James L. Paris's Blog, page 80
June 18, 2017
GOP Rep. Mark Sanford: Trump ���Partially to Blame��� for Climate that Led to Scalise Shooting
In the wake of the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), apologists on the left - and even some on the right - have been quick to suggest that ���we���re all to blame��� for what happened.
Well, one Republican politician sort of doubled-down on that notion, suggesting that even the President of the United States is responsible for the attack on Scalise.
As reported by The Hill, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) said the following during an appearance Thursday on MSNBC���s Morning Joe program:
���[I] would argue that the president is at least in partially ��� not in any way totally ��� but partially to blame for demons that have been unleashed, whether it is what I saw at a senior center back home and people saying, ���f-you, f-you and f-you��� to each other at a senior center, a retirement center and see each other play croquet the next day, or with what happened ��� not with what happened yesterday, but the fact that you know, you���ve got the top guy saying, ���Well, I wish I could hit you in the face. And if not, why don���t you and I���ll pay your legal fees.��� That���s bizarre ��� we ought to call it as such.���
To Rep. Sanford, then, there is no difference between speaking in an unvarnished fashion���and directly inciting acts of great violence.
Actually, Sanford knows full well there���s a wide chasm that separates the kinds of things President Trump said along the campaign trail���from comments supportive of the idea of killing of one���s political opposition, a favorite pastime of many on the left.
But calling out his Democratic pals for their hyperbolic vitriol would take far too much courage for Sanford, apparently. Criticizing President Trump is easier for Sanford, somehow.
Perhaps South Carolina Republican voters should take note.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
June 16, 2017
Univ. of Wisconsin Professor Makes $170,000 a Year Teaching About the Evils of Capitalism
For one professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the motto of the day seems to be ���Do as I teach, not as I am.���
Erik Olin Wright helms a course at the school called ���Class, State, and Ideology: An Introduction to Social Science in the Marxist Tradition.��� You can probably tell what it���s all about just from that title, but in case you���re still unsure on what it is Professor Wright teaches, feel free to refer to his near-80-page syllabus that describes capitalism as a system that ���generates harms��� and ���generates injustices��� which ���can be broadly grouped under three rubrics: exploitation, domination and irrationality.���
In other words, it is just another college course taught by a success-hating, capitalism-hating communist college professor. Nothing to see here.
Well, almost nothing to see here. It turns out that the good professor earns $170,000 a year to teach about the evils of an economic system built on giving those living under it the opportunity to make a lot of money.
You know, like Professor Wright.
According to The Daily Caller, the tenured (of course) professor���s salary is over $100,000 greater than the median household income earned by Wisconsin residents, and puts him in the top two percent of all American earners.
Marxism clearly ain���t what it used to be.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
NFL Network Tells Its Employees to Avoid Discussing Politics on Social Media
In the wake of a 2016-2017 NFL season that saw the league rife with social protests by players and plentiful political expressions from a variety of sports media representatives, the NFL Network has decided, for its part, that staff members will be sticking to sports, particularly when on their social media accounts.
According to Touchdown Wire, league executives (NFL Network is owned by the National Football League) are growing increasingly concerned at the political outspokenness of so many from the realm of professional sports media, and see the melding of politics and sports as something capable of resulting in nothing but trouble.
���Those debates are healthy in the middle of newsrooms and discussions face-to-face,��� said Mike Muriano, NFL Network���s executive producer of studio and remote content. ���But playfully or not, what happens in face-to-face conversations can be construed in ways that you don���t want on a public forum like Twitter ��� especially when it comes to politics.���
It is no secret that ESPN has been plagued with financial troubles many blame, at least partly, on the network���s insistence to tout an obviously leftist narrative within its ���sports��� reporting. The network has seen subscribers bail on it in large numbers, and while a big part of ESPN���s downfall is clearly related to increased cord-cutting behavior on the part of television consumers, few disagree with the notion that overt political expressions by on-air talent there have hurt, as well.
Unsurprisingly, NFL Network wants none of that.
���When in doubt, keep it to the game,��� said NFL���s vice president of social media and emerging programming, Tom Brady (not that Tom Brady). ���There���s always a time to showcase your personality and be able to engage with fans and go outside of your core. But at the end of the day, as a member of the NFL Media Group, try to stick to football because that���s what people want to hear from you about.���
A-men.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
June 15, 2017
McCain: Obama���s Leadership Stronger than Trump���s
Sen. John McCain has since tried to walk this back, but that���s not cutting it with many folks. People typically know it to be the case that when you say something, you mean it, and if you say later you misspoke, were misquoted, or were misunderstood���no one really buys it.
