The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I received the following comment on episode 7 of my podcast, I Feel Snitty , entitled, "Blue Crimes Matter": "What I love most about Craig is the humanism he brings into his Podcasts. People often become distracted by wanting to draw you to their opinion that they lose you mid-monologue. Here we find someone who approaches societal matters and issues with sane facts and he does so with humour and cognition." To check out this particular podcast, just click on this link:  https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/blue-crimes-matter/ To check out any of my other podcasts, click on this one:  https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/

What do you get when a white police officer kills an unarmed black man via a chokehold? Five years in prison. Oh, check that, unemployment five years later. In this episode, I talk about the recent news involving former Officer Daniel Pantaleo getting fired five years after choking and killing Eric Garner and how the seeming law enforcement-vs.-Black Lives Matter debate isn't as black and white as many suggest. In addition to this, I try to explain to my fellow whites what it actually means when someone says "Black Lives Matter!" No, as Inigo Montoya said in the classic film, The Princess Bride, "I do not think it means what you think it means." You can listen to the episode in its entirety here: https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/blue-crimes-matter/ You can check out all of my other podcasts at this link: https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/

I've long said the Republican Party often gets itself into trouble due to its self-branding of the party of God, family values, and morality. This sets them up for ridicule and mockery if and when a member of their party speaks or behaves in a manner which runs contrary to said branding. Sure, any and every politician should face criticism after being caught paying off a hooker, especially if a spouse and/or kids are in the picture. However, this behavior receives even more scrutiny (and deservedly so) when the politician in question has repeatedly labeled himself as a man of God, family values, and morality; has bashed and voted against the LGBT community; and then gets caught paying a man to have sex with him while his wife and kids are at home waiting. Democrats are running into a similar problem when it comes to political correctness. One major reason why I favor the Democratic Party over the Republican Party is their inclusivity. Democrats have essentially branded themselves...

So, I had a run-in with law enforcement yesterday. My lease on my old car ran out in March of this year, when I put a lease on a new vehicle. Little did I realize the stickers on my plates expired in June. Stopped at a light, I witnessed a cop's flashing lights behind me not long after we got going again. I wasn't speeding or driving erratically in any sense, so I was quite puzzled, even thinking he was going to pull over someone in front of me. After checking my insurance and license (clean record), he kindly let me off with a warning and provided me with information on where to go outside of the BMV, as it's rather notorious for long lines/waits. The discussion was short-lived. The officer was helpful and understanding. As I was on my way to meet my parents for lunch, the situation could have been a lot worse. I actually wondered to myself, "Would this have gone any differently had I been black or Hispanic?" I honestly have no idea, but I couldn't help but...

I'm getting a little tired of the us-vs.-them rhetoric we hear so often nowadays, especially with regard to law enforcement and the Black Lives Matter movement. The two aren't mutually exclusive. It's perfectly rational to be both pro-cop and pro-Black Lives Matter.  First off, no matter who we want to pin the blame on, I think many have misunderstood the intent of Black Lives Matter (BLM). BLM activists aren't saying only black lives matter; they're simply saying black lives matter too. Many black-Americans feel like their voices have been ignored and like their lives mean less than those in other demographics (perhaps 3/5 of a person), to the point where they've decided to stand up and say, "Hey, our lives matter too!" So for those who like to counter chants of "Black Lives Matter!" with "All Lives Matter!" while that's technically true, it illustrates your lack of understanding for the BLM movement. Allow me to provide an ...

After a grand jury decided not to indict Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice last year, debates have sparked across all media outlets, emotions running high in the process. While I can understand that it's inevitable for there to be differences of opinion on the subject, I'm amazed at the large quantity of Tamir Rice trolls making their presence known on numerous websites. Here's a very condensed summary of what happened. On November 22nd of last year, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun in a park, a witness called the police about the matter, informing them it was "probably fake," yet the individual who took the call didn't report this information to the police, and two seconds after the cops arrived, Officer Loehmann shot and killed Rice. I've heard all the arguments from those defending the cop's actions: - "The kid should have known to drop the gun when the cops arrived!" ...

