James L. Paris's Blog, page 112

Proposed New York Law Would Require Insurers to Provide Free Birth Control

Concerned about the prospect of Donald Trump and congressional Republicans fulfilling the President-elect���s pledge to repeal Obamacare, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman proposed a bill this week that would require all health insurers ��� private as well as public - under the jurisdiction of the state to continue providing free contraception to residents.

According to Fox 5 New York, essentially what the bill would do is secure the current provision of Obamacare, known formally as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that mandates free contraception. However, the bill would pick up where even the ACA leaves off, by requiring cost-free coverage of all methods of birth control, including vasectomies and Plan B, known informally as the ���morning-after pill.���

���The Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act will ensure that all New Yorkers have access to the birth control method they need to stay healthy and effectively plan for their future, no matter what happens in Congress,��� Schneiderman said.
However, the New York Health Plan Association (HPA), a group that represents managed health care plans in the Empire State, says that the proposed legislation would unquestionably prompt a rise in costs.

���Requiring coverage of emergency contraception, a year's worth of contraception, and voluntary sterilization procedures for men and women is inconsistent with existing coverage requirements,��� said HPA president Paul Macielak. ���And saying New Yorkers should have 'cost-free' access to the coverage ignores the actual costs of the services.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Good Guy with Gun Saves Arizona State Trooper from Beating, or Worse

What has become one of the more controversial sub-debates inside of the broader tug-of-war on gun control has to do with the concept of the ���good guy with a gun.��� The rationale behind the notion says that if gun laws are lax enough in a given jurisdiction such that more law-abiding citizens ��� ���good guys��� - can legally carry firearms on their person, that should any bad guys take it upon themselves to pull out their own guns and start shooting, the prevalence of good guys with guns in the immediate area will quickly arrest the trouble in a way that wouldn���t be possible if the legal conveyance of guns���by people who actually care about obeying the law���was highly restricted.

Those on each side of the debate are quick to cite their own statistics and interpretations in an effort to convince the other of the futility of their position. However, for one particular Arizona state trooper, probably no amount of ���evidence��� that might be presented by the anti-gun crowd will ever convince him that society is better off with fewer good guys with guns.

Last Thursday, according to KTAR News, an unidentified trooper was investigating a rollover auto accident on Interstate 10, about 50 miles west of Phoenix, when he was attacked by an unidentified person. The trooper was shot in the shoulder, and when a random passerby happened on the scene, the law officer was also in the process of being beaten.

At that point, the passerby, whose name has not been released by authorities, stopped to ask the officer if he needed help. When the trooper responded affirmatively, the good Samaritan went back to his vehicle, retrieved his own weapon, and returned to the aid of the trooper.

The passerby pointed his weapon at the attacker and demanded that he stop. When he did not, the ���Samaritan��� shot him multiple times, killing him, and then used the radio in the patrol car to call for help.

According to KTAR News, although the trooper���s injuries were serious, they were not life-threatening.

Of the person who stopped to help the officer, Col. Frank Milstead, Director of the Department of Public Safety, said, ���I don���t know that my trooper would be alive without his assistance.���

���I would just say thank you.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Middle East Muslims Reportedly Embracing Christ in Droves

According to The Voice of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC), a non-profit group devoted to aiding persecuted Christians around the globe, ���thousands��� of Muslims in the Middle East are embracing Christianity even as large numbers of Christians flee Iraq and Syria in the face of conflict and persecution.

In reporting by The Christian Post, VOMC told BosNewsLife, a European-based news agency that reports on the persecution of Christians, that ���there are thousands upon thousands coming to Christ. We are in regular contact with our FM stations in Iraq and have talked with many people who have family in the Middle East.��� 

���Some of our Middle Eastern broadcasters have shared testimonies [about many turning to Christ] with us, which they hear directly from listeners when visiting there ...���

Even in Iran, where Christian churches are regular, ongoing targets of the Islamic government, the number of Christians in country has been steadily growing for decades now. According to Elam Ministries, which declares its mission to be ���to strengthen and expand the church in the Iran region and beyond,��� there are now roughly 360,000 ���believers��� in that country, which, according to the group is up substantially from the mere 500 that lived in Iran back in 1979, the year of the Iranian Islamic Revolution.

���Church leaders believe that millions can be added to the church in the next few years -- such is the spiritual hunger that exists and the disillusionment with the Islamic regime," said Elam.

