James L. Paris's Blog, page 57

Trump Flatly Tells Tillerson It���s a Waste of Time to Negotiate with North Korea

Mere political theatre? Or is President Trump ominously telegraphing his next move?

As reported by The Hill, Donald Trump, using what is clearly his favorite mode of communication, told the world on Sunday morning what he told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about the matter of negotiating with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

Trump tweeted, ���I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man������

Which was quickly followed by:

������Save your energy Rex, we���ll do what has to be done!���

Trumps tweets add some confusion to the mix, particularly in the wake of comments Tillerson made the previous day in which he said that the administration was actively communicating with Pyongyang through multiple channels.

���We are probing, so stay tuned,��� Tillerson said, in a quote attributed to The New York Times. ���We ask, ���Would you like to talk?��� We have lines of communications to Pyongyang ��� we���re not in a dark situation, a blackout ��� . We have a couple, three channels open to Pyongyang.���

���We can talk to them,��� he added. ���We do talk to them.���

Tillerson also made it clear that the channels are direct, and that the U.S. is not going through a third party, such as China.

As for what Trump meant by his Twitter messages, it���s hard to say. Is he suggesting that the time for talk has passed, and a military option is in the works?

Or is he merely pretending such a consideration is at hand?

With Donald Trump, you just never know.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Do You Really Need a Side Hustle? Check Your Spending Habits Before Parting with Your Free Time

The side hustle is all the rage these days as a great way to earn the extra money necessary to get ahead���but is it really necessary?

An article over at CNBC.com is wondering the same thing.

The real answer is that it may depend on just what you���re trying to accomplish. In many cases, the side hustle is as much about hacking away at a dream sort of job to see if it can eventually gain enough financial traction to become your full-time gig.

In other words, yes, you need to make a little more dough, but why not try to do it by working at something that represents are genuine interest you have? Kill two birds with one stone, and all of that.

The other part of this is to be sure that if you are working extra to pay down debt, for example, it���s not problems like unfortunate spending habits that are really to blame for the fact you���re always behind the money curve. That���s a big part of what the CNBC article is getting at, and it���s a good point.

Side hustles to make even more than you���re making so you can have an extra-nice life, even more money saved, etc., can certainly be the way to go. But if you���re money management skills ��� or, more precisely, lack thereof ��� are really at the source of your troubles, then having more of what you���re wasting will simply give you more to waste.

A good piece of advice imparted by the article is to put yourself through a personal audit before you give up your weekends out of deference to your second job or side hustle. Track your spending. It sounds simple, it certainly sounds like common sense, but not nearly enough folks do it.

Bottom line - don���t be so quick to run out and kill yourself earning more money, if your real problem is that you cannot manage the money you already earn.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Sex Robot on Display Is Heavily Damaged by Men Who Could Not Resist Her

We are so doomed.

If you needed another sign of the coming apocalypse, look no further.

A report has emerged over at the Mirror that tells of an unfortunate sex robot being put through its paces by a bunch of random men attending a technology show in Europe recently.

A display model of the sex robot, ���Samantha,��� was being exhibited at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. According to Samantha���s developer, Sergi Santos, the robot was abused so badly that she looks to have been subject to the behavior of ���barbarians.��� Santos says that two of her fingers were broken, and that when the men were finished with her, she was ���heavily soiled.���

Lovely.

���The people mounted Samantha���s breasts, her legs and arms��� Two fingers were broken. She was heavily soiled,��� said Santos, who also noted that she had to be sent off to be cleaned and repaired.

Do not despair, however. According to Santos, ���Samantha can endure a lot, she will pull through.���

Even better, the Samantha the sex robot can become part of the family. According to Samantha owner Arran Squire, his children do just fine interacting with her as they would any other member of the family.

We are so doomed.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Report: Florida Middle School Teacher Will Erect Display of Satan at Christmas

Sadly, this isn���t even close to the worst thing anyone will hear this week.

According to CBS12.com, the online presence of CBS 12 News out of West Palm Beach, Florida, a middle school teacher in that state is making plans to put up a display of Satan in a local park this Christmas.

Preston Smith is a teacher of language arts at Boca Raton Community Middle School. He���s also an ���atheistic Satanist,��� according to CBS 12.

