{"id":85715,"date":"2020-09-24T18:58:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T22:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=85715"},"modified":"2020-09-24T19:03:17","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T23:03:17","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-wednesday-september-24th-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=85715","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>It&#8217;s Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020&#8230;but before we begin, what a difference four years&#8230;and the party affiliation of the President&#8230;makes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fh1QfY_FTWU\" 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><strong>Meanwhile, <\/strong><strong>in a display of utter inanity worthy of the legendary Jim &#8220;Wash Out&#8221; Pfaffenbach&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ECiut2qgJck?start=116&amp;end=121&amp;\" 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><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;Groper Joe&#8230;<a href=\"https:\/\/townhall.com\/tipsheet\/mattvespa\/2020\/09\/22\/too-tired-biden-calls-it-a-daybefore-10am-n2576681\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">who knocked off work yesterday at 1000<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a> (that&#8217;s 10:00 AM for you non-military types!)&#8230;demonstrates he isn&#8217;t the only &#8220;senior&#8221; Dimocrat&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ASVCNkfLSnI\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;who frequently appears to be occupying an alternate reality:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tFDgsa5fz9w\" 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><strong>Now, here&#8217;s <em>The Gouge!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>First up, the <em>WSJ<\/em>&#8216;s editorial board recounts&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"wsj-article-headline\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/breaking-judicial-norms-a-history-11600639835?mod=MorningEditorialReport&amp;mod=djemMER_h\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #800080; text-decoration: underline;\">Breaking Judicial Norms: A History<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<h3 class=\"sub-head\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/breaking-judicial-norms-a-history-11600639835?mod=MorningEditorialReport&amp;mod=djemMER_h\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #333399; text-decoration: underline;\">A Democratic Senate pattern, from Bork to the filibuster rule<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #333399;\">.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cartoon-VDN-092118.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85609\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cartoon-VDN-092118.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cartoon-VDN-092118.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cartoon-VDN-092118-300x189.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is widely reported to have told his Democratic colleagues on Saturday that \u201cnothing is off the table for next year\u201d if Republicans confirm a Supreme Court nominee in this Congress. <span style=\"color: #333399;\">He means this as a threat that Democrats will break the filibuster and pack the Court with more Justices in 2021 if they take control of the Senate in November\u2019s election.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">So what else is new<\/span><\/em>? <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Democrats<\/span><\/em> have a <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">long history of breaking procedural norms on judges<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> While packing the Court <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">would be<\/span><\/em> their <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">most radical decision to date<\/span><\/em>, it <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">would fit<\/span><\/em> their <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">escalating pattern<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #333399;\">Let\u2019s review the modern historical lowlights to see which party has really been the political norm-breaker<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8230;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8230;<\/span><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>What Republicans should do is <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">let the voters know about<\/span><\/em> the Democratic filibuster and court-packing plans, and <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">make them a campaign issue<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #333399;\">Democratic Senators and candidates should have to declare themselves not merely on Mr. Trump\u2019s nominee but on the filibuster and court-packing that Mr. Schumer has <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">now told the country will be on the table<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>As this statistic forwarded by Balls<\/strong><strong>\u00a0Cotton confirms, the only ones playing fast and loose with the truth&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/court.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85637\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/court.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/court.png 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/court-300x140.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;are those on the <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">left<\/span><\/em> side of the aisle, a fact\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Jim Geraghty reinforces in a recent edition of his\u00a0<em>Morning Jolt<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/amyk.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85635\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/amyk.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/amyk.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/amyk-300x111.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<strong><span style=\"color: #333399;\">Here is the<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/constitution-transcript#toc-section-2--2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">entirety of what the U.S. Constitution says<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #333399;\">about the president\u2019s power to appoint justices to the Supreme Court:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><em>He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>It <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">doesn\u2019t say anything<\/span><\/em> about <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">how close the vacancy is to Election Day<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">It <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">doesn\u2019t say anything<\/span><\/em> about <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">whether the Senate has to hold hearings about the nominee<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> It <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">doesn\u2019t say anything<\/span><\/em> about<em> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">whether the Senate has to vote on that nominee<\/span><\/em>; <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">a refusal to vote<\/span><\/em> on the nomination, as occurred with Merrick Garland, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">is a de facto rejection<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">It <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">doesn\u2019t say anything<\/span><\/em> about <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">whether the Senate can vote in a lame duck session<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>This means <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">President Trump can nominate anyone he likes up until noon on January 20, 2021<\/span><\/em>, if he <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">isn\u2019t<\/span><\/em> reelected. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">The <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Senate<\/span><\/em> can choose to hold a vote on that nominee <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">anytime it likes<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> Or it can choose <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">not<\/span><\/em> to hold a vote on that nominee. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">If the Democrats win a majority of the seats in the Senate, they take over on January 3, 2021.<\/span> If the Senate is a 50-50 split and Joe Biden wins the presidency, then Mike Pence breaks ties up until January 20, and then Kamala Harris breaks ties in the afternoon.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">In case you\u2019re thinking about the old \u201cleave town and refuse to come back to deny the opposition a quorum\u201d trick,<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/reference\/reference_index_subjects\/Rules_and_Procedure_vrd.htm#:~:text=Article%20I%2C%20section%205%20of,or%20quorum%20call%20suggests%20otherwise.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">the Constitution requires the U.S. Senate to have 51 senators present to hold a vote<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">.<\/span>\u00a0If all 47 Democrats and Democrat-aligned independents leave town, the 53 Republicans present can vote to confirm anyone they like \u2014 as well as pass any legislation they like. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">The filibuster is no longer in effect in these circumstances.<\/span> In 2013, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Senate Democrats<\/span><\/em> led by Harry Reid <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">nuked the filibuster for judicial nominees except the Supreme Court<\/span><\/em>; in 2017, Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">followed suit and nuked the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees<\/span><\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>In short, if the president\u2019s party has 50 votes in support of a nominee, the nominee <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">will<\/span><\/em> be confirmed<\/strong><\/span>&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you doubt Jim Geraghty, perhaps you&#8217;ll trust the Hodge Twins:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IbAHBPcxMoU\" 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><strong>And <\/strong><strong>in a follow-up to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=85659\"><em>earlier comments<\/em><\/a><\/span> expressing our disagreement with those lauding Ruth Ginsburg&#8217;s purported judicial &#8220;accomplishments&#8221;, in an <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">absolute must-read commentary<\/span><\/em> which deserves inclusion in full absent any editing or added emphasis, <em>NRO<\/em>&#8216;s Kevin Williamson insightfully observes&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"article-header__title\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-tuesday\/ruth-bader-ginsburg-didnt-understand-her-job\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=TUE_20200922&amp;utm_term=Tuesday-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">Ruth Bader Ginsburg Didn\u2019t Understand Her Job<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<h3 class=\"remixd-audio-player\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-tuesday\/ruth-bader-ginsburg-didnt-understand-her-job\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=TUE_20200922&amp;utm_term=Tuesday-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\">Justice in Drag<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/4fxgwk.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85665\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/4fxgwk.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/4fxgwk.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/4fxgwk-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Ruth Bader Ginsburg did a great many interesting and impressive things in her life, but she never did the one thing she probably really should have done: run for office. Ruth Bader Ginsburg wasn\u2019t an associate justice of the Supreme Court \u2014 not really: She was a legislator in judicial drag.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>You need not take my word on this: Ask her admirers. \u201cRuth Bader Ginsburg had a vision for America,\u201d Linda Hirshman argues in the\u00a0<em>Washington Post<\/em>. What was her vision? \u201cTo make America fairer, to make justice bigger.\u201d That is not a job for a judge \u2014 that is a job for a legislator. The job of making law properly belongs to \u2014 some people find this part hard to handle \u2014\u00a0<em>lawmakers<\/em>. Making law is not the job of the judge. The job of the judge is to see that the law is followed and applied in a given case. It does not matter if the law is unfair or if the law is unjust \u2014 that is not the judge\u2019s concern. If you have a vision for America, and desire to make the law more fair or more just, then there is a place for you: Congress. That is where the laws are made.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>This distinction is an important one. As you may have noticed over the course of the summer,\u00a0<em>Americans<\/em>\u00a0<em>do not agree on everything<\/em>. Some of us have ideas about what is good, decent, fair, just, wise, intelligent, prudent, and necessary that are radically different from the ideas other Americans have about what is good, decent, fair, just, wise, intelligent, prudent, and necessary. Democracy is not good for very much, but democratic institutions are how we settle those disagreements. Even the antidemocratic elements of U.S. government, such as the Bill of Rights, which put certain questions beyond the reach of mere temporary majorities, came out of democratic institutions and were implemented through a democratic process. It is from that that they derive their legitimacy. Democracy has its shortcomings \u2014 mostly rooted in the fact that human beings are universally fallen and in the majority savage \u2014 but the alternative is bonking each other over the head over every disagreement.