It’s Friday, March 13th, 2020…but before we begin, if you hear the “Joe Biden Unhooked” soundtrack prior to viewing the #4 link above, just click anywhere on the webpage and it should stop.

Then, consider this snippet from an article by Zach Evans at NRO regarding the 8-1 SCOTUS decision in support of Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy:

“Critics charge that it forces migrants to wait in dangerous Mexican border towns. In the 9th Circuit’s injunction, Judge William Fletcher wrote that the policy poses serious harm to migrants.

“[The Migrant Protection Protocols have] had serious adverse consequences for the individual plaintiffs,” Fletcher wrote. “Plaintiffs presented evidence in the district court that they, as well as others returned to Mexico under the MPP, face targeted discrimination, physical violence, sexual assault, overwhelmed and corrupt law enforcement, lack of food and shelter, and practical obstacles to participation in court proceedings in the United States.”…”

In other words, heads they win, tails we lose: if they’re kept in Mexico, they face “serious adverse consequences” in “dangerous Mexican border towns”; if they’re allowed to cross into the United States, “critics charge” their detention while awaiting an asylum hearing in well-maintained, fenced facilities which provide food and accommodations of a quality they’ve likely never experienced in their lives is inhuman.

The solution offered by “critics” is, of course, they be released (no coronavirus or other medical exam required) pending a hearing they’ll never show up to attend.

Also, keep in mind the SCOTUS justice who recently accused her strict-constructionist colleagues of political pandering cast the lone dissenting vote.  Undoubtedly because she’s a wise Hispanic woman.

Since we’re on the subject of racists masquerading as Progressive heroes, as Matt Vespa reports at Townhall.com…

NYT Op-Ed Writer: Yeah, I Made A ‘Trivial’ Math Mistake on MSNBC. Also, You’re Racist For Noticing.

“…Unfortunately, quite a few Americans can tell you what it’s like to be the target of a Twitter mob over a gaffe. My great sin was trivial, harmless, silly. What’s it like when people are trying to cancel you for a math mistake? Weird, and maddening and painful.

I am a black woman who writes for The New York Times and appears on national TV. And if you’re black in America, no matter who you are, what you accomplish or how hard you work, there will always be people to remind you that you are black, that you are “just a ni**er.” (Wow…THAT’S quite a leap!)

A colleague at The Times, an African-American woman, wrote to me on Friday afternoon, “They resent that you exist.”

It didn’t help that I write for a newspaper where my colleagues are assiduously working to hold a rogue president accountable every day…”

As Chuck Ross tweeted in response to Gay’s retreat to the standard Progressive defense when anyone challenges their command of the facts…

We’d humbly suggest the only racists involved in this mathematical error are Mara Gay and her African-American colleague…along with most every other Progressive propagandist at The New York Times.

Now, here’s The Gouge!

We lead off the last edition of the week with a word from the WSJ on…

America’s Self-Shutdown

The public has made ‘social distancing’ de facto national policy.

“For all the foreboding about the novel coronavirus—foreboding that is justified—it is heartening to see the American people responding in ways reminiscent of the frontier spirit. Most people are doing what they have to do to survive a clear and immediate threat to their lives and communities.

The new watchword is “social distancing.” That means minimizing the transmission of an infectious virus for which no personal immunity exists by minimizing the chance that any one carrier will pass the virus to others. The speed with which the American people and their institutions are executing that sound strategy is breathtaking.

…Given the scale and costs of voluntary mitigation underway, the moment has arrived for the relevant authorities in Washington to inform the American people more precisely about the purpose and parameters of social distancing. President Trump’s 10-minute talk Wednesday evening wasn’t nearly enough, and his focus on travel bans from Europe is not adequate to explain the domestic disruption. The answers have to come from the presidential task force headed by Vice President Mike Pence.

Useful primers are available online, such as a recent article in the Lancet—“How will country-based mitigation measures influence the course of the Covid-19 epidemic?” We recommend it. But Americans shouldn’t have to poke through medical journals or watch C-Span to see NIH’s Anthony Fauci testify before House committees.

…We no longer live on the frontier. Science may not fully understand this virus yet, but it knows a lot about the reasons for dislocating a nation’s social and economic life. It’s time for leaders to explain this to a worried but resilient American public.“

Guy Benson, as consistently Conservative a commentator as we know, echoes a similar refrain at Townhall.com:

Important: How Coronavirus is About to Get Much Worse in the US, and Why You Still Shouldn’t Panic

“I’ll begin with a word on last night’s address by the president.  In some respects, it was strong; it emphasized the seriousness of the crisis, repeated crucially important recommendations for best hygiene practices, and reassured anxious Americans that the federal government will act to mitigate the (negative, likely temporary) economic impact.  But it also failed in several key respects.

