Saturday 23 November 2019

US Politics - Prager: Does the Left Hate America?

Prager: Does the Left Hate America?


Six reasons to believe it does.

 Dennis Prager,   Front Page Magazine 
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/11/prager-does-left-hate-america-dennis-prager/



Whenever leftists are charged with not loving or even with hating America, they respond angrily, labeling the question absurd, mean-spirited and an example of right-wing McCarthyism.
But there can be little doubt that the left has no love for America, just as there can be little doubt that liberals and conservatives love America. Love of America is one of the many dividing lines between liberalism and leftism. (For a description of six differences between liberalism and leftism, please see my PragerU video "Left or Liberal?")
Here are six reasons to believe the left hates America:
1. No one denies that the international left — the left in Europe, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere — hates America. Therefore, in order to argue that American leftists do not hate America, one would have to argue that on one of the most fundamental principles of international leftism — hatred of America — American leftists differ with fellow leftists around the world: All the world's left hates the U.S., but the American left loves it.
This, of course, makes no sense. Leftists around the world agree on every important issue. Why, then, would they differ with regard to America? Has any leftist at The New York Times, for example, written one column critical of the international left's anti-Americanism?
2. Leftists want to "fundamentally transform" the United States. Five days before the 2008 presidential election, candidate Barack Obama told a huge audience in Columbia, Missouri, "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."
More recently, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced that she plans to "fundamentally transform our government," that America needs "big, structural change" and that her proposed Accountable Capitalism Act would bring about "fundamental change."
Likewise, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said earlier this year, "We're going to try to transform the United States of America," and last month he said, "This campaign is about fundamental change."
Examples are legion.
So, here's a question: How can one claim to love what one wishes to fundamentally transform?
The answer is obvious: It isn't possible.
If a man were to confide to you that he wants to fundamentally transform his wife, would you assume he loves his wife? If a woman were to tell you she wants to fundamentally transform her husband, would you assume she loves him? Of course not.
3. Leftists have contempt for the American flag.
I am unaware of a single left-wing individual or organization that has condemned NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand for the flag during the playing or singing of the national anthem that precedes NFL games. To the contrary, on the left, he is universally regarded as a hero. Indeed, Nike anointed him as one, making him its brand model.
Leftists might respond that Kaepernick's public refusal to stand for the flag and national anthem says nothing about his love for America, as it is only a form of protest against racial injustice. But that is nonsense. Would leftists argue that anyone who publicly refuses to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day really loves Dr. King?
4. Leftists routinely describe America as racist, sexist, xenophobic, imperialist, genocidal, homophobic, obsessed with money and morally inferior to most Western European countries. No moral person could love such a place. As one person commenting on a Paul Krugman column wrote, "Does loving your country mean you love or ignore the fact that we destroyed Iraq, shot down an Iranian commercial airliner, and waged a brutal war in Asia for reasons that today make no sense?"
5. America is the most successful country in world history — while being the most committed to capitalism and remaining the most religious of all the industrialized democracies. To the extent that America is great, that means two of the institutions the left most loathes — Christianity and capitalism — are also great.
6. Love is, among other things, an emotion. So, here is a question about leftists' emotions: Do any leftists get the chills when the national anthem is played or when they see the American flag waving as the anthem is played? Given their rhetoric, it is most unlikely. Yet, every person I know who loves America does get a chill at such moments. Do leftists, as opposed to some liberals and conservatives, display the flag on any national holiday? How many leftists even own a flag?
Finally, if leftists do not love America, what do they love?
According to their own rhetoric, they love the planet — Mother Earth, as they frequently refer to it. And they love animals.
They really love power, and they claim to love material equality.
They don't love Western culture — and they now dismiss praise for it as a euphemism for white supremacy.
Interestingly, while they often claim to love humanity, many don't seem to love people. They give less charity and volunteer less time to the downtrodden than conservatives, for example. They have much less interest in having children and making families. They are far more likely than conservatives to cut off relations with friends or relatives with whom they differ politically. And if they really loved people, they would love capitalism because only capitalism has lifted billions of people from poverty.
But most of all, they love... themselves.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist.
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Escape from Egypt - Elon Musk unveils ‘bulletproof’ Cybertruck at Tesla event, but window test is a bust

