It’s Monday, April 16th, 2018…but before we begin, we were struck by this section of Scripture (verses 1-5 of the third chapter of Paul’s second letter to Timothy) our pastor cited Sunday.  It’s a compilation of several different translations, including the NCV, CEB, NLT and TLB, among others, which together reads:

“Understand this, Timothy, that in the last days the culture and society will make it very difficult to live for Christ. People will misdirect their love toward themselves and material things. (1) This will cause them to be boastful and proud, treating God and others with disrespect and abuse. They will be disobedient to their parents and ungrateful for God’s blessings. God’s standards will not be sacred or holy to them. They will be merciless (inhuman) toward others refusing to forgive. (2) Like Satan himself, they will destroy the reputations of others. They will see no need to control their own immorality and violence. (3) They will enjoy savagery toward those who try to be good. (4) They will even betray friends for their own gain. (5) They will do foolish things without regard for the consequences because their heads are swelled with their own importance. Pleasure will become a substitute for the true God in their lives. (6) These people will claim to be “spiritual” and they may even go to church. They will “say” the right things but they have not been changed by the power of God on the inside. Stay away from people like that!“

If that doesn’t embody American society in general…and fit contemporary Progressivism, along with The Donald, to a t…nothing does!  Examples thereof are literally a who’s-who of Liberal luminaries, including, but far from limited to (and corresponding to the numbers in red above):

(1) The leaders of March for Our Lives, Black Lives Matter,Women’s March, Antifa and other anti-Constitutional movements of The Left which are as disrespectful and abusive as any political organizations of which we’re aware.  Sorry, but no one can convince us given the free rein granted the Brown Shirts and Schutzstaffel…and a similarly disarmed opposition…a majority of the membership of such groups wouldn’t willingly subject innocent Americans to the same horrific indignities. 

 (2) Teddy Kennedy and his Dimocratic Senate cohorts, deliberately and with massive malice of forethought, attempted to destroy the reputations of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas and a number of other Conservative candidates for the federal judiciary and high government positions.  Never in history have Republicans treated Dimocratic nominees in similar fashion; they may have questioned their qualifications and impartiality, but never assassinated their character.

(3)  Consider the treatment accorded those who fight for the lives of the unborn and the violence which confronts Conservative speakers on college campuses for merely speaking the truth.

(4) One word: Benghazi.

(5) Hillary thinking she could literally cash in on her political future (see “Uranium One, Sale of”) while flagrantly flouting federal laws concerning security and records-keeping. 

(6) Barack Hussein Obama (though at least he gave up the pretense of attending church after leaving Chicago and the comfortable confines of the Rev. Wrong’s Communist congregation), Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam…along with Donald J. Trump, Jr.

Here’s the juice: Conservatives aren’t perfect (nor are Christians).  But again, never have we ever witnessed Conservative individuals or organizations, let alone RINOs…

…treating Progressive politicians and concerns with the complete contempt and vitriolic venom The Left directs at its opposition. 

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM FOR THIS NEW BULLETIN:

Statement from R. Lee Ermey’s long time manager, Bill Rogin:

It is with deep sadness that I regret to inform you all that R. Lee Ermey (“The Gunny”) passed away this morning from complications of pneumonia. He will be greatly missed by all of us.

Semper Fi, Gunny. Godspeed. pic.twitter.com/vf4O78JKmb

— R. Lee Ermey (@RLeeErmey) April 15, 2018

He will indeed be missed.

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, in an item related to our opening, PJ Media‘s Matt Margolis reminds of…

5 Times the Media Didn’t Ask if Obama Would Resign

Margolis listed only five; there were many, many others, not the least of which were Fast & Furious, the IRS targeting scandal, Benghazi, his DOJ’s treatment of the New Black Panther Party, the Solyndra subsidies, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum.

Next up, just to prove a lack of decorum isn’t endemic to just The Left, courtesy of The Maven, Erick Erickson offers the details of…

A Congressman’s Profanity Laced Tirade in a Safeway Grocery Store

…“I read you writing about this, about wanting to say nice things when you can and criticize when you need to. He may be an idiot, but he’s still the President and leader of my party and he is capable of doing some things right,” he says before conceding it’s usually other people doing the right things in the President’s name. “But dammit he’s taking us all down with him. We are well and truly f**ked in November“…

“I say a lot of shit on TV defending him, even over this. But honestly, I wish the motherf*cker would just go away. We’re going to lose the House, lose the Senate, and lose a bunch of states because of him. All his supporters will blame us for what we have or have not done, but he hasn’t led. He wakes up in the morning, sh*ts all over Twitter, sh*ts all over us, sh*ts all over his staff, then hits golf balls. F*ck him. Of course, I can’t say that in public or I’d get run out of town.”…”

While the jury’s far from out regarding the results of the November mid-terms, we know two things which are certain: (1). profanity is the last refuge of the inarticulate…which makes this guy nearly incapable of effective communication.  It’s a wonder he was ever elected to office in the first place.  And (2). were we in his district, we’d be supporting his Republican primary opponent.

