James L. Paris's Blog, page 104
February 17, 2017
Kumgang Podcast - How To Turbocharge Your Sleep
Click Here To Listen Online Or Download
On this episode Jim shares several tips on how to get an amazing night of sleep. Including aromatherapy, nutritional supplements for sleep, using a 'sleep machine', and more. When making important decisions be careful not to set yourself up with confirmation bias. How Jim is losing weight with the Slow Carb diet, how to deal with dysfunctional family situations, how the martial arts can clear your mind and provide a mental 'reboot.'
Mitch Albom: ���Stop Inviting Sports Teams to the White House���
Noted author and sports journalist Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press, like many Americans, has taken note of the recent displays of disrespect by professional athletes, and, regarding the issue of boycotts of White House visits in particular, says that it���s time to bring that tradition to an end.
His reason? Basically, that people have found it impossible to act like earnest, respectful adults in the current politico-social climate, and so events and rituals that demand earnest, respectful behavior should simply be discarded.
In fact, when looking at the matter from the standpoint of simple pragmatism, Albom makes a great deal of sense when he matter-of-factly suggests that ���if I���m throwing a dinner party and a chunk of my guests make a point of telling people why they���re not coming, maybe the dinner party isn���t such a great idea.���
As of this writing, six members of the New England Patriots have said they will not participate in any Super Bowl victory visit to the White House. While admitting that players obviously have the right to refuse the opportunity to visit, he calls doing so ���rude,��� pointing out that ���since most presidential elections are about 50-50,��� it���s reasonable to assume that ���half the athletes who have visited the White House over the years didn���t vote for the man occupying it. So what? You can respect the office. The tradition. The reverence of our flawed but still-beautiful democratic system.���
That���s not where we are anymore, however. Politically and culturally, we have quickly become a sort of Bizarro World, where ���respect��� and ���reverence��� are nowhere and rudeness is not only everywhere, it is enthusiastically encouraged by far too many.
That said, it is what it is, and perhaps, for the time being, it serves the rest of us right that our unwillingness to demand better from the rabble-rousers in our midst begins to cost us some of our more storied traditions. Maybe when enough of us notice how much things have changed for the worse���how truly Bizarro our world has become���we���ll finally work to change things back.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
New York Times Piece Says Sanctuary Cities Should Do More to Protect Illegal Immigrants
An op-ed piece in The New York Times suggests that sanctuary cities that do no more than refuse to cooperate with efforts by federal authorities to corral illegal immigrants are not doing nearly enough; they should, in fact, change the very way they conduct policing within their communities, so that illegals, or ���undocumented immigrants,��� find themselves at odds with the criminal justice system with much less frequency than they do, presently.
���It���s not enough for cities like New York to declare themselves ���sanctuaries,��� which simply means that the local police won���t detain noncitizens on the federal government���s behalf. If cities really want to protect immigrants, they must also end the quota-driven style of policing that makes immigrants the victims of unnecessary arrests and disproportionate punishment.���
The article, written by Shakeer Rahman and Robin Steinberg, social justice advocates who work at Bronx Defenders, a legal services nonprofit, goes so far as to advocate that cops simply look the other way when local laws are being broken so that the chances that illegals may be arrested are diminished.
���Many of these unnecessary arrests stem from the discredited idea that a draconian crackdown on the most minor offenses ��� littering, selling loose cigarettes, biking on the sidewalk ��� will prevent more serious crimes. This model of policing, known as broken windows or zero tolerance, helped to drive mass incarceration. Its next cost could be mass deportation.���
Is deportation of people in the country illegally really a ���cost?���
Many, including a whole bunch of those who elected into office the new President of the United States, would say it is a benefit.
���While the federal government runs immigration courts and prisons, local police departments are its eyes and ears. Across the country, whenever they arrest someone, city departments send fingerprints and other identifying information to federal officials. Whether the offense is as trivial as selling mango slices on the street without a license or taking a shortcut through a park after dark, federal agents are notified of an immigrant���s name and how to find him or her.���
Isn���t this how it is supposed to work in a nation of laws that endeavors to protect its borders and its sovereignty?
Not according to the increasingly-unhinged advocates for illegal immigrants in the United States.
Welcome to America.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr Editor At Large
February 16, 2017
Uh-Oh���FHA Mortgage Delinquencies Just Went Up for the First Time in 10 Years
An article over at CNBC.com is highlighting some startling information from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), information that���s conjuring up awfully bad memories for many people.
According to the MBA, delinquencies of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages rose in the fourth quarter of 2016, marking the first such upward movement since 2006. FHA-insured loans are typically characterized by less-stringent underwriting standards and lower interest rates, as well as minimal down payments - FHA borrowers need only put 3.5 percent down on home purchases.
The MBA���s data shows the FHA delinquency rate for Q4 2016 was 9.02 percent, up from the third quarter���s rate of 8.3 percent.
The spike is prompting many who remember the 2008 real estate plunge all too well to think, ���Oh no���here we go again.���
Tellingly, the CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, David Stevens, is not dismissing such concerns out of hand.
