James L. Paris's Blog, page 139

Will Last Weekend���s Terror Attacks Prove to Be the Election���s Real Turning Point?

The online news and opinion website Heat Street is suggesting that the terror attacks of last weekend - attacks that stretched from the Jersey shore to the heartland city of St. Cloud, Minnesota - may go a long way to determining the outcome of the 2016 general election.

In an article entitled, ���Will Minnesota, New York Terrorism Affect American Voters,��� Heat Street writer Emily Zanotti points out the findings of two recent polls that illustrate the weight ���regular folks��� are now placing on the issue of terrorism within our borders; she tells of a Rasmussen poll that found ���domestic terrorism��� to be ���the fastest growing concern of American voters,��� and also informs that a survey by Suffolk University found over half of all Americans now feel ���less safe��� living in the U.S.

What these poll numbers tell us, in part, is that while there may indeed be a whole lot of issues about which we���re concerned, we tend to prioritize our physical safety above just about everything else.

Zanotti goes on to speculate who is likelier to be seen as the stronger candidate when it comes to keeping the country safe from terrorism. While the image of Hillary in this regard suffers from a clear desire to wage a politically correct war against the terror threat, Trump, despite saying over and over, and in a variety of ways, that he plans to get tough on terrorism, has so far been short on specifics���particularly in terms of how to deal with the ���lone wolf��� attacks that appear to represent the overriding terror threat to Americans on their home turf.

Still, in the final analysis, it is going to be difficult, at least based on the rhetoric we���ve so far heard from both camps, to see Hillary as the superior candidate on the matter of domestic terrorism. Moreover, if we couple that notion with the fact that Americans now see the fight against terror within our own borders as a substantial imperative, the events of last weekend may just prove to be the straw that breaks Hillary Clinton���s back and sends Trump into the Oval Office.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

London���s Mayor: Terrorism Now ���Part and Parcel��� of Life in a Big City

Apparently, Sadiq Khan, the recently elected Mayor of London, and the first Muslim to be elected leader of a major Western city, has a different idea from that which many of us have about what life should be like in such places.

Khan is on a bit of a tour of the United States, and was already here last weekend when Manhattan and the Jersey shore were rocked by explosions from bombs allegedly set by Ahmad Khan Rahami. Rahami was arrested Monday in Linden, New Jersey after a shootout with police.

In speaking with reporters on Sunday, while tensions in the New York metropolitan area remained extremely high, Khan adopted what can only be described as a tone that was equal parts philosophical and resigned about the Manhattan explosion that injured 29 people. In comments reported by the Evening Standard, Khan said that it ���is a reality I'm afraid that London, New York, other major cities around the world have got to be prepared for these sorts of things,��� and that such attacks are now ���part and parcel��� of life in a big city.

They are? Since when?

While few would disagree with his sentiment that cities around the globe need to be on high alert about the acute terror threat besetting the world at the moment, his idea that this is ���just the way it is��� now, or whatever���seems worse than fatalistic, somehow. At the end of the day, those responsible for overseeing and safeguarding the world���s great cities should never be resigned to the idea that terror attacks in such places represent a new normal that should simply be accepted.

In fact, I can think of little that���s more obscene than just such a notion.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

U.S. Navy: All Sailors Must Attend Transgender Re-Education Camp by Mid-2017

The Daily Caller is reporting that the powers that be in charge of the U.S. Navy dispatched a service-wide edict last week saying that all sailors will have to undergo what is being called ���transgender behavioral education��� before July 2017. The Pentagon announced in June that transgenders would be permitted to serve openly in all branches of the armed services.

According to Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral Robert Burke, the training, which is scheduled to begin November 1, is designed to ���educate��� sailors about the new policy allowing transgenders to serve, and will also seek to ���modify��� the behaviors of any servicemembers who are resistant to accepting transgenders among them.

That���s priceless.

Let me be sure that I have this right: The American military is now so far off the rails���that not only are transgenders now permitted to openly serve, but that any military personnel who have a problem with it are going to be subject to behavior modification efforts.

Despite an admitted abruptness that is typically informed by my conservative outlook, I feel as though I���ve always been a compassionate citizen of the world, highly sympathetic to the plights and travails of the distressed and the tormented, including those who are emotionally troubled.

However, compassion and regard for others must exist in a state characterized by at least a modicum of coherence. That does not appear to be the case with the military���s decision to allow transgenders to openly serve in the ranks. While I bear no ill will to others who go peaceably about their business and allow the rest of us to do the same, that posture cannot become an excuse or justification to allow the germination of social anarchy. Unfortunately, this move by the military, including its decision to send ���resistant��� sailors to re-education camp, sure feels a lot like they���re components of that very thing.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Trump: Disarm Clinton Security, Let���s See What Happens

At a campaign rally in Miami on Friday, Donald Trump had a message for his gun-grabbing rival for the White House, Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton:

���I think her bodyguards should drop all weapons. Disarm immediately. Take their guns away, let's see what happens to her.���

