James L. Paris's Blog, page 118

Entire Police Force of Indiana Town Quits En Masse, Citing ���Immoral Things���

What, exactly, prompted the entire police force of a small Indiana town to up and quit?

According to those who handed in their badges, the blame can be placed squarely on the insistence of town leaders to remain involved in various ���illegal, unethical and immoral things.���

In reporting by NBC News, now-former Marshal Michael Thomison, who became a part of Bunker Hill���s police force back in 2012, indicated that the relationship between the cops and town leaders soured in recent years as new faces were elected into government.

Among the grievances cited by Thomison include requests made of his office by some members of the town council to perform criminal background checks on other council members.

Thomison has also made an allegation that deputies found themselves facing retaliation by members of the council when they pulled over a council member or the council member���s wife.

Additionally, says Thomison, the town never made the need for more and better department resources any kind of priority. According to the ex-marshal, deputies were asked to avoid using both of Bunker Hill���s police cruisers in order to save money, and were also made to share the department���s lone bulletproof vest.

Speaking about the mass resignation with NBC News, Thomison said flatly, ���This was our last effort to make a statement.

For its part, the council issued a statement denying that body armor had been refused deputies, and further said that ���the council absolutely denies that it has ever asked Mr. Thomison or any of the reserve deputies to be involved in any illegal, unethical or immoral actions.���

According to town officials, they are now fully engaged in seeking new officers.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Judge: Texas Middle School Can Restore Charlie Brown Christmas Poster

Earlier this month, a poster was put up on the door to the nurse���s office at Patterson Middle School in Killeen, Texas to celebrate the holiday season. The poster features a drawing of the Linus character from the holiday cartoon classic A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The poster reflects more than just the image of Linus, however; it also contains a quote from the animated show - one of its most memorable:

���For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. ... That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.���

Well, THAT did it.

Suspecting that such an overt religious reference might be a problem, the school principal said the poster had to come down.

The Killeen Independent School District (Killeen ISD) soon found itself considering the issue, and determined on Wednesday that display of the poster should be banned���out of concern it might offend students not of a Christian orientation.

That wasn���t the end of things, however. Texas Values, a Christian legal advocacy group, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Patterson Middle School nurse���s aide Dedra Shannon to see the poster restored.

According to KHOU.com, Judge Jack Jones of the 146th District Court ruled on Thursday in Shannon���s favor, saying that the poster could be put back up, but saying, as well, that it had to be amended slightly to include the text ���Ms. Shannon���s Christmas Message.���

The ruling appears to be one with which Texas ISD can live. Following the court decision, the district issued a statement, saying, ���We believe that directing the individual to include the additional text better complies with state and federal law. We support this decision.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Facebook To Use Liberal Atheists To Censor News Feed

Facebook just announced that it will begin to use the so called fact checking of Snopes to censor its news feed. Snopes will be deciding what news is fake and what news is real. So called 'fake news' will be visibly marked as such. Knowing how Facebook operates, it is likely that stories deemed to be fake will also be buried in the timeline (or blocked completely). Websites determined to be distributing 'fake news' will also be banned from buying ads on Facebook. 

Who Is Snopes?

You may have been involved in a heated debate on a political issue, or mentioned a news story or Internet rumor, and been rebuffed with the line, 'Check Snopes.com ... it is not true.' Snopes.com is a fact checking website that many consider to be the final word on rumors, urban legends, and even news stories. Most people trust Snopes, but who are they and who is running this site?

It is not run by a college journalism department or a worldwide research team, just a husband and wife team in Southern California. David and Barbara Mikkeslon, started the site in 1995 as a part time project, which later turned into a full time effort. According to Wikipedia, the site gets about 300,000 visits per day. Many now suggest that Snopes has a liberal bias and that the site should not be considered a neutral source. I don't visit this site often, but I was surprised to learn that it was operated by only two people. Christians should also know that the Mikkelsons are atheists. See this video below that highlights their godless views.

    

The next time someone brings up Snopes, give them your own facts about the fact-checkers themselves. 

Helping you make the most of God's money!

James L. Paris 
Editor-In-Chief ChristianMoney.com 
Follow Me on Twitter Twitter.com/jameslparis
Christian Financial Advice 

NFL Legends Jim Brown, Ray Lewis Meet with Donald Trump

Donald Trump���s evolution from mogul to leader of the free world has seen him meet with an interesting array of people and personalities at what has become his home base for the transition process, the vaunted Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

On Tuesday, those with whom he met were very much in keeping with the ultra-unique profiles of earlier guests, with two of the more notable visitors being none other than retired National Football League legends Jim Brown and Ray Lewis.

According to The Hill, the principal purpose of the meeting was to address the problem of gang violence plaguing much of America���s inner cities.

Following the get-together, Brown and Lewis confirmed that the discussion with the President-elect centered on Brown���s Amer-I-Can philanthropic endeavor, which seeks to prevent kids from becoming absorbed into gang culture.

