The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Fentanyl-related deaths 2022: 73,838 actual 2025: 258,000,000 projected by the Drumpf administration US population: 340,100,000

Following the San Bernardino shooting last week where 14 were killed and 21 others wounded, which the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism, President Barack Obama said it was time to pass stricter laws in order to make it more difficult for terrorists to perform acts of terror within this country. Republicans quickly shot back, saying, "It's too soon to talk about terrorism," as well as, "Don't listen to the Democrats trying to use this terrorist act to set forth a political agenda." When I caught up with some of the GOP's leading presidential candidates, here's what they had to say about the matter: - "Bombs don't kill people; terrorists with bombs kill people." - Marco Rubio - "The only way to stop a bad terrorist with a gun is a good terrorist with a gun." - Ted Cruz - "No matter what terrorism laws we implement, terrorists are going to find a way to break those laws, so why harm the rights of law-abiding ...

I've spoken to many common sense gun owners, even NRA members, whom agree that some gun laws are necessary, such as mandated background checks (with that, closing the gun-show and Internet-sales loopholes) and not allowing guns in bars. Some even agree that assault weapons and high-capacity magazines should be outlawed. When Ohio passed a law in 2011 allowing guns in bars, several pro-gun business owners I know thought the idea was so outrageous, they posted signs at the front of their establishments to show that no guns were allowed. Well, if these very individuals thought that law was outrageous, that was nothing compared to the recent legislative proposal made by state Representative Ron Hood of Ashville, Ohio. Currently, it's state law for aspiring gun purchasers to complete an eight-hour training course regarding gun usage and safety before getting their concealed handgun license at the sheriff's office. Well, if this new bill gets enacted, no training will be necess...

I'm all for donating to good causes and doing all we can to find potential cures for a number of debilitating and/or deadly illnesses, however, I also don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to risk many people's lives in a Jacka*s - type of stunt in order to do so. Of course, I'm referring to the Ice Bucket (Water) Challenge, where willing participants have to either donate money to the ALS cause (or other causes) within a certain duration of time or have a bucket of ice cold water dumped over their head. Many people have decided to both donate and have the bucket of water dumped on them, and to the cause's credit, it has raised over $15 million for ALS research. However, while rare, at least one fatality has been linked to this challenge, and former neonatal pediatrician Dr. Stephen Wealthall hopes it comes to a halt before anyone else dies. On July 7th of this year, Willis Tepania (40) died after going into cardiac arrest after having water poured over hi...

Often times when gun rights activists get confronted by gun-control advocates, they respond with something like this: "Well, people die in car accidents every year too. What are we going to do, take away cars from people? I bet you more people die by way of car accident than by gunfire ever year. Maybe we should worry more about making driving safer with laws than making guns safer." This argument is, of course, quite flawed. First off, many more laws and regulations are already in place to limit car accidents as much as possible - much more so than with regard to firearms. Secondly, many more people own cars and drive them than own and shoot guns in this country. So, even without going into numbers, that argument doesn't hold much, if any, merit. Even if we take the gun rights activists' argument seriously, however, a new study shows that their assumption isn't 100% accurate. A new Violence Police Center (VPC) study shows that while vehicle-related deaths h...

Some Republicans and members of the media are now comparing Obamacare to Hurricane Katrina. Let me compare these two events under our past couple presidents in a very condensed fashion: Delayed response to Hurricane Katrina under President George W. Bush: 1,833+ deaths Glitchy healthcare.gov website under President Barack Obama: 1,833+ frustrated individuals Yeah, the death of a person is the same thing as the frustration of one. While we're at it, let's go ahead and compare the Newtown shooting to waiting in line at the DMV... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/us/politics/parallels-to-bush-in-toxic-political-mix-threatening-obama.html?hp&_r=0

Charisma is a "Christian" magazine, who just recently decided to become politically active in sending the following e-mail to subscribers of their newsletter: " Obamacare Just Killed its Millionth Person... Dear Concerned Citizen, The eleventh hour is upon us. In the coming weeks, the full impact of Obamacare will take effect. I've seen what's coming and it's scary. It's a lethal dose of socialism being injected directly into the heart of the American health insurance market. Heck, it's already wreaking havoc. By our estimates, Obamacare has already killed a million people by further straining an already weak healthcare system. It's NOT too late to fight back, though! In a moment, I'm going to ask you to help me repeal Obamacare before it's too late. You see, I'm petitioning Senate Democrats along with the President to kill Obamacare for good. So if you're on the side of personal liberty... Small government.....

Before I delve into this any, I want to make it very clear that I'm not trying to make light of either tragedy. Lives were lost and families were shattered during both horrific events. However, based on living through both and being a keen observer to the political world throughout these past 11 years, I can't help but be struck by some amazing similarities and differences I've noticed between the two. The question always seems to be - "Do you remember where you were on 9/11?" Most people seem to remember where they were when word came that the Twin Towers had been struck in an apparent act of terrorism. A decade from now, will that same question be asked regarding Benghazi? "Where were you when the Benghazi attacks occurred?" While it'd be impossible for me to see into the future and provide an accurate report on the matter, I'm pretty confident that it's not going to happen. I only ask this because of the drastically different demeanor am...