First, it focused too heavily on foreign travel restrictions.  The virus is already here and spreading rapidly.  I’m not opposed to additional restrictions — Trump’s early decisions on that front vis-a-vis China and Iran were heavily criticized but were exactly the right thing to do — but Wednesday’s primetime speech was woefully insufficient on both specific updates regarding expanding screening and testing capacity (the biggest blemish in the US response thus far), and guidance for drastic social distancing…Perhaps worse was the mop-up job several presidential assertions triggered. 

…The president conveyed three pieces of wrong information, either through shoddy drafting or misspeaking, that needed to be “clarified” by administration officials almost immediately.  The actual policies were better and more accurate than the speech designed to relay those policies to the public.  This cannot happen.  Period.  This makes the administration look incompetent, it looks the president look clueless and weak, and it makes it seem as though the high-stakes address was thrown together without proper vetting, which may erode public confidence in future pronouncements made by this president on highly sensitive matters.  Noting these things is not an “attack” on Trump.  If you’re a supporter of his, you should be angry at those who did not serve him well — a buck that ultimately stops with him…”

Meanwhile, as this forward from Steve Armour clearly confirms… 

12:00 PM CST Noon March 11, 2020: Mayor Sylvester Turner declares state of emergency for the city of Houston and Houston Health and Human Services instructs Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to cease immediately citing public health risk due to coronavirus. Houston applies for “Federal Emergency Funding” because “it is too dangerous here” for large groups to assemble.

6:00 PM CST March 11, 2020: Sylvester attends Axe Lending Group 2-year anniversary company party with employees and guests. The owners are Islamic and big Turner supporters. 600 people attended…complete with shared hookah smoking, lots of hand shaking and hugging.

…political hypocrisy reigns:

Sorry, but when we learn 58% of Italy’s Covid-19 patients who’ve died thus far were over 80, and a further 31% were in their 70s, yet we’re shutting down our economy while the mayor of Houston glad-hands with a group of campaign contributors, color us somewhat confused.

Next up, NRO‘s Charlie Cooke correctly concludes…

Biden’s Second Amendment Outburst Was a Warning Sign

“Joe Biden had a little outburst today, after a construction worker asked him about the Second Amendment…

If I were a Democrat, this would alarm me. Biden’s behavior here is extraordinary, especially given that he is currently previewing the “return to normalcy” theme that he intends to run on in November. One might think that telling a voter that he is “full of s***” and that you will “slap them” matters less than it usually would given that Donald Trump is in the White House. But, arguably, the opposite is true. Elections are about contrasts. If he is as belligerent and ill-disciplined as the incumbent, what is Biden’s case for replacing him?

In this instance, the answer seems to be that, unlike Trump, Biden will usher in stricter gun control. But that, too, should alarm Democrats. If Biden now has a reputation as a champion of gun confiscation — and if construction workers in Michigan are asking him about it, it suggests he does — he is going to have a hard time winning back the voters that Trump peeled away from the Obama coalition. Barack Obama didn’t say much about guns at all until his second term had begun, and, once he did, he presided over the loss of the Senate, the loss of the White House, and a record-breaking period of civilian firearms sales. Judging by their rhetoric, Democrats seem to believe that the center of gravity has changed on this question since then. But the evidence for this is scant. The State of Virginia is run solely by Democrats — Democrats who were bankrolled by Michael Bloomberg and who promised to pass restrictive gun control as their first priority. They failed, and sparked a massive backlash in the process. Do we think the playing field looks different in Michigan?

Democrats should also be worried because, whatever the chorus of blue-check journalists who thrilled to the exchange might think, Biden was flatly wrong on the details here. Biden took offense at the idea that he was in favor of confiscation — “Don’t tell me that, pal,” he said. But what other conclusion are voters to draw from Biden’s having said that he would put Beto “hell yes, we’re coming for your AR-15” O’Rourke in charge of his gun policy? O’Rourke is now primarily famous for having taken the most extreme gun position any presidential candidate has taken in three decades, and Biden has willingly tied himself to him. Can he really be surprised that voters have put two and two together?

The rest of his answer was no better. What, I wonder, are Michiganders supposed to make of Biden’s commitment to the Second Amendment when, as decades of his rhetoric suggests, he believes that it protects the private ownership of shotguns for hunting? What are they to make of his seriousness on the issue when he talks about the evils of the “AR-14”; when he does not know which guns are presently banned under federal law and which are not; when he does not know the difference between a “machine gun” and a semi-automatic carbine; when he believes “you don’t need 100 rounds!” means…well, anything comprehensible at all; and when he approvingly cites the appalling (and overturned) decision in Schenck v. United States as if it makes the case for banning the most commonly owned rifle in America?

