Trump the connection
A new dating website recently was launched for those who love to hate.
In this case, the American Liberal Council unveiled "an all-inclusive, love-pairing dating site for those who oppose and resist President Donald Trump."
NeverTrump.Dating was created, the organization said, "with progressives, independents, disillusioned Republicans and the LGBT community in mind."
It's founder, Ted Brown, told The Hill the site allows like-minded individuals to ban together in opposition to "the corrupt, morally bankrupt administration in power."
"Our Democracy can still be saved," he said. "But in order to do so, we must join together those with like-minded beliefs and stand for tolerance and justice for all ... and we can do that right here."
The site didn't say, but we can imagine it might suggest its adherents enjoy such activities together as painting protest signs, watching MSNBC and thinking of mean things to say about the president's 11-year-old son.
Can we talk?
Where it concerns the walkout of students over guns in at least one California school, the answer is no.
Julianna Benzel, a history teacher at Rocklin High School in Rocklin, Calif., thought it would be appropriate to talk about the politics of organized gun violence protests before last week's planned walkouts, but school administration didn't like it after being tipped off.
The teacher wanted students to discuss if it made sense that walkouts would be allowed over one issue but not another. The issue she used was abortion, an issue held so dear in left-wing California.
"Would that be allowed by our administration?" Benzel wondered in an interview with KOVR-TV. "But someone wants to say let's walk out for gun control, then the school's going to go with it because it's more of a popular view."
Although none of her students reacted negatively to the discussion, and they seemed to agree there was a double standard for protests, the administration was not amused, she said.
"A Rocklin High School teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave," a statement from the school read, "due to several complaints from parents and students involving the teacher's communications regarding today's student-led civic engagement activities."
Benzel has retained legal counsel and was to meet with school administration late last week.
'Find a hobby'
Hillary Clinton, trolling for sympathy in India recently, chose the "forced voting" excuse for finishing second in the 2016 presidential election to discuss with her audience.
"I won the places that represent two-thirds of America's gross domestic product," she said. "So I won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward. And [Trump's] whole campaign, 'Make America Great Again,' was looking backwards [sic].
"We do not do well with white men and we don't do well with married, white women," Clinton said. "And part of that is an identification with the Republican Party, and a sort of ongoing pressure to vote the way your husband, your boss, your son, whoever, believes you should."
Having seen the former first lady's excuses again and again and again, Sybele Capezutti let loose in a Facebook rant that now has gone viral.
"Hillary, darling, find a hobby," she said. "I can tell you why I didn't vote for you is because I'm originally from Brazil, and in my country of birth, they voted for someone like Obama first. Then they were so progressive that they voted for a woman president just like you. Guess what, she was impeached two years ago for corruption. I didn't want to watch that movie again, that's why I didn't vote for you."
After the India screed, several former Clinton aides also intimated their unhappiness to The Hill.
"She put herself in a position where [Democrats] from states that Trump won will have to distance themselves from her even more," one said. "That's a lot of states."
"She's annoying me," another said. "She's annoying everyone, as far as I can tell. "Who lets her say these things?"
But still she persists.
L.A. may not be down with Shaq
Shaquille O'Neal may have been one of the most popular basketball players ever to don a Los Angeles Lakers uniform, but his opinion on guns in schools may not go down very easily in the liberal California playground.
Discussing a variety of subjects on the "Curtis and Cosby" show on New York's WABC radio last week, he said the short-term answer to prevent more school shootings is more guns.
"It's 2018," the former Louisiana State University star said, "and something needs to happen. You know you hear a lot of people talk about getting these guns off the streets. Only problem with that is there's 15 million already on the streets. And the other problem is that if you ban them, you're going to create an underground market ... . I think the quick fix now - is that the government should give law enforcement more money. And you recruit more people. And the guys that are not ready to go on the streets, you put them in the schools. You put 'em in front of the schools, you put 'em behind the schools, you put them inside the schools. I grew up on a military base, and there was always military police in front of the school ... and we didn't have a lot of 3 p.m. fights."
O'Neal said the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., was "close to my heart" since he has a home in nearby Fort Lauderdale.