In this post, I touch on the election (or reelection) of U.S. presidents who guided the country through two bloody, destructive global wars. November 5, 1912: Woodrow Wilson beats two ex presidents in a landslide victory Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected the 28th president of the United States, with Thomas R. Marshall as vice president. In a landslide Democratic victory, Wilson secured 435 electoral votes against the eight won by Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and the 88 snagged by Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt. It remains the only election in American history where two former presidents were defeated by another candidate. During his two terms in office, Wilson oversaw U.S. entry into World War I; proposed the Fourteen Points, a statement of principles that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end the global war; and championed the League of Nations, an international organization formed to prevent future armed conflict. Because of opposi...

Have you ever heard or used the word apocryphal before? When I first stumbled upon the word in a book I was reading, I thought the word had a dark, brooding feel to it. Perhaps it's because you can almost spell "crypt" in the word. In reality, it means something -- whether a story, account, or statement -- that is of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true. Synonyms for apocryphal include fictitious, untrue, spurious, unsubstantiated, bogus, and false. I'm sure we can all point to one specific thing in school or the workplace that can often be described as apocryphal: rumors and gossip. Many of the statements made by candidates during the presidential election last year could also be classified as such, which is why fact checking has become all the rage in politics. All of us have friends, relatives or coworkers who relate stories that at times seem, well, exaggerated. And, yet, even though their authenticity may seem questionable...

And this is coming from someone who voted for Hillary Clinton. The election is over. Done. Finished. Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States, whether these protesters like it or not. It's time we move on and end this bitter diviseness that has greatly fractured our country. While people have a right to feel dissatisfied with the outcome, holding protests does nothing to unify us as a country. When Obama was elected in 2008, I don't remember seeing people marching on the streets, destroying property, and burning Obama in effigy. We should be aiming to heal the wounds that this election has left, not aggravating them. As long as the media pressing on with its reporting of these mass demonstrations, people's attention will continue to be diverted from the issues that really count -- the economy and terrorism among them. President Obama and Hillary Clinton struck a conciliatory tone in their speeches yesterday, with the former saying that w...

...raise your hand. Did you raise it?  I sure did. Between incessant mudslinging, accusations of groping, email controversies, and non-stop coverage of every little thing Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton say and do, I've just about had it. Thankfully, we're less than two weeks away from the end of it all. This is an election year unlike any we've seen before. It has felt more like reality television than anything else, and I think we can all agree that Donald Trump has had a lot to do with that. Still, most people find neither candidate likable or trustworthy. It seems their aim is merely to vote for the person they hate the least -- the lesser of two evils, if you will. I want to go back to the time where I could tune into CNN or Fox News and see at least a few stories peppered in about the economy, a breakthrough innovation, or something significant happening around the world. I suppose Trump and Hillary bring in the ratings, and that's why they get so...

U.S. companies didn't do much hiring last month. According to the Labor Department's latest report, only 160,000 jobs were added in April -- considerably fewer than the 197,000 jobs economists had anticipated. As a result, the unemployment rate stayed at 5%. This has many people worried that the U.S. economy has slowed, despite two years of strong hiring. The disappointing report adds fuel to the argument that 2016 has gotten off to a slow start. And we all know that when the U.S. economy is mired in a slump, it has serious implications for the rest of the world. I check the job boards every so often and still don't see as many positions available now -- at least not in my industry -- as in 2007, right before the recession struck.  Still, many Americans have begun looking for work in recent months, hopeful they can find better-paying opportunities. April saw a decent lift in wages -- which grew 2.5% annually -- but that's still below the 3% to 3.5% tha...

Many people fear that Donald Trump has forever changed the political landscape in America -- and not in a good way. Yes, more people are turning out to vote in primaries and caucuses. But the fact that this brash and unfiltered real estate magnate and entertainer is dominating in the polls sends a clear message: That anyone who wants to effect change can run for office. Hip hop artist and producer Kanye West has already declared his intention to run in 2020. We can only imagine how many other singers, actors, and others from outside the realm of politics will follow suit. As we're seeing in this heated election season, Donald Trump is playing to people's emotions quite effectively. He's capitalizing on their hopelessness and promising to make a host of sweeping changes to "make America great again"  -- all while remaining thin on specific details. Many voters find themselves skeptical given his inability to provide concrete plans -- something that senators...

Can you take a wild guess as to whom I'm talking about? Yep, it's Donald Trump. Whether I'm watching TV, listening to the radio, using Facebook, or reading the newspaper, Trump continues to saturate all media. We're either forced to look at his bizarre hair or hear him talk someone down in his usual bombastic manner. The man is entertaining, I'll give him that much. If he were to host a talk show -- mind you, I watched every season of "Celebrity Apprentice" - I'd be the first one to watch it. But that's just it. He's part businessman, part entertainer. I don't feel he's fit to be President of the United States. I've never seen the media zero in on a celebrity or politician to this extent. He puts Kim Kardashian to shame! It's clear that Trump helps the network garner higher ratings, which is why -- despite all the vitriol he spews out -- they continue to cover him. This is precisely why I look forward to the primar...

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama left some scratching their heads over remarks he made regarding running for a third term. During a speech he gave in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Obama certainly sounded like he wanted to spend another four years in office. Though the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution expressly limits the elected president to two terms in office, Obama stated that if he were given the opportunity to run, he think he'd win. I beg to differ. There's a term in marketing called "advertising wearout," whereby the more a viewer is exposed to an ad, the less of an influence it exerts on him or her. There's a reason why marketers have to refresh their ad campaigns sporadically. People get tired of seeing the same spokespeople and hearing the same pitches over and over again. I think the same applies to Obama, much like it does for previous presidents who served two terms. The American people are ready for a fresh face --...