The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

While appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe , Tom Brokaw uttered these words: "I think the Democrats are as much to blame right now as the Republicans are. They've got control of the House, but they're mostly just 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not going to do what you want to do.' I haven't seen a grand plan." The "grand plan" was back in December when the Senate overwhelmingly passed a "clean" (no wall funding) budget bill, which President Trump showed all indications of signing, but then reversed course due to right-wing talking heads like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh telling him he shouldn't. This would have, at least temporarily, prevented a shutdown. Instead, after Trump shockingly rejected the proposal, the Senate was forced to scramble and rush something together in order to prevent a shutdown. This didn't happen and here we are, in day 34 of the the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. This is 100% Donald Tr...

Why is it that such a large majority of Republicans were in favor of NSA spying when President George W. Bush was in office, yet feel that current President Barack Obama should be impeached over it, and why were so many Democrats against NSA spying when Bush was president, yet are suddenly in favor of it now that Obama is the man in charge? The only line of reasoning where this would make any sense to me is if we put impeachment off the table and just think about things from a trust and approval standpoint. Most Republicans trusted and approved of then President George W. Bush, so they weren't as paranoid about being spied upon as they are under Democratic President Barack Obama, and vice versa for most Democrats. When we include the word impeachment, then that before-mentioned line of reasoning can be crumpled up and thrown in the trash. Republicans Before 2009: "Bush shouldn't be impeached for NSA spying." 2009-present: "Obama should be impeached for ...

I discusse d this the other day after seeing a rather sensationalistic AOL headline which read, "Secret Memo: Gov't Can Kill Ameri cans." Of course, wh en reading the actual article, it det ailed that this was legal when thes e "Americans" were members of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.  Well, it doesn't app ear as if fa r- right Republicans ar e the only ones paranoid that t he federal government is going to hunt them down. Far-left Democrats are joining the p aranoi a party as well. MSNBC contribut or Ra chel Maddow, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, and others have come forward about being a little freaked out about this memo and how the federal govern me nt can kill Americans.  While I think an investigation into the matter is warranted, I think people are taking the sensationalistic headlines far too literally. It's not like the memo said the following types of Americans were at risk of getting killed by the federal government: - People...