Elon Musk unveils ‘bulletproof’ Cybertruck at Tesla event, but window test is a bust


By Noah Manskar, New York Post , November 22, 2019

Fail: Elon Musk's Tesla Cybertruck Shatters

Watch the  full size version of this video clip on the Disqus page bellow 

The inspiration for Iron Man is losing his touch.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk botched a test of the company’s first electric pickup truck Thursday night after he asked his chief designer to throw a metal ball through the “bulletproof” glass.
But the glass cracked, drawing groans from the crowd gathered in Los Angeles for the “Blade Runner”-inspired vehicle’s unveiling.
“Oh my f—ing God,” a red-faced Tesla CEO muttered onstage. “Well, maybe that was a little too hard.”
The flap came minutes after Musk claimed the Cybertruck’s hard-edged body is “literally bulletproof” to a 9mm handgun.
“We threw wrenches, we threw everything — we even literally threw the kitchen sink at the glass and it didn’t break,” Musk said. “For a little weird reason, it broke now. I don’t know why.”
The South African founder of SpaceX took the mishap in stride, noting that the ball didn’t go through the window.
“Room for improvement,” he quipped.
Shares of Telsa were down 6.3 percent Friday in afternoon trading to $332.45 a share
The shattering didn’t stop Musk from offering rides in the truck at the launch event. “Don’t mind the glass,” he told the crowd.
The futuristic Cybertruck is made with the same “ultra-hard” stainless steel alloy that will be used in the SpaceX Starship rocket, Musk said. While he didn’t shoot the truck onstage, Musk did have von Holzhausen smack it with a sledgehammer.
“When you say something’s built tough, that’s what we mean,” Musk said in a subtle dig at Ford, a major player in the pickup truck market.
The materials aren’t all that’s unconventional about the Cybertruck. It has an angular design that Musk said was influenced by the 1977 James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me,” as well as “Blade Runner.”
The Tesla co-founder claimed on Twitter that it will be the “official truck of Mars.”
But the blocky look was widely mocked on Twitter. Some commenters said it looked like it belonged in an old video game or an elementary school classroom.
“This looks like some old graphics, what was this made on? Playstation One or the original XBOX?” one observer tweeted.
“We outsourced the styling to a random 2nd grader, and passed on the savings to you!” another tweeter said.
Tesla will offer three Cybertruck models starting at $39,900. The $69,900 high-end model will come with a battery range of more than 500 miles and more than 14,000 pounds of towing capacity, according to Tesla.
Drivers can order the trucks now and configure them as production nears in late 2021, the company’s website says.
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CDC Issues Yet Another Warning Not to Eat Romaine Lettuce

By Rachael Rettner - Senior Writer  Nov. 22, 2019 Health
https://www.livescience.com/romaine-lettuce-warning-salinas.html

U.S. officials are warning Americans not to eat romaine lettuce from Salinas, California.


(Image: © Shutterstock)

If you have your heart set on eating romaine lettuce soon, we've got some bad news for you — U.S. officials are warning Americans not to eat some types of romaine lettuce.

Today (Nov. 22), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said people should not eat romaine lettuce harvested from Salinas, California.

Romaine lettuce from this growing region has been linked with an outbreak of E. coli that has sickened 40 people in 16 states. Of these, 28 people have been hospitalized and five have developed a serious kidney condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome. No deaths have been linked with the outbreak so far.

Most romaine lettuce products should have a label showing where they are grown. If people have purchased romaine lettuce that says "Salinas" on the label, they should not eat it and should throw it away, the CDC said. If the lettuce doesn't have a label, you should not eat the product.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently recalled more than 75,000 pounds of salad products containing romaine lettuce from the company Missa Bay, LLC, as the products may be contaminated with E. coli.

