Sunday Smack: Big, Responsible Tobacco?

Is it possible to be a “responsible company operating in a controversial industry” like tobacco? song currently stuck in my head:“planet queen” – t rex

Sunday Smack: Rex Tillerson and His Trump Comment

“The President speaks for himself, Chris.” This week’s Sunday Smack focuses on US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s remark today on Fox News about how President Donald Trump “speaks for himself” when sharing views of the recent racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia: Interviewer Chris Wallace appeared stunned to hear Tillerson’s comment. My questions to you: […]

Sunday Smack: What About This Race Conversation?

This Sunday Smack deals with a question I’ve indirectly brought up in previous posts: the conversation about race. Is a conversation necessary? Whose minds would you like to change as a result of a conversation? After what we’ve seen in America during the past two weeks, do you think a conversation would change anyone’s mind? […]

Sunday Smack: What is the American Dream?

“The American Dream is back,” says President Donald Trump. But what does that mean? Back in January, Trump associated his desire to eliminate up to 75 percent of government regulations concerning businesses with the American Dream. In a series of moves that took place during the time of the White House-sponsored American Dream Week, Trump: […]

Sunday Smack: Wonder Woman and Images of Power

This tweet by @megsauce about the new Wonder Woman movie is destroying the Internet right now: “No wonder white men are obscenely confident all the time. I saw one woman hero movie and I’m ready to fight a thousand dudes barehanded.’ There are people on Twitter who are disagreeing with every bit of that statement. […]

Sunday Smack: Is Steve Bannon the Frantz Fanon of White People?

“The Strange Persistence of Guilt” piece by New York Times writer David Brooks — where he equates President Donald Trump’s chief strategist and Alt-Right icon Steve Bannon with Martiniquan psychologist, writer, philosopher and radical Frantz Fanon — is the inspiration for today’s Sunday Smack. Before Brooks raised eyebrows with his comparison, he provided some context: […]

Sunday Smack: Can Your Personal Medical Data Put You in Jail?

We could simply praise the brilliant police work that led to the arrest of Middletown resident Ross Compton for allegedly setting his home on fire. Or we can be alarmed by what appears to be a pillar stripped away from Americans’ Fifth Amendment rights. The case involves Compton dialing 911 last September to report waking […]

Sunday Smack: What Will Trump’s “Deal” for Black Colleges Look Like?

Black college lovers who suffer from Trumpxiety may have plenty to say about this week’s Sunday Smack: BuzzFeed News reported that the White House — through its public liaison leader Omarosa Manigault — is drafting an executive order concerning historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). During the same meeting where much of the media talked about how […]

Sunday Smack: Will Black Lives Matter Movement Wither Under Trump?

This week’s Sunday Smack concerns the Black Lives Matter movement in a Trump world. In September 2015, historian Victor Davis Hanson placed the BLM on death watch, and predicted its end to occur one year later: But like all the other past racially chauvinistic movements, “Black Lives Matter” will fail to convince anyone outside a small subset […]

Sunday Smack: What Should Trump Do About Syria?

This week’s Sunday Smack asks: What should Donald Trump do about Syria’s civil war? Arm the rebels? Hasn’t worked so far. Invade Syria? Work with Russia to rid Syria of jihadist groups? Stop providing weapons and non-lethal aid to the Syrian battlefield, and then encourage all other outside nations to do the same? Disengage from […]