DEMOCRATS, DEFAULT IS NOW ON YOUR PLATE: House passes debt ceiling plan.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Senility is A-OK.

THE COVID LOCKDOWN SCOLDS KILLED PEOPLE — and they still have no shame.

HOW IT STARTED: How it's going.

Blue checks on Twitter are simply signals to ignore the twit....

NEARLY 700 PROFESSORS protest a bill requiring students to study the Constitution.

FROM FOX NEWS "the professors argue the legislation 'violates core principles of academic freedom' and 'substitutes ideological force-feeding for the intellectual expertise of faculty.'"

House Bill 96, would require students to take a 3 credit-hour course covering America's founding and history. Required reading for the course would include the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, at least five essays from the Federalist Papers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Gettysburg Address.

We now know who to fire when tenure is revoked.

ARMED ELDERLY MAN steps in when neighbor's delusional son attacks her with shovel. From the comments (bones56):

Best to leave us old folks alone,we've reached the point where life in prison doesn't mean much to us. I can't run, can no longer fight but I can still pull a trigger. I will take your life in a second.

Agreed.

NORTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT hands Republicans big win.

Not just Republicans; Americans.

THE BATTLE FOR SCHOOL CHOICE CONTINUES: Trapped in the public schools.

THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS: "Which pathogen has harmed more children?"

SPRING 2023, WEEK 9: This has to be the weirdest spring since I started this annual series way back when(ever). Always before when the blooming began, it began all at once; flowers, trees, brush all at once, then 2-3 weeks for everything to fill out.

This year has been different. No sychronization, start, stop, pause, restart, and all independently. That said, let's start this post with the usual view from the deck.

A lot has changed since last week; trees are much fuller at their crowns and the trees in the background on the other side of the pond have significantly turned greener.

The fire pit/barn/lawn view is similar. Grass is greener, fuller, and in need of mowing again. Ground cover is still sparse, but that's mostly a result of my chipping up a pile of tree limbs to add to the mulch pile. And finally, the trees are beginning to fill in with leaves after being bare for so long.

Along the opposite side of the road from our house, the foliage has finally begun to fill in. The crowns of all the trees along that stretch of our road have finally begun to bud out and I expect significant growth in the next week.

Our very hardy dogwood has now lost all its blooms and nearly completely filled in with leaves. Its companion, which I was sure had died, has just begun to blossom so maybe it'll be good for another year.

Here's a final shot of the neighborhood, looking down the road. It's looking a bit like summer -- still a bit too cool, but summer nonetheless.

Until next week....

WELCOME TO SAN FRANCISCO: Enjoy your stay.

FIGHT CRIME, plant trees.

And save the planet from climate change....

HAPPY EARTH DAY: Green energy is toxic, inefficient and unprofitable. But other than that....

(And yes, I know I'm a bit late.)

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES: The unbearable Bud Lightness of being. They're all good, but my favorite has to be this one.

That said, go see the rest. Especially 'Tranbo'....

LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND GOVERNMENT LIES: the most deceptive chart ever.

It was the Canadian equivalent of NPR, but can the US be far behind?

WELL, IT WORKED FOR THE RED STATES. California Democrat admits ban on state travel to red states didn't work.

BECAUSE REASONS: How did Jack Teixeira gain access to the documents he leaked, and why were MSM stories about him stealth-edited?

IT WASN'T THE RUSSIANS. Trump makes major news regarding the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines and the media ignores it.

The sabotage occurred on 26 September 2022. Trump had been out of office over 20 months.

"FUCK CATHOLICS." Biden Department of 'Justice' recommends no jail time for trans vandal of Catholic church.

I don't lnow why; they can still vote from jail.

IT'S NOW OFFICIAL: "Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines."

THIS IS SOMEHOW A SURPRISE? Randi Weingarten is an enemy of America’s schoolchildren.

AMMO GRRRLL takes on the medical community.

Hilariously.

BUT, BUT ... EQUITY! The war on those with good credit.

RANDOM THOUGHT: the new definition of a flip-flop should be a 'fauci'.

THE LIEUTENANT WOULDN'T LIKE IT. Thoughts from Sarah Hoyt.

AMERICA'S BROKEN HEALTH CARE: diagnosis and prescription.

I GUESS THE MIDDLE FINGER DIDN'T WORK: Target customer demands reparations, gets punched by security guard.

POKE IT WITH A STICK TO SEE IF IT MOVES DOESNT WORK? Proposed changes to the Uniform Definition of Death Act would allow comatose patients to be declared dead for use as organ donors.

VIA INSTAPUNDIT: China wants to vassalize the West — Trudeau and Biden want to let it.

They have more freedom to rule as they wish if they work for China than if they work for their own citizens.

True that.

POWERLINE: About that leak.

Follow the links, expecially the first one by Jim Geraghty.

SAN FRANCISCO DEMOCRAT LAMENTS WHOLE FOODS CLOSURE: 'Real gut punch for the neighborhood'.

