James L. Paris's Blog, page 161

The Problem with the Libertarian Party Continues to Be...Libertarians

 I often describe my socio-political belief system by saying, ���I���m basically a libertarian.��� Do you want to know why I use the qualifier ���basically?��� Because the libertarian movement is replete with nutbags.

There is ample evidence to that effect, and even among libertarians who aspire to be officials of the Libertarian Party, there are plenty of folks who are clearly a couple cans short of a six-pack. Perhaps the best and most recent ���Exhibit A��� example of that is the stunt pulled the other day by a man who was a candidate for chairman of the Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party held its national convention this past weekend in Orlando, Florida, and during the proceedings on Sunday, chair candidate James Weeks took to the stage and proceeded to dance and take off his clothes in a sort of striptease that proved to be nothing short of a visual trainwreck. At the conclusion of his ���routine,��� Weeks withdrew his candidacy for chairmanship, and announced to the assemblage that he took his clothes off in response to a dare.

There was more. Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico who received the LP���s nomination for president, happened to say during a debate that he supported the continuation of government-issued driver���s licenses, and, additionally, that blind people should not be allowed to get driver���s licenses. The response? He was booed for saying those things. Another candidate for the nomination, Austin Petersen, was also booed by the crowd when he said that it should be illegal to sell heroin to children. Let me say that again: Candidate Austin Petersen, who ultimately lost the nomination to Johnson, was booed for saying that it should be against the law to sell heroin to little kids.

Like I said���I like the basic idea of libertarianism, but I also refuse to accept that saying one is a libertarian obligates that person to support a societal free-for-all, tantamount to anarchy. I don���t believe that a broad rule of law designed to do no more than maintain basic order and functionality within a nation is incompatible with libertarian ideals, but as long as there are so many Libertarian Party faithful who do, then this ���movement��� goes nowhere.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

How To Use A Debt Validation Letter

I write this article with fear and trepidation as I know how what I am about to discuss can be twisted.  I can hardly wait to see the first post on social media that says, "Jim Paris is telling Christians not to pay their debts."  Well, maybe this opening line will inoculate me from criticism, maybe not.  In another article I wrote on this general topic about a year ago, I raised the issue of credit card companies engaging in so called robo-signing.

This Video Was Recorded Four Years Ago, But The Issue Is Still A Problem Today

 

What is a Debt Validation Letter?

I mentioned the concept of a debt validation letter again a few weeks ago on my podcast and I have been flooded with questions on it.  It has reached the point where I decided to go ahead and write a full blog post on the topic.  The purpose of the letter is to require a supposed creditor to prove up their standing to collect a debt from you and also justify the amount owed as well.  

We have all received random letters in the mail from a collection agency suggesting that we owe an old bill.  Many times these letters provide little, if any, details or backup. Most people assume that the demand for payment is legal and accurate and make arrangements for payment.  In fact, a professionally looking bill will get paid in a large percentage of cases even if it is not legitimately owed (a longstanding scam).

 

Sample Debt Validation Letter Below

 Download Letter Template - Sample Debt Validation Letter

 When Can You Use A Debt Validation Letter?

I think this is an excellent tool to use any time you question the validity of a debt or the amount owed.  I do not recommend using this to avoid debts that you believe you legitimately owe.  Yes, there are some training programs out there that suggest that you can use a letter like this to wipe out all of your debts.  I don't believe these claims are true, nor do I believe that this shotgun approach to sending out these letters is ethical.  Of course, that is not what this article is suggesting.

One last note - I strongly recommend that you find out what the statute of limitations is on debt in your state.  In many states, a debt older than 5 years (from the date of last payment) is no longer legally enforceable.  If you make even a partial payment, you may end up acknowledging the legitimacy of the debt, and wipe out any legal defense you may have had on the based on the age of the obligation.

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 
Jim Paris 24 Hour Radio

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Stop! Are you sure you owe that debt?

Alan Greenspan Says Global Economy Headed for Disaster

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in an interview on The FOX Business Network���s Cavuto: Coast to Coast, told host Neil Cavuto that stagnant long-term economic growth is proving to be a threat of epic proportions, and something that, if not properly addressed by immediate and comprehensive changes, may well result in enormous damage to the Western world. 