���If we remain faithful to our calling, our conviction is that it is possible to see the nation transformed within our lifetime. Because Iran is a strategic gateway nation, the growing church in Iran will impact Muslim nations across the Islamic world.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Controversial ���Cops-as-Pigs��� Painting Rehung in U.S. Capitol

It���s baaaack.

Just a few days ago, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., took it upon himself to remove from the walls of the U.S. Capitol a controversial painting that had been hanging there as the winning piece of an annual Congressional Art Competition sponsored by Rep. Lacy Clay, D-Mo. The most striking, apparent image in the painting depicts a police officer as a pig, pointing a gun at black protesters. The work is the creation of David Pulphus, a young man who was a high school student at the time he painted the piece. It is supposed to be, reportedly, a commentary on what he experienced as a young person living so close to the Ferguson, Mo. riots in 2014.

The public display of the painting at the Capitol immediately drew the ire of law enforcement agencies all across the country, but it stayed in place, until last Friday, when Rep. Hunter unscrewed the piece from the wall and brought it to Clay���s office.

Well, as reported by The Washington Times and a variety of other news outlets, the painting is back up, courtesy of Clay and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Clay defended the painting, and its display, on the basis of constitutionality.

���It is just pathetic that some Republican members and alt-right media types who constantly refer to themselves as constitutional conservatives don���t think that that same document protects the fundamental free speech rights of my 18-year-old constituent,��� said Clay to reporters.

Continuing, Clay said, ���I do not agree or disagree with this painting, but I will fight to defend this young man���s right to express himself because this artwork is true for him, and he is entitled to that protection under the law.���

Just before the painting was returned to the spot from which it had been removed by Rep. Hunter, the California congressman told reporters that the piece should remain grounded, citing rules of the art competition prohibiting pieces that represent issues of a ���sensationalistic��� nature, as well as the portrayal of events that are ���contemporary.���

 By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Trump and CNN Reporter in Shouting Match at Press Conference

And so it begins.

Trump vs. the media, that is.

Oh, the President-elect has had a rocky relationship with journalists since the inception of his campaign, but now that he will be the country���s chief executive for at least the next four years, his largely-adversarial posture with the Fourth Estate is surely headed to another level...and it appears the world audience saw a glimpse of that on Wednesday, when Trump held his first post-election news conference.

There, Trump and CNN���s Jim Acosta sparred over the reporting on a 35-page dossier, allegedly assembled by a former official with British intelligence, that details intelligence supposedly gathered by Russia on the incoming president. One of the most notable points of contention is that the allegations contained in the dossier, including that there exists sex tapes that somehow involve Trump and Russian prostitutes, remain unsubstantiated.

While a variety of news outlets have written stories about the intelligence file, most discuss it nonspecifically, precisely because of the lack of confirmed veracity about what it contains. However, ���new media��� giant BuzzFeed nevertheless took the controversial step of publishing the entire document for everyone to see.

Obviously, Trump is livid with BuzzFeed, but is angry with CNN, as well, for their reporting on the file. What���s more, Trump has had a long-standing beef with CNN over what he sees as their biased take on him since the beginning of his campaign, which clearly does not help his temperament with the news giant, or any of its reporters, when a story like this bubbles up.

So, with that backdrop heading into Wednesday���s press conference, Acosta asked Trump at the media event, ���Since you���re attacking our news organization, can you give us a chance to ask a question?���

���Not you, your news organization is terrible,��� Trump replied, and he began to take another question from a different reporter.

Acosta remained undeterred.

���Can you give us a question? You are attacking us, can you give us a question, sir? Sir? Mr. President-elect.���

���Quiet. Quiet,��� Trump shot back at Acosta as he was taking another question. ���She���s asking a question, don���t be rude, don���t be rude.���

Acosta kept at it, with Trump saying, ���No I���m not going to give you a question ��� you are fake news.���

The Trump Era in American media has clearly begun.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Jeff Sessions��� Asian Granddaughter the Subject of Vicious Tweet by MTV News Writer

Sen. Jeff Sessions is now in the midst of his confirmation hearing to be the next Attorney General of the United States. In this day and age of social media free-for-all, where those with even a particularly vile opinion can use their own personal communication platforms to tell the world what they think even before they think, there was no shortage of messages thrown about in cyberspace regarding Sessions and his bid to become the nation���s ranking law enforcement officer.

One, however, was especially crass.

