It’s Wednesday, July 8th, 2020…but before we begin, do these these figures pulled from a recent USA Today poll surprise anyone?
“Almost 9 of 10 Trump voters, 87%, said the United States was the greatest or one of the greatest countries in the world. Almost 6 in 10 Biden voters, 59%, said it was average, has fallen behind or is one of the worst.“
One thing’s for certain, the subject of this video forwarded by Mark Foster ain’t one of the latter:
Now, here’s The Gouge!
First up, a video forwarded by Chuck Sachs which gives you a view of what’s coming soon to a city/country VERY near and dear to you if Groper Joe awakens in the West Wing the morning of January 21st, 2021. Although the video is a bit lengthy, it’s well worth your time, providing as it does not only a window into the minds of the mindless, but how Progressives bully those without the legal knowledge and financial wherewithal to force their hand. We found the reporter’s analysis of the tactics used by The Mob at the 7:24 mark of particular interest.
There you have it: the law-abiding are harassed, verbally and physically, and prevented from exercising their rights, while the law-breaking are coddled, indulged and protected.
Speaking of the latter, courtesy of our old friend and classmate Breeze Gould, Breitbart reports on the latest victim of systemic racism in America, as a…
“…Anthony Smith, 42-years-old, was arrested this week after he had been released to live in a halfway house following a 25-year prison sentence for felony murder, according to the Hartford Courant. Smith, police said, was living in the halfway house and signing out every day to go to work at a warehouse. Smith, police allege, was not going to work.
On one occasion, Smith traveled to Stafford, Connecticut, to visit a woman he had previously been in a relationship with. The woman claims Smith raped her and said he was a key player in the region’s drug trade.
Smith was arrested for the alleged rape and for violating the terms of his parole. While being strip searched to re-enter prison, police said Smith had stuffed 58 bags of crack cocaine in his bottom. Smith allegedly admitted to police that he had returned to selling drugs while living in the halfway house…”
Soooo…he WAS going to work…just not in a warehouse!
“The woman told police she met Smith when she worked as a correction officer, fell in love with him and ultimately quit her job to be with him. Upon his release from prison, he decided he did not want to see only her and began spending time with other women, according to the warrant.
…Smith told state police “he turned to selling drugs again because he needed money for car payments and car insurance and the bills were piling up and that is what he did before he went to prison,” according to one of the warrants for his arrest.“
Hey, when somethin’ works, stick with it. This sordid story literally reeks of poor judgement and choices, which, as our old friend Daniel Francis so often observes, are the primary reasons for a particular person’s circumstances. And, absent any evidence either way, we’d be willing to bet a sizable sum both Smith’s murder and rape victims shared his skin color. Thus confirming Black LIVES don’t matter, only self-serving Black LIES.
Then there’s those unfortunates who, because of the wanton, cowardly acts of others, never have the chance to make choices, as FOX News reports two…
“It’s a hallmark gang-style shooting,” Delano Police Chief Robert Nevarez told the station. “The suspect arrives in a tan Toyota Corolla or Camry, and according to some witnesses one of the persons got out of the vehicle and went into the yard area and began firing and then quickly left.”
Yet, as the article goes on to state:
“Many of the people who attended the party are refusing to cooperate with police, Nevarez told KGET. He said that “makes it very difficult for use to solve this and break up this cycle of violence.”…”
Hells bells, even the aunt of one victim and best friend to the mother of the other refused to acknowledge the obvious, stating “My response to that is it’s not gang-related.” No, the shooters were likely bird hunters who errantly sprayed the crowd with 9mm birdshot when their intended target flew past the party.
This is one case where truly, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. And what holds true in Delano is of exponentially-increased importance in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Baltimore, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
Next, another misguided Republican furthers a false narrative by turning inconsequential molehills into supposedly life-changing mountains, the latest being California Congressman Mike Garcia’s commentary at the WSJ, in which he advocates we…
As Congressman Garcia expands upon his tortured reasoning, allow us to offer corrective comments in green parentheticals.
“Matthew Fontaine Maury isn’t a household name, but an active naval vessel and a building at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., are named for him. That should change. (Uh,…no, it shouldn’t!)