Greenspan said, in part:

���What the Fed does at this particular stage is less important than what the markets are doing. And what the markets are beginning to show us is acceleration in money supply for the first time in a very long time��� We have a global problem of a shortage in productivity growth and it���s not only the United States but it���s pretty much around the world and it���s being caused by the fact that the populations everywhere in the Western world, for example, are aging and we are not committing enough of our resources to fund that.���

He continued:

���Our problem is not recession which is a short-term economic problem. I think you have a very profound long-term problem of economic growth at the time when the Western world, there is a very large migration from being a worker into being a recipient of social benefits as it is called. And this is legally mandated in all of our countries. The size has got nothing to do with the rate of growth in economic activity, but if we stay down at the two percent economic growth in the United States and elsewhere, we���re not going to be able to fund what we are already legally obligated to spend.���

What Greenspan is basically saying is that the abysmally���and now chronically���low levels of productivity have surpassed the point of representing ���merely��� recessionary conditions; now, with those conditions having persisted for so long, two very significant and dire consequences are unfolding right before us: For one thing, more people who should be workers are instead ending up on the public dole, because there is not enough growth in productivity to facilitate real opportunities and living wages. Additionally, but not entirely separately, the overall lack of growth is making it difficult for governments to cover so-called entitlement programs, particularly for the elderly who, once they reach a certain age, really have no option but to be participants in such programs. In other words, ���everlasting��� low growth rates are both involuntarily converting workers to welfare recipients, and making it difficult to cover the obligations most societies have imposed upon themselves to care for their elderly citizens.

What exists now is, essentially, an economic irony: The more governments put into entitlement programs in a low-growth environment, the less money there is available for the capital investment that will ultimately put productivity back on track and result in the conditions necessary to adequately sustain said entitlement programs over the long term. Greenspan says the only solution is to make the drastic, uncomfortable, but highly necessary decision to cut back on entitlement programs all the way around - only by doing that will there be the money available for the capital investment that serves to properly fuel a nation���s economic engine, including its entitlement programs.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

More People Becoming ���True Believers��� in the Tiny House Phenomenon

The tiny house movement continues.

Across the country, more and more people are downsizing from what have been their usual digs for more years than they can remember, and moving to more ���consolidated��� surroundings. There are different reasons why people are making the not-insignificant decision to drastically decrease their living space. For some, the last several decades of American excess that have overwhelmed so many���physically, spiritually, and emotionally���have driven them to a sort of breaking point where they decide to make life as simple as it can possibly be, including in the form of the physical home. For others, uncertainty about the economic future of the country has prompted them to take a ���better safe than sorry��� approach to selecting a principal residence, and they achieve the peace of mind they���re seeking in that regard by purchasing a tiny house for which no debt is needed and that will drastically reduce so many standard costs of homeownership. Check out this great feature on tiny house activity in the Las Vegas area that recently appeared at KSNV News 3:

If you���re one of the growing number of Americans giving some thought to moving in the tiny house direction, you might want to check out the terrific series of video courses, available on the Udemy platform, that serve as a great entry point for the beginner who is seriously considering a tiny house of his own.

Macy Miller is an architect and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accredited professional whose own tiny house has been featured in TIME magazine and elsewhere, is the lecturer of this highly-rated four-video series on tiny house design. The topics covered include codes, foundation selection, construction, utilities and systems, and custom design. One of the things I like best about the series is that each course is created for the true beginner���for that person who is giving some real thought to perhaps having his own tiny house, but is not yet ready to begin hammering nails (or paying someone to do it for him). Each course is essentially a thorough introduction to each of the topics, but once you have completed them, you will be much, much further along in your understanding of tiny house development.

The courses all come with a 30-day, money-back guarantee, which is always a great feature.

To learn more about each course, including how to purchase, see below:

Tiny House Design Part 1 - Codes and Foundation Selection ��� Click Here

Tiny House Design Part 2 ��� Construction ��� Click Here

Tiny House Design Part 3 - Utilities and Systems ��� Click Here

Tiny House Design Part 4 - Custom Design ��� Click Here

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr.Editor At Large

Arizona Sheriff Warns of Drug Cartel Violence This Holiday Weekend, Tells Area Citizens to Carry

Sheriff Paul Babeu, who oversees Arizona���s Pinal County, has issued a dire warning to those seeking to enjoy the numerous recreational sites situated in the western part of the county this holiday weekend: carry a gun, because Mexican drug cartel assassins are on the loose.