The so-called mainstream media���which, as any thinking American knows, is anything but���immediately pounced on ���The Donald,��� declaring that his comments amounted to an invitation for someone to do harm to Hillary. He is, of course, not inciting violence against Clinton, but, instead, highlighting the gross double standard she embraces by accepting the never-ending (for her) valuable, gun-toting protection of one of the world���s most prestigious security details, while making the disarming of regular folks one of her highest political priorities. Trump mentioned something similar back on May 20, when he accepted the endorsement of the National Rifle Association at their annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Speaking about Clinton and her security detail, Trump said at that time: ���They should immediately disarm and let's see how good they do. Let's see how they feel walking around without their guns or their body guards.���

Additionally, the very next day, Trump tweeted, ���Crooked Hillary wants to get rid of all guns and yet she is surrounded by bodyguards who are fully armed. No more guns to protect Hillary!���

Of course, he caught an earful then, too.

As to this latest shot across the bow (no pun intended) from Trump, Clinton���s campaign manager, Robby Mook, said (as quoted by CNN), ���Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of commander in chief. He is unfit to be President and it is time Republican leaders stand up to denounce this disturbing behavior in their nominee.���

Whatever.

The plain and simple fact is, Trump fully sees a dangerous (for us) assertion of privilege by Clinton, one that presumes she should enjoy the sure protection of the very firearms she would deny to the rest of us. All he is doing through his admittedly-provocative statements is calling her out on that, as he should.

Good for him, and shame on her.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. 

ISIS-Inspired Attack at Minnesota Mall: Make No Mistake ��� The Enemy Has Arrived

The threat is everywhere. Can any reasonable person really say otherwise?

10 people at the Crossroads Center Mall In St. Cloud, Minnesota quickly fell victim to a random stabbing attack by a man later identified as 20-year-old Dahir Adan, a member of that state���s prominent Somali community. The attack ended when Adan was shot and killed by an off-duty policeman. 

Fortunately, none of the victims suffered any life-threatening injuries.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reportedly investigating the attack as a ���potential act of terrorism.��� According to law enforcement, Adan mentioned Allah during the attack, and asked one victim if he was Muslim.

As reported by Reuters, the Islamic State issued a statement through its ���official��� news agency, Amaq, on Sunday, saying, ���The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition.���

Adan was wearing the uniform of the private security company Securitas, for which he previously worked, when he committed the attack. It should be noted, however, that Securitas does not provide security services to the Crossroads Center mall.

So, here we are - another ISIS-inspired/radical Islam-inspired attack in the United States. Only this one was not in a major American population center, but at a shopping plaza in a modest-sized Midwestern city.

Sad as it is to say, terror attacks in cities like New York and Boston are no longer surprises, but many still can���t believe that Islamic terror is really finding its way into the American heartland.

It absolutely, positively is, however.

It is a mistake to think that there is any such thing as a ���safe zone��� anymore. There isn���t. If shoppers at a mall in (relatively) little, very out-of-the-way St. Cloud, Minnesota are not safe from the threat of terror, that is your sign that no one is.

Think, and plan, accordingly.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Entire Seattle high school football team kneels during national anthem before game | Q13 FOX News

 

SEATTLE ��� The entire Garfield High School football team, including the coaches, took a knee during the national anthem Friday night before their game against West Seattle High on Friday night to protest ���social injustices.���

Our news partner The Seattle Times captured the action on video:

After the game, which Garfield won, Garfield High School head football coach Joey Thomas said that "the players decided to do this" to bring attention to "social injustices," emphasizing that it was "a player-driven" move and that his players plan to continue the practice during the anthem before every game "until they tell us to stop."

via q13fox.com

I am without words to react to this incredible display of disrespect for our nation. Even more troubling is the realization that this is our next generation.

Helping you make the most of God���s money!

James L. Paris
Editor-In-Chief ChristianMoney.com 
Follow Me on Twitter Twitter.com/jameslparis
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Chicago Residents Hit with New Tax to Fund Municipal Pension Shortfall

Apparently, there will never be any problems funding pensions for city workers in Chicago; whenever it appears as though there���s going to be a shortfall, politicians will simply exercise their taxing authority, as necessary.

For proof, they did that very thing last week.

In reporting by CNNMoney, individual residents and businesses that reside in the Windy City will see their water and sewage tax go up by nearly 30 percent over the next four years, courtesy of a vote by the City Council; the reason that is happening is so the Municipal Employees��� Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (MEABF) remains properly funded.

According to records, the MEABF is funded at 32 percent right now, which means that for every dollar it owes in pension income, there���s only 32 cents actually available. According to the fund���s latest annual report, dated Dec. 31, 2015, without the money from this new tax, the MEABF would have run out of money in about ten years.

