James L. Paris's Blog, page 130

Child Identity Theft - Her Own Mother Stole Her Identity

Dr. Axton Betz-Hamilton, a professor at Eastern Illinois University, shares her amazing story of her identity being stolen by her own mother when she was just eleven years old. She shares how she first learned that her identity was stolen, how she discovered that it was her mother, and the painstaking process of clearing her name and credit file. Included are tips for parents to protect their children from identity theft.

 

Oregon Student Governments: Dressing Up as Anything for Halloween is Cultural Appropriation

I don���t know if social insanity is now just standard on college campuses, but it sure seems that way.

When I went to college, there were certainly many ���pre-Internet��� social justice warriors to be found, but not only had they not taken over, they generally weren���t as unhinged as so many are today.

Things have certainly changed; to wit:

The terrific libertarian website Reason.com points us in the direction of Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, the student governments of which have teamed up to let everyone on their campuses know that they will be watching Halloween costumes closely to be sure that no one takes liberties with the culture of another when it comes to how they play dress-up on October 31.

Honestly, I wish I was making a joke here; the fact that I have to report it as an actual, serious ���thing��� is beyond embarrassing���for all of us.

Here is a portion of the email, sent jointly to students on both campuses from Rachel Grisham of Oregon State and Quinn Haaga of the University of Oregon:

���Cultural appropriation is the act of borrowing or using aspects of a culture by another culture, typically a dominant culture. Around the time of Halloween, we often see people dressing as a culture or a character, which is offensive and reinforces negative stereotypes. These costumes reinforce racism, sexism, and classism. As active and respectful members of the OSU and the UO communities, we expect everyone to not engage in cultural appropriation.���

Maybe the best part is that not only are students discouraged from dressing as a culture - whatever that means, exactly ��� but, according to this email, cannot dress as characters.

What, exactly, is left?

Apparently, the University of Oregon and Oregon State student governments effectively canceled Halloween for everybody at both schools.

What fun!

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Tolerant Left Not So Tolerant After Yuengling Brewery Owner Says He Supports Trump

The current owner of the D.G. Yuengling & Son Brewery, Richard ���Dick��� Yuengling, hosted Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump���s son Eric during a visit the younger Trump made to the facility in Pottsville, Pennsylvania this past Tuesday.

Not only did Mr. Yuengling give Eric Trump the grand tour, he also reportedly told him, ���Our guys are behind your father. We need him in there.���

Well, THAT did it.

The tolerant left���which is, of course, anything BUT tolerant���went bananas.

According to Fox News, the following day, a Pennsylvania state legislator, Brian Sims, who happens to be gay, took to Facebook to criticize Yuengling, writing, ���D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc. believes that an agenda that is anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, anti-racial minority and anti-equality is best for them and that tells me all I need to know about what they think is best for their own customers.���

Oh, brother.

Additionally, and of course, there has been the predictable general backlash on social media, with people expressing their ���outrage������because I���m sure they���re really outraged���over Mr. Yuengling���s choice for president. Here is a sample from Twitter:

���Regularly drive 90 mile from KY to OH to get @Yuengling_Beerbut supporting racist, misogynist nut-job Trump is the end of the line for me���

���Will sadly never drink another @Yuengling_Beer, as they support a bigoted, misogynistic, neo-fascist demagogue for pres #boycottYuengling���

���As a fan of the oldest American brewery (my home state of PA) Im ashamed @Yuengling_Beer publicly endorsed Donald. Time to #BoycottYuengling���

By the way, the three Twitter accounts associated with those tweets, all together, have 201 followers at this writing.

Devastating.

As for me, I bought a twelve-pack of Yuengling tonight. Perhaps you should do the same. Oh, you certainly don���t need to drink it, if you prefer not to do so. Just buy it.

Help Mr. Yuengling beat back the efforts of the progressive fascists who think that if you publicly prefer the Republican nominee for president, you deserve to lose your livelihood.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Disgraced Anthony Weiner Unwittingly Implicates Clinton in Email Mess

Well, well.

It turns out that the power of former Rep. Anthony Weiner to screw things up may be, in fact, boundless.

You surely know of all the hot water in which he has been immersed for some time because of his utter lack of self-control when it comes to sending naked ���selfies��� to women, including to an underage girl. While that behavior, by itself, is obviously pretty awful, Weiner was also married at the time he was doing it, and to none other than Hillary Clinton���s top aide, Huma Abedin.

Now we learn from Newsmax that in the midst of their investigation into Weiner���s sexting activities, the FBI ran across ���evidence��� that it says is pertinent to Hillary���s longstanding email troubles. Reportedly, the information was found on personal devices owned by both Weiner and Abedin.

FBI director James Comey has announced that he���s reopening the Clinton case, roughly four months after he said that not enough evidence was found to justify the bringing of charges against Mrs. Clinton.

