I am a student and practitioner of the martial arts. I began taking self-defense classes at a young age. As I grew into maturity, I came to understand the arts as not solely a prescription for unarmed personal protection, or method for maintaining physical fitness, but as a philosophy and discipline of life. One of […]
I wish Barack Obama and his family all the very best in their lives going forward. May they be blessed with joy, love, grace, and prosperity. I will not, however, miss his presidency, and to it I say farewell and good riddance. There are two reasons. First, Obama has been an abysmal chief executive, both domestically […]
Earlier this morning, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted the following: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” Don’t do it. Don’t fall for it. You know what I’m talking about. Don’t make an embarrassing spectacle of yourself. […]
Dear friends, peers, colleagues, family members, and readers everywhere, I have little left to offer but these words. Since the election we have only turned more inward and hostile. We are doing more damage to ourselves and our peers than a President Trump could ever do to us. We have forgotten who we are as […]
Donald Trump and his movement defied the odds yesterday and won the Electoral College, cementing him as the 45th President of the United States. At this time we await results only from Michigan, Arizona, and New Hampshire, with only N.H. swinging for Hillary Clinton. Thus, popular vote notwithstanding the electoral breakdown looks to be 232 […]
This is a message for my loudmouthed conservative and Republican peers now repudiating their prior commitment to vote for Trump, and seeking to wash themselves free of Trump’s tiny “pussy-grabbing” hands in the wake of the “locker room banter” revelation. If you think that your integrity can be so easily repaired by some public magic […]
Look upon the face of America, ye Mighty, and despair. Donald Trump now has the endorsement of Ted Cruz, the man who just two months ago – on the center stage of the Republican National Convention – ended his rousing, patriotic ode to liberty and sound governance with the plea to vote your conscience. Everyone […]
It feels strange to put a post like this in the “Political” category, but at this point it can’t help but be that. I am often told, especially today, that respect and support for one’s country and military in particular must be earned, not assumed. That seems to be a common go-to for the people defending […]
Forward by Vivek: The unofficial mission statement of V for Verbatim this year was to restore some dignity in discourse and respect among peers that has been lost in the fog of political war (repenting as well, for my own contribution to it), and to carve on a slab of internet tube stone for time […]
Forward by Vivek: The statement below comprises writings that are not my own. For the first time (and it will not be a common type of post), I am transcribing someone else’s conservative treatise against Donald Trump’s candidacy for President. I would not do this if it was simply a rant from a stranger that […]
“Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean.” – Josey Wales Let’s first dispense with what you’re here for. I will not vote for any of the partisan candidates in November. In rejecting Hillary Clinton, I will not settle […]
“I attack ideas; I don’t attack people. And some very good people have some very bad ideas. And if you can’t separate the two . . . you don’t want to be a judge.” Justice Scalia died of natural causes and was quite certainly not assassinated. But given the abundance of disrespect and vilification in discourse […]
This must be my third attempt to reflect comprehensively on GamerGate, and I’m still not sure I should do it. While I’ve been toiling and slaving away, a month and a half into my first semester of law school, the gaming medium’s culture has entrenched itself in turmoil with no end in sight. Had this […]
Of all the things in politics that I hate, the one I despise the most is the single-issue voter. And it’s not just because some people wouldn’t mind a zombie apocalypse breaking out as long as it meant that they could hold onto their precious birth control. No, this is something a little different. My […]
No brevi explanation of an intelligent opinion would adequately summate the full extent of my thoughts on abortion. There is no religious influence behind it either. The issue is far too complicated to be catalogued in terms such as “pro-life” or “pro-choice”. I hate both of these sides, but I hate them for different reasons. […]
There is a considerable chance that liberals could be right about one thing – that we conservatives, in spite our quite justified skepticism towards President Obama, may not actually understand him fully. In short, we should entertain the fact that perhaps he is less of a zealous ideologue, and more of a ruthless strategist. Perhaps […]
With the second premiere of Zero Dark Thirty in theaters across the United States, and the recent Golden Globe Awards presented to Ben Affleck for Argo, both films are, for the moment, relevant enough to discuss once again. As it turns out, these films are quite similar to one another. They are both dramatic depictions of actual American […]
Not long ago, I stated on Facebook that there is no happy ending for the Republican Party this year. It may surprise you to find out that I am not conjecturing on the basis of personal pessimism. If the Bush Tax Cuts for the middle class expire, the GOP will get the blame, whether they […]
For those who don’t know, the American Presidential Election will be decided by only a few key states. Most states (and most people for that matter) have already made up their minds as to who they’re voting for and it’s just a question of turnout. In America, winning the popular vote isn’t enough by itself […]
States like Colorado, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida that will play an essential role in deciding the future of the nation on Tuesday should be aware of the potentially inevitable consequences of their vote on the basis of the issue of health insurance. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (aka “Obamacare”), the healthcare law that is […]
Thanks to a torrential maelstrom of jokes on Twitter persisting all throughout the next day, far too many people only remember Romney’s “binders full of women” hiring comment following Tuesday night’s highly contentious debate. Unfortunately, what has seemingly gone unseen is one of President Obama’s most economically ignorant, logically fallacious, and intellectually offensive remarks he […]
On the one hand he’s a flip-flopper, and on another hand he’s a super-rich not-your-average-Willard. These problems are interconnected and compounded by the fact that American people are, by their very nature, simple. This is not an insult. It’s just a fact. People want their leaders to be just like their spouses – compatible, communicable, […]
With the nomination now in his hands, it falls on me to defend Mitt Romney against the real opponents – the ones on the sidelines gleefully munching on popcorn during the horror fest that was the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary. At the time, I could justify my support for Romney simply on the grounds that […]
If there is one issue that gets awkwardly danced around by Republicans due to the fact that it is considered a political minefield, it’s this one. You hear it all the time from liberals. Republican = Party of No, the Naysayers, the majority for the Do Nothing Congress, the list of uninteresting names goes on […]
