It’s Wednesday, August 26th, 2020…but before we begin, we just ordered four new tires for TLJ’s SUV, replacing her under-performing Bridgestones with slightly-more-expensive Michelins.

Sure, our boycott of Goodyear because of its support for Black Lies Matter isn’t going to bankrupt the Akron tire giant, but like a busload of Dimocratic Socialists going off a cliff…

In the meantime…

…burn, baby, burn!  Or, to borrow a phrase from Josey Wales…

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, ICYMI, immediately following the shooting of Jacob Blake…

…in Kenosha under circumstances which were, at the time, quite unclear, Wisconsin governor Tony Evers did his best Obama-inspired the-police-acted-stupidly imitation:

“While we do not have all of the details yet,” the governor said in a statement, “what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country.”

Tony, there’s another certainty: that you would issue such an incredibly premature and irresponsible statement…

Second only to Barry Soetoro himself.

For those interested, here’s Brandon Tate’s take on the incident, as well as some additional background on BLM‘s latest hero:

Whatever else he was, Mr. Blake wasn’t going to be auditioning for the part of one of the von Trapp kids in any Rogers & Hammerstein remake.

In a related item of crime and punishment, as Charlie Kirk records, like almost every other urban hell-hole across the country, Chicagoans get the government they deserve:

All of which, as Lifezette relates, has lead Georgia Democrat Vernon Jones to conclude…

The Democratic Party has become a vessel of destruction and division

“The Democratic Party has embraced an ideology of pure destruction. It is anti-cop and pro-criminal, anti-American and pro-Marxist, opposed to diversity of thought and supportive of blind conformity, anti-freedom and pro-authoritarian. It has become a party incapable of achieving progress, but perfectly suited to creating a dystopia…”

A theme James Freeman echoes, though more softly, with this anecdote from Fauxcahontas at Best of the Web:

“…A particularly stark example of the contrast between last week’s convention and this week’s event is the comparison between Sen. Scott’s message of educational choice and opportunity and the one offered by Sen. Elizabeth Warren last Wednesday. Speaking from a government-run kindergarten and pre-k school in Springfield, Mass., Sen. Warren said:

When I had babies and was juggling my first big teaching job down in Texas, it was hard. (Unlike what every other mother in the country was enduring.) But I could do hard. The thing that almost sank me? Childcare.

One night my Aunt Bee called to check in. I thought I was fine, but then I just broke down and started to cry. I had tried holding it all together, but without reliable childcare, working was nearly impossible. And when I told Aunt Bee I was going to quit my job, I thought my heart would break. (Imagine, quitting a job or not working in the first place to take care of one’s own children…like MY mom, who also had her teaching credentials, but passed on the extra cash and made do!)

Then she said the words that changed my life:

“I can’t get there tomorrow, but I’ll come on Thursday.” She arrived with seven suitcases and a Pekingese named Buddy and stayed for 16 years. I get to be here tonight because of my Aunt Bee.

Sen. Warren then extolled a Biden plan to expand childcare. But ironically the senator was appearing in a school district which had recently decided for an indefinite period to deny childcare to parents and education to their children…”

Sorry, but any tale told by Lieawatha needs to be taken not only with a grain of salt, but a gallon of firewater.

Which brings us, appropriately enough, to the Educated Idiots segment, as FOX News informs us how a…

NYU student group demands Black-only student housing on campus

‘NYU is a predominantly white institution, making it very difficult for Black students to connect,’ student group says

“It is not about exclusion, but rather creating a space where Black students can feel included.“

Soooo…essentially, what the “Black Violets” (“Violet” being the NYU mascot) want is…separate but equal.  Sorry, but didn’t Dimocrats try that some time back…

…with decidedly unmixed results?!?

As Madeleine Kearns notes at NRO:

“In the name of “progress,” a pernicious and reactionary racial ideology is being established; in the name of “safety,” campuses are becoming dangerous breeding grounds for resentment and division; and in the name of “diversity,” segregation is making a comeback.“

One thing we have to give the Dims: they’re consistent.  They defended slavery to the point of civil war, instituted Jim Crow laws to legalize racial segregation, and now are actively aiding and abetting its return.

