The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

As he seems to do on a daily basis, Donald Trump came under fire today for retweeting a doctored video of him knocking Hillary Clinton over with a golf ball. Some on the right have defended the president as a "fun guy" and that we all need to lighten up. Some on the left have claimed the tweet proves Trump is a misogynist. In my opinion, both sides are stretching here, Republicans need to stop defending the president, and Democrats need to focus their attention on other things. I don't think it can even be debated anymore; Donald Trump is a sexist. With exceptions, the president typically views women as nothing more than sex symbols, whose sole purpose is to please men's eyes and loins. Having said that, however, what President Trump despises even more than giving women credit based on their actual merits is losing or being called out for being wrong. Donald Trump holds stronger grudges than a teenager nicknamed Sir Grudge-a-Lot. There's a reason why he continua...

Following the Supreme Court's ruling on marriage equality a week and a half ago, the entire Decatur County (Tennessee) clerk staff announced they'll be resigning on July 14th, due to their refusal of handing out marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Along with her two employees, Sharon Bell and Mickey Butler, clerk Gwen Pope will be leaving her job, telling the Jackson Sun , "It's for the glory of God. He's going to get all the glory," adding, "I honestly believe God will take care of us." Hopefully for her sake, she's right, for none of the three have backup jobs at this point. In response to the announcement, Decatur County Commissioner David Boroughs said, "I'm proud of them that their faith is so strong and well-rounded that they feel they can do that." I'm finding all of these stories to be simultaneously sad and hilarious. Perhaps I find them to be so sad, they're hilarious, but regardless, how brainwashe...

While I can perfectly understand why a person would seek revenge on one whom has wronged them, I've personally never been a big fan of the concept. It seems that some become so obsessed with the notion of revenge, they lose focus of their own lives and wind up suffering as a result. This is why I often times believe that the best revenge is to rise above the obstacle or hardship that was thrown one's way and to use the unfortunate situation as a springboard to a better life. Sure, that's often times easier said than done, yet I still find it's more productive in both the short- and long-term to try and improve one's own life than to try and destroy another's. Also, since the world has become hooked on phonics, I mean social networking sites, the concept of "revenge" has seemingly changed along the way, to the point where it often times comes across as immature and silly. The latest such case is with regard to sports broadcaster Erin Andrews and forme...

In light of the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last year, a group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America was formed. A chapter of this group met at the Blue Mesa Grill in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, only to witness around 40 individuals from the group Open Carry Texas (OCT) outside the restaurant unloading guns from the trunks of their vehicles in an obvious attempt to try and intimidate members of Moms Demand Action. After spending two hours in the parking lot, the members of Open Carry Texas went to a nearby Hooters restaurant. The women from Moms Demand Action (MDA) were then able to leave the Blue Mesa Grill unscathed. After members of the group left the restaurant, MDA released a statement regarding the incident, calling the OCT "gun bullies," who "disagreed with our goal of changing America's gun laws and policies to protect our children and families." In response, a member of OCT tweeted this message: ...

Let's review a few significant events in the world of politics over the past few years. 1. Barack Obama was elected president in 2008. 2. He signed a healthcare reform bill which became known as Obamacare. 3. The case got taken to the Supreme Court and was ruled as Constitutional. 4. The Republican Party went after Obamacare and promised to repeal it if they won enough elections in 2012. 5. Obama was re-elected in 2012 and Democrats picked up seats in both the House and the Senate. 6. Obamacare is scheduled to be mostly implemented as of January 1st, 2014. 7. House Republicans tried repealing, defunding, and delaying Obamacare even though Democrats controlled the Senate and the president, who the bill was named after (according to the GOP), was also a Democrat. 8. After these efforts failed, the House decided to shutdown the government until they got their way. Notice a theme with this series of events? Republicans lost. The 2008 presidential election? Republica...

When I saw a Washington Post  article entitled "The unintended consequences of laws addressing sex between teachers and students," a WTF expression came across my face and I couldn't help but read it. The article was written by former attorney Betsy Karasik and prompted by a recent case where former Montana high school teacher Stacey Dean Rambold was sentenced to just 30 days in jail after he pled guilty to raping then 14-year old Cherice Morales, who committed suicide at the age of 16. After briefly going over the controversial ruling made by Judge G. Todd Baugh, Karasik said this: "...I don't believe that all sexual conduct between underage students and teachers should necessarily be classified as rape, and I believe that absent extenuating circumstances, consensual sexual activity between teachers and students should not be criminalized..." Later in the article, she wrote the following: "I've been a 14-year-old girl, and so have all of ...

The Oregon Ducks football team, who was coached by Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly before this coming season, was hit with a light sanction for a recruiting violation under then coach Kelly. This wasn't a very harsh penalty. This was to the death penalty (in college football) what a paper-cut is to a gun homicide. Sure, it might sting for a little bit, but it doesn't completely end a person's life, or a program in this scenario - not by a long shot. Dan Graziano of ESPN.com then wrote an article about the matter today and I was scratching my head while reading the "piece" in its entirety, before I scrolled to the top of the website to make sure it didn't say The Onion. Graziano's article is titled, "NCAA labels Chip Kelly a cheater." Yes, things only got worse from there... Graziano started the article by saying this: "I know that the vast majority of Philadelphia Eagles fans won't care. I know that all you care abou...

