The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Donald Trump's pick to replace Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on appeals court is none other than Neomi Rao, who has come under fire for some op-eds she wrote in college. In the October 14, 1994 edition of The Yale Herald , Rao wrote an op-ed entitled, "Shades of gray," where she wrote the following: "As a young girl I always liked playing with the boys. And I still do. Lucky for us, matronly women no longer lock up college girls in dorms at night. Today, women can drink and run around with the wildest of boys. But with freedom from social constraints comes new responsibilities-responsibilities which are all too easy to ignore. Not a year passes without the confusing, bitter, and problematic question of date rape arising on campus. Incidents involving the 'DKE rapist' and David Bialsky have shown how the battle between the sexes has no easy answers. In the most recent case, a woman accused a brother of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity of rape, ...

As I've mentioned previously, I, unfortunately, am one of the millions who have been sexually abused, assaulted, or harassed (all three in my case). Understandably so, I'm a proud member and supporter of the #MeToo movement. I want victims to feel they have voice, have power, and aren't silenced via fear of their perpetrators. I only wish I felt such securities when I was abused close to 30 years ago. In any case, I couldn't be happier that this movement is progressing as it is, and hopefully, in the long run, it does a world of good to help greatly condense the number of sexual improprieties we experience and observe. Having said all that, though, I think we need to be careful to not unintentionally diminish the significance of traumatic, life-altering experiences such as rape, sexual abuse, and the like, by lending as much airtime to people referring to one another as a pet name; providing them with a gift which may be deemed as inappropriate; or even attempt to pro...

About a week ago, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte came under fire for "joking" with troops, saying, under martial law, "You can arrest any person, search any house. I alone would be responsible for anything you do under martial law. I will go to jail for you. If you happen to have raped three women, I will own up to it." To this, Chelsea Clinton responded via Twitter with the tweet, "Not funny. Ever." Duterte of course couldn't let this go and told Clinton, "When your father was screwing Lewinsky and the rest of the young girls there in the office of the president, on the table, on the sofa, did you raise any criticism?" While I in no way condone former President Bill Clinton's actions in cheating on then First Lady Hillary Clinton, the sexual relations were consensual. Rape is a completely different beast, where one person is forced beyond their will to engage in intercourse. Duterte is making an apples-and-oranges argume...

While I agree that every person should be afforded the right to possess and share their opinions, why does it seem cable news networks and talk radio programs hire the loudest, craziest individuals to share their insane viewpoints? Case and point, Jeffrey Lord of CNN. The cable news network's political commentator and Donald Trump butt-wiper just recently compared Donald Trump to Martin Luther King. His full quote is as follows: "Think of President Trump as the Martin Luther King of healthcare. When I was a kid, President Kennedy did not want to introduce the civil rights bill because he said it wasn't popular, he didn't have the votes for it, et cetera. Dr. King kept putting people in the streets in harm's way to put the pressure on so that the bill would be introduced. That's what finally worked." Apparently, Jeffrey Lord knows comparisons and logic about as well as Beethoven knew disco. Martin Luther King fought to provide millions of people with eq...

Earlier today, some Trump supporters took to Twitter to try and mock anti-Trumpers' #NotMyPresident hashtag with their own, #NotMySuperBowl. They obviously thought this was clever, but as so often seems to be the case of Trumpsters, their attempt at being witty here failed, and failed quite epically at that. To try and compare #NotMyPresident with #NotMySuperBowl is a prime example of false equivalence. The #NotMyPresident hashtag was in response to the result of the presidential election, the final contest in the race to become our next president. The #NotMySuperBowl hashtag, however, was in response to two semifinal games, which of course means there's one remaining. If Trumpsters wanted to properly compare the two, they could have gone with a #NotMyElection hashtag, but then would run the risk of being mistaken as both "Never Hillary" and "Never Trump," when that likely wouldn't be the case, especially of the latter. If these Trump supporters had aw...

So I had an interesting night last night courtesy of Twitter. It all started when I posted the ThinkProgress  article, "NRA Tells Parents To Keep Guns In Kids' Rooms For Safety." The article, which was written by Kira Lerner, states this: "During seminar on 'home defense concepts' at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Louisville, an instructor encouraged gun owners to store firearms in their children's bedrooms. Rob Pincus, who owns the popular firearm instruction company I.C.E. Training, paced across a conference room stage as he repeatedly warned against the threat of violent home invasions. After establishing that filling one's home with weapons is the only solution, he then recommended that gun owners store firearms in their kids' rooms for easy access. 'Why would you consider staging a firearm inside a child's room?' he told the few hundred NRA members in attendance. 'It's the first place I'm ...

