The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

A friend of mine posted this on her Facebook page (https://www.gofundme.com/buya5us4). It's a link to a GoFundMe fundraiser page, asking for donations to help "Jessica." The write-up was authored by Danielle Andersen-Jeppesen, and reads as follows: "Jessica is a beautiful young woman facing a tremendous battle. She came to my family at 8 years old after many years of foster care. Her adoptive dad, Scott, had cancer as a child and the treatments he received damaged his heart, liver, and kidneys. He died one year after her adoption. She continued to be the best daughter and sister she could as we all grieved his loss. Health issues continued to plague our family and she was so strong for all of us.  Fast forward to a month ago and she got the terrifying news that her young (21 year old) body is facing a cancer battle of her own. She has breast cancer. She's already underwent surgery to remove the tumor and is needing genetic testing to determine her future. P...

As I pointed out in a blog yesterday, multiple parties deserve at least some of the blame for the escalated tension and violence at Donald Trump rallies, including: The media (5% of the blame), the protesters (10% of the blame), and Trump supporters (10% of the blame). However, no matter what the current GOP frontrunner wants to believe, a large majority of the blame is with him and his rhetoric (75% of the blame). Based on Trump's commentary following recent protests at his rallies, which have resulted in one cancellation and potential multiple criminal charges (on both Trump supporters and protesters), he appears to be quite confused on the concept of cause and effect. He has yet to bear any responsibility for the escalated tension, anger, and violence at his rallies, instead fully blaming the protesters. Just from a chronological standpoint, how does that work exactly? According to Donald Trump Cause: Protesters respond to his angry rhetoric Effect: His angry rhetoric whi...

Zach Anderson is a 19-year-old from Elkhart, Indiana. He graduated from high school a year ago and was aspiring to go into computer science. Like an increasing number of people throughout the years, Zach joined a dating app - this one by the name of Hot or Not . He began talking to a 17-year-old woman off the site, whom he decided to meet. She lived about 20 miles away from Zach, in Niles, Michigan, where Zach picked her up and the two of them wound up having intercourse. Unfortunately for Zach, the person he picked up and had sex with was only 14-years-old, her mother had called the police about her disappearance, and he had to spend 90 days in jail as a result, not to mention will be a registered sex offender for the next 25 years (http://abcnews.go.com/US/19-year-spend-25-years-registered-sex-offender/story?id=32783206 and http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/03/us/dating-app-sex-offender-registry/). The 14-year-old girl who lied about her age on the dating app, now 15, and her mother both ...

The NFL's image has been significantly marred in recent weeks due to a number of cases surrounding domestic violence. While the league's commissioner Roger Goodell has attempted to take a few steps in the right direction on this front, the league still has a long way to go. Fortunately for Roger Goodell, whose image has gone from bad to downright sickening during this time, he has stand-up players like Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to aid him on the matter. While I'm fairly neutral when it comes to teams in the NFL, or any sport for that matter, it's difficult not to like and pull for Russell Wilson, who came into this league as an undersized quarterback, wasn't given much of a chance to be an elite-caliber quarterback in this league, has led his team to a Super Bowl victory in his short time there, and continues to showcase that he's a good, decent human being away from the field as well. Wilson continued that do-good trend when he recently in...

Beyond Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs (on pages 96-101 in LOL at the GOP: Volume 5 - You Can't Spell "Forgot To Take Their Crazy Pills" Without "Tea Party" ) Led by the Tea Party, the further to the right the GOP travels, the more it appears they're devoid of reality. When it comes to the problems of this world, it'll help more to pray than to actually do something about them. When it comes to gun violence, films, music, and video games are more to blame than the actual device which injured or killed people. Interpretation of scripture trumps scientific evidence to the contrary. Conspiracies take precedence over fact-checking. Yes, in the modern-day Republican Party, it's felt like the story of the Easter Bunny is more widely believed than that of Gandhi, and here's a story which attempts to depict just how cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs they've become. Setting: A group of Republicans sitting around a table in a conference meeting room Ted Cruz: "O...