The CDC has issued several warnings not to eat romaine lettuce in the past few years — a similar warning was made around the same time last year in connection with a different outbreak.


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The Tragedy of the ‘Trans’ Child


Summary: The Tragedy of the ‘Trans’ Child




A bathroom sign in Durham, N.C., in 2016. (Jonathan Drake/Reuters)

Have you been following the Times of London’s reporting on the medical scandal at Britain’s largest gender youth clinic? In America, things are worse.
“In Texas, the case of James Younger points to a disturbing trend the treatment of gender-confused youth,” I write in a lengthy special report for National Review, our latest cover story: out now.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 percent of American high school students — around 300,000 teenagers — identify as transgender. As of 2014, there were 40 youth gender clinics. Now there could be considerably more.
What treatment is offered at these clinics? Often, it’s “gender-affirmation” only. What does that involve? From my report:
[Gender] clinicians have put children as young as twelve on sterilizing cross-sex hormones, removed the healthy breasts of girls as young as 13, and peeled and inverted the penises of boys as young as 15.
And what evidence justifies this interference with the sexual development of children?
In her September deposition for the James Younger trial, Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy — the head of the largest transgender-youth clinic in the United States and one of the leaders of a publicly funded National Institutes of Health study — gave the following testimony on whether it is safe or ethical to remove healthy breast tissue from adolescent girls as young as 13, as has been recommended in her clinic. From my report:
Odeneal [Jeffrey Younger’s lawyer]Well, if you remove the breasts from a young woman, she will never be able to lactate or to breastfeed an infant; is that correct?
Olson-Kennedy: Well, I, I don’t advocate removal for breast tissue from young women. I advocate for chest reconstruction in young men.
Odeneal: Well haven’t you referred girls to have the chest surgery from your clinic?
Olson-Kennedy: They’re, they’re, they’re not girls. They’re not girls. They don’t identify as girls. So I have referred people who identify as transmasculine or as boys or young men for surgery, yes.
Odeneal: But do their birth certificates identify them as girls?
Olson-Kennedy: Sometimes, and sometimes they’ve had their gender marker changed on their birth certificate.
Odeneal: How many patients have you referred for the chest surgery?
Olson-Kennedy: Probably about 200.
[Olson-Kennedy said that “a not-insignificant” number of young people at her clinic “have actually done sex economy, sex work, for a place to live or something to eat.” Note that a minor cannot legally consent to “sex work” in the state of California, where underage prostitution is considered sex-trafficking or rape.
In one secret Facebook group for parents who are transitioning their children (which has over 8,000 members), a mother posted a picture of a teen girl with Down syndrome whose breasts appear to have been amputated. This parent expressed a wish to connect with other parents of “trans,” Down children.
Some children being chemically and surgically transitioned in this Facebook group have also been physically and sexually abused. From my report:
 [A] mother describes in detail how her ex-partner sexually abused her twelve-year-old daughter, who now thinks she is a transgender boy. The mother writes, “My question is (and I don’t know if this is allowed), has anyone else been through this? I feel like his dysphoria may have been amplified” by the sexual abuse.
Wondering how this has happened? Confused as to why you haven’t heard about it?
3
In my report, I suggest a possible explanation: The legal and medical establishment in the United States has been ignoring evidence and bending their standards to please transgender activists, some of whom are clinicians. Meanwhile, the mainstream American media have been failing to report on it accurately.
The ongoing result is irreparable harm to children. This will continue until it is stopped.

Recipes - AuntiE TFL's Sweet Potato Spoon Bread

AuntiE TFL's Sweet Potato Spoon Bread
As I have a severe aversion to those sweet potato casseroles with marshmallows, this makes an excellent substitute. 


Ingredients

  • 3 large sweet potatoes

  • 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

  • 2 cups milk

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 1/4 cup light-brown sugar

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

  • 1/4 cup honey

  • 4 large eggs

  • 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

  • Step 1 Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake sweet potatoes until soft when pierced with a knife, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool. Peel, and discard skins.