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Put another way, the alternative is might makes right \u2014 which is exactly the kind of \u201cjurisprudence\u201d Justice Ginsburg and others of her kind have long practiced. There isn\u2019t a goddamned word about abortion or gay rights in the Constitution, and it is absurd to think that such rights had been hiding there, lurking in the ol\u2019 penumbras, since the 18th flippin\u2019 century, waiting to be discovered by a committee of progressive lawyers who somehow see the \u201creal\u201d Constitution that went completely undetected by the men who wrote and ratified the document we actually have. That should be obvious even to people who support abortion or gay rights or other things that have been magically discovered in the Constitution. For the\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>, Justice Ginsburg was a \u201cfeminist icon.\u201d And she was \u2014 but it was not her job to be a feminist icon or to impose feminist ideology \u2014\u00a0<em>or any other ideology<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 on the law and on the American public, substituting her own desires and preferences for those that are the result of the actual democratic process, daft as it often is.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Justice Ginsburg\u2019s using her position to try to impose a feminist vision on federal policy ought to be recognized for what it was:\u00a0<em>an abuse of power<\/em>. If you want to rewrite the law along feminist lines, that\u2019s a perfectly honorable project \u2014 run for Congress.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>The real fissure running through the Supreme Court is not between so-called liberals and notional conservatives, but between those who believe that judges are superlegislators empowered to impose their own vision on society and those who believe that judges are constrained by what the law actually says. The latter is the position of the Federalist Society and many lawyers associated with it, and that this position \u2014 that the law says what it says, not what people with power wish for it to say \u2014 should be controversial is an excellent indicator of why faith in our institutions has eroded so deeply. \u201cIf Republicans give Ruth Bader Ginsburg\u2019s seat to some Federalist Society fanatic, Democrats should pack the court,\u201d reads the line over Michelle Goldberg\u2019s\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>\u00a0column. Read that and ask yourself who the\u00a0<em>fanatic<\/em>\u00a0really is.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>(And:\u00a0<em>Whose<\/em>\u00a0seat?)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>This should be obvious enough even to people who share Ginsburg\u2019s ideology and political preferences. Maybe you think that the federal law\u00a0<em>should<\/em>\u00a0enshrine an unassailable right to abortion, or that the Bill of Rights\u00a0<em>shouldn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0protect the right to keep and bear arms as broadly and explicitly as it does. Many people would agree with you, and there are reasonable if erroneous good-faith arguments for those positions.\u00a0<em>But that is not what the law actually says<\/em>. So, take it to the voters. In the case of abortion, that would have meant a state-by-state fight in the legislatures, which probably would have resulted in an abortion regime that is neither as permissive as the one we have nor as restrictive as abortion opponents would like, i.e., one that more closely resembles the actual position of the American electorate. (A large majority of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in the first trimester, and even larger majorities believe it should be restricted in the second and third trimesters.) In the case of gun control, proceeding legitimately would mean repealing the Second Amendment in order to impose the restrictions that progressives want but that are prohibited by the Bill of Rights. Yes, both of those would be long, hard, ugly, and frustrating fights that would almost certainly leave both sides partly unsatisfied \u2014 i.e., democracy.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>It is, of course, much more tempting to get five allies on the Supreme Court to pretend that what you want is already mandated in the law, waiting to be discovered. And that was Justice Ginsburg\u2019s specialty. Her most famous decision, outlawing the Virginia Military Institute\u2019s single-sex admissions policy, was exactly the kind of thing you would expect from a \u201cfeminist icon\u201d but shoddy \u2014 indeed, preposterous \u2014 as law. As Justice Antonin Scalia notes in his scathing dissent in the VMI case, other publicly funded military academies had changed their admissions policies, \u201cnot by court decree, but because the people, through their elected representatives, decreed a change.\u201d What Justice Ginsburg was engaged in by inventing a prohibition on single-sex military academies was \u201cnot the interpretation of a Constitution, but the creation of one.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Maybe Ginsburg was right to believe what she believed. That is irrelevant. The question is not whether VMI should have been admitting women, but whether the Constitution prohibited VMI\u2019s policies and empowered activists such as Justice Ginsburg to replace those policies with others more to the liking of the nation\u2019s progressive lawyers. It didn\u2019t and doesn\u2019t. Neither the text nor the history nor practice justified Justice Ginsburg\u2019s decision \u2014 only her own sense of morality did. Her opinion is not legal reasoning \u2014 it is legal\u00a0<em>decoration<\/em>, reverse-engineered and fitted to the decision she was committing to making for political rather than legal reasons.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><em>Oh, but everything is political!<\/em>\u00a0they\u2019ll say. I do not believe that judges are incapable of actually doing their jobs even if that means following the law to results other than the ones they would prefer \u2014 Justice Scalia\u2019s account of the flag-burning issue is one example showing that it can be done the right way \u2014 but doing so would mean trying to do that job rather than treating the federal bench as a stage for score-settling, advantage-seeking, and constituent-servicing. If you don\u2019t believe that judges should be constrained by the law \u2014 that power is power is power and that\u2019s that \u2014 then you don\u2019t have much of an argument against Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell filling this seat, which is not \u201cGinsburg\u2019s seat.\u201d And unlike Justice Ginsburg, who made up the Constitution as she went along, in this case Trump and Senate Republicans would be acting within their plain constitutional powers. In contrast to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feminist icon, they would be doing their jobs.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>The timing of Ginsburg\u2019s death is a political inconvenience for Democrats \u2014 them\u2019s the breaks. Trying to convert this into a question of principle is silly and dishonest. Yes, lots of Republicans said last time around that we shouldn\u2019t confirm a justice right before an election. Lots of Democrats said last time round that we should. Handing out indictments for hypocrisy in Washington is like writing up people in New Orleans at Mardi Gras for public intoxication. Nobody doubts that the charge is a valid one, but, please, spare us the shock and sanctimony.