{"id":96382,"date":"2021-08-29T19:18:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T23:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=96382"},"modified":"2021-08-29T19:18:27","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T23:18:27","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-friday-august-27th-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=96382","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Friday, August 27th, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>It&#8217;s Friday, August 27th, 2021&#8230;but before we begin, have you ever seen the like in your life?!?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player?start=6&amp;end=60&amp;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zthHkHcIoac\" 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: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/43UVR7i_4Vs?start=1045&amp;end=1123&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>Think about it: He admitted to being &#8220;given a list&#8221; and &#8220;instructed&#8221; who to call on first.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Whoever penned this scene from\u00a0<em>The Hunt for Red October<\/em>\u00a0may as well have been writing about the complete disaster which is this entire Administration, from 46* and Kommielaa on down:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YZuMe5RvxPQ?start=26\" 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>Now, here&#8217;s <em>The Gouge<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>First up, Jim Geraghty details the glaring ineptitude of the&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"article-header__title\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-morning-jolt\/u-s-intelligence-community-sorry-covid-19s-origin-remains-a-mystery\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=MJ_20210824&amp;utm_term=Jolt-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #333399; text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900; text-decoration: underline;\">U.S. Intelligence Community: Sorry, COVID-19\u2019s Origin Remains a Mystery<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5kruhj.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96358\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5kruhj.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5kruhj.jpeg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5kruhj-300x180.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;&#8230;<span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">\u201cIt\u2019s basically impossible to have a proper investigation if one of the main parties doesn\u2019t want to cooperate,\u201d said Thomas Wright, Brookings Institution senior fellow<\/span><\/strong>.<\/span>..<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Having a proper investigation of topics when the main party involved doesn\u2019t want to cooperate is . . . why we have an intelligence community, isn\u2019t it?<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Were Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan cooperative with\u00a0the old OSS?<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Was the Soviet Union cooperative about its defense capabilities, nuclear arsenal, and long-term strategies?<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Were al-Qaeda and ISIS cooperative with investigations of what terror attacks each was plotting?<\/span><\/strong><\/span>&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Jamison Fouss, the U.S. consul general in Wuhan, and Rick Switzer, the U.S. embassy\u2019s counselor of environment, science, technology, and health, repeatedly visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and in January 2018,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/foia.state.gov\/Search\/Results.aspx?caseNumber=F-2020-05255\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">they wrote a memo to Washington<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #333399;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">articulating their concerns: \u201cDuring interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.\u201d <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Professor Richard Ebright of Rutgers University\u2019s Waksman Institute of Microbiology<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/thebulletin.org\/2020\/03\/experts-know-the-new-coronavirus-is-not-a-bioweapon-they-disagree-on-whether-it-could-have-leaked-from-a-research-lab\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">argued<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">that, \u201cBat coronaviruses at Wuhan [Center for Disease Control] and Wuhan Institute of Virology <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>routinely were collected and studied<\/em><\/span> at BSL-2, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>which provides only minimal protections against infection of lab workers<\/em><\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">A<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/thebulletin.org\/2019\/02\/supplementary-material-for-human-error-in-high-biocontainment-labs-a-likely-pandemic-threat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">review of seven years of data from U.S. BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">found <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>749 incidents<\/em><\/span>, including \u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>needle sticks and other through-the-skin exposures from sharp objects; dropped containers or spills and splashes of liquids containing pathogens; bites or scratches from infected animals<\/em><\/span>,\u201d and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>more<\/em><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-morning-jolt\/yup-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology-kept-live-bats-within-its-walls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Wuhan Institute of Virology kept live bats in its walls<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>despite the denials from Peter Daszak<\/em><\/span> \u2014 president of EcoHealth Alliance, longtime partner of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>one of the most staunch and outspoken critics of the lab-leak theory<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Our assessment of the virus\u2019s origins should <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">also include<\/span><\/em> the decisions and actions of the Wuhan Institute of Virology <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>right before, during, and after the scope of the pandemic became clear<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/349073738_An_investigation_into_the_WIV_databases_that_were_taken_offline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">As DRASTIC uncovered<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">, \u201cOn September 12, 2019, the main database of samples and viral sequences of the Wuhan Institute of Virology <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>went offline<\/em><\/span>; eventually every single of the 16 virus databases managed by the WIV <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>was taken offline<\/em><\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-021-01731-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Separately<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">, \u201cResearchers at Wuhan University <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>asked for [genetic] sequences to be removed from the Sequence Read Archive<\/em><\/span> (SRA), a repository for raw sequencing data maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">At a time when the whole world needed as much information about the genes of this virus and how it worked as possible, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>why were<\/em><em> so many Chinese researchers taking information offline<\/em><\/span>?