Political Junkie

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! I already celebrated  Thanksgiving this past weekend; meaning that by the time tomorrow rolls around, I will find myself lucky if any leftovers at all remain in the fridge.   With Thanksgiving in the rear-view mirror, the Christmas season has officially begun.   In addition to colder temperatures, decorations, Christmas music, and lots of lots of shopping, another tradition associated with the holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ will begin to appear in supermarkets and malls across the country: the Salvation Army Red Kettle.   For more than a century and a half, the England-based Salvation Army has worked to meet the “physical and spiritual needs” of the less fortunate. The charity organization has several pages on its website urging visitors to donate, giving it the ability to “help disaster survivors,” “provide shelter,” “cure hunger,” “overcome poverty,” “combat addiction,” “share God’s love,” “assist the une...

While the Democratic Party’s lack of unity has dominated the headlines as a result of the 2020 presidential primaries, it bears repeating that the Republican Party suffers from a sense of unity as well.   Considering the fact that both parties as established themselves as “big tent” parties, division within the parties should not come as that much of a surprise.   While the media often like to emphasize the divisions in the Republican Party, they may have unwittingly helped unite the party by embracing the impeachment farce that has deprived the American people of the ability to enjoy high-quality daytime and evening television over the past week. Polling indicated that the Republican voters had united behind President Trump even before the impeachment inquiry began.   Polling has shown that the President enjoys approval ratings in the 80s and 90s among the members of his party.   In spite of President Trump’s high approval ratings among Republican voters,...

Before weighing in on the LGBTQ Equality Town Hall that took place on CNN last week that represented a new low for the mainstream media, I thought it might make sense to look back at some of the predictions people made prior to 2015; when the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.   Back in 2013, my high school newspaper asked representatives of the left and the right to weigh in on the question “should the government regulate same-sex marriage?” The person writing on behalf of the right, who attends the same church as me, warned that “if same-sex marriage becomes regulated by the government, it’s possible that many places of worship will be closed because they will not offer same-sex marriages.   Not only that, but businesses run by people who abide by these religious dogmas may be penalized as well. For instance, if a private business were to deny a homosexual couple a service (like wedding photography) if the own...

F ailed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea have collaborated on a book, scheduled for release in October, called “The Book of Gutsy Women.” The book supposedly highlights more than 100 women who had “the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done.” I don’t disagree with every single one of their picks, which include Harriet Tubman, Marie Curie, and Amelia Earhart but if I find out that Margaret Sanger made the list, I might actually throw up. I feel quite confident that the “Book of Gutsy Women” does not include Linda Tripp, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick. While Hillary and Chelsea may have correctly identified some women in American and world history as “gutsy women,” surely they left a few out. Fortunately, I took the liberty of creating my own list of “gutsy women” that most certainly does not overlap with any of the women on Hillary and Chelsea’s list. In theory, all conservative women deserve a spot ...

Now that my cousin’s wedding has come and gone, I have the opportunity to weigh in on the political developments of last week. For starters, Eric Swalwell became the first major candidate to drop out of the 2020 presidential race; just weeks after the first Democratic debate.  This should not have come as a surprise because last time around, one candidate dropped out of the race after the first Republican debate (Rick Perry).  As a sanctimonious Congressional Democrat from a deep blue House district in California, no rationale existed for Swalwell’s candidacy.  Pete Buttigieg has cornered the market on the “next generation candidates” while Kamala Harris has cornered the market on self-righteous California prosecutors.  Swalwell can now go back to his primary job : changing diapers. However, Swalwell’s disappearance from the 2020 Democratic field did not reduce the number of Democratic Presidential candidates. Billionaire Tom Steyer announced his intent...