It’s Monday, August 5th, 2019…but before we begin, in a remembrance reminiscent of Hillary claiming she’d been named for the conqueror of Everest 5-1/2 years before Sir Edmund summited, Kirsten…

Gillibrand stands by attack on Biden: I was ‘deeply offended’ by 1981 op-ed

Except she was 15-years-old at the time; seriously, how “deeply offended” could she have been?!?

On the basis of this whopper alone, we’re putting Gillibrand into the “Patently Prevaricating Progressive” column…along with the rest of the 2020 Dimocratic field.

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, proving once again, like a broken clock, even Progressives are correct on occasion, Julian Castro accurately assesses the El Paso Walmart shooting:

“Look, there’s one person that’s responsible directly for that shooting in El Paso. And that’s the shooter.“

Everything else is pure politics, including this utterly absurd tweet from an educated idiot whose hatred for The Donald further erodes his credibility and judgment every passing day:

Meanwhile, after calling the shooting an “act of barbarism, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard demanded the American government ensure “conditions are established that protect Mexicans in the United States“…which takes some real cajones, since Mexico itself can’t protect Mexican citizens…

…IN MEXICO!!!

More importantly, based on Patrick Crusius’s own manifesto (and contrary to the purely hate-crime storyline being peddled by Progressives and their MSM shills), the shootings were motivated by a number of factors, frustration with political and corporate support for open borders and a demented desire to incentive Hispanics to leave the country among them.

On the other hand, the motive behind the Dayton, OH murders remains rather murky:

“…Dayton police Chief Richard Biehl told reporters in a news conference on Sunday afternoon that the gunman, identified as 24-year-old Connor Betts, showed up to the city’s Oregon District around Fifth Street with his sister and a friend on Saturday night. He added the three separated at some point between when they arrived and when Betts opened fire, saying it is unknown what happened during that time.”

Biehl said police officers in the area engaged him seconds after the first gunshots were heard and the gunman was “neutralized” within 30 seconds after the first of “dozens of rounds.”…

…“There’s nothing in this individual’s history or record that would have precluded him from purchasing that firearm,” Biehl said.

Biehl told reporters Betts had two guns with him, adding that a shotgun was left in the vehicle at the time of the shooting…”

So many questions come to mind, among them:

(1). Were Betts’s sister and her boyfriend the intended targets, and rest of the victims collateral damage, or was his anger being directed against the whole nightclub scene, including what would have been his apostate sister?

(2). Could the shooter’s sister and her boyfriend, who rode with him to the scene, really have been blissfully unaware of the hardware he was transporting, let alone his intentions?  Over the course of our 63 years, we’ve become acquainted with certain people, including one very close relative, closely enough to know they harbored some pretty crazy ideas.  Crazy enough to shoot up a nightclub district, along with a sister and her boyfriend?  Maybe, maybe not.  But traveling to one with three weapons and a bullet-proof vest at 0100 might have provided a clue.

(3). Imagine the lives which might have been saved had Scott Peterson and former Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel’s deputies…

…responded to the Parkland high school shooting with the courage and alacrity displayed by Dayton law enforcement?

Only time and continued investigation will tell; then again, as in the case of the Mandalay Bay shooter, they may not, at least with any real certainty.

One thing is certain: unlike Skinny, the owner of Greeley’s in Unforgiven… 

…it is our intention never to allow ourself or our loved ones to be trapped, a target incapable of returning fire.

Next, if the MSM’s seriously asking… 

Is it time to take Marianne Williamson seriously?

…consider Trump already well into his second term.

In a related item, we were struck by this snippet from #Never-Trumper Jonah Goldberg writing at NRO:

“…Even if Mueller had knocked it out of the park, the odds of successfully removing Trump in a Senate trial would have improved from zero to, maybe, 5 percent. You need two-thirds of a GOP-controlled Senate for removal. You also need — fun fact here — the Senate to agree to take up the impeachment in the first place. Hence the odds of removing Trump from office before the 2020 presidential election would still be zero even if Mueller had given an Oscar-worthy performance.

