James L. Paris's Blog, page 142

UMass Resident Assistants: Harambe Jokes Constitute ���Direct Attack��� on African-Americans

Two resident assistants (RAs) at the University of Massachusetts appear to have lost their minds. Perhaps that should have been the headline of this particular piece.

You may remember the incident earlier this year at the Cincinnati Zoo, when a particularly curious three-year-old made his way into the gorilla enclosure, and was grabbed by Harambe, one of the simian inhabitants. A worker at the zoo shot and killed the animal, out of fear for the child���s life. In this age of the social justice warrior, broad debates ensued throughout the Internet about the killing of Harambe. Of course they did.

Anyway, the backlash against the Harambe sympathizers and advocates by the politically incorrect crowd has manifested itself in all sorts of jokes and Internet memes���some very crude���about the late gorilla.
Well, two RAs, identified only as Colleen and Ryan, at the University of Massachusetts are having none of it, and sent out an email to members of the school community that read, in part:

���[Harambe comments] are not only derogatory but also micro-aggressions to some UMass Students. Any negative remarks regarding ���Harambe��� will be seen as a direct attack to our campus���s African American community. Please be careful what gets written on your whiteboards, as well as what gets written on them. If you are not the one writing these remarks, please let us or the RA on duty know.���

Let���s set aside the evident illiteracy of these two supposed college students (���Please be careful what gets written on your whiteboards, as well as what gets written on them���); did they really say what it sure looks like they said���that insulting a gorilla is the same thing as insulting black people?

According to an article about this in The Daily Caller, the justification for the email, per the RAs, can be found in UMass���s ���special affinity housing��� for black students, available through a program called ���Harambee,��� which is Swahili for ���the point where people pull together.��� Apparently, Colleen and Ryan feared that jokes about Harambe the gorilla would hit too close to home for the residents in the Harambee program at UMass.

Even with that explanation, it���s just a little difficult to get away from the horrible optics of college students saying that insulting gorillas is a ���direct attack��� on the ���African American community.���
It sure doesn���t look very social justice warrior-y to me, at any rate.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Disney Now Scanning Fingers of Kids ���As Young As 3���

In a move being slammed by privacy advocates, Walt Disney World has initiated the practice of scanning the fingers of young children���down to age 3���in an effort to combat the illicit use of the valuable theme park tickets.

The Orlando Sentinel, in reporting on this development, said, ���Walt Disney World has begun requiring children from 3 to 9 years old to have their fingers scanned when they enter the theme parks, just like older kids and adults.��� ���Disney said the new process will help block the use of stolen and shared tickets. Previously, kids' tickets would have been easy to transfer because they had no finger images attached to them.���

While the article does say that parents can use their own fingers in the event they���re too uncomfortable with this new measure, many concerned about privacy issues find it abhorrent that Disney would include kids of such a young age in the scanning process at all.

The use of scanning at theme parks has been under fire from privacy advocates since it began. Among the objections is that many people see it as way out of bounds for theme parks, which no one would confuse with a nuclear power plant or secure government location, to be collecting fingerprint data, and thus see it as a gross misuse of the technology. Additionally, there is little transparency with regard to the collection process, including, essentially, no verifiable information available to the ���scannees��� about the possible or actual eventual dispositions of the information.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Fighting Inflammation Through a Better Diet

I was telling a buddy of mine not long ago���he���s about my age, early fifties���that when I feel bad, it always seems to be attributable to one of two things: what I eat, and/or how much I eat.

He readily agreed.

Like me, this guy is a credentialed fitness professional, someone who has been around health and sports for many decades. We both realized a while ago just how profound an effect diet has on your wellness, particularly as the years begin to creep up.

It tends not to be something you notice when you���re younger, but that���s just how it is. When we���re in our twenties, for example, our bodies, our organs���just haven���t been around so long that they yet encounter much difficulty easily processing all of the delicious, but obscene, foods we often tend to ingest as young people.

However, as we hit our thirties, and, especially, our forties, we start to recognize that maybe we cannot eat quite the way we did when we were much younger.

