The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I just read an article from USA Today conservative columnist Nicole Russell, which I felt deserved the fact-check treatment. It's titled, "GDP soars and Trump's economy roars. Liberals still won't give him credit." Let's see what she has to say. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/07/30/trump-gdp-us-economy-rebound-tariffs/85406642007/    "Thanks to President Donald Trump's bold policies, it appears that the United States will avoid a recession this year - one that so many liberals were predicting only months ago." Okay, I hate to be hard on her, but Ms. Russell's argument is off to a slow start. The fact of the matter is Donald Trump inherited a strong economy. The ONLY reason there was ever fear of a recession this year was BECAUSE of Donald Trump's policies. That's it. The man has changed his mind on tariffs more times than a mother of octuplets changes diapers. Here's how things went. There were no fears of a...

I've been reading comments on Discord and Twitter which contend the new song "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" is about domestic violence during the pandemic. There are even some on the latter site which have reportedly "dropped Muse" due to the upbeat nature of the song coinciding with said alleged theme of it. However, the only comment I can find potentially confirming that the song's inspiration was in fact domestic violence during the pandemic was courtesy of Mark Beaumont in an NME article he wrote about the band/album.    Reading over the lyrics, while I can see why Mr. Beaumont interpreted them to be about domestic violence, I'm getting the feeling it's not as clear cut as that. Oddly enough, while I initially thought it may have been a satire on right-winger's paranoia of governmental control during the pandemic, I changed my mind after watching a recent interview Chris had with Rock Antenne (I say "oddly enough," beca...

I see a lot of people bashing "Liberation" for being a Queen-rip-off; possessing "awful" lyrics; and/or listing it as the worst, or at least one of the worst songs off Will of the People . While everyone has the right to an opinion, all the negativity surrounding the song prompted me to post a positive write-up of it. First off, while there are undoubtedly Queen-influences present in this track, I see them as much less overbearing than in some other songs - most notably "United States of Eurasia" (love this track too, by the way). The most obvious said inspiration occurs between the verse and chorus, where multiple vocals are layered - somewhat reminiscent of "Bohemian Rhapsody." That's it, though, and such a musical maneuver is far from rare in Muse's catalog. Hell, just look at this album - the same type of sound transpires at the very tail-end of "We Are F-ing F-ed" (another great song). Queen has long been a ma...

Let's be honest; critics have consistently, historically been all over the place with Muse. Some have long branded them as Spinal Tap come to life; others have claimed they're one of the best bands of this generation, if not the very best; and of course, there are many who have placed themselves between these extremes. Why has there been so much disagreement? Because while every critic has the right to voice his or her opinion, that's all they are - opinions. Musical taste is subjective. One person may love Metallica; the next individual may have a thing for Kenny G; and yet another may have a fantasy of Metallica collaborating with Kenny G. That doesn't make any of the three right or wrong (although I am now kind of curious to hear this hypothetical collaboration). Once again, they're just expressing their own personal viewpoints. Given that, why is it that some have the seeming need for a critic to see eye-to-eye with their opinion on a song or album...

British rock trio Muse just released their 9th studio album, entitled Will of the People . Now, I've gotta start this review by admitting to all my readers I'm a die-hard Muse fan. They are, without question, my favorite band - have been for roughly 14-15 years. Having said that, while I've enjoyed their past three albums (2012's The 2nd Law , 2015's Drones , and 2018's Simulation Theory ), I've also felt they were three of the band's four weakest releases to this point (their 1999 debut Showbiz being the other). The 2nd Law felt like the band's most experimental record, where they marked all the genres they wanted to try off their bucket list. Not only did they dabble in dub-step, but bassist Chris Wolstenholme wrote and sang two songs. On a 12-song album, singer Matt Bellamy was the lead vocalist on only eight of them. While I'm all about Muse experimenting, and loved the variety, it felt a little more mixed on the execution than I would have...

I received the following comments on episode 206 of my podcast ("I Feel Snitty"), entitled "Can You Hear Me Now? Part 8": - "A Stable Genius heading for a Crèche Landing. HAHAHA!  Le Trompe d'œil is, as zeh French may say, 'L'univers bouleversé.'  Un orbe d'orange. (Get it?  'Stable' = 'Crèche'?) The sheep bleat and the cows low.  A trick of the eye! TFG is a total fake, and @GOP used him." - "You're funny. Look into something that might broaden your audience.  Automated speech-to-text (subtitling) app. Reading along engages more parts of the listener's brain. There are free apps out there that generate text on the fly. I DIED LAUGHING at Hawley! Bernie said 'coop.'" - "This episode is my first, Craig. I enjoyed it. You added humor. A Big +." - "I'm not on Twitter a lot, but I'm glad I caught your podcast." The episode can be heard here. - https://ifeelsnitty.podbean....

I received this comment on episode 171 of my podcast ("I Feel Snitty"), entitled, "'World Ain't Round' (parody based on the Muse song, 'Won't Stand Down')": - "Also “world ain’t round, it’s just way longer”… damnit that is some good sh*t right there 🤣🤣🤣" The song can be heard here. - https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/world-ain-t-round-parody-based-on-the-muse-song-won-t-stand-down/

I received this comment on episode 161 of my podcast ("I Feel Snitty"), entitled, "'Supermassive Maskholes' (parody based on the Muse song, 'Supermassive Black Hole')": - "I actually snorted at 'you make the Jesus cry' 🤣🤣🤣 Bless, that was f*cking hilarious… I know a few relatives I could send that to who could benefit from that message lol 🤣🤣🤣" The song can be heard here. - https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/supermassive-maskholes-based-on-the-muse-song-supermassive-black-hole/

The latest episode of my podcast ("I Feel Snitty"), entitled, "Can You Hear Me Now? Part 5," is now available! Here's a brief description of it: Here's my snarky analysis on session #5 of the January 6th hearings. The show can be heard here. - https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/can-you-hear-me-now-part-5/

Podcast: I Feel Snitty Episode 188: Extremely Extreme Extremists Premiere Date: 5/13/2022 Length: 9:17 (1,403 words) Link: https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/extremely-extreme-extremists/ Transcript:  Welcome to I Feel Snitty , episode 188, entitled, “Extremely Extreme Extremists.” I’m your host, Craig Rozniecki.   Unless you’ve been vacationing on Mars, chances are you’ve heard that Tesla CEO and Martian voted most likely to be a Tesla CEO – Elon Musk, has bought social-media giant, Twitter. Not long after his $44 billion purchase of Donald Trump’s former residence, Musk tweeted a meme which showed him as center-left in 2008; center in 2012; and center-right in 2021, all while the Democratic Party moved progressively left. He followed this up with a post which read:   “I strongly supported Obama for president, but today’s Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists.”   I hear this label ubiquitously being tossed around by both parties. Do any of th...