Yes, the title of this blog is probably facepalm-worthy to most, but I simply couldn't resist. Pulp Fiction  and the upcoming The Hateful Eight  director, Quentin Tarantino, has come under fire recently for a comment he made at an anti-police brutality rally in Manhattan, where he said, "I'm a human being with a conscience. And if you believe there's murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I'm here to say I'm on the side of the murdered." In response, many police unions called for a boycott to all of Tarantino's films. John McNesby, president of the Philadelphia union, said this in a statement: "Mr. Tarantino has made a good living through his films, projecting into society a large violence and respect for criminals; he it turns out also hates cops." Then just yesterday, Tarantino was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times  and responded to the boycott threats with this: "I'm not being intimidated. Fra...

Republican Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder was recently interviewed on the Steve Malberg Show  by host Steve Malberg, courtesy of the conspiracy-obsessed network NewsmaxTV, with regard to the Department of Justice (DOJ) report on the Ferguson police force. Here are just a couple of Mr. Kinder's more "interesting" comments from the interview: - "[The DOJ is staffed with] hard-left radical leftist lawyers..." Yes, as opposed to hard-left radical rightist lawyers or hard-right radical leftist lawyers... Given his statement, I have to believe the Missouri Lieutenant Governor will soon write a how-to book, called, "How To Master the Art of Being Redundant and the Mastery of Redundancy." - "There is more racism in the Justice Department than anywhere I see in the St. Louis area. We've come an enormous way in 50 years, that's not to say that we don't have still more to do. It is the left, it is the Eric Holder and the Obama...

It's being reported that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was stopped and frisked yesterday by police when walking his dog Gronknuts around the block. Belichick allegedly resisted at first, saying, "I only raise my arms when we score a touchdown or when my wife asks if I'm 'sure,' as in that deodorant crap. What are you, a Ravens fan or something?" The Patriots head coach then said, "Fine, go ahead - search away. As a matter of fact, I urge you to search all of my pockets." Upon doing this, Officer Francis Dick found his hands covered in dog treats and dog crap, before letting Belichick continue onward, snarling as he walked away, or smiling - it was difficult to tell which. When asked why the Super Bowl-winning coach was stopped and frisked in the first place, Officer Dick said, "We received several calls from neighbors about a suspicious man in a hoodie with his hands in his pockets, so we had to promptly check out the situ...

Due to police officers Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo not being indicted for the killings of two unarmed black men, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, there has been a nationwide protest against police brutality in recent weeks. Now, just days removed from the tragic killings of New York City police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the GOP has made its opinion heard loud and clear on the matter: "It's the protesters' fault!" That's right; the party of "freedom" has decried people of practicing their First Amendment rights through peaceful protests (for the most part) against police brutality and blamed them for the murders of two police officers, whose job it is to protect our lives, and with that, our freedoms. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had this to say about the matter: "We've had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police. The protests are being embrace...

Why is it that it appears many people have taken on the false dilemma informal fallacy when discussing the police shootings. Like former President George W. Bush, when he said, "You're either with us or you're against us (with the terrorists)," many people have basically been saying, "You're either with the police or you're against them (with the 'criminals')." Some people have also said, "Well, many cops have died in the line of duty, so how can you blame them for shooting and killing these 'criminals'?" It's like Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show the other day (paraphrasing), "You can be saddened by police deaths and also be against police brutality. They're not mutually exclusive." He's absolutely right. Just because many of us don't agree with the actions some police officers have taken in killing unarmed citizens, which we felt was both an example of abusing their power and of brutality,...

For as long as I can remember, I've contended that Fox News is as perplexed about bias as a newborn is about quantum physics. A recent segment of theirs regarding the Michael Brown shooting once again lends credence to that theory (closer to fact). First of all, allow me to define "bias" for those at Fox News. Bias is "to cause partiality or favoritism in (a person); influence, especially unfairly." On Monday's Fox & Friends , the following was a headline used to prompt discussion: "Media Bias: Is 'Unarmed Teen' Description Misleading?" Fox News contributor Linda Chavez asked that very question, and followed it up with the following commentary: "That description in and of itself actually colors the way in which we look at this story. We're talking about an 18-year-old man who is 6'4'' and weighs almost 300 pounds, who is videotaped just moments before the confrontation with a police officer strong arming an e...

What's the deal recently with Florida cops or wannabe cops shooting unarmed black people? First, George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting and killing of unarmed Trayvon Martin, because, well, it's purely self-defense to follow someone you find suspicious after being told not to do so by actual cops and then when the person being stalked feels threatened and defends himself, to shoot and kill him. That's self-defense 101 right there. More recently, Florida police officers fired 15 shots at unarmed 60-year old Roy Middleton in the driveway of his and his mother's home. There was a 911 call that evening for a car theft. Once the cops arrived at the scene and Middleton turned around, thinking the whole thing was a practical joke played by a neighbor, the cops opened fire on him and wound up shooting him in the leg, while also striking his mother's car and the side of the house. What did Florida Scambia County Sheriff David Morgan...

