{"id":100647,"date":"2022-03-10T18:04:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T23:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=100647"},"modified":"2022-03-10T18:04:35","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T23:04:35","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-wednesday-march-9th-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=100647","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Wednesday, March 9th, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>It&#8217;s Wednesday, March 9th, 2022&#8230;but before we begin, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/oil-buyers-paying-record-premiums-for-prompt-deliveries-11646518865?mod=livecoverage_web\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>oil tops $130\/barrel<\/em><\/span><\/a> and the price of gasoline <a href=\"https:\/\/townhall.com\/tipsheet\/juliorosas\/2022\/03\/07\/this-is-how-much-gas-prices-have-risen-in-one-week-n2604198\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>skyrockets more than 40 cents\/gallon in a week<\/em><\/span><\/a>, the Biden clown car is looking to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Iran<\/em><\/span> to meet America&#8217;s energy needs. oil.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Which of course fairly screams the question why we&#8217;re not increasing domestic production?!?\u00a0 Oh,&#8230;we&#8217;re in a &#8220;transition&#8221;:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Biden\u2019s Energy Secretary on high gas prices:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re working through an energy transition&#8230;The reality is, we have to take some time to get off of oil and gas, we recognize this. This is a transition.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZOCJIdZCa5\">pic.twitter.com\/ZOCJIdZCa5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RNCResearch\/status\/1499227127043997700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Let&#8217;s be clear on something, people: Those inflicting this fiscal pain upon us <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>don&#8217;t even drive<\/em><\/span>!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/POJF7Opftzs\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>With prices like these&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_5127.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100628\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_5127.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"315\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_5127.jpg 315w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_5127-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 315px) 100vw, 315px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;this meme from James Patrick grows closer to reality every day:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Crilley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100627\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Crilley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Crilley.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Crilley-300x139.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>We&#8217;ll leave the last word on this insanity to Speed:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/image000000-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100640\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/image000000-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/image000000-1.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/image000000-1-300x291.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Now, here&#8217;s <em>The Gouge<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>First up, <\/strong><strong>the great Victor Davis Hanson assays&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"entry-title\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/vladimir-putin-the-latest-of-the-failed-irredentists\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\">Vladimir Putin: The Latest of the Failed Irredentists<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/140811_r25325.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100642\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/140811_r25325.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"311\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/140811_r25325.png 311w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/140811_r25325-222x300.png 222w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 311px) 100vw, 311px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Irredentism\u2014the romance of reclaiming \u201cunredeemed\u201d old lands\u2014is a symptom of messianic presidents and premiers, and national paranoia and insecurity. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Leaders demagogue about the recovery of ancient territories that previously had weakened the nation\u2019s imperial grandeur and power.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Supposedly long-scattered and oppressed peoples with common linguistic, religious, and cultural affinities are recombined\u2014usually by violently overthrowing their contemporary governments and forcing them into a new ethnic super state. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Yet irredentism is often a one-way street.<\/span> Supposedly homeless expatriates\u2014the Greeks of Constantinople, Italians in Malta, Germans in the Sudetenland, Serbs in Bosnia, and Russians in Ukraine\u2014are said to be even more zealous nationalists than their kindred in the motherland. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">But just as often the territory to be reunited in a grand imperial scheme can be more reluctant than the would-be uniter.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8230;<\/span><strong>China is watching the fate of Ukraine. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">If it is crushed and Putin reasserts his power abroad, then Beijing sees a pathway to absorbing what would be left of a much smaller Taiwan.<\/span> But if a larger Ukraine survives and Putin is permanently crippled, then Xi Jinping may worry that the Taiwanese could fight like Ukrainians, that China might be sanctioned and ostracized like Russia, that new deadly weapons will be airdropped into Taiwan. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">He may recall that unlike Russia and Ukraine there is a sea between China and Taiwan\u2014and that a moonscaped Taiwan would not be worth the cost that Putin may pay for Ukraine.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Finally, despite U.S. lethargy last autumn, Putin can still at this 11th hour be stymied without a U.S. \u201cno-fly zone,\u201d without sending American\u00a0A-10 Warthogs\u00a0to Ukraine, and without using NATO \u201cvolunteers.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">How surreal the Left has become.