments from conservatives claiming that the Democratic Party is the true party of slavery, insinuating it'd be wise for African-Americans to vote for the anti-slavery Republican Party. While the GOP may think they can only benefit their party's image by doing this, attempting to live in the past is only going to hurt them, and with that, the country at large. Firstly, as I've said time and time again, the two parties are not what they used to be. When Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the two parties slowly began to swap identities. Progressive Republicans slowly started becoming Democrats and...

It's really starting to crack me up how some on the far-right end of the political spectrum are flipping out over the Confederate flag debate not going their way. Last night, I wrote about Breitbart writer John Nolte and Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association comparing the rainbow flag to the Confederate and Nazi flags, suggesting that if and when the Confederate flag gets taken down, so too should the rainbow flag. Yes, because just like African-Americans were enslaved in the South, Christians have been enslaved by homosexuals. The situations are as identical as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. Well, Fox News' Sean Hannity decided to join the crazy party when he made the following comments on his radio show yesterday: "A lot of music by those [rap] artists is chock full of the n-word and the b-word and the h-word, and racist, misogynist, sexist anti-woman slurs none of those retail executes would be caught dead using. If it's OK for Obama's te...

As stock in the Confederate flag is falling faster than Donald Trump for himself, some far-right conservatives have decided to counter this movement by equating the Confederate flag to the rainbow flag, insinuating that the two are equal, and if liberals can take down Confederate flags, conservatives should be able to take down the rainbow flags. John Nolte, Breitbart writer, posted these tweets on the matter (@NolteNC), with all of the posts featuring a picture of a rainbow flag: - "When will this symbol of anti-Christian hate come down?" - "The hateful symbol of bigots who smear Christianity as hate speech must come down..." - "Anyone who doesn't think the gay flag has become a symbol of bigotry and hate hasn't been paying attention." Nolte followed these tweets with a writing entitled, "Take Down The Fascist, Anti-Christian Gay Pride Flag," where he wrote this: "Under the banner of what is dishonestly called a gay prid...

While I'm happy to see pressure placed on states like South Carolina and Mississippi to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitols (and slightly alter the Mississippi state flag), I hope this doesn't result in us bypassing the more important issues of gun violence and (human) racism. Granted, the Confederate flag has long stood as a symbol for hatred and intolerance, but with or without it, racism will still be present. With or without it, Dylann Roof would still have shot and killed nine African-Americans at the Emanuel Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina last week. I, for one, would be glad to see the Confederate flag removed from South Carolina's Capitol, but I think it's of greater importance for the country to start discussing race and guns more openly, come to a nationwide agreement that we continue to have problems in those two areas, and to try and come together to make the changes necessary to decrease their frequency in the years ...