Monthly Archive: February 2016

Donald Trump Is a Middle School Bully and He Wants Your Lunch Money

You, an American voter, are being conned.

Donald Trump has promised you jobs, a booming economy, security and American pride. He is lying to you. Trump has told you that he can stick it to the man, but the problem is that Trump is the man, someone who built an empire by taking his daddy’s money and then sticking it to the little guy.

Trump does not fight for you. Trump fights for Trump. Anything that gets damaged along the way—including you—doesn’t matter. Take a moment to google “Trump takes insurance from child” or “Trump kicks veterans off Fifth Avenue.” You’ll see it in about 2 seconds.

The Oscars Are So Predictable … Normally

I’m an unapologetic fan of the Oscars. First and foremost, I enjoy the movies. But there is a certain political dance to the award season that I also find very entertaining (as if watching politics wasn’t aggravating enough for me).

This year I actually managed to watch every Best Picture nominee before the awards ceremony (this Sunday) and it’s a fine crop of films. From my favorite to least favorite:

Spotlight Teaches Us To Be Wary Of Ourselves

On the surface, “Spotlight” is about the Boston Globe investigative team that broke the story of the dozens of priests had committed sexual abuse against disadvantaged youth and how the Catholic Church had covered up cases of child abuse to shield these abusive priests.

The reason I wasn’t interested in this movie is because I know about this story. I mean … who doesn’t? The knowledge of the Catholic Church’s shame here is practically a part of our culture. There are dozens of movies, books, and documentaries on this disgrace chapter of the Church. What more could Spotlight possibly bring to the table? 

Supporting Trump Means Losing Far More Than This Election

We face an election in a time when politics threaten more than ever before to intrude on everyday, ordinary life … a time when Christian business owners sometimes risk losing their livelihoods, men are being given the right to walk freely into women’s bathrooms, and the lives (and body parts) of countless unborn children are on the line. 

And at such a crucial moment, are people so angry at the government and the Republican Party that they would run the risk of putting a maniac behind the wheel?

The Cruz-Rubio Decathlon

In the race to beat Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, the options are increasingly narrowing to a choice between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Fortunately for Trump, these factions in the GOP are at each other’s throats, becoming increasing furious with each other. 

The real problem is that Rubio and Cruz come in way too close in the actual voting results (within 1.1 percent in New Hampshire, within 0.2 percent in South Carolina) and we have no standard for determining which nominee should step aside to boost the other past Trump. Sure there are various arguments out there like “Cruz is the only one to beat Trump” and “Rubio’s numbers against Hillary are the best” but all these arguments feel too much like “Here’s an excuse I have that supports my preferred candidate” rather than evidence that would be applied objectively.

‘The Big Short’ Plays on Your Worst Fears … But Like in a Fun Way

Ignore the subprime loan shop talk and Margot Robbie in a bubble bath for a second (if you can) and think of “The Big Short” as a pulsing, kaleidoscopic exercise in 21st-century filmmaking—because that’s what it is, a uniquely modern marriage of dusted-off Hollywood staples and shiny zeitgeist.

A little bit Vox, an awful lot BuzzFeed, “The Big Short” is the film equivalent of your daily flipping between Chrome tabs: a Wall Street Journal piece on interest rates, the latest People magazine cover interview, an in-depth New York Times something that you skim, and a quiz asking “What Kind of Hamburger Are You?” 

7 Times Trump Accidentally Showed He’s Not Religious … at All

I dislike Donald Trump’s blowhard, fear-mongering, liberal-in-conservative’s-clothing campaign for a lot of reasons, but there’s one in particular that makes me see red: whenever he mentions faith.

I’m an evangelical Christian, and my religious convictions influence my political leanings more than anything else. And I’m here to tell you that Religious Trump is fake, fake, fake.