James L. Paris's Blog, page 92

Swedish Columnist: Get Rid of Cars to Get Rid of Terrorism

With learned opinions like this prominently featured in one of Sweden���s largest media organs, it is easy to see why so many think the country is on its last legs.

It seems that in the wake of the recent terror attack in Stockholm, in which an Islamic State sympathizer hijacked a delivery truck and used it to mow down a bunch of folks, one of that nation���s better-known news columnists, Eva Franchell, has come up with a way to stop such attacks that has left lots of people scratching their heads.

As reported by a number of news outlets, including ZeroHedge, Franchell thinks a great way to deal with the threat of these kinds of terror attacks���is to simply ban vehicles.

In an opinion piece written for Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Franchell refers to automobiles as ���effective murder machines,��� saying they ���must simply be removed from city centers and places where people gather, if people are to be protected in future.���

���It just isn���t reasonable that a big truck can be driven right into one of Stockholm���s busiest streets on a Friday afternoon right before Easter,��� she goes on to write.

Really?

Now, if you think her opinion on the subject is about as nutty as it can get, hang on. For her part, Swedish politician Karolina Skog, presently the Minister for the Environment, chimed in with this:

���Cars are driven largely by men so by giving a lot of space to cars; we���re giving a lot of space to men ��� at the expense of women.���

So it���s not just that cars are dangerous; it���s that men driving cars create an extra-troublesome threat���or something.

Michael Savage may well have had it right all along; liberalism may, in fact, be a mental disorder.

How else can you explain these ideas?

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

IRS Turns to Private Collection Agencies to Capture Unpaid Tax Money

The Internal Revenue Service has always wanted your money.

Now we know they���re very serious about getting it.

In a recent announcement, the IRS revealed that it is now going to be using private debt collection agencies to help retrieve what is, reportedly, an ever-increasing mountain of tax debt owed by John Q. Public.

According to an item from NBC News on the IRS���s new effort at collecting unpaid taxes, the agency will make a more gradual move toward the use of debt collectors. Initially, ���merely��� hundreds of taxpayers will begin hearing from collection agencies, but, as the year wears on, it���s expected that thousands of people will receive communications from debt collection companies weekly in relation to tax bills.

Although IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has said that ���the IRS is taking steps throughout this effort to ensure that the private collection firms work responsibly and respect taxpayer rights,��� it���s worth noting that this is the same John Koskinen who was overseeing the IRS during the period of time it was targeting conservative groups in an effort to either deny or delay the awarding of the tax-exempt statuses for which they had applied.

Koskinen also noted that ���the IRS also urges taxpayers to be on the lookout for scammers who might use this program as a cover to trick people.��� Some fear that the decision by the IRS to start using third-party private debt collectors will be a boon to those fraudsters who will now be unburdened of having to pretend to be actual IRS employees.

In addition to a bevy of consumer groups worried about the IRS taking this path, some IRS employees are voicing their displeasure with it, as well. Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, issued a statement in which he said, in part, that he believes this change will result in ���collection agents getting paid to harass taxpayers, many of whom need assistance, not threats.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr.

 

MIT Publishes One of Their First Children���s Books: ���Communism for Kids���

As if the world wasn���t already strange enough.

That bastion of intellectual prowess, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has its own, proprietary publishing outlet, called MIT Press. It���s likely you���ve heard of MIT Press before. Known principally as a publisher of academic journals, MIT Press also makes it their business to publish scholarly books, as well.

Do you suppose one of their latest offerings, Communism for Kids, counts as one of those?

You read that right: Communism for Kids.

According to Heat Street, Communism for Kids represents one of MIT Press���s first efforts at publishing a book for young people. Heat Street���s article about the book goes on to describe the entry on its behalf over at Amazon. Here is the first paragraph of that description:

���Once upon a time, people yearned to be free of the misery of capitalism. How could their dreams come true? This little book proposes a different kind of communism, one that is true to its ideals and free from authoritarianism. Offering relief for many who have been numbed by Marxist exegesis and given headaches by the earnest pompousness of socialist politics, it presents political theory in the simple terms of a children���s story, accompanied by illustrations of lovable little revolutionaries experiencing their political awakening.���

Wow.

Duke University professor Frederic R. Jameson provides one of the listed editorial reviews of the book. Here���s how his review reads:

���This delightful little book may be helpful in showing youngsters there are other forms of life and living than the one we currently ���enjoy���; and even some adults might learn from it as well. At a time when our younger generations are not only dissatisfied but active enough to have some new thoughts of their own and to look around seriously for alternatives, political pedagogy has a real function and might well, as here, be reinvented in new ways.���

Not stunning is that the book exists at all. These days, nothing should really surprise any of us, any longer.