<\/span> From Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2009 \u201creset\u201d to Barack Obama\u2019s hot mic buffoonery, to blankets for Ukraine \u00a0and applause for Biden\u2019s recent request that Russia pump more oil and hack only approved U.S. companies and institutions, the Left <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">repeatedly has appeased Putin<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Yet <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>now<\/em><\/span> the Left <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>accuses its critics<\/em><\/span> of pro-Putin pacifist sympathies!<\/span> It is almost as if after spending a decade ensuring a Russian invasion of Ukraine and refusing to pump more oil and gas, the schizophrenic Left now wishes to risk a pre-midterm nuclear showdown.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>It would be far wiser to quietly send far more weapons, to produce far more oil, to enact far more sanctions\u2014and to stop the\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2022\/mar\/04\/lindsey-graham-suggests-putin-assassination-russia-ukraine\">loud assassination<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0and NATO interventionist tough talk.<\/strong><\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p><strong>In an item which is both related <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span><\/em> incredible,\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em>NRO<\/em>&#8216;s Andy McCarthy details how&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"article-header__title\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/russia-and-iran-taunt-biden-in-humiliating-revival-of-nuclear-deal\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #333399;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">Russia and Iran Taunt Biden in Humiliating Revival of Nuclear Deal<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/67y5rh.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100654\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/67y5rh.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/67y5rh.jpeg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/67y5rh-300x250.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Last week,\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2022\/02\/missing-the-point-on-swift-sanctions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I posited<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0that the Biden administration was soft-pedaling SWIFT sanctions because it does not want to discuss\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>why<\/em><\/span>\u00a0the United States is not in a position to boot Russia from the telecommunication system that facilitates global commerce and finance: The United States government has willfully entangled itself in\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/more-thoughts-on-bidens-sanctions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dependence on Putin\u2019s regime<\/a><\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">This is particularly so in the realms of energy and foreign relations.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>It hasn\u2019t taken long for a textbook example of this idiocy to leap to the fore.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2022\/03\/bidens-dangerous-iran-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As NR\u2019s editors have noted this week<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #008000;\">(and this is Biden idiocy to the nth degree), the administration is desperate to forge a new and \u201cimproved\u201d version of Obama\u2019s disastrous Iran nuclear deal.<\/span> There is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>no good reason<\/em><\/span> for this; it is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>yet another<\/em><\/span> case of \u201cbecause <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Trump reversed<\/span><\/em> something that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Obama did<\/em><\/span>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Biden must reinstate it<\/em><\/span>.\u201d <span style=\"color: #008000;\">It doesn\u2019t matter how apparent it is that Trump reversed the deal <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>because it was both reckless and unpopular<\/em><\/span> or even that the recklessness of reinstating it will make Biden more unpopular.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Tehran understands this well, and in its \u201cDeath to America\u201d contempt for our feckless government, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>humiliates Biden by refusing to meet directly with his envoy<\/em><\/span>, appeasement aficionado Rob Malley. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">The Biden administration is thus forced to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>grovel and plead<\/em><\/span> for the intercession of Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime, which (along with China) is Iran\u2019s patron.<\/span> This is especially delicious for the mullahs now: They know that, on the world stage, Biden is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>trying<\/em><\/span> to play hard-ass against Putin regarding Ukraine, echoing Biden\u2019s legend-in-his-own-mind routine on the 2020 campaign trail; yet, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>in reality<\/em><\/span>, Biden is a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>five-alarm phony<\/em><\/span> who, behind the scenes, is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>actively colluding with Moscow<\/em><\/span> to get a new Iran nuke deal done.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">The Kremlin, of course, knows this, too.<\/span> Indeed, the Kremlin knows that while Biden is desperate for a new Iran deal, he can\u2019t afford to acknowledge that it <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>is<\/em><\/span> a\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>new<\/em><\/span>\u00a0Iran deal. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">Under U.S. law \u2014 the inconvenient though largely toothless Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) of 2015 \u2014 Biden would have to present a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>new<\/em><\/span> Iran deal <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>to Congress<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> Consequently, the president must <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>pretend<\/em><\/span> that all he is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>really<\/em><\/span> doing is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>reinstating<\/em><\/span> the already INARA-approved JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as Obama\u2019s Iran nuclear deal was called).