This was a bad exchange — not because it is likely to change much on its own, but because it illustrates some underlying truths about the electorate and about this candidate that do not portend well.“

In other words, as Larry O’Connor relates at Townhall.com, it reveals…

Joe Biden Is an Angry Old Man Who Doesn’t Like You

“Well, so much for the “Joe Biden is such a nice guy, he’ll bring back civility to the political discourse” argument.

Just hours before he declared a “revival of decency and honor and character” during his Michigan primary victory speech, he berated a Michigander as a “horse’s a**” who was “full of s**t” for accurately quoting the presidential candidate’s position on gun restrictions.

The interaction with a UAW member named Jerry Wayne is illustrative of multiple facets of the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, including his inability to recall his own position on something as critical as gun control. Or, perhaps, it demonstrates his blatant lies about his position on the matter. After all, Wayne cited that he wants to take guns away, and Biden did, in fact, affirm that fact to Anderson Cooper in an interview in August:

COOPER: So, to gun owners out there who say, well, a Biden administration means they’re going to come for my guns?

BIDEN: Bingo. You’re right if you have an assault weapon.

There are multiple disconcerting moments in the video like this one. Moments that display Biden’s ability to lie to a voter’s face, bully a voter with physical threats, throw profanities at a voter who challenges his positions and his aggressive “shushing” of a female campaign staffer trying to mitigate the damage of the confrontation. We could breakdown any one of these moments to illustrate Biden’s mendacity or his possible mental instability.

But, there is one over-riding takeaway form this exchange that not only meshes with other unfortunate encounters Biden’s had on the campaign trail with everyday American voters (“look fat,” “You’re a lying, dog-faced pony soldier,” etc.). And, this takeaway also meshes with his behavior as a U.S. Senator and as vice president over the past several decades.

It’s this: Joe Biden is an angry man who just doesn’t like you.”

Brit Hume’s repeated claims to the contrary notwithstanding, O’Connor continues:

“I know the mainstream media characterization of Joe Biden is that he’s just an amiable, happy guy who everybody gets along with, and that may be true as it pertains to his fellow senators and members of the media with whom Biden wishes to curry favor. (Brit?!?) But his direct interaction with voters, especially voters who dare to question or God forbid challenge the former vice president, indicates that he has very little regard for our opinions or beliefs and, for that matter, our knowledge of the facts and issues that matter most to us.

This is not new.

…Watch some of the old videos of Biden’s conduct as a senator on C-SPAN. It’s enlightening. His attitude is imperious, condescending and arrogant, but always to those who dare to challenge or question him. He’s happy-go-lucky “Uncle Joe” as long as you give him the deference he’s sure you owe him. But if you dare to stand up to him, he’s in your face.

…Do your own research. Check the archives yourself. See what kind of man Biden is. Go ahead. He has a long paper trail. And, just as Biden destroyed Robert Bork by combing through his vast record, perhaps it would be poetic justice to use the same tactic against Biden the bully.“

Here’s the juice: we love Brit.  Still, our affection for him does not change the fact, like Cal Thomas’ requiem for Teddy Kennedy, we have to say he’s wrong!!!  Joe is NOT a nice man…and neither is his shotgun wielding “hunter” son.  Enriching yourself and your family at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer while assassinating the character of truly honorable Americans is NOT the mark of a nice man.

But Joe’s got a plan for dealing with the coronavirus, including the development of a vaccine!!!

Who’s gonna help you with that, Joe: Al Gore?!?

By the way, as Tucker details, anyone who’s ever backed Bernie…

…is a complete and utter sucker.

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

Then there’s these three instant classics from Balls Cotton…

…along with one from our sister-in-law Jackie:

Finally, we’ll call it a week with yet another sordid story straight from the pages of The Crime Blotter, courtesy today of Breeze Gould and an unfortunate San Diego meth head:

National City woman sues San Diego County after blinding herself in jail custody

“One of the last things Tanya Suarez remembers seeing was a camera in the upper corner of her jail cell.

On the morning of May 6, 2019, the camera at Las Colinas women’s jail in Santee watched as the 23-year-old, high on meth, pulled out both her eyes.

According to a lawsuit filed on her behalf in federal court in San Diego Tuesday, it took Suarez less than five minutes. It took jail staff several more minutes to check on her, the lawsuit says, “during which Tanya was screaming and flailing around the cell.”…”

Did we mention Suarez was out of her mind on meth at the time?  Frankly, she should be happy she only had time to gouge out her eyes; if only Jeffrey Epstein‘s guards…

…had responded so quickly!

Magoo