EVEN IN EUROPE: 'Political elite' never cared about 'regular people'.

YOU'LL NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Stupid things stupid liberals did this week.

"THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION REGIME has been hopelessly corrupt for 50 years, and in its current iteration, fueled by Critical Race Theory, it is not just corrupt but incredibly destructive."

IS STUPIDITY the key to understanding Democrats today?

It certainly helps....

COLIN KAEPERNICK compares NFL Draft process and training camp to slavery.

Slavery is involuntary, Colin. That's why it's called slavery.

DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS PROFIT from forcing COVID tests on cops AND firefighters.

RI-I-IGHT: Terry McAuliffe claims that critical race theory isn't taught in Virginia schools.

In fact, it appears that he was the instigator when he last served as Governor.

FALLING LEAVES 2021, Week 8.

The weather's been a bit yucky this week, so with that said, here's the usual view of our pond from the back deck:

The pond is mostly visible now, as is the ridge on the other side. Leaves on the deciduous trees mostly gone, the yellows turning brown and the reds falling to the ground.

Here's the fire pit/barn. Again, it's mostly leafless with the remaining leaves turning and falling.

The large pond below our house is turning out to be magnificent this year. Because it's below the prevailing winds, the leaves have turned and not yet been blown down.

This picture was taken from the road at the entrance of the subdivision. Somewhat protected from the winds, the smaller trees are hanging in there and maintaining their colors. The larger trees, though, are bare.

Here's the small pond at the dam where the road crosses. Like the previous picture, the foliage is pretty well protected from the winds, so there's still lots of color to be seen.

And finally a picture of the tree outside our kitchen window. Shielded from the wind by the house itself, the leaves have yet to fall.The yellow was brilliant earlier in the week, but it's beginning to turn as it gets colder.

Until next week....

MSNBC host Joy Reid is clearly in need of institutionalization....

WE CAN'T HAVE OUR FUTURE VOTERS KEPT OUT. Mayorkas admits 'Remain in Mexico' policy works but administration launches second attempt to end it.

KAMALA HARRIS WARNS VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS: What happens in this election may determine what happens in 2022 and 2024.

I'm still optimistic on all three.

STARSHIP: Still not understood.

This one is a long read, but worthy if you want to understand the rationale underlying the design.

THAT'S WHY I PAY MORE ATTENTION TO THE DAILY MAIL THAN I DO TO THE NEW YORK TIMES: Trust of US media in ‘free fall,’ lowest in world.

ILHAN OMAR: It's that 'dysfunctional' police we canceled that's the cause of the rising crime rate.

UNREWRITTEN HISTORY IS NOT THEIR STRONG SUIT: FiveThirtyEight says the Second Amendment didn’t protect your right to own a gun until 2008.

Try telling that to my father....

IN WISCONSIN: Election laws not just broken but 'shattered' during 2020 election.

And thanks to the Deep State (both sides), nothing has or will be done.

You're welcome.

LET IT BURN: NYFD Shutters 26 firehouses over vaccine mandate.

Let's Go Brandon!

SO THE DEEP STATE RIGHT IS FIGHTING THE DEEP STATE LEFT FOR THE RIGHT TO LOSE AN ELECTION? The Lincoln Project roasted as 'deranged hacks' for orchestrating viral hoax to smear Youngkin.

SCARY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES from Mallard Fillmore and Prickly City.

THE GOOD EGG: A laminar flow -- an aerodynamic advantage that increases efficiency in flight by minimizing drag -- concept development aircraft.

It's certainly an interesting technology. The question still to be answered is whether it can be scaled up to a commercially viable size.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE:

I've been tracking the coronavirus pandemic on a more-or-less daily basis since March of 2020. The pandemic waxes and wanes but what's interesting (to me) is to note how the media coverage has changed since the inauguration of Biden administration.

Here's some data, taken from the Coronavirus Website, created by a then high school student. While I obviously can't vouch for the accuracy of the data, it is the longest-running of the coronavirus trackers I've seen and remarkably consistent in its data. Here's a quick summary, from when I started tracking in March of 2020 through today (October 30,2021). I've divided the data by administrations:

Trump administration (3/14/2020 - 1/21/2021): 419,603 deaths, divided by 10 for an average monthly rate of 41,960.

Biden administration (1/21/2021 - 10/30/2021): 346,434 deaths, divided by 9 for an average monthly rate of 38,493.

You may have seen media touting the death rate in 2021 higher than 2020. That is true if you take 12/31/2020 as the cutoff date, but I used 1/21/2021 (the date the administration changed hands) and that point was essentially during the peak as shown in the chart below.

As I mentioned above, what interests me is not so much the data itself as the way it's been covered in the media. If you think back, COVID deaths were the media's top priority during the Trump administration, with the number of deaths touted daily

Not so today. Under the Biden administration, it's mask and vaccination mandates that are de rigueur in the media coverage.

Why? Well it's pretty obvious that even with introduction of vaccines (which predates the Biden administration, by the way) the average number of deaths per day hasn't declined; in fact, there has been a very slight, almost negligible uptick in the long-term trend line (not shown in the above chart).

So masks and vaccinations have to be the media's metric of choice, and since they're not convincing, mandates are required.

