THE SS UNITED STATES just sank at 10:00 pm EST. There is nothing left on the surface except water bubbling up from below, and it is calming down as floodlight scan the surface. The SS United States Reef is ready for occupancy.

FINAL THOUGHT: Perhaps this is why there was so little coverage of this year's Veterans Day.

Thank you, Democrats (and your media allies).

FINALLY ON VETERANS DAY, Major Bambi: Disney's voice of Bambi became a three-time Purple Heart-winning Marine.

ON THE OTHER HAND, PATRIOTISM IS STILL ALIVE. Fifteen years years after leaving the Marines, Dakota Meyer became the first Medal of Honor recipient to reenlist.

Now, at 38, he has completed his training to become a reconnaisance Marine.

A HARD TO BELIEVE POLL: 43% rank Veterans Day among top holidays.

From what I've been seeing online and on television, it seems to be being widely ignored.
That's a pity.

FROM POWERLINE: A salute on Veterans Day. It's a compendium the author's thoughts on our veterans over several wars, and this segment from a World War II vet was striking for it's resemblance to our current midterm election:

On September 17, 1944 I participated in the large airborne operation which was conducted to liberate your country. As a member of company E, 506th PIR [parachute infantry regiment], I landed near the small town of Son. The following day we moved south and liberated Eindhoven. While carrying out our assignment, we suffered casualties. That is war talk for bleeding. We occupied various defense positions for over two months. Like animals, we lived in holes, barns, and as best we could. The weather was cold and wet. In spite of the adverse conditions, we held the ground we had fought so hard to capture.

The citizens of Holland at that time did not share your aversion to bloodshed when the blood being shed was that of the German occupiers of your city. How soon we forget. History has proven more than once that Holland could again be conquered if your neighbor, the Germans, are having a dull weekend and the golf links are crowded.

Please don’t allow your country to be swallowed up by Liechtenstein or the Vatican as I don’t plan to return. As of now, you are on your own.

That last line resonates with me. DSA, as of now, you are on your own.

REMEMBERING a World War II veteran.

Never forget.

IT'S VETERANS DAY. Here's a thought: "Every freedom we argue about ... was paid for by someone who never got to argue about it. Thank a veteran today."

Normal blogging will resume tomorrow.

RANDOM THOUGHT. Instead of [newly elected] Democrats immediately trying to position themselves as presidential candidates, how about for the next year they take care of the business they were elected for?

Let their [and our] constituents decide whether they are presidential caliber.

Prediction: they're not. Here's why.

FALLING LEAVES 2027, WEEK 7: Here are this week's usuals, the pond and fire pit.

Last Sunday the colors were vivid. This Sunday winter took over; colors changed to browns, and the leaves dropped by the bushel. It seems like all we need to complete the transition to winter is a bit of snow.

Here's the last reds along our road; the yellows have gone to brown and dropped.

Finally here's our cats with me as we explore our new winter neighborhood. Until next week....

ELON MUSK'S BRILLIANT REPLY to Democrats who want to cut off his companies' government contracts.

Tesla has no government contracts and President Trump ended federal incentives for electric vehicles. SpaceX contracts with the government are BOTH the best product AND the lowest price! Moreover government revenue will be less than 10% of SpaceX revenue this quarter and less then 5% a year from now. Happy to cancel any that the government doesn’t want. Just say the word!

In somewhat less eloquent language, f*ck off....

RANDOM THOUGHT: America has a two party system. Sane and insane.

VOTERS FAVORED CONSERVATIVE BALLOT MEASURES. Will Democrats ignore the will of the People?

Of course. Conservatives are peons; they must be treated 'equitably'.

HE'S COMPETENT. Why do they (Democrats) despise Musk?

CALIFORNIA GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM commutes 548 death sentences to life (without parole) in prison.

And in a few years those life sentences will be changed to time served. Wanna bet?

ANOTHER RANDOM THOUGHT: Popups and spam are cheaper than advertising in the mainstream media, which I think is why so many of them are moving to ads and paid subscription articles [looking at you, Fox news]. I avoid them as much as possible.

RANDOM THOUGHT: The mainstream media is nothing more than advertising with occasional snippets of (progressive) news.

FROM AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD: Bored of having a good state, Texas considers voting Democrat.

I think it's safe to assume they won't be bored long....

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT? Not on the Democrats' side of the fence.

A HEARTWARMING STORY: A stranger tied my shoe.

Something I suspect you'll never see in DSA's America....

MIDWEEK MEMES: There's a plethora of memes this week. Here are a few of my favorites.

Now go see the rest.