The Pinal County Sheriff���s Office says it is in possession of credible information indicating that cartels are sending assassins to his jurisdiction to address the problems they���ve been facing at the hands of so-called ���rip crews,��� rogue gangs that attack cartel operatives and steal their cash and drugs. Pinal County has recently seen an overall increase in drug cartel-related violence, to include a rise in the number of armed showdowns between deputies and drug runners.

In a defiant press release, Babeu said, ���We are taking this threat seriously and believe that the public and my deputies deserve to know that there is an elevated risk of encountering gun violence in certain areas of Pinal County. It���s a distressing reality that President Obama is unwilling to protect the public from armed incursions across the border and well into Arizona. We have been fighting the Sinaloa Cartel violence in Arizona for years. We���ve arrested 21 of their scouts and many more smugglers last year, we are seizing thousands of pounds of their drugs and yet Obama���s response is to erect signs that warn American citizens that it���s not safe to travel. I���m telling our citizens that want to enjoy the outdoors to travel armed and not let these drug cartels think they have any control over American soil.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Islamic State Declares Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan to Be a Good Time to Kill Westerners

The Islamic State, never one to forgo an opportunity to spread death and destruction everywhere it can, has decided that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is as good a reason as any to foment more of the same.

In a new message of propaganda, the group is calling for sympathizers in both the United States and Europe to attack the citizens in their midst during Ramadan, which begins in early June. The audio message, which is about a half-hour in length and was posted on Twitter this past weekend, is supposedly the work of ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, but it should be noted that its authenticity has yet to be verified. That said, the Islamic State basically did the same thing in 2015, releasing an audio that made similar calls for lone wolf-style terrorist attacks by sympathizers, so it���s reasonable to assume that last weekend���s ���call to action��� is also the real deal.

The message says, in part:

���Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready ... to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers ... especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America.���

���The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would if you were with us. If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night.���

Ramadan is a month devoted to fasting and other forms of self-denial by Muslims as a celebration of the receipt by the Prophet Muhammad of the first revelations of the Quran. The particular focus on abstinence is for the purpose of making it easier for the faithful to enhance their spiritual connection to Islam by way of the removal of efforts and activities seen as obstacles to that end. As for the Islamic State���s idea of Ramadan, it not only does not include an admonition to abstain from killing Westerners, but is all for it, making it a decidedly different���to say the least���version of the celebration of religious devotion practiced by the vast majority of the world���s Muslim community.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Terrified Residents of Beech Grove, Indiana Awakened by the Sounds of War in Their City

It was certainly an atypical early Tuesday morning in Beech Grove, Indiana, a small city located just outside of Indianapolis, as residents were frightened by the sounds of a simulated ���surprise��� military raid being conducted on a local hospital.

According to FOX 59, residents were ���upset about the drills,��� complaining that they had received no notice whatsoever that a military training operation of that magnitude was going to overtake their small community.

Beech Grove Police Captain Robert Mercuri, in a statement to the Indianapolis Star, apologized that locals were startled by all of the activity, but that was not before numerous residents had taken to Twitter to express their fear and bewilderment at the sounds of war���including gunshots, explosions, and helicopters flying at low altitudes���that prompted many to seriously wonder if a true national emergency was unfolding all around them.

This is just the latest in a long and growing line of military exercises conducted in and around populous regions of the United States. The trend toward conducting maneuvers like the one that had so many residents of Beech Grove on edge���is something that has many Americans particularly concerned in an era when free speech, religious freedom, and gun rights are constantly under attack. While some citizens seem inclined to dismiss the presence of combat soldiers and equipment in local communities as no big deal, others have distinct concerns about the real purpose behind such deployments.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Schoolchildren in Peru Afflicted with Unexplained Seizures Some Attribute to Demonic Possession

In something that looks to be right out of a Stephen King novel, almost 100 young students from a school in northern Peru are suffering from various convulsions and seizures that, while officially unexplained at this time, are being blamed by some on demonic possession���a notion helped along by the fact that the afflicted children report seeing visions of a man in black trying to kill them; relatedly, the school, Elsa Perea Flores School in Tarapoto, was built on the site of an old Mafia graveyard. While it seems like a stretch, at first blush, to blame the outbursts and fits on the work of the devil, those making the attribution point to the inability of doctors to uncover a scientific explanation.