I'm both fascinated and frustrated with the election process in this country. One such double-edged sword aspect of the election cycle is the seemingly nonstop spin machine. Regardless of who wins or loses in a primary, expect all sides to present the results in the most positive light possible. Even though the concept of spin is inevitable in election years, having followed this primary season so closely, I'm getting a little unnerved by the following examples of spin:  1) "Hillary Clinton has more votes than Donald Trump!" No, I'm by no means a Donald Trump supporter. In fact, I think I'd vote for a dead squirrel named Lucky over him. However, while this bit of spin may technically be true, it's not a fully accurate comparison. Hillary Clinton has, at the primary's peak, had to square off with four other candidates. On the other side of the political spectrum, Donald Trump has had to deal with as many as sixteen other candidates. So the mathem...

Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote an article this morning on which I felt the need to comment, published by the Los Angeles Times  and entitled, "Was Robert Lewis Dear inspired by the Planned Parenthood videos? So what if he was?" Yes, that's the actual title. It only gets better. Goldberg's article starts with this: "'No more baby parts.' As of this writing, that statement by Robert Lewis Dear is the only evidence that the 'Planned Parenthood shooter' in Colorado Springs, Colo., was motivated by anti-abortion rhetoric. Dear's comment came amid a rambling interview, and law enforcement officials have not said what his motivations were." Well, that's more evidence than conservatives have of the controversial Planned Parenthood videos proving the family planning organization sells baby's parts, of climate change being a hoax, or of gun regulation having no impact on gun violence. If the shooter said "No more...

Given the far-right's rhetoric I've heard over the past few years, it's extremely difficult for me to come away surprised by a fallacy used by such individuals to discredit the LGBT community as deserving of equal rights, especially with regard to marriage. The most common fallacy used by the anti-LGBT community is that of the slippery slope: "Well, if we legalize gay marriage, then what's next? Multiple spouses? Marrying animals? Marrying a pet rock named Softy?" In saying all of that, however, I'm still shaking my head by what Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Josiah Coleman recently said about the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling. "[The Supreme Court's marriage equality decision is like] a United States Supreme Court decision that held the Constitution of the United States required every household in America to own a giraffe." No, actually, it's not. In what has to be one of the most bizarre, most ridiculous quotes I...

Whenever I hear Christians claim that expanding gays' rights decreases theirs, I can't help but shake my head and roll my eyes. Apparently LGBT Americans garnering equal rights as heterosexual Christians is severely hampering Christianity and some members' seeming need to judge, discriminate, and condemn members of the LGBT community (you know, because that's what Jesus would do). That deranged mentality was on full display at Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies in Grainger County, Tennessee this past week. Following the Supreme Court's marriage equality ruling, owner Jeff Amyx posted a sign outside his store which read, "No Gays Allowed." Following the inevitable backlash, Amyx replaced the sign with one which read, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech & freedom of religion." When asked about the signs, Amyx said, "They (homosexuals) gladly stand for what they believe i...

As stock in the Confederate flag is falling faster than Donald Trump for himself, some far-right conservatives have decided to counter this movement by equating the Confederate flag to the rainbow flag, insinuating that the two are equal, and if liberals can take down Confederate flags, conservatives should be able to take down the rainbow flags. John Nolte, Breitbart writer, posted these tweets on the matter (@NolteNC), with all of the posts featuring a picture of a rainbow flag: - "When will this symbol of anti-Christian hate come down?" - "The hateful symbol of bigots who smear Christianity as hate speech must come down..." - "Anyone who doesn't think the gay flag has become a symbol of bigotry and hate hasn't been paying attention." Nolte followed these tweets with a writing entitled, "Take Down The Fascist, Anti-Christian Gay Pride Flag," where he wrote this: "Under the banner of what is dishonestly called a gay prid...

It's official: Stupid Facebook memes have become just as ubiquitous as Starbucks coffee shops. In fact, if anything, that may be understating matters. This especially seems to be the case after gun-related tragedies, like the one that took place in Charleston, South Carolina last week, come to the news-front. Just yesterday, I saw a Facebook meme which showcased the character Stewie from  Family Guy  sporting a gun and supposedly uttering these words: "So if guns kill people, I guess pencils mis spell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat." Yes, we've heard similar arguments before; yes, they've been debunked by Critical Thinking professors nationwide; and no, it doesn't seem these individuals will ever get the point, but still, I feel the need to rebut it. First off, I find it quite humorous that this meme's author, in trying to appear clever, actually misspelled the word misspell (no, it's not "mis spell"). However, give...

