James L. Paris's Blog, page 84

Chinese Student Who Praised Free Speech in America Finds Herself Condemned at Home

Yang Shuping, an international Chinese student who recently gave an address at the University of Maryland���s commencement ceremony, has found herself in hot water at home for remarks she made on behalf of the right to free speech available in the United States.

As reported by The Washington Post, Shuping said, in part:

���People often ask me: ���Why did you come to the University of Maryland?��� I always answer: Fresh air.���

���I grew up in a city in China where I had to wear a face mask every time I went outside, otherwise I might get sick. However, the moment I inhaled and exhaled outside the airport, I felt free,��� she said of her arrival to America.

���I would soon feel another kind of fresh air for which I will be forever grateful. The fresh air of free speech. Democracy and free speech should not be taken for granted. Democracy and freedom are the fresh air that is worth fighting for.���

Well, THAT didn���t go over so well in China.

Her speech has been seen, via social media, by tens of millions so far in her home country, and LOTS of posts in response to the video have been critical of Shuping, including from one user who wrote, ���China does not need a traitor like you. Just stay in the U.S. and breathe your fresh air.���

Another wrote, ���Don���t let me meet you in the United States; I am afraid I could not stop myself from going up and smacking you in the face.���

For its part, the People���s Daily Online, one of the official Internet organs of China���s communist party, criticized Shuping for reinforcing ���negative Chinese stereotypes.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

8 �� Years Later, Madoff Victims Have Yet to Receive Any Money from Recovery Fund

Bernie Madoff, mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, was arrested almost 8 �� years ago, but a company selected by the Department of Justice to distribute billions of recovered dollars has yet to make one payment to any victim, according to USA Today.

RCB Fund Services LLC has been charged with the responsibility of distributing roughly $4 billion to those swindled by Madoff, and while that sum is just a relative fraction of the $65 billion that went missing from Madoff Securities, it is not likely that any of the claimants sees the amount available for distribution as a figure of which to be dismissive.

The failure of RCB to distribute any funds thus far was addressed back in January by special master Richard Breeden, in a statement on the madoffvictimfund.com website. Breeden, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, wrote, in part, ���We were unable to initiate our first payout in 2016 as we had hoped because of the volume and complexity of claims.���

"However, we now expect that the initial distribution will take place sometime in 2017 and will be larger than we had anticipated.���

Raising eyebrows even further, beyond the singular issue of lack of any payment so far to victims, is that Breeden���s firm has received $38.8 million so far for its work.

RCB���s inability to distribute any funds so far stands in stark contrast to the work done separately by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation on behalf of Madoff victims. The SIPC effort, led by Irving Picard, has recovered almost $12 billion on behalf of Madoff victims, and has so far distributed a little over $9 billion.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Pop Star Katy Perry Weighs in On Manchester Bombing: ���We All Just Need to Co-Exist���

In the wake of the most recent terror attack in the United Kingdom, one that saw targeted an audience comprised principally of young girls who had assembled for an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, there has been no shortage of pearls of wisdom expressed by those on left. Why, here���s one right here, courtesy of another pop star, the very-popular Katy Perry:

���The greatest thing we can do is just unite and love on each other,��� said Perry. ���No barriers, no borders, we all just need to co-exist.���

What a terrific idea ��� why didn���t anyone think of that before?

As noted by The Daily Caller, Perry made the comments during her appearance as a guest Tuesday on Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, a popular, nationally syndicated weekday morning radio program.

Staying with the touchy-feely theme, Perry also said, ���If this gets out to anyone, I just want to say that I love all of you out there and I just know that some of our fan bases kind of go both ways. Ari���s fans are my fans, and my fans are Ari���s fans. Tell everyone, ���I love you��� today.���

Notably, Perry has made no secret of her firm opposition to Donald Trump. It���s reasonable to assume that the ���no barriers, no borders��� part of her comments was a shot at the president���s commitment to building a wall on the U.S. southern border. That aside, an expression such as the one made by Perry the morning following another vicious, ISIS-supported terrorist attack has to be viewed as nothing less than insane by anyone with at least a semblance of their instinct to self-preservation intact.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Islamic State Supporters Celebrate Manchester Attack, Vow There���s Plenty More to Come

Supporters of the Islamic State have been enthusiastically cheering the terror attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, U.K. on Monday night, declaring that those in the West can fully expect that such attacks will continue.