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>This<\/em><\/span> is a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>lie<\/em><\/span>: The Biden deal has <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>brand new terms<\/em><\/span>, such as sanctions relief for terrorists who have mass-murdered hundreds of Americans, that make it even more of a catastrophic capitulation than was the JCPOA.<\/span> But Biden does not want to call attention to the terms of his sellout by asking Congress to bless them, so he is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>pretending<\/em><\/span> that his deal merely reinstates the JCPOA and therefore needs no sign-off from lawmakers.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Putin is now delighting in Biden\u2019s self-made predicament: Incredibly, the U.S. president has put himself in the position of needing not <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>one<\/em><\/span> but <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>three<\/em><\/span> banes of U.S. security \u2014 Russia, Iran, and the JCPOA.<\/span> And for <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Putin<\/em><\/span> it gets <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>even better<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>See, the JCPOA\u2019s terms call for <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>extensive Russian participation and commerce<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/iran-nuclear-deal-threatened-by-russian-demands-over-ukraine-sanctions-11646487044?mod=e2tw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As the\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0points out today<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #008000;\">, this includes \u201creceiving enriched uranium from Iran and exchanging it for yellowcake, work to turn Iran\u2019s Fordow nuclear facility into a research center and other nuclear-specific deliveries to Tehran\u2019s facilities.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Yes,\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2022\/03\/biden-colludes-with-russia-on-a-new-more-disastrous-iran-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">as I related this week<\/a><\/em><\/span>, even as Putin is murdering civilians&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/biden.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100657\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/biden.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/biden.png 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/biden-300x196.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>&#8230;in his unprovoked Ukraine invasion, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Biden is cutting a deal that would have Iran park its enriched uranium in Russia<\/em><\/span> \u2014 with the proviso that Iran gets the uranium back <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>if Putin and the mullahs decide<\/em><\/span> the U.S. has not held up its end of Biden\u2019s boneheaded bargain.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">But let\u2019s put that mind-bender aside if we can for a moment.<\/span> For immediate purposes, the point is that Biden is trying to convince our country and the world that his administration is serious about sanctions that will strangle Putin into abandoning his aggression in Ukraine. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">Yet, if harsh sanctions are really in place, then Biden cannot have his pretend JCPOA reinstatement because Russia would not be permitted to conduct the commerce the JCPOA prescribes.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>So, as you\u2019d expect, today, Russia\u2019s foreign minister Sergei (<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/remembering-obamas-russia-reset-hillary-and-the-skolkovo-misadventure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This-is-even-more-fun-than-picking-Hillary\u2019s-pocket<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span>) Lavrov <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>demanded written guarantees<\/em><\/span> from the Biden administration that its <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Ukraine-related sanctions will not interfere with the Russian commerce with Iran and other nations that is central to the operation of the JCPOA<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">What a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>perfect storm<\/em><\/span> of American <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>amateur hour and embarrassment<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> And what an <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>inexcusable blow<\/em><\/span> to American national security.<\/strong><\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not to mention America&#8217;s international standing.\u00a0 For more on the subject, we highly recommend this article Jeff Foutch forwarded from <em>Frontpage Magazine<\/em> entitled:\u00a0<\/strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontpagemag.com\/fpm\/2022\/03\/heres-your-russian-collusion-biden-working-russia-robert-spencer\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Here\u2019s Your Russian Collusion: Biden Working with Russia on New Iran Nuke Deal<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Since we&#8217;re on the subject of humiliation, just when you thought America&#8217;s position in the world couldn&#8217;t sink any lower, the <em>Journal<\/em> is reporting while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/saudi-emirati-leaders-decline-calls-with-biden-during-ukraine-crisis-11646779430?mod=djemalertNEWS\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. declined requests to speak to Biden during the Ukraine crisis<\/em><\/span><\/a>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>both<\/em><\/span> took calls from <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Putin<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Meanwhile, as the <em>Morning Jolt<\/em> reminds us, it turns out&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"article-header__title\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-morning-jolt\/the-russia-hawks-were-right\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=MJ_20220308&amp;utm_term=Jolt-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #008000; text-decoration: underline;\">The Russia Hawks Were Right<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/putin-copy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100643\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/putin-copy.