Even so, the decision by MIT Press to publish the manuscript does seem a little curious, even as colleges and universities travel ever further down Progressive Avenue. You would just think that a school like MIT would have a bit more sense.

Turns out, you���d be wrong.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Swedish Court Says Midwife Will Not Be Excused from Assisting in Abortion Procedures

Sweden appears to have taken a giant step deeper down the black hole of progressivism, with a recent decision by the Swedish Labor Court of Appeal that demands a midwife assist in abortions as a part of pursuing her profession���or lose her livelihood altogether.

In a story reported by Anglican Ink, it seems that the midwife, Ellinor Grimmark has a strong belief in the sanctity of human life, so much so that she is unwilling to provide assistance during any abortion procedures. This unwillingness has resulted in three different medical clinics in the district of J��nk��ping to refuse hiring her. After a district court determined back in 2015 that her ���right to freedom of conscience��� had not been violated, she filed the appeal.

ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom) International handled the appeal on Ms. Grimmark���s behalf. Its Director of European Advocacy, Robert Clarke, had this to say about the most recent decision:

���The Court has failed to protect Ellinor Grimmark���s fundamental right to freedom of conscience despite the clear legal protections that exist in international law. Some have attempted to frame this case as one that pits one human right against another. However, the only person whose rights have been violated is Ellinor Grimmark.���

Grimmark can appeal further, to the European Court of Human Rights, although it is not presently known if she will do so.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Mother Outraged After Daughter Implanted with Birth Control Device on School Trip

Remember when you���d go on a school trip to a museum or a petting zoo, and maybe you���d come back with a t-shirt or a book?

Boy, have times changed.

As reported by The Christian Post, a Tulsa, Oklahoma mother is beside herself after her daughter went on a school trip and returned with a birth control device.

Not in a bag or box, mind you���but inside of her.

It seems this all began when Miracle Foster���s daughter decided to attend a lecture on sex education at her school, the Langston Hughes Academy for Arts & Technology. After the young lady and some other students said they were interested in learning more, the school staff took it upon themselves to organize a trip for the kids to Youth Services of Tulsa.

Although the school did ask and receive permission from Foster for her daughter to participate in the trip to the clinic, the mother insists she thought that she was merely allowing her child to visit the facility for the purpose of getting some additional information.

What she got, however, was a hormonal birth control device, injected in her upper arm.

Miracle Foster is, quite understandably, upset.

���My child went on a field trip and she came back with this in her arm,��� said Foster.

���Had I known that this field trip was for her to get that done, I would not have allowed her to.���

School principal Rodney Clark issued the following statement, which, if you read it carefully, goes a long way to revealing how thoroughly dangerous the federal government and its enabling arm, the public schools, have become to our American children and to the sovereignty of their parents.

���This was not a field trip. Youth Services of Tulsa does an annual in-service on Sex Education. They offer students an opportunity to contact them on their own for more information. The parent gave her child permission to leave the school. Under Title X, once young people are at the clinic and are of reproductive age, they can make decisions on their own without parental consent. As you can understand this situation involves a minor and we do not release information about students. Nevertheless, the student was well within their rights of Title X which is a federal guideline that provides reduced cost family planning services to persons of all reproductive age.���

Dangerous.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

To Be Successful with Your Money, Treat It Like Exercise and ���Do It��� Every Day, Says Economics Ph.D.

Do you like working out?

A lot of people certainly do, and in this day and age in which there seems to be a greatly-heightened consciousness about health habits and overall well-being, regular exercise is something that all Americans, both young and old, seem comfortable incorporating into their lives.

Well, according to one Ph.D. economist, those same Americans could look forward to having just as rosy an outlook when it comes to their financial health if they approached their finances just as they approach exercise - ritualistically.

In an article over at CNBC.com, Annamaria Lusardi, the chair of economics and accountancy at the George Washington University School of Business, says that is precisely how everyone should handle their money.

���We don���t floss, we don���t eat well or exercise as much as we should. Personal finance is the same. We need to put time aside to do it well,��� says Lusardi, who has taught at the world���s most prestigious business schools, including Columbia Business School and Harvard Business School.

���If I don't pay attention, I���m likely to spend more,��� she says. ���Ignorance is not bliss. Inaction is not bliss.���
As she goes on to mention, looking at elements of one���s financial profile each day is not simply about ensuring against overspending. It is also about being a good steward of long-term investment accounts, like retirement plans, including making certain that enough money is being set aside into them on a regular basis.

