U.S. Open champ is asked if she’s hungry to win more titles — then demonstrates why capitalism works

by Dave Urbanski - September 13, 2017

After Sloane Stephens won the women’s U.S. Open tennis title over the weekend, a reporter’s silly question opened the door for the newly crowned champ to give a ringing endorsement for capitalism.

A reporter actually asked the 24-year-old Stephens — whose victory Saturday earned her $3.7 million — if winning her first Grand Slam title gave her a “hunger” to do it again.

Well, duh.  That was pretty much Stephens’ reaction to the painfully leading news-conference question — but her answer told the bold truth.

“Of course, girl! Did you see that check that that lady handed me?” she replied in near disbelief at the query as the room burst out in laughter. “Like, yes! Man, if that doesn’t make you want to play tennis, I don’t know what will. Man. So, yes, definitely.”

And then Stephens got an even sillier question: A reporter asked Stephens if she felt “bad” for her opponent Madison Keys, whom Stephens bested in lopsided fashion (6-0, 6-3).

But the champ replied to the question — seemingly couched in socialistic, everybody-gets-a-trophy values — with a refreshing dose of good ol’ American touchstones of fair play, hard work and competition.

“Feel bad for her?” she answered with incredulity. “She was in the finals, too. What do you mean? Did you see the check she’s about to get?”

More laughter from the press corps. “I’m sure she’ll be just fine,” Stephens concluded.

A further take

The disparity between the reporters’ questions and Stephens’ reactions couldn’t be more strikingly evident.

The first reporter’s question assumed that winning somehow doesn’t inspire a desire to keep doing well, as if people are do-nothing lumps with no determination or will to succeed (i.e., socialism). Stephens knocked back that assumption — and added that monetary rewards are a tremendous incentive for success.

The second reporter’s question was worse, reflecting the growing socialistic sentiment out there that successful people who’ve been financially rewarded for their efforts should feel “bad” about that. Hogwash, Stephens said. Her opponent “was in the finals, too” and had the same opportunity to win.

Check out the Q&A clip. (And notice that ESPN also seems unable — or unwilling — to entertain the notion that a professional athlete isn’t motivated by earnings, titling the video “Sloane Stephens jokes that $3.7 million check inspires her to keep playing.” Jokes? Really?)     

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/09/13/u-s-open-champ-is-asked-if-shes-hungry-to-win-more-titles-then-demonstrates-why-capitalism-works/

Jimmy Carter lets loose: Knocks Obama and Hillary, says Russia didn’t alter election, praises Trump

by Chris Enloe

At 93, Jimmy Carter’s presidential days are long behind him, but the 39th president is still very in tune with national politics. He made his views about some of the latest pressing national issues very clear in a recent interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.

On Russia meddling in the election:

Dowd asked Carter: “Did the Russians purloin the election from Hillary [Clinton]?”

Carter said: “Rosie and I have a difference of opinion on that.” Rosie is Carter’s wife.

“I don’t think there’s any evidence that what the Russians did changed enough votes, or any votes,” Carter followed up.

On President Donald Trump:

Carter said: “I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I’ve known about. I think they feel free to claim that Trump is mentally deranged and everything else without hesitation.”

Who was their 2016 preference?

Given that Carter is a Democrat and served in the White House as a Democrat, it would be easy to assume Carter wanted Clinton to be president in 2016. But he explained he and his wife voted for a different candidate.

“We voted for Sanders,” he said.

On Obama:

In the interview, Carter also knocked former President Barack Obama.

“He made some very wonderful statements, in my opinion, when he first got in office, and then he reneged on that,” Carter said of Obama’s Middle East policies.

Carter also lamented “the fact that Obama joined in the bombing of Yemen,” according to Dowd. However, Carter confirmed all 22 members of his family voted for Obama. He also said he doesn’t have Obama’s email address, meaning he likely doesn’t directly talk to the 44th president.

On the Clinton Foundation:

When Dowd tried to draw comparisons between the Carter Center and the Clinton Foundation, Carter struck it down.

“Rosie and I put money in the Carter Center. We never take any out,” he said, implying the Clinton Foundation does.

On NFL kneeling protests:

Carter said: “I think they ought to find a different way to object, to demonstrate. I would rather see all the players stand during the American anthem.”

Columbus Day

10/9/2017

Watch the entire video here.

 

Forget what you hear in the news and the classroom.

Forget the presumptive appeals by people who think they know better.

With the rush to rename Columbus Day, Indigenous People’s Day, it’s time for a reminder.

We are a nation that has always rewarded the bold the brave, the daring, the innovators, and the explorers.

What’s next? Do we rename the Lombardi Trophy after Hank Stram? Look him up.

America’s spirit is to celebrate the men and women who took on great risks, discovered great things, did what no one else thought possible. Columbus sailed for the end of the Earth, and he discovered the Americas.

With that discovery, he sowed the seeds of the world’s greatest country, a beacon of hope for the suffering and downtrodden across our entire planet.

When we celebrate Columbus, we celebrate not just the man but the spirit that made that possible.