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>And after the slandering of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh, arguing that Republicans should decline to move forward on the nomination for comity\u2019s sake is laughable. Nobody believes for one second that if President Hillary Clinton were struggling toward an uncertain reelection campaign and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer had the chance to confirm a new Supreme Court justice of her choosing that the Democrats would hesitate for a second. Nor have they ever shown themselves interested in replacing \u201cconservative\u201d justices \u2014 meaning those who are not open partisan campaigners on the model of Ginsburg \u2014 with conservatives or moderates in the name of ideological balance. The Democrats put left-wing activists on the Court when they get the chance, even if, like Elena Kagan, they have to lie their way through their confirmations to get there. Democratic complaints about political hardball after the outrageous campaign of fantastical fiction and slander directed at Kavanaugh, the anti-Catholic hatred directed at Amy Coney Barrett by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), etc., are beneath contempt. So is threatening to create a constitutional crisis through a Court-packing scheme if a Democratic president and Senate are elected, threatening (more) riots and (further) arson, and other attempts at extortion.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>On the matter of the Court-packing endorsed by Michelle Goldberg et al., Democrats should be careful about the precedents they set. Republicans may learn slowly, but they learn. Democrats spent generations engaged in partisan gerrymandering and then suddenly got religion on that subject when Republicans got good at it. They didn\u2019t think their slander of Robert Bork and the politicization of the nomination process would come back to bite them, but it did. Mitch McConnell believed the politics were on his side, and he was right. A Democratic Senate might reorganize the federal courts in a way that gives their party a momentary advantage \u2014 which is banana-republic stuff, but that is what Michelle Goldberg of the\u00a0<em>Times<\/em>\u00a0advocates, and she is not alone \u2014 but there will be a Republican majority again. There\u2019s one\u00a0<em>now<\/em>. Is that a weapon you want to put in Mitch McConnell\u2019s hand? In Donald Trump\u2019s hand? Because the genie doesn\u2019t go back into the bottle.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Justice Ginsburg could have retired some time ago \u2014 and probably should have. But she believed in 2016 that Hillary Rodham Clinton was going to win the election, and so she held on. That was a political miscalculation. But that happens from time to time. Dwight Eisenhower was asked about the greatest regrets of his time as president, and he answered: \u201cI have made two mistakes, and they are both sitting on the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Ginsburg\u2019s legacy is not a body of legal opinions but a deformed and disfigured judiciary, one in which the American people have \u2014 with good reason \u2014 lost some measure of faith. Setting that right will be the work of a generation. And that work begins with understanding that a judge\u2019s concern is not justice or fairness or progress but the law, and that people who want to\u00a0<em>change<\/em>\u00a0the law should run for office.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>The alternative is not a panel of philosopher kings but the \u201cnine-headed Caesar\u201d that Justice Scalia warned us about.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>To which we can only add the heartiest &#8220;AMEN!!!&#8221;, along with&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rmL5s3k9o9U?start=190&amp;end=196&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><strong>Since we&#8217;re on the subject of commentaries deserving of the highest accolades, Geoffrey Griffith forwarded the following from\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em>American Thinker<\/em>\u00a0in which former Navy JAG Don Brown asks and answers&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanthinker.com\/articles\/2020\/09\/who_killed_george_floyd.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\">Who Killed George Floyd<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/c5611ecfa757aeddf50dc0b258b1180af04dee23c0f098e076915044c16af3ae.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85666\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/c5611ecfa757aeddf50dc0b258b1180af04dee23c0f098e076915044c16af3ae.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/c5611ecfa757aeddf50dc0b258b1180af04dee23c0f098e076915044c16af3ae.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/c5611ecfa757aeddf50dc0b258b1180af04dee23c0f098e076915044c16af3ae-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">If<\/span><\/em> they get a <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">fair trial<\/span><\/em>, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">a<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">questionable proposition at best<\/span><\/em>, Minneapolis police officers charged with murdering George Floyd <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">should be acquitted<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Let&#8217;s consider new, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">undisputed evidence<\/span><\/em>, beyond the initial bystander\u2019s video that we\u2019ve all seen, to understand why.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>On Memorial Day, around 8 PM, Minneapolis Police are called to a local convenience store.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Two<\/span><\/em> suspects passed a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes.<\/span>\u00a0 When police arrived, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">the shop manager pointed across the street<\/span><\/em>, where <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">three<\/span><\/em> suspects <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">sat in a parked vehicle<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">George Floyd sat behind the wheel<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>When the officers crossed the street to investigate, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">two other suspects<\/span><\/em>, another man, and a woman, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">both black<\/span><\/em>, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">stepped from the car and politely cooperated<\/span><\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>But <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">George argued and disobeyed ten separate commands from officers to keep his hands up<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VhwxGzYU2ts?start=20\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Sadly, George Floyd <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">killed himself<\/span><\/em>.<\/strong><\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p><strong>As reader Keith Calcote noted of Brown&#8217;s piece:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>This is good. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">But the question <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">is not<\/span>\u00a0<\/em><em>&#8220;Who killed George Floyd?&#8221;;\u00a0<\/em>The evidence at trial will <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">clearly<\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> reveal<\/span><\/em> the answer.