���I didn���t take advantage of many opportunities, like maximizing a 401(k),��� Lusardi says, referencing her own early money mistakes. ���We all have a great asset, which is time. Time works in our favor because of interest compounding.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

How To Get Bumped On Your Next Flight And Earn Hundreds Of Dollars

By now, we have all seen the viral video of the man dragged off a United Airlines flight in Chicago. Passengers were reportedly offered as much as $800, and ultimately no one would agree to be voluntarily bumped from the flight. I found it odd that with a plane full of passengers, that there were not four people happy to get bumped for $800. What might have made this particular case harder than usual, however, is that being bumped would have required an overnight stay in Chicago. Apparently there were no other flights available for the rest of the day. In any case, being the financial guy that I am, I thought I would take a little bit of a different look at this story. I wanted to find out how a person could raise their odds of being bumped and cash in on those fat travel credits. So, with a little research, here is what ChristianMoney.com has found.

Join Us On Facebook With Your Own Comment Or Story On Being Bumped

 1. Travel By Yourself

You are more likely to be selected to be bumped from your flight if it is just you and not an entire family. Although it can happen, the odds of being bumped are much greater for individuals than groups of people traveling together.

2. Be The First To Volunteer

Experts say that the best approach is to be direct about it. Get to your gate early and volunteer to be bumped. It is also recommended that you grab a seat as close as possible to the gate agents to listen for announcements.

3. Travel With Just A Carry-On

One issue with being bumped is your luggage. The airline would potentially have to dig through all the bags on that flight to find yours and return them to you (in many cases your bag will simply stay on the flight and you will claim it when you arrive later). If, on the other hand, you are traveling with just a carry-on bag they won't have to go through all of that. So, be sure and let them know that you don't have any stowed luggage when you volunteer to be bumped.

4. Decide In Advance How Much It Is Worth For You To Be Bumped

You will have to make a quick decision, so decide what amount of money is enough and what amount of time you would be willing to wait for the next flight. By deciding this in advance, you will make the process a lot less stressful.

How much will you be paid for being bumped from a flight?

In many cases, it is a matter of haggling. The airline will typically start low and offer as little as a $200 travel voucher. If no one volunteers they will continue to raise the amount. You can earn as much as $1,350 for being bumped if certain conditions are met (you must have a confirmed reservation, and you must check in within thirty minutes of your flight). Some people love to be bumped and work hard to make it happen. I have even read articles suggesting online research to determine how close a given flight is to being sold out before buying your ticket. While I won't go into any of these more advanced strategies here, it is interesting to learn how far people are willing to go for a travel voucher. In some cases it can really pay off, here is an article about one family getting $11,000 in travel vouchers by agreeing to be bumped.

But, what if you don't want to be bumped? One of the best strategies is to make your seat selection early on, preferably at the time you purchase your ticket. Also, the odds of being bumped are much lower on early morning flights (as some passengers miss their flight due to oversleeping). In the end, however, your chances of being bumped are largely random, and based on a wide array of factors, including the weather.

If you have ever been bumped from a flight, tell us how it worked out for you. Use the comments section below and we can start a conversation.

Helping you make the most of God���s money!

James L. Paris
Editor-In-Chief ChristianMoney.com 
Follow Me on Twitter Twitter.com/jameslparis
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Lower Back Pain Can Be About a LOT More than Your Back

Lower back pain; who doesn���t have it?

According to an article over at Men���s Journal, while not literally all of us suffer from the discomfort associated with a ���back out of whack,��� it���s estimated that 31 million Americans ��� about 10 percent of the country ��� deals with it at one time or another. Honestly, as relatively large as that number is, it still seems small, given all the people we know who regularly complain about a sore lower back.

Notably, lower back pain can be attributable to a lot of factors beyond the obvious���including something called tight hip flexors.

Huh?

The hip flexors, located deep in the abdomen, are a group of muscles that are essential for enabling you to do things like lift your knees and bend at the waist.

What���s more, while we often think of muscular pain as something caused by a sudden, injurious movement, like that common in athletic endeavors, one of the principal causes of tightness in the hip flexors - and, consequently, lower back and hip pain - is sitting for extended periods, an ���activity��� in which practically all of us engages.

Furthermore, while garden-variety soreness is bad enough, tight hip flexors can be the culprit with regard to a variety of physical discomforts and ailments, including:

Nagging joint pains in your legs, lower back or hips

Walking with discomfort

Hips locking up

Bad posture

Trouble sleeping

Sluggishness in day-to-day life

High Anxiety

Digestive problems

Compromised Immune System

Circulatory issues

Lack of Explosiveness in the gym or sports

Any of these ring a bell with you?

