It’s Friday, March 11th, 2022…but before we begin, does anyone find the flood of Ukrainian refugees funny, other than, or course, America’s illegitimate Vice President?!?

Funny as a crutch, Kommielaa!  Though Harris’s humor is undoubtedly lost…

…on the people in question.

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, NRO‘s Charlie Cooke correctly concludes…

Biden Can’t Hide from High Gas Prices Forever

If he persists in refusing to embrace the obvious solutions, voters could be forgiven for wondering whether he might just be a part of the problem.

 

“…The new pro-Biden talking point is that those dastardly Republicans are trying to have it both ways. Per its critics, the GOP is being horribly opportunistic by on the one hand supporting the U.S.’s decision to stop buying Russian oil and on the other hand believing that the president’s broader approach is a recipe for disaster. But there is nothing wrong with this view — indeed, it’s the correct view. It is true that refusing to purchase Russian oil is the right short-term policy. It is also true that a better long-term policy would have lessened the upward pressure on domestic prices that short-term events such as the war in Ukraine can exert. For a neat illustration of how these two ideas can intersect, one need only to look at Germany.

Really, there is only one person in this situation who is trying to have it both ways, and it is President Joe Biden, who sometimes wants Americans to believe that high gas prices have nothing whatsoever to do with government policy — and everything to do with oil companies being greedy, selfish nations refusing to pump enough for Americans to use, or Vladimir Putin’s aggression — and at other times wants Americans to believe that he is the all-powerful Green Joe, the Savior of the Climate, the canceler of the Keystone pipeline, the defender of public lands, the suspender of onshore-lease sales, the all-round weaner-offer, whose administration is determined to “see what can be unburdened by what has been and then to make the possible actually happen.”

President Biden does not set gas prices (though, by directly implying otherwise, the Democratic Party has done him no favors). But it is not true that he has no effect on them whatsoever, and the effect that Biden wants to have on them would be deleterious. At a bizarre event two days ago — an event held to celebrate the March 2021 spending binge that has made inflation so much worse — Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg ignored contemporary energy prices completely, and instead waxed lyrical about America’s glorious “zero emissions” future. This is not the way. At some point, the technology with which the White House is so obsessed is likely to exist. But for now, it doesn’t, so our policy should be to max out production in every way possible, without letting up at any point or for any reason — to drill, frack, and refine as much oil as we can within our borders; to import as much oil as we can from friendly nations such as Canada; and to finally start the process of building the network of nuclear-power plants that will permit us to satisfy our voracious appetite for energy without burning fossil fuels forever. President Biden opposes all of this in favor of a green fantasy. If he persists in refusing to embrace the obvious solutions, voters could be forgiven for wondering whether he might just be a part of the problem.“

This despite the MSM’s concerted efforts to place the blame elsewhere.  In the meantime, nothing to see here folks…

Inflation Soars to Four-Decade High

 

…please blame everything on Putin.

In a related item which deserves to be presented in full, the Journal‘s editorial board details the facts concerning…

Biden’s U.S. Oil Embargo

His assault on domestic energy works against his ban on Russian imports.

 

President Biden made the right decision Tuesday in banning Russian oil and natural gas imports. Yet at the same time he declared full-steam ahead on his green energy “transition” that includes an assault on U.S. fossil fuels. The contradiction is maddening.

Banning Russian energy imports is fine as far as it goes, which isn’t very. The U.S. imports only 3% of its petroleum supply and less than 1% of coal from Russia. (Though why the country with the largest coal deposits on the planet is importing any from an adversary needs, like Lucy, some ‘splainin’!) About 70% of Russian oil currently can’t find buyers because of sanctions risk. That’s the main reason crude prices have shot up to $130 per barrel.

Once uncertainty about the scope of sanctions clears up, Russia will probably find global buyers for its energy at a discount. Imposing so-called secondary U.S. sanctions on institutions that finance Russia’s energy trade would be more effective. But the White House won’t do that because it fears it could drive gasoline prices even higher.

If that’s the worry, then here’s a better idea: Stand at the White House and declare that his Administration will support the development of U.S. oil and gas. Rescind all regulations designed to curb production, development and consumption. Announce a moratorium on new ones. Expedite permits, and encourage investment. Our guess is the price of Brent crude would fall $20 a barrel in anticipation of higher production.