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/putin-copy.png 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/putin-copy-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;&#8230;<span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Anger over the loss of blood and treasure in Iraq and Afghanistan is easily justified, as is fury over U.S. inability to guide either country to a smooth and stable future. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">No serious observer of American foreign policy can deny that over the past 20 to 30 years, the U.S. has made extraordinarily consequential mistakes.<\/span> The U.S. government has demonstrated an ability to win wars in the form of destroying enemy forces, but not an ability to turn a defeated territory into a stable country, run by a competent and decent government. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">(The Iraq of 2022 is a big step up from the regime of Saddam Hussein,<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/middle-east\/n-africa\/iraq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">but still has a long way to go<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\">.)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>But the world beyond our borders will not just go away, and it is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>deadly na\u00efvete<\/em><\/span> to think that the world\u2019s motley crew of thugs, brutes, and other menaces \u2014 from powerful autocrats such as Putin and Xi Jinping; to rogue states such as North Korea and Iran; to terror groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS; to transnational criminal groups such as drug cartels, organized crime, or private-mercenary groups \u2014 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>will ever just go away<\/em><\/span> and not be a threat to Americans at home or abroad. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">The world is full of bullies who can only be deterred by a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>metaphorical<\/em><\/span> punch in the face, or by the fear of a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>literal<\/em><\/span> punch in the face.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">No, not every problem in the larger world ends up coming over here. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">But not every problem stays out there, either.<\/span> Recent history is full of bloody examples of what happens when the U.S. either decides to stay out of a consequential conflict entirely or foolishly believes that it can trust a hostile force<\/span><\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">The world has no shortage of evil people \u2014 rulers who see weakness in neighboring states and seek to conquer them, raping and pillaging, building or rebuilding empires atop the backs of subjugated neighbors.<\/span> The world has simmering ethnic hatreds and madmen who dream of genocide, and angry young men (and sometimes women!) who find meaning by joining up with extremist movements and lashing out violently against innocent people.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">The presence in the world of rulers, regimes, factions, and movements that we would define as evil is a cold, hard fact, and one that I suspect many people instinctively turn away from, preferring to believe we\u2019ve left that kind of wanton malevolence behind in the darker chapters of our history books.<\/span> The idea that someone powerful would <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>deliberately<\/em><\/span> hurt others, just because they can, is frightening; it\u2019s better to conclude that everyone is always acting out of <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>rational self-interest<\/em><\/span>, and that if we just approach them with the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>right combination<\/em><\/span> of carrots and sticks, they will <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">calm down and be reasonable<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">(<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/opinions\/1994\/06\/24\/peace-in-our-time\/b1ab38ac-b07a-4726-8d80-b933813535b2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">Senator William Borah reportedly said<\/a><\/em><\/span>, upon learning that Germany had invaded Poland in September 1939, \u201cIf only I could have talked with Hitler, all this might have been avoided.\u201d)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>You can find foreign-policy thinkers who will turn themselves inside out to argue that every attack on Americans or American interests traces back to some sort of U.S. \u201cprovocation.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>It\u2019s always our fault; as Jeanne Kirkpatrick accurately noted, \u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/ALLPOLITICS\/1996\/conventions\/san.diego\/facts\/GOP.speeches.past\/84.kirkpatrick.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">They always blame America first<\/a><\/em><\/span>.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>You know what\u2019s great about hawks? <span style=\"color: #800000;\">We <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>never<\/em><\/span> blame America first.<\/span> (Admittedly, it\u2019s rare that we ever get around to blaming America for anything at all.) <span style=\"color: #800000;\">Hawks rarely get blindsided.<\/span> Hawks will almost never look at a simmering potential crisis overseas and conclude, \u201cEh, it\u2019s not that bad.\u201d <span style=\"color: #800000;\">We don\u2019t count on luck or on problems to solve themselves.<\/span> Maybe we do come across as paranoid, but it\u2019s partially because we have long memories.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">We generally believe that deterrence is the best policy; if you have sufficient military assets in a geopolitical neighborhood, and everyone believes you\u2019re willing to use those military assets in that geopolitical neighborhood, very few people want to start a fight with you or your allies.<\/span> You don\u2019t see many thieves robbing the doughnut shop across the street from a police station.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">After Russia invaded Ukraine, Kerry, now the president\u2019s special envoy on climate change,\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.memri.org\/tv\/john-kerry-bbc-arabic-ukraine-crisis-distract-world-from-climate-crisis-massive-emissions-consequences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">declared<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0that, \u201cI\u2019m very concerned about, I\u2019m concerned about Ukraine because of the people of Ukraine and because of the principles that are at risk, in terms of international law and trying to change boundaries of international law by force.