Then there’s the truly expert opinion of NRO‘s Andy McCarthy regarding what he terms…

“President Trump now has real legal peril. The potential jeopardy stems from the investigation that came to light this week when the FBI conducted raids on the office and residences of his lawyer and self-professed “fixer,” Michael Cohen.

I’ve never thought “collusion with Russia” posed jeopardy. If there had been anything criminal to that storyline, the politicized anti-Trump factions in the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies would have leaked it. And, notwithstanding Trump’s nauseating nods to Putin, the administration has taken enough aggressive steps against Russia that it is past time for the Kremlin to broadcast the big kompromat file if it exists.

I’ve also never thought Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s other known angle, obstruction, posed a great risk. There is a line between foolishness and crime. For important policy reasons, a president should not weigh in with the FBI director on the merits of investigating a friend and political ally; and it would be better if he did not make personnel moves that could be perceived as efforts to influence witnesses or affect the course of an investigation. But as long as a president’s actions — e.g., firing the FBI director, discussing the possibility of pardons — are on their face legal and within his legitimate constitutional authority, I do not believe they can validly predicate an obstruction prosecution. (In theory, they could be grist for impeachment, which involves a political inquiry into abuse of power, not a legal proceeding to establish the essential elements of a statutory crime.)

The matter now under investigation by the FBI and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), however, is a very live criminal investigation. Anyone potentially connected to it should be worried…”

Based on McCarthy’s very expert opinion (he served as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the SDNY for some 20 years, and led the 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman), were we even potentially connected to Michael Cohen, we’d be worried. 

As regards the other investigation, the politically-motivated, phony one Jim Comey personally and so petulantly initiated, considering he recently admitted “his handling of the Clinton investigation was likely affected by his expectation that she would win the White House“, why is anything Comey says in the interest of the pursuit of justice and/or the rule of law?!?

Moving on, as David French relates at NRO…

“Last week, one of the most powerful men in America, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, endorsed as a “great read” a Medium article entitled “The Great Lesson of California in America’s New Civil War.” The article, by Peter Leyden and Ruy Teixeira, is one entry in a lengthy four-part series called “California Is the Future,” and it posits that there is “no bipartisan path forward for America.” Leyden and Teixeira believe that there are two competing economic systems, classes, and cultures, and that one has to win while the other has to lose.

In other words, they think one-party rule is the path forward. America is locked in a version of a civil war — or, more precisely, the prelude to a civil war — and civil wars are resolved by domination…

…Ironically enough, if you’re wondering why the Democratic majority hasn’t emerged — why the party’s coalition hasn’t ascended — you can blame, in part, California.

First, while demographic change is very real, it’s not happening everywhere at the same rate. In fact, a meaningful part of that change is hyper-concentrated in the Golden State. The numbers are amazing. It’s the most populous state in the nation and also one of the least white. America is 61 percent white, 18 percent Hispanic, and 12 percent black. California, by contrast, is 39 percent white, 38 percent Hispanic, 15 percent Asian, and 5 percent black. Moreover, one-fourth of the nation’s immigrant population lives in California. More than a quarter of California residents are immigrants, a number that almost doubles the national average.

Demographics undoubtedly affect politics, and in California the demographics are wildly different than they are in most of the country — with no realistic prospect that the rest of the country will grow to mirror California, not for generations (if ever). Interestingly, Texas’s demographics mirror California’s perhaps more than any other state. It’s 43 percent white, 38 percent Hispanic, 12 percent black, and 5 percent Asian — and it’s still the cornerstone of national GOP power.

Second, it turns out that California politics and policies are repellent to millions of Californians. Between 2007 and 2016 roughly 6 million California residents left the state. Only 5 million people moved to California from other American states. And where did a plurality of former Californians go?

Texas. (Which explains why Progressives are so opposed to turning off the floodgate of illegal immigration!)