Yet Mr. Biden is doing precisely the opposite. On Tuesday he even blamed U.S. companies—not his policies—for not producing more. There are 9,000 available unused drilling permits, he claimed, and only 10% of onshore oil production takes place on federal land. Talk about a misdirection play.

First, companies have to obtain additional permits for rights of way to access leases and build pipelines to transport fuel. This has become harder under the Biden Administration. Second, companies must build up a sufficient inventory of permits before they can contract rigs because of the regulatory difficulties of operating on federal land.

It takes 140 days or so for the feds to approve a drilling permit versus two for the state of Texas. The Administration has halted onshore lease sales. Producers are developing leases more slowly since they don’t know when more will be available. Offshore leases were snapped up at a November auction because companies expect it might be the last one.

Interior’s five-year leasing program for the Gulf of Mexico expires in June. Yet the Administration hasn’t promulgated a new plan. Nor did it appeal a liberal judge’s order in January revoking the November leases. But the Administration has appealed another judge’s order requiring that it hold lease sales.

Then there’s the not-small problem of financing. Companies can’t explore and drill, or build pipelines, without capital. Biden financial regulators allied with progressive investors are working to cut it off. The Labor Department has proposed a rule that would require 401(k) managers to consider the climate impact of their investment holdings.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to issue a rule requiring companies and their financiers to disclose greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Biden has nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin, of all people, to be the Federal Reserve’s top bank supervisor. Her top priority is using bank regulation to redirect capital from fossil fuels to green energy.

Large energy producers are buying back stock and redirecting capital to renewables because they see the Administration’s writing on the wall. Small independent producers are eager to take advantage of higher prices but can’t get loans. Many relied on private equity during the last shale boom, but now these firms are cutting them off.

Progressive outfit Global Energy Monitor gleefully proclaimed Tuesday that $244 billion in U.S. liquefied natural gas projects are stalled because they “are struggling to find financiers and buyers” amid “pressure from cheap renewables”—i.e., rich green energy subsidies that Democrats want to make richer—and “tightening climate commitments.”

It’s almost a miracle that any oil and gas production is occurring in America amid this political hostility. The Ukraine crisis ought to be an inflection point that causes the Biden Administration to do an energy reset. Instead, the President says it “should motivate us to accelerate the transition to clean energy” and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

Replacing Russia’s five million barrels of global crude exports with U.S. and Canadian oil and building pipelines to transport it would take time. But the transition to a fossil-free world will take decades and technological breakthroughs—and will leave the U.S. dependent on China, Russia and other countries for minerals like lithium and nickel.

Mr. Biden bemoans today’s skyrocketing gas prices, yet he remains hostage to the green-energy donors whose policies guarantee higher prices. The President is enabling Vladimir Putin’s energy leverage even as he claims the opposite.

Here’s the juice: As this article from the WSJ we previously featured proves, “green” energy is anything but green…unless the reference is to its significantly higher cost relative to cheap, abundant, realistic fossil fuel alternatives.  Perhaps more important is the sentence in the 2nd-to-last paragraph:

“…the transition to a fossil-free world will take decades and technological breakthroughs—and will leave the U.S. dependent on China, Russia and other countries for minerals like lithium and nickel.“

Consider this the bottom line: America, dependent upon the likes of Xi and Mad Vlad for its “free” energy:

Then there’s this curious clip from the Communist News Network…

…which begs the question precisely who expressed a willingness to pay higher gasoline prices to hold Putin accountable…not to mention what the responses would have been had the real trade-off been revealed: Astronomically higher prices at the pump for unrealizable, anti-capitalist EnviroNazi goals.

Meanwhile, just when you thought Biden’s lack of leadership couldn’t become any more obvious to America’s most implacable foes, the WSJ records how…

The Ukraine MiG-29 Fiasco Gets Worse

Biden personally vetoed the delivery of jets for fear of provoking Putin.

 

It turns out the U.S. decision to deny Polish MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine is even worse than we wrote Thursday. The White House is now confirming that the decision went all the way up to President Biden, who vetoed the jet delivery lest it provoke Vladimir Putin and risk escalating the war.The logic seems to be that sending lethal anti-aircraft and antitank weapons won’t provoke the Russian, but 28 fixed-wing aircraft would. That distinction is hard to parse, especially when the Pentagon is also saying that the Ukrainians don’t need the jets because their other weapons are more effective. So sending less lethal aircraft will lead to World War III, but not arms that are really deadly?

