The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

As most economists would tell you, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has a problem with numbers: An increased debt means a decreased debt, a lower minimum wage is equivalent to a higher minimum wage, 2 + 2 = 7, etc. Segueing from that, let's look at the two presidential nominees' July fundraising totals: Hillary Clinton: $90 million Donald Trump: $35.8 million Difference: +$54.2 million for Clinton/-$54.2 million for Trump What was Trump's response? Only this: "It's gonna be announced tomorrow or the next day: we've raised, we think, about $35.8 million. This is unheard of for Republicans, $35.8 million." Actually, that's not true at all. At this time during the 2012 election season, then Republican nominee Mitt Romney raised $101 million, $65.2 million more than The Donald (2.82 times more). Given Trump's seeming lack of math skills, expect him to say the following at some point: - "I won 18 states. This is unheard ...

As long-time readers would know, I've had a long-time love/hate relationship with social media, Facebook in particular. While I absolutely love being able to keep in regular touch with friends and family on the site, there are definitely some times where I want nothing to do with it. Mother's Day is one of the days where I try to stray as far away from Facebook as possible. Is it just me or does it seem like, on Mother's Day, most of the Facebook world is attempting to suggest they're the best kid in the world? - "Look what I did for my mom? I put on these gloves and make it look like I'm going to do some yard-work, but really, I'm about to lift some dumbbells while watching America's Most Wanted . I'm the best kid in the world!" - "I put forth the hard work to take a picture of this great meal my mom cooked, but will refrain from giving her credit, in order to make others think I was the one who did it. So I'm the best kid!" ...

I'm really not one who likes to brag, which is probably a big reason why I'm continuing to struggle making a lot of money writing. But in any case, I just heard a story the other day I felt the need to share. In the wake of the tragic San Bernardino mass shooting last week, I wrote a blog entitled, "Still too soon to talk about this?" which can be read here: http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2015/12/still-too-soon-to-talk-about-this.html After sharing this writing on my Twitter account, I received notification from a high school teacher in New York that she shared this very writing with two classes of her's (including an AP class), adding that it prompted an interesting discussion, and I won some new fans along the way. So, as The Dude might say, I thought that was pretty cool.