At this point, nobody knows what this ���evidence��� is, but we will all likely learn soon enough.

Well, let me take that back. Surely Hillary and Huma know what it is - why don���t they just tell us?

Yeah, right.

For his part, Republican nominee for president Donald Trump is thrilled with this latest development, and seems appreciative of Comey���s willingness to take a second bite of a rotten apple, saying, in part, ���I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made.���

In fact, Trump is likely patting himself on the back for what was clearly his ability to predict what is unfolding right now. Here is what he said a couple of months ago, when Abedin announced she was leaving her embattled husband after he was caught renewing his sexting activities:

���Huma is making a very wise decision. I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him. I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told? It's just another example of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this.���

Talk about prophetic���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Iconic Feminist is No Hillary Fan

Camille Paglia reminds us once again there is such a thing as feminism that���s rather well-grounded in reality.

As reported by the Washington Examiner, Paglia recently spoke with The Spectator and made it very clear that while she may have once been in the camp of Hillary Clinton, she most definitely resides there no longer, saying:

���It's an outrage how she's played the gender card. She is a woman without accomplishment. ���I sponsored or co-sponsored 400 bills.��� Oh really? These were bills to rename bridges and so forth. And the things she has accomplished have been like the destabilization of North Africa, causing refugees to flood into Italy ... The woman is a disaster!���

Going on about the idea of voting for Hillary simply because she is a woman, Paglia said, ���I do not believe in quotas of any kind. If Hillary wins, nothing will change. She knows the bureaucracy, all the offices of government and that���s what she likes to do, sit behind the scenes and manipulate the levers of power.���

Regarding the possibility of a Trump presidency, Paglia does not seem at all put off by the prospect, telling The Spectator that a Trump win in November would serve as ���an amazing moment of change because it would destroy the power structure of the Republican party, the power structure of the Democratic party and destroy the power of the media.���

Paglia has been long established as a sort of anti-feminist feminist���one who, in spite of her general ideology, cannot abide the lunacy that so often characterizes popular feminist doctrine. Here is how she described her brand of feminism to The Spectator:
���My philosophy of feminism, I call street-smart Amazon feminism. I���m from an immigrant family. The way I was brought up was: the world is a dangerous place; you must learn to defend yourself. You can���t be a fool. You have to stay alert.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Affluent in America Throw Their Support Behind Hillary

While Democratic presidential candidates and the better-heeled in America typically make strange bedfellows, it appears, nevertheless, that they will be occupying the same sleeping space this year.

CNBC.com is reporting that the global market research and consulting firm Ipsos, in its July Affluent Barometer survey, found that America���s affluent are very much ���with her��� this time around; according to the data, those voters who make more than $100,000 per year favor Clinton over Trump by a measure of 45 percent to 28 percent, and, among voters who earn at least $250,000 per year, Clinton is preferred by 53 percent of voters.

So what gives? Why are the wealthy in America lining up behind the Democrat this time around?

Ipsos believes the shift this election has more to do with the rich���s animus toward Trump, rather than with any particular affection for Clinton, and looks to its own historical data for the justification. Earlier this year, when all of the key players were still in the race during primary season, moneyed Democrats liked Clinton and Sanders about the same, while wealthy GOPers were divided fairly evenly among Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. However, when the dust settled and the nominees of each party were chosen, Clinton found herself with the support of just about all of the rich Sanders supporters, while Trump struggled to pick up those affluent Republicans who did not support him initially.

So is it personal or policies when it comes to millionaire distaste for Trump? At this point, no one really knows, and it may be a measure of both. Clearly, though, Trump���s overtly populist rhetoric does not sit well with the rich; the candidate���s comments on trade, Wall Street, and U.S. multinationals that make products outside of America aren���t going to win him many friends among the elites, while Hillary���s affection for both big banks and globalism, more generally, will tend to be greatly appreciated by the wealthy.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Poll: Yes, Fans ARE Avoiding NFL Games Because of Anthem Protests

As television ratings for NFL games have remain depressed this season, mainstream media outlets, as well as the NFL itself, have gone way out of their way to proffer reasons for the backslide that are alternatives to that which appears to be the most obvious: fan distaste for the national anthem protests by players.

With each passing day, however, it appears more likely to conclude that the anthem protests are at the root of this season���s diminished viewership.

According to the results of a Seton Hall Sports Poll released on Thursday and reported by ABC News, 56 percent of the respondents attributed the drop in ratings to the protests.