HAVE A DOLLAR GENERAL HALLOWEEN: It's not about Halloween, it's an ode to Dollar General, of which we -- thankfully -- have several.

AMERICAN GREATNESS: The lonely man at the end of the bar.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Data centers are the reason your email is clogged with spam.

THERE IS NO BETTER ARGUMENT for patriarchy than woke feminism.

REQUIRED READING: The useful idiot: A natural history. Here's an example of someone discovering reality.

Linked from Instapundit.

MY MORNING AFTER THE MID-TERM ELECTIONS: In no particular order, here are some thougts in cartoon form.

They succeded.

Thank public educrats.

It doesn't. Never has.

Just change the name.

Ask Talirico.

Enough said.

The 'welcome wagon' approach clearly didn't work.

If only prisons brought back work gangs....

They didn't listen, obviously.

Enough.

Coming soon....

America just celebrated its 250^th anniversary as a great nation. I doubt there will be a 251^st.

THE DEMOCRAT PARTY is a DSA skinsuit.

THE NEW YORK TIMES rushes to apologize for its outbreak of journalism: Mistakes were made.

THAT'S HARD TO DO: Voters hate Democrats more than the IRS or Republicans.

THE MIDTERM CHEATING has begun. Get your bingo card in the comments.

The Democrats will have to cheat harder this midterm, but I suspect they're up to it....

IF YOU'RE HUMAN, remember this at the ballot box.

Philadelphia anti-Israel groups to stage ‘boycott ride’ past Jewish-owned restaurants on eve of Kristallnacht anniversary.

Vote accordingly.

I DOUBT IT'S POSSIBLE: Trying to roll back the crazy.

THERE IS NO COEXISTENCE with what the Democrat party has become.

Defeat them.

I VOTED. Now it's your turn.

THE TWO(ISH)-PRONGED APPROACH to keeping liberals dumb and dumber.

Vote hard, and with (a smile?) vengeance.

WHY DEMOCRATS? Here's why.

THE DEMOCRATS ARE THE ‘LIBERTY BIBERTY’ PARTY — and the unforced error that could flip the midterms.

THERE WAS ONLY ONE WAY THE DEMOCRATS COULD BLOW THE MIDTERMS — and Lord help ‘em, they’re doing it!

WANT SOME TRUTH? Democrats are a 30% party of social outcasts.

The X (Twitter) link is here.

YOUR VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICANS is a vote against tyranny.

It's Kurt Schlichter. He understands tyranny.

BIDEN’S TERM has been memory-holed.

Here's why.

THEY MEAN BUSINESS: "Behold the final endgame of the progressive machine."

The full post is here. The opening statement: "The Liberals are now communists, and they intend on staying in power forever to rule over the ashes." Read it all; then vote Republican.

Linked from Instapundit here.

A SINGULARITY OF STUPID: And -- unfortunately -- they can vote.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Deep Midterms.

Read it all. Then go win.

STILL THINK TALARICO WILL FLIP TEXAS? You might want to think again...

ELISSA SLOTKIN’S THREATS TO PROSECUTE CONSERVATIVES move America closer to civil war. We're already there; it just hasn't (quite) come to guns yet.

Linked from Instapundit.

EL-SAYED'S OWN WORDS reveal a radical plan to dismantle the Second Amendment.

So vote for the Republican if you value your rights.

[VIP unfortunately] LESSONS TO BE LEARNED about western freedom and enterprise in Elon Musk’s Tesla roadster rocket.

IT'S AUSTIN, TEXAS: You can park in the street; just not in front of my house.

No one is above the law -- except me.

TYRANTS FALL TO THE 'STREISAND EFFECT' — because censors deserve our mockery.

OBVIOUS CASES OF STUPID: Burning Man deaths in Nevada linked to drug toxicity, meth and heart disease.

FIGHTING THE REAL ENEMY: The customer ‘service’ industry.

Oh, they say we are their “customers.” Yet, they know, and we know, that we are not in business with these lowlifes. We are engaged in mortal combat with them. Who they are exactly is still to be determined, but to the outside observer, they appear to be a loose confederation of inventors, consultants, efficiency experts, software designers, and greedy, fat corporate executives who have steadily been engaging the global consumer in involuntary servitude. Since the late 20th century, these devils have engaged in a conspiracy to act as our overlords, to steal our labor, money, and resources, and to make our lives miserable. We don’t know who all these people are. All we know is that they mock and dishonor us and we hate them. Whoever you are, know that this is now a clarion call to track every last one of you down and bring you to justice.

It's getting worse by the day....

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING OBAMA tries to keep Cheesecake Factory joke alive.