\u00a0<\/span>As Alina Chan asked, \u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>What\u2019s the point of funding more virus hunting when the virus databases just evaporate and cannot be used for anything when a pandemic actually occurs<\/em><\/span>?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Finally, China suffered more cases and fatalities from the original SARS outbreak than any other country.<\/span> On paper, this should have made the Chinese government more likely to overreact to reports of a new viral infection. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">We <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>would have expected<\/em><\/span> Beijing to respond to a potential contagious outbreak in a major city and trade hub with all of the intensity, speed, and alertness of New Yorkers responding to a report of a hijacked passenger airliner.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Instead<\/em><\/span>, the Chinese government spent the first three to six weeks<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-morning-jolt\/chinas-devastating-lies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">insisting that the virus was not contagious, even as the medical counter-evidence piled higher and higher<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Was this just an authoritarian regime\u2019s <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>reflexive psychological denial<\/em><\/span>?<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Or<\/em><\/span> was the Chinese government <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>trying to avoid looking guilty and hoping it seemed as surprised as anyone else by the virus\u2019s danger<\/em><\/span>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/2021\/06\/the-lab-leak-theory-inside-the-fight-to-uncover-covid-19s-origins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">To paraphrase Ebright<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>in the autumn of 2019<\/em><\/span>, there were <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>three institutions in the entire world<\/em><\/span> that were doing gain-of-function research on novel coronaviruses found in bats.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>One<\/em><\/span> was in <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Galveston, Texas<\/span><\/em>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>one<\/em><\/span> was in <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Chapel Hill, N.C.<\/em><\/span>, and the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>third<\/em><\/span> was in <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Wuhan, China<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The COVID-19 pandemic <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>started right outside one of them<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>What are the odds<\/em><\/span> that\u2019s a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>coincidence<\/em><\/span>?<\/span><\/strong>&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the same as Jeffrey Epstein actually committing suicide&#8230;or 46* completing his term of office.\u00a0 But no worries, our politicized intelligence services assure the American people&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Fdjf4lMmiiI?start=0&amp;end=10&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>Next, in a must-read, truly stirring account courtesy of <em>NRO<\/em>, retired Delta Force veteran Brad Taylor pinpoints&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<header class=\"article-header article-header--full\" data-component=\"articleHeader\">\n<div class=\"article-header__inner\">\n<h1 class=\"article-header__title\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2021\/08\/the-day-afghanistan-died\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=NR%20Daily%20Monday%20through%20Friday%202021-08-25&amp;utm_term=NRDaily-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Day Afghanistan Died<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n<h3 class=\"article-header__title\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2021\/08\/the-day-afghanistan-died\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=NR%20Daily%20Monday%20through%20Friday%202021-08-25&amp;utm_term=NRDaily-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #008000; text-decoration: underline;\">There are a lot of different reasons for the fall of Afghanistan, and plenty of blame to go around, but the end result was not pre-ordained<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\">.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5kwbvl.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96370\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5kwbvl.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5kwbvl.jpeg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5kwbvl-300x175.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"drop\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>I<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span class=\"small_caps\">f<\/span>\u00a0you\u2019ve read the plethora of post-mortem reports on Afghanistan, there are <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>plenty<\/em><\/span> of enemies to go around, from <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">corruption<\/span><\/em>, to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>incompetent leadership<\/em><\/span>, to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>20 years of rosy assessments from our own defense establishment<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">For me, there is a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>single day<\/em><\/span> that Afghanistan died, and it was June 16, 2021.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>I have spent my <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>entire adult life<\/em><\/span> studying insurgency and terrorism, sometimes with books and research, other times from the barrel of a gun, and because of it, I have learned Napoleon\u2019s <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>ultimate truth<\/em><\/span>: In warfare, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>the moral<\/em><\/span> is to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>the physical<\/em><\/span> as <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>three is to one<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">Insurgency as a form of warfare is based on <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>faith and belief that one will win<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Why else<\/em><\/span> would a peasant take up a rifle and fight against an entrenched government with every bit of that physical capability against him, if not for the belief that he or she would <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>eventually win<\/em><\/span>? <span style=\"color: #008000;\">It is the single form of warfare where perception can actually become reality \u2014 and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>that<\/em><\/span> is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>exactly<\/em><\/span> what happened in Afghanistan on June 16, 2021.