SUNDAY SMILES: You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to the cartoons, but they're good. Here's my favorite:

It's not wise to be out and about during deer season. This Comey cartoon is good, too.

Go see the rest.

HEH: Massive fire at Chevron's El Segundo, CA, refinery. Couldn't happen to a more worthy state.

It should be hitting Californians good and hard soon, as their 'air quality' rules preclude them from importing gasoline from other states (even if pipelines were available)....

THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN. Portland police finally arrest someone: It's going to backfire on them.

THESIS? Based on current culture, I'd call it reality.

“THE MORIBUND LEFT knows who is boss and is selling the only thing they have remaining: access to media and cultural institutions ...."

And that, thankfully, is rapidly disappearing.

NOW INDICT HER, CONVICT HER, AND JAIL HER: Far-left University of Chicago professor charged with violent felonies during anti-ICE riots in Broadview.

And don't let her out on bail in the meantime.

LOUISANA'S SEN KENNEDY reminds us who's running the Democrats via its 'Socialist Wing.'

As I noted in another post, AOC's tenure as a barkeep has made her pretty good at herding drunks....

THE REAL COSTS of illegal aliens in America.

Note: it has numbers -- real numbers.

EDUCATE: El Salvador does for its public schools what the United States won't.

PIQUE: llinois city bars DHS Secretary Kristi Noem from a city hall bathroom trip.

JUST START KILLING THEM: It's past time for President Trump to take General Curtis LeMay's dictum (If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting) with the understanding that actual killing isn't necessary -- serious consequences (arrest, conviction, incarceration) are sufficient.

FROM PJMEDIA'S Morning Briefing:

When I'm out in public and I see an ICE agent, he or she won't spend any money. I'm buying everything for them. That's how it goes here for everyone else, too. We know who's watching over us. The Democrats and their ignorant base can hate on ICE all they want, but real Americans are grateful for some of the greatest law enforcement people in the history of this country.

Read the whole thing.

RANDOM THOUGHT: Apparently the Schumer Senators have voted again to keep the Government shut down. To call them idiots is an insult to real idiots....

RANDOM THOUGHT: If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wins Chuck Schumer's seat in the Senate in the 2026 midterms, at least there'll be someone experienced in herding drunks.

EXCELLENT! Democrats are about to trigger mass layoffs of Federal workers.

HARVARD 'UNIVERSITY': We're diverse enough, thank you very much.

PJ MEDIA [VIP COLUMN]: I have no sympathy for Leftists losing their jobs after spewing vile hate.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures has two favorites this week:

And this one cogently describes the current cultural divide.

Now go see the rest.

THEY HAVE NO ANCHORING PHILOSOPHY: The Washington Post, attacking Trump, sounds like George Wallace.

FALLING LEAVES 2025, Week 2: Herewith are the first on schedule pictures of this season. It's been an odd season. We had a cold snap prior the the beginning of the photo season and the deciduous trees had a pretty significant leaf fall as you will see in the photos below. Then it got warmer, and the grasses and garden plants continued to bloom. Now it's finally turning cooler again.

We start with the usual pond view:

It's not much changed from last week; you can see a bit of brown, but the trees are downslope some, get more sun, and a bit of wind protection.

Looking west across our road, you can see that the taller trees are almost devoid of leaves. Winds and the cold snap must have added a half-inch of leaves of depth to the ground cover.

Looking north (above) and south (below) along the road you can see mostly trees devoid of leaves among the evergreens. There are occasional touches of color, but I think this season it's going to be mostly brown and bare.

Our barn/firepit view shows that the garden plants are mostly still there. The picture above, looking north, shows the flowers along the fence line are still there -- and flowering.

The house picture is a bit dark since it's almost completely surrounded by trees, most of whom have just begun dropping leaves since they're well-protected from the northwesterly winds we see here this time of year.

The lawn is our only cleared area, and the grass is rapidly succumbing to winter. It's gone to seed, been mowed, and is clearly preparing for winter.

Until next week....