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>I thought<\/em><\/span> we lived in a world that had <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>said no<\/em><\/span> to that kind of activity.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Remember<\/em><\/span>, Russia seized Crimea\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">on Kerry\u2019s watch<\/i><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">And yet Kerry <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>now<\/em><\/span> has <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>the gall<\/em><\/span> to exclaim that he \u201c<\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2020\/08\/10\/russia-invasion-georgia-12-years-no-end-ambassador-david-bakradze-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">thought we lived in a world that had said no to that kind of activity<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Many countries <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>say<\/em><\/span> \u201cno to that kind of activity\u201d \u2014 141 of the 193 member states of the United Nations, to be precise. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">But <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">35 abstained<\/span><\/em> on the resolution denouncing the invasion of Ukraine and demanding a withdrawal of its forces, and Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, and Syria <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>opposed<\/em><\/span> it.<\/span> A world that is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>73 percent opposed<\/em><\/span> to territorial conquest is a world that is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>still going to have attempts at territorial conquest<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">It is good that world opinion overwhelmingly denounces Russia.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>But world opinion doesn\u2019t stop tanks and planes and ships<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">It is not enough for the world to say \u201cno to that kind of activity\u201d; the consequential question is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>what the world is willing to do in the face of that kind of activity<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Hawks also rarely underestimate foes. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">In December 2016, outgoing President Obama was asked about Russian attempts to influence the previous presidential election,\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov\/the-press-office\/2016\/12\/16\/press-conference-president\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">and characterized Russia as a flailing, spent force<\/a><\/em><\/span>: \u201cThe Russians can\u2019t change us or significantly weaken us.<\/span> They are a smaller country. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">They are a weaker country.<\/span> Their economy doesn\u2019t produce anything that anybody wants to buy, except oil and gas and arms. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">They don\u2019t innovate.\u201d<\/span> As Benjamin Haddad and Alina Polyakova summarized in 2018, \u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/blog\/order-from-chaos\/2018\/03\/05\/dont-rehabilitate-obama-on-russia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Though Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was the final nail in the coffin<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0of the \u2018Reset,\u2019 President Obama remained reluctant to view Moscow as anything more than a local spoiler, and thought the whole mess was best handled by Europeans.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>And in a 2016 interview,\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2016\/04\/the-obama-doctrine\/471525\/#3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">Obama insisted that Russia\u2019s use of military force was a sign of weakness, not strength<\/a><\/em><\/span>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><em>The notion that somehow Russia is in a stronger position now, in Syria or in Ukraine, than they were before they invaded Ukraine or before he had to deploy military forces to Syria is to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">fundamentally misunderstand the nature of power<\/span> in foreign affairs or in the world generally. <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Real power<\/span> means you can get what you want <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">without having to exert violence<\/span>.<\/span> Russia was much more powerful when Ukraine looked like an independent country but was a kleptocracy that he could pull the strings on.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>In retrospect, Obama\u2019s worldview was infuriatingly na\u00efve, a denial of difficult facts, and a more eloquent version of Kerry\u2019s insistence that we live in \u201ca world that had said no to that kind of activity.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>\u201cIf you want peace, prepare for war\u201d \u2014 it is <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">so simple<\/span><\/em> and yet <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>so counterintuitive<\/em><\/span>, at least to significant swaths of Americans.<\/strong><\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p><strong>As the infamous Donald B. so often observed, there are <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>none so blind<\/em><\/span> as those who <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>will not<\/em><\/span> see.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Turning from the simple yet counterintuitive to something as plain as the Hammer &amp; Sickle on Obama&#8217;s lapel, <em>Best of the Web<\/em>\u00a0highlights&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"wsj-article-headline\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-forced-isolation-of-children-in-the-covid-era-11646770020?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #800000;\">The Forced Isolation of Children in the Covid Era<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<h3 class=\"sub-head\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-forced-isolation-of-children-in-the-covid-era-11646770020?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900; text-decoration: underline;\">More acknowledgment that harms were many and benefits were few<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">.<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/im-500634.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100653\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/im-500634.