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.