While I sometimes wish I didn't, I love Facebook. It has helped keep me in regular contact with friends and family all across the country. Whether they live 20 minutes or 1500 miles away, we're able to regularly chat, e-mail back and forth, joke around, and catch up with one another. However, while I make Facebook sound almost perfect, it's anything but that. One of the major reasons why people stray away from social networking sites such as Facebook is privacy concerns. Granted, there are options on the site which allow for people to tinker with their privacy controls some, however, so long as they have an account, there is a risk for lack of privacy. Politicians, judges, lawyers, and employers have yet to really discover the true boundary between what information should be left alone on a person's Facebook account and what information they should have the legal authority to use against that person. Some employees have gotten fired for posting critical messages r...

On March 7th, homeless Navy veteran James Kelly, in trying to find a doughnut which had been thrown in the trash, was given a ticket by Houston police for "disturbing the contents of a garbage can." Seriously? So what's the guy supposed to do? Go door-to-door, knock, and beg to be let in for a meal? To give Santa Claus a call and ask for Mr. Claus to pick him up and take him for a cross-country ride while he eats a lot of food? To pull off his best Jesus impersonation and make a great quantity of fish and bread out of virtually nothing? While I can understand Houston Police wanting to keep litter off the streets, litter can be picked up and thrown away. After dying of starvation, a person like Navy veteran James Kelly, can't be brought back to life. Especially having served our country, Mr. Kelly deserves more than to just be left on the street to starve. Perhaps the cop just wanted the doughnut to himself... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/james-kelly-...

News recently broke about a woman in Maryland who was ticketed for going 63 mph in a 65 along Interstate 95 while in the left-lane. The cop who issued the ticket said she was ticketed more due to her being in the left-lane, which is reserved for speedier commuters, than for going 2 mph under the speed limit. The driver has never been ticketed before and said the area was experiencing very heavy winds, which is why she was going a bit slower than usual. She said, "Sometimes when it's dangerous, you have to do what you can to stay safe." John Townsend of AAA Mid-Atlantic appears to be backing the driver in this case, as he said the following: "The reason [the ticket] is silly because it's sending the wrong message. And that is, 'We will tolerate you driving at more than the speed limit, but if you drive below the speed limit, then you're penalized for that.'" I can see both sides' arguments here. On the one side, even if there were ...

Fairly recently, the National Rifle Association updated their "National Organizations With Anti-Gun Policies" list. It's quite the lengthy list, which includes the names of: Organizations (141 of them), celebrities (269), corporations (41), national figures (27), journalists (37), and media outlets (23). Yeah, I'm thinking an added definition of the word "paranoia" in the dictionary could sprout due to this. What are some of these 538 names listed by the NRA? American Academy of Pediatrics - The NRA should be fearful of doctors, for they are the ones whom treat people suffering from gunshot wounds. Then again, as Lieutenant Frank Drebin (courtesy of Leslie Nielsen) said in The Naked Gun when Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley) stated "This world is such a violent place.," "If it wasn't, I'd be out of a job." So, perhaps the NRA shouldn't be too fearful after all... National Organization on Disability - The NRA should also ...

Does anyone else find it funny that the same far-right individuals whom consistently clamor about President Obama and liberals in Congress driving us toward a police state are suggesting that to ensure our safety, we need more armed cops in schools and elsewhere?

What is the job of cops? To protect the people, right? Or am I way off base here? That's what I've always tried associating cops with. But, as I've gotten older (an elderly 30, I know), it's becoming more and more difficult for me to fully associate them with protecting the people. My brother's car got broken into not too terribly long ago. This is nothing new where he lived. In their neighborhood, cars have been broken into several times over the course of the past several months. The cops have been called numerous times and my brother called the morning when he found out his car had been broken into. They made it sound like it was no big deal. All that was taken was the stereo system and the subwoofer. It could have been worse. It's like when my mom's purse got stolen last year. They didn't think that was a big deal either, "Oh, it's just a purse." Yet, all the time, I see cops with their radar guns, trying to catch people speeding, s...