Maybe he'll learn from the experience ... but I doubt it. In the meantime, don't ask for my help. It's your problem; solve it yourself. On your own dime.

FEEL GOOD story of the day.

I'm sure there must be a college in Cuba that would be happy to accomodate him and his ilk....

IT'S OKAY NOW. Tax day has passed.

THE TENNESSEE TRIO: Democrat hypocrisy knows no bounds.

To paraphrase former president Ronald Reagan, they believe they know everything, and so much of it is wrong....

BELIZE: I guess I unilaterally seceded.

I've been thinking about it too. It would be hard at my age, especially with adult kids, but it would be nice for them to have an escape hatch if when the need occurs.

IS IT TIME TO SHOOT BACK YET? Delaware police say multiple people shot at state's largest shopping mall.

I'm thinking it is.

THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION is learning from their mistakes.

A TRANS HOMICIDE? Two Wisconsin police officers killed during traffic stop.

The other person involved in the shooting was transported to a hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries.

I guess we'll never know....

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to humiliate a liberal in 10 seconds or less.

Congressional committee hearings would be a lot more interesting (read that as 'fun') if those called to testify were allowed to ask questions of the congresscritters.

CANADA is not a big enough 'safe space' for Justin Trudeau.

Again, read the comments for a hearty laugh.

I CAN DO MATH therefore I must be racist.

Read the comments; they're hilarious.

THE BLUE STATE EXODUS IS ABOUT MORE THAN ECONOMICS. We're fed up with being treated like we're stupid.

So we're leaving you behind....

REP. HANK JOHNSON [D(umb)-GA] accuses relatives of crime victims of being props in a MAGA Broadway production.

Johnson, you may remember, was the Congresscritter worried that Guam might tip over if the Navy were allowed to base there....

RANDOM THOUGHT: Cancel taxes; just have the Federal Reserve print the budget each year and let inflation do the taxing.

NOT SATIRE: The Babylon Bee sues to block California from forcing it to be unfunny.

IF THE MILITARY NEEDS CANNON FODDER there are plenty to select from.

EVS MAY BE GREEN, but are they sustainable?

Of course not. Unless you live in FantasyLand....

SHOE nails it.

WALMART: 65% of its stores will be serviced by ‘automation’ in the next three years -– as it lays off 2,000 warehouse workers.

It would make more economic sense to keep the warehouse workers and replace the leadership.

SPRING 2023, WEEK 8: I guess I've been busy; according to this blog, a week ago was just yesterday by the number of posts I've made. Oh, well.

Here's the usual pond view starter. Last week we saw the pollination begin. It's gotten worse over the week, all over the cars and carport floor. But -- the trees are now beginning to show leaves. Green is starting to show, and more of the ground is now in shadow.

To the southwest, the trees are clearly filling in the gap across the road from the house. Last week they were still pollinating; this week, leaves are showing.

Here's the house view, taken from the road. Most of the trees in the picture are evergreen, but one can see the deciduous trees along the right side of the picture are beginning to show green. We lost a number of the plantings along the fence over the winter freezes, but those that survived are finally beginning to bud out.

Here's the pond, shown from the dam just beyond our dock. Clearly I've got some mowing to do, but the striking part of the picture is how green it is across the pond. The light green is all new growth that has finally begun to show.

Finally, a view of the house from down at the dam. All of the trees to the right of the stair were mostly bare last week; now they're filling in rapidly.

I would also note that the ground cover (brush) has come alive, popping up through the dead leaves and taking command of the ground.

Until next week....

A MOST PLEASANT THOUGHT: We can only hope.

THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION explains Afghanistan.

AND YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD AT LEAST SOME PRIVACY: Your every move is tracked if you have a cell phone.

POWERLINE'S POLITICAL LEXICON is updated (again).

The woke Left never stops....

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “We are in the middle of a revolution that we don’t even know we’re in.”

It's time for a Washington-crossing-the-Delaware moment....

NO, IT WAS BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T NEED A BULLHORN: Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson suggests she avoided expulsion from the Tennessee legislature because she is white.

ALVIN BRAGG'S CLOWN CIRCUS is embarassing banana republics.

JOE BIDEN: tax cutter for the rich.

You did pretty well if you are in the top 20%. [I would note that the top quintiles contain a significant fraction of small business ownership so there is a bit of 'trickle-down' which isn't obvious in the charts.]

READING THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION is like reading a trade journal for an industry that knows it is in decline, along the lines of daily newspapers or buggy whip makers.

On the bright side, the Left is determined to bring back buggy whips. Climate change, you know.

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: 'a cesspool of narcissistic insular self-gratification'.

KURT SCHLICHTER: Nashville's good guys with guns show that America's courage is not [yet] extinct.

Let's keep it that way.

FROM POWERLINE'S "Loose Ends" blog post:

The mainstream media is struggling with how to cover the [gender identity of the] Nashville shooter, because the highest sin on the left today is using the wrong pronoun. So was the shooter male or female? Yes. Entire "news" stories are being written without any pronoun at all [and] The New York Times is twisting itself into a pretzel.

