Paradox Project

Author: jdecarma

Politics

Half of Republican Women Say #NeverTrump. Maybe the Other Half Haven’t Seen This Video Yet.

Donald Trump won’t like these polls one bit.

The candidate who is presumably busy suing the U.S. political system has a disastrous showing in a new NBC/WSJ poll. Of the female Republican primary voters who were polled, about half (47 percent) said they could not see themselves supporting Trump. This #NeverTrump attitude had a definite gender gap: Among their male counterparts, 40 percent agreed that they did not imagine themselves voting for Trump.

Women tend to lean Democrat as a voting bloc, but data shows that Trump makes the problem much worse.

Politics

The ABCs of the Craziest Election of Our Lives

Brokered convention. More precisely called a contested convention, it’s what happens when no candidate earns a majority of delegates—Donald Trump’s greatest fear and the GOP’s only hope in 2016. We’ll likely be looking at a contested GOP convention in Cleveland this July if no one hits the magic number: 1,237.

 

Faith

5 Things I Learned from Lent This Year

Some follow doctrinal guidelines on fasting and abstaining from meat, but other acts of personal penance are encouraged to help loosen our grip on the world and take stronger hold of our relationship with Christ.

With Lent about to draw to a close, it’s a perfect time to look back at how the fasting season went. No matter how successful we’ve become at following through on our myriad sacrifices, each year affords an opportunity to learn from mistakes and discover how to dive deeper into the Lenten season next year.

Politics

Trump’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Business Deals

If you can overlook Donald Trump’s bigotry, anger and complete lack of political experience, you can support him based on his business expertise and plans to get the country back on track, right? He’s a fighter who will get us a good deal with China, Mexico and Russia … right?

Not unless bankruptcy, lawsuits and multiple failed companies sound like a good deal to you. Trump can try to pass off Bush Brothers steaks as his own and vow he has never been bankrupt all he wants, but he can’t change the inconvenient facts.

Culture

‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ Wins the Battle (Passing the Bechdel Test) But Loses the War (Being a Great Film)

Like its central character, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” can’t quite figure out what it wants to be when it grows up.

The one and only Tina Fey is lots of fun per usual playing Kim Baker, a 40-something who ditches her deadbeat job writing news copy for people who “look pretty on TV” to cover blood, sweat and explosions in Afghanistan. She’s typically deadpan hilarious, with a uniquely Fey sense of timing, and brings a wry humanity to the role as she acts as a surrogate for the audience. Most of us have never been to Afghanistan or experienced the terror of a war zone; Fey’s Baker hasn’t either, grappling with new dangers and a foreign culture in a relatable way.

Politics

Support Trump to Ensure My Generation Votes Democrat for the Rest of Their Lives

I never thought we would be arguing about whether or not we should support a potential leader who threatens the free press, praises a communist government for killing protesters and says an entire religious group should be banned from our country. I never thought I would be told to fall in line and support someone who questions the citizenship of non-white Americans, inspires white supremacists to endorse him and issue robo-calls to voters on his behalf, and generally fulfills the cartoonish and terrible stereotype that haunts the Republican party: the angry, belligerent, racist old white man yelling on his lawn at the world.

Politics

Trump’s China Plan Has Already Been Tried … by President Obama

Donald Trump may have tapped into real problems faced by many Americans, but anyone who has struggled in President Obama’s economy should know better than to vote for him. 

You see, Trump’s big plan to slap tariffs on China in a “good deal” has already been tested out … and it cost Americans more than $1.1 million in added costs while saving just 1,200 jobs. 

Faith

Living in Light of That Heavenly Country

I’m realizing I need to worry a little less about the difference I’m making in the world.

Let me take a step back and explain what I mean with that conclusion. Like anyone else’s, my Christian life goes through cycles and seasons as God leads me down new paths or reteaches me old lessons. Last year, He taught me that surrendering my own plans meant being taken in glorious new directions. “Content to fill a little space,” I am happily doing work for the kingdom. 

But lately, I’ve been reminded that the most important thing is not the difference I make in this world, but the marks it leaves on me … how my life experiences shape my eternal soul.