One of the reasons for this is the influence that poor dietary choices have in the triggering of inflammation, something that really builds on us as we age. While the immune system is programmed to trigger an inflammatory response whenever the body is under attack from bacteria and viruses, it is not supposed to be the case that your body exists in a constant state of inflammation. Inflammation like that is now seen by health professionals as a significant role-player in the onset of a wide variety of ailments, from arthritis and cardiovascular disease, to cancer, and even Alzheimer���s disease.

One of the real problems with this kind of chronic inflammation is that you may suffer from it while feeling terrific. Talk about a silent killer!

In my case, I learned long ago that what I was eating back in the ���old days��� carried with it a great deal of responsibility for the inflammation I was experiencing.

So much about our health comes back to diet, does it not?

On that note, I want to mention a great program I tripped across recently called the Organic Total Body Reboot. It is basically a ���quickstart��� guide to getting your body back on track with an easy-to-manage anti-inflammatory regimen.

Here���s what you���ll find in the Organic Total Body Reboot:

���  A day-by-day diet plan. This is like one-on-one training, because it teaches you what you can and can't eat if you want to lose the inflammation that is causing you pain and keeping your body from absorbing valuable nutrients. 

���  3 secret organic ���hacks��� to accelerating fat loss. This is critical because it gives you the tricks that you need to get over those little barriers that can cause so many headaches. 

���  Breakdown of your exercise routine. Cut through all of the nonsense out there on the Internet with a straightforward approach to what will work. 

���  Detailed vitamin and supplement guide. This a HUGE value because it���s so tough to know which vitamins are REALLY good for you WITHOUT the usual supplement company propaganda. Much of this is what the supplement companies DON���T want you to know.

This package provides, in a clear, concise, easy-to-understand manner���the information anyone can use to begin to turn their health around through better eating. The program is only $7, so it is not something that demands a small fortune from you. One thing I will tell you up-front is that when you go to buy this, there are a few upsells with which the program designer, Thomas DeLauer, will hit you as you check out. The other stuff he has to offer looks great, but I���m mentioning this because I don���t want you to think I purchased the other products myself, although I may do so at a later date. Personally, I like his program a lot, and while, in my case, I was already aware of much of what he has to say, it was still very worthwhile, which means that if you���re someone for whom this is all basically new information, you���ll likely get a LOT out of it.

Oh, and the product comes with an amazing money-back guarantee, so, your transaction is really riskless.

If you are like me, and recognize that your diet may be the reason why you don���t feel as well as you should, grab the Organic Total Body Reboot today for just 7 bucks and get started feeling better right away. To learn more, or to purchase the program directly, Click Here.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

2016 Donald Trump and 1995 Bill Clinton: In Lockstep on Illegal Immigration

Let���s play a game. I���m going to show you a quote, and you try to figure out what high-profile American political figure said it in a speech before an enormous audience.

Here it is:

���That���s why our administration has moved to aggressively secure our borders more, by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as every before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens.���

The speaker is Donald Trump, right? He said it while speaking at one of his many standing-room-only appearances since he began running for president, right?

Wrong.

 

The American political figure who recited these words in a widely-viewed speech was none other than former president and Democratic Party icon Bill Clinton, who was in the midst of delivering the 1995 State of the Union address when he spoke as he did about getting tough on illegal immigration.

As a matter of fact, in the speech, Clinton refers to illegal immigrants as ���illegal aliens,��� a term seen as a pejorative in the realm of the immigration discussion.

Anyway, ���the more you know,��� to quote the tagline of NBC TV���s popular public service announcement campaign.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

CNN Poll: Trump Now Ahead of Clinton

When a so-called mainstream media news outlet has Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, it���s something worthy of at least a little attention.

A CNN poll was released Tuesday morning that showed Trump is indeed ahead of Clinton by a margin of 45 to 43 percent, with the supposed third-party threats to the two major party candidates, Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, languishing way back at seven percent and two percent, respectively.