According to the news site Breitbart, the affiliated Breitbart Jerusalem was able to access correspondence from Islamic State supporters in a closed chat group transmitted by way of the instant messaging service Telegram. One of the notable features of Telegram is that users can send messages, files, etc., by way of end-to-end encrypted messaging, which means that, ostensibly, only the users who are engaged in the ���conversation��� can see the messages.

Here is one of the messages uncovered by the folks at Breitbart Jerusalem:

���Thanks to Allah who allowed this achievement of the Mujahedeen. We are all believers in Allah that our brothers, the supporters and the Mujahedeen, are those who committed the attack among the infidels. We swear to Allah that the infidel countries in the West won���t have the luxury of security. This is a Godly promise and this is the promise of the Mujahedeen, the future will prove to you that you are the countries of heresy. You will see this and not only hear it.��� ��� written by someone self-identified as Abu Ayman Alamani.

Here���s another:

���Thanks to Allah who caused the faithful to rejoice, we ask and request of Allah that this blessed act will be part of the battle of our brothers, the lone wolves roaming across all parts of the infidel nations, as they seek this type of blessed attack. This is part of the work and this is part of the revenge. Those infidel states will pay a heavy price.��� - written by someone self-identified as Abu Abdullah Alsury.

The list of charming communications goes on and on, and if there remained any lingering doubt about this before, surely you���re up to speed now.
We���re at war.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

UN Ambassador Haley Implies War is on the Table as North Korea Continues Missile Launches

As North Korea continues to engage in preparations for armed conflict, the Trump administration is meeting their increasingly militaristic stance with direct talk that suggests America is prepared to engage NK on the battlefield, should that become absolutely necessary.

Speaking earlier this week after the United Nations Security Council considered the matter of North Korea���s launch of four ballistic missiles, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley flatly said of North Korean president Kim Jong-un, ���We are not dealing with a rational person.���

���It is an unbelievable, irresponsible arrogance that we are seeing coming out of Kim Jong-un at this time,��� Haley went on to say.

Appearing on NBC���s Today Show, Haley also said, rather ominously, that ���all options were on the table��� when it comes to how the U.S. will address what has now become a persistent, high-profile threat from North Korea.

Haley���s comments reiterate the words previously spoken by administration officials on North Korea, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who recently - and succinctly ��� said that ���strategic patience is ending��� with respect to the U.S. approach toward Kim Jong-un.

Given that there is no sign of conciliation in the U.S. position, and Kim Jong-un seems as devoted as ever to his country���s nuclear program, the question is beckoned:

Could the U.S. and North Korea really be headed to war?

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Report: Up to 25,000 Professional Driving Jobs Per Month Could Be Lost to Autonomous Vehicles

While self-driving cars as a core component of the American transportation landscape remain many years away, they are coming���and with them, a predicted deleterious impact to the number of jobs available to those who drive for a living.

As outlined over at CNBC.com, a new report from Goldman Sachs anticipates that when self-driving vehicles become prevalent, professional drivers could suffer job losses at the rate of roughly 25,000 per month.

As you might expect, it is believed that truck drivers, more than drivers of other kinds of commercial vehicles, like buses and taxis, will be hardest hit when that day arrives.

The impact on the professional driving community could be enormous. Of all the professional drivers in the country, roughly 4 million or so of them, truck drivers comprise about 3.1 million, and that figure represents about 2 percent of everyone employed in the country. While not every human driver will be made obsolete by the advent of self-driving vehicles, it���s clear that big changes are on the horizon for those who work as professional drivers, in one capacity or another.

Additionally, the report details that sales of semi- and fully-autonomous cars will make up roughly 20 percent of the total number of car sales somewhere between years 2025 and 2030.

The bottom line is that as rare as the presence of self-driving vehicles is right now, the country is close to realizing a sea change in the way Americans are transported, and the effects, some of which are particularly far-reaching, will be profoundly felt.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

The Future of Air Travel? Only for Those Who Have the Dough

In light of all the well-publicized altercations that have taken place recently on board commercial airplanes and inside of air terminals, the timing seems perfect for the opening of a brand-new ���private,��� concierge-type of airline terminal���for those who can afford to use it.

The mega-upscale facility, called Private Suite, opened its doors for service at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on May 15. Security expert Gavin de Becker, who���s in charge of Private Suite, said, in comparing it to the main terminal, ���There they process thousands of people at a time, they���re barking. It���s loud. Here it���s very, very lovely.���

Indeed it is. A special, gated entrance provides access to Private Suite, where up to eight attendants may assist arrivals with luggage, through a security checkpoint, and into one of the 13 suites inside the unit. As you might imagine, the suite experience is ultra-luxurious, with travelers able to avail themselves of a wide variety of amenities, including daybeds, fully-stocked refrigerators, private bathrooms, and much more. Perhaps best of all, when it���s time to actually board their flights, passengers are driven directly across the runway to their planes in BMWs.

