The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Donald Trump, Jr. took to Twitter to defend his father's record on minorities, as he posted this tweet: "If over his entire presidency Obama had accomplished 10% of what @realDonaldTrump for these groups the left would anoint him emperor for life. When Trump does it in less than 2 years it's Blah Blah Blah. What a joke!" I think it's safe to assume Don Jr. is speaking in reference to the fact that unemployment among African-Americans is at the lowest rate ever recorded, dipping to under 6%. But as usual, a Trump isn't telling the whole story and is largely taking credit for someone else's work. Like every other demographic, black unemployment rose during the Great Recession, peaking at above 15% in 2010. It's been going down ever since, dipping to 12.5% in 2013, 10% in 2015, and roughly 7.5% when Obama left office. So black unemployment went from 17.5% to 7.5% under President Obama, a decrease of 57%. Meanwhile, it's decreased from 7.5% to 6%...

As a child, I loved the 4th of July. Between family barbecues to my parents having time off to spend with my brother and I, to of course, fireworks, the 4th of July was my favorite holiday outside of Halloween and Christmas. As is often the case, however, the more I've aged, the more my viewpoints about the major holidays have changed, none more so than the 4th of July or Independence Day. Over the past 5 to 10 years, I've noticed an increasing number of children and pets being frightened by the loud sounds of fireworks. Not only that, I've grown bored of the repetitive nature of fireworks displays. Honestly, if you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. Worst of all, though, is a question which constantly rings in my mind all throughout these holiday festivities: "What does Independence Day truly mean anymore?" On July 4th, 300 million+ Americans celebrate their independence. But what about illegal immigrants and DREAMers who could be deported...

Am I the only one who's bothered by the phrase "persons of color"? I think it rubs me the wrong way for two reasons. First, why is it offensive to use the phrase "colored people" but inoffensive to say "persons of color"? If one is offensive, shouldn't both be offensive? If I were to anger a group of individuals I called "stupid people," wouldn't they likely be angered if I were to alter that phrase to "people of idiocy"? Secondly, if we take the phrase "persons of color" literally, doesn't it come across as kind of ridiculous? To my knowledge, nobody is clear, colorless, transparent. We all have color to us, from the whitest of white to the blackest of black and everywhere in between. I, like most "white" people, am peachy/pinkish in color. So when I hear someone say "persons of color," my immediate thought is, "So, we're talking about everyone then?" More times than not w...

I stumbled across an article written by First Amendment Coalition Executive Director, Peter Scheer, today, and felt the need to respond. The article's entitled, "College Students Need Lessons in Tolerance and Free Speech." I'll share the opening two and final full paragraphs of the article, because I think they provide a clear picture of what Mr. Scheer is trying to express. "There's nothing like the massacre of 129 Parisian civilians at the hands of jihadi sociopaths, utterly convinced that their barbarism manifests the will of God, to provide some perspective on the recent whining of students at a number of America's most elite colleges and universities. For the past few weeks, students across the country -- at Yale University in Connecticut, Amherst College in Massachusetts, New Hampshire's Dartmouth College, the University of Missouri, and southern California colleges Claremont McKenna and Occidental -- have been testing the limits of academ...

After seeing a Facebook friend post a meme saying, "If you think every person should need an ID to vote, like this," I decided to respond with the following: I don't usually chime in when it comes to politically-oriented posts, but as I feel the voter ID law debate is, for the most part, being inaccurately painted in a black-or-white manner, I thought I'd add a few shades of grey to the mix. Here's a more thorough overview of the controversy surrounding the implementation of stricter voter ID laws - http://theweek.com/articles/442819/everything-need-know-about-voter-controversy The stricter voter ID laws have affected the following demographics more than any other: Women, elders, minorities, students, and veterans. I'll now post quotes and links to articles pertaining to each and every one of those demographics and how they're directly impacted by the stricter voter ID laws: Women - "Here's where women get stuck. American women change th...

Following the first Democratic debate on Tuesday night, I can't tell you how many times I've heard conservative commentators utter this line: "I thought Democrats were the party of diversity! Republicans are the ones with diversity! If anyone is lacking in diversity, it's the Democrats!" Of course, this is with regard to just the presidential candidates, which supposedly reflect the parties at large. Suffice it to say, this couldn't be further from the truth. Granted, the Democratic candidates are comprised of four white men and one white woman, while the Republican candidates include: two Latino-American men, one white woman, one African-American man, one Indian-American man, and seemingly countless white men. So, if we simply want to grade the two parties' diversity on the presidential candidates, surely the Republican Party would be the more diverse of the two. However, that's missing the forest for the trees. In the House of Representatives, De...

I found a segment on The Daily Show last night to be quite humorous in a sad sort of way. It talked about how there were some female, minority, and even homosexual Republicans that got elected in Tuesday's elections. On one hand, it's great that we're gradually becoming more diverse in politics. It's about time politicians looked a bit more representative of our country at large in modern-day America, as opposed to the 1950s (that may even be a bit too contemporary...). However, on the other hand, I know full well what the main reason is for the Republican Party to seek female, minority, and homosexual representatives - to try and appeal to more women, minority, and homosexual voters, and the troubling part about that is, they think it will be effective. It reminds me of when Herman Cain ran to become the Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election. Both he and the party in general seriously thought that if he were the nominee, he'd be able to win a much...

