Free Republic

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

Along with $1,400 stimulus checks and monthly child tax credit payments, the American Rescue Plan has another important benefit available to people who qualified for unemployment assistance this year – free health care. The no-cost and low-cost health care plans became available on July 1, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). They will provide coverage through the end of the year. "The Biden-Harris Administration is focused on providing relief to millions of families who need to access health insurance coverage because they have been impacted by job losses or underemployment during the pandemic,” said HHS Secretary...

Dame Athene Donald, the Master of Churchill College Cambridge, is probably breathing a little easier today. Last week, a commission she appointed in reaction to the George Floyd killing was disbanded, or disbanded itself, depending upon whom one believes. That commission had arranged a panel at Churchill College about the racism of Winston Churchill. The panel featured several rants on this theme that are entirely typical of our day. The charges were virtually undisputed by any of the panelists. This caused a reaction from Churchill’s descendants and from some historians, notably Churchill biographer Andrew Roberts, who knows the real story....

by CURTIS SIKES "Walk on Water" PETER WALKS ON THE WATER!?. 2 9 A. D. Bible Timeline Resources to CLICK: To read MATTHEW 14 in full To hear MAX McLEAN reading it To hear a DRAMATIZATION of it To see an ANIMATION of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or JohnHarmony of the Gospels Mt 14 + Mk 6 + Jn 6 New International Version, emphases added Abrdgd: the complete text is in your Bible .MATTHEW14:22-36 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he...

In 2014, Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist, author, and a one-time University of Oxford Professor, advised a woman who was pregnant with a Down syndrome baby that she should "Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice."There is no way to quantify the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling to legalize abortion and the effect it has had on our consciences let alone its impact on our culture. It is reasonable to conclude given the remarks like Dawkins that Roe has desensitized us to the meaning of...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 113Psalm 113 1 Praise the Lord.[a] Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. 2 Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. 4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, 6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the...

This is the week we really learned that Doktor Jill Biden is in fact running the White House as the reincarnation of Edith Wilson. We know this because Vogue magazine, which put her on the cover of the current issue wearing a picnic tablecloth, called her a “goddess in stilettos.” We think they means shoes with the reference to “stilettos,” but better check with Kamala Harris about that, as she’s got a thin knife stuck in her back by someone. Who might that be?

The state of Arkansas embarked on its biggest highway construction program ever undertaken by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, and the people couldn't be more excited. "Arkansas is a small state with a population of just three million, but this project touches every corner of the state, with a total of 36 projects in 19 corridors," said Keli Wylie, administrator of the CAP Program and alternative project delivery administrator. The goals of the Connecting Arkansas Program include improving transportation connections between cities; increasing capacity by widening highways to four or more lanes; improving safety; and easing congestion. Supplementary aims of...

Most of us recall as children getting into a dispute with another kid and then blaming him for starting a fight. When Mom approached you said, "he hit me first." The other kid denies it and accuses you of hitting him first. As adults we become more sophisticated when lying. That's why White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week in a briefing that "Some might say that the other party was for defunding the police..." all because congressional Republicans won't sign off on two "infrastructure" bills. Psaki is channeling the line of the day from Democrats who want...

CHICAGO -- Twelve people were shot, five fatally, in Chicago weekend violence since Friday night. A 19-year-old man was found shot to death early Saturday in Belmont Cragin on the Northwest Side. About 1:25 a.m., officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 2200-block of North Lockwood Avenue and found the teen lying unresponsive on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds to the back and abdomen, Chicago police said. He was transported to Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. A 40-year-old man was fatally shot Friday night during an altercation in an Englewood apartment after he...

The Louisiana Legislature voted overwhelmingly Thursday to move approximately $300 million annually from a fund that pays for higher education and health care to a fund that pays for large transportation projects. Supporters have said the spending will not only improve the state’s infrastructure system, but that it will also create construction jobs. Critics are concerned the proposal would exacerbate an already expected budget deficit in July 2025 affecting state universities, hospitals and other health care programs. Gov. John Bel Edwards needs to sign the legislation for it to become law. Edwards hasn’t decided if he approves of the bill...

