It’s Friday, December 1st, 2017…but before we begin, a sage observation from Jim Geraghty at his Morning Jolt:

Pervs of a feather flocking together.

“The “office culture” under Matt Lauer at NBC doesn’t sound all that different than the office culture under Charlie Rose at PBS, or the office culture under Roger Ailes at Fox News, or the office culture under Harvey Weinstein at his production company. In each case, workers under the celebrity boss may have personally abhorred the behavior but were unwilling or unable to make any real stand against it. The attitude was more or less, “look, he acts like Caligula and sees the staff as his personal harem, but he’s the boss, and he’s the guy who makes the place work.”

Except…they weren’t! Were any of these guys all that difficult to replace? Lauer had an amiable presence on camera and read off the teleprompter, but was he exponentially better than any other NBC morning show host? Fox News has continued to thrive after Ailes’ retirement and death, and Tucker Carlson’s ratings are about as high as Bill O’Reilly’s. Future movie producers will cast different actors in the roles that Kevin Spacey would have previously had; cable networks will find comedians besides Louis CK to build shows around.

Several things about the network’s response do not make sense. NBC News chairman Andrew Lack declared in a memo that someone had come forward Monday and the network reached its decision Tuesday, concluding, “While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.” That is difficult to square with “several women told Variety they complained to executives at the network about Lauer’s behavior, which fell on deaf ears given the lucrative advertising surrounding Today.”…”

Follow the money, folks; follow the money.  The hypocrisy won’t be far behind.

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, the WSJ‘s Dan Henninger reports why, absent a dramatic course correction…and that right soon…Republicans, including The Donald, may shortly become an endangered species…unless the Dimocrats’ continuing, complete and utter disregard for morality and decency (see above) save the GOP from its well-deserved fate:

Taxes: What Would Jesus Do?

The Senate’s six apostles can choose between Caesar and economic opportunity.

“Jesus Christ could count himself lucky that for the completion of his earthly mission he had the 12 apostles and not the 52 Republican members of the U.S. Senate.

Imagine: The Lord tells Lazarus to walk from his tomb, and the apostle Bob, the first fiscal hawk, objects that if Jesus continues raising people from the dead, the unplanned population growth will blow out Judea’s deficit. Apostle Bob says he won’t go along without a hard cap on resurrections.

The Lord reminds the apostles of how he fed the multitudes with the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Forget it, says the apostle Jeff. Unconstrained loaf-and-fish division will create a culture of entitlement. Apostle Jeff says he’s leaving.

Angered, Jesus threatens to drive the money changers from the temple. You’re wasting your energy, says the apostle Ron, an accountant before joining the discipleship. Ron explains to the Lord that the money changers are pass-through entities who are withholding their support until Jesus extracts equal tax treatment for them from King Herod.

One thing we know for certain: though Republicans are far from perfect, there’s no way Christ could or would EVER support a political party which has sold its body and soul to the unrestricted slaughter of the unborn.

Next up, courtesy of Townhall.com, Christine Rousselle reveals how…

Matt Lauer Had A Hidden Button To Remotely Lock His Office Door

“…Keep in mind Lauer was close friends with now disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. When NBC executives were approached with the story about Weinstein’s behavior by NBC reporter Ronan Farrow earlier this year, they squashed it…”

Gee,…

…what a surprise!

Seriously, this reminds us of the magic/secret room detailed in the Fells Acre day care prosecution.  Yet there’s a huge difference between the two: Fells Acre was a literal witch-hunt based on utterly unbelievable “facts“ perpetuated by Martha Coakley, a Dimocratic politician who, in the best traditions of Mike Nifong and his wholly-unsupportable persecution of three Duke lacrosse players, hoped the evidence fabricated against the utterly innocent Amirault family would vault her to higher office.

We particularly loved the reaction of one Stephen Gutowski:

After all, it’s not like Lauer, were he really worried about intruders somehow penetrating the security surrounding his building, couldn’t have just locked the door behind him every time he entered his office.

Since we’re on the subject of Liberals spinning webs of deliberate deceit, The Daily Caller‘s Richard Pollock records how…

Secret Donors Are Financing Leandra English Lawsuit Against Trump

“Deepak Gupta, the lead lawyer of a boutique law firm that launched its suit on behalf of CFPB acting director Leandra English, confirmed in a CNBC interview that English is not paying for his hourly fees, but rather unknown anonymous donors are.

