The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

At an anti-abortion March for Life event in Washington, D.C. over the weekend, students from Catholic Covington High School (Kentucky) got into a heated confrontation with four members of a group known as the Black Hebrew Israelites and a small number of Native Americans whom were participants in an Indigenous Peoples March. Trying not to play sides (yet), here is what I can gather about what transpired. - Members of the Black Hebrew Israelites and Catholic Covington students hurling insults at one another. I hear differing stories on who started the back-and-forth. - Indigenous Peoples March participants, led by Vietnam veteran Nathan Phillips, attempted to intervene, coming between the two groups, hoping to defuse the situation. - Nathan Phillips began playing the drums and singing a song. Black Hebrew Israelites and Catholic Covington students uttered insults toward the Native Americans, while one Native told the March for Life supporters to "go back to Europe." So...

I was between 8 and 12 years old when George H.W. Bush was president. At that time, I followed politics about as closely as a meteorologist follows flurries in Buffalo. Pretty much all I remember about him during that time are: 1) His rather distinct voice; 2) "Read my lips - no new taxes;" 3) Desert Storm; and 4) That he was a Republican; and 5) Dana Carvey doing a spot-on impression of him on Saturday Night Live . So, safe to say, 99% of what I've learned about the man have come in the years after his presidency. It's pretty amazing, in this day and age, to stand back and look at how the Republican Party has changed over the past several decades. Look at where they are today. Whether they like to admit it or not, Donald Trump has become the face of the party. His ideology now coincides with that of the GOP. While the party was shifting rightward during the late Bush's years as president, it was still in that transition stage between moderate, civil, respectabl...

Enslaved (verb): "cause (someone) to lose their freedom of choice or action." Slavery may have technically ended in 1865, but I can guarantee you it still takes place today, especially when it comes to black men. Let's look at this. When slavery was abolished, African-Americans, whom had not attained proper education, were set off into the world. It was akin to a long-time prisoner being set free. Unless strong connections are in place post-imprisonment, it's incredibly common for the prisoner to delve back into his/her old habits and wind up back in a penitentiary. So while it had to have been an indescribable feeling for slaves when slavery was abolished, once they stepped away from the only place they've ever known, it had to also have been overwhelming and stress-inducing. Not only that, but the legal system has been biased against black men pretty much since slavery was abolished. Let's face it, it is possible for money to transcend crime. Slaves en...

There probably hasn't been a politician I've had more of a rollercoaster relationship with than John McCain, who passed away at the age of 81 this past Saturday. I tend to agree with Democratic politicians 67% to 90% of the time, while I only tend to agree with Republican politicians 0% to 25% of the time. John McCain, on the other hand, never seemed to fit in any single box. He was by no means progressive in his view of the world or how to improve our country, yet he was often called a RINO (Republican In Name Only) by those to his right on the political spectrum. Yes, John McCain was called "the maverick" for a reason. I've always felt McCain's unsuccessful attempts at winning the presidency were largely centered around the fact he didn't fit in any neat little box, especially in our increasingly partisan times. When he ran in 2000, as audiences for Fox News and right-wing talk radio continued to increase, he was branded by these media outlets as ...

I often times find myself disagreeing with fellow progressives on the reporting of news or opinions I (we) may not personally like. If I report a story about the National Rifle Association (NRA), Fox News, Sean Hannity, or the Tea Party, I am often times greeted with comments like, "Don't give them a voice," "You're only helping their cause by posting that," or "Why should I care?"  These comments rub me the wrong way, because no matter what our beliefs or how strong they are, it does us no good to live in a little information bubble or to turn a blind eye as others do similarly. The NRA is a powerful organization. Whether I post a story about them or not, they're not going to just go away. So what does it hurt to try and hold them accountable? ...to spread the full truth about their rhetoric and practices? ...to combat the extremely slanted and partisan bent the group tends to use to report their news ? How can inaccurate claims be quashed ...

When walking to Air Force One, en route to Texas, which was ravaged by Hurricane Harvey, First Lady Melania Trump donned a pair of thin heels. When the First Lady and her husband landed, she walked out in a pair of sneakers. So what's the big story from many on the left? The image Ms. Trump wearing heels in such a situation projects - that she can't empathize with the victims of the storm, won't even try to empathize, takes money and possessions for granted, and cares more about her appearance than the livelihoods of the hurricane victims. Look, I for one have never been able to stand heels and, while I agree it may not have been the best of looks for the First Lady in such a situation, we have much more important things to criticize and worry about than her shoes. I may be in the minority here, but I care far more about a leader's words and actions than I do about his/her appearance. When then President Obama was criticized for wearing a tan suit, my immediate reacti...

In a recent Washington Post article, professor and activist Michael Eric Dyson asked the question, "Is Obama to blame for Trump - and the revival of white supremacist hate?" While I tend to respect Dyson and his viewpoints, I can't disagree more with this one. Here is the jist of what he wrote, to which I'll rebut: "Yet Obama’s initial reluctance to address race, the outlines of which Baker briefly traces, left an interpretive void that was grievously, and gleefully, filled by his successor, who is all too eager to ply his poisonous perspective. Baker argues that Obama picked up the pace of race talk in his second term, but it may have been far too little, far too late. When it came to race, Obama, as he did in his foreign policy, led from behind. But Obama’s time in office evoked a unique hatred that undoubtedly rested in race, if not alone, then at least primarily. No amount of ideological dispute or partisan disagreement could account for the relentless as...