The gist of all this is that America (and the world) has moved on. Coronavirus is a fact of life and we're going to have to live with it and move on with living.

The Biden administration should be as smart as the American people.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Stolen from PowerLine's Week in Pictures.

WHY DEMOCRATS' SCHEME to tax unrealized capital gains should terrify you.

So ... if they choose to tax you on Monopoly income, can you then pay with Monopoly money?

IF IT WEREN'T FOR HYPOCRISY AND DOUBLE STANDARDS, THERE'D BE NO DEMOCRATS: McAuliffe falsely says opponent is anti-vax, but he should look at his donor list.

POLL: Majority of voters say Fauci should resign.

Absolutely not! No way he should be afforded that dignity.

FCC DEFENDS STARLINK APPROVAL as Viasat, Dish urge court to block SpaceX license.

As soon as the Starlink antenna goes up on my roof, the Dish antenna goes to the garbage dump for appropriate recycling....

FAUCI HALLOWEEN COSTUMES: reduced to sell.

“NOBLE LIES” are rarely spun for anyone’s interests other than those of the liars themselves.

THE LEFT is everything they hate: "The Left’s policy prescriptions are the black mirror in which their own personality is reflected and amplified."

YES, THEY DO IN FACT HATE US: California school board president curses parent on hot microphone.

FROM POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, my favorite:

There are many good ones this week; go see them all.

GOOD RIDDANCE, ADAM KINZINGER. "Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya."

VICTORY GIRLS: What was and can never be again.

You can thank the progressive Left.

I'M WITH THE MAMA BEAR:

Linked from the Fox News cartoon page.

SEEN ON THE INTERNET:

My kids’ school sent a note saying they can wear Halloween costumes to school tomorrow as long as they don’t cover the face because it will “hinder the learning environment.”

I was waiting for the punch line at the end but apparently they didn’t see the irony in their message.

Nicole Saphier, MD is a Fox News medical contributor.

CALLING A MAN A MAN IS NOT 'MISGENDERING': PJ Media stands their ground after Twitter locks account for "misgendering" Rachel Levine.

Neither is calling 'Rachel' Levine an idiot hate speech....

AMONG OTHER THINGS, Donald Trump trolls Hunter Biden.

While I have never painted before, Hunter has inspired me to immediately begin painting because I’ve always felt I have a talent at that, and could surely get at least $2 million dollars per canvas—and probably a lot more. I will begin immediately.

I'm certainly not in the million-dollar-per-canvas class, but if I were I'd buy....

AMMO GRRRLL on taking and giving credit.

POLICE UNIONS: NYPD has no plan for vaccine mandate chaos.

So what? Only a few hundred (thousand?) cog lives (read - eggs) will be destroyed to enforce the mandate (read - make the omlet).

WHICH LIAR IS WORSE: Former governor McAuliffe claims CRT isn't taught in Virginia; current governor Northam gives Ibram X. Kendi [real name Ibram Henry Rogers] a 'keynote plenary' speech at his Governor's Housing Conference.

Both is an option....

BIDEN INTERVENES; supply chain woes worsen.

I'M SURE SHE DOESN'T LIVE IN THE SUBBURBS: New York Times opinion writer calls leaf blowers 'death' machines.

Ask if she's ever slipped on wet leaves and fallen.

HAVE YOU NOTICED? Suffering through Biden's television exhortation yesterday, I was reminded (again) that in the Progressive mind people are just infrastructure -- cogs to be greased and discarded and replaced as needed if they don't function 'properly'.

FACEBOOK ASKS EMPLOYEES to preserve internal documents for legal inquiries.

'Preserve' is an unusual spelling for 'shred'....

FINALLY A JUDGE who rules in favor of 'the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth': Kyle Rittenhouse's attackers can be called 'looters' and 'rioters' but not 'victims'.

YES, CHANGE THE NAME TO PROTECT THE GUILTY: Facebook announces it's going by a new name.

No, not that one, although it's much more appropriate.

IF ONLY stupidity was taxable....

THEY NEVER DID: COVID vaccines don’t work well enough to be mandated.

I'M HOPEFUL FOR A LONG, LONG TIME: How long will vaccine authoritarians sit in the cold and the dark?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON on Leftists who hate America.

And they truly do hate anyone who doesn't subscribe to their warped ideology....

TERRY McAWFUL'S CAMPAIGN accused of trying to link Youngkin to racists by dressing up fake supporters.

There's no proof (yet) but 'highly likely' comes to mind....

UPDATE: I wasn't far off: it was the anti-Trump Lincoln Project: "Late Friday afternoon, the Lincoln Project, a group of disaffected anti-Trump Republicans, admitted to pulling the stunt."

ROGER KIMBALL writes on the January 6th 'insurrection' hoax.

BORDERING ON INSANITY? ONLY BORDERING ON INSANITY? The Biden administration is in talks to offer immigrant families that were separated during the Trump administration around $450,000 a person in compensation.

I would say we should reopen the mental institutions but we already have -- it's called
Washington DC.

CNN'S BRIAN STELTER gets his just deserts.