It is Smith���s announced intention to build a giant metal pentagram in Sanborn Square, designed to go along with his other display, a ���Freedom from Religion Nativity Scene.���

The president of the school���s PTA, Kim Bremer, wants Smith gone.

���A teacher we entrust our children with should not be putting a sign like this anywhere,��� she said.

The 300-pound pentagram is also going to be captioned with the phrases, ���One Nation Under Antichrist,��� ���May The Children Hail Satan,��� and ���In Satan We Trust.���

A local clergyman, Pastor Mark Boykin at Church of All Nations in Boca Raton, says if Smith puts it up, he���s going to tear it asunder.

���I think this is reprehensible,��� Boykin said to CBS 12 while holding the sledgehammer he���s evidently planning to use to lay waste to the structure. ���I think it���s an insult to our city.���

Boykin added that the display represents ���the essence of evil.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr.

Report: Defense Secretary Mattis Was Target of Taliban Rocket Attack

When retired U.S. Marine Corps General James ���Mad Dog��� Mattis became Secretary of Defense, it was largely believed he would be the right man to lead the fight against the radical Islamist insurgency that has bedeviled America and much of the rest of the world for decades now.

It appears, in its own way, that the Taliban has just registered its agreement with that sentiment.

Last Wednesday, the Taliban initiated a rocket attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. According to the New York Post, the attack came just a handful of hours after Mattis had arrived there to formally show his support for the government.

As it turns out, the timing of the rocket attack with Mattis��� visit was in no way a coincidence; Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid later tweeted a claim of responsibility for the attack, and confirming that the target was, indeed, the Defense Secretary���s plane.

Later, at a press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Mattis pointedly said, ���An attack on an airport anywhere in the world is a criminal act by a terrorist.���

���If in fact, this is what they have done, they will find the Afghan Security Forces continuing on the offensive against them in every district of the country right now,��� he added.

With Mattis in charge of the show, you can bet there���s little doubt of that.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Melania Trump Responds to Librarian Who Refused Donation of Dr. Seuss Books

When a Massachusetts elementary school librarian chose last week to make a spectacle of herself by refusing a donation of Dr. Seuss books to the school from first lady Melania Trump, she ���heard it��� from people all around the country who thought her response to Mrs. Trump was at least a tad ungracious.

She also received a formal response from the first lady herself, through Stephanie Grisham, Mrs. Trump���s director of communications.

In a statement to Fox News, Grisham said that it has been Mrs. Trump���s goal ���to help as many children as she can,��� adding, ���She has demonstrated this in both actions and words since her husband took office, and sending books to children across the country is but one example. To turn the gesture of sending young students some books into something divisive is unfortunate, but the First Lady remains committed to her efforts on behalf of children everywhere.���

To commemorate ���National Read a Book Day,��� the first lady had sent out 10 Dr. Seuss books to one school in each state. Cambridgeport Elementary School was the ostensibly lucky recipient of the books in Massachusetts.

In her letter to Mrs. Trump refusing the books, librarian Liz Phipps Soeiro wrote, in part, ���My school doesn���t have a need for these books. And then there���s the matter of the books themselves. You may not be aware of this, but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a clich��, a tired and worn ambassador for children���s literature...���

Soeiro later indicated in her refusal letter that the first lady���s donation is something ���that could have been better thought out.���

Ungracious���to say the least.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Otto Warmbier Parents: North Korea Are ���Terrorists,��� ���Tortured��� Son Otto

The parents of American student Otto Warmbier, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, recently broke their silence and gave an interview to Fox and Friends wherein they pulled no punches about what happened to their son, and about those they feel are responsible for his death.

���It���s been three months since Otto has died and we buried him. Our family has had to come together and process this horrible situation, do some healing. But now we see North Korea claiming to be a victim and the world is picking on them, and we���re here to tell you North Korea is not a victim. They���re terrorists. They kidnapped Otto, they tortured him, they intentionally injured him. They are not victims. They���re terrorists,��� Fred Warmbier said.

Cindy Warmber said flatly that North Korea ���destroyed��� her son.

