The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

After Khizr and Ghazala Khan's emotional speech in honor of their deceased son, Captain Humayun Khan, at the Democratic National Convention, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would have been smart to just let things go. Of course, that's not his style, and he felt the need to respond, by saying the following: "If you look at his wife [Ghazala Khan], she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me." and "I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I've had tremendous success. I think I've done a lot." First off, you don't call a mother out for being quiet in front of a microphone when having to relive the loss of her son who died in a war. Secondly, you don't compare your business sacrifices to a soldier that lost their life or a fa...

In the most recent Republican presidential debate, which took place in Flint, Michigan, Florida Senator Marco Rubio was asked about the Flint leaded water situation and how it was mishandled by Republican Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. Rubio responded with this: "Well, I know I've talked about it, and others in our campaign have talked about it, and other candidates have talked about it, as well. What happened in Flint was a terrible thing. It was a systemic breakdown at every level of government, at both the federal and partially the - both the state and partially at the federal level, as well.  And by the way, the politicizing of it I think is unfair, because I don't think that someone woke up one morning and said, 'Let's figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone.' But accountability is important. I will say, I give the governor credit. He took responsibility for what happened. And he's talked about people being held accountable an...

What do Ohio Governor John Kasich, State Treasurer Josh Mandel, Attorney General Mike DeWine, and Secretary of State Jon Husted all have in common, besides being Republican? They've been ducking debates leading up to election day. In Governor Kasich's case, his campaign feels that, with such a large lead over Democratic challenger Ed Fitzgerald, it could only potentially do the governor harm to participate in debates. Given many Republicans' issues in such settings leading up to the 2012 elections, perhaps many have opted to go the silent route, thinking it's less potentially damaging than actually attempting to answer moderators' questions by opening their mouths. Regardless of the reason or excuse, however, I think this strategy is very disrespectful to voters. What are independents, moderates, and undecideds supposed to weigh their decisions on? Misleading ads and fliers? Newspaper endorsements? Biased radio shows and cable news networks? Good luck with that....

Due to his policies as Mayor of New York, the homeless have not been Michael Bloomberg's most ardent supporters. Just recently, the New York Times featured a series on a homeless family in New York City, where the central piece of the story was 11-year-old Dasani. When asked about this family and story, Mayor Bloomberg responded with this: "This kid was dealt a bad hand. I don't know quite why. That's just the way God works. Sometimes some of us are lucky and some of us are not." While I would strongly agree that some of us are luckier than others, his seeming shrug of the shoulders when saying, "That's just the way God works.," irked me a great deal. Instead of taking some ownership, that quote says to me, "There's nothing I could have done about it. Just place your faith in an invisible man and hopefully a miracle will ensue." It could also be interpreted as, "It's not my fault. It's God's. Take it up with h...

The Republican Party continues to be in denial about last month's election. I've heard the following reasons as to why Republicans lost seats in the House, the Senate, as well as a chance to win  back the White House: The electoral college, Gary Johnson, voter suppression, Chris Christie, Hurricane Sandy, the media, voters dependent on government, voter fraud, racists, and the most recent (possibly my favorite) is ACORN. Yeah, in a new poll released by Public Policy Polling, it was found that 49% of Republican voters nationally think that the group known as ACORN stole the election for Obama. There's only one problem with that theory. It's only a minor one, but is a problem nonetheless. ACORN no longer exists. Following this trend, I believe Republicans will blame the following for their defeat in the 2012 election at some point before the 2016 election: The dodo bird Tyrannosaurus Rex Elvis Presley Realistic reality shows Good defenses in college football ...

I just wrote about this, but something else just came to mind regarding the cliche - laziness. Whenever something bad happens or whenever facing a challenge, some may utter this line - "Well, you know, everything happens for a reason." This isn't a call to action. It's, "Don't give up. Stay the course, let the chips fall where they may and let God decide." Yup, that's it. Instead of trying to do something about the problem which is staring one in the face, just don't worry about it, for it's happening for a definite reason. The abuse that child suffered? No need to fret. It happened for a reason. Don't press charges to try and put the perpetrator in jail. Don't seek counseling. It'll be for the better in the end. The individual whom was killed by a drunk driver? It happened for a reason. They're in a better place now and you will be with them again when you too shall pass. There's really no need to fight against drun...