As pointed out in the CNN article that reported the poll results, part of what makes these numbers so interesting is the rather significant lead about which Clinton was able to boast just a few weeks ago, as well as the stiff headwinds Trump���s campaign seemed to face last month. According to a previous CN/ORC Poll conducted in the first part of August, Clinton, fresh off of the Democratic Convention, held an eight-point advantage over Trump at that time. Observers believe that Clinton���s lead then was due, as well, to troubles that acutely beset the Republican nominee���s campaign over the past several weeks, including a rather significant shakeup of his campaign staff.

It is reasonable to assume that as Election Day approaches and more undecided voters make their choices, that the support Trump seems to enjoy from a wide swath of those who describe themselves as ���independents��� will begin to reflect more prominently in the results of polls such as this one. While 90-plus percent of Democrats and Republicans say they will cast their votes for their respective party���s nominee, Trump is seeing solid support from independents, 49 percent of whom now say they will be voting for The Donald in November; just 29 percent of independents say they will be pulling the lever for Mrs. Clinton.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Johnson-Weld ���Libertarian��� Ticket May Not Be What You Think It Is

Here is Alex Jones unloading on the Libertarian Party presidential and vice-presidential candidates Gary Johnson and William Weld, respectively. Even if you are not a big fan (or fan at all) of Alex Jones, I encourage you to watch this whole thing.

 

I���ve written before about libertarian candidates, and my problems with them, despite my own, strong libertarian inclinations. Add to the fact that I think they���re kooky (pay attention to Johnson and how he reacts here to the use of the term ���illegal immigrant���), the Libertarian Party, such as it is, has now been hijacked by leftists. This is something that has been in process for some time, but it appears that the takeover is largely complete. I���m not going to tell you that every position espoused by official Libertarian Party candidates these days looks like it came directly from the platform planks of the Democratic Party, but the similarity is startling, particularly when you consider that these people are supposed to be, well, libertarians.

Johnson is a supporter of the awful, hyper-globalist Trans Pacific Partnership, very soft on illegal immigration, and holds positions on a variety of other issues that put him in lockstep with many garden-variety Democrats.

For his part, Weld has always been a big gun control fan, once proposing, during his time as Massachusetts governor, a bill that limited gun purchases and would have prohibited the purchase of certain types of firearms. That said, it should be noted that he is still as anti-gun as ever. In a recent interview with Revolt.tv, Weld said, among other things, the following:

���The five-shot rifle, that���s a standard military rifle; the problem is if you attach a clip to it so it can fire more shells and if you remove the pin so that it becomes an automatic weapon. And those are independent criminal offenses.���

As incoherent as that statement is (spoken by someone who aspires to be Vice President of the United States, no less), you can make out the gist of what he is saying: even relatively common rifles are pretty rotten things. At one point in that same interview, Weld actually said this: ���The problem with handguns is probably even worse than the problem of the AR-15.��� OK, so, in Weld���s world, possession of handguns really isn���t acceptable, either.

I���m no rocket scientist, but I���m reasonably sure that once you are rid of rifles and handguns, you have full-blown gun confiscation.

And this from the Libertarian Party���s vice presidential candidate.

My point is this: don���t any longer conflate ���libertarian��� with ���traditional, conservative, freedom-loving,��� at least as far as official representatives of the so-called Libertarian Party are concerned. The Libertarian Party is a whole different ballgame these days.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Obama Cancels Meeting After Philippine President Calls Him an SOB

When I first heard that Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte called President Obama a son of a bitch, I thought, well, that���s going to leave a mark.

Apparently, it did.

President Obama cancelled a scheduled Tuesday meeting with Duterte in Laos at a regional summit organized by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in the wake of Duterte���s startling outburst.

The Philippine leader, who was elected in May, has waged a high-profile, no-holds-barred war on drugs inside of his nation. Expecting to be lectured at the summit by President Obama on his harsh tactics, Duterte said that he didn���t want to hear anything about it from the American leader, and that if he did, ���son of a bitch I will swear at you.���

Duterte���s approach to combating his country���s drug problem has been characterized by a substantial use of violence. Since taking office June 30, well over 2,000 drug dealers have been killed, according to reporting in the Daily Mail Online.
In anticipation of a combative meeting with Obama at the summit, Duterte said, ���Who is he to confront me?���

���I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody.