None of this speaks to the underlying question of whether Trump should be impeached. Reasonable people can disagree on that…”

Really?!?  Actually, Jonah, “reasonable” people can’t disagree on that, because anyone who holds Trump should be impeached sans legitimate charges of having actually committed high crimes and/or misdemeanors isn’t being reasonable, they’re playing politics.  And unless you’re privy to Adam Schiff’s “proof” of Trump’s collusion…”proof” which he’s curiously yet to produce…we’d appreciate YOU specifying the charges for which Trump should be impeached.

Perhaps followed by something…anything…Trump has actually ever said or done which was racist.  Not something he said which #NeverTrumpers or the MSM deliberately misquoted or misinterpreted to appear racist: something…

…really racist.  We won’t hold our breath waiting for you to submit proof admissible in a court of law.

Since we’re on the subject of something which wouldn’t stand up in court, writing at AEI, Fred Hess details how the…

Millions for ex-Michigan State prez are a symptom of what ails colleges

“Michigan State University has announced a $2.4 million retirement deal for former MSU president Lou Anna Simon, who was forced out of office last year after MSU’s crippling sexual assault scandal. Simon stands charged with two felonies and is accused of lying to law enforcement officials about what she knew regarding the abuse of more than 150 women over nearly three decades. In addition to its three-year pay-out to Simon, the university will provide a generous benefits package, including medical and dental coverage, the title of “president emeritus,” continued access to football and basketball tickets, and a commissioned portrait that will be displayed at the university (so long as she is not convicted).

Simon served as president of MSU from 2005 to 2018, receiving accolades as she grew the institution’s funding and enrollment. Simon’s being oblivious (or turning a blind eye) to an egregious pattern of criminal abuse during the entirety of her tenure has apparently been judged no reason for her to lose access to football tickets or top-flight dental coverage.

And, make no mistake, the behavior that unfolded on Simon’s watch was egregious…”

The question isn’t why Simon’s getting $2.4M, but rather why she’s getting a penny…not to mention not facing significant time in prison?!?  Make no mistake about it: this is politically-correct Progressivism at its finest…er,…worst!

Speaking of politically-correct Progressivism at its worst, courtesy of George Lawlor, try this item from the education section of Newsday on for size:

Brentwood student a winner at National Spanish Spelling Bee

As the protagonist of one of our favorite jokes would say, “Vewy, vewy impwessive…reawy MOST impwessive!”

That is, until you learn the National Spanish Spelling Bee was only open to students in select schools with bilingual education programs…who were given a list of 1,500 specific words which would be part of the final quiz…which would involve only 40 students from just 15 states…and after thirteen rounds, though the “competition was gettin stiff”, and despite the fact the organizers supposedly “would’ve kept going if we could, but we were getting dirty looks from hotel staff who needed to prep the room for the next event”, they “decided to get creative” and “awarded first prize[s] to the nine spellers still on the stage”.

In other words, everybody gets a trophy.  Gee…any question had the competition been opened to the sons and daughters of Asian and Indian immigrants to America the best Pablo could have hoped for was a tie…particularly had his non-Hispanic opponents been given a list from which to study…and the contest run to a final conclusion?

Sorry, but, as our old friend, Naval Academy classmate and contributor George Lawlor wondered, what’s next: a Black-only Ebonics spelling bee; a Chinese-only logograms identification contest; perhaps a Navaho-only Windtalkers tournament?

And what, pray tell, possible good does it do for Pablo to correctly spell SPANISH words when he now resides in AMERICA?!?!?!?

We warned you we’d use it again, so here it is, in honor of the idiocy which is the artificially-feel-good National Spanish Spelling Bee:

Which brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:

Then there’s these timely memes courtesy of Ed Hicky…

…Balls Cotton…

…and our sister-in-law Amy:

Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with our Another First That Really Wasn’t segment, today in response to the claim the…

World’s first ever human-monkey hybrid grown in lab in China

Big deal: we’ve had such hybrids in America for decades, the only difference being their domestic development…

…didn’t require a laboratory!

Magoo

P.S.  We’ll be taking a trip to Laurel Valley on Tuesday, and heading down to D.C. for dinner on Thursday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our marriage to the STILL incredibly hot…

…TLJ.

So, more than likely, ’til next Monday…