Back in February 2020 I had a post asking the question whether justice in this country is “dispensed impartially” as between Democrats and Republicans, at least in cases involving significant political issues. The post was inspired by a letter that had been written on February 11 by then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the occasion of the sentencing of Roger Stone. Line Justice Department prosecutors had recommended a (wildly excessive) sentence of 7 to 9 years for Stone (for process crimes related to the Congressional investigation of the Russia collusion hoax), but top (political) Justice officials had just withdrawn that...

As a young child, my grandfather fled Communist Russia in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, hiding underneath a pile of hay—which a Bolshevik border guard stabbed with a pitchfork to prevent such escapes from totalitarianism. Fortunately, he was unharmed, and found refuge in America. It’s true that, once they arrived in the United States, Jews of my grandfather’s generation endured antisemitic slurs, were held back by quotas at universities, prevented from renting apartments and buying homes, and excluded from social organizations. Still, they knew with certainty that America was the land of freedom and opportunity. They grasped its fundamental...

In the boisterous protest which happened on the 6th of January 2021, this correspondent was privileged to cover the event for AmmoLand.Much has been written by the left claiming the 6 January event was an “insurrection” a “threat to democracy”, and other scurrilous claims.It was clear from the beginning only a few hundred people, at most entered the Capitol, out of perhaps half a million supporters of President Trump. Nearly all of those were well behaved and did minimal damage as they protested the highly contested election of 2020.There have been multiple claims of Agent provocateurs, people who were not...

Speaking to the nation’s largest teachers union, President Joe Biden said Friday that the pandemic has given America’s parents the “ultimate education” on the challenges of the teaching profession. But even more, he said, the last year has proved that teachers across the U.S. deserve higher pay.“You deserve a raise, not just praise,” Biden said in remarks at the National Education Association’s annual meeting in Washington. “Every parent in this country who spent the last year educating their children at home understands that you deserve a raise.”Biden made the case while selling his proposed legislative priorities and budget for next...

President Biden’s nominee to be the next ambassador to Germany is an Ivy League president whose university paid him nearly $1 million for an honorary professor gig where he was seldom seen, it was revealed Friday. University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, who has headed the Philadelphia-based institution since 2004, is the first envoy to a G-7 nation to be nominated by Biden.

Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry's history of offensive tweets has been uncovered after she snubbed the American national anthem during trials last weekend. Berry, 32, made a variety of tasteless jokes and observations in messages dating back up to ten years, but which are still visible on her account. The athlete - who has insisted that the National Anthem is racist - posted tweets mocking Chinese, Mexican and white people.

Swimming caps designed for natural Black hair — and created by a Black-owned company — will not be allowed at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) rejected an application submitted last year by the British brand Soul Cap for its products to be officially recognized. The decision means the caps cannot be worn at the upcoming Games, the company said. Soul Cap makes swimming caps designed to protect thick, curly, and voluminous hair. FINA said the caps do not follow "the natural form of the head," Soul Cap told BBC News. "We hoped to further...

A reporter for a Ukrainian television network asked to interview me this week for a 4,th of July story they’re running on declining American patriotism. He had read a piece I wrote on the topic, and seemed genuinely baffled as to why so many Americans, like Olympians Gwen Berry and Megan Rapinoe and so many others, are down on their country. It’s easy to understand his confusion. In the last six years, nearly five million Ukrainians hoping to move to the U.S. have applied for our green card lottery. How could I explain to this man why so many Americans...

A New Orleans-based FBI agent arrested last week on numerous sexual misconduct charges involving children is now being held without bond in Ascension Parish jail. David Harris, 51, appeared in court Thursday morning for a bail hearing. Court records show the judge ordered him held without bond. Harris, who lives in Prairieville, was involved in multiple criminal acts involving adults and children across the state since at least 2016, according to the Louisiana State Police Special Victims Unit and the U.S. Department of Justice, which began investigating the agent after fielding a complaint about him in February. Harris was an...