Here’s hoping the powers-that-be at NYU have the courage to tell the Black Violets not on their watch…though we wouldn’t lay odds on it.

Besides, there’s plenty of Black-only housing available…

…north of 110th Street.

Speaking of educated idiots lacking the courage of their stated convictions, as Bloomberg reports, the…

FDA Head Walks Back Claim of Dramatic Benefit From Covid Therapy

“…On Sunday night at a press conference with President Donald Trump, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said that blood plasma from Covid-19 survivors given to new patients could save huge numbers of lives.

“What that means is — and if the data continue to pan out — 100 people who are sick with Covid-19, 35 would have been saved because of the administration of plasma,” Hahn said. Hahn’s remarks followed similar comments by Trump, who said that the therapy is “proven to reduce mortality by 35%,” and by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

On Monday night, Hahn reversed himself…”

Is this one of the “scientists” to who Joe Biden promised authority to shutdown the country…again?!?

Since we’re on the subject of White men speaking with forked tongues, as this item from the New York Post via Keith Koffler confirms, when individuals offer two distinctly different sets of facts, one cannot be true, which has led to the…

Biden camp apologizing to Muslim Democrats after condemning Linda Sarsour

“The Joe Biden campaign appears to be publicly condemning anti-Israel activists while privately pandering to them. Team Biden went into damage control Sunday to shore up support with Muslim-American Democrats after the campaign condemned controversial Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour and suggested she was an anti-Semite.

Top Biden aides made the mea culpa in a private phone call with dozens of prominent Muslim and Arab surrogates who had been angered by the campaign’s attempt to distance itself from the anti-Israel activist Sarsour, according to a report by the Middle East Eye.

On leaked audio of the call, Ashley Allison, national coalition director for the Biden campaign, said she understood the “pain” caused by the scathing statement Biden 2020 issued last week which Sarsour said was “disrespectful” and “hurtful.” “I am sorry that that happened. And I hope that whatever trust was broken, that this conversation is one small step to help build back the trust, but that is not the last time we have this conversation,” Allison said, according to the report.

The campaign apology came after the Biden camp tried to deny ties with Sarsour, a Bernie Sanders surrogate and former Women’s March leader who spoke at a council meeting at the Democratic National Convention last week…”

Ya gotta love a political party whose candidate for President condemns a virulent anti-Semite in the strongest terms one day, and the next she’s speaking at a council meeting at said party’s national convention.

Wake up and smell the hypocrisy, America!!!

Turning now to The Lighter Side:

Then there’s this from Breeze Gould…

…two from Balls Cotton…

…and one for good measure from Mark Foster:

Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with yet another bit of News You Can’t Use, courtesy today of…

The countries which have never reported a coronavirus case

Across the globe, there are only 10 United Nations member countries with no recorded COVID-19 cases

“These islands did what no other country managed to: Keep the coronavirus wholly out of their borders.

Across the globe, there are only 10 United Nations member countries with no recorded COVID-19 cases.All Pacific Ocean islands, they are the Republic of Palau, Micronesia, the Republic of Nauru (a microstate of Micronesia), the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, the Independent State of Samoa, the Republic of Vanuatu and the Kingdom of Tonga…

While the rest of the world fights the coronavirus, these assorted isles and archipelagos boast the honor of successfully managing to keep the novel virus at bay. But in order to do that, they’ve had to aggressively close their borders, and in the process, restrict tourism dollars vital to their economies and imperiling business owners’ livelihoods…”

Other than that, how are you enjoying the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

Three thoughts come to mind: (1) They’re island nations, and tiny island nations at that, with few ports of entry and even fewer airports, and thus far easier to control ingress/egress; (2) Though they claim a zero rate of Wuhan infection, it goes without saying, sans every citizen being tested, some may not know they’ve even had it, and we wouldn’t put it past certain governments to play fast and loose with their figures; and, (3) It should be noted a significant majority of each nation’s tourist trade hails from Australia and New Zealand, both of which have severely limited entries and exits, thus resulting in drastically reduced tourist traffic and making the decision to shut their doors far easier than had visitors been beating paths to their beaches.

Magoo