It’s Monday, June 23rd, 2014…and here’s The Gouge!

First up, an absolute must-see edition of Afterburner, as Bill Whittle details how events once again prove the wisdom of George Santayana:

Case in point: like the real danger represented by the IRS scandal, most Americans are totally missing the nature of the threat inherent in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recent Redskin ruling.  First, Hope ‘n Change‘s unique brand of biting satire:

So Sioux Me

In a landmark decision, the US Patent and Trademark Office has decided to retroactively revoke many trademarks for the Washington Redskins football team on the grounds that their name and team logo are “disparaging to Native Americans.” Which is nothing to take lightly; just hearing the word “redskin” causes Elizabeth Warren’s high cheekbones to flush with anger.

The ruling is intended to put additional pressure on the team owners to change the franchise’s name to something less offensive to Liberals and more appropriate to our current political climate, like the “Washington Overlords” or “Crashing Hard Drives.”

Frankly, Hope n’ Change doesn’t give a rat’s rear end about either football or political correctness, but we don’t much like the idea that the Patent Office is now putting themselves in the business of regulating free speech (in this case by removing the financial value of a trademark). Nor do we like the idea of such regulation being contingent on finding someone – anyone – who feels offended. Because if that’s the new standard, we’re pretty sure we can find waaaay more people who are offended by the word “Washington” than “Redskin.”

Next, writing at The Federalist, Robert Tracinski tells us…

Why the Redskins Trademark Ruling Should Terrify You

Anyone deemed politically incorrect is now outside the protection of the law.

 “…This ruling isn’t a slippery slope. It’s a slope we’ve already slid down: bureaucrats in Washington are now empowered to make subjective decrees about what is offensive and what will be tolerated, based on pressure from a small clique of Washington insiders. Anyone who runs afoul of these decrees, anyone branded as regressive and politically incorrect, is declared outside the protection of the federal government…“

And THAT, friends, with no exaggeration whatsoever, is precisely the legally-lawless atmosphere which has allowed the rise of every totalitarian regime…

…in history. 

In a related item, as Jonah Goldberg notes at Townhall.com, the same mindless myrmidons who justified the horrors of the death camps since the trains ran on time exist in America today:

The Naked Self-Interest Of The Bureaucratic Class

“…Now I don’t believe we are becoming anything like 1930s Russia, never mind a real-life “1984.” But this idea that bureaucrats — very broadly defined — can become their own class bent on protecting their interests at the expense of the public seems not only plausible but obviously true.

The evidence is everywhere. Every day it seems there’s another story about teachers unions using their stranglehold on public schools to reward themselves at the expense of children. School choice programs and even public charter schools are under vicious attack, not because they are bad at educating children but because they’re good at it. Specifically, they are good at it because they don’t have to abide by rules aimed at protecting government workers at the expense of students.

The Veterans Affairs scandal can be boiled down to the fact that VA employees are the agency’s most important constituency. The Phoenix VA health-care system created secret waiting lists where patients languished and even died, while the administrator paid out almost $10 million in bonuses to VA employees over the last three years.

Working for the federal government simply isn’t like working for the private sector. Government employees are essentially un-fireable. In the private sector people lose their jobs for incompetence, redundancy or obsolescence all the time. In government, these concepts are virtually meaningless…“

Now do we believe we’re becoming anything like 1930’s Russia, let alone a real-life 1984?  Six years ago we’d have considered such thoughts the exclusive province of those who believed NASA faked the Apollo moon landings, or thought Elvis alive.  But this is 2014…and what once seemed impossible, while not necessarily probable, is most definitely possible. 

Which brings us to the latest from the WSJ‘s Kimberly Strassel:

About Those Missing Emails

The fact that they are “lost” at all suggests Congress is looking in the right direction.

“Lois Lerner’s emails are lost, and they need finding. In the meantime, their very disappearance tells us that Congress is sniffing down the right trail.