The bigger problem is the message this fiasco sends to Mr. Putin about NATO. The essence of credible deterrence is making an adversary believe that taking certain actions will draw a response. By so ostentatiously not sending the fighters, and saying the reason is fear of escalation, Mr. Biden is telling the Russian what he doesn’t have to worry about. Instead of deterring Mr. Putin, Mr. Biden is letting the Russian deter the U.S.

This is becoming a pattern with the Commander in Chief. In Afghanistan he demanded a quick and dirty exit by a date certain lest he provoke the Taliban who had taken over the government. The result was an American humiliation that may (“may“?!?) have influenced Mr. Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

This month the Administration stopped the scheduled test of a U.S. nuclear missile after Mr. Putin issued a vague nuclear threat. The test had nothing to do with Ukraine, and Russia knew about it, but the Biden Pentagon stopped the test anyway. That’s another blow to the credibility of U.S. deterrence.

Meanwhile, Mr. Putin is escalating his Ukraine assault in any case. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted Thursday that the Russians deliberately targeted the maternity hospital in Mariupol. Mr. Putin knows what NATO won’t do to stop him.

Welcome to AmeriKa: this isn’t the Founders’ Republic…

Along with a healthy dose of Dimocratic stupidity…and self-serving avarice.

Since we’re on the subject of madness, NRO editor Phil Klein tells us why…

The Trans Movement Is Failing Where the Gay-Rights Movement Succeeded

By abandoning the libertarian ‘live and let live’ approach, transgender activists are alienating Americans.

 

“The transgender and gay-rights movements are often lumped together — including in the very acronym LGBT — so many observers assume that the transgender cause will follow a similar trajectory. But there’s a reason why transgender activists won’t experience the level of rapid success that gay-rights activists enjoyed over the past several decades.

…What’s substantially different about the current debate on the transgender front is that it has moved away from the successful strategy of gay-marriage proponents. While the public is broadly accepting of the idea that adults who want to identify as a different gender and undergo hormone treatment to live out their lives should be given space to do so, transgender activists are pushing for changes that have direct ramifications for others. Two men falling in love and getting married may not directly affect anybody else, but when an athlete who has gone through male puberty starts to dominate a woman’s sport, it does.

…A YouGov poll on a variety of transgender issues found that a majority of adults said that a person should be able to legally self-identify as a different gender than their biological sex, but majorities opposed allowing transgender women to participate in women’s sporting events or for biological males who have not undergone transition surgery to use women’s changing rooms or bathrooms merely by identifying as women. (You know, like the “chick” with the dick pictured above!)

The women’s sports issue is the one most likely to backfire on the transgender movement as more people witness what it means in practice. This can be seen dramatically in the case of University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who was ranked 462 as a male swimmer but shot up to No. 1 in the nation after transitioning and being allowed to compete in the women’s division.

…Transgender activists will likely find a receptive public to the extent that they focus on arguing for more tolerance and compassion. But if they continue down the current path, they are going to run smack up against Americans’ understanding of human biology as well as their appreciation for basic fairness.“

Not to mention it increasingly requires parents of every political persuasion to sacrifice the dreams, aspirations, achievements, safety and innocence of their little girls on the altar of this Progressive-promoted perversion.

Next up, we submit for your perusal a quintet of items certain to pique the interest of inquiring Conservative minds:

(1). Disney CEO Bob Chapek and concerned company executives reportedly plan to meet with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to meet to air their concerns about Florida’s recently passed Parental Rights in Education bill, which prohibits gender ideology and sexual orientation curriculum for kindergartners through third graders in the state. “I called Governor DeSantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if legislation becomes law, it could be unfairly used to target gay lesbian, non-binary and transgender kids and families.

Sorry, but exactly HOW could a bill which simply prohibits gender ideology and sexual orientation curriculum in grades K-3 unfairly target anyone?!?  Frankly, we’re somewhat surprised the Florida legislators’ prohibition only went through 3rd grade.

Here’s hoping the only reason DeSantis hinted he’d take a meeting with Disney executives is so he can publicly be on record telling them to pound sand, that the desires of PC-kowtowing, spineless, corporate fat cats don’t trump the rights of Florida parents.