After the City Council approved the tax last Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a statement, saying, ���With today's action by City Council, all four of Chicago's pension funds are now off the road to bankruptcy and on the path to solvency.���

���Not only are we shoring up the city's finances, we're ensuring that thousands of workers are able to retire with dignity and security.���

As for those city residents who find themselves increasingly on the hook for more and higher taxes, not only is there no sign that the ���culture of taxation��� in Chicago is going to change anytime soon, but it appears those in charge have no qualms whatsoever about levying the sums they want on whatever bases they choose; last year, Chicago instituted a nine percent ���cloud��� tax on consumers of streaming content, like that found at Netflix and Amazon Prime.

While it���s great that, in Emanuel���s words, ���thousands of workers��� will have the ability ���to retire with dignity and security��� because of the new monies now available to shore up the MEABF, the long-term viability of ���old-style��� municipal pensions remains highly questionable. Among the many problems plaguing these structures include those almost impossible to work around, like the fact that people are simply living longer. Pensions are, of course, guaranteed paychecks, and as folks continue to last for more and more years, those guaranteed paychecks will go from representing ���merely��� a significant strain on cities, to becoming an insurmountable challenge.

In places like Chicago and New York, more money is now spent on cops in retirement than on those actually working, and it is practically assured that this kind of top-heaviness, vis-��-vis municipal workers, will become increasingly characteristic throughout America���s cities as time goes on.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Retiree Credit Card Debt Continues to Rise

A CNBC article appearing over at Yahoo Finance is highlighting one of the biggest financial challenges facing retired folks these days: credit card debt.

I���ve written before about how more and more people heading into retirement are doing so while still carrying mortgages, substantial car loans, even education-related debt. Well, you can include credit card debt in there, as well. According to the National Council on Aging, credit card debt is such a concern nowadays for seniors that it ranks just after medical bills in terms of being a source of financial worry.

Date available over at ValuePenguin.com tells us that Americans age 65 and older right now have average credit card debt of $6,351, but those specifically 65 to 69 years of age are carrying even more - $6,876.

Tellingly, a retiree���s credit card debt is now, on average, over twice the maximum paid out each month by Social Security.
The Yahoo Finance article referenced here outlines some of the better-known strategies for knocking back consumer debt, and those are certainly good to know. However, as more seniors continue to carry debt into retirement, it is going to be important for them to reconsider their work postures, going forward. Plainly, the more debt anyone���seniors included���are lugging around, the likelier it is they will have to look to income from somewhere to deal with it.

The good news is that as technological advances make it easier for all of us to work from our homes, the less burdensome it will be for older folks to go on as earners well into their retirement years. The bad news, I suppose, is that they will have to remain working at all���but as long as people continue to see debt as a standard part of their financial profiles as they age, the ability to walk away entirely from the need to earn a paycheck will become more limited.

 By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Russian TV Host: ���Establishment��� Will Kill Donald Trump

Well-known Russian TV host Dmitry Kiselyov took to the air recently to declare that Donald Trump is under the gun���literally���from New World Order globalists.

Kiselyov, who heads up Rossiya Segodnya, Russia���s official international news agency, is also the host of ���News of the Week��� on the Rossiya 1 TV network. During the September 11 broadcast of that program, Kiselyov suggested that ���American oligarchs��� will be out to kill Trump should he be elected president. As he put it, ���The American oligarchs also do not need such a president. For these oligarchs, the existing world order ensures solid and stable business. For them, a Trump who is ready to settle issues with Russia means that the finances will flow in a different direction.���

���Now, they may just kill him.���

Kiselyov claims that Trump���s stated desire to pursue warmer relations with Vladimir Putin and Russia makes him a target. Both Trump and Putin have evidenced strong nationalist tendencies that put them at odds with globalists who, according to Kiselyov, like that ���the existing world order ensures solid and stable business.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Did the Kerry State Department Funnel Millions to His Daughter���s Non-Profit?

More of the same from the Washington ruling class?

According to The Daily Caller, documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation reportedly indicate that over $9 million from the State Department has been ���funneled��� to a nonprofit foundation that was started, and is presently overseen, by John Kerry���s daughter, Dr. Vanessa Kerry.

It appears that the Peace Corps served as the actual conduit for the money. According to the report, Vanessa Kerry and officials of both the State Department and the Peace Corps worked together to create a Peace Corps program called Global Health Service Partnership (GHSP), which sends volunteer doctors and nurses to medically underserved parts of Africa. Once the GHSP was in place, the functional administration and management of the program would become the job of what is essentially a subcontractor organization���and, here, that organization turned out to be none other than Vanessa Kerry���s own non-profit, now called Seed Global Health.

Per The Daily Caller���s reporting, the Peace Corps handed Kerry���s Seed Global Health a three-year contract worth $2 million back in 2012, gave the group an additional four-year contract and another $6.4 million last year, and, as it turns out, another near-$1 million has made its way to the group through various channels related to the Peace Corps and State Department. In each of the aforementioned cases when Seed Global Health has been given government money, it has been without any competition.

It is also worth noting that when the 2012 award was made, John Kerry was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which provides oversight to both the State Department and the Peace Corps, and when the 2015 award was given to Seed Global Health, John Kerry was serving, as he still does today, as Secretary of State.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large