Wednesday, April 07, 2021

Easy Pizza For 2 in the Kitchen

The Mayo Clinic is a wonderful resource for diabetic recipes.

 
I recommend it because they have a wide variety and because it is a medical website. Taste of Home has many wonderful recipes; however, when they do one of their diabetic issues (print edition), I glance at it and think -- with regards to anything I might cook for my father, "No, no, no." There are a number of recipes that they offer which I do not find medically sound for diabetics. They might taste good but the carbs are way too high unless it's your one cheat day a month. (You may not have a cheat day. An endo doctor who treats my father always says to allow one treat a month because otherwise you will want it and sooner or later have it. Then you'll feel guilty and spiral. So she advises one treat a month.)

So this is easy pizza for two and it is 26 grams of carbs for half the pizza -- 52 grams of carbs if you eat the whole pizza yourself.

Ingredients
1/2 cup chunky no-salt-added tomato sauce
1 ready-made whole-wheat flatbread (about 10-inch diameter)
2 slices of onion, 1/4-inch wide
4 slices red bell pepper, 1/4-inch wide
1/4 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 F. Lightly coat a baking pan with cooking spray. Spread tomato sauce over the flatbread. Top with the onion, pepper, mozzarella and basil. Place the pizza on a baking pan and bake until the cheese is melted and golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.


Now here's Dean Baker on the latest jobs report:

 

Productivity data are erratic, and it is far too soon to assume a new trend of faster growth. (Economists are horrible at predicting productivity growth or even understanding changes in trends after the fact.) However, if we are in fact on a path of faster productivity growth, it is a huge deal. It means both that we have far less reason to be concerned about inflation and that workers can enjoy more rapid gains in living standards if they share in the benefits of more rapid productivity growth.
The simple arithmetic is that if we sustain a 2.5 percent rate of productivity growth, nominal wages can rise at a rate of 4.5 percent annually, with inflation remaining stable at 2.0 percent. There will always be factors, such as rising or falling import prices, which complicate this picture, but there is much less reason to fear inflation if productivity rises rapidly.
It’s still way too early to start the celebrations. First, we certainly don’t know that the more rapid pace of productivity growth will continue. Second, we know the Republicans will do everything in their power to try to sabotage the recovery, so they can blame Biden and the Democrats in 2022 and 2024. Many people are still suffering from the effects of the recession, and, of course, many people are still getting sick and dying from Covid.
And, the biggest risk to this happy picture remains the threat of a new vaccine-resistant strain developing and spreading around the world. This points again to the urgency of not only getting people in the United States vaccinated as quickly as possible but also getting the whole world vaccinated in order to contain the pandemic.
If a new vaccine-resistant strain develops anywhere, it is almost certain to spread. And then we will be back at ground zero with more deaths and shutdowns until we can again develop vaccines to protect us. Biden, as well as the leaders of other major countries, must take this risk very seriously and do everything possible to ensure that the battle against the pandemic does not go into extra innings.

 

Any of that could happen and with the UK strain of the virus in the US now in such big numbers and with the way our luck's been going?  Most of that probably will happen.


This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Wednesday:


Wednesday, April 7, 2021.  Oh look, another idiot who never can be bothered with what's going on in Iraq is treating the Iraq War like a football to play another round of xenophobic partisan superbowl.



In yesterday's snapshot, we noted CNN's nonsense regarding Senator Josh Hawley and his college stance on the Iraq War.  ALTERNET is and always will be garbage.  They don't just steal the writing of others and post it, they also condoned staff harassing a young teenage boy.  It was the latter issue that led me to insist to them that they delink from us (we had been on a list of blogs that their site linked to, a blogroll or something).  So it's no surprise that they would worm their way into this discussion.   One of their bad 'articles' is reposted by SALON.  Meaghan Ellis types:



Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., may be critical of the Biden administration nominees' support of the Iraq War, but a newly-uncovered blog post shows that at one point he too supported the same war he is now opposing.

According to CNN, 


She has nothing to offer on her own.  She's just retpying what CNN already offered -- and that was bad on their bad part.


If sweet, stupid Meaghan can jump down from her high horse, could she note for a moment the crackdown on LGBTQs in Iraq?  Oh wait, that would require actual work.  She can't note anything because she doesn't care enough about the ongoing Iraq War -- or the Iraqi people who continue to suffer -- in order to ever write about the topic.  


But she wants to bash Hawley over the head for supporting the Iraq War.  In 2005.  When he was in college.  