(2). As if any were needed, the WSJ provides further proof government reaction to the WuFlu at every level has been about controlling the you rather than the virus, as travelers in the U.S. will have to continue wearing masks on airplanes, buses and other forms of transit through April 18 due to the Biden clown car extending its federal mask mandate based upon no discernible science whatsoever. 

(3). In a related item, Carl Polizzi provided Ashmedai’s list of 17 reasons why it is irrational to trust the public health officials regarding the WuFlu vaccines, as the author wonders what exactly have they accomplished over the last two years…other than failing to curb COVID and wreaking unmitigated societal devastation.

(4). In what should come as a surprise to no one, Kim Strassel suggests you don’t buy the Biden administration’s line that it’s pulling out the stops against Russia, as from her keen perspective, 46* is failing and flailing in his sanctions test.

(5). NRO reports Jussie Smollett will spend five months in an Illinois jail after he was sentenced Thursday for staging a hoax hate crime against himself , as well as paying restitution of $120,000 and a $25,000 fine.  To borrow a baseball analogy, something tells us during his time in stir Jussie will be behind the plate rather than on the mound…not that he doesn’t prefer that position. 

Which brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:

Then there’s these from Balls Cotton…

…the lovely Shannon…

…and the legendary Wink Martindale:

Yes, though to be honest, not nearly as much as Ronaldus Maximus!

Finally, we’ll call it a week with yet another sad and sordid story straight from the pages of The Crime Blotter, and this just in from the hopelessly misnamed City of Brotherly Love:

Philadelphia officer who shot 12-year-old dead after shooting at police will be fired

 

“The Philadelphia police officer who fatally shot a 12-year-old boy who allegedly opened fire on a group of officers will be fired, according to Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw. “I have made the decision to utilize Commissioner’s Direct Action to suspend Officer #1 with the intent to dismiss the officer at the end of 30 days due to violations of our use of force directive,” Outlaw said Tuesday in her first public address on the matter.

…Thomas Siderio, 12, was fatally shot on March 1 in Philadelphia after four plain-clothed officers in an unmarked car saw him and a 17-year-old boy standing on a street corner, Fox 29 reported. The officers identified one of the boys as someone wanted for questioning in another case, according to investigators.

The officers were approaching the two boys and activated their police lights on the vehicle when a gunshot rang out and hit the police car, according to police. One police officer was injured by shattered glass due to a bullet hitting the car’s back passenger window.

“The evidence collected thus far that it was Thomas Siderio who discharged the firearm into the police vehicle,” Outlaw said Tuesday. Two officers then reportedly exited the vehicle and each discharged their weapons once. Officer #1 continued chasing Siderio as the other officer took cover. Officer #1 fired two additional shots and struck Siderio in his back.

Outlaw said the action violated the Philadelphia Police Department’s use of force directive. “I rarely lose sleep over work stuff. I’ve lost sleep over this,” Outlaw said Tuesday, noting that the case is one with no winners. “This does not reflect who we are.”“

Here’s the juice: Outlaw’s thoughts as shown in the meme above regarding who bears responsibility for a 12-year-old boy shooting at a police vehicle brought two thoughts to mind.  First, as Tonto said in response to the Lone Ranger’s observation, “We’re surrounded by Indians!”: “Who’s ‘we’, Kemosabe?!?”  Get it?  Not Siderio’s parents, but society as a whole, an assertion we consider to be pure, unmitigated…

Second, we’re gonna go out on a limb here and predict the police union will appeal Outlaw’s use of her “Commissioner’s Direct Action” powers, her decision will eventually be overturned and Officer #1 will be back on the force.  But Ms. Outlaw, who unsurprisingly came to Philly from Portland, OR, will be able to claim she did something, however ill-advised or counterproductive that something ended up being.

Magoo

P.S. We don’t do this for money or fame, merely to reach as many people as possible with the truth.  To that end, in order to increase our reach, we humbly and respectfully request each of you forward The Gouge to at least ten inquiring Conservative minds.

Video of the Day

Ruh roh, Rorge!

Tales of The Darkside

Courtesy of the Nickel, the partner of the hopelessly inept Mayor Pete leads mentally-impaired youngsters in a repugnant pledge of allegiance to the banner of sexual deviancy.

On the Lighter Side

We somehow missed this one, but good thing our old buddy Bill Jarn didn’t.