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/im-500634.jpeg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/im-500634-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>If the Covid era doesn\u2019t make one suspicious of government, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>it\u2019s hard to imagine what would<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Two years after <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>state and local officials<\/em><\/span>\u2014<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>egged on by federal disease doctors<\/em><\/span>\u2014started inflicting <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>massive burdens<\/em><\/span> on U.S. children, reports of the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>ineffectiveness of mandated public health measures and their destructive side effects continue to roll in<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Of course American governments weren\u2019t the only ones imposing painful pseudo-scientific remedies. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Now Spanish scientists at a number of universities<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a class=\"icon none broken_link\" style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4046809\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report on a large study of Catalonian kids, some of whom were forced to cover their faces in school and some of whom weren\u2019t<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><em>Mandatory use of face covering masks (FCM) had been established for children aged six and above in Catalonia (Spain), as one of the non-pharmaceutical interventions aimed at mitigating SARS-CoV-2 transmission within schools. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">To date<\/span>, the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">effectiveness<\/span> of this mandate <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">has not been well established<\/span>.<\/span> The quasi-experimental comparison between 5 year-old children, as a control group, and 6 year-old children, as an interventional group, provides us with the appropriate research conditions for addressing this issue&#8230;<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong><em>We performed a retrospective population-based study among <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">599,314 children aged 3 to 11 years<\/span> attending preschool (3-5 years, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">without<\/span> FCM mandate) and primary education (6-11 years, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">with<\/span> FCM mandate) with the aim of calculating the incidence of SARS-CoV-2, secondary attack rates (SAR) and the effective reproductive number (R*) for each grade during the first trimester of the 2021-2022 academic year, and analysing the differences between 5-year-old, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">without<\/span> FCM, and 6 year-old children, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">with<\/span> FCM.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>And <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>what<\/em><\/span> did the researchers <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>find<\/em><\/span>? <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The authors <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">state it plainly<\/span><\/em>:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><em>FCM mandates in schools <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">were not<\/span> associated with lower SARS-CoV-2 incidence <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">or<\/span> transmission, suggesting that this intervention was <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">not effective<\/span>.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Not effective<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> The researchers probably weren\u2019t all that surprised by their findings. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Back in <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>August 2020<\/em><\/span> the Journal\u2019s Allysia Finley<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a class=\"icon none\" style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/biden-unmasked-11598028791?mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noted<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><em>The only way to ascertain the efficacy of face masks in the real world is to do randomized trials. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">So far there have been only a dozen examining the efficacy of masks in preventing respiratory illnesses, and conclusions have been difficult to draw because of poor compliance by study participants.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">None<\/span> of the six trials published over the past decade found that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">masks alone<\/span> had a significant effect on the spread of the flu or similar illnesses in health-care workers or the general population.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong>Yet officials in <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>so-called<\/em><\/span> public health and public education, encouraged by teachers unions, have spent much of the last two years <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>trying to prevent<\/em><\/span> the current generation of kids from seeing their classmates smile\u2014when they were allowed to see each other in class at all.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\">&#8230;<strong>A visitor from another planet would likely be <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>shocked<\/em><\/span> to learn that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>the press made a hero out of a government doctor<\/em><\/span> who warned against reopening society after the spring shutdowns of 2020\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a class=\"icon none\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-limits-of-anthony-faucis-expertise-11589392347?mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>even while admitting he had not even studied the impact<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0of school closures on children. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">But that\u2019s the story of Dr. Anthony Fauci and his legion of media admirers.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Just<\/span><\/em> as hard to believe in March 2022 is that a few <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>mandate bitter-enders<\/em><\/span> like New York City Mayor Eric Adams are <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">still<\/span><\/em> mandating masks for daycare and preschool kids under the age of 5.