James L. Paris's Blog, page 60

CA High School Warns Students that Chanting ���USA��� at Games Could Send ���Unintended Message���

So it has come to this.

A high school in California felt compelled recently to issue a warning of sorts to students���about chanting ���USA��� at school sporting events.

According to CBS Sacramento, school officials at Del Lago High School in Folsom are concerned about the message the chant conveys to other students.

The Del Lago principal, Lori Emmington, sent an email to families letting them know that the school had discussed the appropriateness of the chant in terms of ���sportsmanship, empathy, and kindness.���

The resolution of the discussion?

Del Lago staff decided that while the chant is OK at events oriented on a patriotic event or theme, that the chant recited at garden variety school sporting events ���might be confusing��� to those of other ethnicities who may see it as an exercise in xenophobia.

One student seemed genuinely confused over the fuss.

���I wasn���t angry, but I was definitely like, ���Why can���t we chant USA?������ senior Ryan Bernal said about the warnings issued by his school. ���To say USA, you know, we���re all the same. We���re all American. It doesn���t matter what your skin tone is or where you���re from.���

While CBS Sacramento reports that the school was actually cued by the local school district to have the discussion with students, district officials emphasize there is no actual ban on the ���USA��� chant.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

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United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley: Trump will ���Slap��� America���s Enemies in First UN Speech

According to Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Donald Trump���s upcoming address to the U.N. General Assembly will emphasize strength and confidence, and clearly let America���s enemies know who they are.

���I personally think he slaps the right people, he hugs the right people, and he comes out with (the) U.S. being very strong, in the end,��� Haley said on Friday.

There is great interest in just what Trump will say to the gathered on Tuesday. Although the president campaigned, and was elected, on a platform made up largely of nationalist and populist ideas, there has been growing concern among his base that he is going to abandon many of his campaign promises in the interest of adopting a ���go along, get along��� posture.

According to The Hill, however, Trump���s speech to the U.N. is expected to formally present his vision of ���America first��� to the rest of the world.

Still, as The Hill mentioned, Haley was noncommittal to reporters about whether Trump is planning to maintain America���s current level of U.N. funding. The U.S. is that body���s largest money source, with American taxpayers footing 22 percent of the U.N.���s regular budget, and 28 percent of the peacekeeping budget. Wearing his populist hat during the campaign, Trump was highly critical of the U.N.���s treatment of the U.S. through the years, and said that America gives far too much money to the U.N.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Pundit: Democrats Want DACA So They Can Continue to ���Import New Electorate from Third World���

Highly-rated Fox News host Tucker Carlson is at it again, pointedly calling out Republicans ��� and President Trump, in this case, specifically ��� for the party���s most recent example of fecklessness with regard to illegal immigration.

Carlson slammed the administration on his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, on Thursday for reportedly coming to terms with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her counterpart in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, on the matter of what to do with the controversial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy instituted by the President Obama.

As Carlson outlined the ���deal,��� the 800,000 undocumented immigrants presently covered by DACA would essentially receive amnesty, while none of Trump���s agenda items to help materially curb illegal immigration would receive Democratic support.

���The fate of DACA recipients is, by far, the biggest piece of leverage he has or he ever will have,��� Carlson opined. ���If he gives it away for free, none of his other immigration priorities, the priorities he ran on and won the presidency with will be considered.���

���If this president doesn���t get funding for a wall now, it will never be built, period,��� said Carlson.

A moment later, Carlson laid out the harsh truth about Democrats and illegal immigration.

���The Democratic Party has no interest in halting the flow of illegal immigrants no matter how much it might hurt Americans who already live here,��� he said. ���They���ve done the math. Democrats lost in 2016 because our middle class rejected them.���

���That means they got two options now. They can embrace the issues the middle class cares about or they can import an entirely new electorate from the third world and change the demographics of the U.S. so completely they will never lose again. They are going with the latter option.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

California, of All States, Announces Initiative that Would Label Abortion ���First-Degree Murder���

According to an item over at The Christian Post, the state of California has said a ballot initiative that would criminalize abortion as ���first-degree murder��� may officially begin gathering signatures. California���s Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, announced on September 8 that the effort���s first hurdle had been cleared.

