OPINION:

Surely by now you have heard about the clown craze in Cincinnati and in other surrounding areas. Surely by now you are thinking, “Oh, that will never happen to me.” I am here to tell you that thinking you are somehow immune to an attack is simply false.

It is the unfortunate and scary truth, but the clowns and the threats that they pose are very real. As you may or may not already know, there have been multiple murders and arrests due to the clowns.

With Halloween just a few days away, I want to warn everyone to please stay safe this year. If you have kids, I recommend going with them when they go trick-or-treating. You never know if a clown is giving out candy or if the clown will abduct or possibly even kill trick-or-treaters.

Please believe me when I say that I hate to even put that thought in your head, because I truly do. I also realize, however, that somebody has to make it clear that extra precautions must be taken this year more than any other.

As far as tips to stay safe, I can give you two big ones. First, go out with a group. This is a good idea because the overall level of safety will increase. Also, wrap up your trick-or-treating session once it begins to become dark outside. Clowns are more likely to attack at night when visibility is reduced.

Should you see a clown at any point in the near future, be sure to report the incident once you are in a safe location. Tell authorities where and when the sighting was. Although you should try your best to describe the clown when reporting the sighting, ensuring your own personal safety is the number one priority.

SPORTS:

This election is coming to an abrupt close, which resembles a car crash. However, Donald Trump’s campaign is less of a car and more of the shape of the Access Hollywood bus crashing into a wall, and no attempted explaining of ‘locker room talk’ will save him.

The locker room is a place for camaraderie and team bonding. Men do not use it as a place to vet their personal sexual misconduct.

The fact that a presidential candidate would make those comments about women, commenting on how he potentially sexually assaulted women, is indefensible and disgusting. The additional fact that he then attempted to explain these comments away calling them, “Locker room talk”, is even more incomprehensible.

Yes, men do talk about women in the locker room. However, they do not talk about sexual assault and then forcing themselves onto these women.

Also, the reason men categorize talking about women as “locker room talk” is because they do not act like that everywhere that they go. If you talk like that everywhere you go, because the Access Hollywood bus is not a locker room, it ceases to be “locker room talk” and just becomes how you speak to people.

The fact is that Trump believes talking about sexually assaulting women with his male friends, much less a random reporter, is okay. I do not believe that anyone with any kind of moral sense or direction would support that claim.

Trump has shown a clear pattern of demeaning and degrading women, and simply explaining this away with “locker room talk,” is insulting to anyone who is a part of a locker room.