The folks behind Private Suite underline perhaps the most significant feature of the service this way: The typical passenger flying out of LAX will take about 2,200 footsteps between car seat to plane seat; with Private Suite, that number is reduced to just 70 steps.

Needless to say, a service like this is very pricey. While purchasing an annual membership ($7,500) can reduce the additional, per-flight cost of using Private Suite, non-members can expect to pay up to $4,000 per flight.

A lot of money, to be sure, but the way things are going these days in the realm of air travel, it���s almost worth it, even if you have to take out a loan to cover the cost.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Gallup Poll: Only 24 Percent of Americans Say Bible is the Literal Word of God

Depending on how you view the results from a recent Gallup poll that asked about biblical literalism, you might either be disappointed, or a little hopeful.

First, the bad news, for those who see themselves as devout: According to the survey, only 24 percent of Americans believe that the Bible is the ���literal word��� of God. As reported by CNSNews.com, the figure represents a drop from 1976, when Gallup���s survey on the same topic revealed that 38 percent of American adults believed the Bible to be ���the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word.���

However���the number of Americans who see the Bible as the ���inspired word��� of God is considerably higher ��� 47 percent ��� and that figure has managed to remain about where it was 40 years ago.

���This is the first time in Gallup���s four-decade trend that biblical literalism has not surpassed biblical skepticism,��� said the polling firm. ���Meanwhile, about half of Americans -- a proportion largely unchanged over the years -- fall in the middle, saying the Bible is the inspired word of God but that not all of it should be taken literally.���

Between the number of folks who believe the Bible is the literal word of God and those who see it at least as the inspired word of God, the good news for those devoted to Scripture is that a considerable number of Americans���71 percent of them���still see the Bible as a ���holy document.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large 

CDC Warns of Increased Parasitic Infection Risk Associated with More People Using Pools as Toilets

 Do you use community swimming pools? Public swimming pools, pools at hotels, etc.?

I haven���t, for a long time.

While I may have developed into a bit of a germaphobe over the years, one need not have an acute, heightened aversion to germs to think twice���maybe three times���about using a public pool or other bathing facility.

Many would say that my disinclination to swim in pools is not rooted in facts or logic, and that the chlorine used in pools is what keeps all of us safe from bacteria, parasites, and viruses.

Except���we���re not safe from those things; not at all, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As a matter of fact, according to the CDC���s ���Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report��� issued last Thursday, outbreaks of a parasitic diarrhea-causing infection linked to pools and water parks doubled between 2014 and 2016 in the United States.

According to Michele Hlavsa, chief of the CDC���s Healthy Swimming Program, ���Cryptosporidium is a germ that can make people sick with diarrhea for up to three weeks.���

And how is cryptosporidium spread? By the feces of someone who���s infected with it.

Uh-huh.

So, not only do you now know that the behaviors you long-feared were going on in swimming pools are actually occurring, but it appears those behaviors are drastically increasing in frequency.

Still eager to go for a dip in the pool?

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large 

Rush Limbaugh: ���We Are Watching a Silent Coup Here to Oust a Duly Elected President���

On his program last Friday, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh declared over the airwaves what many have been thinking: that President Donald Trump is the target of a concerted effort by angry collectivist politicians, and their enablers in the media, to overthrow his administration.

Limbaugh was speaking to the matter of the many inquiries by the left that suggest a connection between Trump and the government of Russia. Even though there is no evidence of any such connection, that hasn���t stopped the left from engaging in the disingenuous strategy of talking up the possibility of a relationship for the purpose of generating smoke where, in fact, no sign of an actual fire exists.

Limbaugh said that the proof of a coordinated effort by the left to get Trump can be found precisely in the fact that, despite the absence of any evidence of ties between Trump and the Russian government, not one Democrat or member of the media is willing to say, ���What are we doing here? We���re wasting our time. We need to look at something else. We���re not gonna find any evidence. There���s no evidence!���

From there, Limbaugh ���bottom-lined��� things:

���We are watching a silent coup here to oust a duly elected president, and this coup is being mounted by career government people who can traffic anonymously and who are protected by people in the media and within the Democrat Party.���

By Robert G. Yetman Editor At Large, Jr.