Brown was glowing in his praise of Trump and staff, saying, ���We couldn���t have had a better meeting.���

���The graciousness, the intelligence, the reception we got was fantastic.���

For his part, Lewis seemed equally ebullient, saying afterward, ���What we believe, with the Trump administration, is if we can combine these two powers of coming together, forget black and white. Black or white is irrelevant.

���The bottom line is job creation and economic development in these urban areas to change the whole scheme of what our kids see.���

Lewis said, as well, that he is supportive of Trump���s selection of Ben Carson to head up the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Many Democrats have questioned Carson���s specific qualifications for the position, but Carson himself grew up in public housing, and some believe the retired neurosurgeon may actually be uniquely well-qualified to address the issue of how distressed housing conditions can be a contributing factor to the poor health of many of its residents.

Darrell Scott, a Cleveland pastor and one of Trump���s more visible advocates from within the black community, also sat in on the meeting, and said afterward that the President-elect declared a ���verbal commitment��� to making Brown���s Amer-I-Can program a part of the new administration.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Quest Data Breach Underlines Growing Threat of Medical Identity Theft

No sooner did we revisit the issue of medical identity theft in this space, than word comes out of a data breach at Quest Diagnostics that reportedly exposed the health information of roughly 34,000 people.

According to Fox News, the heavily-used clinical lab service released a statement on Monday that said ���an unauthorized third party��� had managed to hack the MyQuest by Care360 mobile app designed specifically for smartphone use. The breach occurred on Nov. 26, and the data accessed included names, birthdates, lab results, and phone numbers. According to Quest, other sensitive information, like Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and insurance information was not compromised in the breach.

Per Quest���s website, the MyQuest app benefits patients by allowing them ���to see, share and store��� their health information in their smartphones, allowing them to ���take control��� of their health and health profiles whenever they want.

Israel Levy, the CEO of BUFFERZONE, a company that develops Internet security tools, addressed the Quest breach in an email exchange with Fox News, saying:

���For hackers, developing a targeted attack is a significant effort, so it's no surprise that they focus on healthcare organizations that store highly valuable patient data (significantly more valuable than credit cards on the Dark Web!). [The Quest Diagnostics] breach is yet another indication that despite regulations like HIPAA, healthcare organizations still aren't doing enough to protect themselves.���

HIPAA is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which is designed, in part, to protect the privacy and security of health information.

As referenced earlier, Quest is a popular lab resource for patients, doctors, and hospitals. According to Fox News, the company provides various services to a third of U.S. adults, as well as to fully half of the country���s physicians and hospitals.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Anti-Abortion Gov. John Kasich Vetoes Ohio���s ���Heartbeat��� Abortion Bill

One of the strongest legislative efforts initiated by anti-abortion groups and politicians in recent years has been on behalf of ���heartbeat��� abortion bills, so called because they would prevent a woman from legally obtaining an abortion once the fetal heartbeat is detectable.

However, attempts to see any such bills become actual, sustainable law have been poor, with most never making it to governors��� desks for signatures. In the case of two states where the legislation made it on the books, Arkansas and North Dakota, federal courts quickly ruled the statutes unconstitutional.

In the latest effort to turn a heartbeat abortion bill into a state law, Ohio���s legislature saw its hard work go all for naught when Republican Gov. John Kasich vetoed the measure.

Although Kasich is firmly in the anti-abortion camp, he appeared to make what he saw as a decision based in practicality when he vetoed the bill. As noted, no such law has managed to pass constitutional muster, and, as reported by Business Insider, Kasich clearly felt that would be the case in Ohio, saying that the bill was ���clearly contrary to the Supreme Court of the United States' current rulings on abortion.���

Kasich went on to say that if had the bill become law, the state would surely have been sued, and that ���Ohio will be the losing party in that lawsuit and, as the losing party, the State of Ohio will be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover the legal fees for the pro-choice activists��� lawyers.���

All was certainly not lost, however, for the anti-abortion interests in Ohio. Kasich did sign a law that bans abortion after a pregnancy has reached a term of 20 weeks. That signature was well-received by Ohio Right to Life, whose president, Mike Gonidakis, said in a statement, ���By signing S.B. 127, the 20-week ban, Governor Kasich will save hundreds of unborn lives each year and he positioned the state of Ohio to directly challenge Roe v. Wade. The 20-week ban was nationally designed to be the vehicle to end abortion in America.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Report: Carly Fiorina Under Consideration for Director of National Intelligence

Donald Trump said that once the election was over and he emerged the victor, one of his principal efforts would revolve around unifying the Republican Party, as well as the country, in the interests of ���making America great again.���

To that end, the public has readily seen a diverse array of politicians and personalities visit the President-elect at Trump Tower in New York City, the central location from which the transition team is assembling the new administration and otherwise preparing to ���assume command��� of the nation on Jan. 20.