<\/span> The question <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">is<\/span><\/em>, will a Minneapolis jury <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">have the courage<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>to vote &#8220;not guilty&#8221; <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">knowing<\/span><\/em> it will expose them and their families <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">to the Antifa mob and all that entails<\/span><\/em>?<\/strong><\/span>&#8220;<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here&#8217;s the juice: point <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>well taken<\/em><\/span>, for <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">on this<\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u00a0question<\/span><\/em> rests the future of American jurisprudence, not to mention <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">the rule of law versus mob rule<\/span><\/em>, an issue the<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/This is good. The question is not &quot;Who killed George Floyd?&quot;. The evidence at trial will clearly reveal the answer. The question is: Will a Minneapolis jury have the courage to vote not guilty knowing it will expose them and their families to the Antifa mob and all that entails.\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>City of Louisville is preparing to grapple with<\/em><\/span><\/a>\u00a0as we write.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Speaking of self-inflicted damage, courtesy of the lovely Shannon, the U.K.&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Daily Mail<\/em>\u00a0relates how&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-8754403\/Enormous-F-Cuomo-Blasio-painted-Brooklyn-street-removed-24-hours-later.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600; text-decoration: underline;\">Furious New Yorkers paint a giant BLM-style &#8216;f*** Cuomo and de Blasio&#8217; mural onto a Brooklyn street amid surge in crime in the city<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<h3 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #800000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-8754403\/Enormous-F-Cuomo-Blasio-painted-Brooklyn-street-removed-24-hours-later.html\"><strong style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Less than 24 hours later it had been removed by the Dept. of Transportation,\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><strong style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><a style=\"color: #800000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-8754403\/Enormous-F-Cuomo-Blasio-painted-Brooklyn-street-removed-24-hours-later.html\">NYPD says a criminal mischief complaint has been filed over the incident<\/a><\/strong><\/span><strong style=\"font-size: 16px;\">\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cuomo-de-blasio-mural.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85616\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cuomo-de-blasio-mural.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cuomo-de-blasio-mural.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cuomo-de-blasio-mural-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>New Yorkers sent a <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">blunt message<\/span><\/em> to their governor and mayor this weekend &#8211; by painting &#8216;<em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">F*** Cuomo and de Blasio<\/span><\/em>&#8216; in giant letters down a Brooklyn street.\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">The offensive graffiti <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">appeared at around 1am<\/span><\/em> on Saturday morning and stretched for almost an entire city block <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">in a style similar to <\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>c<\/em>ity-endorsed projects supporting the\u00a0Black Lives Matter<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Earlier this summer NYC mayor Bill de Blasio <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">approved BLM street murals at five city locations<\/span><\/em> &#8211; which fast became a target for vandalism. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">But while the city <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">protected the official murals<\/span><\/em>, the latest painting was <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">covered up<\/span> <\/em>by the Dept. of Transportation <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">in less than 24 hours<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>The graffiti came amid criticism of Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio over their leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, with ongoing restrictions on gatherings and indoor dining <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">leaving many New York businesses devastated<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">(Not to mention <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">thousands<\/span><\/em> of seniors <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">DEAD<\/span><\/em>!!!)<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">The city has <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">also<\/span><\/em> seen <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">a surge in crime<\/span><\/em> in 2020, with the <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">murder rate soaring by 27 percent<\/span><\/em> and <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">gang violence rising by more than 50 percent<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span>&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Billy Baldwin might well have been addressing Cuomo and de Blasio in this scene from Backdraft:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PlBpNTEaRTI?start=36&amp;end=44&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=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Like Marmalard and Neidermeyer, they&#8217;re&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q7vtWB4owdE?start=105&amp;end=106&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><strong>Which brings us, appropriately enough, to\u00a0<em>The Lighter Side<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bbb-5.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85646\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bbb-5.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bbb-5.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bbb-5-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-13.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85647\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-13.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-13.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-13-300x185.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaaa.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85643\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaaa.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaaa.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaaa-300x213.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/afb092120dAPC20200921034623.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85614\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/afb092120dAPC20200921034623.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/afb092120dAPC20200921034623.