While stretching is a big part of what it takes to help relieve the problem of tight hip flexors, it has to be something more than the sort of generic static stretching that, by itself, tends to do an incomplete job of targeting and helping to fix significant issues related to tightness in the body.

Introducing Unlock Your Hip Flexors, from leading kinesiologist and injury specialist Rick Kaselj, MS.

Kaselj has created a high-quality, targeted program of stretching and therapeutic movement designed to help liberate your hip flexors. The regimen not only illustrates a variety of specialized stretching techniques that specifically target the hip flexors, but it is coordinated using his ���sequential flow��� structure that, if done effectively, works with your body to activate its natural healing process and improve flexibility while adding strength and vitality.

Think this might be just what you need, but you���re not sure? No worries. Unlock Your Hip Flexors comes with an ironclad, 60-day money-back guarantee. That���s right; you have two months to ���test drive��� the product. If you decide it���s not for you any time inside those two months, just get your money back.

If you���re wondering whether tight hip flexors really are the source of the discomfort you���ve been feeling for so long now, then you likely want to learn more about this product. To do so, or to simply purchase it outright, just Click Here.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr.

New York Tops Nation in Negative Migration Rate

According to information published in the New York Post, people seem all too happy to leave the New York area.

Since 2010, over one million people have moved out of New York and settled elsewhere in the United States. Indeed, 223,423 of them left the area in 2016, a figure that represents a 19 percent increase over the number who split in 2015, when 187,034 decided it was time for them to go.

Somewhat revealingly, those who make it a point to study these kinds of things say that this sort of trend becomes most pronounced during periods when the economy is on the upswing.

���The historical trend is that out-migration grows when the economy is getting better,��� notes E.J. McMahon, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy.

���As the economy gets better, there are more jobs outside the region and by the same token . . . more people to buy your house if you���re a baby boomer looking to move to Boca Raton or Myrtle Beach.���

In other words, what this apparently says is that when people are not so enslaved by an uncooperative economy, and have some real freedom to decide where they want to live, New York and the surrounding area seems to be the place they���re most happy being from���as in, far away from.

So where���s everybody going?

It appears they���re chiefly headed to locations known not only for more temperate climes, but for great personal liberty and no state income tax.

First on the list of areas with the highest rates of domestic migration is the chunk of real estate that runs from Orlando (Fla.) to Daytona Beach, which has seen just over 217,000 people head there in the past six years, an increase of 7.7 percent. While Denver, Colorado comes in at number two on the list, the places boasting the third and fourth-highest rates of domestic migration can be found in Texas: Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

 

Florida Teacher Canned After Assigning 6th Grade Class Bizarre Questionnaire

What kinds of things did YOU study in the sixth grade?

In one Florida public middle school, the curriculum appears to have taken a decidedly outrageous turn with the administration of a questionnaire to young students that included surprising (to say the least) questions on matters related to such sensitive topics as race, religion, and sexuality.

Not so surprising is that the teacher who assigned the questionnaire has lost her job.

According to a number of news outlets, including The Christian Post, teacher Daryl Cox (a female) apparently felt compelled, in her role as an instructor at Fox Chapel Middle School in Spring Hill, Florida, to ask her young charges complete a questionnaire entitled ���How Comfortable Am I?��� The source of the assignment was a book called Exploring White Privilege, written by Robert Amico, a philosophy professor.

If that���s all you knew, you���d likely assume this wasn���t going to end well���and, sure enough, it didn���t.

More specifically, the questionnaire asked the kids to answer a variety of situationally-based questions, using a scale of 1-to-4, with one representative of ���not comfortable at all��� and four indicating an answer that meant the student was ���completely comfortable��� with the scenario described in the question.

Here are a few of the example questions/situations presented on the assignment:

���A friend invites you to go to a gay bar.���

���You go to a gay bar and a person of the same sex asks you to dance.���

���A group of young black men are walking toward you on the street.���

���The young man sitting next to you on an airplane is Arab.���

���Your brother's new girlfriend is a single mother on welfare.���

���Your new roommate is Jewish.���

As you might imagine parents went ballistic. It turns out that Cox was still in the midst of her probationary period as a teacher, which likely made dumping her all the easier for Hernando County. Here���s the school district���s official statement on the matter:

���In no way, did this assignment meet the standards of appropriate instructional material. After being made aware of the assignment, school administration began an investigation and has taken immediate disciplinary action. This teacher was within her probationary period and has been released from employment.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large