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>What is tragic to me is that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>we held the country together with only 2,500 troops<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Why<\/em><\/span> did we <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>leave<\/em><\/span>?<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Strategically<\/em><\/span>, Bagram Airbase was the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>single thorn in the side of everyone in the neighborhood<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">The current administration keeps talking about \u201cshifting focus\u201d to \u201cthreats that matter\u201d in order to \u201cget out of the forever wars\u201d <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>but take a look at the location of Afghanistan<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> To the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>north<\/em><\/span> of Bagram airfield is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Russia<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">To the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>east<\/em><\/span> is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>China<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> To the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>west<\/em><\/span> is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Iran<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>You couldn\u2019t ask for a better force-projection platform<\/em><\/span> for the shift to the so-called \u201cGreat Power Competition.\u201d<\/span> <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Giving that up is a self-defeating prophecy<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">And that\u2019s\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>before<\/em><\/span>\u00a0we allowed the Taliban to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>free 5,000 terrorist prisoners from their cells on the base<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Every time I hear the words \u201c<em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Forever War<\/span><\/em>,\u201d as if that\u2019s a mantra against fighting for United States interests, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">I can\u2019t help but think about Korea<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">We are <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>literally at war<\/em><\/span> on the Korean peninsula <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">to this day<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> We <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">never signed a peace treaty<\/span><\/em>, but our positioning of troops there has <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>stabilized the region<\/em><\/span> for close to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>70 years<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">And the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>cost<\/em><\/span> was <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>well worth it<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Nobody<\/em><\/span> in America cares about this, but we have <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>29,000 troops in South Korea<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">So, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>2,500 troops in Afghanistan was a ball breaker<\/em><\/span>?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Our hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan will <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>do nothing<\/em><\/span> for stability in the region <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>or<\/em><\/span> our own security. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">Beyond the strategic loss of Bagram as a power-projection platform, the Taliban are going to welcome terrorist groups with open arms.<\/span> The administration claims that this is no big deal, because terrorists are operating in ungoverned spaces such as Yemen, Libya, and Somalia right now, and we deal with them from \u201cover the horizon,\u201d <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">but this is a chimera<\/span><\/em>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>One<\/em><\/span>, you need <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>intelligence<\/em><\/span> to decipher terrorist threats.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Who<\/em><\/span> is going to give us <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>that<\/em><\/span> in <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Afghanistan<\/em><\/span>? <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Nobody, that\u2019s who<\/em><\/span>, because being seen as helping the United States is a <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">death sentence<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Two<\/em><\/span>, there is an <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>enormous difference<\/em><\/span> between terrorist groups operating in <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ungoverned spaces<\/span><\/em> and terrorist groups operating <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>with the support of a state<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">If you question this, <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">take a look at Hezbollah versus al-Qaeda right now<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>One<\/em><\/span> has the capability \u2014 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>supported by Iran<\/em><\/span> \u2014 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>to literally cause the downfall of the State of Israel<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>The other<\/em><\/span> is <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>living in a cave fantasizing about future attacks<\/em><\/span>, waiting on their perception to become reality.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>There are <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">a lot<\/span><\/em> of different reasons for the fall of Afghanistan, and plenty of blame to go around, but the end result <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">was not<\/span><\/em> pre-ordained.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Until June 16, 2021.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>When perception became reality<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here&#8217;s the juice: We <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-morning-jolt\/biden-abandons-our-allies-what-its-really-like-on-the-ground-in-kabul\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=MJ_20210826&amp;utm_term=Jolt-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>abandoned our allies<\/em><\/span><\/a>, pure and simple, in an ignominious retreat, the cost of which hasn&#8217;t even begun to be counted, though it <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>already includes at least twelve Marines and one Navy corpsman<\/em><\/span>\u00a0, not to mention uncounted Afghans, all of who would still be alive today had such an utterly unnecessary and massively miscalculated strategy not been undertaken.\u00a0 As our old friend and classmate Mark Kozicz observed, if 46* were the military CO (Commanding Officer) in charge of this debacle rather than Commander-in-Chief, he and his entire staff would already have been relieved for cause.