���You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum.��� Putang ina is a Tagalog phrase for ���son of a bitch.���

A big part of what has some observers so concerned about Duterte���s anti-drug effort is the apparent number of killings of drug dealers that are vigilante and otherwise extrajudicial in orientation. As of last week, the death toll was at 2,400, but only about 900 of those could be attributed to bona fide police efforts. Duterte has previously gone on the record with his urging of citizens to, on their own, kill drug dealers and users, saying, ���We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and the last pusher have surrendered.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

AAA Has Discounts On Stuff Like Shoes, Eyeglasses, Prescriptions, And Satellite TV. Who Knew?

I was eating breakfast at Denny's and overheard a conversation at the cash register. A man was checking out and presented his AAA card and the cashier took 10% off his bill.  Well, I am a AAA member and I never got a discount like this at Denny's  (but then again, I had never asked for one). The Paris family has had the AAA card for as long as I can remember, and it has saved us numerous times as we have needed roadside assistance for our cars (and my motorcycle), and for our kids that are away at a college.  On occasion, while traveling, we have used the card for hotel discounts but that has been the extent of our use of the 'discount feature.'  The video below illustrates some unlikely AAA discounts on products and services outside the scope of what you might expect.

  

This experience I had at Denny's made me wonder what other discounts I might be missing out on, and I was very surprised at what I found on my visit to the AAA website.  The discounts are numerous and substantial, and many have nothing to do with travel.  As a result, I would guess that many AAA members (like me) would simply not expect or be aware of a lot of these savings opportunities.  I guess it goes without saying, but I did march up to the register after finishing my eggs and got my own 10% AAA discount (and I won't miss out on that ever again).

What Is AAA?

Formerly known as the American Automobile Association, AAA has more than 50 million members, and operates as a non-profit.  It is chiefly known for its roadside assistance programs. AAA is actually not just one organization, but a group of 69 motor clubs that all fall under the banner of the association. Based on where you live, the cost and benefits will vary.  A basic membership for one year starts at about $70 (although there are quite a few options and upgrades, including multi family member arrangements that will cost more).

Common Discounts

Discounts at hotels, motels, rental cars, Amtrak, vacation packages, and even Walt Disney World are probably common knowledge.  I would say, however, that if you have not done so, visiting the AAA website yourself and looking around is very much worthwhile.  I am a member and until writing this article had never registered at the site or availed myself of the abundance of benefits it offers.  Just check out their discount vacation page and you will be hooked. I love the cruise and vacation packages prices, which are close to unbelievable. There are a ton of discount travel sites online, but booking through AAA certainly does offer the comfort that a big name is going to stand behind your purchase (don't even get me started on all the travel scams out there today).

AAA Discounts That You Probably Did Not Know About

One commenter on my Facebook page made note of the fact that he saves enough every year at Lenscrafters with his AAA card that it more than pays for his membership. Who knew? Lenscrafters?  How does that tie in with travel?  Who cares, a discount is a discount. 

Discounts that are not likely on most AAA members' radar screen

FTD Flowers, prescription drugs (59,000 participating pharmacies), clothing and shoe stores (too numerous too list), Dell Computers, jewelry and watches, RonJon Surf Shop, McDonald's (participating locations), Denny's, The Chart House, and tons of other eating establishments. Discounts on auto parts, auto glass tinting, Direct TV, hearing aids, computer tech support from Geek Squad, The UPS Store, LifeLock identity theft protection, SeaTow (boat towing), cellular phone dealers, and many more.

The AAA Mobile App

Well, I think I made my case here for the wide array of discounts available to AAA cardholders, but who has time to keep track of all of this?  Well, one simple option is just ask if there is a AAA discount every time you buy something. Another choice is the free AAA app (available for iPhone or Android).  The app makes finding deals very easy and also offers a number of other great tools, such as trip planning and even the ability to request roadside assistance right from your device.  I love this app!  It is GPS equipped, knows your location, and gives you the ability to see all locations (map view or simple list) offering discounts in your vicinity.