When Hunted Biden's many problems started breaking in the news in 2019, the media tried to cover for him repeatedly with them forever insisting it was youthful indiscretions.  He was 49 years old at the time -- and his daddy still called him "baby."  Now it's time to have a fit over a college kid's opinion from 16 years ago?  


As we noted in yesterday's snapshot:



It's cute the way CNN goes after some and not others.  It's cute the way they lie to.  Hawley was 22 or 23 when the war started.    Pieces that written in 2005, when he was 24 or 25, are big news to CNN.  That would be the same CNN that let Joe Biden slide repeatedly over his Iraq War claims -- including his claim to regret his vote -- he doesn't, listen and he'll tell you his regret is that he trusted Bully Boy Bush would get the numbers right, etc.  Bully Boy Bush tricked him!!!! Wah!! Wah!!!  

Now Joe wasn't a college student when the Iraq War -- that he voted for and supported -- started.  He was a grown man who had already been in the Senate for decades.  He was on year thirty in the Senate when he voted for the Iraq War.

So there's that.

It's also nonsense because I've yet to see CNN do the opposite -- point out an anti-war critic who changed their mind.  The Iraq War is still going on and you can ask Senator Mike Gravel about how one member of Congress can make an impact -- if they choose to do so.


Third, we're talking about CNN which allows Christiane Amanpour to advocate for war on a regular basis.  

Fourth, huh????????

Unlike CNN, I was opposed to the Iraq War.  I started speaking against it one month before it started.  So I don't have any apologizing to do.  CNN ignores its own past which allows it to pretend it doesn't owe any apologies.

But we were not all on the same page in the US.

The country turned against the Iraq War in 2006.  So Josh's experience tracks with that of the majority of Americans.  Does CNN not get that?  How stupid are they?

It's hard to believe that this isn't a slam at a member of Congress for being opposed to forever wars.  Especially when you consider how little CNN noted the 18th anniversary of the Iraq War just last month.

I don't know if Hawley's for real, I don't know if he isn't.  But Josh's actions are not the indictment CNN seems to believe they are.  If he rethought his position, he did so while the rest of the country was doing so.  (Which is why I don't get why Glenn Greenwald can't cop to what he did in terms of supporting the war at the start.) CNN did a very poor job.  It reads like advocacy -- bad advocacy on the part of some idiots who can't take the time to first do the work required -- not like journalism.

Again, Hawley's view was not my view.  I was opposed to the Iraq War.  But his view of support in 2005 is in keeping with the majority of Americans at that time.  


Joe supported the Iraq War as did the bulk of his Cabinet -- many of them did so, like Joe, from positions of power.  Meaghan's yet to write about that and, no doubt, never will.  She's not a reporter.  Check her past articles, she only writes to attack Republicans.  She has no ethical stance, she has no interest or expertise in any topic.  But when something's been posted elsewhere online at a US site that paints a Republican in a bad light, she grabs on to the work of others to play attack poodle.  Someone please get her spayed.  We can't afford her reproducing a littler of attack poodles.

Again, she has nothing to add to anything.  No expertise, no "at a hearing a year ago . . .," no context, no analysis.  But, hey, she typed it up, she can sleep easy that if her life wasn't wasted -- if her entire goal in life was to be a propaganda engine.  


I don't have time for this garbage.  Stop pretending you give a damn about how someone felt about Iraq in 2005 when you don't care enough to cover Iraq today -- and that goes for SALON which reposted the story.


Rayan Tweets:


#LGBTQ people were ARRESTED and IMPRISONED in SULAIMANIYAH #Iraq for their SEXUAL ORIENTATION!! WHY ARE WE SILENT? #Queerkurs #TakeAction
@UNHumanRights
@IKRPresident
@Kurdistan
@masrour_barzani
@qubadjt
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Quote Tweet



Why are you being silent, Meaghan?  Oh, that's right, you can't use the attacks on LGBTQ for partisan purposes.  But keep pretending you give a damn about the Iraq War or the Iraqi people.  Maybe you'll fool some people.  


Dana Nawzar is a noted homophobe and is whining that Twitter restricted his account for several hours.  He did nothing wrong, he insists, but tell the truth.  No, he called the LGBTQ community pedophiles.  More to the point, he's so stupid that he called them pedophiles and prostitutes.  Prostitutes, please note Stupid Idiot Dana, are paid money to have sex with people.  How many seven-year-olds does Stupid Idiot Dana think have enough moeny to pay for the services of a prostitute.  Seems like someone's mistaken Melanie Griffith's MILK MONEY for a gritty documentary.