Because that's all he's got....

FALLING LEAVES 2026, WEEK 6: This week is a bit of a shocker; suddenly leaves dropped and the forest came alive with color. We'll start with the usuals, the pond and fire pit views.

The grass is gone, completely covered by leaves. The trees -- well, almost all are now shades of red and yellow.

Along our road almost everything is red, yellow, or bare. The green tree in the top picture is a holly tree; those on the left in the lower picture are evergreens, pine, spruce and cypress.

The dogwoods along the retaining wall on the south side of our house were green, beginning to turn last week; now they're beyond yellow; and already browning.

The forest on the hill across the creek from us is now almost completely yellow

And finally some views from inside our house. The top two were taken from the loft window, looking out toward the creek. The third is looking down the catwalk toward the loft itself.

Until next week, then. I don't think we'll see such a spectacular view again this season.

SPENCER PRATT: Only people without real problems trust the government to fix them.

Truth....

IAN BRINKSMAN ARRESTED: Caught in a Honeypot?

Heh.

BIGOT: We need to use this word more often.

RANDOM THOUGHT: The only difference between the Mafia and the Democrat party is that the Mafia are honest crooks.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Virtue signaling is not virtuous; it's narcissistic bullying.

VIA INSTAPUNDIT: The ‘homicidal empathy’ of the Islamo-left. Follow the links.

TOLD YOU SO: The Deep State does exist.

Fair warning....

THE FEDS HAVE THAT DNA EVIDENCE ON ILHAN OMAR ,,, and it could totally wreck her.

I think what we're seeing here is that if you're brazen enough you can get away with damn near anything.

POWERLINE has gone full Gemini. Goodbye and good riddance.

THE WOKE LEFTISTS keep proving they are the worst people.

For today's left, tolerance is a slogan, and conformity is the actual creed. A movement that demands total agreement from its own relatives offers the rest of the country nothing but a political loyalty test.

Assuming that's not obvious to us normals....

WOKE II (not eleven) IS HERE, and it’s failing hilariously.

NIOH BERG: Iran update.

Linked from Instapundit here.

AMERICAN GREATNESS: The Splendor of Rural America.

If only the Green Acres crowd would just go away....

RANDOM THOUGHT: If we paid government employees what they're worth there would be no deficit.

FALLING LEAVES 2026, WEEK 5: Finally this week we have some autumn colors. We begin with the usuals, pond and fire pit.

In both cases, there is finally some color -- not as much as I had hoped, but given the leaf fall already more than I expected. Most of the colors are in the lower branches which haven't suffered as much from the wind.

Here are views north and south along our road, finally -- and suddenly -- showing some colors.

Across the road from our driveway it's now red trees, dead trees. The taller trees have already been stripped of leaves by the winds, but finally the ones lower down have gotten the message.

The forest that surrounds us is getting the message as well:

In the top picture the dogwood trees have finally turned yellow and are about to drop leaves. In the pictures beneath, our forest is finally beginning to clear and we'll be able to see our neighbors' homes.

Until next week, here's a view of our south yard on a clear crisp autumn day.

REMEMBER OBAMA'S 'CASH FOR CLUNKERS'? Used car buyers still suffer due to the Democrats' short-sightedness.

If my pre-'wokeness' pickup truck ever fails, I'm going to be in the market for a clunker -- even an expensive clunker.

COMMON SENSE. What might have saved Gaza?

It's Victor Davis Hanson, so read it all.

FLYING CARS, and those who hate them.

Democrats, obviously. They hate anything they can't control.

THE ETHICS PAGE IN THEIR PLAYBOOK IS BLANK. Scott Jennings sets the record straight on Democrats and ethics.

UKRAINE KNOCKED OUT RUSSIA'S BIGGEST DATA CENTERS, and the internet got 17% better.

In my view, data centers are proving to be one of the leading suppliers of stupidity....

RANDOM THOUGHT on stupidity. I have a sticker on my truck that says "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful". The truth is that stupidity is painful, just not to the stupid but to those of us affected by their stupidity.

CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE STEVE HILTON on LA's homeless hellscape and its enablers:

"The point about these nonprofits is that they're part of this philosophy, the ideology of harm reduction, all the things we've talked about, which means that they are not actually trying to solve the problem," Hilton said. "Because if they solve the problem, they don't get paid anymore. So they have an incentive to keep it going."

It's time to permanently exit NGO land.

OBAMA THE LIGHTBRINGER promised us the Land of Milk and Honey — and led us to the land of cow feces and bee stings.

THIS IS HOW the execution of Nidal Hasan should be carrried out.