Gupta refused to name who is funding the lawsuit, making it difficult to ascertain the motives, intentions, or any special interests of those underwriting the case. The D.C. lawyer appeared caught off guard when CNBC hosts asked who was financing his effort. He stumbled over his words in his first answer and said some form of unidentified “structure” was being put in place to accept funds from anonymous donors.

“Well, uh, it’s, it’s not, um, Miss, um English, um, ah. There are ethics lawyers that we’ve consulted, and we have a structure set up that is with ethics rules and, um, we’ll and we’ll be talking about that once we have that,” he told CNBC.

When repeatedly asked who is paying for the case, which could go all the way to the Supreme Court, Gupta answered, “It’s just not appropriate for me to be talking about that right now.” CNBC’s host asked Gupta if his firm is handling the case pro bono. “No. We’re not,” Gupta replied.

Gupta previously worked for Ralph Nader’s litigation group, which historically has always demanded openness and transparency from government entities…”

Nader was then; English is now!

Speaking of Liberals who don’t now their left butt cheek from their right, courtesy of NRO, Julie Kelly notes how, rather than focusing on the ongoing threat of Islamic terror in his metropolis,… 

London’s Mayor Cracks Down on Fish and Chips

More government regulation won’t solve the global childhood-obesity epidemic, but that hasn’t stopped politicians from trying.

“Uncle Toms” mean moderate Muslims.

“London mayor Sadiq Khan unveiled his “London Plan” on Wednesday, and, as expected, it took a tough stance against a dangerous threat jeopardizing the health and future of the city’s children. No, it’s not a strategy to protect Londoners from potential terrorist attacks at public festivals this Christmas season. The menace is cellulite and the perp is a cheeseburger.

Khan’s plan would prevent any new fast-food restaurant from opening within 400 meters of a primary or secondary school, fulfilling a campaign pledge he made in 2013. The ban targets “takeaways” that sell food such as fish and chips, pizza, chicken, and other quick bites that are allegedly contributing to London’s childhood-obesity crisis. (Nearly 40 percent of children in London are overweight or obese by the time they finish grade school, and the number of obese eleven-year-olds in the city spiked by 22 percent in the last four years.)

According to the 458-page plan:

There is evidence that regular consumption of energy-dense food from hot food takeaways is associated with weight gain, and that takeaway food is appealing to children. A wide range of health experts recommend restricting the proliferation of hot food takeaways, particularly around schools, in order to help create a healthier food environment.

…It’s the latest facile attempt by politicians and self-proclaimed public-health advocates to stop people, especially children, from getting fat. From imposing soda taxes to reforming school-lunch programs to labeling every dimple-causing ingredient in food, the global food police are trying everything to stop — and blaming everyone except the individual for — the world’s obesity epidemic. Michelle Obama made childhood obesity her pet cause for eight years, promoting costly government programs that were supposed to make kids healthier; from 2009 to 2015, the obesity rate among U.S. high school students jumped 17 percent…”

Thus Kahn perpetuates Progressives’ slavish adherence to Einstein’s definition of insanity, as he chooses to try once more a counterproductive policy which proved an abject failure under the worst President and First Lady in American history.

This reminds of the time Moochie, on an all-expense, taxpayer-funded boondoggle to Africa with her mother and kids, demonstrated HER commitment to her own healthy-eating pogrom:

Nothing like some fattening food to supplement the biggest kiester since Oprah Winfrey sat next to Rosie O’Donnell.

And this next headline will certainly make us reconsider watching the NFL…

NFL to Donate $100 Million to Black Causes If Players Stand for Anthem

NFL: “No F*cking Likelhood”…WHATSOEVER!!!

…NOT!!!  WHAT “Black causes”?  Black Lives Matter?  The Congressional Black Caucus?  The New Black Panthers?  The Reverends?  Reparations for slavery?  The Michael Brown Innocence Project?  Or perhaps the Assata Shakur/Mumia Abu-Jamal Freedom Fund?!?

As contributor George Lawlor so appropriately observed, the NFL‘s latest inexplicable failure to understand its target audience…the source of all its revenue…brings new meaning to the term “blackmail”…not to mention staggering stupidity.  What a joke!!!

Which brings us finally (and appropriately enough after the previous fiasco), to The Lighter Side:

Magoo