It’s Monday, November 18th, 2019…but before we begin, Walt Meisen turned us onto the latest example of the insanity increasingly endemic in the politically-correct People’s Republic of Portlandia:

Portland Bans Urinals to Respect ‘Shared Values,’ Charges Taxpayers $200M.

“I am convinced that this is the right way to ensure success as your employer, remove arbitrary barriers in our community, and provide leadership that is reflective of our shared values.” – Portland Chief Administrative Officer Tom Rinehart

In the interest of full disclosure (how we HATE inaccurate, overhyped headlines!!!), Portland has neither banned urinals nor spent $200,ooo,ooo of its taxpayers’ funds removing them.

Rather, the city spent $195M renovating a downtown city office building, the details of which are as follows:

“…the hipster town sent out an email to city employees last February regarding the remodeled public Portland Building:

We will continue to have gender-specific (male and female) multi-stall restrooms that are readily available to any employee that prefers to use one. But, there will be no urinals in any restroom in the building. This will give us the flexibility we need for any future changes in signage.

Therefore, urinals are banned, even in the Men’s room. (Paris has theopposite idea — see here.)

It shouldn’t be so, but we all know it’s true: Prepare to have a whoooole lot more urine on the toilet seats.

…As noted by talk show host Lars Larson:

Finally, in a place constantly lecturing us about protecting the environment (you know, plastic straws etc) this will waste a tremendous amount of water
.  I checked and most urinals take as little as a pint of water per flush (1/8 gallon).  Even “modern” toilets flush with more than a gallon of water.  Some “no flush” urinals use no water at all. Multiply this by hundreds of thousands of flushes a year. Figure out how this makes sense.

Here’s more on the Portland Building: As reported by KGW 8, every floor will have at least one any-gender restroom.

The 1st, 34th, and 15th floors will sport multi-stall bathrooms so men and women can take dumps together.

‘Cause that’s what everybody wants, apparently…”

To borrow from James Louis Petigru’s observation upon South Carolina’s 1860 secession, Portland is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum…though it is far closer to the latter than the former, as the operation of a republic is dependent upon the rule of law. 

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, Bill Barr demonstrates why taking Jeff Sessions out of the Senate was perhaps the biggest mistake The Donald ever made:

Though, in Trump’s defense, The Left would undoubtedly have seized upon another asinine excuse against which the forces of political common sense would have been compelled to triumph:

One thing’s for certain: it would surely have been tough…if not impossible…

…for an Obama appointee to disagree with the at-will employment status of overseas ambassadors.

As for Stewart’s prediction the current impeachment farce will ultimately benefit The Donald, Balls Cotton forwarded this photo of at least one person…you’ll pardon his French…who believes him:

Meanwhile, the GOP’s Energizer Bunny and his 35-year-old incredibly erudite ingénue continue to impress:

As for Elise Stefanik…

…darling…

She’s exactly what, after decades of the Bushes, Boehner, Romney and Ryan, the GOP needs!!!

And in the EnvironMental Moment, courtesy today of Watts Up With That via Jeff Foutch, as Thomas Bjorklund of the University of Houston’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences informs us…

170 Years of Earth Surface Temperature Data Show No Evidence of Significant Warming

“Key Points

1. From 1850 to the present, the noise-corrected, average warming of the surface of the earth is less than 0.07 degrees C per decade.

2. The rate of warming of the surface of the earth does not correlate with the rate of increase of fossil fuel emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere.

3. Recent increases in surface temperatures reflect 40 years of increasing intensities of the El Nino Southern Oscillation climate pattern…”

Guess the science isn’t nearly so settled as the devoted, deluded disciples of St. Greta…

…would have us believe.

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

Then there’s this series of Clinton memes from George Lawlor:

Finally, we’ll call it a day with yet another titillating tale torn from the pages of The Crime Blotter, and the antics of a rather willful young Washingtonian:

Washington girl, 14, charged with leading police on 100 mph chase while driving impaired

“Washington state police say a 14-year-old girl led them on a high-speed chase that ended with the girl’s arrest on charges of eluding police and driving under the influence.

Washington State Patrol said the incident began around 12:30 a.m. Friday when an SUV sped off after a trooper tried to stop it in Puyallup, about 35 miles south of Seattle…Troopers deployed spike strips to deflate the speeding suspect’s tires, according to the station.

Batiste told the station the SUV then crashed near a mall and the driver and a passenger got out and tried to run. They were caught a short time later…The passenger was also a 14-year-old who was being sought by authorities as a runaway, the station reported…”

We could be wrong…and we sincerely hope we are…but something tells us the lyrics of Timbuk 3’s one-hit wonder…

…will never apply to the Puyallup’s adolescent version of Thelma and Louise.

Magoo