This Fort Hood survivor will be there to see him die.

I don't favor livestreaming executions, but they should be prompt, public, recorded, available.

UNTIL SHE HAS TO COMPETE HERSELF: AOC says she backs men in women's sports because she is a 'girl's girl'.

THEY'RE DEMOCRATS: A foolproof test to confirm if elected leaders are unserious boobs.

MIDTERM SHOCKER: The polls are full of crap.

They were once upon a time honest preference polls; today they're push polls. Don't indulge -- or believe -- them.

THE DEMOCRAT PARTY is the Mafia by another name.

BRING THE CHARGES, OREGON. I’ll bring the popcorn.

And I'll enjoy every minute of you getting your comeuppance....

FALLING LEAVES 2026 WEEK 4: This week strikes home as the true beginning of autumn/winter. Temperatures have dropped from highs in the low 70's to mid 50's/low 60's; lows now into the mid-to-high 30's, and winds are now primarily from the north-northwest with gusts into the high teens.

First up is a picture of the trees along the south face of our house. Last week it was all green, this week, not so much....

Suddenly there's lots of brownish yellow, and plenty of leaves have already fallen just this week. Last week you could see a couple of hundred feet or so downslope; this week, all the way to the bottom.

Now back to the usuals: pond and fire pit.

Neither of those views have changed that much. The trees are noticeably thinner, but not by that much, and the grass seems more brown, but that could simply be because of the additional leaf droppage.

Along the road, there are more leaves (I don't blow them off) and finally some reds among the smaller trees/bushes along the road. I will note that the bush in the foreground has turned mostly yellow -- last week it still had a lot of brown, but those leaves are now gone.

Finally, the bush alongside the carport has gone full yellow. The ones behind it are still green, but they are mostly protected from the wind. That 'wind sock' is actually a hanging banner more or less in front of the yellow bush -- it was windy (30 mph gusts) when I took the picture.

Until next week, then....

THERE'S HOPE YET: America’s expanding gun culture.

RULES FOR THEE... Lawlessness is the Democrats’ most coherent and consistent policy pitch.

IMPRIMIS: The rise of Democratic Socialism.

RANDOM THOUGHT: 'Democratic Socialism' is an oxymoron.

"I WILL NOT BE SILENCED." Omar responds after feds descend on her DC home amid immigration fraud investigation.

Fine. Speak as loudly as you want ... from your home in Somalia.

HOW CALIFORNIA PLANS TO SOAK THE RICH even if they leave the state.

For Democrats, it's always about greed and control. Always.

SMUGNORANCE: October 7 and the transition from wokeism to savage culture.

Linked from Instapundit.

ABSOLUTELY: Make soup kitchens great again.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY [R-LA] ON FOX NEWS' SUNDAY BRIEFING:

I'm not a racist; I'm not a Democrat.
Go vote. If dead people can do it, so can you.
I have the right to remain silent but God didn't give me the ability.

The man is brilliant, alway delivering important thoughts with humor.

THE POLITICAL DIVIDE that matters almost as much as ideology.

'DEMOCRATIC' SOCIALISTS: Government gets to decide what you need for a 'dignified life'.

SUNDAY SMILES: why I'm switching back to Kentucky bourbon.

Parts for stills are cheaper....

Go see the rest. You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to the cartoons.

THE LESSONS AND LIES of the gross Cornell scandal.

Judgement is so ... intolerant.

ANTI-GUN STATES adopt the [Democrats'] Jim Crow playbook.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Why is Mark Carney preparing for an American invasion?

Because he ran out of crayons?

FALLING LEAVES 2026 WEEK 3 -- post hurricane edition: Isaias came, and left, and nobody noticed. Well, except for the rain and a few broken branches in the road....

Here are pictures of the road to our house, taken from the north and south respectively. The house is barely visible in the background of each. Leaves are piled up on each side of the road, although the winds mostly swept the gravel free of leaves. I doubt there will be much color this year since the deciduous trees are mostly already bare.

Now for to the usuals; pond and fire pit:

The weather has been warmer than usual for this time of year so growth has slowed, but not quite stopped. Most notably the elephant ears have begun to wilt and the grass is now mostly dormant.

Along the fence the flowers are mostly struggling, but some of the roses are still hanging in there.

Finally, two pictures I don't usually post -- those on the south side of the house where the ridge is very steep. The deciduous trees high on the ridge line have already lost their leaves, but looking closer up and down the slope it's still very green and full. By the time midwinter arrives, the green will be gone and the ridge along the other side of the creek will be easily visible.

Until next week, then....