���We had been experiencing great credit quality for so long, and to suddenly see this quarter-over-quarter reversal was a surprise, and we're looking closely at it,��� said Stevens.
���When we see a blip like this, we get concerned about whether that it is a trend,��� he continued. ���And getting these premiums priced appropriately to provide access to home ownership ��� but also to protect the taxpayer ��� is that really important balance that the incoming secretary is going to have to focus on with his team to make sure we don't put the taxpayer at risk or the program at risk ��� and that's the challenge.���
Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
Christian Leader: Through Trump, God Delivered Nation from ���Spirit of Witchcraft��� in Oval Office
According to one prominent Christian voice, the power of Donald Trump to fix what ails the country may be more magnificent than just about anyone imagined.
The Christian Post reports that when Lance Wallnau, Christian activist and ���thought leader,��� appeared Tuesday on The Jim Bakker Show, he declared that God worked through Trump in order to deliver ���the nation from the spirit of witchcraft in the Oval Office.���
���The spirit of witchcraft was in the Oval Office, it was about to intensify to a higher level demon principality, and God came along with a wrecking ball, shocked everyone, the church cried out for mercy and bam���God knocked that spirit out, and what you're looking at is the manifestation of an enraged demon through the populace,��� Wallnau said.
The Christian Post article points out that Lance Wallnau has been enthusiastic about Trump for some time, and decided he was the ���prophesied president��� after attending the gathering of evangelical leaders Trump arranged back in June at Trump Tower in New York City.
However, others within the evangelical community, like author and pastor Tony Campolo, remain disappointed at their ���brethren��� who���ve seen fit to embrace President Trump.
���The thing is that the evangelical brand has suffered immeasurably because of its ordaining of Donald Trump as president of the United States,��� Campolo said in a telephone interview with The Christian Post.
���The fact is that some of these evangelical leaders, the really big ones, have said that God has ordained Donald Trump,��� Campolo continued, adding that such an ordination is a ���sad thing.���
Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
February 15, 2017
The Season May Be Over, but Political Division Inside NFL Player Ranks Remains Strong
Just yesterday, this space discussed the decision by six (so far) members of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots to forgo any team victory trip to the White House.
Today, we have still more discussion of the NFL and politics, because, apparently, they���re just meant to be together nowadays.
According to a large number of news sources, including the Daily Mail, three members of a scheduled 12-player delegation set to tour Israel have decided to pull out of the trip because of what they view as unfortunate political implications associated with the visit.
Partly organized by Israel���s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, the trip is to include visits to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Jerusalem���s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, and the community of Black Hebrew Israelites in Dimona.
Three players, however, have elected to pass on the voyage: Michael Bennett of the Seattle Seahawks, his brother Martellus of the New England Patriots, and Kenny Stills of the Miami Dolphins.
As detailed in the Daily Mail, there is some speculation that the players opted to stay home after the publication of an open letter by journalist Dave Zirin, he of the notoriously progressive Nation weekly magazine.
���Based on the public dedication to social justice that many of you share, it came as a surprise to us to see that you will be going on a tour of Israel next week sponsored by the Israeli government as part of an effort to get you to ���become ambassadors of goodwill for Israel,������ Zirin wrote.
���We would ask that you reconsider attending. These trips bringing celebrities to Israel are part of a larger ���Brand Israel��� campaign to help the Israeli government normalize and whitewash its ongoing denial of Palestinian rights.
���The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dedicated a lot of resources to this campaign, which is designed explicitly to improve Israel's image abroad to counter worldwide outrage over its massacres and war crimes.���
Michael Bennett was the first of the three players to formally announce his decision to pull out of the trip, and did so in a letter he posted to Twitter, which read, in part:
���I was excited to see this remarkable and historic part of the world with my own eyes. I was not aware, until reading this article about the trip in the Times of Israel, that my itinerary was being constructed by the Israeli government for the purposes of making me, in the words of a government official, an ���influencer and opinion-former��� who would then be ���an ambassador of good will.���
���I will not be used in such a manner. When I do go to Israel - and I do plan to go - it will be to see not only Israel but also the West Bank and Gaza so I can see how the Palestinians, who have called this land home for thousands of years, live their lives.���
(Editor���s note: Although the Daily Mail article embedded in this piece points out that two players, Michael Bennett and Kenny Stills, withdrew from the trip, Michael���s brother Martellus has since announced his decision to stay home, as well.)
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
Leftist Comedian Sarah Silverman Boldy Mistakes Construction Markings for���Swastikas
This may be as funny as it is sad.
As detailed by a variety of news sources, including Western Journalism, ultra-crude comedian Sarah Silverman (apparently, it is sexist to use the female form comedienne nowadays) embarrassed herself terribly on Twitter Sunday when she very publicly mistook markings used by construction workers and civil engineers to identify the location of underground cables and pipes���for swastikas.
That���s right ��� swastikas.
