James L. Paris's Blog, page 115

China Says Its Catholics Must Exist Independent of Rome

Even as China and the Vatican ostensibly seek to improve their relationship with one another, Chinese Communist Party authorities are declaring that the Catholic Church in China should exist not under the authority of the Vatican, but, rather, should adhere to the whims of Beijing.

Although Pope Francis has been actively seeking to establish���or re-establish���a functional relationship between the Vatican and Beijing with respect to the Catholic Church in China, a sticking point to achieving that end has come in the form of China���s ongoing demand that the Holy See remain a non-participant in matters of faith in China.

The bottom line is that the Communist Party in China wants church leaders at the local level to be at least as much reflective of the political interests of the state as they are reflective of the interests of Catholicism. The communists say that bishops should be appointed by the Catholic Church in China, not by Rome, and that the pope should have no authority over the church in China.

The rift between the Catholic Church and the China came to pass when the communists rose to power in 1949. By 1951, after a series of incidents, Beijing cut diplomatic ties with the Vatican, and the relationship has remained largely nonexistent since that time.

As reported by Christian Today, Yu Zhengsheng, a senior official with the Communist Party told the ���government-approved��� Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and Bishops Conference of Catholic Church of China that Chinese Catholics should ���run their church independently and better integrate it into society.���

���The church should adhere to the principles of self-administration, run religious affairs independently and guide believers to adhere to the Sinicization path of the religion,��� said Yu (���Sinicization��� refers to making something more Chinese in orientation).

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Singer Quits Because Trump is Hitler, or Something

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir (MTC) is one of the few acts that has agreed to perform at the inauguration of Donald Trump.

Probably seems like a relatively safe bet for all concerned, too; after all, unlike so many of today���s popular music acts, which have large and youthful followings that are frequently energized on the same social media platforms used to take mass, frantic issue with politicians of more traditional stripes, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir would itself surely be seen as ���traditional,��� and thus a group with whom no one would much object if they decided to do something like sing at Trump���s inauguration.

Still, while it appears the MTC will be sticking with its plan to sing at the January 20 event, all is not well in the ranks; according to a number of news outlets, including CNN, one member has publicly said that she is quitting the group over its decision to perform at the inauguration.

Jan Chamberlin sent off a letter of resignation to the choir president earlier this week, and also announced her decision in a post on her Facebook page that read, in part, ���I've tried to tell myself that it will be all right and that I can continue in good conscience before God and man. I only know I could never 'throw roses to Hitler.' And I certainly could never sing for him.���

���Looking from the outside in, it will appear that Choir is endorsing tyranny and fascism by singing for this man,��� she wrote.

As far as I���m concerned, if you don���t want to sing at Trump���s inauguration, fine, have at it (or, rather, don���t have at it). However, the moment you travel down the road of ultra-hyperbolic comparisons to Hitler, and suggestions that Trump represents tyranny and fascism, then whatever grains of sympathy or appreciation I ��� and so many others - might have for you are immediately washed away.

In point of fact, these now-incessant ���worst of the worst��� false equivalencies used to denigrate politicians are simply conversation-enders for so many of us. While they make for good theater ���in the moment,��� the over-the-top references stop rational political discourse in its tracks, and serve only to widen the distance that already separates those who support a change from the last eight years from those who do not.

One thing���s for sure: If Chamberlin sees Trump as representative of ���tyranny��� and ���fascism,��� then it is clear she has had no real exposure to either.

Look, by all means, don���t vote for the guy, don���t sing for him���but, also, don���t contribute to the reduction of the political narrative in this country by defending either of those aforementioned actions on the basis that Trump is tantamount to one of history���s all-time worst people.

No one is served by that silliness���least of all, the electorate.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Charlie Sheen���s Tweeted Death Wish for Trump Says a Lot About America Today

If you spend much time paying attention to what is going out in the world, then you likely have both Internet access and a television that receives about a bazillion channels���and if you have those things, then you surely know about the Tweet actor Charlie Sheen sent out Wednesday night in which he wished death upon the next President of the United States.

To review, Sheen���s tweet went like this:

���Dear God; Trump next, please!��� The tweet repeated the ���Trump next, please��� line five more times, and the tweet was completed by a graphic of a small hand giving the middle finger.

Welcome to political discourse in 21st century America.

The wording of Sheen���s tweet was, of course, a simultaneous reference to the seemingly-high number of celebrity deaths that have occurred here in 2016, and a somewhat more specific reference, as well, to the passing of actress Carrie Fisher on Tuesday followed by the death of her mother, Debbie Reynolds, on Wednesday.

The message was received with great affection by many on the left who themselves have no ���inner voice,��� filter, or what have you, when it comes to saying crazy things out loud; it has been (so far) re-tweeted 43,000 times and liked 83,000 times.

Of course, Sheen was blasted by a variety of folks, as well, but it���s crazy that we have devolved to such a point in the greatest country on earth that it���s considered no big deal for a celebrity to very publicly wish that the worst circumstance possible befalls the incoming leader of the free world.

Even as one who is looking to the act as an example of something that���s beyond the pale, I must admit to being less than shocked by it���and that���s unfortunate.