When Cindy was asked why she thought North Korea ultimately decided to return Otto to the United States, Fred tersely jumped in:

���Why would you question what a terrorist country does? They���re terrorists. This is what they do. They kidnapped Otto. They tortured him.���

The Warmbiers have asked that North Korea to be designated as a terrorist state. Through The Washington Post, a State Department representative responded on Wednesday, saying, ���As a matter of law, in order for any country to be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, the Secretary of State must determine that the government of that country has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. These designations are made after careful review of all available evidence to determine if a country meets the statutory criteria for designation.���

���The Department of State will take immediate action if credible evidence supports North Korea���s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism under the statutory criteria.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Poland���s Catholics Set for Mass Rosary Prayer on Border to Commemorate Historical Defeat of Islam

At the urging of bishops, Poland���s Catholics are preparing to mount up for an enormous rosary prayer along the nation���s border. According to organizers of the event, as many as one million people are expected to turn out.

Called the ���Rosary on the Borders,��� the mass prayer is to take place along the entire route of Poland���s 2,000-mile-plus border. It is scheduled for October 7, which is the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, a naval engagement wherein ���the Christian fleet overcame the Muslim armada, saving Europe from Islamization.���

Fr. Steve Grunow, quoted at the website Aleteia, describes the Battle of Lepanto, as well as its significance:

���On October 7th, 1571, a fleet of ships assembled by the combined forces of Naples, Sardinia, Venice, the Papacy, Genoa, Savoy and the Knights Hospitallers fought an intense battle with the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. The battle took place in the Gulf of Patras located in western Greece.  Though outnumbered by the Ottoman forces, the so-called ���Holy League��� possessed of superior firepower would win the day. This victory would severely curtail attempts by the Ottoman Empire to control the Mediterranean, causing a seismic shift in international relations from East to West. In some respects, and I do not want this claim to be overstated, the world that we know came into being with this victory. This event is known to history as the ���Battle of Lepanto.������

In a barely-veiled reference to the growing influence of Islam throughout Europe, organizers of the ���Rosary on the Borders��� say at their website that ���we believe that if the rosary is prayed by about a million Poles along the borders of the country, it may not only change the course of events, but open hearts of our compatriots to the grace of God.���

���The powerful prayer of the Rosary can affect the fate of Poland, Europe, and even the whole world.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

America Speaks: NBC���s Sunday Night Football Pounded with Big Drop in Ratings

Is this just the beginning of something truly ���yuge���?

Regular Americans everywhere are already up in arms over the mass protest engaged in last weekend by NFL teams all across the country. Many were further infuriated when those seen as enablers of the protesting ballplayers, like TV commentators and sports journalists, seemed to side with them and take issue with President Trump���s very vocal, very public objection to such expressions of disloyalty.

Well, it doesn���t appear as though said regular Americans are blowing smoke when it comes to their announced threats to turn their collective backs on the game they have loved for so long.

To wit: According to Business Insider, last weekend���s broadcast of NBC Sunday Night Football saw an eight percent drop in eyeballs from the previous week, and when compared to the same point in the season last year, viewership was down 10 percent.

So where does it go from here?

Hard to know, for sure, but the signs aren���t good for the NFL���s brand. In addition to the general outrage being expressed by consumers of the game, companies that sponsor the NFL or otherwise have some role in bringing the games to life are now listening to the angry fan base. For example, DirecTV is now offering refunds on its popular ��� and expensive ��� Sunday NFL Ticket package to those subscribers who cite the protests as the reason they want to cancel the service.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Children���s Ball Pit Play Areas Now Used to Create Safe Spaces for College Students

This is just weird.

You know those ball pits commonly found at kid-themed eateries? Well, colleges and universities have apparently found a use for them.

But it���s not because they���re planning to raise money by conducting children���s fairs or anything like that.

The ball pits are for the students. The college students. And the purpose for having them is perfectly serious, in the eyes of the schools.

According to the website The College Fix, the schools are employing the pits ���as ice breakers, to break down racial barriers,��� and ���facilitate lessons on wellness,��� among other reasons.

Kate Ayotte, a wellness programs administrator at Central Connecticut State University, noted in an email to the Fix that ���the ball pits were perfect for allowing students to feel comfortable.���

A growing number of schools seem to be utilizing the unusual platforms, including the University of Delaware and the University of Mississippi.

School coordinators, says The College Fix, are hoping that the ball pits ���create a safe space where students can hold and respect conflicting points of view.���

We can probably assume that the idea of having young people bond by spending 18 months in the military���while they defer entering college���was not the other option being weighed by these schools when they ultimately decided to go the kiddie ball-pit route.

God help us.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large