Then there's this from the comments: "@CNN trying, once again, to dethrone @The BabylonBee in the 'most trusted name in fake news' category...."

IT WAS PAINFUL: Adam Schiff reveals regret about Russian collusion probe. He was 'heartbroken' witnessing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's mental decline.

Only because Mueller declined to follow his instructions....

UMM, YOU NEED TOILET PAPER TO CLEAN OFF SOCIALISM? What is it with socialism and toilet paper?

And FJB (you'll figure it out).

HEH: CNN doesn’t excel at much, but dishonesty is a core competence.

TAKE BACK THE USA: Follow the lead of the Southwest Airlines pilots.

RANDI WEINGARTEN REMINDS US AGAIN -- she's evil.

SO THEY'RE RACISTS; WE KNEW THAT. Biden administration finds 'structural racism' throughout government.

NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Vaccine mandates are unpopular, so I'll lie about them until after I'm reelected.

OOPSIE: Team McAuliffe emails reveal effort to 'kill this' Fox News story.

ANOTHER RANDOM OBSERVATION: Have you noticed that to the Democrats, 'infrastructure' includes humans?

I suggest it proves my contention that the Left considers people (other than themselves, obviously) to be merely cogs in their woke machine, to be used, abused, and discarded as needed to keep their rainbows colorful and unicorns fed.

MOVE OVER JULIA; here comes Linda. And little Leo's father is nowhere to be found.

Julia, by the way, is here; and her husband sperm donor, like Linda's, is not.

Bill Bennett was right with Julia in 2012; he's still right.

PELOSI PUSHES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE VOTE, but progressives say Biden framework not enough.

Judging from the continuing updates to the original post, it's probably fair to assume that the 'reconciliation' bill is dead on arrival if in fact a vote ever occurs.

RANDOM OBSERVATION: I'm still waiting for those high winds -- gusts to (gasp!) 45 mph -- that the weather channel has been predicting all day.

An interesting definition -- where I came from (high desert in NM and CA) 45 mph winds were considered a light breeze. To be fair though, it is considerably higher than the fan speeds of a typical air handler in the forecasters' cozy air conditioned quarters.

And a dead branch did in fact fall in the road outside....

FOX NEWS POLL: Youngkin pulls ahead of McAuliffe among Virginia likely voters.

Don't get cocky -- vote. Vote as if your [child's] life depends on it.

MERRICK GARLAND has proven himself unfit for office -- any public office.

YES. The evil party.

Evil is a very strong word, when used properly. Merriam-Webster defines it many ways, the most relevant to what I’m talking about being “morally reprehensible” and “arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct.” That is the modern left, the “progressive movement,” the “Democratic” Party. And to fight evil, to stop it, is the most important thing anyone can do.

For the progressive Left, evil is the perfect word.

WATCH CLOSELY NOV 2ND: Virginia Delegate races could reflect national anti-Democrat mood.

AT LEAST UNTIL DEMOCRATS ARE OUSTED FROM POWER: Moderna says COVID booster, like flu vaccine, could be yearly.

YOU HAVE TO ADMIT HE'S VERY COMPETENT AT BEING INCOMPETENT: Lindsey Graham drags Joe Biden for being ‘most incompetent president’.

THOMAS SOWELL: High stakes in Virginia.

Higher than you might think. Much higher. Read it all.

KURT SCHLICHTER on the Alec Baldwin conundrum: What goes around, comes around.

And comes around pretty damned hard, since I'm not feeling particularly kindly toward progressives these days....

GLENN REYNOLDS ON LAW: Remembering the great dissenter.

RANDOM THOUGHT: When we oppose the Democrats' multi-trillion dollar 'infrastructure' plans their reaction seems to be "How dare you try to keep our money!"

GROUND ZERO OF WOKE: Universities are making themselves not just disliked and disreputable but ultimately irrelevant and replaceable.

And good riddance. Maybe then I'll be able to find a good plumber. Or welder. Or electrician.

Or teacher....

FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE BILLIONAIRES:

“It’s not a wealth tax, but a tax on unrealized capital gains of exceptionally wealthy individuals,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNN on Sunday.

Umm, what's that (untaxed) money in your IRA called? Yep. Unrealized.Capital.Gains.

And you seriously think they don't have their beady little eyes firmly focused on the trillions of dollars hidden away there?

DON'T TRUST THEM; THEY LIE: People who opt for public transportation over driving in the D.C. metro area can save $9,530 a year.

This from the Shadow's World wayback machine in 2009, proving only that our leadership (heh) class has been lying to us for a long, long time....

THIS WORRIES ME: Progressive overlords relish the opportunity to purge first responders who refuse to bend the knee.

So yes, I'm stocking up -- and practicing more.

YEAH, TELL ME ABOUT ALL THE THINGS I DON'T WANT: CNN caves to Pelosi's complaint to sell Democrats' agenda 'better'.

AMMO GRRRLL on things that won't come our way again.

Well, maybe. I have seen a couple of poodle skirts, but no saddle shoes (yet).

TRUMP announces the creation of a new social media platform.

I don't know that it'll come to fruition, but I'm hopeful.

THIS LOW: How low will the Loudoun County School Board go?

Parents should remove their children from any schools that maintain these misguided policies. In the meantime, trust no one in any school administration to tell the truth — or to protect your kids.

Instapundit has been quoted as saying that sending your child to public (government) schools is akin to child abuse. I think he's right.

RANDOM THOUGHT: The prime purpose of the American government is to keep its citizens safe itself in power.

BIDEN'S POLLING: worse than Obama, Bush, Clinton, better than Trump, at this point in their presidencies.

The president currently stands at 43% approval and 51% disapproval in an average of the latest national polls compiled by Real Clear Politics. While that’s nothing for Biden to brag about, it’s better than his predecessor in the White House. Donald Trump stood at 40% approval and 55% disapproval in an average of the polls at this point in his first year in office.

Oh?

This data is from the Rasmussen Presidental Approval Index for Obama (blue), Trump (red), and Biden (green) from the date of each's inauguration through October 21st.

Biden remains at -26 today.

NO FUCKING WAY IN HELL: Senate Democrats’ bill shifts Border Patrol funds to remove border wall.

BECAUSE CONTROL: Mask rules are idiotic — so why haven’t they changed?

NYC BOARD OF 'HEALTH': Racism is a public health crisis.

No. Systemic fascism in NYC's governing class is the true public health crisis.

UH, HUH: Bread lines are awesome.

SEATTLE POLICE: Don't tread on me.

Let's go Brandon....

SO THAT'S WHY PI ISN'T A RATIONAL NUMBER. The unreasonableness of mathematics.

He wanted us to think....

FALLING LEAVES 2021, Week 7.

Back to the usual this week. Here's the standard pond view:

The trees are much thinner this week, and the pond itself more visible. The red leaves on the right are now pronounced; last week they were just beginning to turn. By next week, they'll probably be gone.

Compared to last week, many more leaves have 'gone to ground'. Those remaining are still mostly green, but they're much fewer.

Here's the pond from down along the dock area. You'll have to go back at least 2 weeks for a comparison, but the main differences are two: more colors, and all the brushy vegetation along the edge of the water has died off.

Finally, two pictures taken by my daughter-in-law this morning. The first one is of the common area along the pond opposite our house; the second is along the back road leading to the commons.

Until next week....

I WISH: Have we reached the high-water mark of 'woke'?

Technically it should be the low-water mark, and no, we haven't reached it, but we have reached a point where the cesspool is beginning to stink.

TREAT THEM LIKE THE TODDLERS THEY ARE: Tantrums shouldn't be indulged.

'WOKE' DEMOCRACY.

RANDOM THOUGHT [while doing some bathroom maintenance]: If you were a young pine tree, how would you feel about growing up to become toilet paper?

Now you know what it's like to be a plebe in Joe Biden's America....

'I'M COMFORTABLE WITH ZERO': Manchin to Sanders on size of Democrats' Build Back Better bill.

OH, BUT IT IS; it just wasn't supposed to be made public: "It’s Not Our Job to Sell Your Agenda for You!"

HEH: "Our political class is addicted to shaming. It was better when they were just a bunch of drunks."

TO BUILD STRONGER FAMILIES, reframe the fight over Mayor Pete's parental leave.

Recently, the media disclosed that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took two months of parental leave following the adoption of twins.... To defend his absence, the left and Democrats had to loudly declare the importance of parents spending time with their children. They had to advocate for families spending time together and note the importance of parent-child bonds.

Agree with them wholeheartedly on these points. Then challenge them on the very policies they have pushed for years that discourage family formation by extending adolescence, making housing more expensive, and deemphasizing the role of fathers. It is time for conservatives to change the strategy of screaming “Stop” while standing athwart history and say [instead], “No, we’re not doing that. We are doing something completely different.”

Then turn the fight to policies that encourage, not discourage, strong families.

And be sure to tell the Progressives that their Social Security (and welfare) payments will
depend on them.

THEY WILL CHEAT EVERY TIME: Lawsuit claims Virginia county is violating election law amid governor race.

Finally the Republicans are learning how to do offensive lawfare....

IT'S BEDTIME FOR BONZO -- and America. Sleep well.

KURT SCHLICHTER: Defund the Feds.

All the Feds, but I'll settle for one agency at a time....

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE! Hospitals accept natural immunity as reason for staff to defer mandated vaccine.

Is science -- real science, that is -- making a comeback? That (I hope) and the power of "No."

I PREFER 'AND': Is the First Family corrupt, or merely crazy?

BIDEN EXPOSED? Cabinet secretary tests positive for COVID days after meeting with president who was spotted maskless.

But, but ... he's been vaccinated -- three times! He doesn't need a mask....

RESIGNATIONS AREN'T ENOUGH; THERE MUST BE INDICTMENTS: The Loudoun bathroom teen rape situation just keeps getting worse.

More here, with a word to the wise: "Parents should remove their children from any schools that maintain these misguided policies. In the meantime, trust no one in any school administration to tell the truth — or to protect your kids."

MICHAEL RAMIREZ on the Biden spending train.

From the comments (which I usually don't bother reading), the ignorance idiocy of the Left is stunning.

SO HAND THEM THEIR FINAL PAYCHECKS AS THEY WALK OUT THE DOOR: Netflix transgender employees walking out to protest Dave Chappelle special.

WITH PROGRESSIVES, EVERYTHING'S A CRISIS: New York City declares racism public health crisis. For you, not the progressive leadership....

BETTER? OR SOFTBALL? Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe abruptly ends interview, tells local Virginia reporter 'You should've asked better questions'.

Like "What's your preferred ice cream flavor?"

COLIN POWELL and the crisis of the boomer elite.

SO WHAT'S NEW? Secretary [of Transportation] Mayor Pete is a disaster.

Fully two of the nine months he’s been “on the job” were spent with him not on the job and no one noticed. The President and Democrats in Congress are fighting to push through a couple of “infrastructure” bills, and infrastructure is his responsibility, and he hasn’t been around for 60 days…and it wasn’t noticed until last week? There is no better argument for eliminating the whole damned department.

You better be stocked up on whatever you need/want for Christmas. And a reminder -- coal is in short supply too.

LECTURES FROM LIMOUSINE LIBERALS: The same people who sat at home praising essential workers as heroes now repay them with exclusion and sneering condescension.

They've always been about 'exclusion and sneering condescension'; COVID-19 just made it visible to the unwashed masses.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Calling CNN's Brian Stelter 'Mr. Potato Head' is an insult to the toy.

And potatos....

THAT'S HOW WE KNOW THEY'RE LOSING: Left-wing pundits cheer on columnist calling for end of fairness in journalism.

MAYOR, ER, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY PETE insults our intelligence with new gaslighting effort about the supply chain crisis.

They lie because they truly believe Americans are dumb enough to believe them.

And most progressives are....

RANDOM THOUGHT: The primary problem with our election process is that in general Republicans are not interested in controlling others. Democrats are.

So they cheat to maintain control.

SANDEL'S JUST DESSERTS: The primary problem with meritocracy in America is that those in the leadership are without it.

[M]any Americans are more likely to disdain Harvard for its haughtiness and for the pretensions of its faculty and graduates to impose their progressive views and preferences on the entire nation than to aspire to send their children there. He [Sandel] fails to consider that substantial numbers of Americans are proud of their local way of life, have no yearning to live in Manhattan or Silicon Valley, and mostly want progressive elites to mind their own business.

The PowerLine post is longish but eminently readable; the Washington Free Beacon book review is as well. Read both.

WE CAN'T LET A REAL CRISIS distract us from a politically correct -- but unreal -- crisis.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is up.

Many, many excellent ones this week. Go and see them all.

FALLING LEAVES 2021, Week 6.

This week will be a bit different from the usual 4-5 pictures. Without much comment here is a panoramic view of the forest surrounding our house, starting with the usual pond view and moving clockwise around the compass.

The following four pictures were taken along the eastern side of the house which is along a steep, brushy, heavily treed, and rarely photographed slope. It's a bit clearer now that the leaves are falling; usually one cannot see the other side of the ravine.

The last photo is looking south along our road so it's not quite so crowded. Looking at the top right it's more evident that the bigger deciduous trees have all lost their leaves. Continuing clockwise to the southwest, the next photo shows our road and clear evidence that all the taller trees are now pretty much bare of leaves.

Moving west now, along the road turning to the north, we pass the gap that has been showing for several weeks now.

The next three pictures are back along the north side of our property where the barn and fire pit (my usual photos) are located.

And the circle is complete.

Finally here are two photos taken earlier this week at Lake Blue Ridge. This first one is of a tree that is usually spectacularly red. This year it's a bit subdued, but that's mostly because I was late to take the picture.

And finally, finally here's one of Lake Blue Ridge.

It was cloudy, cool -- so no boats -- and perfectly calm. Note the lake is down about 6 feet.

Next week I'll return to my usual format.

$20K PER HOUR: Not bad for grifting.

OLD AND BUSTED: The Hippocratic Oath. The New Hotness? The Hypocritic Oath.

SO MUCH FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS, Pete Buttigieg is still on maternity paternity leave.

Progressives certainly know how to waste our tax money, don't they?

A COUNTRY THAT CANNOT CONTROL ITS BORDERS is not a country, and we are facing that eventuality.

MOLLIE Z. HEMINGWAY: A hint to Republicans for 2022 -- and 2024.

Long, but very, very worthy. Read and heed.

THE LEFT'S BISEXUAL SELF-ABSORBED NARCISSISTIC SUPERMAN is a reflection of themselves.

Keep firmly in mind that the Left always -- always -- blames us for things they do, have done, or will do given the opportunity.

IMPRIMIS: The January 6th insurrection hoax.

Read it all -- and never forget.

AMMO GRRRLL has thoughts about gender-neutral toy sections.

Just when you think that our Ruling Class and the Worst Administration since at least King Herod cannot think up something yet more stupid to occupy their time, they rise like an unsupervised overnight Biden vote count to the occasion.

See if you can read it all without laughing.

SATIRE REQUIRES SOMEONE WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR. The Atlantic doesn't qualify.

RANDOM THOUGHT: In my lifetime, the Left has never built any product that wasn't just paper. Or more recently, I suppose, electrons in a computer cloud somewhere.

If it exists and can be seen, touched, or more importantly, used, you --the progressive Left -- didn't build that. We did.

AMERICAN GREATNESS: Sovereign citizen or greengrocer?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a sovereign citizen and I plan to remain that way.

SO THE LEFT WON ITS PYRRHIC VICTORY. Now what?

Chaos.

BIG TROUBLE AHEAD: A record number of workers quit their jobs in August.

Moving up (to a higher paying job)? Or moving out (in disgust)? My bet is on the latter.

WE SHOULD BE SO LUCKY: Farewell to Fauci.

MORE: The ego has landed.

NBC NEWS: Biden should name and shame employers not complying with his vaccine 'mandate' (hint: it isn't a mandate).

This is preposterous. Employers seriously need to refuse to comply in massive numbers. Let’s see the Biden administration try to shut down that many employers and destroy that many jobs. We dare you.

My hope is twofold: first, that employers ignore the 'mandate' and second, that they fire the snitchers for insubordination (it worked against Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller....).

My fear is that we are indeed a nation of sheep, bound for Australia.

GOING GALT? U.S. sets record for workers walking off jobs.

And now we're firing those few willing to remain?

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw nukes NPR 'journalist'.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone noticed that 'pushawed' is an anagram for 'washed up'?

Keep it up, lady. Keep it up.

MALLARD FILLMORE understands the Leftist lexicon.

THE REVOLUTION WILL COME when the grocery store shelves start to empty.

And it's happening...

HOW ELSE WAS HE TO GET HIS 10%? Joe, Hunter Biden apparently shared bank accounts.

IT'S NOW THE 'HYPOCRITIC' OATH: "Didn’t there used to be something in that Hippocratic Oath about doing no harm?"

IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW that mainstream media journalists are just Democrat operatives with bylines, you do now.

HAPPY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY COLUMBUS DAY. Enjoy the pictures.

GOOD MORNING, and Let's go, Brandon.

The Biden administration is unraveling by the day. Here's a comparison of Rasmussen Approval Indices of the first 265 days of the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations.

For those of you mathematically inclined, Biden has a 41% approval rate, with only 21% strongly approving. On the other side, 58% disapprove, with 50% strongly disapproving. So his support is tepid (20%) at best, while only 8% are not strongly disapproving.

Not looking good, Joe.

INSTAPUNDIT: "We are ruled by corrupt thugs. Fortunately, they’re also incompetent."

The Roger Kimball link is here. Take the time to read it in full.

Mallard Fillmore nails it.

Don't be scared; be mad. Be really, really mad.

COGS. JUST REPLACEABLE COGS: The Left views everything and everyone as commodities.

HE DARE NOTE VIOLATE HIS PROGRESSIVE 'HYPOCRITE' OATH: California Gov. Newsom's daughter is not vaccinated despite his mandate for students.

THIS IS A SURPRISE? Taliban say they won’t work with US to contain extremism in Afghanistan.

Well, to be fair, it probably is a surprise to the Biden administration.

ONLY 5 MORE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS TO GO: Ammo Grrrll on the benefits of turning 75.

THANK YOU, SAINT FAUCI: Fauci gives the green light on trick-or-treating this Halloween.

So kind of you to let us serfs outside for a few hours....

FALLING LEAVES 2021, WEEK 5.

Without much comment, here are my two standard photos of the pond and fire pit/barn, both taken from our back deck:

There hasn't been a heckuva lot of change over the week -- the oaks are completely denuded; the remaining trees still mostly have their leaves, though that's beginning to change. Our next-door neighbors have noticed the same; their oaks are bare of leaves, but not much else has happened other than the brush has mostly died off -- the same as with us.

This next picture is from down our road a bit at another neighbor's driveway. The oaks, as you can see, are pretty much leaf-free, and we're seeing a bit of red in the smaller hardwoods as they begin to go dormant for the winter.

Here are a couple of our community pond:

The first was taken from the walking path below our house. The oaks are mostly leaf-free and invisible in the picture. There are some reds in the remaining hardwoods, and a smattering of yellow beginning to show. The second picture from the commons shows mostly reds, but with a little yellow (turning brown) in the background.

The last picture, from Cutcane road outside our subdivision is supposed to show bright yellows, but is being very obstinate this year. Maybe next week....

IT'S CALLED THE PANAMA CANAL: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis offers the solution to the supply-chain issues California Gov. Gavin Newsom has exacerbated.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Taxes are the primary source of income for the politicians who keep demanding to increase them.

Why in hell do we vote to fund their greed, incompetence, and lust for power?

WELL, THEY WERE: Manchin told Schumer his remarks were 'f**king stupid'.

And he is.

I CAN'T IMAGINE WHY: Elon Musk is leaving California behind. Although as a [thankfully] former resident, Austin isn't much of an improvement.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES has a number of good ones this week. I have two favorites -- one funny and one ugly. See if you can guess which is which.

Now go see the rest.

GLENN REYNOLDS [AKA INSTAPUNDIT] School boards persecute dissident parents. Note that Reynolds wrote persecute, not prosecute.

That, I think, is an entirely fair statement and an indicator that with the Biden administration's attack on our borders, mask and vaccine mandates, and imposition of critical race theory in our public schools, the second American civil war has begun.

And America fires back:

October 1, 2021

Ms. Viola M. Garcia and Mr. Chip Slaven
National School Board Association
1680 Duke St Fl. 2
Alexandria, VA 22314

Sent via Electronic Mail (info@nsba.org)

Dear Ms. Garcia and Mr. Slaven,

On behalf of our 427,000 members, the undersigned organizations write in response to your September 29th letter to President Biden requesting “federal assistance to stop threats and acts of violence” against school board members, school officials, and teachers.

In that letter you requested that the federal government “investigate, intercept, and prevent the current threats and acts of violence against our public school officials through existing statutes, executive authority, interagency and intergovernmental task forces, and other extraordinary measures” and that the government leverage “the expertise and resources of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, and its National Threat Assessment Center.”

NSBA cites a tiny number of minor incidents in order to insinuate that parents who are criticizing and protesting the decisions of school boards are engaging in, or may be engaging in, “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” NSBA even invokes the PATRIOT Act.

The association of legitimate protest with terrorism and violence reveals both your contempt for parents and your unwillingness to understand and hear the sincere cries of parents on behalf of their children. To equate parents with terrorists dishonors the thousands of victims of actual terrorism around the world. Have you no shame?

Your letter to President Biden is a thinly veiled threat, intended to intimidate into silence and submission the very constituents that your members ostensibly represent. Our organizations unequivocally oppose violence and find it deeply troubling that you imply otherwise about concerned citizens who care deeply about their community’s children – and who are concerned by the direction that America’s schools have taken.

Citizens are angry that school boards and school officials around the country are restricting access to public meetings, limiting public comment, and in some cases conducting business via text messages in violation of state open meetings laws. They are angry that schools are charging them thousands of dollars in public records requests to view curriculum and training materials that impact their children and that should be open to the public by default. They are angry that pandemic-related learning losses have compounded the already-low reading, writing, and math proficiency rates in America’s schools. They are angry that rather than focusing on declining student achievement, large numbers of districts have chosen to fund, often with hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money, “social justice” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs with finite resources.

Your members refuse to listen to these concerns – and your association has chosen to smear their constituents rather than engage with them in good faith. It is appalling that you would choose to threaten your fellow Americans for having the courage to hold you accountable for your failures.

We will not be bullied. We will not have our speech chilled. We have a constitutional right to petition our elected officials, and we will continue to do so.

We ask that your organization – and your members – engage respectfully and constructively with the country’s parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens so that we might work together to address and improve the quality of America’s public education system for all children.

Sincerely,

Parents Defending Education
Awake IL
CACAGNY
California Foundation for Equal Rights
Citizens for Brandywine School District
Conservative Ladies of Washington
Education First Alliance
Fair Education Santa Barbara
Fight for Schools
Fishers One
Moms for America
Moms for Liberty
New Castle Patriots for Delaware School Committee
No Left Turn
Olentangy For Students
Oregonians for Liberty in Education and Liberty in Education Foundation
Recall MTSD School Board
Take Back Our Schools GCS
Unify Carmel
Utah Parents United
We the Parents Coronado

A .pdf version of the letter can be found here. I'd suggest readers download it and send it to their local school boards and state and federal congresscritters. I'm doing so.

IN RESPONSE to a vocal outbreak of parent protests at school board meetings nationwide, the National School Board Association has demanded federal assistance to 'stop threats and acts of violence against public education 'leaders'.

“America’s public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat,” reads the letter signed by NSBA President Viola M. Garcia and NSBA interim Executive Director and CEO Chip Slaven. “The National School Boards Association respectfully asks for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation.”

The letter asks the federal government to “investigate, intercept, and prevent the current threats and acts of violence against public school officials through existing statutes, executive authority, interagency and intergovernmental task forces, and other extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of our children and educators, to protect interstate commerce, and to preserve public school infrastructure and campuses.”

And so Merrick Garland's Department of Justice rushes to respond.

Michael Ramirez takes note:

The unanswered question: What threats and acts of violence?

I agree with Megan Fox: take a page out of the Democrats' playbook and sue the bastards. Then kick 'em out of office at the first opportunity.

POWERLINE: A short history of Democrat mob rule.

FACEBOOK 'WHISTLEBLOWER' just wants more censorship of conservatives.

So Congress must mandate that we (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Google/YouTube, etc.) be required prevent 'misinformation' from being spread willy-nilly throughout social media.

Question (and yes, I know the answer): what is 'misinformation'?

RIGHTFULLY SO: Kyrsten Sinema goes full savage on the White House.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Have you noticed that whenever you choose to ignore (or engage with, for that matter) the progressive Left, their automatic response is to scream louder?

ANDREW KLAVAN: "Because socialism is the Left’s ultimate goal and because socialism is immoral and can’t be rightly argued for, the leftist shapers of culture peddle hatred and division instead."

Read the whole thing.

OF COURSE NOT. Will your ballot be safe?

Unless Republicans prepare early -- and visibly.

AS A PARENT OF NINE here's my take on the Facebook whistleblower's testimony.

He's right. And as a grandparent I worry about my grandchildren. I hope my children prove to be as smart as the Duffy family.

YOU CAN'T ADVERTISE (OR POST, OR COMMENT) HERE unless your ads/posts/comments are sufficiently 'woke'.

This must stop.

McCONNELL TO SCHUMER: Here's the rope you needed to hang yourself.

No charge....

ANOTHER RANDOM THOUGHT: Last year I was merely a Deplorable; now the Biden administration has upgraded me to Domestic Terrorist.

RANDOM THOUGHT: If all those Americans and Afghani green card holders can make it out of Afghanistan -- no mean feat, that -- they should fly to Ciudad Acuña, Mexico and walk across the border to Del Rio where they'll be welcomed by the Biden administration.

Just don't show your passport or green card until you're safely in the interior....

WEST COAST, messed [up] coast.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: America and The Dying Citizen.

I WONDER WHY: New York City has run out of ‘gifted and talented’ students.

IF YOU CAN'T DEFINE IT, how do you know it's not being taught?

WELL, WHEN YOU CAN'T DO MATH (0R LOOK OUTSIDE): How infectious ideas are killing common sense.

BUT, BUT ... it's not a tax!

It just looks like one....

NOW WE KNOW why President Biden keeps saying 'the buck stops with me'.

YOU'RE HERE: Welcome to dystopia.

PRESIDENT TRUMP, enough with Twitter.

Go a different route; we'll follow.

TODDLERS: Stalking Sen. Sinema [R-AZ].

PowerLine's earlier posts are here, here, and here.

And finally, here.

“HEAT GOVERNANCE”: Cities need heat governance to plan for extreme temperatures and protect those most at risk. Except:

Annual deaths due to cold temperatures by region:

Africa – 1.18 million
Asia – 2.4 million
Europe – 657,000
South America – 116,000
UK – 44,600
US – 154,800
China – 967,000
India – 655,400
Australia – 14,200

Annual deaths due to high temperatures by region:

Africa – 25,550
Asia – 224,000
Europe – 178,700
South America – 25,250
UK – 8000
US – 18,750
China – 71,300
India – 83,700
Australia – 2300

The study is here.

I'LL BET GOV NEWSOM IS RUBBIMG HIS HANDS IN GLEE: $699M Powerball winning ticket sold in California.

And I saved $2 by not buying a lottery ticket....

IF YOU LIVE IN THE CITY don't buy a Chevy Bolt.

And if you live in a rural area as I do, park in a clearing and use an extension cord....

ARE YOU KIDDING? THE FDA IS VINDICTIVE? Well, yes. Yes they are.

And that's exactly why they're untrustworthy.

THE MORE I READ the happier I am I left Austin [TX] years ago. George Soros just dropped half a million dollars to oppose hiring more police.

OF COURSE THEY'RE TERRORISTS: Concerned parents of domestic terrorists?

They have the effrontery to (civilly) disagree with progressive ideology.

HE DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg quiet on growing port congestion as shipping concerns build.

WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK IT? Biden's dishonesty and dementia are causing problems for him and the nation.

TREATMENTS? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' TREATMENTS. We have vaccinations.

And mandates....

MV=PY: It's the math, stupid.

BUT, BUT ... IT REQUIRES MATH: Democrats are denying basic economics.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: What made us go crazy (part 2). As before, read the comments.

IF JOE BIDEN HAS HIS WAY, we’d look exactly like Australia right now. No one should forget that.

Thankfully, there's Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the way for the U.S.

THEY HATE US; THEY REALLY HATE US: Biden administration announces they will go after parents who are 'intimidating' taxpayer-funded school boards.

More here, here, here, and here.

FALLING LEAVES 2021, WEEK 4.

It's been rainy and basically yucky, so the pictures are rather drab this week. Here's the usual view of the pond:

Compared to last week, nothing much has changed beyond there being more leaves on the ground. The leaves are thinning, to be sure, but not yet enough to see the pond or the other side of the valley clearly.

Here's the barn and fire pit. Again the ground is littered with leaves, and here the foliage (especially at the top left) is definitely thinning.

No color changes yet, though, so I went around the neighborhood looking. Here's some red, taken just down our road, but it's mostly low-hanging brush that's turning.

This last picture was taken on the highway outside our neighborhood. Finally some reds are showing, but as yet I've seen little -- if any -- yellows. The picture above is of an area that usually shows a brilliant yellow, but today the trees were still bright green.

Maybe by next week we'll be seeing some change.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and thank all those supply chains you locked down.

SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST IGNORE THE DAMN MANDATES? NYC Restaurateurs: business down 40 to 60 percent due to vaccine mandate.

Like Democrats do....

INCOMPETENT, ILL-EDUCATED DEMOCRAT OPERATIVES AT THAT: 'Conscience' is not spelled 'conscious'.

ANOTHER RANDOM THOUGHT: How long will it take for Kurt Schlichter's Kelly Turnbull novels to be reclassified as history?

RANDOM THOUGHT: Are masks required on Air Farce Force One?

PLEASE THE CHINESE: The elitism of the woke.

POWERLINE'S 'Weak' in Pictures is up. My favorite:

And I'm still waiting. Go see the rest while I continue to wait.