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The Monthly Fiber Arts Thread is a monthly gathering of people that love yarn and fabric of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first project, to experienced fiber artists and beyond, we would love to hear from you. It is impossible to hijack the Monthly Fiber Arts Thread. Knitting, crochet, quilting, weaving, general crafting - there is no telling where it will go, and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to our Fiber Arts...

Plans for reducing the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet In January 2022, the Fed announced an intention to start QT. In May, the Fed announced its Plans for Reducing the Size of the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet. In June the Fed finally got around to doing QT. From January until March, despite a housing market totally out of control, the Fed kept doing QE (both treasuries and mortgage backed securities (MBS) Plan caps Beginning on June 1, principal payments from securities held in the System Open Market Account (SOMA) will be reinvested to the extent that they exceed...

It was a chilling shooting: Russian soldiers caught on camera killing unarmed Ukrainian civilians as they walked away from an encounter on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv. CNN first reported on the shooting in May, after obtaining exclusive surveillance video of what is being investigated as a war crime, a shooting targeting civilians. Now, Ukrainian prosecutors say they have informed Russia that their pre-trial investigation has zeroed in one of the Russian perpetrators they believe is responsible. The Bucha Prosecutors' Office in the Kyiv region says CNN's exclusive reporting was instrumental in helping identify the Russian soldier. Prosecutors say...

[TWEETS AT LINK....................] It didn't take long after Biden finished his rancid, combative remarks in Philadelphia for the reviews of the latest divisive screed from "Mr. Unity" to come in, and they predictably were not favorable from those among the 70 million Americans he declared were hatefully working to bring about the end of democracy: Kayleigh McEnany @kayleighmcenany · Follow Mr. Unity just gave the most divisive presidential speech I have ever seen! 7:30 PM · Sep 1, 2022 [more tweets at link]............... In addition to the caustic content of Biden's message — vote for the people I say or...

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, says the team of inspectors at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine will stay at the facility. “We are not going anywhere,” Grossi told reporters. “The IAEA is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving. It is going to stay there.” Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Moldova that any threat against the security of Russian forces in the breakaway region of Transnistria would be considered an attack against Moscow. His comments have renewed fears that the region could be at risk...

2 September 2022Friday of week 22 in Ordinary Time Basilica of Saint Justus of Lyon Lyon, France Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(II).First reading1 Corinthians 4:1-5 ©The Lord alone is our judgePeople must think of us as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at...

The Bible In Paintings 2 ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S MESSAGE COURTESY NOTICE:I AM TAKING A BRIEF BREAK To both Ping-Listers and Casual Commenters: This brief note explains why I have stopped posting for awhile. It would be inconsiderate of me to leave you wondering why the Bible-art series has suddenly disappeared. Having completed 192 threads portraying the Old Testament, we can turn now—God willing—to the New, beginning of course with a thorough exploration of the four Gospels. In real time it was 400 years between the two testaments—but I shouldn’t need much more than a couple or...

Nine-year-old students' reading and math scores have dropped dramatically over the last two years, according to a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the Department of Education. In 2022 the average reading score for nine-year-old students declined 5 points from 2020, the largest drop since 1990. Average math scores for 2022 fell for the first time in the program's history, dropping 7 points from 2020. The NCES's nationally representative report specifically examined student achievement during COVID-19 lockdowns. The center is expected to release a broader report later this year as part of the...

President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned speech about the state of American democracy and the Republican Party. While there was merit to some of it, his remarks were marred by contradictions. Is this a nonpartisan defense of democracy or a partisan political exercise to win the midterm elections? Biden called on all Americans to join together “regardless of your ideology” to reject extremism, violence, and the refusal to accept election results when the opposition wins. The president asked “Democrats, independents, and mainstream Republicans” to “be stronger, more determined, and more committed to saving American democracy than MAGA Republicans are to...

British author Michael Dobbs’s novel House of Cards is about a conniving Chief Whip’s plan to become Prime Minister following Margaret Thatcher’s term as PM. Dobbs had been Thatcher’s Chief of Staff and became disillusioned with the whole process of governing. He invented Francis Urquhart (FU), a power mad Chief Whip and his Machiavellian, thoroughly unscrupulous and murderous rise to power. The BBC produced three series based on Dobbs’ book and the two subsequent books, To Play the King and Final Cut. House of Cards is a gritty political thriller that proves the rule; all politics are corrupt but perhaps...

