THIS CHART SHOWS the stunning disappearance of middle-class jobs — everywhere.

I suspect you'd get exactly the same chart if you replaced the categores with ones labeled Government, Salaried, and Hourly....

FINALLY: the Republicans are punching back.

IT WASN'T GLOBAL WARMING? The Latest Obamacare Victim: the Chicago Cubs.

HYPOCRISY FOR ME, BUT NOT FOR THEE: Laborers union headquarters (in Washington D.C.) renovation given to builder not employing union workers.

More here.

'GLOBAL WARMING' UPDATE: The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts ‘super cold’ winter.

So do I.

That's only one of three firewood piles for the wood stove -- and there's more yet to be split.

OBAMA TOLD US he wanted to fundamentally transform America. Well, he did.

BREAKING NEWS: The Three Stooges were actually 4; here's proof.

RESPECT. And the lack thereof:

U.S. Army Major General Harold Greene was buried today [Thursday] at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors , including a caisson, two escort platoons, casket team, firing party, colors team, and a caparisoned horse. The U.S. Army band, “Perishing’s Own,” played softly as the funeral procession made its way down the long hill past the rows of simple white gravestones to bring General Greene to his final resting place.

The graveside service began with a few words, followed by a 13-gun salute. The major general’s widow, Dr. Susan Myers, was seated in the front row. To her right was their son 1st Lt. Matthew Greene, his daughter Amelia Greene, followed by Major General Greene’s father, also Harold Greene.

After three rifle volleys and the playing of “Taps,” the American flag, once placed on the major general’s casket, was carefully folded as the band played “America the Beautiful.” U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno presented the flag to his widow, and additional flags to his children and father.

General Greene, 55, became the highest-ranking fatality in the war in Afghanistan after an Afghan military police officer opened fire on Aug. 5th, 2014.

Some people were missing: no President; no Vice President; no Secretary of State; no Secretary of Defense. It was confirmed, however, that President Obama was playing golf at the time of the funeral.

Clueless is the most polite word I can think of.

WASHINGTON D.C. for the uninitiated:

The skies above are only polluted with hot air and other noxious gases emanating from the massive loads of bull hockey.

GIVE OBAMA A BREAK about vacations: Presidenting is Hard.

NEXT DEFUND AND CLOSE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: Feds ban school’s beloved "pink cookie".

IS IT TIME to abolish teachers colleges yet?

My children, thankfully, graduated before this bull hockey became fashionable, but I do worry about my grandchildren.

FROM THE SCOREKEEPER (#2 & in the comments):

Washington Post reporter: "Material goods by definition are typically replaceable. Of course the violence associated with the act of vandalism and then theft is not desirable but think of it this way. In this case, saying that looting is never acceptable is implicitly saying that personal property is worth more than life itself."

Anonymous commenter: "Not all material goods are replaceable. Looting is never acceptable. Thou shalt not steal is not just for the religious. People who respect other's material property generally also respect people, and do not commit acts of violence. What the reporter forgot to mention is that reporters are replaceable. Just reading this makes me think he should be."

Second the motion, especially given he's a Washington Post reporter.

AMMO GRRLL'S EXCELLENT VACATION: Texas and Las Cruces, NM (my former home) are mentioned.

With respect to Mexican food, La Posta is good, but El Patio (next door, if it's still there) was better. We also ate at My Brother's Place (yes, that's a real name). In Las Cruces, you can't find bad Mexican food, just good, better, and best.

COMMENTARY MAGAZINE: The nasty, brutish world of Richard Dawkins.

I would be hard-pressed to assign this, er, 'thing' to the category homo sapiens.

NO DATING, NO MARRIAGES. Isn't that what feminists want?

ANDREW KLAVAN: Democrats at War.

NY CITY COUNCILMAN wants to ban toys in Happy Meals.

I'd ban NYC except that I already won't go there.

MORE CLIMATE CHANGE AWESOMENESS: It's responsible for the Ebola outbreak. Is there anything it can't do?

MILLENNIAL PICNIC:

THE CHALLENGE OF OUR TIME

I plan to take a few days off and relax, but before I do I want to share with you my thoughts about what is going on in the Middle East. Some of you may know that as a military officer, when I wasn't blowing stuff up in the artillery, I was a Foreign Area Officer. The Army sent me to UVa, where I earned my MA in Comparative Governments of the Middle East and Soviet Foreign Policy. I then had utilization tours with UN Peace Keepers (UNTSO) in Syria, Israel, Jordan, and Southern Lebanon. I've seen a lot. That was followed by a tour in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in the Pentagon doing current intelligence during the Iran-Iraq War. I learned a lot.

As I observe the President's actions in the Middle East, I am stunned with what I see as breathless ignorance of the threat the turmoil throughout the region poses to America. President Obama speaks tough, but where is the resolve in terms of proactive steps to deal with the threats?

Conflict in the Middle East is not new. It has been present since the nascent years of the 20th Century; reaching back to the Balfour Declaration of 1917 when Great Britain announced its support for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. Much has happened since then: several world wars have been fought, the European partition of Arab states as the Ottoman Empire collapsed, numerous regional wars have occurred; the list of dysfunction is long. After the First Gulf War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you can understand why the American people are inclined to stay away from all of it.

But as I said the other day, the challenge of our time is to summon the courage to deal with the challenges of our times. Terror of the sort we see from the Middle East is that challenge. It is a formidable challenge because it brings with it unspeakable violence, the potential for nuclear proliferation, and a destructive 7th Century mentality that threatens the very roots of democracy, peace, religious tolerance, free trade, and, indeed, the core of western civilization.

While Americans are justly war weary, we must meet the challenge of ISIS. They pose an existential threat to us and the Free World. If we treat them, as Eric Holder and the President seem intent to do, as a "criminal problem", we will not defeat them.

In the Army, we use[d] to say that our mission was to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy. If you think you can do that with unmanned aerial vehicles, manned airstrikes, and faux resolve in the form of empty golf-course rhetoric, you would be tragically wrong.

The President must act. He must. He must move immediately and rapidly to build an international coalition to locate, close with, and destroy ISIS, wherever they stand, walk, or run and even when they rest under the slimy rocks where they plan their terror. They one thing they understand is death. Nothing on earth will appease their lust for violence, and certainly not the passivity and reluctance of a great power. Indeed, our inaction fuels their action.

It bears repeating. The challenge of our time is to summon the courage to deal with the challenges of our times. I fear this President is simply not up to it.

This is from Scott Ligamfelter, my representative to the Virginia House of Delegates.

THE FIRST RULE OF HOLES (as interpreted by the White House): "When you find yourself in a deep hole, keep digging."