As reported by The Hill, McCain, who has claimed to be a Republican all along, recently told Britain���s Guardian that he believes the United States was better served by the leadership of Barack Obama than by that currently provided by Donald Trump.
Come again?
It���s no secret that McCain was hardly a Trump fan during the course of the 2016 election, but did he really say that?
Pretty much.
To set things up, McCain was questioned by The Guardian about his reaction to President Trump being so publicly critical of London Mayor Sadiq Khan���s reaction in the wake of the recent London terror bombing. Initially, The Guardian asked McCain what message he thought Trump���s high-profile jab sent to the United Kingdom, as a whole.
���What do you think the message is? The message is that America doesn���t want to lead,��� McCain responded. The senator wasn���t finished answering, however, adding that the rest of the world is ���not sure of American leadership, whether it be in Siberia or whether it be in Antarctica.���
It gets better.
The Guardian followed up and asked if America���s ���standing��� around the world was better under Obama than Trump. McCain���s answer?
���As far as American leadership is concerned, yes.���
And yet Arizona just keeps on electing this guy.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
Study: Cell Phone Bill Could Prove to Be One Key to Accessing Consumer Credit
Imagine if the way you reliably pay your cell phone bill each month turned out to be the basis on which you come to enjoy access to substantial credit at competitive rates.
It could happen.
According to USA Today, the findings of a study conducted by ID Analytics LLC, a developer of consumer risk management software for businesses, suggest that evaluating cell phone and utilities payment histories can be just as reliable a predictor of credit risk as the payment histories associated with credit card bills, mortgages, auto loans, and student loans.
���This is a win-win for lenders and consumers, especially young adults and other populations that have historically been marginalized by traditional scoring models,��� said Ajay Nigam, an ID Analytics senior vice president, in a written statement.
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the nation���s three principal nationwide credit reporting agencies, evaluate credit histories by looking at more robust kinds of accounts, like mortgages and car loans, but a lot of people, primarily young adults and low-income folks, are often unable to access meaningful credit because they have never had any such financial products in their names. This deficiency tends to leave them unable to access ���regular��� credit at a competitive rate.
However, ID Analytics uncovered something interesting: 70 percent to 90 percent of credit applicants who either have no credit history or very little credit history���do have accounts with telecommunications companies by virtue of having cell phones.
Even more importantly, in its look at the portfolio of a popular credit card issuer, ID Analytics found that roughly half of the people denied a credit card by that company for having no credit score would have been eligible for the plastic if cell phone bill payment histories, as well as other, ���alternative��� payment histories, were utilized as a part of the underwriting process.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
June 14, 2017
Biden Niece Manages to Dodge Prison After Pleading Guilty to Six-Figure Credit Card Fraud
Talk about privilege.
According to the New York Post, Caroline Biden, niece of former vice president Joe Biden, has managed to skate on going to prison even though she admitted in court to stealing more than $100,000 in a credit card scam.
Reportedly, the victim gave Biden the card in order that she could make a $672 purchase. Biden instead used the card to open an account at Bigelow Pharmacy in New York City, and charged over $100,000 there from April 2015 to June 2016.
Biden pleaded guilty to charges of grand larceny and petit larceny in Manhattan Supreme Court. She also agreed to make restitution in the amount of $110,810.04.
The Post additionally points out that Caroline Biden has had a history of trouble, as well as a history of getting over on the criminal justice system���and the people.
In another instance, Biden was charged in September 2013 with assaulting a police officer who had been called to intervene in an altercation involving Biden and her roommate.
As she was being arrested, Biden reportedly screamed at the cops that ���I shouldn���t be handcuffed,��� and ���you don���t know who you���re doing this to!���
Biden was cut a fantastic break then, too. When she appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court in 2014 to face the music, she was informed the charges would be dismissed if she managed to stay out of trouble for the subsequent six months.
In that case, the charges were ultimately dismissed, and the record sealed.
How about that?
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
Florida Sheriff Goes Public with Declaration that U.S. Citizens Should Be Ready to Fight Terrorists
Another law enforcement agency head has gone public with his belief that gun-owning citizens need to be ready to defend themselves against the kind of random terror attacks that have plagued Europe recently.