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Instead, as the <em>Morning Jolt<\/em>\u00a0relates, any way you spin, slice or dice it,&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/the-morning-jolt\/the-afghanistan-catastrophe-is-an-american-humiliation\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=MJ_20210825&amp;utm_term=Jolt-Smart\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000; text-decoration: underline;\">Our President Chose National Humiliation<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-26-21-at-8.53-AM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96363\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-26-21-at-8.53-AM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-26-21-at-8.53-AM.jpeg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-26-21-at-8.53-AM-300x239.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;<span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Before the country settles into the blame game, let\u2019s get a clear perspective on where we stand.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Per the\u00a0<em>Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0editorial board: \u201cThe Taliban set up a new blockade of the airport road in Kabul to prevent more Afghans from leaving.<\/span> If Mr. Biden opposes that, he did not say so in his speech.\u201d<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"> As Rich has observed,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2021\/08\/joe-biden-has-so-neutered-himself-that-he-cant-even-criticize-the-taliban\/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&amp;utm_medium=homepage&amp;utm_campaign=river&amp;utm_content=featured-content-trending&amp;utm_term=first\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the president no longer criticizes the Taliban<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">, because his decisions have left him entirely at the mercy of one of the most barbaric and brutal forces in the world.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">The administration has gift-wrapped the greatest propaganda gift imaginable to anti-American forces all around the world.<\/span>\u00a0<em>Bloomberg News<\/em>\u00a0stated that: \u201cIt\u2019s those who helped the Stars and Stripes reach its ill-thought-out goals that slide off the sides of the departing planes as their nails give out,\u201d Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of the Russian government propaganda network RT, wrote on her\u00a0<em>Telegram<\/em>\u00a0channel. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u201cThe lesson: <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Do not help the Stars and Stripes<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> It\u2019ll <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>use you<\/em><\/span>, then <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>abandon you<\/em><\/span>.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">The president justified his decision by insisting that \u201cal-Qaeda is gone,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/cleaning-up-after-biden-on-al-qaeda-11629671400\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an assessment that his own Pentagon and State Department disputed<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #008000;\">.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong>NBC News. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">John Brennan.<\/span> The Carter Center. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">The\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><em>The New Yorker<\/em>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">CNBC.<\/span> The\u00a0<em>Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0editorial board. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">The United Nations.<\/span> Congressional Democrats. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">Former Obama administration officials.<\/span> International nonprofit groups. <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>None<\/em><\/span> of those figures or institutions can be characterized as right-wing or reflexive foes of President Biden.<\/span> These blistering assessments of the situation in Afghanistan, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>and<\/em><\/span> the administration decisions that led to it, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>are not<\/em><\/span> coming from Donald Trump, or Sean Hannity, or Alex Jones.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>There is no conservative plot to make Joe Biden look bad at this moment; it would be superfluous and couldn\u2019t do <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>nearly<\/em><\/span> as good a job of that <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">as he\u2019s doing himself<\/span><\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Yesterday, before mentioning Afghanistan, President Biden began by saying he wanted to \u201cdiscuss the progress we\u2019re making on the Build Back Better agenda here at home.\u201d <span style=\"color: #008000;\">White House press secretary Jen Psaki, fresh off insisting that Americans were not stranded in Afghanistan, declared that, \u201c<\/span><\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2021\/08\/24\/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-august-24-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">I would not say that [the mission] is anything but a success<\/a><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #008000;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">And\u00a0<em>Politico<\/em>\u00a0reports that, \u201cWhile it\u2019s sparked accusations that the president\u2019s team is trying to divert attention away from a crisis of its own creation, Biden\u2019s defenders stress that, for now at least, he deserves to crow.\u201d<\/span> <span style=\"color: #008000;\">The headline?<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/08\/24\/white-house-media-afghanistan-506849\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">White House to media: We want our props on Afghanistan<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>The Biden team thinks it <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>isn\u2019t getting enough credit for how good<\/em><\/span> the current situation is.<\/strong><\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>As does the DNC<\/em><\/span>, along with many of its propagandists in the MSM.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3W4Zf8Za0FE?start=1\" 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 those totally detached from reality, <em>FOX<\/em> recently reported Justin&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"headline\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/canada-trudeau-minister-taliban-our-brothers\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900; text-decoration: underline;\">Trudeau&#8217;s minister for women and gender equality raised eyebrows by calling Taliban &#8216;our brothers<\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">&#8216;<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5krttc.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96356\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5krttc.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5krttc.jpeg 420w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/5krttc-300x190.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;&#8230;<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong>&#8220;I want to take this opportunity to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>speak to our brothers, the Taliban<\/em><\/span>,&#8221; Maryam Monsef said. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">&#8220;We call on you to ensure the safe and secure passage of any individual in\u00a0Afghanistan\u00a0out of the country.