Maury (1806-73) was 19 when he joined the Navy. For years he navigated the globe, studying the ocean and learning about wind patterns. He became one of the founders of oceanography. (More accurately, the FATHER of modern oceanography!)
He made his mark on the country in another way. At the outset of the Civil War, Maury returned home to Virginia. He resigned his commission, choosing treason, secession and slavery over his oath to the Constitution.(Here’s where Garcia really goes off the rails; but more on that later!)
While fighting for the Confederacy, Maury designed naval mines that sank Union ships. Nothing in the U.S. military should honor his name.
I’m a proud graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. As an F-18 fighter pilot, I flew more than 30 combat missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Sorry, but an F-18 pilot flying “combat missions” during Operation Iraqi Freedom had as much chance of being bagged as a passenger on a flight from BWI to LAX…i.e., Tammy Duckworth!) I know from experience how the military can transform lives and teach leadership. (WTF does THAT have to do with renaming Maury Hall?!?)
That’s why it’s time for the military to rename bases, buildings, vessels and anything else that honors those who fought for the Confederacy. (Again, WTF does THAT have to do with renaming Maury Hall?!?) Their support for slavery was wrong—and calamitous for the country. Some 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, nearly as many as have perished in the nation’s other wars combined. (No, based on Garcia’s informed assessment, some 360,000 AMERICANS died in the War Between the States; the other 258,000 were TRAITORS who chose treason, secession and slavery…even though very few actually owned slaves, let alone more than one!)
Some claim that stripping the rebels’ honors is erasing history. I respectfully disagree. I believe Americans must study history and learn from it; service members are encouraged to read history on their own time, and veterans like me maintain the habit. But studying history doesn’t require honoring Confederate figures. (Neither does reading history of itself convey an understanding of it, as Congressman Garcia confirms!)
Likewise, you can celebrate towering leaders from the past for their contributions to America—such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln—while drawing a firm line against honoring those who fought to destroy America. (We would gently remind Congressman Garcia George Washington owned slaves, while Abraham Lincoln stated for the record, “If I could save the Unionwithout freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I wouldalso do that“!)
(Now comes the crawfishing!) The work of reckoning with the Confederate past is too important to be left to the mob. Vandalism is an affront to the rule of law. Renaming buildings and removing statues must be done in an orderly fashion through legitimate channels.American society is built on laws. Adherence to the law is the only thing that separates any society from barbarism.
This is also why the calls to defund or abolish police departments are outrageous. My stepfather, a member of the Los Angeles Police Department, put his life on the line for every family in our community.(Soooo…your stepfather having been in the LAPD lends expertise to your opinion…how?!? As Kevin Williamson notes at NRO, this is a prime example of why one should never take advice from one-armed paper hangers!) The sacrifices of law enforcement officers and their families too often go unnoticed. (AGAIN, with all due respect to law enforcement officers and their families, WTF does THAT have to do with renaming Maury Hall?!?)
An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that law enforcement needs reform(REALLY…an “overwhelming majority“?!? Can the Congressman source said statistics?) and that abusive officers should be held accountable. But slashing the police budget defies logic and invites disaster.
America’s true heroes are those who fight to preserve order, deliver us from evil and ensure all Americans are treated equally. Pro-slavery secessionists who split the nation in two and killed so many of their countrymen don’t deserve such honors.
Let’s agree on new American heroes to honor.(Ah, the devil’s in the details: precisely HOW are we to agree?!?) This nation knows no shortage of valor.“
In the interest of full disclosure, we contributed to Mike Garcia’s campaign when he stood in a special election to replace Katie Hill, the disgraced Dimocrat who preyed upon her staff for participation in sexual perversion. Absent him correcting his version of history, we won’t be making the same mistake twice.
Here’s the juice…or at least what we deem Garcia’s primary misinterpretation of history to be based upon our experience and learning, having earned a BS in History from the Naval Academy with a focus on the Civil War. As recorded in an earlier edition of The Gouge, though Congressman Garcia may not know it, prior to and during the Civil War, the average American male was fiercely loyal to his native state. Thus did Robert E. Lee write after being offered command of all Union forces in the field:
“I have therefore resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword.”
Thus did Maury, like Lee, follow Old Virginia out of the Union.
And while slavery was certainly an inflammatory issue, States Rights was the source of ignition without which the Civil War would not have burst into flame.