After former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner announced he was going to be running for Mayor of New York City, journalists had a field day with the news on account of his last name. One headline read, "Weiner's In!" In light of that, I decided to join the party of immaturity and make up a few such headlines of my own with a top ten list. Top Ten Anthony Weiner Newspaper Headlines Leading to Election Day 10. "Weiner Has Got a Mind of His Own" 9. "Women Voters Lean Toward Weiner" 8. "Weiner to Create Jobs" 7. "Weiner Goes Green" 6. "Weiner Limps to the Finish Line" 5. "Weiner Rises Up to the Challenge" 4. "Weiner Shrinking in the Polls" 3. "Weiner Explodes at the Press" 2. "Weiner Sticks It to His Opponent in the First Debate" 1. ::drum roll:: "Does Weiner have the balls to win this thing?"

In a recent "piece," columnist and part-time drag queen Ann Coulter wrote the following: "Obama has been draping himself in families of the children murdered in Newtown. MSNBC's Martin Bashir suggested that Republican senators need to have a member of their families killed for them to support the Democrats' gun proposals. (Let's start with Meghan McCain!)" Understandably, the more sane, I mean moderate McCain was none too pleased with Coulter's "joke" and responded with this: "Apparently Ann Coulter made a joke about me being killed in a recent column. I should expect nothing less but disgusted regardless. A little perspective this morning. People like ann coulter are part of the past and only live to spread hate and negativity. I literally couldn't imagine living a life that seems so void of love, compassion, and perspective. Basically I get to wake up every day wanting to make this world a better place and people like her...

With it being April Fool's Day and all, I wonder what it is that makes so many people love pranks. I, myself, have never been a fan of them. Pranks involve taking somebody by surprise with a premeditated act that's often times recorded for the pranksters' own amusement. In many cases, the victims of the premeditated acts are complete strangers of the pranksters. These acts have led to embarrassment, injury, and even death. Yet, even with all the risks involved, many morning radio shows go the way of the adolescent in making prank phone calls, and there seems to be more prankster shows on television now than there are educational programs. With the growing number of "reality" shows and the like, I have a difficult time seeing this trend subsiding anytime in the near future, unfortunately. The thing I dislike most about pranks is the fact real living people are affected by them. This isn't like a TV sitcom or a stand-up comedy routine, where the show or ac...

Remember President George W. Bush and the Iraq War during his term? Remember how his popularity seemed to dwindle by the day following the peak at 9/11, and how support for his decision to invade Iraq seemed to diminish by the day as well? Especially after it was reported that the country possessed no weapons of mass destruction, which is why we invaded them in the first place? Yeah, those were the days, right? Why do I bring this up? Because Senate Republicans filibustered Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel yesterday. It was the first time in our history that this has happened. Why did they do this one may ask? I'll let Arizona Senator and rumored co-lead to the upcoming film Grumpiest Old Men John McCain explain the reasoning. Keep in mind that Chuck Hagel is a former Republican Senator of Nebraska. McCain explained the reason for filibustering the former Republican Senator as follows: "It goes back to there's a lot of ill will towards Senator Hagel because when ...

I witnessed a woman breaking up with her boyfriend via text last night. I imagine this is becoming more and more common. I have been on the receiving end of that via e-mail before (and telephone). While I think it's bad enough to break up with somebody over the telephone, I think it's ten times worse to do this over an e-mail or a text when the person's not allowed to hear the other's voice, respond right away, etc. I just think it's weak. It's the easy way out. It makes it so the aggressor in the break-up doesn't have to face the other, doesn't have to look him/her in the eyes, and actually tell them to their face that things are over. They don't even have to hear the other's voice. I just think it's weak, disrespectful and immature. I think if a person truly cared for another, at least at one point, they'd have the strength and respect to actually sit down and talk to them about it, as opposed to leaving a message and walking away as if...

Never did I think I'd receive such a lovely e-mail and be defriended due to poll results I posted on my Facebook page. I read about this very poll at the following site - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/fox-news-viewers-less-informed-people-fairleigh-dickinson_n_1106305.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false The full poll results can be read at this site - http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2011/knowless/ What was the headline regarding this very poll? That regular Fox News viewers are less informed due to the network's stories and commentary than if they didn't watch the news at all. The poll focused on three questions. The first pertained to the protests in Egypt which helped bring down the regime there. The question asked if the protests were successful in attaining this very goal. Of twelve prominent sources (NPR, The Daily Show, Sunday Morning Political News Show, National Newspaper, Political Blog/News Website, National News Broadcast, CNN, MSNBC, Talk Ra...

Middle School As of the first day, Cliques are formed, The bullies and jocks, Geeks and band nerds, Slammed into the lockers, Fearing the halls, Forced to do the bullies’ homework, Getting pushed against a wall, The teasing is constant, Hatred and enemies result, The principal wanting to stay out of the way, Fearful, having been bullied in the past, When their faces aren’t buried in the books, They become hesitant, Indecisive, Irrelevant, Unable to make up their minds, Which way is north and which way is south, Speechless when around girls, In social situations feeling nothing but doubt, The bullies roam the halls, Their heads held high, Knowing they’re above the law, For them, there are no rules or guidelines, They spread rumors, With no basis in fact, Pointing their fingers and laughing, Ready to go on the attack, Lining up militarily, In cohesion with one another, As the nerds scatter about, Not standing by each other, The bullies approach r...