As reported by countless news outlets, including Business Insider, Ira Madison III, a cultural writer for MTV News, had something rather harsh to say when he saw Sessions��� granddaughter sitting on his lap at the confirmation hearing. Here was his tweet:

���Sessions, sir, kindly return this Asian baby to the Toys 'R' Us you stole her from.���

The little girl, Sessions��� biological granddaughter, is the child of daughter Ruth Sessions Walk and her husband, attorney John Walk, who is himself Asian-American.

Madison wasn���t finished. He followed up with another tweeted message:

���There is no reason for that child to be in his lap in a hearing other than to send an ���I���m not racist message.������

People everywhere pounced on Madison for his insensitive tweets, with even well-known journalists from more mainstream media outlets giving him an earful. CNN���s Jake Tapper responded with ���Disgusting tweet. The little girl is his granddaughter. Delete your account and find some humanity,��� while CNBC���s John Harwood simply messaged, ���Disgusting.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Hillary Clinton Confidante: She Will Never Run for Elected Office Again

Neera Tanden, a Democratic political activist and close ally of Hillary Clinton, declared to CNN���s Jake Tapper on last Sunday���s State of the Union that the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nominee will most certainly not make another run for the White House, and won���t likely compete again for any elected office.

���I think she's going to figure out ways to help kids and families,��� said Tanden. ���That's been what she's been focused on her whole life, and a lot of issues that are affecting them, over the next couple of years.���

���But I don't expect her to ever run for any elected office again.���

Tanden���s comments seem to close the door on a prospective Clinton run for mayor of New York City, a possibility that had been the subject of increasing discussion over the last several weeks. Incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio has been feeling the pressure of steadily-decreasing popularity since assuming office back in 2014. Although his job approval numbers have started to creep back upward just a bit ��� he���s now at around 47 percent ��� roughly half of New Yorkers say they want him out. The next election for mayor of the city takes place this November.

Still, according to Tanden, no one should expect Hillary to be a candidate.

���I don't expect her to run for this and I don't expect her to run for other office,��� reiterated Tanden on Sunday.

Hillary was most recently spotted Sunday at the final performance of ���The Color Purple��� on Broadway, attending with husband Bill and daughter Chelsea. Mrs. Clinton was treated to an impromptu standing ovation by the other theatregoers after her presence was publicly recognized by one of the actresses at the show���s conclusion.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Financial Analyst Says Bitcoin Likely To Soar In Value

Author, James Dale Davidson, joins Jim Paris Live to discuss his book, The Breaking Point- Profit From The Coming Money Cataclysm. Davidson gives an honest and sobering assessment of the present state of the economy in the U.S. Davidson also predicts even worse economic times for Europe. He shares his enthusiasm for Bitcoin, gold, and an exchange traded fund that will profit from the collapse of the Euro.

 

Can Tom Cruise Save Scientology?

On this episode Jim discusses the Leah Remini's A&E TV reality show on Scientology, and the news that Tom Cruise is moving to Clearwater Florida to try and save the organization from collapse. Jim shares the details of his Christmas vacation, including his visit to Dollywood and Savannah, Georgia. Also discussed - who is trying to take down the Drudge Report with a massive denial of service attack? A new browser app that can save you big money, and the Slow Carb Diet.

 

 

Meryl Streep Smacks Down Donald Trump, Regular Folks at Golden Globes

You���ve surely heard about Meryl Streep���s latest performance, this one delivered at Sunday night���s Golden Globes.

The winner of multiple Oscars was on hand to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor richly deserved.

She did use the platform as an opportunity to go after President-elect Trump, and certainly that was no surprise. This is, after all, a Hollywood awards show taking place a relatively short time after the hotly-contested election which saw Trump lose the popular vote to the Hollywood elite���s chosen candidate.

The problem is, Streep didn���t just go after Trump in her acceptance speech; she explicitly went after Trump supporters, and, in so doing, just may have helped to ensure four more years of his presidency.

Here is the comment she made during her speech that really says it all:

���Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick them all out, you���ll have nothing to watch but football and Mixed Martial Arts, which are not the arts.���

Wow.

Democrats either aren���t taking any notes, or they are so enthusiastic about wanting to insult Trump - and those who cast their votes for him - that they simply don���t care that swipes like those taken by Streep only help to guarantee you���ll get more, not less, of him.

Ultimately, I don���t know how you precisely define ���regular folks���; I don���t know if part of the definition is that they are football fans, mixed martial arts fans, and/or people who really can���t distinguish the latter from true arts.

I do know one thing, though - however they���re defined, you can bet that there are lots more of them who comprise the nations��� broad population than there are the kinds of people who were assembled inside The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. last Sunday night.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large