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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...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Matthew 9:37–38What does God want of you? What is your mission? Some fervent Christians may dream of becoming a popular evangelist. Some may dream of doing heroic acts of charity that are praised by all. And others may wish to live a very quiet and hidden life of faith, close to family and friends. But what does God want of YOU? In the passage above, Jesus exhorts His disciples to pray for “laborers...

An Arizona car owner says he was shocked when he heard how much it would cost to replace a battery in his hybrid vehicle. Lucas Turner told KPHO that he recently took his 2014 Infiniti hybrid to a dealership for a check engine light. He said he knew something was wrong but wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. “They told me that I need a new hybrid battery and it’s going to cost $18,000 for the battery and another $2,000 to have it installed,” Turner said. The hybrid car owner said his vehicle has less than 70,000 miles on...

Last night, I watched a documentary about the Gestapo. It occurred to me that it used the same tactics as the bumbling joke that currently occupies the Bully Pulpit and his minions. I did some research to substantiate my thoughts. History The Geheime Staatspolizei, abbreviated Gestapo, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. It was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining various political police agencies of Prussia into one organization. On April 20, 1934, oversight passed to Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Schutzstaffel (the SS, originally Hitler’s personal body guard), who was also appointed chief of...

Update from Ukraine | The Big Battle on the South | Both Attack, Ukraine Wins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in4w5hda4PY 12/8/2023, 8:45:58 PM Militaryland news Invasion Day 651 Summary December 6, 2023 The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the recent developments on the battlefield, as of 6th December 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-651-summary/ [NOTE: two summaries per week, released on Wednesday and Sunday] Dec 7th The Swedish Brigade received Rosomaks 21st Mechanized Brigade got Polish armored personnel carriers. VIDEO https://militaryland.net/news/the-swedish-brigade-received-rosomaks/ *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

We’ve achieved another significant victory in our fight to clean up the nation’s voter rolls – this time in our nation’s capital. We sent notice letters to election officials in the District of Columbia, California, and Illinois, notifying them of evident violations of the National Voter Registration Act(NVRA) of 1993, based on their failure to remove inactive voters from their registration rolls. The letters point out that these jurisdictions publicly reported removing few or no ineligible voter registrations under a key provision of the NVRA. The letters threaten federal lawsuits unless the violations are corrected in a timely fashion. In...

Robert Kennedy Jr. was on such good terms with Jeffrey Epstein that he had free use of the billionaire pedophile’s Manhattan office in 1993 — and partied with him ... Bobby never could keep dates or wives straight... They were irrelevant to him. ... Oxenberg’s account which may raise most questions over RFK’s attempt to minimize his Epstein connection — because it describes how Maxwell was part of Kennedy’s family circle long before his affair with Mary Richardson began. Oxenberg is a member of the deposed Serbian royal family — Britain’s Prince Andrew is a second cousin — while her...

A white New Jersey man who unleashed a racially charged viral rant and spat at his black neighbors sobbed in court Friday as he was sentenced to a lengthy stay in prison, apologizing for his “insensitive and disrespectful words.” Edward Cagney Mathews, 47, will be mandated to serve four years of an eight-year sentence for pleading guilty to four counts of bias intimidation as well as possession of a controlled, dangerous substance with intent to distribute, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Superior Court Judge Gerard H. Breland made the ruling on Friday after a tearful Mathews spent the last two...

Let’s imagine that a complete societal collapse occurs in the near future. With New York high school students hunting down their teachers for supporting Israel, the FBI continuing its own hunt of J6 political protesters, and rising violent crime throughout the United States, this scenario does not seem so remote. Unfettered illegal immigration and the replacement of Western civilization with a suicidal devotion to some amorphous, multicultural pustule have shattered the unifying bonds of a shared culture. Institutionalized racism in the form of government, academic, and corporate DEI initiatives that have replaced merit with skin color and oppression index scores...

SHENZHEN, China -- Residents of Hong Kong are flocking to the neighboring mainland city of Shenzhen to shop, dine and spend their weekends, posing a new challenge for their own city's economic recovery. Hong Kongers heading north to Shenzhen outnumber mainland tourists heading in the other direction after China relaxed its border controls following three years of tight pandemic restrictions. The imbalance is straining Hong Kong's small and midsize businesses -- a problem the city's government appears to have recognized. It took 32-year-old Annie Chan less than an hour to get across the border one recent weekend. Once there, she...