On August 25, the 5th Forum on China-Africa Media Cooperation (FOCAC) took place in Beijing. According to an official press release, Xi Jinping and Macky Sall, the Senegalese president and co-chair of FOCAC, sent letters of congratulations to the forum’s members. Huang Kunming, a key member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Political Bureau, read both letters and delivered a keynote speech. As per the press release, Huang emphasized the importance of deepening cooperation and collaborative efforts between China and Africa. Why is the CCP so interested in Africa? The world’s fastest growing continent, Africa is home to an abundance of...

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 (King James Version) We get it Pedo Joe, you are angry because all those racist, sexist, homophobes made you mad. You are just a saint who is standing up for the little girl and if you can make a few hundred million in the process, all the better. Your schtick is getting older than your teeth Joe. Go scream at the moon you decrepit fool but don't you call hardworking Americans terrorists. In one of the worst...

(Reuters) - Federal and local officials are scrambling to locate close to a dozen unaccompanied migrant children, after Houston police raised concerns about a trend of migrant children reported missing in the Texas city, according to U.S. government officials and related emails reviewed by Reuters. The cases underscore the challenges for U.S. President Joe Biden's administration as it faces a record number of unaccompanied kids arriving at the southwest border it must safely and quickly release to sponsors in the United States. Earlier this summer, a Houston police detective alerted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after...

“They were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). The scribes and Pharisees offered a religion that only added burdens instead of lifting them. For them, the common people were the object of disdain, not compassion; individuals to be exploited, not served. In that sense the scribes and Pharisees were true descendents of the false shepherds against whom the Lord railed centuries earlier through Ezekiel (34:2–4). Many religious leaders today are still endeavoring to keep people out of the kingdom by distorting and contradicting God’s Word and perverting the way of salvation. By telling people they are...

One after another, people who spread information unfavorable to the Biden family, or to Biden Administration policies, get banned or suppressed on social media. It actually started even before Biden got elected, with Twitter in October 2020 banning any re-tweet of the New York Post’s reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop, and Facebook suppressing dissemination of the same story. But after Biden took office the examples are legion. To name just a few: James O’Keefe of Project Veritas (pursuing the Ashley Biden diary story) was banned by Twitter in April 2021; noted climate and Covid vaccine skeptic Tony Heller got...

Tonight Joe Biden [sic] incited violence against Republicans with his pounding dehumanization of conservatives. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” As he spoke, he was occasionally distracted by hecklers who shouted “fuck Joe Biden” through a bullhorn. Check out the Nazi background. With attendant Marines. Nothing to lower inflation. Nothing to reduce crime. Nothing to secure the southern border. Nothing on skyrocketing crime.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hit out over the UN visit to Europe's largest nuclear power plant. He's upset the nuclear watchdog inspecting the Zaporizhzhia facility, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has not yet called for the demilitarisation of the site, which has been occupied by Russian troops since early on in the six-month war. Zelenskyy also scolded Russia for allegedly obstructing journalists from accompanying the IAEA on its visit to the plant. "The key thing that should happen is the demilitarisation of the territory of the plant," said Zelenskyy. "This is exactly the goal of Ukrainian and international...

On Thursday afternoon, White House reporters rallied from the embarrassing effort many gave the day prior in lobbying softballs to inept Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and showed skepticism that President Biden’s Thursday night address on how the American right poses a threat to the country wouldn’t be political. Reuters’s Jeff Mason was one of those reporters who redeemed himself, starting with a short, Doocy-like question: “Is tonight a political speech?” Jean-Pierre sowed her fate when she immediately show back: “No. It’s not a political speech. This is an opportunity — again for the President to directly have a conversation with...

Chicago is one of the nation's gun violence hotspots and a seemingly ideal place to employ Illinois' "red flag” law that allows police to step in and take firearms away from people who threaten to kill. But amid more than 8,500 shootings resulting in 1,800 deaths since 2020, the law was used there just four times. It's a pattern that's played out in New Mexico, with nearly 600 gun homicides during that period and a mere eight uses of its red flag law. And in Massachusetts, with nearly 300 shooting homicides and just 12 uses of its law. An Associated...

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemExodus 15The Song of Moses and Miriam 15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. 2 “The Lord is my strength and my defense[a]; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. 4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The...