When scrolling through my "friends'" Facebook comments yesterday on my newsfeed, I came across the following status from a 40-year old far right-wing white man: "When I voted today, the people at the poll asked me for identification. Surprisingly, it didn't offend me one bit. It was also very little hassle. Wierd right? Based in what I had heard I was sure I would feel oppressed, embarassed and violated. What a pleasant surprise!" While trying to sound like a smarta*s, he wound up sounding like a dumb one. The three groups most affected by stricter voter ID laws are: Elders, minorities, and women. Elders and minorities are more prone than other groups to not have the necessary voter identification to make their voices heard on election day, while women run into problems because of name changes due to marriages. Whenever a person such as the before-mentioned one makes a sarcastic comment about voter suppression, I wish for a split-second he was a 90-year ol...

Last night, I read a Facebook post which included a link to an article titled, "If conservatives are racist why are over 20 Black Republicans running for office in 2013-1014?" Yes, there should have been a comma after the word "racist," "black" shouldn't be capitalized, and I believe these Republicans are running for office in 2013-2014, but I could be mistaken. The brief article, written by Joshua Riddle of Young Conservatives , reads as follows: "Oh, look!!! The racist Republicans are up to their racist shenanigans again. They already have over '20' Black Republicans running for public office in 2013-1014...and that's just the ones who announced. How can this happen? The Party is racist? Right? I'm sure the media won't be reporting this." First of all, it would be wrong for one to state that all Republicans are racist. A majority of them are not. However, I do know many more racist individuals whom identify with th...

Yet again, the Republican Party is attempting to "rebrand" themselves as a more tolerant party by looking at the (ancient) history of the two parties. Just last night, I saw this post on Facebook: "Quick history lesson: 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery 100% Republican Support 23% Democratic Support 14th Amendment: Gave citizenship to freed slaves 94% Republican support 0% Democratic support 15th Amendment: Right to vote for all 100% Republican support 0% Democratic support" For the record, the 13th Amendment passed in 1865, which was 148 years ago. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, or 145 years ago. Lastly, the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870 - 143 years ago. Let's look at these three years, shall we? 1865 - Abraham Lincoln was president, and later assassinated - The New York Stock Exchange opened its first permanent headquarters - The Salvation Army was founded - The first edition of Alice in Wonderland was published - G...

The Republican Party's re-branding effort has gone about as smoothly as a man with Tourette's Syndrome hitting on a blind woman. Some members of the GOP have admitted the party needs to reach out to a broader range of voters, including women and minorities. However, that hasn't gone so well and an increasing number of Republicans are starting to suggest there's really no point in trying to reach out to such voters. In a last ditch effort, the party has tried resorting to history to woo the vote of minorities, African-Americans in particular. Members have said, "Which party was mainly responsible for passing the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act? It was the Republican Party! Come on! Why don't you support the party that supported you back in 1964?" That's the thing. While it's true that under then Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson, approximately 80% of Republican House and Senate members voted for the Civil Rights Act and close t...

Judging by what I read, CPAC should no longer stand for Conservative Political Action Committee. It should stand for Crazy People Are Coming. This could be seen as a double-entendre, for it could be referring to the people speaking at this gathering or how these people see everyone else. Last Friday, audience member Scott Terry - a 30-year old from North Carolina - had a few interesting bits of commentary to share with the other audience members, as well as speakers. After presenter K. Carl Smith of the Frederick Douglass Republicans referenced a letter written by Douglass, where he forgave his former master, Terry blurted out, "For what? For feeding him and housing him?" Sadly, this comment was met with applause and cheers. Following this back-and-forth, Terry was heard saying, "Why can't we just have segregation?" Terry wasn't done there. He also said that whites have been "systematically disenfranchised" by the federal government. When...

Many media pundits and talking heads like to talk about how divided we are as a nation. They tend to classify the divisions as: Liberal vs. conservative, Republican vs. Democrat, red vs. blue, urban vs. rural, but I see the division in a different manner and feel it's become more evident every four years - that's old vs. new. When looking at the exit polls from last week's election, with what demographics did Republican candidate Mitt Romney succeed? The old and the white - men, in particular, along with evangelicals. Where did President Obama succeed? With young voters, minorities, and women.  The country is becoming more diverse by the year, not only with regard to race, but also with regard to people in power - women and minorities now standing alongside white males with growing numbers. Each and every new generation of voters appears to be more liberal than the last, largely due to social issues - gay rights, in particular. Women and minorities are voting in larg...

Not too long ago, Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, tried explaining the differences between his and President Obama's plans for Medicare. How'd he do this? Via writing them down on a white board. Yes, Mitt Romney has now proven to the American middle-working class that he is just like them, because he can write on a white board! Perhaps his next step should be trying to appeal to minority voters by explaining the differences between his and Obama's plans for welfare via his notes on a blackboard. That will definitely do the trick! To view some rather humorous fictional Romney-white-board writings and drawings, check out the following link -  http://romneyswhiteboard.tumblr.com/