&#8221;<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong>&#8220;We call on you to <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">immediately stop the violence, the genocide, the femicide, the destruction of infrastructure, including heritage buildings<\/span><\/em>,&#8221; she\u00a0continued. <span style=\"color: #800000;\">&#8220;We call on you to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>immediately return to the peacekeeping table<\/em><\/span>, to the peace deal that was negotiated, and to <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ensure that women and minority voices are a part of that discussion in a meaningful way<\/span><\/em>.&#8221;<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong>Monsef, a member of Prime Minister\u00a0Justin Trudeau\u2019s\u00a0Liberal Party, was frequently touted as Canada&#8217;s first Afghan-born member of Parliament <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">until she conceded she was actually born in Iran<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span>&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>These gullibulls are positively cartoonish in their credulousness:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HuxJqIs2a-Y?start=0&amp;end=6&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><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><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>Moving on, we offer a quintet of specially selected items certain to stimulate inquiring Conservative minds:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(1).\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/news\/new-york-governor-adds-12000-deaths-to-covid-count-that-went-unacknowledged-by-cuomo\/?utm_source=email&amp;utm_medium=breaking&amp;utm_campaign=newstrack&amp;utm_term=24850931\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">New York governor Kathy Hochul\u2019s administration reported on Wednesday close to 12,000 additional coronavirus deaths that were unacknowledged by predecessor Sonny Cuomo<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>: &#8220;Cuomo resigned on Monday following a report by New York attorney general Letitia James detailing allegations of sexual harassment against the former governor. Cuomo and his administration also faced scrutiny for allegedly underreporting the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes during the first several months of the pandemic.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>Ah, it seems like only yesterday:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/players\/MlUNqehx-uIVgHbae.html\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\"><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><em>(2). The<\/em> Journal&#8217;s Kim Strassel relates how <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Nancy the Red&#8217;s\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">true legacy is to have reduced the Democratic Party to its most hollowed-out form in history<\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(3). Writing at <em>Townhall.com<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/townhall.com\/columnists\/larryoconnor\/2021\/08\/26\/the-danger-of-bidens-fragile-ego-n2594805\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Larry O&#8217;Connor points out the peril of 46*&#8217;s mammoth but fragile ego<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(4).\u00a0 In the wake of the completely preventable deaths in Kabul, prevaricating propagandist Jen Psaki dismissed calls for 46*&#8217;s resignation, saying, unlike every 24-hour period following The Donald&#8217;s election, this was &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/psaki-dismisses-calls-for-biden-to-resign-not-a-day-for-politics\" class=\"broken_link\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">not a day for politics<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>&#8220;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>(5). As a forward from Ed Hickey informs us <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/branches\/navy\/2021-07-22\/us-navy-fire-safety-uss-bonhomme-richard-2242552.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>the\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/strong><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><em>Navy has instituted heightened fire-safety compliance checks after the USS Bonhomme Richard blaze last year<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0 In typical government fashion, said changes were a year late and $4.5 billion short rather than the scheduled and budgeted day late and a dollar short.<\/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\/2021\/08\/aaa-7.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96367\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aaa-7.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aaa-7.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aaa-7-300x201.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ddd-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96368\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ddd-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ddd-1.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ddd-1-300x199.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cb082321dAPC20210824124510.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96335\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cb082321dAPC20210824124510.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cb082321dAPC20210824124510.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cb082321dAPC20210824124510-300x227.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cb082521dAPR20210824114505-1.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96364\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cb082521dAPR20210824114505-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cb082521dAPR20210824114505-1.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/cb082521dAPR20210824114505-1-300x227.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ccc-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96394\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ccc-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ccc-1.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ccc-1-300x208.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/afb082621dAPR20210826034504.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96365\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/afb082621dAPR20210826034504.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/afb082621dAPR20210826034504.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/afb082621dAPR20210826034504-300x214.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aaa-6.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96342\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aaa-6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aaa-6.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aaa-6-300x218.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bbb-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96343\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bbb-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"283\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bbb-2.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bbb-2-300x184.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/afb082521dAPR20210825034503.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96350\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/afb082521dAPR20210825034503.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/afb082521dAPR20210825034503.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/afb082521dAPR20210825034503-300x214.