The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I may be weird, but I've never been a huge fan of Christmas music. It's the same songs every year, repeated time and time again for a couple months, mostly centering around a make-believe story most parents use as a lie in order to manipulate their kids into being "good" for 365 days, whatever that word really means. Having said that, though, after hearing about Cleveland's WDOK radio station banning the classic Christmas song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" due to its potentially sexist/ableist messages, even I said, "Isn't this going a little far?" After announcing its decision, host Glenn Anderson wrote this on the station's website: "I do realize that when the song was written in 1944, it was a different time, but now while reading it, it seems very manipulative and wrong. The world we live in is extra sensitive now, and people get easily offended, but in a world where #MeToo has finally given women the voice they deserve, th...

Not long ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple due to his religious beliefs. In the past 24 hours, it was reported that Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant due to her affiliation with the Trump administration. Since that time, members on Yelp , who have never experienced the restaurant, posted reviews based on their political beliefs. My question to all the before-mentioned parties is, is this really the America we want to be living in? I don't think the Supreme Court realizes what a mess they may have made with their bakery ruling. Can we now just refuse service to any person we may not agree with in one area or another? The Constitution may allow us to believe as we so choose, but the law is supposed to successfully counter any prejudices we may have and provide equality to all as a result. The baker may not personally agree with the morality of gay marriage, and ...

When it comes to the Trump-Russia probe and the possibility of an obstruction of justice charge, I hear two comments from analysts far more than any other: 1) Trump is likely guilty of it. and 2) It'll be difficult to prove. Why is this? Allow Cornell Law School to share with us the reason: "Obstruction of justice is defined in the omnibus clause of 18 U.S.C. 1503, which provides that 'whoever....corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice, shall be (guilty of an offense).' Persons charged under this statute based on allegations that a defendant intended to interfere with an official proceeding, by doing things such as destroying evidence, or interfering with the duties of jurors or court officers. A person obstructs justice when they have a specific intent to obstruct or interfere with a judicial proceeding. For ...

To start his radio program yesterday, the man trying to make tinfoil sexy again, Glenn Beck, said this: "Transgender bathrooms have come out of nowhere and are being jammed down our throat. I guarantee you, I guarantee you the next stop on this train is pedophilia. They will normalize pedophilia." The slippery slope is a commonly used fallacy right-wing media personalities and politicians have resorted to over the years, especially when it comes to the LGBT community. When the debate was over gay marriage, these individuals would say, "If we legalize gay marriage, what next? Are we going to legalize polygamy? Bestiality? Pedophilia?" Now, I could potentially see polygamy being legalized, because like with marriages between heterosexual and homosexual couples, the relationship is between consenting adults. That isn't the case with regard to bestiality and pedophilia, however, which makes the comparison ludicrous. Similarly, Glenn Beck's slippery slope, as...

Receiving a great deal of criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike for his banning-Muslims-from-traveling-to-the-US rhetoric, GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump decided to expand upon his already controversial idea by airing this video clip on his homepage: "We're in serious serious danger in this country and if you elect me president, it's my job to put an end to this very very serious danger. We all saw what happened in San Bernie or wherever. Just like 9/11, Muslims attacked this great nation and need to be punished! We just can't trust them, people! So, we need to not allow Muslims to enter our country. In fact, we need to kick out the ones already here. I've received a lot of heat for these plans, but to show you I'm not an anti-Muslim person or whatever, I'm going to show you that I'm fair across all demonographics. Remember the Holocaust? Germans are no longer allowed in this country! There have probably been killings in Spanish-sp...

I read an article about friend-zoning the other day, which I found to be, I'll say interesting. The title of the article is, "Gender Block: Why the 'nice guy' stereotype is so dangerous," and was written by feminist Hillary Di Menna of This Magazine . When reading the article, I found myself to be in a peculiar position - for most people would regard me as a feminist, yet I've also been cast as the "nice guy" more times than I can count. Ms. Di Menna starts her article with this: "Nice guys always finish last. Whenever they treat a woman like a friend, it doesn't end up in sex! Sometimes, the guy will buy flowers and gifts for the woman, despite the fact she has expressed zero interest romantically, and again - no sex! This woman often becomes re-classified as an ice queen, a b**ch, a friend zoner - even when, in reality, she may feel betrayed or confused, having thought her friend was actually, well, her friend. And the guy - who, to re...

This past Saturday, a "Choose Purity" event was held at the William Pearson Center in Las Vegas (yes, Sin City). What was the ultimate goal of this "Choose Purity" event? According to Officer Regina Coward, who helped organize the event, it was to persuade girls to wait until marriage to have sex. So, what happens if girls engage in premarital sex? According to Ms. Coward, girls fall victim to sexual assault, gangs, drugs, and even prostitution. As Coward said, "Avoid sex and avoid those perils." It's just that easy! Well, so long as you're not easy, or something... Ironically enough, Ms. Coward said she's passionate about abstaining from sex until marriage because she was impregnated at 16, and has always wondered how life could have been different if she had followed through with her current pro-abstinence message. The fact of the matter is, though, that roughly 95% of people engage in premarital sex, and those whom take virginity pledge...