Because when the point is reached in a society where it is no longer any big deal for a celebrity who differs politically with a President of the United States to wish death on that president, then we���re in a lot more trouble than we likely realize.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

California Has Issued 800,000 Driver���s Licenses to Undocumented Immigrants in the Last Two Years

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has released statistics showing that two years after a controversial law went into effect allowing undocumented immigrants to receive driver���s licenses, over 800,000 illegal residents of the state have been issued the credentials.

According to Maricela Gutierrez, executive director of SIREN, an immigration advocacy group, the law has proven a veritable godsend to undocumented residents of California.

���Many of them have been able to drive their kids to school and to run errands, when many times they were taking buses that would take them up to three hours to get from Point A to Point B,��� she said. ���It opened up new opportunities.���

One person who benefited from the law said, ���It���s a completely different feeling because you no longer have to worry about seeing a police car. You���re much more at peace when you drive. You can drive long distances with your family ��� to Disneyland or to the Monterey Bay Aquarium ��� with confidence. You don���t live in fear.���

Although many undocumented immigrants have expressed concern that obtaining licenses could make it easier for the various arms of immigration enforcement to locate them, it clearly seems that California has their backs.

The California DMV issued a statement this week in which it said, in part, that ���the California Department of Motor Vehicles takes very seriously the protection of personal information for all license holders,��� while Luis Alejo, the assemblyman who authored the law, said, ���We would like to reassure the public, and our immigrant brothers and sisters, that we believe in respect, justice, dignity and equality and that is how we will approach legislative action going forward.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Students at Illinois University Seek to Make Their School a ���Sanctuary Campus���

According to The Southern Illinoisan, students at Southern Illinois University are asking school administrators to designate the campus a ���formal sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, their families, and related community members.���

The push to become a ���sanctuary campus��� is coming from the Graduate and Professional Student Council, as well as the Undergraduate Student Government.

In speaking with The Southern, Brandon Woudenberg, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, said, ���Given the amount of students that could very literally be in fear of their legal status vis-a-vis doctoral students or international students from the Middle East, which we have a fairly decent percentage of at SIU, we wanted to make sure they know we supported them and that they were aware we were advocating on their behalf.���

While school administrators have yet to respond formally to the request, they are, reportedly, giving the matter some consideration. However, based on a preliminary response by SIU Carbondale���s Interim Chnacellor Brad Colwell, the kids should not be terribly hopeful about getting what they seek. Colwell pointed out that the school would surely be at risk of losing important federal funding if it were to travel such a route, saying, ���The concept of a sanctuary campus is complex and brings with it a number of legal questions. We do not want to go forward in a way that has unintended consequences for the university and all of its students.���

The effort at SIU is not the first of its kind at an Illinois campus. The administrators at the University of Illinois recently vetoed a proposal by faculty and students there to create a sanctuary for illegals, declaring that the school would adhere to state and federal laws.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Petition Seeks Firing of College Professor Involved in the Harassment of Ivanka Trump Aboard JetBlue

According to the Daily Mail, a petition posted over at Change.org is demanding the firing of a New York university professor involved in the harassment of Ivanka Trump and her children aboard a JetBlue flight last week.

 

Matthew Lasner, an instructor in the Urban Policy and Planning department at Hunter College, was traveling with his husband Dan Goldstein when the pair discovered they were flying with the first daughter-elect. Goldstein reportedly confronted Trump and began shouting at her.

According to other passengers who witnessed the incident, Ivanka remained calm, even telling Jet Blue staff that she didn���t ���want to make this a thing.��� However, the crew made the decision to remove Goldstein, Lasner, and their child to avoid the risk of further distress. Because the plane was still boarding when the events unfolded, removing the men and restoring order proved to be a relatively quick and painless process.

For some, however, this is not enough. The referenced petition, which has over 35,000 signatures, presently, demands the removal of Lasner for what its creators see as his complicity in the affair. While both Lasner and Goldstein downplayed the incident, the professor tweeted the following just before the trouble ensued: ���Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them. #banalityofevil���

It was surely that tweet that galvanized the folks behind the movement to take action. The petition reads, in part, ���'Someone like Mr. Lasner, who would harass a mother and her child simply trying to go about their day, does not deserve the honor of teaching.���

Hunter College has yet to address the incident publicly, although it is not known if any administrator has met, or plans to meet, privately with Lasner.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Fake Navy SEAL Uses His ���Status��� to Defraud Christian Aid Group

Stolen valor rears its very ugly head once again.

If you���re unfamiliar with stolen valor, it refers to the act of falsely claiming military service, military awards, and/or other military-related acts of honor, bravery, or sacrifice where none actually exist. The term is used both informally by people making reference to examples of the kinds of claims referenced that may not actually be against the law, as well as to those that are violations of the Stolen Valor Act, a federal statute that makes it illegal for anyone to engage in the noted behaviors with the intent to receive money, property or some other tangible benefit.

In another unfortunate case, the Chicago Tribune is reporting that a man who pretended to be a Navy SEAL will be spending the next three years in prison for his efforts at defrauding a Christian aid group that was seeking assistance in securing the release of three of its kidnapped workers.