  • Step 2 Reduce heat to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine cornmeal, milk, butter, brown sugar, spices, salt, and 1 cup water. Cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

  • Step 3 Butter a 2-quart baking dish. Working in batches if necessary, place cornmeal mixture, sweet potatoes, flour, honey, eggs, and cream in a food processor. Process until smooth; pour into dish. Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Serve.

My thanks to Pud for providing a pictorial. 

Escape from Florida: dog knocks car into reverse, drives in circles for an hour


Florida dog knocks car into reverse, drives in circles for an hour

UPI
1

Nov. 22 (UPI) — Residents of a Florida neighborhood said a car that drove in circles in reverse for about an hour only had a single occupant — a dog.
Police said the driver of the car in Port St. Lucie had gotten out and left the vehicle running, and the dog then apparently knocked the vehicle into reverse.
Neighbors said the car was moving for about an hour before police were able to stop it.
“First I thought I saw somebody backing up but then they kept going and I’m like OK what are they doing,” Sabol told WPBF-TV. “The cops came and I’m like OK.”
Police were able to enter a code to open a door, stop the car and rescue the dog.
Sabol said the car hit a mailbox, some garbage cans and some bricks in front of a home while the canine was behind the wheel.
“He was doing pretty good until he hit the mailbox. He went around for about an hour without hitting anything at all,” Sabol told WPTV.

How do I paws this thing? Hilarious moment dog accidentally knocks a car into reverse and drives around in circles for an HOUR

  • A man in Port St Lucie, Florida, left his car unattended for a moment at 8.30am on Thursday
  • His black Labrador accidentally knocked the gear lever into reverse and drove around in circles for an hour
  • Police were able to get the car to stop by punching the passcode into the driver's side door
  • The car hit a few garbage cans and damaged a mailbox, which the dog's owner says he plans to replace 
He probably did want to go for a ride, but not like this.
Residents of a cul de sac in Port St Lucie, Florida, were surprised when, at 8.30am on Thursday, they saw a dog inside a car driving around in circles for an hour.
Police told WBPF-TV that they believe the canine's owner, a male, stepped out of the grey sedan for just a moment.
Somehow, the pooch accidentally managed to knock the gear lever into reverse, sending him on an accidental joyride  
A man in Port St Lucie, Florida, ran inside for a moment when his dog accidentally knocked the gear lever into reverse
This resulted in the canine driving around in circles for an hour
A man in Port St Lucie, Florida, ran inside for a moment when his dog accidentally knocked the gear lever into reverse. This resulted in the canine driving around in circles for an hour (left and right) 
One resident joked that the dog should be given a license for ¿a better driver than a lot of them I've seen'. Pictured: The dog in the moving car
One resident joked that the dog should be given a license for ‘a better driver than a lot of them I've seen'. Pictured: The dog in the moving car
'First I thought I saw somebody backing up but then they kept going and I'm like OK what are they doing,' resident Annie Sabol told WBPF-TV.
'He was doing pretty good...He went around for about an hour without hitting anything at all.'
However, the vehicle then stuck a mailbox, a few garbage cans and bricks that were in front of one of the houses.  
According to WFTV, the dog's owner says he's paying to replace the broken mailbox. 
Police were able to get the car to stop by punching the passcode into the driver's side door. Pictured: The dog in the moving car
Police were able to get the car to stop by punching the passcode into the driver's side door. Pictured: The dog in the moving car
The car hit a mailbox (pictured), which the dog's owner says his paying to replace
The car hit a mailbox (pictured), which the dog's owner says his paying to replace
Police were finally able to get the car to stop by punching the passcode into the driver's side door.
They say that the dog wasn't injured in the incident, nor was anybody else.
'I laughed,' Sabol admitted to WBPF-TV.
'I thought they should give that dog a license to drive. He was a better driver than a lot of them I've seen.'