When you break down the migration numbers even further, the results are fascinating. While California loses residents to most states, it enjoys net positive migration mainly from other blue states, most notably New York, Illinois, and New Jersey. This means that California’s population churn — immigration (likely majority illegal) combined with domestic migration — pushes it farther down the progressive path.

Third, while Teixeira and Leyden point to California as a model for combatting inequality, it’s one of the most unequal states in the nation. The most prosperous parts of the state are not only undeniably beautiful, they’re also populated by a creative and entrepreneurial class that gives each place a distinctive intellectual energy. If you’re rich enough, parts of California are very, very nice places to live. If you’re not, housing prices will keep you out more effectively than the guards at any gated community.

The end result is inequality so great that the nation’s tech titans happen to live in the poverty capital of America. According to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, nearly one out of five state residents is poor.

Finally, California’s progressive supermajority has led to a spate of petty authoritarianism that most Americans reject. I’ve written extensively about how California is seceding from the Constitution. The state has taken direct aim at the First Amendment rights of its pro-life citizens, implemented confiscatory gun-control policies, regulated pronoun usage, and repeatedly attempted to restrict religious liberty. All too often California progressives have demonstrated that “California values” are incompatible with the Bill of Rights.

…Progressive ideological dominance accompanied by incompetence and authoritarianism is not a blueprint for unity. California is blessed with immense natural beauty, considerable natural resources, and a near-perfect climate. It’s no surprise that so many millions of Americans would want to live in the state. (Particularly if the vast majority of new residents are legally relocating from New York, Illinois or New Jersey; or illegally immigrating from Central America!) It’s stunning that so many want to leave.

California is carving out a distinctive path. But if California progressives try to remake, say, Tennessee in their own image, they’ll find that resistance is fierce. American federalism can encompass progressive and conservative enclaves. American polarization reinforces and hardens those bubbles. Teixera and Leyden believe that one side is destined to dominate. Perhaps. But there’s a different option: We could be destined to go our separate ways.“

In which case, the industrial might, productive capacity and number of men under arms…not to mention expertise in weaponry…would rest again with the good guys.

We say, bring it on!!!

And in the Environmental Moment, courtesy today of Townhall.com, Tim Meads reports how an…

Environmentalist Burns Himself to Death to Protest Fossil Fuels

“The New York Post reports that environmental activist and legal expert David Buckel has committed suicide in the name of environmentalism. The high profile lawyer, who made a name for himself as a prolific gay and transgender rights attorney, set himself on fire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park earlier today…”

Whatta ya call a lawyer, an environmental activist and a gay/transgendered “rights” advocate  going off a cliff in a bus?  A good start!  All three in the same seat is almost as good as hitting the trifecta at the track.

Seriously, with very few exceptions (and this ain’t one of them), suicide is a massive manifestation of mental instability.  And having exited this life, as Bill Meisen noted, by the method which created the largest carbon footprint possible, Buckel’s act of self-immolation in the name environmental awareness just confirms our contention Progressivism is a mental disorder.  

Which brings us to The Lighter Side:

Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with another sordid story straight from the pages of The Crime Blotter, as…

‘Slender Man’ crime photos show blood-soaked clothing, kitchen knife used in attack

“‘K’ is for ‘knife’…which comes before “Kudos”, “M&Ms” or “notebook”.

Now if only the two young lassies involved…

…had used a gun, THAT would have been deemed more newsworthy by the MSM.

For those unfamiliar with this attempted homicide, the Wisconsin police just released crime scene photos showing the evidence related to the 2014 stabbing, when two 12-year-old girls attempted to kill a 12-year-old classmate in order to please a fictional horror character named “Slender Man.”

The photos from the so-called “Slender Man” stabbing were published once Morgan Geyser, 15, and Anissa Weier, 16, began serving their 40-year and 25-year respective sentences in a mental hospital, the girls having admitted to stabbing Payton Leutner in order to become Slender Man’s “proxies,” or servants, and protect their families from the fictional character.

Soooo…going back to our opening, tell us again how it’s the fault of guns rather than the culture?!?

Then please explain, if appropriating America’s (and, given The Left’s efforts at repealing the 2nd Amendment, rapidly rising) over 310,000,ooo firearms  is well nigh impossible, how does The Left propose to organize the confiscation of the literally unlimited knives in the United States, particularly as FBI statistics indicate the presence of the latter currently kills more of our fellow citizens than rifles…including the already infamous AR-15?!?

Just askin’…a question to which Progressives have no answer!

Magoo