Should the initiative manage to gather the requisite number of signatures, it would be placed on the 2018 ballot as a state referendum item.

The initiative was filed by Danny Ehinger, identified by the Post as both a resident of California and a pro-life activist. According to the piece, he now has 180 days to get the 585,407 signatures necessary to see the measure appear on the statewide ballot.

In a Facebook post, Ehinger wrote, ���We received our circulating title to gather signatures and work to get Abolishing Abortion on the Nov. 6, 2018, ballot through a state ballot initiative that would amend our constitution. Please pray for our efforts.���

While it seems doubtful that the initiative will eventually pass, Ehinger and supporters have already done well to make it this far in notoriously liberal California. From a practical standpoint, it���s basically impossible for the measure to become law even if it does pass, given the constitutional protection afforded abortion, presently.

According to a press release issued by Padilla���s office, the initiative would outlaw ���abortion including cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman; intentionally terminating a fertilized egg; most embryonic stem cell research, some fetal tissue research; and many in vitro fertilization procedures.��� The release also notes that ���women, medical professionals, researchers, and others, who violate these restrictions would be guilty of first-degree murder.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Former CIA Director Resigns Harvard Post After School Names Chelsea Manning Visiting Fellow

Michael Morell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and, until very recently, a senior fellow at Harvard���s John F. Kennedy School of Government, has decided to resign his position at Harvard.

The reason? Harvard University decided to make Chelsea Manning a fellow.

Yup���that Chelsea Manning.

As reported by the New York Post, Morell explained his decision to resign by flatly saying he could not be part of an organization ���that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information.���

���Senior leaders in our military have stated publicly that the leaks by Ms. Manning put the lives of U.S. soldiers at risk,��� Morell said. ���I have an obligation in my conscience ��� and I believe to the country ��� to stand against any efforts to justify leaks of sensitive national security information.���

In its website announcement of Manning as a Visiting Fellow, the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School said, in part, that ���she speaks on the social, technological and economic ramifications of Artificial Intelligence through her op-ed columns for The Guardian and The New York Times. As a trans woman, she advocates for queer and transgender rights as @xychelsea on Twitter.���

So Harvard loses a former Director of the CIA, and replaces him with Chelsea Manning.

Seems reasonable.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Hillary Says She Was ���Tempted��� to Make Voodoo Dolls of Press & Members of Congress

Hillary Clinton; another of those gifts that keep on giving.

Or, more precisely, it���s her new book, What Happened, that keeps on giving.

Ok���it���s both.

According to her memoir, released Tuesday, Clinton���s frustration over the attention paid to her use of a private email server was clearly getting the best of her.

As her own words reveal, Hillary, true to form, barely acknowledges her own culpability in the scandal, while saying the reaction to what she had done was the real problem:

���It was a dumb mistake. But an even dumber ���scandal.��� It was like quicksand: the more you struggle, the deeper you sink. At times, I thought I must be going crazy. Other times, I was sure it was the world that had gone nuts. Sometimes I snapped at my staff.���

And it is at this point where things get even better:

���I was tempted to make voodoo dolls of certain members of the press and Congress and stick them full of pins.���

Umm���

As Amber Randall of The Daily Caller notes, while Clinton takes the opportunity in What Happened to blame former FBI Director James Comey, in part, for her election defeat, she sees his testimony statement���that her use of the unauthorized server was simply done for expediency���as vindication on behalf of the accusation that she was up to no good.

���Given my inability to explain this mess, I decided to let other voices tell the story this time. I hope that it helps to connect the dots and explain what did and equally important, didn���t happen,��� Clinton writes. Randall mentions, as well, Clinton���s declaration that venting her frustration over all of this is good for her ���mental health.���

Uh-huh. But what about those voodoo dolls���?

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

How to Deal with Dreaded Interview Question: ���What���s Your Biggest Weakness?���

Interview questions may come and go based on trends in human resources, but one query typically made of applicants will likely never go away:

���What���s your biggest weakness?���

Ugh.

It���s funny, though. As often as it has been asked, and as often as it will continue to be asked, there are still far too many job candidates who are woefully ill-prepared for the question when it���s posed.

And there���s just no excuse for that.

An article over at CNBC by contributor Suzy Welch addresses how to deal with the uncomfortable question, and says that even though the inquiry may seem ���tired,��� you have to take it seriously.