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/afb092120dAPC20200921034623-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/afb092220dAPC20200922044643.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85639\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/afb092220dAPC20200922044643.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/afb092220dAPC20200922044643.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/afb092220dAPC20200922044643-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.32-PM-1.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85640\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.32-PM-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.32-PM-1.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.32-PM-1-300x210.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.32-PM-3.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85641\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.32-PM-3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.32-PM-3.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.32-PM-3-300x210.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Supreme-Irony-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85618\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Supreme-Irony-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Supreme-Irony-1.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Supreme-Irony-1-300x271.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-21-20-at-8.22-AM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85610\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-21-20-at-8.22-AM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-21-20-at-8.22-AM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-21-20-at-8.22-AM-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.16-AM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.16-AM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.16-AM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.16-AM-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aoc.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85638\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aoc.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aoc.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aoc-300x291.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Then there&#8217;s these from Balls Cotton&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85611\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-2.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-2-233x300.jpg 233w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85654\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-1.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls-1-300x297.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85650\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"454\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls2.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/balls2-300x295.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;along with two from the lovely Shannon&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/shannon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85612\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/shannon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/shannon.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/shannon-300x229.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-12.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85633\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-12.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-12.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-12-300x236.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;and four more from James Nichols:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.43-PM.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85679\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.43-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.43-PM.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.43-PM-204x300.jpg 204w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-14.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85680\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-14.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"519\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-14.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/aaa-14-267x300.png 267w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.45-PM-1.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85681\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.45-PM-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.45-PM-1.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.45-PM-1-300x263.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.45-PM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85682\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.45-PM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.45-PM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-8.45-PM-300x281.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Finally, we&#8217;ll call it a day with this string from Ed Hickey&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85627\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-300x300.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-1.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85628\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-1.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-1-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-1-300x300.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-2.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85629\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-2.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.33-PM-2-300x150.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.35-PM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85630\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.35-PM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.35-PM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.35-PM-300x150.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;leaving the <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">best<\/span><\/em>&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.34-PM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85631\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.34-PM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.34-PM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Image-9-22-20-at-2.34-PM-300x150.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;for <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">last<\/span><\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Magoo<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020&#8230;but before we begin, what a difference four years&#8230;and the party affiliation of the President&#8230;makes: \ufeff Meanwhile, in a display of utter inanity worthy of the legendary Jim &#8220;Wash Out&#8221; Pfaffenbach&#8230; \ufeff &#8230;Groper Joe&#8230;who knocked off work yesterday at 1000 (that&#8217;s 10:00 AM for you non-military types!)&#8230;demonstrates he isn&#8217;t the only [&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-85715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85715","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=85715"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85717,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85715\/revisions\/85717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}