In a video he posted to Facebook, Sheriff Wayne Ivey of Brevard County, Florida went as far as to say that citizens should now see themselves as ���the first line of defense��� against a terror attack, according to The Washington Times.
Outlining the threat as he sees it, Ivey said:
���Terrorists and active shooters are using every weapon available to target citizens. Guns, knives, trucks, hammers, and even explosives have all become the weapon of choice for murderers who only have one goal���killing innocent and law-abiding citizens. It seems that almost everyday we hear of another attack taking place at a concert, tourist destination, church, business, or anywhere else in the world where they can strike fear in the hearts of citizens.���
As for the posture Americans should assume, going forward, in preparing to defend themselves against terror attacks and other threats, Ivey pulled no punches, saying that ���this is war��� and telling the viewers that when serious trouble does break out and 911 is called, that until law enforcement does show up, ���it is up to you and those with you to neutralize or eliminate the threat.���
Ivey���s message is striking even by comparison to the similar, public recommendations made previously by other police chiefs and sheriffs around the country. Few, if any, have had the courage to look directly into a camera and say what many (most?) of us know to be the true condition under which the Western world is existing presently, with regard to radical Islam.
We���re at war.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr Editor At Large
June 13, 2017
Report: Trump Has Signed More Bills into Law Thus Far Than Any of the Four Previous Presidents
The Trump fans refer to information like this as ���winning,��� but maybe it���s simply the kind of functional progress we should expect from government, as a rule.
Last Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy issued a report on the productivity of the Trump administration since assuming control of the executive branch, announcing that President Trump has, up to this point, been busier signing bills into law than any of his recent predecessors.
���To date, President Trump has signed 37 bills into law, placing him ahead of the last four administrations,��� the pair of lawmakers noted in their report.
The Washington Times notes that, at the same point in their own presidencies, President Obama had signed 24 bills, President George W. Bush had signed 15, and Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush had signed 33 and 35, respectively.
That���s not all. Apparently, President Trump���s interest in moving forward at a high rate of speed has galvanized Congress, as well.
���The Republican-led House has passed 158 bills, making it the most productive in the modern-era,��� Ryan and McCarthy additionally noted. As a comparison, their report indicates that the House had passed 131 bills at the same point in the then-new Obama administration. McCarthy referred to the pace at which the legislative branch has been passing laws as ���record Congressional productivity to date.���
Okay���maybe it IS winning.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
Shark Tank���s Daymond John on Working to Make It Big as an Entrepreneur: ���Don���t Quit Your Day Job"
For those of you who are bent on achieving entrepreneurial success, but cannot bring yourselves to quit your day job and throw everything you have into your dream effort, side hustle, or whatever you want to call it���Shark Tank���s Daymond John understands, and has your back.
As a matter of fact, he thinks it���s a bad idea for anyone building a business on the side to leave behind the source of income that���s paying the bills right now.
According to John, the notion that one must quit a reliable, ���regular��� job to ultimately become successful as an entrepreneur ���is garbage,��� according to the mega-successful founder of the FUBU clothing line.
And he speaks from personal experience.
During an appearance last week at CNBC���s iConic conference in New York City, John said, ���I was working at Red Lobster for five years as a waiter as I was running this business.��� From there, he recalled that ���it was 40 hours at Red Lobster and six hours at FUBU. Then it was 30 hours at Red Lobster and 20 hours at FUBU, because money started to come in.���
Importantly, John said that even as his business started to gain traction, he kept his restaurant job.
Why?
���If it would have failed, I still wouldn���t have been owing everybody; I wouldn���t have had this huge deficit; my credit wouldn't have been ruined for seven years.���
In other words, John says to keep your day job until it is positively clear that you don���t need it any longer.
So how do you stay the course in burning the candle at both ends? The old-fashioned way, says John.
���Work. Bust your butt. Get up before everybody, go to sleep after everybody, and bust your butt. That's it.���
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
Joe Biden's Niece Pleads Guilty In $110,000 Credit Card Scam
On this episode Jim takes a look back at the Batman TV show, after news of the death of actor Adam West at age 88. Also discussed, Jim's analysis of the James Comey testimony, Bitcoin hits $3,000 but why many are more excited now about Ethereum, and a new scam that steals downpayments from home buyers.