This may come as a great shock to many of my readers, fans, and followers, but I want the Republican Party to return to respectability. I want the GOP to return to the Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower days. On election day, I want to choose between the better of two respectables, not the better of two evils. The biggest reason why I spend so much time satirizing the modern-day Republican Party is because I want its members to finally realize how the GOP has been hijacked by racists, sexists, homophobes, oligarchs, narcissists, conspiracy theorists, and phony Christians, and to take it back. Unfortunately, that has yet to occur, but I still remain cautiously optimistic it will at some point. Segueing from that, a number of self-described Republicans are, to this day, still naively stuck on the party's name, claiming it represents today what it represented 150 years ago. I'm sorry, but the party names mean relatively little. If a KKK member was a regist...

Donald Trump has been in office for 143 days (and counting). Not a day goes by where we don't hear about a breaking news story with regard to a Trump tweet, scandal, exaggeration, distortion of history, or word salad. If I had to describe Trump's presidency to this point in three words, they'd be: Narcissism, denial, and accustomed. While I have my theories on what transpired between the Trump administration and Russia, I won't delve into that at this point. What I will say is Donald Trump's first 150 days have undoubtedly showcased his seeming obsession with himself, his denial of reality, and his spoiled upbringing. While it's certainly debatable whether or not Donald Trump truly wanted to become president, I don't think it's at all debatable that he didn't realize what he was getting himself into when he ran for and eventually got elected president. A lot of Trump supporters voted for the man because they claimed he was a brilliant businessman...

Almost every day someone asks me, "How could you let someone like Donald Trump get elected president? Was it as shocking for you as it was for me?" Honestly, no. Donald Trump is simply the product of years of lies promulgated by leaders of the conservative movement and the Republican Party, and for as much as I hate to say it, my Republican friends, you've been had! Liberals like myself are fairly notorious for innocuous language, so I think it's about time to take off the kid gloves and get real! While neither party is perfect (far from it) and both are controlled by big money, let's get something straight, the Republican Party is not the party of morality, God, the middle class, family values, or personal responsibility! In fact, if anything, it's become the antithesis of them! People change, and with that, parties change too, and the modern-day GOP is nothing like the Republican Party in the days of Lincoln, Eisenhower, or even Reagan. Let's look at...

In a recently released Washington Post-ABC News  poll, while the public at large doesn't hold Republican President Donald Trump in high esteem, Democrats don't have much reason to feel overly confident about their prospects in the 2018 and 2020 elections. According to this poll, approximately 67% of the public feel the Democratic Party are "out of touch." Crazier yet, only 52% of self-described Democrats feel their party is in touch, while 44% do not. Not only that, but just 18% of Independents feel the Democrat Party was in touch. While I feel these numbers will improve among the Democrats' base as we move toward the midterm and general elections, the fact we're even talking about the party having trouble with its base is quite telling. So what can they do to improve these numbers? First of all, the Democratic Party needs to find and expose their leaders of the future to help capture people's excitement much like Barack Obama did leading up to the 2008 ...

The only argument I can understand as to why some people still insist on voting for Donald Trump is out of protest. That's it. They see the man as an outsider to the federal government (which isn't entirely true), are angry at the government, and want to see a big shake-up by providing a couple of middle fingers to this nation's capital. In saying that, however, while I can understand these individuals' feelings on the matter, allow me to just say that the "anti-establishment" candidate isn't always the "change-for-the-better" candidate. Let's think about this for a moment here. With Hillary Clinton, we basically know what she's going to bring to the table as president. Yes, with some slight differentiation, she will bring to Washington a third Obama term. Is that really so bad, though? Under President Obama, we've gone from losing 800,000 jobs a month to regularly gaining 200,000+ jobs per month. We've gone from a large percent...

As consistent readers of mine should know by now, I hope to see Donald Trump become president like I would hope to wake up next to a drunken Lorena Bobbitt holding a machete in one hand and an angry skunk in the other. For as much as I tend to disagree with the GOP front-runner, however, I do have to say he's right about one thing - the election process not being very democratic. Let's think about this for a moment here. The Republican and Democratic Parties nominate their presidential representatives, not according to votes, but according to delegates. There have been occasions, including during this election cycle, where a candidate with more votes gets fewer delegates than his or her opponent. If no candidate reaches a particular number of delegates by time of their party's convention, it's possible the delegate leader will not win the nomination, and not only that, it's possible a politician whom didn't even run for the Oval Office throughout the primaries...

As ardent readers of mine should know by now, I am in no way, shape, or form a supporter of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. He comes across as arrogant, angry, greedy, delusional, ill-informed, racist, sexist, xenophobic, and dangerous. If this man gets elected president, I think it would place the United States in a bad spot, both domestically and internationally. He'd further divide this country, which is saying something considering how divided we are already. We'd likely suffer economically, environmentally, educationally, and militarily. I will do anything and everything (within reason) to make certain this man doesn't get elected president. In saying all of that, however, Donald Trump is not Adolf Hitler as some have suggested. Over the past week, Mexican presidents (past and present), comedians, conservative and liberal columnists, not to mention Democratic and Republican politicians have compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, noting his tone and gestures amon...

