The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I've heard every argument there is to hear from NRA enthusiasts whom believe gun laws are either unConstitutional or pointless, and upon closer inspection, each and every argument fails, bigly. Argument #1: "The 2nd Amendment!" I'm sorry, but the Constitution is 228 years old. When writing it, our Founding Fathers didn't think to themselves, "No matter the day, no matter the year, man should have the right to bear arms! Even well into the future, when these weapons evolve into machine-gun types, with or without bump stocks, anyone from elders to newborns should have the right to fire these motherf*ckers!" I don't think so. The more technology evolves, the more out-of-date the Second Amendment becomes. Does it need to be abolished? No, of course not. But should it receive an update, or at the very least, when discussing it, should more of us take into account the surrounding context of when it was written? Absolutely. It's like my mama alwa...

Whenever I go out to play cards, there's roughly a 50/50 chance I'll hear a Trumpster go on a rant. That was indeed the case this past Saturday night. Instead of getting into a heated exchange as tends to be the result, I decided to listen, just in case I had been missing something when it comes to understanding the average Trumpster. After listening to the man rant for several minutes, I decided, at least to that point, I sadly had a "bigly" excellent understanding of the average Trumpster. The pain arguments this Trumpster made were arguments I had heard ad nauseum throughout election season. There were as follows: 1) Barack Obama didn't do one good thing as president 2) He is the king of liars 3) Donald Trump isn't a regular politician who has been corrupted by the system, which makes him more trustworthy than the average politician 4) Contrary to popular belief, Trump isn't a bigot; he's just smart 5) Last, but certainly not least, Trum...

When debating an issue, while it's often times important to put forth a good argument of your own, it's of even greater importance to discredit the other's argument, for if their argument is discredited, you've essentially won the debate. If another's evidence is in the form of an already debunked chain email or a provenly biased study and you're able to showcase this, you've essentially sunk their argument, and without even trying to prove your point, you can say, "I've proven you wrong, so I'm, in essence, right, and winner of this debate." Case and point, the controversial transgender bathroom laws which were recently signed in Mississippi and North Carolina. The two main arguments supporting these laws are as follows: 1) Just because men dress up like women, they shouldn't be allowed in the women's bathroom. 2) Perverted males would have taken advantage of the matter had the bill not been signed in order to sexually assaul...

After a grand jury decided not to indict Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice last year, debates have sparked across all media outlets, emotions running high in the process. While I can understand that it's inevitable for there to be differences of opinion on the subject, I'm amazed at the large quantity of Tamir Rice trolls making their presence known on numerous websites. Here's a very condensed summary of what happened. On November 22nd of last year, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun in a park, a witness called the police about the matter, informing them it was "probably fake," yet the individual who took the call didn't report this information to the police, and two seconds after the cops arrived, Officer Loehmann shot and killed Rice. I've heard all the arguments from those defending the cop's actions: - "The kid should have known to drop the gun when the cops arrived!" ...

Is it just me or does it seem as if 94.3% of people never take responsibility anymore, and in most cases, they then point the finger at someone else when confronted about a slip-up of theirs? In politics, in sports, at work, at school, between couples, between friends, between family members, seemingly anywhere and everywhere, when someone is called out on a mistake they made, instead of admitting to the error, they then point the finger at someone else. Why does it seem so difficult anymore to admit a mistake, attempt to learn from it, and not make that same mistake again? I'm not exactly sure, but this seeming shifting-of-blame epidemic does get aggravating at times. Here's an exaggerated version of what I'm talking about... Setting: At the Humee residence in Washington, D.C. Diana Humee: "Why didn't you do the dishes this morning before leaving for work?" Donald Humee: "You never asked me to. Besides, you almost always do them." Diana: ...

Setting: Press conference with the NRA's president somewhere in Texas NRA President: "Thank you all for coming today. I'll be open to any and all questions. Who wants to start? Okay, yes, you over there with USA Today ..." USA Today reporter: "You've gone on the record as saying that regardless of the gun laws, people are going to break them, so there's no point in having gun laws. Is that correct?" NRA President: "Yes, that is correct. Look, we have drug laws and people are still snorting coke and crap like that, right? So what's the point in having gun laws, you know?" USA Today reporter: "So, if one person breaks a drug or gun law, this proves the law isn't at all effective and doesn't prevent some people from committing such crimes?" NRA President: "Uh, yeah, sure" USA Today reporter: "So, unless 100% of drug and gun-related crimes can be prevented with law, then there's no point i...

Down 24-14 midway in the 3rd quarter, the Houston Texans received an early Christmas present from the refs. Tailback Justin Forsett was tackled after a 7-yard gain, but then got up and extended that for a club-record 81-yard touchdown run. The refs didn't blow their whistles and even though Stevie Wonder was rumored to having seen Forsett's elbow and knee touching the ground, the refs called it a touchdown. Having seen quite clearly that Forsett was down, Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz angrily threw out his challenge flag. Since every touchdown is reviewed upstairs, this was not necessary. In fact, due to a ridiculous rule, Schwartz's throwing of the challenge flag resulted in the play not being reviewed by rule and the team getting penalized 15 yards. This all resulted in the Texans closing the gap to 24-21 and with it, the entire complexion of the game. The Lions had trouble getting focused both offensively and defensively, and before they knew it, Houston had ...

I'm as much a lover of the arts as just about anybody. I enjoy anything from music to cinema to theatre to literature to painting to comedy (yes, I'd consider this an art, unless you're Dane Cook and then I'd consider it a migraine-in-the-making) and beyond. Like anybody, I have my likes and dislikes in the arts. I'm a big fan of Salvador Dali's painting, of Alfred Hitchcock's film-directing, of Kurt Vonnegut's writing, of George Carlin's comedy, while I'm not so fond of Adam Sandler's acting (and humor), Limp Bizkit and Nickelback's music, Larry the Cable Guy's comedy and Nicholas Sparks' writing. These aren't so much facts as they are my opinions. I may be able to make valid arguments in certain cases to better prove my opinions and more so than the opposing side of the debate. However, grading the arts isn't as black and white as is mathematics. While most critics believe Casablanca to be one of the best films in the ...