Here is her rather breathtaking tweet (that included a pic of the ���offensive��� markings):
���Walking to get coffee saw these all over a sidewalk in the town I'm in. Is this an attempt at swastikas? Do neo nazis not have google?���
The ���Google��� question was apparently a reference to the fact that she thought the swastikas were incorrectly drawn.
No making THIS stuff up, that���s for sure.
As you might imagine, Silverman was obliterated on social media and later admitted she had it wrong. Still, though, she felt the need to justify her grievous error at the expense of the Trump administration, saying (again on Twitter) that ���I'm seeing swastikas in everything fratboys. It started w Bannon's rise & festered when trump decided not 2 mention Jews re the Holocaust.���
Still, as good as this was, it does not surpass the error made back in 2015 by another leftist celebrity, author Joyce Carol Oates, who, responding to a ���troll��� tweet, famously expressed serious amazement and frustration that are apparently no laws that make it illegal to hunt...DINOSAURS.
Seriously���how did Trump not win this election by eleventy-billion votes??
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
February 14, 2017
Is Waiting Until Age 70 to Claim Social Security Right for You?
So, when should you begin taking Social Security?
It is a question that does not have a standard, ���one size fits all��� answer, particularly given that you can begin taking benefits as early as age 62 and as late as age 70. While the subject can justify an extended examination of all of the factors that should be weighed, a recent article over at Fox Business does a good job in describing the key considerations to be evaluated when making this important decision.
Perhaps the most compelling reason to wait is that your checks will be bigger. Although ���full retirement age,��� which refers to the age at which a person can be taking Social Security and receive full benefits, is presently 66, for every year beyond that age one puts off beginning taking Social Security, their check increases by about 8 percent per year. This means that a retiree who waits until 70 to begin taking Social Security will see a check that���s 32 percent higher than it would be if he or she began taking ���full benefits��� at 66.
The other notable reason to begin taking Social Security later is that you have little set aside in the way of retirement savings. By working longer and delaying Social Security withdrawals, you can kill two birds with one stone: You give yourself more time to put money away in savings, and the delay in ceasing work and accessing Social Security ensures your benefit will be as high as possible.
As to the reasons why you would hit up Social Security earlier, they are also clear and easily-understood. First and foremost, you would do so if you simply need the money. With Americans continuing to struggle to set aside much in the way of savings, there is nothing unusual about lots of folks needing to pull the trigger on benefits simply in order to stay afloat. While many in that position are ideally well-served by working later, that is not always an option. Contractions in the workplace, as well as unforeseen health issues, can prove to be tough obstacles for those who would like to put off retirement until much later.
The other, prominent reason to start taking benefits earlier is if you have a real concern that you simply won���t live terribly long. If you just don���t see yourself living into your 80���s, it may be wise to start collecting benefits earlier so that you can receive, in total, more than you likely would otherwise.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
Six New England Patriots Players Say They���ll Pass on Super Bowl Victory Trip to White House
It may well be that the very-public melding of politics and sports is a bell that simply cannot be un-rung.
Although the professional football season has come to an end, the divisive ideological expression that became so characteristic of this season has managed to stay alive even now as the championship has been decided, lockers are empty, and players have returned home for the off-season.
No sooner were the New England Patriots once again crowned the kings of the NFL than some team members began announcing they would not participate in the ritual of the Super Bowl-winning team visiting the White House this year���because Trump, of course.
According to a number of media outlets, including the Daily Mail, six Patriots have officially declared their non-participation in any team trip to the White House: Defensive back Devin McCourty, tight end Martellus Bennett, defensive end Chris Long, running back LeGarrette Blount, linebacker Dont���a Hightower and defensive tackle Alan Branch.
Appearing on NFL Network���s The Rich Eisen Show, Blount said directly, ���I will NOT be going to the White House. I don't feel welcome in that house. I'll leave it at that.���
When asked by the Dallas Morning News if he���d be participating in a White House visit, Bennett replied, ���Most likely no, because I don't support the guy that's in the house.���
Well, then.
When McCourty told Time magazine that he was also not headed to the White House, he said, ���The president having so many strong opinions and prejudices, I believe certain people might feel accepted there while others won't.���
While Long, Hightower and Branch have not publicly said that their reasons for declining a trip to the White House have anything to do with policy disagreements with its principal occupant, neither have they been forthcoming about other reasons for staying home. The closest any of the group has come to doing so is Alan Branch���s disclosure to Sporting News that he just wants to ���hang out with the family.��� That said, Branch did go along for the trip following the Patriots��� last Super Bowl victory in February 2015, when Barack Obama was president.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
February 13, 2017
Nationwide Immigration Raids - But Is The Media Telling The Whole Story?
The mainstream media is reporting a nationwide sweep by ICE, but are they telling the entire backstory? Man released that beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger on a bus in Canada. Singer Joy Villa wears Trump dress at Grammy, North Korea launches a ballistic missile that goes more than 300 miles before dropping into the ocean, while Japanese Prime Minister comes to US for meeting, Bitcoin value over $1,000 - how much higher will the cryptocurrency go? Sears and Kmart dropping Trump merchandise, and Gander Mountain about to file for bankruptcy.