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/idiocy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100655\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/idiocy.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/idiocy.png 278w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/idiocy-199x300.png 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 278px) 100vw, 278px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Will<\/span><\/em> the less-than-useless pandemic measures imposed in 2020 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>never end<\/em><\/span>?<\/strong><\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not if power-hungry Progressive politicians have any say in the matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here&#8217;s the juice: <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Untold trillions<\/em><\/span> of dollars <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>wasted<\/em><\/span>; <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>hundreds of thousands if not millions<\/em><\/span> of small businesses <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>destroyed<\/em><\/span>; <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>hundreds of millions<\/em><\/span> of lives subjected to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>utterly unnecessary suffering and stress<\/em><\/span>&#8230;and that&#8217;s just in the U.S.\u00a0 And come the end of the day, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>we&#8217;re right back where we&#8217;d have been<\/em><\/span> had the powers-that-be <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>not<\/em><\/span> initiated a lockdown strategy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aier.org\/article\/the-2006-origins-of-the-lockdown-idea\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>dreamed up by a 14-year-old for her high school science project<\/em><\/span><\/a>, a plan <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>completely panned<\/em><\/span> by every trained virologist or epidemiologist who reviewed it and which was <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>never submitted<\/em><\/span> for comment to a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>single economist<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0 In other words, had our <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>government leaders and health bureaucrats<\/em><\/span> responded to the WuFlu <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>in the same manner as every other pandemic in history<\/em><\/span>: Shield the vulnerable, care for the afflicted and otherwise carry on with life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>P.S. Are we the only ones who&#8217;ve noticed Putin&#8217;s unprovoked Ukraine invasion has taken the harsh light of international condemnation\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>totally off<\/em><\/span> the unquestioned source of the Wuhan virus?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Moving on, here&#8217;s a quintet of specially-selected items certain to pique the interest of inquiring Conservative minds:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(1). In a most interesting piece, Kevin Williamson considers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-tuesday\/the-cable-news-bubble\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=TUE_20220308&amp;utm_term=Tuesday-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>two facts that seem contradictory but are both true: (1) Tucker Carlson has the most-watched cable-news show in the country, and (2) basically nobody watches Tucker Carlson<\/em><\/span><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(2). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/news\/minneapolis-teachers-strike-stranding-students-at-home\/?utm_source=email&amp;utm_medium=breaking&amp;utm_campaign=newstrack&amp;utm_term=26952330\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>To Hell with the Minneapolis teachers<\/em><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 We&#8217;d suggest to Hell with Minneapolis in its entirety, but Progressives have already taken it there.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(3). In a forward from the Nickel,\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em>The Last Refuge<\/em>\u00a0offers an intriguing analysis of\u00a0<em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/theconservativetreehouse.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/06\/sunday-talks-petro-poroshenko-outlines-the-importance-of-american-payments-to-ukraine-politicians\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Petro Poroshenko&#8217;s outline of the importance of American payments to Ukraine politicians<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.\u00a0 We can&#8217;t speak to the accuracy of these claims, but it would explain how a guy making less than $200K a year for 47 years is a millionaire many times over.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(4). Despite the disappointing but unsurprising results among 18- to 34-year-olds in a recent Quinnipiac poll, Charlie Cooke avers\u00a0<em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2022\/03\/yes-if-america-is-ever-invaded-you-must-take-up-arms-and-fight\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">YES, if America is ever invaded, every able-bodied citizen MUST take up arms and fight<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong><strong>.\u00a0 In other words, the poll indicates a majority of Americans best-suited to Military service either deem their country not worth defending, or believe someone else should do the fighting and dying.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><strong>As Charlie so accurately observed, neither is acceptable, and brings to mind this not only the conclusion of\u00a0<em>The tale of Sir Robin<\/em>&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jYFefppqEtE?start=143\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>&#8230;but this scene from <em>Patton<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YrtS2_TfbeY?start=33&amp;end=130&amp;\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>Nor do we want them in our country.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(5). Serial bigamist Ilhan Omar is evidently concerned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/omar-warns-against-arming-ukraine-says-results-would-be-unpredictable-likely-disastrous\" class=\"broken_link\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">it may prove difficult to prevent at least some of the American weapons sent to aid Ukraine from ending up in the wrong hands<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Which immediately brings two thoughts to mind: (1) <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Which<\/em><\/span>, in Omar&#8217;s eyes, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>are<\/em><\/span> the &#8220;wrong&#8221; hands; and, (2) She never expressed similar concern about the billions of dollars in military equipment and arms Biden abandoned in Afghanistan.