The spirit that brought us one step closer to the United States.

see more at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=2qQ8ryhqykU&utm_medium=email

Cartoons of the week

Ben Shapiro blasts California senators’ bias on hate speech

by Carlos Garcia

In scathing testimony offered Tuesday, conservative activist Ben Shapiro blasted a California committee on hate speech for their bias against conservatives and on the dangers of the state defining “hate speech.”

What did he say?

“Your job job obviously here at the legislature is to ensure that our freedom of expression is maintained that our first amendment rights are maintained,” Shapiro began, “and what that means first and foremost in my experience on college campuses, is that the heckler’s veto must be stopped.”

The “heckler’s veto” is a phrase describing the unfair shutting out of speech by opponents through threats of violence or shouting down.

“I was at Cal State Los Angeles in February, 2016,” he explained, “and there was almost a riot there and the police were not allowed to do their jobs and students were physically assaulted in the crowd. It is the job of this legislature to ensure the police can do their jobs and when they do do their jobs and they’re allowed to do that at places like UC Berkeley, everything goes fine.

“And I’d like to make a point here about UC Berkeley,” Shapiro said. “The reason it cost $600,000 to bring me to UC Berkeley was not because of me. Everybody keeps suggesting that because I was coming, I’m so controversial and so terrible. I came exactly one year before and it cost this many dollars, it cost zero dollars for security at UC Berkeley.”

“The reason it cost $600,000 at UC Berkeley is because Antifa and violent groups had decided that Berkeley was their domain and they were going to run roughshod over law enforcement there,” he continued.

On the state defining “hate speech”

“And this does bring up one final point in the long period of time to discuss,” he added, “and that is, the problem with a legislative body such as yours trying to draw lines specifically about what hate speech constitutes because the fact is that one of the reasons groups like Antifa show up is not because they know who I am, it’s because they’ve been told by people that I am promulgating hate speech which is utterly false, and utterly untrue.”

“There are people who say vile things and with whom I disagree,” he explained. “Among them, people like Milo Yiannopoulos who sent me a picture of a black baby on the day of my child’s birth because I wasn’t sufficiently standing up for the white population supposedly.”

“But that does not mean that the legislature gets to decide what hate speech is,” he argued. “I’ve been labeled a promulgator of hate speech when I was the number one target of hate speech according to the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), according to the journalistic community in 2016.”

“So let me suggest that as a legislature,” he concluded, “your chief job is to ensure that my taxpayer dollars in this state go towards making sure that people like me and people with whom I disagree get to speak in place like college campuses and not toward regulating what speech you find good and what speech you find bad, because it’s a really dangerous business. And there’s speech I don’t like, there’s speech you don’t like, but if we can’t agree that there’s a difference between speech and violence, we’re not going to be able to have a free state, let alone a free country. Thanks.”

What happened at Shapiro’s speech at UC Berkeley?

As he notes in his speech to the commission, his appearance at Berkeley was met with left-wing histrionics from Antifa and other extremist left-wing groups. This is just the latest example of free speech being eroded on American campuses.

see video at http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/10/03/watch-ben-shapiro-blasts-california-senators-bias-on-hate-speech/

Sex-change surgery regret is on the rise, leading surgeon says. Here’s why.

by Aaron Colen

A concerning number of transgender people who have undergone sex change surgeries go on to express regrets and experience crippling depression and suicidal thoughts, according to an experienced genital reconstruction surgeon.

According to a report in The Telegraph, world-leading genital reconstruction surgeon Professor Miroslav Djordjevic has seen a rise in his patients coming back to him after sex change surgery seeking reversals of the procedure, which are complex and expensive, and can take more than a year to complete.

“It can be a real disaster to hear these stories,” Djordjevic said.

Lack of counseling and research

Djordjevic cites two issues causing the increase in patients getting a sex change surgery and subsequently regretting it: a lack of robust research on the topic, and a lack of psychiatric evaluation and counseling before the surgeries.

While Djordjevic requires his patients to undergo a year or more of psychiatric evaluation followed by hormone evaluation and therapy, some patients seeking reversals have told him that they were only asked if they had the money for the surgery beforehand.

“I have heard stories of people visiting surgeries who only checked if they had the money to pay,” Djordjevic said. “We have to stop this. As a community, we have to make very strong rules: nobody who wants to make this type of surgery or just make money can be allowed to do so.”

A psychotherapist at Bath Spa University tried to do research on “detransitioning,” but his research proposal was rejected after he turned in preliminary findings showing growing numbers of young people were regretting gender reassignment surgery, according to The Guardian.

The professor was told the proposal was rejected based on concerns that it was “potentially politically incorrect.”

Younger patients, more risks

Djordjevic said the average age of his patients has dropped from 45 when he first started more than 20 years ago to 21, with some in the medical community advocating for allowing minors to get sex change surgeries.

Djordjevic believes that to be dangerous ground, and said there is a line he personally will not cross.

“I’m afraid what will happen five to 10 years later with this person,” Djordjevic said of patients younger than 18 who may eventually have the surgery. “It is more than about surgery; it’s an issue of human rights. I could not accept them as a patient because I’d be afraid what would happen to their brain and mind.”

see more at http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/10/03/sex-change-surgery-regret-is-on-the-rise-leading-surgeon-says-heres-why/