As long-time readers should know by now, while I don't fully align myself with any political party, I definitely tend to be progressive/liberal on a large majority of issues. In saying that, however, I have to say I'm fascinated by the Republican primaries this election season. I've watched each and every one of the ten GOP debates thus far and plan on watching #11 tonight. I regularly tune in to cable news channels on election days to see updated results, hear talking heads from both sides of the political spectrum try to play fortune tellers, and listen to politicians from both sides of the aisle play the spin-game. Yes, while there's a greater chance of me transforming into a hybrid of Bill Gates and Shaquille O'Neal at midnight tonight than there is of me voting for the Republican nominee this coming November, my attention's glued to the race for the party's nomination, and this will continue through the convention in July. One reason for my high level...

As I've been doing throughout the primary season, I thought I'd update my GOP candidate rankings following their 10th debate. With Super Tuesday just around the corner, ten debates a thing of the past, and John Kasich and Ben Carson likely suspending their campaigns before too terribly long, this may be my last such update. My rankings haven't altered much in recent weeks, and unless something major occurs, chances are they won't be changing much in the future. If anyone's curious, my last such blog was posted on Valentine's Day at this link: http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2016/02/my-updated-gop-candidate-rankings-down_14.html 5) Ted Cruz (up 1 spot): Cruz made two things clear last night: 1) If you've ever donated to a Democratic candidate, you're evil, and 2) It's better to let people die in the streets than to keep Obamacare. Oh, and he'll unite this country... 4) Marco Rubio (up 1 spot): Rubio walked a very fine line last n...

Just a week ago, I updated my rankings at this link: http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2016/02/my-updated-gop-candidate-rankings-down.html A week later, we've gone from 9 to 6 candidates, as Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, and Jim Gilmore have all suspended their campaigns. Following the 9th GOP debate last night, here are my updated rankings: 6) Ted Cruz (up 3 spots): Cruz didn't have his best showing last night and still has that issue with a majority of Republicans hating him so much they use his face for dart practice. So, yeah, that could be a problem going forward for the Texas senator... 5) Marco Rubio (up 3 spots): The Florida senator may not have repeated himself quite as much last night as he had in the previous debate, but he still came across as Rubio Roboto on a number of occasions. 4) Ben Carson (up 2 spots): The former neurosurgeon slept through most of the two-hour debate, but sadly, in the process, wound up looking like one of the more san...

It seems like I did this just a week ago. Oh, that's right, because I did: http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-updated-gop-candidate-rankings-were.html. Three candidates have suspended their campaigns since then (Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, and Rand Paul), so we're now down to 9. Here are my updated rankings of the remaining candidates: 9) Ted Cruz  (up 3 spots): It's ironic how the Cruz campaign has decided to roll with the slogan "TrusTed," considering every time the Texas senator opens his mouth during a debate he averages approximately four lies per sentence. 8) Marco Rubio (up 3 spots): Given how the Florida senator appears to prepare for debates, I have to believe when being introduced to someone, he says, "Hi, I'm Marco Rubio; hi, I'm Marco Rubio; hi, I'm Marco Rubio." Yeah, we got  you the first time... 7) Carly Fiorina (up 3 spots): I didn't hear her speak last night, so her silence was quite refreshi...

As I've been doing following every GOP debate, I thought I'd update my candidate rankings. My most recent rankings (up til now) were posted a couple weeks ago at the following link - http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-updated-gop-candidate-rankings-now.html Since then, I've learned former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore is still in the race. While I had heard that Mr. Gilmore entered the race a while back, since I had yet to see him in any debate (even at the JV table), I assumed he dropped out. Well, apparently I was mistaken, as he made his first such appearance last week on Fox (News). So, we're back to a dozen candidates. Hopefully that number shrinks quite substantially following the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary. Without further ado, here are my updated rankings: 12) Ted Cruz (down 1 spot): It seems that once anyone gets to know Ted Cruz, there's a 97.86% chance they won't like him. Hell, George W. Bush and Bob Dole, amon...

As I've been doing after each and every debate to this point in primary season, I thought I'd update my GOP candidate rankings. My last set of rankings were posted on December 16th at this link - http://thekind-heartedsmartaleck.blogspot.com/2015/12/my-updated-gop-candidate-rankings-down.html. Since then both George Pataki and Lindsey Graham have suspended their campaigns, so we're actually down to 11 candidates (yes, Rand Paul is still technically running). Without further ado, here are my current rankings: 11) Ted Cruz (up 2 spots): When former Republican President George W. Bush even says, "I don't like this guy," you have to know something is wrong... Also, while Tom Cruise may appear a tad loony by jumping on couches on national television, Ted Cruz appears extremely nutters by stomping all over facts at each and every given opportunity, not to mention failing to answer moderators' questions and pretending he was asked something he wasn't. ...