This is the first item in a multi-item post. Read them all.

FEAR THE CUTENESS: Meet your new lovable AI buddy.

KURT SCHLICHTER: Normalcy? Nothing is normal anymore.

BUT SLEAZE PREVENTS GŁOBAL WARMING: The Biden White House is so polluted with sleaze it should be a superfund site.

HEH: Talking mop indeed.

IT'S ANOTHER JOE BIDEN MOSTLY PEACEFUL ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER. Indiana fire at recycling plant prompts evacuation of more than 2,000 residents.

THE HOLY TRINITY as seen by the Left.

AMMO GRRRLL: You're not bat shit crazy, you're neurodivergent.

WOKE IS EASY TO DEFINE. It's harder to fight.

SPRING 2023, WEEK 7: We start by going back to the usual pond view from the deck. A little more color this week as the trees down at the pond have started the summer transion.

The tulip magnolia is trading its blossoms for leaves. The ground is still bare, unusual. Maybe my aggressive weedeating is finally having some effect....

The pollenation phase has finally begun. This tree in the back has finally begun to recognize summer is coming and is pollinating furiously. Two weeks, at least, to come with that yellow-green pollen infiltrating everything

Our lawn is a contrast, with the dark green growing like crazy and the less green areas still a bit sparse. Fertilizer and overseeding should fix that; then we can pretend we really love mowing the lawn.

Finally the trees along the west side of our road are getting the message and beginning to bud out. About 2 weeks, I think, before we see leaves filling in.

My favorites, the dogwoods, are still showing strong blossoms. The one I feared was dead is beginning to show some signs of recovery. Next week should tell if it's planning to return to its former glory.

Until next week, then.

HIGHER(?) EDUCATION: Algebra, geometry perpetuate white privilege.

I know pi is irrational, but I didn't know it's racist as well....

ON UKRAINE, classicist and historian Victor Davis Hanson has questions.

IT IS TRUE: Liberals are trying to make your life worse, in every way they can get away with.

And you will (be made to) be grateful to eat bugs.

CALIFORNIA FROM THE INSIDE: How I knew they were lying.

PROTEIN WISDOM: A Re-Declaration of Independence.

Linked from Instapundit.

WHY DO YOU THINK WE CALL IT 'AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD'? Nearly 100 Babylon Bee joke stories have come true.

WEST TEXAS A&M COLLEGE PRESIDENT cancels drag show for the most compelling reason.

"Does a drag show preserve a single thread of human dignity? I think not,” he wrote. “As a performance exaggerating aspects of womanhood (sexuality, femininity, gender), drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood. Any event which diminishes an individual or group through such representation is wrong.

Kudos to him.

IDIOTS OF THE WORLD, UNITE. Go to Stanford Law School.

THE SAD REALITY: Poster child for sex changes is miserable, says ‘I don’t feel like me, ever.’

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: The best DEI rant.

I prefer "This institution is committed to truth, justice, and the American way.”

NOTES FROM PROGRESSIVE AMERICA: Rachel Dolezal attends Katie Hobbs’ hair discrimination ban executive order signing.

ANDREW MALCOM: I am grieving for my favorite American city, Chicago.

THIS IS EASTER, a holiday commemorating a miracle. That is good, because we are going to need one.

Truth well written. Go read it all.

SPRING 2023, WEEK 6: I'll start the week with a welcome back of our long-lost dogwood tree. It's neighbor 'next door' probably didn't survive the winter freeze of 2021, but this one did.

This next picture is our almost-normal view of the pond; but this was taken not from our deck but just below it.

The white in the center is our pond dogwood, which just now has fully flowered. Our tulip magnolia is just to the right in the foreground. The flowers are almost gone as the leaves begin to fill out.

In this view of the barn/fire pit the grass is finally ready for limited mowing, but the trees are mostly bare and the brush in the adjacent lot has not yet begun to leave hibernation.

Here's a view of the house below the deck. The azaleas below the retaining wall/stairs are doing well, but the smaller perennials further along the walk have just begun to emerge.

Looking northwest along our road one can see that the deciduous trees are still bare. I can see a few buds just beginning, but it's going to be a few weeks yet before they start to fill out.

Til next week then....

NO MATTER HOW BADLY WE DEMOCRATS F-UP, it's Trump's fault.

SPRING 2023, WEEK 5: A bit late, since I've been gone for a while. Let's start with the usual view from the deck [note -- all these photos were taken on Saturday before I left}]:

There's still no change, even though the weather is clearly warming. From what I can see from the ground, the trees haven't really begun to bud out. It's the same at the fire pit -- no notable change.

The yard, at least is still green, but all the deciduous trees along our street are still bare.

Until Sunday then, when the dogwood trees return.

MENTAL INSTITUTION: University of Maryland now offering minor in ‘protest art.’

Why don't we get over it and start calling them what they really are -- nuthouses.