Dallas Mavericks owner had some interesting words with regard to the Donald Sterling controversy, which many right-wing sites have picked up on as "rationale thoughts." Cuban called the potential matter "a very very very slippery slope," elaborating on the matter with this: "If it's about racism and we're ready to kick people out of the league, OK? Then what about homophobia?... What about somebody who's anti-semitic? What about a xenophobe?... In this country, people are allowed to be morons." While I can see where Mr. Cuban is coming from, I think his comparison is a matter of apples and oranges. In any one of those other scenarios (homophobia, anti-semitic, xenophobia), there would be some anger, most likely a fine, possibly a short suspension, but it would not bring about the same level of emotion as it would (and did) with regard to racism against blacks. The reason is quite simple. According to a 2013 report, blacks make up 76.3% of...

The slippery slope is a fairly popular fallacy used by far-right conservatives when attempting to delegitimize the concept of gay marriage. It usually goes something like this: "Marriage should be between one man and one woman. If we allow gay people to marry, then what? Why not make marrying more than one person at a time legal? Why not make marrying an animal legal? If gay marriage becomes legal, pretty soon polygamy and bestiality will be legal!" Well, GOPers may now want to exclude that bestiality bit from their fallacy, because as a recent story suggests, bestiality doesn't follow gay marriage's lead at all - quite the opposite. Allow me to introduce Ruben Chance James Fox and his wife, Amber Nicole Fox. The fact their last name is the same as that of an animal is merely a coincidence. They're both 23 years old and living in North Carolina. So, what does the young couple like to do in their spare time? Apparently, Ruben enjoys recording his wife having ...

As any critical thinking professor (all seven of them) would state, the slippery slope is a fallacy, where "a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question. In most cases, there are a series of steps or gradations between one event and the one in question and no reason is given as to why the intervening steps or gradations will simply be bypassed." In other words, if one wants to attempt making an argument without worrying about logic in any sense of the word, and sounding like an idiot in the process, the slippery slope is definitely one potential route he or she could travel. One such individual who regularly attempts to make arguments by utilizing the slippery slope is Republican Texas Representative Louie Gohmert. He's gone about arguments in such a manner so frequently during his time in politics, pretty soon those seven critical thinking professors will suddenly re-term the be...

As I've written about previously, Republican Ohio Senator Rob Portman made news not long ago after writing an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch sharing his support for gay marriage rights, largely due to his son Will coming out of the closet. While some liberals have not been very forgiving of Senator Portman due to his previous anti-gay marriage rights commentary, I've tried to welcome the man to the ever expanding circle fighting for gay rights. Also, while some liberals have not been very welcoming of Senator Portman's evolved views on the issue of gay rights, it has appeared as if most die-hard conservatives have been even less welcoming of them. Following the release of Senator Portman's op-ed, right-wing blog Government Is Not God gave warning to the senator that homosexuality "may eventually kill his son from AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases, or oral cancer." I know - isn't that sweet? I have a feeling I know what the writers over at Gov...

Just when I thought the Michele Bachmann team, and the right-wing in general, couldn't get any crazier, I read this article (and saw the video clip). Michele Bachmann's Iowa Campaign Chair, Tamara Scott, stated that the legalization of gay marriage would lead people to marry objects, such as women marrying the Eiffel Tower. I'll let you watch the clip for yourself. Watch it a few times, as I know when I first watched it, I couldn't believe what I had just heard, so I had to watch it again. Here it is - http://www.towleroad.com/2011/11/tamarascott.html So, how was it for you? Can't determine whether it's real or a joke? I thought the same thing at first, but given Bachmann, Scott and Bob Vander Plaats' record of anti-gay statements, I think it's safe to say this video is legit and the speakers are wanting to be taken seriously. There is such a thing as "object sexuality," where a person is sexually attracted to an object, but this has noth...

When interviewed by ThinkProgress earlier this year, social conservative leader (Iowa Family Leader), Bob Vander Plaats, stated, “If we’re teaching the kids, ‘don’t smoke, because that’s a risky health style,’ the same can be true of the homosexual lifestyle. That’s why I think we need to speak the truth once in a while.” [1] Indeed we do. This wasn’t the first time Vander Plaats resorted to such rhetoric regarding homosexuality. Earlier this year, he stated the following, “Why not open it up! Bisexual, polygamy, multiple women? Why not?” Okay, so I’ve heard this slippery slope before. “Legalize gay marriage? Then what? Polygamy? Incest? Marrying your dog? Marrying a poster of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Really? What’s next?” Alright, so I’ve heard the slippery slope before when people have attempted to make a case against gay marriage. However, this was the first time I had heard a person compare homosexuality to smoking. That’s right, smoking = being gay. This mathematic...

When interviewed by ThinkProgress earlier this year, social conservative leader (Iowa Family Leader), Bob Vander Plaats, stated, “If we’re teaching the kids, ‘don’t smoke, because that’s a risky health style,’ the same can be true of the homosexual lifestyle. That’s why I think we need to speak the truth once in a while.” Indeed we do. This wasn’t the first time Vander Plaats resorted to such rhetoric regarding homosexuality. Earlier this year, he stated the following, “Why not open it up! Bisexual, polygamy, multiple women? Why not?” Okay, so I’ve heard this slippery slope before. “Legalize gay marriage? Then what? Polygamy? Incest? Marrying your dog? Marrying a poster of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Really? What’s next?” Alright, so I’ve heard the slippery slope before when people have attempted to make a case against gay marriage. However, this was the first time I had heard a person compare homosexuality to smoking. That’s right, smoking = being gay. This mathematically-...