One of the more surprising (to many) visitors has been none other than Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and rival to Trump for this year���s Republican nomination. According to a variety of news outlets, including The Hill, Fiorina is being considered by Trump for the position of director of national intelligence in the new administration. During the 2016 campaign, one of Fiorina���s most prominent mentions on behalf of her qualifications to be president included her service on the Central Intelligence Agency���s External Advisory Board from 2007 to 2009.

Fiorina is another of the many Trump campaign rivals who endured his pointed derision during primary season, and Fiorina herself showed there was little love lost on her part when she said as recently as October that Trump, as the GOP nominee, should step aside because he ���does not represent me or my party.���

Now, however, the two seem to be patching things up rather nicely. In a meeting held Monday between Fiorina and Trump, the principal subject was reportedly the threat of hacking by foreign governments, and the discussion held, presumably, in the context of Fiorina���s possible assumption of the national intelligence directorship.

Indeed, at the conclusion of the confab, Fiorina practically seemed a Trump convert, saying, in part, ���The high quality of people that he���s named already says so much about his executive abilities. But it also says that people recognize the opportunity that our new president elect has to really make a huge impact on people���s lives in this country and on events around the world. So it was an honor for me to be there.���

How about that?

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Indiana Town to Remove Cross from Top of Christmas Tree After ACLU Lawsuit Threat

Once again, the American Civil Liberties Union has succeeded in taking the Christ out of Christmas when it comes to the matter of small towns and holiday displays.

Officials of little Knightstown, Ind., a town roughly 40 miles east of Indianapolis, have decided to remove the cross that traditionally sits atop the evergreen tree in the town square because they determined they would not win the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that demanded the religious symbol be taken down.

Although the tree has been decorated with the cross for years, Knightstown resident Joseph Tompkins apparently decided he���d had enough. Tompkins served as the plaintiff of the ACLU���s lawsuit, which was brought by the group���s Indiana chapter. In the action, Tompkins was seeking the cross���s removal, unspecified monetary damages, and a ���declaration��� that the display of the cross on the tree is a violation of the First Amendment.

Lawsuits brought against local governments for similar displays on the basis that they violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment are nothing new.

Although the ACLU has again prevailed in this kind of action, WHAS11 News of Louisville, Ky. points out that Americans, by a clear majority, have no problem with various presentations of religious symbols on government property. WHAS11 cites previous polls done by Pew Research Center that show 83 percent of Americans have supported the display of Christmas symbols on government property, and that 74 percent of Americans were OK with the display of the Ten Commandments in government buildings.

Knightstown Town Council wrote in a Facebook post of its decision to take down the cross, saying:

���It is with regret and sadness that the Knightstown Town Council has had the cross removed from the Christmas tree on the town square and is expected to approve a resolution at the next council meeting stating they will not return the cross to the tree.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Donald Trump Overtly Questions Long-Standing ���One-China��� Policy

Maybe there was more to Donald Trump���s recent conversation with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen than merely the polite acceptance of a congratulatory phone call following his stunning election win.

Although much was made of the breach of protocol said to have been committed by the President-elect when he took the call from Tsai, Trump and his team were, at the time, quick to dismiss the idea of any ominous implications to the long-standing relationship between the United States and the People���s Republic of China as a result of his phone discussion with Taiwan���s leader.

However, as reported by CNN, Trump appeared on Fox News Sunday this past weekend and clearly indicated that he indeed has issues with the ���One-China��� policy that has defined both the official relationship the U.S. has had with China over the last 37 years, as well as the unofficial relationship it has had with the Republic of China (Taiwan) during the same period.

���I fully understand the 'one China' policy, but I don't know why we have to be bound by a 'one China' policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade," said Trump during his Sunday television appearance.

Going on, Trump said, ���I mean, look, we're being hurt very badly by China with devaluation, with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don't tax them, with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn't be doing, and frankly with not helping us at all with North Korea.

���You have North Korea. You have nuclear weapons, and China could solve that problem, and they're not helping us at all.���
To no one���s surprise, the reaction of China to Trump���s open questioning of the One-China policy was hardly positive, with the Foreign Ministry saying it was ���seriously concerned��� by what he had to say, and that any cooperation between the two countries would be a thing of the past if the policy was to be ���compromised or disrupted.���

���Adhering to the 'one China' principle is the political bedrock for the development US-China relations,��� said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Russian Hacking And Bible Prophecy With Dr. Ron Rhodes

Dr. Ron Rhodes joins Jim for the hour. In the first segment, Jim asked Dr. Rhodes to weigh in on the Russian election hacking allegation and the general topic of cyber warfare. The conversation moved on to Bible prophecy, including a discussion of his latest book, The 8 Great Debates Of Bible Prophecy. Topics discussed include the rapture, tribulation, middle east events, Syria, Israel, Russia, the identity of the antichrist, the Pope, and the Catholic Church.