Conclusion

There is a lot more about AAA that space simply does not allow me to get into here. If you are already a member, check out their website and you will see all of this firsthand.  They can even help you with things like health insurance, home warranties, pet insurance, and extended warranties.  There is a lot here to tap into.  Let's start a conversation - please use the comments section below to share how you have used AAA to save money.

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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San Jose Police Chief: Too Many Guns in America

We���ve been reporting, over the last several months, on the growing number of law enforcement agency heads throughout the United States willing to go on the record with their opinion that citizens should carry firearms for the purpose of self-protection. As threats from street crime and terrorism become more prevalent, many who oversee undermanned police departments throughout the country are in no way hiding their preference to see citizens assume greater responsibility for their own safety.

Not every agency honcho feels that way, however���not by a long shot; one of those who would like to see fewer, not more, people carrying guns is San Jose, California���s current police chief, Eddie Garcia. In a recent interview with San Jose Inside, Garcia shared his thoughts about guns in America that should leave no one unclear about just where he stands on the subject.

During the interview, Garcia was asked directly about his thoughts on the Second Amendment. His response:

���It���s a very important amendment, and obviously very polarizing. I agree with the right to bear arms, but I equally believe in the limitations that have been placed by our courts. One aspect that I find interesting is that the Second Amendment was adopted in the late 1700s. I wonder if today���s modern weaponry were available then, if that amendment would look the same. I suspect not.���

It is sad to see a police chief in these United States echo the tired position of the ���I believe in the Second Amendment, but������ crowd. So many of the ���limitations placed by our courts��� on the exercise of Second Amendment rights have resulted in an almost fully negated right to keep and bear in many jurisdictions throughout the country.

In the full body of the interview, Chief Garcia���s answers to various questions reveal, among other positions, that he does not think non-felon American citizens should be permitted to own so-called ���assault weapons;��� that police don���t feel safer with the knowledge that ���everyday citizens��� could be carrying guns; that school staff should not be armed; and that the National Rifle Association essentially makes the country less safe by its unqualified defense of the Second Amendment.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Ex-Subway Pitchman and Convicted Pedophile Jared Fogle to Sue Victim���s Parents

It has been said that in America you can sue anyone for anything, and that must be true, considering what former Subway spokesman and convicted pedophile Jared Fogle is up to now.

According to a variety of outlets, including the Daily Mail Online, Fogle is in the process of suing the parents of one of his victims, alleging that it was their shoddy parenting that ultimately led to the girl engaging in the very self-destructive behaviors she claims was the result of the abuse suffered at the hands of Fogle and his business partner���and convicted child sex partner in crime (literally)���Russell Taylor.

Fogle is presently serving 15 years in federal prison for his convictions on various pedophilia-related crimes, and Taylor is serving a 27-year sentence for basically the same thing.

The victim in question, identified only as Jane Doe, filed a civil action against Fogle earlier this year in an effort to see monetary compensation from the millionaire ex-pitchman. In response, Fogle recently filed documents in a federal court in Indianapolis that allege the despair and self-destructive behavior the girls claims she suffered as a result of Fogle���s abuse is actually the fault of her parents, identified only as ���B.T.���and ���J.T.���

According to Fogle���s attorneys, ���B.T. and J.T. maintained a hateful and abusive relationship toward each other, which included, but was not limited to, engaging in frequent fighting and arguing between themselves; abusing alcohol and getting drunk; and engaging in frequent fighting, physical abuse, and arguing with Jane Doe, which caused Jane Doe to suffer from emotional distress, anxiety, and major depression before she learned of any allegations [about Fogle and Taylor].���

Jane Doe claimed in her own case that it was learning she had been secretly videotaped by Fogle and Taylor while she was dressing and undressing���that caused the emotional trauma she says led her to engage in such behaviors as becoming hooked on alcohol and drugs, sleeping with a variety of sexual partners, and having suicidal thoughts.

It is Fogle���s position, however, that it was the neglectful parenting of ���B.T.��� and ���J.T.��� that did all the damage to their daughter.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large