A year into congressional investigations of IRS targeting, we know two things beyond a doubt. We know from the public record that starting in 2010 the most powerful leaders of the Democratic Party—President Obama, Senate chairmen, House Democrats—ran a ceaseless campaign pressuring the IRS to silence conservative groups. We also know from internal IRS emails that Ms. Lerner, the former head of exempt organizations, was at the epicenter of an agency effort to silence those very groups, in the precise same time frame.

What we don’t know is the interaction between the two. The IRS’s deliberate withholding for a year of Lerner emails allowed the press and liberals to crow that there was no “there” there—zero evidence of Lerner collusion with anybody in the Democratic Party. At the very worst, went the explanation, Ms. Lerner and her IRS pals were zealous bureaucrats, primed to crack down on campaign money, and therefore eager to interpret the Democratic campaign as an order to act.

But the alleged disappearance of Ms. Lerner’s hard drive—and the fact that the missing conversations are those the former IRS director had with people outside the IRS—has suddenly resurrected, with force, the explosive possibility that she was chatting with Democrats who mattered.

There’s plenty of reason to believe she was…“

So why, inquiring minds want to know, hasn’t John Boehner, who possesses the power to incarcerate Lerner in the House jail through the November elections, used his authority to jog her memory a bit?

You tell us.  After all, it’s not like the citizens of the United States are going to rise up in arms en masse over a lying IRS bureaucrat getting her just desserts.

Since we’re on the subject of low-down, lying whores, Townhall.com‘s John Ransom sees a shift in the prevailing wind we’ve yet to detect:

Obama Losing It as ‘Press-titutes’ Flee

“…But it’s informative that the official Party line as prescribed by the WaPo is that Obama’s foreign policy is a failure…now. I’m guessing previously– when Hillary was in charge—foreign policy was just fine, with the guiding hand of a strong confident woman whose most impressive resume item was not staying home and baking cookies because, well, Bill was never home, was he? Perhaps had he stayed home more, Hillary’s cooking would have kept the pounds off.

I like this concept of “press-titues.” While Obama thought he owned the media, in truth he only rented them. Because the media is now practicing their newest Obama narrative: Obama had great ideas, but he wasn’t a great manager. “He may be winning the issues debate,” says Democrat pollster Peter Hart, who conducts polls jointly with a Republican for the Wall Street Journal and NBC, “but he’s losing the political debate, because they don’t see him as a leader.”

That’s because he’s not a leader. Never has been. He’s basked in the adulation that was given him by: 1) his skin color; and 2) his fleeting, now tedious, oratory skills. He’s often a panderer. He’s always an opportunist…”

This would certainly be a welcome turn of events; and while we heartily agree The Obafuhrer couldn’t lead his way out of a paper bag, in light of the MSM’s terribly belated (i.e., over six-months after the fact!), lock-step reaction to what was clearly politically-motivated prosecutorial misconduct intended to derail a potential 2016 presidential run by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker…

…we’re far from convinced the Press has abandoned The Obamao.  They have every single ounce of their terribly limited integrity wrapped up in what they may well now realize is the worst President in history; but in for a dime, in for a dollar.  There is now way in Hell either the Fourth Estate, or, given their recent defense of the indefensible IRS, congressional Dimocrats, will or can ever permit The Dear Misleader to be subjected to an honest appraisal of his actions. 

Speaking of The Great Prevaricator and his patent propaganda, the bald-faced lies continue unabated:

Obama tells Mexico: Illegal-immigrant children won’t get to stay

Tells Peña Nieto their countries must work to halt child surge

After all, Mexico’s been such a great partner in the fight against illegal immigration before…right?!?

On the Lighter Side…

Finally, in the Sports Section, two headlines, and a question:

Portugal’s last-gasp strike denies USA straight passage to Round of 16

‘Melo reportedly to end contract with Knicks early, become free agent

Can anyone tell us what this means; and does anyone care…in the least?!?  Okay, that’s two questions; but we’re so confident of the answer to the second we didn’t bother providing links to either of the related articles!

We’ll be out of town on business through Wednesday morning, so catch you either late Wednesday evening or Thursday.

Magoo