\u00a0 Perhaps, the reason being, in her twisted worldview the Taliban are the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>right<\/em><\/span> hands!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Which brings us, appropriately enough, to <em>The Lighter Side<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ccc-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100618\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ccc-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ccc-2.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ccc-2-300x218.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/afb030522dAPC20220305044514.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100619\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/afb030522dAPC20220305044514.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/afb030522dAPC20220305044514.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/afb030522dAPC20220305044514-300x214.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ddd.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100620\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ddd.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ddd.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ddd-300x212.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/idiot.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100658\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/idiot.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/idiot.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/idiot-300x208.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/afb030722dAPR20220307054505.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100621\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/afb030722dAPR20220307054505.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/afb030722dAPR20220307054505.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/afb030722dAPR20220307054505-300x214.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aaa-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100622\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aaa-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aaa-3.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aaa-3-300x219.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/bbb-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100623\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/bbb-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/bbb-2.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/bbb-2-300x197.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MC_HelplessAnger_web20220307125757.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100624\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MC_HelplessAnger_web20220307125757.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MC_HelplessAnger_web20220307125757.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MC_HelplessAnger_web20220307125757-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Image-3-8-22-at-8.54-AM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100659\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Image-3-8-22-at-8.54-AM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Image-3-8-22-at-8.54-AM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Image-3-8-22-at-8.54-AM-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Image-3-7-22-at-9.40-AM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100625\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Image-3-7-22-at-9.40-AM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Image-3-7-22-at-9.40-AM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Image-3-7-22-at-9.40-AM-300x210.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Finally, we&#8217;ll call it a day with these from Speed&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Speed.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Speed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Speed.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Speed-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Speed-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/speed-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100652\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/speed-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/speed-1.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/speed-1-300x281.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;and Major Jon:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/275298393_5078565722210510_9028194335793876017_n.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100651\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/275298393_5078565722210510_9028194335793876017_n.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/275298393_5078565722210510_9028194335793876017_n.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/275298393_5078565722210510_9028194335793876017_n-271x300.jpeg 271w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Catch you on Friday!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Magoo<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em>Video of the Day<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The Thomas Sowell Reader<\/em> offers the 411 on the decidedly non-racist history of slavery.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jQk5INPEmNU\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em>Tales of The Darkside<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Another bit of undeniable truth The Left will never allow to be inserted into the conversation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OrF00OQSjlQ\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em>On the Lighter Side<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Another classic Phil Hartman bit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZUMV1xq31rw\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Wednesday, March 9th, 2022&#8230;but before we begin, as oil tops $130\/barrel and the price of gasoline skyrockets more than 40 cents\/gallon in a week, the Biden clown car is looking to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran to meet America&#8217;s energy needs. oil.\u00a0 Which of course fairly screams the question why we&#8217;re not increasing domestic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1988,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1988"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100647"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100711,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100647\/revisions\/100711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}