SPRINGTIME 2021, Week 2: We start this week not with the usual pond view picture, but with a reminder from last week, the little bush that had just started to bud out. Here it is today:

Now for the pond view. In the grand scheme of things, not much has changed. Some of the trees are showing interest in budding out, but very little is visible so far.

Finally the yard. Even with the help of the tractor, there's not much evidence of progress. Moving tons of dirt is slow and painstaking, and it looks like I'm going to have to find/buy more to get the barn's pad flat enough to install.

And the trees down the road don't seem interested (yet) that spring is here.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is up. My favorite is easy this week:

Now we know why the National Guard is there.

And as a bonus, a reminder:

Now go as see the rest. And don't miss Titania McGrath; she has good advice for pet owners....

THE DIPLOMAD: Dreary times, part II.

Plus a bonus movie review.

SHOE EXPLAINS how taxes work.

SLAVERY 2021: Red is the new Black.

POWERLINE'S SHORT TAKES: “excessive whiteness,” Myles Leonard, and Vanita Gupta.

SCIENCE, POLITICS, AND COVID: Will truth prevail?

The short answer is probably not.

THE PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE ACT: Federal labor legislation that would kill my livelihood.

Much more here.

MICHIGAN GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER goes to war with Canada.

She also may face criminal charges over her handling of deaths at nursing homes in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

BEING FUNNY IS NO DEFENSE if you're a conservative comedian.

LONGER, BUT WORTHY: Translating social justice newspeak.

GAY REPUBLICANS ARE WELCOME, establishment squishes are not.

YOU HAVE TO BE WOKE TO DRINK A COKE: Coca Cola demands that its law firms engage in unlawful discrimination. This after their "be less white" employee seminars.

I've been a loyal Coca Cola drinker for over 70 years. No more.

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT RUSH LIMBAUGH from Victor Davis Hanson. My thought: Maybe Limbaugh was 'called home' because he is no longer needed here. I had a somewhat similar thought a few years back when my mother died. Her memorial service was on a cloudy, dreary, almost rainy day but by the time I drove home that night the sky had cleared and the moon and stars shone brightly, and I felt like she was telling me "I'm home now. You've learned enough; it's your turn to carry on." Perhaps that's the message we should take from Rush's passing.

WHO IS IN CONTROL? The need to rein in big technology.

THE DAM IS BREAKING. Are mask mandates crumbling?

Weirdly, many of the states that require masks are taking an anti-science line toward them. They, with help from the ever-unreliable federal government, are promoting the idea that even after you get vaccinated, you still have to wear a mask. Not to protect yourself, but to protect others. How you can transmit a disease you don’t have to someone else remains a mystery.

I hope the mandate crumbles, but it will take our support -- refuse to wear a mask.

“EQUALITY ACT” PASSED HOUSE AGAIN – here are the problems and the fools who voted for it.

It's in the Senate now. With luck -- and the filibuster -- it won't pass.

RANDOM THOUGHT: How about a '2-fer' immigration deal? For every 2 illegals that cross our border, we send their home country a progressive.

My bet is that illegal immigration would come to a screeching halt immediately....

THE NEW NORMAL: Report suggests never-ending presence of National Guard troops at the U.S. Capitol.

REP. LAUREN BOEBERT [R-CO] exposes the Cruz Cancun hysterics for the frauds they are.

World News Tonight [ABC] covered Cuomo’s nursing home scandal for a total of 54 seconds following the news of the federal probe — after two days of refusing to mention the scandal at all. Yet the show found a full three minutes and 28 seconds to discuss Ted Cruz’s horrible optics.

Yes, a legacy media news outlet gave the Ted Cruz “scandal” nearly four times the coverage (3.85 times, to be precise) that it gave to Cuomo’s career-destroying scandal.

All the news we believe you should be allowed to know....

And you wonder why the legacy media is called the Fake News media?