WE'VE GOT PLENTY OF SCORPIONS WE'D BE WILLING TO DONATE: Scorpion venom could lead to new antibiotics.

UM. OKAY, I GUESS: Hillary Clinton compares decision to not divorce Bill to parenting a transgender child.

I wonder if Bill is rethinking his decision not to divorce Hillary....

FALLING LEAVES, EPISODE IV: As usual, a day late and a dollar short; for the purpose of this post, today is yesterday.

Here's the first of three: my usual pond view. If it looks a bit different from last week, it's because it's summer again - hot, dry, and for a few days, windy. All the browns, reds, and yellows got shook loose in the winds and the trees are (at least temporarily) green again.

The pond is a bit more visible, mostly because all the low plants and grasses have died off.

The next two pictures are new to my collection. Both were taken where our 'road' crosses the dam across the subdivision's small pond, shown here. The leaves on the pond surface are leftovers; when the wind was at its peak, the pond looked more like a flat meadow covered with leaves.

This last picture as also from the dam, looking down the creek (overflow from the small pond, actually) as it flows to the larger pond pictured above. The creek and large pond aren't visible, and the flat area covered with leaves is a 'wetland' as the creek overflows during heavy rains.

It's usually quite green, but the foliage has mostly already died off and is now covered by the heavy leaf fall from last week's winds.

Last week's pictures are here.

SOCIALISM: If you build it, they will leave.

NEARLY HALF OF THE U.S.’S HOMELESS live in one state: California.

I'd suggest a deal: if California will accept the remaining homeless from the other 49 states, we will continue to sell California electricity when the sun doesn't shine on their 'solar-powered' cities. There should be plenty of room in Venice Beach.

UPDATE: More power to the other 49 states....

Heh.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is online. Here's my favorite this week:

Now go see the rest.

THESE AREN’T NORMAL TIMES. This country won’t be saved by a “normal” President.

GUN LAW: the hard road not (yet) taken.

AMMO GRRRLL: We can't give up!

We can’t give up because we owe it not just to our children and grandchildren to fight, but to the ones who came before who pledged their lives and treasure in order to bequeath us the miracle of opportunity and liberty we have inherited.

Now read the rest.

BERNIE SANDERS should be grateful we don't have 'Medicare for All'.

The cartoon is here.

AFTER CALLING LOBBYING ‘LEGALIZED BRIBERY’ Elizabeth Warren hires a lobbyist.

It's only legalized bribery if Republicans do it....

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Unusual times call for unconventional leadership.

California’s for-hire backfire.

But don't worry, Democrats have a solution: everyone works for the government.

DEMOCRATS WORRY: If impeachment fails, they’ll have to nominate an electable candidate.

"The real danger here," said Nancy Pelosi in a meeting of top Democrats, "is that the normal way of getting rid of a president---impeachment---fails. Then, we'd have to try to find someone who isn't a smug, smarmy doofus and get the public to like them."

That's why impeachment is so urgent; only smug, smarmy doofuses [doofi? - Ed.] are running.

SHOE comments on Election 2020.

THIS WEEK IN CRAZY. And stupid.

DON'T WRAP YOUR FISH IN THE NEW YORK TIMES. It will contaminate the fish.

FALLING LEAVES, EPISODE III: This week I start with the pond again, this time finally showing some color - after most of the leaves have already fallen.

The accumulation of leaves on the ground is already spectacular for this early in the season.

This picture is toward the house from down along the road at the the edge of our property. In the foreground are some of the leaves that have turned but not yet fallen. The Gator is sitting in front of a large pile of fallen tree branches that are slowly being chipped up for next spring's garden mulch.

Last week's pictures are here.

DON'T BE A LITTLE PEOPLE. Rules are for little people.

KURT SCHLICHTER calls out Beto O'Rourke.