MEHR NEWS notes:


According to Al-Alam Al-Maqawim Network, the American convoys were targeted in the cities of Hillah and Jableh and the Al-Nile region on Wednesday.

The Qasim Al-Jabarin group has claimed responsibility for all three attacks.


But that's okay with Meaghan.  She's not going to cover that.  She's just going to pretend like she cares from atop her horsie named Hypocrite.  


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein will tackle security and economic co-operation on Wednesday in the first strategic dialogue between Baghdad and Washington since President Joe Biden entered office.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi was the first Arab leader to receive a call from Mr Biden in February.

The dialogue, which will happen online because of Covid-19, was prompted by a request from Iraq to clarify critical issues in the relationship.

The White House said that trade, culture and climate are on the agenda, as well as security and the role of US forces in Iraq.

Perhaps more urgent for Iraq is discussing the US military role amid increasing attacks by pro-Iran militias on joint bases and in the Green Zone, home to the American embassy.

“The meetings will further clarify that coalition forces are in Iraq solely for the purpose of training and advising Iraqi forces to ensure that ISIS cannot reconstitute,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

James Jeffrey, a former US ambassador to Iraq, told The National that Baghdad and Washington disagree on how to counter these militias, which are calling for US troops to be withdrawn.



The discussion will be about the continued presence of US troops on Iraqi soil.  Despite the continued attacks targeting US troops.  Despite the Iraqi people wanting the US -- and all foreign troops -- out of their country.  


Meaghan Ellis, you going to tackle that issue any time soon?  No? 


Journalist Renwar Najm Tweets:

More than two months have passed since the arrest of journalist Qaraman Shurkri, still his family has not heard anything from him, his whereabouts are unknown. His brother says even lawyers are not able to defend him because firstly "they should know his whereabouts."
Quote Tweet
Renwar Najm
@RenwarNajm
·
Security forces just arrested another journalist in Duhok's Shiladze town. Earlier this morning masked forces raided the home of journalist Qaraman Shurki and after insulting his mother and brother, they arrested Qaraman and took his phone and laptop, according to his brother.
Show this thread
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How about that topic, Meaghan?  Going to cover that anytime soon?


Probably not.  You haven't covered the continued persecution of Julian Assange, have you?



Sarah Abdallah Tweets:


11 years ago today, Wikileaks released the Collateral Murder video, exposing US forces in Iraq shooting unarmed civilians, including journalists. To this day, the killers still have not been held accountable. But Assange, who revealed their crimes to the world, sits behind bars



Monday April 5, 2010, WIKILEAKS released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two REUTERS journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. 


Meaghan going to cover that?  Nope.  Okay, keep pretending you do anything of value and keep using Iraq as your partisan football any weekend you decide you want to play.  May you get the sports injury you deserve.

It's more important to Meaghan that she attacks someone over their opinion from years and years ago when they were in college.  Why is that again?  Oh, right -- Joe Biden.  



Attack poodles have to work really hard to protect War Hawks.  Maybe Meaghan will be out in your drive next, digging through your trash?  Probably not.  She'll just wait until CNN does and then rewrite CNN's work.  She's not just a hypocrite, after all, she's also lazy.


Lt Col Daniel L. Davis writes at THE INSIDER:


The United States will engage in a "strategic dialogue" with Iraq this month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week. The key agenda item, she explained, was the US combat deployment there.

How or whether to extend the operation should not be part of the discussion. Nailing down details of the withdrawal should.

The 3,500 US troops currently in Iraq serve no purpose related to American national security. They don't have a militarily attainable mission which could be recognized and signal the end of the deployment. The only benefactor is the government in Baghdad and even they are ready to show America the exit.

[. . .]

Whatever incremental security benefit may exist with US troops being deployed in Iraq and Syria, they are dwarfed by the strategic risk we incur every minute we remain on the ground there.

We are in a sea of civil conflict in Syria and in danger of semi-regular rocket attacks in Iraq. Our military presence cannot influence the political outcome in either country.

The best thing Biden can do for the security of the United States and to preserve the lives of our service members from unnecessary risk at the security dialogue with Baghdad is to withdraw our troops, in full, from both Iraq and Syria as soon as possible.



I'm known to do a favor or two for a friend.  A friend at a music label asked me if I could please note the following video.






I don't know Chase Rice -- not an insult, I'm not an expert on country music.  I do know Florida Georgia Line.  The song is entitled "Drinkin' Beer. Talking God.  Amen."  It's a well written song -- melody and lyrics and Chase Rice wrote it with Hunter Phelps, Cale Dodds and Corey Crowder.




The following sites updated: