IN BIDEN'S AMERICA, there will be plenty of disease and war for all!

Read it all.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Is there a Nutrisystem for cats?

Asking for a friend....

NON SEQUITUR explains the Democrats' mid-term game plan....

PREDICTING the Democrats' mid-term wipeout.

I was center Right in 2008, but the Overton window has shifted so far left by 2021 that from a Leftist point-of-view conservative positions are to the right of Attilla the Hun.

ANOTHER GROOMER SELF-IDENTIFIES: Ohio school board president forced to resign over 'deeply disturbing' video.

FOOLS AND TOOLS: The Melber Foresight.

A DULY ELECTED MEMBER OF CONGRESS could be barred from running because ... she exercised her First Amendment rights.

The lawsuit is so laughable that it should be dismissed with prejudice immediately and the lawyers who filed it disbarred.

THIS SHOULD BECOME the Republican battle cry.

AND HAS BEEN FOR LONGER THAN I'VE BEEN ALIVE: Progressive ideology is a lie.

It's nothing more than a continuing quest for power.

THE BIDEN YEARS so far.

The next 32 months should be 'interesting' ... assuming we survive.

TWITTER BANS ADS contradicting the science 'narrative' on climate change.

That won't last....

J.D. VANCE: "The battle for Republicans is not just against the elites and not just against the left, it is against the leadership of our own party."

A SARASOTA (FLORIDA) PARENT was kicked out of a school board meeting for what she was "about to say".

JUST WHEN YOU THINK THE LEFT CAN'T GET STUPIDER, they prove you wrong.

MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC SPREAD FEAR OVER ELON MUSK TWITTER DEAL: ‘Free speech of straight white men’.

So they're admitting 'straight white men' don't have free speech on Twitter today? (Unless they're Taters.)

NOT YOUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS, NO: Randi Weingarten says Republicans 'just don't want public schools' in debate over education.

That's why I'm paying for my grandchildren to go to private school....

SPRINGTIME 2022, Week 8: Finally!. We spent Easter in the flatlands downstate, and they're already well into summer -- bright green, nary a bare branch in sight. Not here, though finally there are some leaves beginning to show.

Here are this week's pictures. First, my two standards, the view from our deck of the pond and the fire pit area.

As last week, neither is ready for prime time. The trees are clearly showing signs of activity, but no leaves yet

Here's the pond, taken from the dam. The grass on the opposite shore is growing madly and ready for its first mowing. The trees on the west bank -- nothing yet, although the fuzziness of the branches is showing that there is activity (the pollen count has picked up this week, too).

The hardwoods are still mostly silent, and the only activity is the low-lying brush which is growing faster than the weedeater can cope.

This picture is to the west, across our road. Still mostly bare, but you can tell the trees are beginning to bud out.

And finally a gratuitous picture of a visitor along the pond walk. Until next week then.

FINALLY GETTING THEIR COMEUPPANCE: University professors unhappy that Florida Gov. DeSantis wants them to be accountable for their misdeeds.

Good and hard, I hope. Tenure should be removed entirely and professors held to annual reviews, just like we did in the corporate world.

Instapundit weighs in.

MASSIVE INCOMPETENCE is damned effective.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY: EARTH DAY was a good one to ask environmentalists if they had computed the cost of California's annual wildfires to global warming? (Oh, and did they add in the additional costs of aviation fuel, fire retardent, and the carbon cost of the aircraft, helicopters, and firefighter transportation?)

And it's not just California; add in a few other states run by the environmental lobby as well.

THIS COMBAT CLOWN would be a nice fit to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's woke military.

AMMO GRRRLL remembers another world.

AN INTERESTING THOUGHT FROM GLENN REYNOLDS [INSTAPUNDIT]: Maybe Elon Musk should give up on Twitter and let it destroy the woke.

It's a good question: should we encourage Elon Musk to fix Twitter, or just let it burn to the ground and kick ashes over it? I like Musk's energy, but I'm beginning to lean toward ash-kicking.

INSERT COLONOSCOPY JOKE HERE. Sending a probe to Uranus labeled as top priority.

A scientific (yes, I know, but it was still too tempting) probe....

KEEP WATCH AMERICA: Valerie Jarrett will continue to wear a mask in her car no matter what non-scientists say.

Hold her to her promise.

THEY CAN'T HIDE BEHIND THE CURTAIN ANY MORE: The COVID-19 authoritarians panic over the end of the mask mandates.

And well they should panic; that 'smidgen of liberty' they're willing to grant is insufficient in a free country.

BUT SOME CAN HELP: Oligarchs will not save us.

Elon Musk can help at the margins, but he is not going to make it all better for us. Nor should he. Looking for a white knight with big bags of cash to pour out and make it all better is dodging our duty. We are citizens, and being a citizen takes work. Serfs and subjects have it easy. They toil in their masters’ field then kick back afterwards. But we not only have to do our own toiling in our own fields, but we have to take some of our free time to go participate in our own governance.

And that is how it should be. Let’s welcome the rich guys who want to help us out where they can. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is our country, and we are the ones responsible for taking it back.

Truer words....

ELON MUSK IS HAVING THE DESIRED EFFECT:

Hillary Clinton urges European Union to police ‘disinformation’ and ‘extremism’ online. [Translation: Restrict the First Amendment so that Democrats can control the narrative without challenge.]

He's forcing the Left to admit publicly that they're completely bonkers -- and have been for a long, long time.

THE LOCKDOWNS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES: Shanghai further tightens COVID restrictions after weeks of strict lockdown.

CAPTAIN HOOK, TINKER BELL are next in line for woke treatment.

How can Tinker Bell not be woke? She's a FAIRY, for God's sake!

IT'S NOT JUST THE LEFT: FUMU (Fuck Up Move Up) is well known in corporate circles as well.

WHY CNN+ DIED:

Lifted from the comments to this post.

OH, THIS SHOULD BE GOOD. Florida Gov. DeSantis contemplates suing the Twitter Board of Directors for breaching its fiduciary duty to do what’s best for shareholders (i.e., Florida's state pension plan).

DEFENDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY requires we start by crushing the public school weirdos.

It's Kurt Schlichter, naturally, and to my delight has already started in Virginia. And Florida. Thank you both, Governors Youngkin and DeSantis for following through.

RANDOM THOUGHT: The Overton Window has moved so far Left that common sense is now the sole property of the Right.

THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE opines on the demise of the air travel mask mandate.

I particularly liked this comment

Why don't we mandate passengers bring garlic, to ward off vampires?
Makes as much sense.

because keeping progressives off airplanes would do much to make air travel more palatable.

BABYLON BEE CEO Seth Dillon levels Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz with latest response.

And if you want a good laugh, click on this link and scroll down. Here's an example:

And as you scroll down note the names associated with the comments.

ANN COULTER: The pandemic made me do it.

TULSI GABBARD lowers the boom on Mitt Romney and Keith Olbermann.

Don't Mess With Texas Tulsi.

CONTRACT GRADING and the war against excellence.

Having already attended 'kiddiegarten' it's little wonder more and more real students are deciding to forgo university.

POWERLINE'S LOOSE ENDS: The New York Times has named Pajama Boy executive editor. And more.

CLEARLY WE ARE GOVERNED BY IDIOTS: The U.S. Capitol was ordered evacuated today because ... the U.S. Army's Golden Knights parachute team was orbiting National's Stadium for a Military Appreciation Day jump.

'DARK MAGA' is living rent-free in the conspiracy-filled minds of Newsleak ... er, Newsweek.

The Left has never developed a conspiracy theory they didn't demand to project on the Right.

I'M SURE YOU'LL FIND MORE IF YOU WANT TO WASTE TIME LOOKING: The five most unhinged responses to the end of the travel mask mandate.

POWERLINE: Mask mandates and magical thinking (assuming morons actually think). Much more here.

RANDOM THOUGHT: There is no such thing as artificial intelligence, but there is a surfeit of artificial stupidity to augment real (i.e., human) stupidity.

THE DIPLOMAD gets ready to fly ... maskless!

The last news segment I saw implied the Biden administration has decided not to contest the judge's decision, so I suspect it already has another crisis ready for We, the People Peons.

LET THE LAWSUITS BEGIN: Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett on Twitter's 'poison pill' plot to foil Elon Musk.

Hell, I might buy a few shares myself just to get my (unfair) share of the lawsuit bonanza.

WELL, THE POLICE HAVE BEEN DEFUNDED: Shocking 43% jump in Black Americans murdered in 2020 compared to the past 10-year average.

So it's not shocking at all....

NON SEQUITUR: Evolution for dummies progressives.

AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD: Liberals raise concerns about account that's making them look bad by just sharing their actual words.

CHAOS OR CONTROL? Musk is not our man, but his foray into Twitter could make a difference.

'My man' or not, he is on my side in an issue I deem important.

THERE IS NOTHING the Left can't wreck with their 'expertise'.

SEND HER TO EVERY SMALL TOWN RED AMERICA: The White House has found a new way to hide the disaster that is Kackling Kamala.

No self-respecting 'journalist' would ever be caught there ... and she might actually learn something.

THE NOOSE IS GETTING TIGHTER: Five witnesses connected to the Clinton campaign’s false Russian claims have refused to cooperate.

Now kick the stool they're standing on out from under them.

ABOLISH PUBLIC EDUCATION AND REPLACE IT WITH VOUCHERS. Start in New York City.

Then expand nationwide.

LET THE LAWSUITS BEGIN CONTINUE: Groomer school in Massachusetts sued for hiding gender identity from parents.

Sue them into bankruptcy, institutionally and individually.

EVEN SOME REPUBLICANS ARE SUSCEPTABLE: Alex Mooney's problem with math and the truth.

Fortunately it's curable at the ballot box.

WELL PAST ITS DUE DATE: Federal judge orders end to CDC and White House mask mandates on airlines and public transit.

THE MADNESS OF SLOW JOE:

“The administration and its press poodles are trying to normalize Iranian plots to kill Americans on U.S. soil in the pursuit of a nuclear deal that has long outlived any plausible arguments for its usefulness.”

If that quotation is even remotely true, then impeachment is imperative, even knowing Kackling Kamala is next in line.

IN THE NAME OF 'PUBLIC HEALTH' it's time to screen all kids for anxiety.

No, it's time to screen all liberals for insanity.

On second thought, don't bother. There are no sane ones left.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Curbing loose nuke talk won't calm tensions or guarantee peace, but it won't hurt either.

GO FOR IT: I’m thinking of starting to open carry in Knoxville just to discourage more Yankees from moving here.

WOKE ARIZONA DIVERSITY ACTIVISTS accuse black DJ of wearing blackface.

Not only is woke worthless, woke is stupid to boot.

FROM STICKERS to yard signs....

EXPLAINING WHY I DON'T UPDATE MY IPHONE: iPhone update adds 'pregnant man' emoji.

DEMOCRATS? You won't believe what Californians say they're sick of.

Unfortunately, not. At least, not yet....

YEAH, RIGHT: Medieval peasants had it better than Americans do now.

THERE'S NOTHING HE CAN DO: Mainstream media's latest talking point in defense of Joe Biden.

HE DOESN'T OWN TWITTER (YET), but other billionaire owners are still unhappy with Elon Musk.

They don't want their oxen gored.

MAKE ANTI-WOKENESS PROFITABLE: Sue until it gets very expensive (for the woke).

It's time to take a page or two from their playbook.

NOWHERE: Where has all the arctic ice gone?

TRY TELLING ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW: Americans are drowning in spam.

THANKS, but I already have one.

SECURITY FOR ME, NOT FOR THEE: Rep. Cori Bush [D-MO] surpasses $300K spent on private security as she continues calls to defund the police.

Bush said she would ensure she has security because she has had attempts on her life and has "too much work to do."

"So suck it up, and defunding the police has to happen," she added.

Just not my police....

TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT ISN'T ENOUGH since a university degree isn't nearly as valuable as it once was.

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: Student debt cancellation is 'racial justice,' 'gender justice,' 'economic justice'.

Justice? Where's my justice? My wife and I paid our student loans (something on the order of $30,000 in today's dollars) in full -- on an income of less 1/3 of today's minimum wage.

If this succeeds, I want my money back.

I CERTAINLY HOPE SO: Will conservative investors now become shareholder activists and battle woke boardrooms.

I'll be doing my small (actually tiny) part. It's annual meeting season and I always vote my shares. Usually I concur with the board makeup and limit myself to voting 'no' on the idiotic proposals put forward by Leftists. This year I will also be voting 'no' on every corporate board member I cannot confirm is a conservative in good standing.

It's a small thing, but if enough of us do the same maybe the various Boards will get the message that corporations belong to the shareholders, not the stakeholders.

WILL 1+1 STILL BE 2? University orders professors to 'decolonize' (whatever that means) math.

SAINT VINCENT COLLEGE highlights its own hypocrisy.

It's hard to summarize, so read it all, but the gist is that the speakers pretty uniformly decried the effects of social justice:

Governing elites and institutional and corporate leaders are generally vociferous supporters of social justice. Yet speaker after speaker showed how these groups have cruelly abandoned broad swathes of vulnerable Americans—including children, the working class, black Americans, and the urban poor—in implementing scientifically uninformed, politically partisan, and self-serving policies.

So much so that the Dean of the School of Business, Economics, and Government was forced(?) to apologize and refuse to allow videos of the conference to be distributed.

Again, read the whole thing.

SPRINGTIME 2022, Week 7: Well, it's Easter and we're out of town, so these pictures were taken a day early, and it looks like Spring is finally back permanently. Here's our intrepid forsythia, now in full bloom:

Now on to the usuals -- the pond view first. This is a slightly different view from last week, looking a bit more northerly from our deck. It's a bit more forested, so it looks like maybe a show of leaves but no, while the trees are definitely showing buds, they're not yet camera ready.

The fire pit view is a bit better; the green is mostly the evergreens showing through the bare branches.

Here's another, taken looking downslope from the corner of our property. Trees are still bare, but budding, and the ground cover is peeking through further downslope. I've quit brushcutting and am now going to maintenance mode, just weedeating to keep the growth low. Next week's pictures from down at the pond should be showing green on the slopes again.

Finally the dogwoods really took a beating this year. Our early bloomer is bare, and may not have survived the freeze. The others are all beginning to bloom, but the blossoms are sparse this year.

Until next week....

ANOTHER SMASHUP at the Leftist intersectionality. The Left is subdividing so rapidly that soon there will be only person ... er, individual ... left at each intersection.

Be sure to read the comments.

RANDOM (BUT OPTIMISTIC) THOUGHT: Even with the most incompetent leadership in the history of the United States, we will still prevail.

Or maybe it's just Easter....

IT'S THAT 'they can't see their own hypocrisy' thing again.

RANDOM THOUGHT: I finally understand why progressives can't see the hypocrisy when they look at themselves in the mirror -- they're vampires.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures has had a good week. Here are two of my favorites. First, the Vice President has deep thoughts:

And the Russian Black Sea flagship gets a promotion:

Now go see the others. I also liked the life cycle of a liberal.

AMMO GRRRLL observes a sterile culture.

One positive thought: like the Shakers, the progressives will be a dying breed if we ensure their recruitment efforts fail.

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN:

Data taken from Rasmussen's Presidential Approval Index on Friday.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CRISIS TO RELY ON, create one.

MORE TWITTERMANIA: the Establishment's Orwellian line on Musk's Twitter crusade.

TWITTERMANIA: the four most unhinged responses to Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter.

I FIND THIS AMUSING: Four reasons why you never get a tax refund.

I never get a refund for one very simple reason: I don't give the government -- any government -- a penny more than I owe and a day before it's due.

It's my money, not theirs.

ABSOLUTELY: Is STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics] being politicized?

I am (or was) a Senior Member of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers); I left years ago when it became obvious that the IEEE had turned down the (future) social justice lane.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Woke is a synonym for worthless.

BUT THEY'RE VERY GENEROUS WITH YOUR MONEY: Biden and Harris each gave less to charity in 2021 than others earning similar incomes.

RANDOM THOUGHT: The sole reason for Twitter is to control traffic for the crazies.

I DON'T THINK HER LOSING HER JOB IS 'DANGEROUS PRECEDENT': MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski says Elon Musk Twitter takeover could set 'very dangerous precedent'.

SOME OBSERVATIONS about the unbearable lightness of Bernie Sanders.

These observations lead directly to a consideration of the greatest and most destructive blind spot of the fact-challenged progressive outlook: the refusal to recognize the fundamental inequality of human beings and their capabilities. This refusal is manifest in their inability to appreciate the unique genius of entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, and instead to respond to them with a destructive hatred born of envy and resentment, which are the key passions of the progressive mind (emphasis mine). It also leads directly to an inability to appreciate the insurmountable obstacles to their utopian schemes.

Ask yourself what leads to envy and resentment. I would suggest the answer is incompetence.

READ THE TWEETS: Staffers at Bezos-owned paper [Washington Post] blast Musk's offer to buy Twitter outright.

Then read the comments, which are uniformly pro-Elon.

[Updated]

GLENN YOUNGKIN [R-VA]'S REVENGE: Entire Loudoun county school board may face voters in November election.

Criminal charges to follow? (One can hope.)

ITS HARD TO WORK BEHIND THE SCENES when people keep pulling away the curtain. BLM cofounder Patrisse Cullors says she gets triggered by charity transparency laws.

WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST rips parental rights laws as ‘homophobic’ and compares to Black people being denied gun permits.

Bigoted, anyone?

BIDEN WANTS TO REGULATE EVERYTHING; even your air conditioning. So ... if I don't have air conditioning, will he supply it?

DEMOCRATS GOTTA HAVE A CRISIS even if they have to manufacture one....

VOTERS 'AREN'T STUPID': Even CNN analyst rejects notion Biden has 'messaging' problem.

And that's a problem for Democrats.

AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN: Liberals' latest reasoning behind a student loan debt bailout is beyond laughable.

If you went deeply in debt to gain the latest advanced 'woke' degee, then you have a problem -- but it's not my problem.

RANDOM THOUGHT about political tag lines:

Republican: Make America Great Again

Democrat: Make America Poor Again

Accurate, or not?

EVERY MORNING WHEN I WAKE UP: Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?

REASON # 1 TO OWN A GUN: Intruder shot in head while breaking into child's bedroom.

I love 'feel-good' stories....

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The debasement of our professional and political classes.

Two comments: (1) debasement is too mild, depravity fits better; and (2) as one who prefers action to restraint, my preference is for retribution.

ELON MUSK is not joining Twitter's Board of Directors. That's good news.

I rather suspect he feels he can be more effective reforming Twitter off the Board of Directors than he could on it.

Liz Peek has more.

THE LEFT NEVER MET A CONSTITUTION THEY DIDN'T HATE: Joe Biden again gets reminded about how the Constitution works with his latest gun control attempt.

Which reminds me that my next weapon is going to be a 'ghost' gun....

POWERLINE: Our East German universities.

WHO IS America's shadow President? Instapundit has thoughts on a possible future scenario.

I have similar thoughts and my best-case scenario is this: Republicans win the mid-terms bigly. Make Trump the Speaker of the House. Get rid of Biden via the 25th Amendment. Impeach Harris. Trump then becomes President to fill out Biden's term. Trump nominates DeSantis as his Vice President. DeSantis goes on to win two terms.

If only it could be true....

KATRINA PERSON: So who's spending whose money.

PROGRESSIVISM is a criminal enterprise.

ADBUSTERS wants you to let the air out of people’s SUV tires.

This is a gentle escalation of methods to drive the urgency of this climate crisis home and engender a systemic aversion to SUVs.

No. It's a not-so-gentle escalation of methods to engender a systemic aversion to environmentalists/progressives/Leftists/idiots.

My response is the same as always and similar to those expressed by a multitude of commenters -- I have weapons, acreage, a backhoe, and neighbors who will look the other way....

THE FBI IS SPENDING MILLIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKING SOFTWARE. Does anyone actually believe they'll use it properly?

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Why the left really wants to sexualize your kids.

ELON MUSK does some expert trolling of Twitter.

THE DEPLORABLES ARE BACK: Will the Democrats accept the midterm results?

Clinton’s description was in fact about much more than the disreputable people who flocked to Trump’s banner. It was also a warning about the regressive politics and antisocial values that Trump’s followers represented (and still do), including cruelty, racism and white supremacy, sexism and misogyny, collective narcissism, anti-intellectualism, an infatuation with violence, proud ignorance and support for fascism and authoritarianism … her diagnosis of Trump and his movement’ was overwhelmingly correct.

And the answer to the question is "no".

I EXPECT TO SEE A LOT MORE OF THIS AS THE MIDTERMS APPROACH:

"Then I just got angry and in the back of my head I thought, ‘F— you!’ And I voted Republican all the way down the line."

Linked from this post on 'gender identity' lessons in New Jersey schools.

YOU'VE GOT MAIL -- Not.

This ... is ... California.

BUT, BUT ,,, THEY'RE OUR CHILDREN: Democrats risk repeating errors from Virginia governor's race by siding against parents' rights.

No, they are not your children!

KURT SCHLICHTER: Call Groomers 'groomers' because of their grooming.

TRUE THAT:

Linked from here.

I'M GETTING THERE MYSELF: I Really do hate these Leftists.

NOT ANY MORE: Is the Pope Catholic?

THE DEMOCRAT PARTY, not climate change, is the existential threat.

NOT TO WORRY, we're here to help control you.

MAKE AMERICA ROCK AGAIN: Did Donald Trump unveil his 2024 slogan at Friday Night's Kid Rock concert?

WHY I WROTE 'NO' across my pediatrician's questionnaire.

I had a similar experience some years back when I had the misfortune to turn 65 and transition to Medicare, At the first appointment I was given a Medicare 'wellness check' (I hate that term) questionnaire. I read it, gave it back, and told the medic that no, I wasn't answering the questions, which were none of their business, and if I were required to answer them I would leave.

I haven't had any problems since. Which leads to today's

RANDOM THOUGHT, that being that it's time to put our collective foot down on this woke nonsense. Children should not be allowed to run America.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The nihilism of the Left.

In pursuit of its utopian omelet, the Left cares little about the millions of middle-class Americans it must break to make it.

GROOMER FRAGILITY: Call a spade a spade.

NEVER LET A CRISIS GO TO WASTE: For the Great Reset to succeed, the elite need World War III.

And if you don't have one, make one.

I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO ELON MUSK'S TWEET on this Bernie boo-boo.

RANDOM THOUGHT: If Dr? Fauci is the highest paid government bureaucrat, I have to conclude that incompetence pays well....

(and yes, the question mark is intentional)

WE CAN HOPE: Twitter a pretty pleasant place to work now that all the angry Leftists are quitting in protest.

And yes, it's the Babylon Bee, America's prescient News of Record.

SO I CANCELED MY SUBSCRIPTION: National Review's Kevin Williamson redefines conservatism.

I am a Republican and, Kevin Williamson not withstanding, I am neither a "'vulgar' populist" nor an "'infantile' nationalist who loathes free trade, free speech, the U.S. military, and libertarians".

Goodbye and good riddance.

AN INTERESTING TAKE: A pure hypothetical....

And I agree with the conclusion.

SPRINGTIME 2022, Week 6: No wonder the trees are confused this year -- it snowed again yesterday! Not much, to be sure, but here's proof:

It may not look like much, but that white stuff is indeed partially melted evaporated snow. It was gone in hours after the snowfall stopped.

Now for the pictures. Here's our hero forsythia, still slowly recovering from the freeze:

We lost the flowers this year in the freeze, but the leaves seem to be coming in strong. Still needs a little pruning.

Here's the usual pond view, mostly unchanged from last week. As I've been walking around, I can see all the trees are in various early stages of budding out, but they're still too small to be seen in a photograph. Next week, perhaps?

And now another usual, the fire pit. The evergreens are still evergreen, the deciduous ones are still 'on the fence'. They're budding, but it's not enthusiastic yet. The only significant change (probably not visible in the photo) is that the fire pit is almost complete -- I missed two tiny joints that still need to be mortared, but other than that, it's ready for the summer.

Last week I promised pond pictures, and this week the weather has been good, so here are several taken from the dam and various locations around the pond perimeter. This first one is of the dam (dock in foreground)

Continuing around the pond is the fountain, with the dam in the left background and our house, barely visible, above the fountain.

Our next door neighbor, who should have the best pond view as summer arrives and the leaves are out.

The common feature of all the pictures is the lack of leaves everywhere. All of the trees are showing signs of waking up, but it seems that all are leery of another freeze. Hopefully by next week...

Especially leery are our two dogwood trees. That brown color is the dead flowers (which aren't actually flowers, I found out) which were killed in the freeze. But ... there are leaves, so hopefully the trees will fully recover by next spring.

Till next week, then.

BE HAPPY, because there's Itxu Diaz for a brief moment of sanity.

IMPRIMIS on the continuing importance of Thomas Sowell.

AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD: Clarence Thomas receives invitation to celebration of first Black Supreme Court Justice.

THE DIPLOMAD on woke lies and wars.

CLIMATE SCIENCE DONE RIGHT:

Deep secrets of climate science. The first video is more instructive than the second. And much, much shorter.

Who broke climate science? Er, climate scientists?

Summary: (1) It's changing. (2) It's not existential. (3) Humans probably have had/are having some small influence. (4) Humans are adaptable.

I DON'T TRUST THE Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Neither should you. Here's why.

The whole organization should be abolished and its core functions (if any) distributed among other organizations.

Added note: For more of my thoughts on the disaster that is the CDC, click here.

IF YOU'RE A LIBERAL, my Georgia is also a no-no state. It has bigger trucks, firearms, backyard shooting ranges. And bears. Did I mention bears?

POWERLINE'S 3 WHISKY HAPPY HOUR on Critical Race Theory got delayed this week because ... things. I don't usually listen, but this snippet intrigued me:

...some short reflections on Elon Musk (mostly hoping he’ll bring one of his flame throwers to his first Twitter board meeting)...

That would indeed be interesting.

JUST THE NEWS:

In a bombshell court filing late Monday night, [Special Counsel John] Durham for the first time suggested Hillary Clinton's campaign, her researchers and others formed a "joint venture or conspiracy" for the purpose of weaving the collusion story to harm Trump's election chances and then the start of his presidency.

Is actual accountability on the horizon?

TRANSGENDERED IN KINDERGARTEN? What’s really behind the insane new sex ed?

I was taken by this image in the comments:

It was posted by commenter 'gooddoghappyman'. His Discus site is here, and he is absolutely brutal in his condemnation of 'grooming'.

PAYBACK IS A BITCH: Twitter employee is 'broken' over Elon Musk.

I THINK SO, TOO: College degrees are a bubble -- and a collapse is on the way.

A well-deserved collapse....

FREE SPEECH means sometimes explaining jokes to idiots.

THE GREG ABBOTT BUSES: A great unconstitutional idea.

I'm not convinced about the 'unconstitutionality' but if the Democrats can call on the White House to ignore a Supreme Court decision it seems reasonable to allow the Republicans to do the same.

That said, it seems clear that the Democrats will never be happy until the U.S. is turned into a third-world shithole. With them in charge.

SUE THE BASTARDS AND TAKE THEIR MONEY: Conservative UHouston students, afraid to share views under new ‘anti-discrimination’ policy, file lawsuit.

Here's the College Fix article.

BLEEDERS UNITE! You have nothing to lose but ... you know the thing.

It's Ammo Grrrll, and every time I think American society has reached maximum crazy the Left steps it up a notch.

RANDOM THOUGHT: For liberals, the phrase 'our democracy' is synonymous with 'our control'.

WE'LL ONLY ENFORCE THE LAWS WE LIKE: Michigan Attorney General says she will not defend the State’s pro-life law if Roe is overturned.

Um, how's that working out with all those Soros-elected District Attorneys in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, etc.?

TEN WAYS conservatives can fight back.

Basically it comes down to "don't shut up".

POWERLINE'S scent of Musk edition of its Week in Pictures is up. Many, many good ones this week, so many I couldn't limit myself to just one favorite. Here are four, all Biden-related.

And finally,

But there are others; go and see.

WOKENESS RUNS AMOK IN CANADA: Universities are refusing to hire able-bodied white males.

How long until that idiocy comes to the United States? Oh, wait....

DEMOCRATS SAY defy the Supreme Court.

I might be okay with that if Republicans had the same option to ignore rulings that they find distasteful.

ALMOST CERTAINLY NO: Can Russia be kicked off the UN Security Council?

At least not without disbanding the United Nations and starting over. Which, in my opinion, is a good idea.

POWERLINE: No grooming allowed.

The reason the Left is so invested in grooming is that they're running out of marginalized 'victims' to control.

DEMOCRATS’ ‘DARK’ MIDTERMS STRATEGY: “[We] have to scare the crap out of them.”

Only it's not the Left's midterm strategy; it's been their strategy for as long as I've been politically aware: keep the proles scared of everything in order to keep them under control.

Read the comments.

JUST IN TIME FOR THE MID-TERMS: ‘Frankenstein’ Omicron subvariant XE detected in UK, India and Thailand.

I SAW THIS on the Ace of Spades HQ website.

Unfortunately there's no direct link.

MAKE WALT HAPPY: destroy Disney.

METHINKS SHE DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH: Patrisse Cullors claims $6 million BLM mansion wasn't announced because it 'needed repairs and renovation'.

Clearly she and her groupies need a new home -- one paid for by the state.

RESURGENT POPULISM and the fate of America's elites.

In normal modern societies, the ruling class, despite their individual personal failings, has symbolized empathy, ability, learning, and good judgment. But America no longer has a normal society as the unchecked egocentricity and cowardice of the elites is the indisputable sign that this nation is mired in mediocrity.

America's elites should remember how the French Revolution began....

WARNING TO DEMOCRATS: This "trans" mania you're wrapped up in is destroying children.

Note: CASA is an acronym for Court Appointed Special Advocate in child abuse cases.

TO RECLAIM TWITTER, Elon Musk may not be the billionaire you want, but he might just be the billionaire we need right now.

THE MIAMI HERALD attacks DeSantis campaign for using 'fake news site' to raise campaign funds. The 'fake news' site is the Babylon Bee, a satire website whose tagline is "Fake news you can trust". For some unknown reason, the DeSantis campaign must have thought the Bee's subscriber list would be more useful to them than the Herald's.

As usual, DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw got in the last word: "Miami Bird Cage Liner is upset that satire website @TheBabylonBee is more popular than their fake news."

REAL DATA on COVID'S aftermath. It's specific to Minnesota, but anyone who doesn't believe the conclusions apply throughout America is a fool -- or worse.

LEFT-WING 'INFLUENCERS' ON TWITTER amplify fabricated Tucker Carlson quote.

Much more: "Those who scream and shout the loudest about stopping misinformation have no issue spreading it themselves when it benefits their cause."

ISSUES & INSIGHTS: The environmental/social/governance threat.

It's not about the environment, society, or even governance; it's about who controls your life.

Read it all.

BECAUSE IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S MONEY: Why have massive frauds become commonplace in our society?

WHITE HOUSE to target billionaires with new minimum tax in 2023.

There are just a few flies in the White House ointment. Here are three: (1) the White House's deficit is too large, (2) there aren't enough billionaires, and (3) the billionaires won't cooperate. But other than that....

I tend to favor having everyone having to pay at least some minimal income tax each year. According to the Tax Policy Center, the top 20% of taxpayers pay over 70% of the total income taxes each year; the bottom 40% pay none. I believe everyone should have some skin in the game if for no other reason than for them to (hopefully) pay attention to how their money is spent.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ captured Obama's visit to the Biden White House perfectly.

Linked from here.

MORE PROOF (IF ANY IS NEEDED) OF GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE: California sent $1 billion in pandemic relief to its most affluent families.

'Elite' governance is now a synonym for 'incompetent' governance. The same can be said of 'experts'.

SO MAYBE THE STATES should simply ignore federal diktats. I'm thinking specifically of the southern border.

Governors DeSantis [R-FL] and Abbott [R-TX] appear to be thinking along the same lines.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Can Ukraine win?

ANOTHER 'NO SHIT, SHERLOCK' MOMENT: Americans say Biden is bad for America.

Biden has never been above zero in the Rasmussen Presidential Approval Index and is currently in the negative 20's. At this same point in his administration, Trump was solidly 20 points higher.

WHO'D HAVE THUNK IT? Biden is not America's most popular world leader.

THE COMING DEATH OF HIGHER EDUCATION: University of California to make anti-racist education a prerequisite for admission.

Only properly groomed trans-persons admitted....

Update: The rest of us are ditching university for real education.

MALLARD FILLMORE: "We're living in one of Trump's wild exaggerations."

RANDOM THOUGHT: "The beatings will continue until morale improves." That aphorism keeps coming to mind every time I turn on television news.

