It’s Friday, September 6th, 2019…but before we begin, we present a must-see video forwarded by Jeff Foutch which puts Progressive opposition to the 2nd Amendment into proper perspective:

Let that sink in: Socialists support the “rights” of criminal, illegal aliens (a term which is in fact redundant, as by definition all illegal aliens are criminals) over freedoms guaranteed American citizens under the Constitution.  Is it any wonder, as Jim Geraghty notes in our Quote of the Day at the top of the page, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors sees no inconsistency in catering to the lawless while condemning the law-abiding?!?

Then again, not only don’t AR-15s vote, but we doubt many of their owners reside in the Cesspool by the Bay.

Oh,…and we’ll NEVER shop in a Walmart…

…again!!!

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, courtesy of Powerline via Tom Bakke, John Hinderaker echoes what Kevin Williamson oberved earlier this week, as he offers…

Some Comments on Guns

“…contrary to popular belief, the U.S. is not home to an unusual number of mass shootings. Rather, we are a very large country. On a per capita basis, as of a few months ago the U.S. ranked 56th in the world in mass shootings (as defined by the FBI) and 61st in per capita deaths in mass shootings. Gun laws have nothing to do with these numbers. In the US, some of the states with the highest rates of gun ownership, like Idaho, also have the lowest homicide rates. (While cities and states with the most-restrictive gun laws have the highest homicide rates!)

Fourth, liberals are, as usual, advocating policies that will do no good. Mostly, they want to ban certain categories of semiautomatic rifles, based on random, largely-aesthetic criteria that supposedly make them “assault weapons.” Such a ban was tried during the 1990s. It did no good and was abandoned. Rifles–not just AR15s, but all rifles–are among the least popular of murder weapons. Four times as many Americans are murdered with knives as with all rifles combined (not just “assault weapons”). More Americans are murdered with both blunt objects and bare hands than with rifles. Nor are “assault weapons” uniquely valuable to would-be mass shooters. Semiautomatic pistols and other semiautomatic rifles (like my Marlin 60, a rifle that, here in the Midwest, fathers often give to their sons as a 16th birthday present) can fire just as fast and are just as deadly. My guess is that today’s Supreme Court would reject an “assault weapons” ban as an irrational infringement of a fundamental constitutional right…”

In a related item from the WSJ via NRO‘s Jack Crowe…

“Authorities believe the gun used in the drive-by shooting in Midland and Odessa, Texas this past weekend was illegally manufactured and sold by a Lubbock, Texas man…”

Let’s see if, unlike the perpetrators of so many other illegal straw purchase/sales, the powers-that-be actually go after this guy to the fullest extent of the law.

Moving on, as FOX News recently reported…

California’s Newsom signs bill allowing citizens to refuse to help a police officer

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, on Tuesday signed a bill that no longer requires any “able-bodied person 18 years of age or older” in the state to help an officer who requests assistance during an arrest.

The Sacramento Bee reported that the old law, the California Posse Comitatus Act of 1872, was common in the country’s early days, but Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a Los Angeles Democrat who sponsored the bill, called the old law a “vestige of a bygone era.” The law was employed to help catch runaway slaves, the report said…”

And if the “report” said it, it must be true, right?!?

After all, it makes sense…since runaway slaves presented such a problem…in California…in 1872…seven years after the Civil War ended and passage of the 13th Amendment specifically outlawed slavery.  This is what happens when those tasked with informing us are ignorant of the facts.

Since we’re on the subject of the willfully blind leading the deliberately dumb, also courtesy of NRO, Rich Lowry lists…

Five Things They Don’t Tell You about Slavery *

It didn’t begin or end in the United States.

* You know,…like the truth!

“The same people most obsessed with slavery seem to have little interest in the full scope of its history.

There has been an effort for decades now — although with new momentum lately, as exemplified by the New York Times’ 1619 project — to identify the United States and its founding with slavery.

To the extent that this campaign excavates uncomfortable truths about our history and underlines the central role of African Americans in our nation, it is welcome. But it is often intended to undermine the legitimacy of America itself by effacing what makes it distinctive and good.

Yes, slavery and racial prejudice were our great original sins. (Though, at the time, neither a truly original nor exclusive sin.) It would have been better if we had, like the British, been leaders against the slave trade and for abolition (the representation of slaveholders in Congress and the rise of King Cotton forestalled this).  But we didn’t invent slavery, even in its race-based form.

Slavery didn’t make us unique, which is obvious if we consider its history in a little broader context. Critics of the American Founding don’t like to do this because it weakens their case and quickly brings them up against politically inconvenient facts that they’d prefer to pass over in silence.

Let’s dwell, then, on a few things they don’t tell us about slavery. None of these are secrets or are hard to find, but they are usually left out or minimized, since they don’t involve self-criticism and, worse, they entail a critical look at societies or cultures that the Left tends to favor vis-à-vis the West.

None of what follows is meant to excuse the practice of slavery in the United States, or its longevity. Nor is it to deny that the Atlantic slave trade was one of history’s great enormities, subjecting millions to mistreatment so horrifying that it is hard to fathom. But if we are to understand the history of slavery, it’s important to know what happened before 1619 and what happened elsewhere besides America.

1. Through much of human history, slavery was ubiquitous and unquestioned

2. The East African slave trade lasted into the 20th century

3. Islam was a great conveyor belt of slavery (and remains so!)

4. The Atlantic slave trade would have been impossible without African cooperation 

5. Brazil took the lion’s share of slaves from the Atlantic slave trade

…To repeat, none of this justifies American cruelty and hypocrisy across the centuries. It does suggest, however, that an appropriate perspective should take full account of all that sets us apart, which emphatically wasn’t chattel slavery.

None of the other societies tainted by slavery produced the Declaration of Independence, a Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton, the U.S. Constitution, or a tradition of liberty that inspired people around the world for centuries. If we don’t keep that in mind, as well as the broader context of slavery, we aren’t giving this country — or history — its due.“

Which is precisely what Dimocrats desire. 

Then there’s this from Newsday.com courtesy of George Lawlor, as we learn…

New York State to consider ‘mental health days’ for students in wake of rising suicide rates

“…“We need to recognize suicide and self-harm among young New Yorkers as the major public health crisis that it is, demolish the stigma around mental health care, and do everything within our power to help kids who are struggling seek treatment,” said Hoylman (D-Manhattan). “An absence from school should never be a barrier to mental health treatment for a child in New York State.”

…“The senator is spot on in terms of recognizing this issue,” said David Albert, spokesman for the state School Boards Association. “We do believe very strongly that mental health is every bit as important as physical health”…”

Which, of course, is why “educators” such as David Alpert and the New York School Boards Association no longer support Physical Education classes.

Just so we understand this, the parent(s) of a kid struggling with suicide won’t pull their child out of school to get treatment…or the kid wouldn’t skip school themselves…without the state’s permission?  Seriously?!?  Such Educated Idiots are truly legends in their own minds.

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

Then there’s this instant classic from Fielding Cocke…

…along with a lesson in Liberal geography from Ed Hickey:

Finally, we’ll call it a week with two telling videos from John Stossel.  First, consider these…

…then compare them with the difficulties facing legitimate business people in corrupt, Progressive-controlled municipalities in America…

…and you tell us: is there really any difference between foreign corruptocrats and domestic Dimocrats?

Magoo