The Daily Gouge Archive, Monday, September 14th, 2015

On September 22, 2015, in Uncategorized, by magoo1310

It’s Monday, September 14th, 2015…but first, a frank confession: though thankfully NOT suffering from…

…a case of “The Monday’s” (for which we’d deserve to get our ass kicked!), we fear we’re rather symptomatic of a bout of Dimocratic-induced Depression (DID). Unlike the unreasoned responses and irrevocable irrationality associated with BDS…

…DID is manifested by occasional anxiety regarding the heading the Founding Father’s Republic is being steered; not only in terms of who…

…is at the helm, but the status of those specifically tasked with correcting the captain’s…

…egregiously errant course. Which only serves to reinforce the truth of the old adage, “Lead, follow…or GTF out of the way!” It’s time for both of these fossilized career politicians to GTF out of the way; better yet, for the Republican Party to show them the door!

Now, here’s The Gouge!

Since we’re in the midst of a severe spell of DID, today’s edition will be short and sweet; in fact, comprised of four items epitomizing the state of the nation made inevitable by some 50 years of Progressive policies.

Exhibit “A”, courtesy of NRO‘s David French…

The Pentagon Throws the Book at Bowe Bergdahl

It looks like the Obama administration may have traded five high-ranking Taliban prisoners for someone who was worse than a deserter:

Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan.

Observers wondered for months if Bergdahl would be charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the U.S. to bring him home. He was — but he was also charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries a stiffer potential penalty in this case.

Misbehavior before the enemy violates Article 99 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and includes grotesquely dishonorable behavior, including running away, “shamefully” abandoning any place that it is his “duty to defend,” “cowardly conduct,” or endangering the safety of his unit through his own “disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct.” The maximum penalty is death, but it’s highly unlikely that the Army will seek to execute Bergdahl. Life imprisonment, however, is much more realistic.

Given what we know about this case, Article 99 is an appropriate charge. As he knew — as everyone knew who served downrange — the military will launch a massive search for any soldier missing in action. Not only is there a moral imperative not to leave a fallen comrade, prisoners in enemy hands would likely be tortured, exploited for intelligence information, then executed (on film) in the most brutal way possible. While the military apparently disputes the allegation that soldiers died searching for Bergdahl, he unquestionably put his brothers-in-arms at immense risk.

Next up is an Article 32 hearing on September 17. More evidence will emerge during the court-martial proceedings, but thus far I’ve seen nothing to contradict the charge and much evidence to support the prosecution. In the meantime, five Taliban commanders were unavailable for comment. They were too busy plotting the deaths of American soldiers and civilians.

Thus Bowe Bergdahl will almost…”almost” hell…most assuredly cost additional Americans their lives. And with the extra $150 billion they just handed the Iranians, Der Obafuhrer’s Dimocratic sycophants in the Senate ensure The Dear Misleader is the gift that keeps on giving many years into the future.

All of which makes, as Mike Mukasey details at the WSJ, what follows a most monumental task:

Cleaning Up After the Obama Team’s Iran Deal

Show Tehran the ways it may lose what it won at the gaming tables in Vienna.

“‘We couldn’t have negotiated a better deal.’ That is one of the two pillars of the Obama administration’s argument in favor of its nuclear arrangement with Iran, the other being, “there’s no alternative but war.” Those two propositions appear to have won the day—at least with enough Democrats in Congress to prevent a vote disapproving of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The Iran deal remains deeply unpopular with the American public and with the Republican majority in Congress.

Over the past few months, the two propositions regarding the deal left opponents sputtering a catalog of its numerous defects. But it must be admitted that the first proposition—“we couldn’t have negotiated a better deal”—is plainly true.

…Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA director, has suggested an immediate congressional authorization for the use of force if Iran violates the deal; beefing up U.S. defenses in a meaningful way; and perhaps providing Israel with the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. This “bunker buster” could penetrate even the underground Iranian enrichment facility at Fordow, which is suitable principally for creating an atomic weapon.

Has the Tehran regime ever done anything to suggest that Iran will yield to that kind of pressure? The evidence is slim, but there is some. On Jan. 20, 1981, as the resolute Ronald Reagan was sworn in to succeed Jimmy Carter, the Iranians released the 52 U.S. hostages who had been seized in 1979 at the U.S. Embassy.

…However, before Iran can respond to a credible threat of force there must be a U.S. administration with enough steel to do more than talk about whether a vague military option is on or off a metaphoric table. That is assuredly not the current “we.”“

Unfortunately, as history proves, security from Islamic terror for both Israel and the United States…

…is no laughing matter.

Also from NRO...

Fiorina: Actually, Clinton Did ‘Stop and Think’ About Her Server

Earlier this week, Hillary Clinton suggested that she did not put a lot of thought into her e-mail system while Secretary of State. Asked about this claim on Face the Nation, Carly Fiorina struck a skeptical tone:

I don’t think it’s plausible for her to say, ‘Oh, I wasn’t paying any attention.’ She clearly was paying attention.

Fiorina noted that one does not just fall into such an arrangement:

It takes a lot of work to install a private server system in your basement. It takes a lot of work to make sure that you are having the right connections to conduct both personal and professional business over that system.

Fiorina also pointed out that Clinton had hired a professional to set up the system:

We know, for example, that she hired into the State Department a political operative who had done IT work on her campaign and for her PAC. That IT operative was paid $5,000, not by taxpayers, but by Mrs. Clinton herself to do IT work on that basement server. That actually takes a lot of work.

As Hope n’ Change observes, at the time she had her illegal private server installed, Hillary’s legendary laser-like focus and peerless Progressive intellect must have been targeted elsewhere:

Then there’s this sordid story of pure perversion, courtesy of FOXNews.com:

$30G reward offered in hunt for perps who tortured Shetland pony

“The brutal torture death of a beloved Shetland pony in Idaho has ignited outrage among animal advocates, who are offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, Reuters reported. Patches, a small, aging Shetland pony who called Rupert, Idaho, home, was often tethered to a tree in the front yard of owner Daniela Lopez’s home so that neighborhood kids could pet him.

But Lopez’s three young kids, and her soon-to-be-born fourth child, won’t be able to pet the pony any longer after Patches was beaten, stabbed and mutilated by someone on Sept. 5. Patches was euthanized the following day. Police are still looking for the perpetrators.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more vicious attack on an animal,” Idaho Humane Society state director Lisa Kauffman said in a press release. “To be beaten, tortured, mutilated and then left to die in immense pain is the work of an individual you want behind bars. You do not want this person living next to you or in your community. This crime deserves a first offense felony conviction, but since animal cruelty in Idaho is a misdemeanor unless it’s the person’s third offense, this person, when caught, may not get the punishment they deserve.”

…Patches was euthanized after someone cut the rope tethering the pony to his tree, attached him to a vehicle and dragged him for more than a mile on asphalt roads and down a gravel bank, according to Lopez’s Go Fund Me page. The Humane Society release said the perpetrator cut off the pony’s genitals and stabbed him “in numerous areas with a sharp object.” He was left to die and could barely stand by the time he was found in the morning…”

We’re gonna go out on a limb and suggest we not only wouldn’t want this person living in our community, let alone next to us; we don’t believe this person should continue to live at all...any time…anywhere!

Which brings us back to our original point. Think about it: these aren’t isolated events. Crimes against cops are a common commodity…the rule of law a joke…heretofore commonly-held Judeo-Christian moral principles disregarded in favor of amorality and anarchy. Meanwhile, the most intolerant religion on the planet is afforded both tolerance and, in fact, favor by the political party pretending to promote the interests of those most antithetical…