Rakesh Chaurasia Bansuri-Indian flute Like Zakir Hussain, Rakesh Chaurasia comes from Indian classical music royalty. His uncle, Pandit Hariprasad Chaursia, is widely considered the greatest bansuri player in India, and Rakesh — who started playing at age five — is deemed his most brilliant student. Not only has he mastered the techniques of Indian classical music, he has developed additional techniques allowing him to venture into other styles of playing, particularly with his crossover band Rakesh and Friends. A composer as well as flautist, he has written and performed on numerous Indian movie soundtracks, and in 2007 was awarded the...

Despite overwhelming military superiority, Israel is struggling to develop an effective strategy to tackle the tunnel network under Gaza. This "underworld" has provided Hamas with a degree of sanctuary beyond the gaze of satellites, drones and military forces. How will Israel defeat Hamas without destroying the tunnel network? The "Gaza metro" is bigger in scale than the London Underground network. Many of the tunnels were originally dug in the early 1980s to bypass the border between Egypt and Rafah, enabling the illegal smuggling of trade and weapons. However, they have since been expanded into two further categories: defensive and offensive....

Behind the doors of sports’ most exclusive and secretive club is the sight of oil paintings and hardwood, the smell of cigar smoke baked into cushions and walls, the feel of familiar faces and the shuddering reminder of hangovers past.“'The Heisman flu,'” says Barbara Cassady, whose late husband, Howard “Hopalong” Cassady, was granted lifetime entry into the club in 1955, when the Ohio State halfback was awarded the Heisman Trophy, the annual honor for college football’s most outstanding player. From then on, one weekend every December was a massive reunion with a guest list filled with sports’ upper crust —...

French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said Saturday she was "stunned" after the oil cartel OPEC urged its members to thwart any deal targeting fossil fuels at the COP28 conference. ADVERTISING "I am stunned by these statements from OPEC+. And I am angry," she said from the climate conference in Dubai, adding that "OPEC+'s position endangers the most vulnerable countries and the poorest populations who are the first victims of this situation". The minister said she was "counting on the presidency of the COP not to be influenced by these declarations, and to reach an agreement which affirms a clear objective...

Anything happening to a mosque is a major story. But an Iraqi Muslim immigrant running around with a shotgun outside a synagogue is a minor story. A man arrested in connection with shots that were fired outside a synagogue in Albany, New York, on Thursday has been federally charged, officials said. Mufid Fawaz Alkhader was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, FBI spokesperson Sarah Ruane told NBC News. Alkhader, 28, was born in Iraq and is now a U.S. citizen. He recently lived in Schenectady, New York, according to the criminal complaint. No one...

One of North Carolina's most influential Republicans is endorsing Bill Graham for governor in 2024, a strong rebuke of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP frontrunner. In an interview with a conservative magazine, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis — a Republican who has served in Congress since 2015 and before that was Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives — said Robinson lacks the experience needed to be governor of one of the biggest states in the nation. “Mark Robinson’s a good enough guy. I don’t know him that well,” Tillis told the National Review in an interview Friday. “But...

The Philippines has accused China of using water cannons to obstruct three of its vessels, in the latest territorial dispute between the two countries in the South China Sea. Video footage shows Chinese ships firing powerful blasts of water towards the Philippine government vessels. The Philippines called China's actions "illegal and aggressive".

The latest jobs report for November presents a seemingly positive picture of the U.S. economy, with 199,000 jobs added and a dip in the unemployment rate to 3.7%. However, a closer examination reveals reasons for suspicion. Economists’ expectations were surpassed, but the accuracy of the reported figures is now under scrutiny. Despite mainstream media acclaim, 20% of jobs added in 2023 have been revised away, raising questions about the reliability of the initial data.

A car owner who came across thieves who were trying to steal his catalytic converter exchanged gunfire with the suspects in a Miami-Dade neighborhood early Wednesday, police said. The incident unfolded shortly before 5 a.m. at a community in the 8100 block of Northwest 8th Street. Miami-Dade Police Det. Andre Martin said a resident was in his home when he heard power tools in the parking lot. The resident saw two people under his vehicle trying to remove the catalytic converter, so he armed himself and confronted the suspects, Martin said. “When I went out to walk my dog at...

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemActs 221 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.” 2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5 as the high...