TWITTER BOARD TO ELON: your money is welcome, just not your input.

SEND FAUCI TO CHINA. They need more drones.

We don't.

THE DIPLOMAD writes on seeing what's in front of your nose.

In general the Left can't see its nose, much less what's in front of it.

SO YOU'RE INTERESTED IN APPLYING? Please don't.

DEMOCRATS WON'T BE HAPPY until the whole U.S. is a third-world shithole (to paraphrase Donald Trump): The descent of New York City.

YES, IF ONLY TO WARN THEM WE'RE LOONEY TUNES CRAZY: NASA is about to broadcast a message to the universe. Should they?

DOOR #3:

Charity is now taxable.

BUT SHE GOT IN THE LAST -- AND BEST -- WORD: Justice Barrett heckled onstage at Reagan Library.

THAT'S BECAUSE IT'S AT THE END OF YOUR NOSE: Reality is getting harder to deny.

And when it hits, it's gonna hurt....

NUKE D.C.? Don't worry, Biden's got it handled.

Another good one.

PARENTS DIDN'T START THE FIRE; social justice warriors did.

Parents are just putting it out.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: a disaster waiting to happen?

My guess is 'yes'.

GOD AND LGBTQ AT YALE: Our 'elites' have been garbage institutions for at least 20 years.

What concerns me is that the stench has leaked down into the rest of our educational systems.

ELON MUSK: "WaPo [Washington Post] always good for a laugh."

Proof that the Left is really, really scared....

YOU WON'T BELIEVE who the Biden administration blames for the southern border crisis: Congress.

A Democrat-controlled Congress at that. They're so desperate they're eating their own....

YES, SCRAP THEM (TO THE DUSTBIN OF HISTORY): Are employer diversity programs on the way out?

Make it all diversity programs....

MAKING QUICK DECISIONS: Have a plan in place.

I'm reminded of Gen. George Patton: “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” Follow the link and read the comments.

NEW QUESTIONS? Study raises new questions about 2020 election results in six states.

Oh, come now. We've known for nearly 2 years that the election was stolen. All we're seeing with this study is additional evidence of how the theft was accomplished.

DAN BONGINO: Are we living in an oligarchy?

He may be right -- that's what globalism brings.

AMMO GRRRLL completes the journey to the Republican party.

IMPEACH HER FIRST for gross incompetence.

NEW YORK CITY HEALTH OFFICIAL refers to white women as 'birthing people' while calling black and hispanic women mothers.

I think it's safe to infer that Dr? Morse believes that whites are somewhat lesser beings, not quite human.

^?(Yes, that was intentional.)

TO PROTECT KIDS we need to fire a lot of teachers.

And unions. Don't forget unions. Reagan had it right when he fired the air traffic controllers in 1981.

OBAMA JUDGE (yes, there are Obama judges) has a hissy fit over Florida's new election laws.

And yes, his ruling is almost certain to be overturned on appeal.

ALINSKY'S PLAYBOOK IS NOT JUST FOR THE LEFT ANY MORE: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu accuses critics of 'harassment'.

SPRINGTIME 2022, Week 5: We start again with our intrepid forsythia, which has now given up on its flowers to concentrate on leaves.

Next is the usual pond view, which is basically unchanged from last week. The trees are indeed showing signs of budding, but they are still all but invisible in the photos.

The fire pit view is clearly improved as that 80' pine tree is rapidly becoming firewood. The fire pit was largely undamaged, although three cap blocks were crushed and the block surround driven nearly 2" into the ground from the impact. The brush hasn't yet tried to come back, but I'm ready with the brush cutter and RoundUp. The trees are still mostly dormant, though there are occasional signs of waking up.

Finally, the dogwood trees are awake and budding out. We missed the white flowering this year I'm afraid, another casualty of the hard freeze of two weeks ago. We shall see by next week.

Until next week -- maybe pond pictures then.

I LIKE SPAM. But then, I did live in Hawaii for a few years.

“PETRO-MASCULINITY” is becoming toxic -- at least to online daters.

For those unfamiliar with 'petro-masculinity', here's a primer. If you can get through all the goo and drivel, you're a better man, er, person than I.

These people (I use the word loosely) are batshit crazy.

Added random thought: I wonder if there's an online dating site where trans-men (whatever they are) can find trans-women (whatever they are)....

Linked from Instapundit.

I’M QUITTING DISNEY after seeing it boast about pushing ‘gender theory’.

And Gov. Ron DeSantis [R-FL] is seriously considering Florida quitting Disney.

CRUDE WAKE-UP CALL: Energy groups plan to hold Biden's feet to the fire over oil production.

IMPRIMIS: The continuing importance of Thomas Sowell.

CALIFORNIA CITY approves a program to give trans- and non-binary residents a guaranteed income.

Why don't we just put a chain link fence around it and declare it an insane asylum?