The director of the poll, Rick Gentile, seemed impressed that fan objection to the protests holds so much sway, saying, ���It is somewhat remarkable that the impact of the national anthem protest seems to hold, given that the action occurs pregame and isn't even televised.���

Note to Gentile: Progressive social narratives expressed in the form of overt disloyalty to the United States, even if they ���occur pregame��� and aren���t ���even televised,��� are going to be seen as profoundly odious by most Americans. Patriotism is not only not a dirty word to them, but is a value that remains held in the highest esteem by practically all of us.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Leading Political Strategist Says Trump-Clinton Battle May Permanently Change U.S. Politics

We���ve been hearing for some time that as this year���s election is like nothing that has come before it, at least in the modern era, there is likely to be a great deal of lasting fallout, regardless of which major-party candidate prevails. The infighting within each of the parties over this year���s nominees has been loud and very contentious, and some have gone on the record with their opinion that the resulting damage from this year���s wrestling matches will wreak permanent change on both parties.

In fact, one person, Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Horizon Investments, suggested in a speech reported by Investment News and delivered Monday night that the damage will likely prove to be so bad that 2016 may well prove to be the last year of the two-party system as we know it, and that such will be a direct result of electing���regardless of who wins on November 8��� the ���least popular president ever.���

Valliere strongly believes that what we have now will be replaced by a system comprised of four political parties that are roughly equal to one another in weight and stature. As he put it on Monday:

���The friction is there for two more political parties, and by the next presidential election you literally could have four legitimate parties emerging. Things aren't going to calm down after the election; I think we could see even more division as we move into 2020.���

I���m hearing this more and more myself. While there was a time you knew that talk of such a breakaway move would never result in meaningful action, things are, admittedly a little different here in the Internet age, wherein the maturity and increasing dominance of the so-called ���new media��� means that people on both sides of the political dividing line have an important tool by which to engage in compelling national political dialogues outside of the purview of the mainstream media.

The bottom line is that it is easier than ever before to energize and organize party dissidents, and Valliere is just the latest high-profile voice to say that many of these folks will act together, going forward, to forever change the American political landscape.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Colin Powell: Another Sort-Of Republican Declares ���I���m with Her���

According to reporting by Newsmax, it has been revealed that former Secretary of State, retired four-star Army general, and supposed Republican Colin Powell will be voting for Hillary Clinton in November.

The ���news��� isn���t really news, however. After all, we learned last month from hacked emails that the 79-year-old Powell can���t stand Republican nominee Donald Trump, referring to him in those captured missives as a ���national disgrace,��� as well as an ���international pariah.���

Beyond the virulent anti-Trump sentiments expressed in the emails, we just know that, politically, Powell has always been a curious Republican. His liberal positions on a variety of social stances are numerous, and include being pro-choice on abortion, generally in favor of gun control, and supportive of affirmative action. Additionally, Powell was also one of the driving forces behind the institution of the military���s policy of ���don���t ask, don���t tell.���

There���s a lot more, including the fact that Powell endorsed President Obama in both 2008 and 2012. While Powell served in various capacities for three Republican presidents (Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush), there���s little about his positions and broad ideology that distinguishes him from a liberal Democrat.

So, against the backdrop of all of that, Colin Powell has announced that he���s voting for Hillary Clinton this year.

Wow; who could have seen that coming?

 By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Glenn Beck on ���Charlie Rose���: Trump is a ���Sociopath���

Glenn Beck, increasingly a maverick within the conservative wing of the Republican Party, has doubled down on his acute dislike of Donald Trump, referring to the GOP nominee for president as a ���sociopath��� during a Monday night appearance on PBS���s Charlie Rose.

When Rose pressed his guest to explain why he sees Trump this way, Beck responded, ���Have you seen him during the last year and a half truly feel for someone that couldn���t help him? Truly connect on a human level, and say, 'This has made me stop; this has made me think. ... I am deeply sorry for what I have said?'

���A sociopath is somebody who doesn���t really see the human experience in anyone else, and I haven���t seen that in him. I haven���t seen him deeply affected by the human condition in an individual....frightening.���

While Trump clearly has no shortage of critics from within his own party, the zeal with which Beck and other high-profile figures within the conservative movement have engaged in stinging criticism of the nominee���strikes many Republicans as both odd and insidious, given the Democratic option for president this year. Many grass-roots Republican voters see the importance of this election revolving largely around the issue of who will enjoy the privilege of nominating Supreme Court Justices over the course of the next several years, and that, in their opinion, a Trump presidency would be far better for America in that respect than would a Clinton White House.

As noted, Beck has been a strong critic of Trump and his run for the Oval Office since it commenced this election season, and it appears his dislike for The Donald became even more acute following the release of the so-called ���Trump Tapes.��� Just after that mess came to public light, Beck authored a Facebook post about the candidate on October 8, saying, in part, ���It is not acceptable to ask a moral, dignified man to cast his vote to help elect an immoral man who is absent decency or dignity.���
Well, ouch.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large