Ever since Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the controversial RFRA bill (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) and Walkerton, Indiana pizza shop Memories Pizza stated they'd never provide pizzas for gay wedding celebrations, only to receive a great deal of backlash from moderates and progressives, many conservatives have decided to respond with the following argument: "Weren't liberals supposed to be the people all about tolerance? Them speaking out against our beliefs and calling us homophobes just goes to show how big of hypocrites they really are!" This isn't the first time I've heard such an argument. I've heard it used before, often times with regard to the battle over the rights of the LGBT community. I'm sorry to upset these conservatives, but they're sorely mistaken, for speaking out against those preventing equality is not the same as speaking out against equality. While I and many other progressives may not agree with conservatives o...

CNN contributor Tara Setmayer introduced herself to me last night courtesy of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and even though I haven't researched the matter, I have a feeling her middle name might be WTF. Setmayer is a Republican commentator, an African-American, and yes, a woman. That information will be relevant later in this post. For those whom haven't tuned in yet to The Nightly Show , host Larry Wilmore starts each show much like The Daily Show 's Jon Stewart, as he pokes fun at politicians to induce laughter. This is Comedy Central after all. However, unlike Stewart, Wilmore's show tends to focus on one central topic each and every episode, and following Wilmore's 5-10 minute opening monologue and a commercial break, he's joined by four guests at a round table where they all discuss that very topic. After a second commercial break, Wilmore then asks each guest a rather awkward-and-difficult-to-answer question in a segment called "Keep It 100...

Recently, I read the following letter-to-the-editor in the Columbus Dispatch  and felt the need to respond. The letter was entitled, "Young people have lost their sense of values." Here it is: "In his Thursday letter 'Young people more flexible on gay marriage,' Ben Meacham said, 'The younger generation is adapting to an ever-changing society.' Well, either it is adapting to an ever-changing society, or it is changing society itself. I recall that back in the 1940s and 1950s (I am 81), abortion, euthanasia, cohabiting before marriage, children born out of wedlock and — gasp! — same-sex marriage were simply unheard of. The problem, as I see it, is the members of the current generation, because many, if not most, are completely comfortable with these developments. Does anyone really think our society is better off by virtue of allowing 54 million abortions to have taken place? It’s really not a question of society evolving or traditions changing. ...

While I'm by no means a fan of confrontation, especially in relationships (dating, friendships, or otherwise), it is essential at times to either check the status of a relationship or to move it forward in one manner or another. However, I've noticed two common problems with these confrontations: 1) Some people refuse to engage in such discussions, and 2) When confronted on an issue, many refuse to completely own up to their mistakes. While I understand the mindset of those in group 1, as I've come to learn, the longer people ignore problems in a relationship, the more likely it is that said problems will come back to bite them somewhere down the line. As the saying goes, the first step to solving a problem is admitting one exists. If one doesn't admit this problem, how will he or she know one is present, and how will they then tackle and defeat said problem? It would be strange to hear someone say they enjoy confrontation, but whether or not we enjoy it, it's nec...

Earlier today on ABC's This Week , Republican Pennsylvania Representative Lou Barletta had the following back and forth with Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman regarding gun control: Barletta: "This is a perfect example why people believe Washington is broke. This horrific incident in Newtown, and here what is our debate? It's focusing on guns when there is not one person at this table who really believes that that's the root of what happened there and - when we have people that get into the mind-set that they want to harm people, as a former mayor, I know people will get guns no matter what laws we pass, just like the illegal drug -" Krugman: "I caught you on a false statement there because I do believe that guns are the root. There are crazy people everywhere, but mass murderers are a lot more common here than -" Barletta: "You believe guns are more important than dealing with mental health and our culture. Is our culture lending its...

I read a Facebook status yesterday asking why it was a big deal that no woman has ever been admitted to Augusta National. I then read an article by a guy asking the same question, both saying, "There are women's only clubs. Why can't guys have this?" They both pointed out these organizations known by all of 14 people whom are members, saying that Augusta's male-only membership was the same thing. A person then commented on my friend's post, saying that it doesn't make sense, just like African-Americans can have BET, yet if whites had such a channel, there would be an uproar. I'm sorry, but are some guys that stupid? What, if men weren't allowed to play at Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field or Fenway Park, would they be okay with it? Would that not be a big deal for male baseball players? Oh, but they had that one park at a middle school in Topeka, Kansas which only allowed males, so all is well then, right? Augusta is arguably the most well-known cour...