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MC_Lipstick_web20210825123026.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96351\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MC_Lipstick_web20210825123026.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MC_Lipstick_web20210825123026.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MC_Lipstick_web20210825123026-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/alg082421dAPC20210824034516.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96336\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/alg082421dAPC20210824034516.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/alg082421dAPC20210824034516.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/alg082421dAPC20210824034516-300x215.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MC_JoeBideniest_web20210824112911.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96337\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MC_JoeBideniest_web20210824112911.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MC_JoeBideniest_web20210824112911.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/MC_JoeBideniest_web20210824112911-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aria_c18463920210824120100.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96338\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aria_c18463920210824120100.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aria_c18463920210824120100.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aria_c18463920210824120100-300x179.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/biden-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96339\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/biden-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/biden-3.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/biden-3-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aria_c18460320210823120100.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96340\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aria_c18460320210823120100.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aria_c18460320210823120100.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/aria_c18460320210823120100-300x181.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bbb-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96366\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bbb-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"299\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bbb-3.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bbb-3-300x194.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Numbered-Daze-1.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96331\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Numbered-Daze-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Numbered-Daze-1.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Numbered-Daze-1-300x146.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-25-21-at-7.57-AM.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96332\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-25-21-at-7.57-AM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-25-21-at-7.57-AM.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-25-21-at-7.57-AM-300x134.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-25-21-at-7.55-AM.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96333\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-25-21-at-7.55-AM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-25-21-at-7.55-AM.jpeg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Image-8-25-21-at-7.55-AM-300x234.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Finally, we&#8217;ll call it a week with these from Brenda Berry&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1577.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96400\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1577.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1577.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1577-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;Speed&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Speed.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96346\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Speed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Speed.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Speed-300x269.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/asshole.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96395\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/asshole.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/asshole.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/asshole-251x300.png 251w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_4113.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96401\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_4113.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_4113.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_4113-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_4113-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;and the lovely Shannon:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/shannon2-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96396\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/shannon2-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"585\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/shannon2-2.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/shannon2-2-237x300.jpg 237w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/shannon3-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96397\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/shannon3-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"586\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/shannon3-1.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/shannon3-1-237x300.png 237w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>We&#8217;re proud to say we&#8217;re unfamiliar with most of those&#8230;what&#8230;apps?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Magoo<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>Video of the Day<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>A clip which highlights the cluelessness of COVID protocols.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-azGhipTtN8\" 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: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>Tales of The Darkside<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0Tucker introduces us to one of the most hypocritical corporations on the planet.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/REwSS3b3OXI\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>On the Lighter Side<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>When a Millennial squares off against a Baby Boomer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ed-5Zzdbx0E\" width=\"420\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Friday, August 27th, 2021&#8230;but before we begin, have you ever seen the like in your life?!? \ufeff \ufeff Think about it: He admitted to being &#8220;given a list&#8221; and &#8220;instructed&#8221; who to call on first. Whoever penned this scene from\u00a0The Hunt for Red October\u00a0may as well have been writing about the complete disaster which [&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-96382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96382","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=96382"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96479,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96382\/revisions\/96479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}