���[Interviewers] ask about your greatest weakness,��� she says, ���because they want to hear your answer demonstrate character traits that are essential to high performance in any job.���

According to Welch, the best answers to the question reflect the following four traits: Self-awareness; authenticity; discretion; and initiative.

Regarding self-awareness, Welch says that the hiring manager, astute person he or she is, is likely going to be able to tell from your resume, interview(s), and references what it is with which you struggle. What they���re going to want to hear is if YOU know what your weaknesses are.

As for authenticity, Welch says that ���humble-brag��� kinds of responses like ���I���m too much of a perfectionist��� are terrible.

���Answers like ���I���m a perfectionist��� or ���I���m a workaholic��� are the red flags of phoniness,��� she cautions. ���And no one likes to work with a phony.���

Don���t try to be clever - just give a real answer.

Discretion refers to knowing ���the difference between a work weakness and a personal weakness,��� Welch says. Answering the question with a personal weakness, particularly if it prompts you to expound on a problem in your personal life, is going to be a turn-off to employers.

Lastly, your answer should demonstrate that you���ve taken some initiative to repair the weakness.

���No matter what weakness you name, the important thing is what you say about what you've already done to fix it,��� Welch says, ���and how you plan to continue that process in the new position.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Free Search Tool Determines Whether Your Credit File Was Just Breached

I just found out that my personal Equifax file was exposed in the data breach. Since the reports are that 143 million credit files were breached last week, I guess I am not surprised. Now, Equifax wants to give those affected a free ID theft membership for a year! What a joke... the people that allowed my information to be exposed are now going to protect me? There is not a chance that I am going to fall for that. What makes matters worse, is that some reports are saying that by joining the free credit monitoring you may be waiving your legal rights to sue for damages.

How To Find Out If Your Credit File Was Exposed

Go to this page and click on 'begin enrollment' (but don't click on 'continue enrollment' or you will end up joining their ID Theft membership). The first screen (below) will ask for your last name and last six digits of your Social Security number.  

If your credit file and personal information was breached, you will see this message below (since I am a victim of this myself, this is what came up for me). If your information was stolen in the data breach, it is likely already up for sale on the dark web to the highest bidder.

Make your own decision, but I am not going to give them any more information to join their ID theft program (even if it is free for a year). It is truly the most absurd thing I have ever heard of to offer such a service when your own company has just exposed 143 million credit files. 

The truth is, however, that there have been so many data breaches in recent years, even if you were not a victim of the Equifax data breach, your information may have been exposed in another incident. It seems like we are hearing about these breaches happening almost every day now. 

If someone begins to use your Social Security number, drivers license number, or makes charges with your credit cards, etc... you will be facing a lifelong series of issues. This is why it is so important to get protection in place BEFORE you become a victim. 

There is one ID theft service that I personally recommend, please email me and I will be happy to share that information with you. Everyone needs to have a solid ID theft service in place today, it is no longer optional.

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

ESPN ���SportsCenter��� Host Calls President Trump a ���White Supremacist��� in Series of Tweets

As reported by a variety of news outlets, including The Daily Caller, Jemele Hill, co-host of ESPN���s nightly flagship news program SportsCenter, seemed to go off the rails Monday night���even for someone who works at that network���when she fired off a string of tweets that called President Trump and his supporters ���white supremacists.���

Good to see nothing has changed at the network that bills itself ���the worldwide leader in sports.���

Apparently, Hill, a notorious liberal (not that such a description distinguishes her much from practically everyone else who works there), finally reached a point where she could no longer contain herself, and went all-out in attacking the president.

Tweet #1:

���Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.���

Tweet #2:

���The height of white privilege is being able to ignore his white supremacy, because it's of no threat to you. Well, it's a threat to me.���

Tweet #3:

���Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period.���

And there were several more. The network���s response?

���The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN. We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate.���

In other words, ���Jemele will be keeping her job.���

Putting specific ideology aside, it���s bizarre enough that the powers that be at ESPN are allowing on-air talent to say these things with impunity. But it is nothing short of insane that the folks at Disney, ESPN���s parent company, are just standing by and allowing this valuable (once-valuable?) to commit suicide before their very eyes.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large