In fact, a Dr. Antony Choy told Panamericana TV, ���We don't understand how this has kept on going on. We know it started on 29th April and now it is still happening. Now there are almost 80 pupils [still affected].���

The seizures have been noticed since April, and the ages of the children suffering from them range from 11 to 14. As for the frightening vision accompanying the episodes, one student said, ���It's disturbing for me to think about it. It's as if someone kept on chasing me from behind. It was a tall man all dressed in black and with a big beard and it felt like he was trying to strangle me. My friends say I was screaming desperately, but I don't remember much.���

Members of the local community are convinced that the seizures are a case of demonic possession, and that the kids likely played some sort of game that awakened the dark spirits adults believe now inhabit the afflicted children.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

It Begins ��� Trump Fires Both Barrels at Hillary in Bill Clinton Rape Ad on Instagram

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that we would know he means business about knocking off Hillary Clinton when he was finally able to turn his attention away from GOP challengers and to the Democratic Party���s own presumptive nominee���and some strong evidence to that effect has already come to the fore.

Using the popular social media site Instagram as the platform, Trump has released a blistering, 20-second campaign ad that targets Hillary on the basis of her husband Bill���s profile as an alleged, serial sexual abuser. One of the best known of Bill Clinton���s accusers, Juanita Broaddrick, gave a blockbuster interview on NBC���s Dateline program back in 1999, and a portion of the audio from that interview is used in the Instagram ad put out on Monday. You can see the ad here:

 

Broaddrick alleges that Clinton raped her at a Little Rock, Arkansas hotel, where she was staying back in April 1978. Broaddrick was in town for a conference, and met with the former president during his run for Arkansas governor that year. According to Broaddrick, she had previously crossed paths with Clinton during an earlier campaign stop, at which she mentioned that she would like to work for him as a campaign volunteer. Clinton then invited her to look him up the next time she was in Little Rock, and that led to the hotel room meeting. Broaddrick said that original plan was for them to meet in the hotel coffee shop, but that Clinton convinced her that there would be too much interference from reporters, and suggested they meet in her room.

Hillary has found herself very much on the defensive over her public statements of support for women, more generally, and sexual assault victims, in particular, as her own campaign for president has stumbled forward. While claiming to be a champion of women���s rights and causes, Hillary has chosen to turn a blind eye to the extreme subjugation of women in Middle East countries from which significant donations to her family���s foundation have been received. Then, of course, there is the laundry list of sexual misconduct allegations leveled at her husband by numerous women over a period of several decades, allegations she has seen fit to ignore while making grand proclamations, like she famously did last fall, that all sexual assault survivors should be believed.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Actor Elijah Wood: ���Organized��� Sex Abuse of Children in Hollywood is Rampant

Actor Elijah Wood, the actor whose man-child looks have helped to earn him some of film���s most interesting and popular roles, has gone on the record with his claims that child sex abuse in Hollywood is essentially an institution there, and that key figures in the movie industry have acted as its caretakers by protecting those responsible for it (which, many would say, makes them responsible, as well).

Said Wood, ���There are a lot of vipers in this industry ��� people who only have their own interests in mind. There is darkness in the underbelly. If you can imagine it, it���s probably happened.���
In the interview, given to the Sunday Times, Wood suggested that it is often at the infamous ���industry parties��� where these kids are victimized. For his part, Wood said that he was able to avoid the trouble that plagued so many of his peers because his mother was diligent in her efforts to keep him away from the parties and other Tinseltown get-togethers that prove so dangerous for so many young people.

The subject of Hollywood���s organized child sex rings was given more prominence with last year���s release of An Open Secret, a documentary directed by Amy Berg and featuring one-time mega-popular child actors Corey Feldman (numerous films including The Goonies, Lost Boys, Stand By Me) and Todd Bridges (TV show Diff���rent Strokes) who were themselves victims of child sex abuse in Hollywood.

According to BizParentz Foundation, an advocacy group devoted to the safety and welfare of children working in the entertainment industry, roughly 100 child sex abusers in Hollywood are currently enjoying the protection of elites in that community.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large