The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

While appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe , Tom Brokaw uttered these words: "I think the Democrats are as much to blame right now as the Republicans are. They've got control of the House, but they're mostly just 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not going to do what you want to do.' I haven't seen a grand plan." The "grand plan" was back in December when the Senate overwhelmingly passed a "clean" (no wall funding) budget bill, which President Trump showed all indications of signing, but then reversed course due to right-wing talking heads like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh telling him he shouldn't. This would have, at least temporarily, prevented a shutdown. Instead, after Trump shockingly rejected the proposal, the Senate was forced to scramble and rush something together in order to prevent a shutdown. This didn't happen and here we are, in day 34 of the the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. This is 100% Donald Tr...

Donald Trump's pick to replace Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on appeals court is none other than Neomi Rao, who has come under fire for some op-eds she wrote in college. In the October 14, 1994 edition of The Yale Herald , Rao wrote an op-ed entitled, "Shades of gray," where she wrote the following: "As a young girl I always liked playing with the boys. And I still do. Lucky for us, matronly women no longer lock up college girls in dorms at night. Today, women can drink and run around with the wildest of boys. But with freedom from social constraints comes new responsibilities-responsibilities which are all too easy to ignore. Not a year passes without the confusing, bitter, and problematic question of date rape arising on campus. Incidents involving the 'DKE rapist' and David Bialsky have shown how the battle between the sexes has no easy answers. In the most recent case, a woman accused a brother of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity of rape, ...

During the tenth Republican presidential debate on Thursday night, Florida Senator Marco Rubio made me laugh. Yes, this was unintentional on his part, but at the time, I sarcastically thought to myself, "If this whole presidential thing doesn't work out, I think Rubio's found a back-up plan - stand-up comedy." Here's the quote which garnered a chuckle out of me: "The media has a definition of Hispanics that you can only be Hispanic if you're a liberal. The Obama economy has done enormous damage to the Spanish community. On this stage tonight are two sons of Cuban immigrants and an African American. We are the party of diversity, not the Democrats." Yes, because the final two Democratic presidential hopefuls are both white and three of the five remaining Republican candidates aren't, this obviously means Republicans are the party of diversity, not Democrats. That is if we don't look at the bigger picture, of course. Let's look a bi...

Last week, Principal Sherrie Warren of F.J. Elementary School in Seminole, Texas, sent 5-year-old Malachi Wilson home because since he was a boy, he wasn't allowed to attend school with long hair. Malachi Wilson's parents are Navajo and Kiowa, and due to their religious beliefs, feel that their son's hair is sacred and shouldn't be cut. While Principal Warren backed down and allowed Malachi Wilson to go back to school on the second day, it's still quite troubling he was sent home for even just one day. Not only was the move against both the 1st and 14th Amendments in the Constitution, it was also wrong on a basic tolerance and decency level. Must all boys and girls fit in with historic societal norms of how they should both appear and act, and if one steps out of line, he or she must be sent home as a result? If that's the case, expect Principal Warren to illegally send kids home for the following reasons in the future: - "I feel it's my ethical duty ...

Christopher Columbus thought he was in India, so he referred to the people there as Indians. That makes sense. However, he wasn't in India; he was in America. So, while "Native Americans" isn't the perfect term to describe that group of people, it seems far more appropriate than Indians, which comes across as kind of silly to me. That would be like if the following scenarios occurred: - A person sails to Africa thinking it's America. From that time forth, certain people in Africa are referred to as Americans. - Someone sails to Japan thinking it's Australia. Certain folks in Japan have since been called Australians. - A delusional man sets sail to Ireland thinking it's Mars. Ireland is now full of Martians! Maybe this is why Americans are notoriously bad at geography. Christopher Columbus just paved the way for the rest of us! Hooray for Columbus Day! Columbus - the capital of Ohio, which is, where is that again? Crap, where's my globe? Where...

About once a month I'm greeted with a lovely response to a blog of mine which includes so many right-wing talking points and bumper-sticker slogans, it presents me with the challenge of, "Can I think of any more?" Often times I give up after about two minutes of thinking over that very question. Just this morning I was greeted with such a comment - this in response to a pro-gun control blog I wrote in wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. This individual, who came across as a high school NRA member, responded to the blog with this: "liberal lackies know they are saying stupid comments but do so to take focus away from the real issues.... the fact is that no gun law will take guns away from criminals... we already have a law that says a criminal cannot own/possess/have-access-to firearms yet every day, in every state of the union, crime is being committed by criminals, many with stolen, smuggled, or otherwise illegally possessed weapons t...

I haven't had very many interesting back-and-forths on Twitter yet. For one, I've only been a member for approximately 3 weeks or so. Secondly, I'm still learning how to use the darn thing. Finally, my main intent with the site is to garner more recognition for my written work, so I've interacted mainly with like-minded people. Yes, it's boring sometimes, I admit, but I have a much better chance of selling my books to liberals, moderates, and sarcastic individuals than to conservatives or people whom don't much care for sarcasm. Today, though, I discovered that an individual with whom I disagree more than drunk drivers and cops replied to a tweet of mine and we've gone on to have a somewhat interesting and sad back-and-forth. Here's how it's gone to this point: Me: "Why are so many conservatives turned off about conserving the environment?" Him: "'Conservative' is incorrect. You can say 'right' or 'republicans....