William Burley, 36, was sentenced on Monday to the prison time, as well as ordered to pay full restitution in the amount of $32,454.

Burley approached International Aid Services America (IAS), a Chicago-based nonprofit, back in 2012, after three of its workers were kidnapped while on a humanitarian mission in Somalia. Citing his credentials as a Navy special operator, including military awards received, Burley was retained by IAS for $30,000 to help in securing the release of the hostages.

It turns out, however, that his claims of military service and decorations, as well as an array of other citations of experience, including that he had worked as a consultant for the State Department and Defense Department, were all untrue. His ruse was uncovered when some at IAS became suspicious of Burley, and the firm decided to employ noted ex-SEAL and stolen valor ���detective��� Don Shipley to conduct a thorough investigation into Burley���s background and history.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Iran���s Currency Takes a Pounding in Wake of Trump Election

Donald Trump had said that, if elected, he would basically toss out the 2015 nuclear deal made between Iran and many of the world���s most prominent nations. The agreement brought an end to economic sanctions against Tehran in exchange for that country���s willingness to accept a variety of measures designed to curb its ability to acquire nuclear weapons. Trump���s objections to the nuclear deal are the same harbored by so many; namely, that the inspection regimes put in place by the terms are poor, and that the lifting of sanctions provides to Iran access to hundreds of billions of dollars that may be used to finance acts of terrorism against the U.S. and its allies.

Well, Trump is now the next president, and the response of the rial, Iran���s currency, to his election seems to indicate that few over there are optimistic about what that will mean for the country. As a matter of fact, according to Reuters, the rial reached a record low on Monday when it dropped to 41,500 units to one dollar.

Although economists are citing a variety of reasons for the rial���s acutely bad performance of late, they admit that Trump���s impending occupancy of the Oval Office is an ugly sign for the currency. Were he to severely curtail, or kill outright, the Iran nuclear deal, potential trading partners would likely avoid doing business with Tehran. As it is, the billions upon billions of foreign money on which Iran had been counting, once the deal was reached, to help shore up its infrastructure has been slow in coming because of the fears harbored by international banks of running afoul of the U.S. Now, with such an anti-deal hawk about to enter the White House, things will likely only worsen for the Iranian economy, including for its currency.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

While Popular Entertainers Fire at Will on Trump, Local Comics Find a Much Tougher Crowd

Humorists on the most national of levels���late-night talk show hosts, Saturday Night Live performers, and the like���have been spending months procuring audience laughs at the direct expense of (now) President-elect Donald Trump.

For the most part, it seems as though their efforts are well-received. For one thing, most of these shows are taped in New York City and Los Angeles, cities that are now well-established bastions of liberalism. Additionally, as much of the social media universe, vis-��-vis entertainment, seems to be aggressively ���managed��� by voices on the left, the feedback in the immediate aftermath of a particularly cutting joke or routine pointed at Trump is typically positive.

It may well be the case, however, that all of the love expressed for anti-Trump humorists on the national scene belies a much different local reality.
A piece over at the Boston Herald details some of the hassles that comedians are encountering when they try to take a decidedly anti-Trump posture with their material, saying that many local standups have found that jokes about Trump ���go over like a gold-plated balloon.���

Among others, the article quotes Boston comic Jody Sloane, who points out that the ���election was the most polarizing election in the history of our country,��� and goes on to say that ���to even lightly joke about Trump leads Trump supporters to assume you are a Hillary supporter and the hatred ensues.���

Comedian Jimmy Tingle agrees, saying that ���when I was performing leading up to the election, if you mentioned Hillary���s name, you alienated half your audience, if you mentioned Trump���s name, you alienated half your audience. When you mention people���s names or political party, that���s when people fall into their camps.���

In other words, what comics are apparently finding out is that when they do their thing in front of rank-and-file Americans, they find themselves in front of the same rank-and-file voters who made Donald Trump the next President of the United States.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Long Island Town Holds Toy Gun Buyback

You���re likely familiar with gun buyback programs. Normally sponsored by the relevant local governments and coordinated by police departments, the point of the efforts is to reduce the number of firearms in civilian hands, to ���get guns off the streets,��� as it were.

Well, doubling-down on their gun control agenda, some people are taking the opportunity organize toy gun buyback programs.

That���s right���toy guns are now the subject of buyback programs.

According to the National Rifle Association���s Institute for Legislative Action, one such effort took place on Dec. 21, in Hempstead, N.Y., a Long Island city that has a strong history of supporting well-known liberal politicians.

Organized by Manhattan socialite Jean Shafiroff, in association with the Hempstead Heights Civic Association and Mayor Wayne Hall, the buyback offered the children of Hempstead the opportunity to turn in their toy guns in exchange for a brand new toy.

In speaking with Newsday, the established daily newspaper of Long Island, Shafiroff said, ���I wanted children to know toy guns are not good toys��� By exchanging them for a much better gift, it shows a toy gun is not worth having.���

���We need to get away from that culture and give children appropriate toys. Hempstead is sending a message guns are not to be played with,��� chimed in Lamont Johnson of the Hempstead Heights Civic Association.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large