To dismiss the contributions of Maury to the Naval Academy while ignoring the circumstances and history surrounding his decision to fight alongside his native state is sheer ignorance. To suggest Maury chose “treason, secession and slavery over his oath to the Constitution” is character assassination.
Sorry, but if Mike Garcia’s offering the solution, we don’t understand the problem.
Moving on, writing at Best of the Web, Jim Freeman wonders…
“Today’s headline is not referring to your child’s risk of being subjected to unrelenting propaganda. It’s simply intended to question the judgment of colleges like Harvard that have decided to keep most of their students off campus and outside of classrooms this fall.
…Meanwhile on campus, Harvard College is asking most of its students to stay home in the fall and claims that its policy “is supported by extensive modeling by our public health experts.”
Schools like Harvard are perhaps among the last institutions in America that haven’t learned to be wary of making radical changes based on models from public-health experts.
But at least there remains some ability to question the entire premise. Professors from Stanford, Australia’s University of Sydney and Northwestern were not speaking of Harvard but of the modelling field generally when they reported recently:
Epidemic forecasting has a dubious track-record, and its failures became more prominent with COVID-19. Poor data input, wrong modeling assumptions, high sensitivity of estimates, lack of incorporation of epidemiological features, poor past evidence on effects of available interventions, lack of transparency, errors, lack of determinacy, looking at only one or a few dimensions of the problem at hand, lack of expertise in crucial disciplines, groupthink and bandwagon effects and selective reporting are some of the causes of these failures.
Even if one trusts the disease models, have schools like Harvard adequately considered all the costs and benefits of classroom closures for the students they are supposed to serve?
…The good news is that not all elite institutions are going Harvard’s way. The president and provost of Cornell recently explainedin the Journal that by reopening in the fall the school can not only fulfill its educational mission but also screen and treat students in need.
Overall, the cost-benefit analysis found that total costs in lost wages outweigh benefits measured in risk of death reduction by a factor of 14 to 1. The paper also touches on distributional impacts since further school closings would amount to a relatively small cost exacted on a large number of school-age children in exchange for a large benefit for a small number of elderly residents.
“More than nine out of ten COVID deaths in Ohio are among people age sixty and up and we have yet to record a COVID death in Ohio among school-age children,” said Moore. “Meanwhile, the average student loses out on $12,000-27,000 in lifetime earnings by losing four months of schooling. School closings are in essence anintergenerational transfer.”
Overall, the analysts estimate that further school closings would exact $22-37 billion in net social costs to the state when balancing wage losses with risk of death reduction benefits.
Mr. Moore’s study was released June 22. The state of Ohio is currently reporting a cumulative total of two Covid deaths among people under the age of 20. The median age of those dying with the virus is 80.“
Sorry, but at age 80…or, to make this personal, 64…were we to weigh our continued existence against the future well-being of our children…or grandchildren, were TLJ so fortunate any of our three sons ever produce them…
All of which brings to mind this meme:
And which consequently brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:
Then there’s these three from Ed Hickey:
Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with another titillating tale torn from the pages of The Crime Blotter, courtesy today of FOX News and the…
“The brother of an Arkansas mayor was arrested Monday night for allegedly stealing a car with two children inside, a report said. Darrell Lamont Scott — brother of Little Rock mayor Frank Scott, Jr. — hopped into the car as the engine was running in the parking lot outside Baptist Hospital, according to KATV. Scott is accused of driving with the kids to McCain Mall in North Little Rock, where he was later arrested in the parking lot, the report said.
“Don’t worry, I’m the mayor’s brother,” Darell, 31, told the children’s parents after grabbing one of the kids’ cellphones to speak to them after the abduction…”
While we’ve no doubt Darrell Lamont Scott suffers from something…likely as not a deficiency of judgement and common sense…Mayor Frank Scott, Jr.’s response strikes us as more than curious:
Though we’re certain the good mayor and his family care “deeply about him, and we are seeking medical and professional help as he manages this crisis”, we’d respectfully recommend adding legal assistance to the list. As for keeping this kerfuffle private, that particular vessel left port with your brother’s phone call to the parents.
And the phrase “that justice is served” depends on who you believe deserves justice: the kidnapped kids or your whacked-out brother.
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