I must say, I find it to be quite funny when someone is simultaneously condescending and wrong. Joseph Bonzai: "So, as you can all see, class, 2+ 2 = 4. Yes, Duncan..." Duncan Douchesnozzle: "I'm sorry, but 4 is not the right answer. If you had said 2 or 7, you would have been correct. I recommend that you use your calculator next time. You're welcome."

ESPN is at it again with another awful article, this one written by Pat Yasinskas. It revolves around 2011 #1 draft pick Cam Newton - quarterback of the Carolina Panthers. In the article, Yasinskas writes the following gems: "...Yeah, I'll even step out on a limb and say he (Newton) has a better 2013 season than Wilson, Kaepernick, Luck and RG III. Why? Several reasons pop to mind, but let's start with this -- Newton has more all-around talent than any of those guys. Luck can pass nicely, but opposing defenses don't have to game plan for his running ability. Wilson, RG III and Kaepernick each have some throwing ability, but they aren't pure pocket passers, and their big 2012 seasons came largely because of their mobility. Newton is capable of more than any of those guys, because he's as mobile as RG III, Kaepernick and Wilson. At the same time, he's as good a pocket passer as Luck." and "But you can't overlook Newton and the Pa...

I love old grumpy neighbors. One such neighbor lives across the street, is retired, and if he had to list his top hobby and was honest about it, it'd be complaining. Just a few days ago, I was walking my dog around the area and this very neighbor started talking to me. It was garbage day and he was asking if there were some lights on the driveway which somehow broke and wound up in his yard and on the street next to his yard. I knew this wasn't the case and told him of this, but he didn't seem to believe me. He obviously wanted someone to clean up the mess. A day later, with the help of family, we cleaned up the mess, even though it wasn't ours. Yesterday, I bumped into him again as I was walking my dog and he said he owed me a thank you. I said it wasn't a problem, but again let him know the lights weren't mine. He then seem puzzled on why we cleaned up the mess, and I responded, "Oh, just being nice." I think this made him guilty, for he gave a...

I think it can be made official - the groundhog is full of crap. How I was looking forward to an early spring. While I've experienced worse winters, this winter just won't seem to go away. It has been like one of those lingering headaches that never reach migraine status, yet seem to continue making their presence felt for hours and days at a time. So, what is the forecast for the first day of spring here in central Ohio? A high of 35, low of 21, with strong winds, and a chance of flurries. The forecasts for the following week don't have high temperatures exceeding 45 degrees, with a chance of snow showers on Monday, the 25th. I know I shouldn't put any stock in the groundhog's prediction, as he/she/its been right just 36-37% of the time. However, I was hopeful. My mother even told me she saw birds which signified that the groundhog was right. Of course, those were vultures, not robins she was seeing, but still... http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Delaware...

It only took 17 days. Not long after the "47%" video made its rounds on the web and television, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke at a conference that the words he used in the video were "not elegantly stated." He seemed to continue with this language for the coming few days, even defending the accuracy of his video comments, before realizing that this strategy was doing him no good and began telling the American people that he was about the "100%." However, he refused to apologize or admit he was wrong about his remarks. Through these 17 days, Mitt Romney saw polls which showed the gap widening between he and President Obama. He saw other polls which illustrated just how much his "47%" comments had hurt him. Then, 17 days after the onset of the video, he finally altered his tune. Last Thursday night on Fox News, Romney said this: "Well, clearly in a campaign, with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question-and-...

Over the past 3+ years, Republicans have laid claim that President Obama went on an apology tour early in his tenure and has consistently apologized for America ever since then. To these Republicans, for one to admit this country isn't perfect, that we made a mistake is akin to apologizing. I don't understand this. If I tell a woman that I'm not perfect, is that me apologizing for who I am? No - I'm simply being honest and I'm sure she'll appreciate that. I could do one better by telling her I'd work on these imperfections in an attempt to better myself and in turn, our relationship. That's not me saying I'm sorry. That's me being realistic and honest. There's a stark difference between the two.  Every fact-checking site out there has looked over these Republican accusations of the president apologizing for America and every one of them has come back with the same answer - it's not true.  Let's be realistic here - foreign ...

Is it just me or does it appear as if Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is unable to admit he's wrong or apologize? Why is that exactly? President Obama wasn't afraid to admit he's made some mistakes during his speech at the Democratic National Convention or in recent interviews. He knows his 3.5 years in office have not been perfect and has admitted this much. So why is it so difficult for Mitt Romney? I guess my hunch is if Romney were to ever apologize for something he said or admit he was wrong with regard to a statement he made, the conservative base would not be pleased, would see him as weak and be less motivated to support him. On the flip-side, however, how many independents and undecided voters would be more prone to supporting him if he showed a sense of humility in owning up to some misstatements he made? In a relationship, if I made a mistake, would a woman be more prone to forgive me if I owned up to that mistake and promised to learn from it...