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...

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland.

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.( Deuteronomy 13:1-3)What I want to do is give a brief...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. health chief declared Friday that positive results from coronavirus vaccine trials mean the world “can begin to dream about the end of the pandemic,” but he said rich and powerful nations must not trample the poor and marginalized “in the stampede for vaccines.” In an address to the U.N. General Assembly’s first high-level session on the pandemic, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned that while the virus can be stopped, “the path ahead remains treacherous.”

It’s actually surreal to think how easily the media can dupe people into thinking that President Trump is going to be impeached and possibly removed from office. For the last five-and-a-half years of the Bush administration, the Democratic Party howled that Bush “lied us to war to enrich his friends.” In the history of democracy, this is probably the most egregious charge ever leveled against a democratic leader. With more than 4,000 dead and tens of thousands maimed for life “under false pretenses,” it easily dwarfs the famed Watergate scandal, in which no one died. And yet the Democrats of...

Democrat elites said President Trump’s policies would throw the US into recession. T hey said a 4.0% GDP rate was impossible. It was a thing of the past. Hillary Clinton: “Trump’s policies would throw us into a recession, the last thing we need.” Barack Obama: “What magic wand do you have? And usually, the answer is he doesn’t have an answer.” Paul Krugman, The New York Times: “So we are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight.” Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks: “In the event Donald wins, I have no doubt in my mind the market...

Something changed last weekend, did it not? The firing of Andrew McCabe. The statement by Trump lawyer John Dowd to The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff that Robert Mueller should end his probe soon. Donald Trump’s tweetstorm just after that, his first tweets mentioning Mueller by name along with promises by aides that more attacks are on the way. The amped-up speculation that Trump will fire Jeff Sessions and replace him with someone who hasn’t recused himself so that someone can fire Mueller. Somewhere in there also came an official reassurance by Trump lawyer Ty Cobb that the president has no...

Click here to go to Bloomberg.

Most of us have about five dreams each night, though we're not likely to remember any of them. But a team of researchers has found a pattern of brain activity that seems to reveal not only when the brain is generating a dream, but something about the content of that dream. "When subjects were having [dream] experiences during sleep, there was a region in the back of the brain that tended to be very active, as if this region was a little bit more awake," says Francesca Siclari, a researcher at the Center for Research and Investigation in Sleep at...

[ .... " Bayh, though, suggested the friction now could give way to better times soon for Democrats. “I do think with a new president, potentially new leaders, certainly for Democrats in the Senate --who knows about the House -- there may be a season for governing where people might actually find more common ground,starting all over with a blank sheet of paper,” Bayh said. “That would be a good thing for the country.”

He sees a renaissance attributable to the decline of the state’s Republican party. It is rare, even in the case of Paul Krugman, to read a column in which almost everything that is stated is either wrong or deliberately misleading. But his recent take on California’s renaissance is pure fantasy. I wish it weren’t. Krugman starts with the premise that California conservatives, the most prominent being Ronald Reagan, helped to turn the formerly moderate Republican party into the “radical right-wing organization we see today”; California, he believes, did more than the South to spawn the Religious Right. How absurd! Reagan...

Become a California state worker, preferably one who deals with neurotic and/or crazy people (i.e., a psychiatrist), and rake it in. The following chart from Bloomberg shows just how generous the otherwise insolvent state of California is when it comes to paying its public servants, and the 100%+ increase in California employee state pay since 2005. Needless to say, this is a rate of increase in compensation that 99% of workers in the private sector would die for. Some other stunning observations from Bloomberg on the best job taxpayer money can buy. The best paid job: psychiatrist. At this pace,...

The Poway Unified School District in California is facing a whopping $1 billion repayment on a loan of just $105 million. It borrowed the money using bonds that the state treasurer has compared to payday loans -- and more than 200 other California districts are in the same boat. More than 200 school districts across California are taking a second look at the high price of the debt they've taken on using risky financial arrangements. Collectively, the districts have borrowed billions in loans that defer payments for years — leaving many districts owing far more than they borrowed. In 2010,...

..Fueled by a bigger pile of campaign donations than most of his rivals, Perry is blitzing Iowa in a 42-town bus tour that enables him to personally deliver his campaign message and capitalize on his skills at retail politics. Team Perry is also saturating the state with radio and TV ads and plans to import hundreds of Texans, including Republican state officials and pro-Perry lawmakers, to woo caucus-goers. "We’re certainly hearing his name a lot with radio and TV commercials, probably a lot more than the other candidates," said Dr. Bill Davidson of Bettendorf in eastern Iowa. "I like the...

It’s now a three-way race before voting begins for the Republican presidential nomination. as either Newt Gringrich, Mitt Romney, or Rick Perry will be the GOP standard-bearer to challenge President Obama. The same pundits that have confidently miscalled the GOP race all along are now declaring it’s a two-way race between former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Governor Mitt Romney. They’re wrong. Either man might be the nominee, but not necessarily. Romney is the former frontrunner. He’s educated, polished, and has tremendous private-sector success and some high-level public experience. He even has a picturesque family. But a majority of Republican...

Palin warned us that if she ever makes a run for the presidency, it would be unconventional. She warned that she doesn't look too kindly to season inside-beltway hirings. She said that she hated the long drawn out running forever campaigns. People may be supporters of other candidates around here and like to beat Palin supporters up with that "she isn't running"...."give it up, she all about making money" theme but it's clear now that she has planned on running for a long time, she and her staff just decided not to tell the media through leaks or buddy-buddy exposes'...

On our TV Show, “Angel And The Wiz” that airs Wednesday May 25th at 4 PM on MNN.org Channel 2, (56) I will formally announce my endorsement of Sarah Palin for President in 2012.I am doing this whether she announces or not because I am voting for her whether she runs or not.My reasons for endorsing her are as follows.Courage: No one, Including Richard Nixon, has been pummeled like our Sarah. Through all the attacks on her and her family, she has shown the courage of a lion, and always handled it with the grace and propriety we would expect...

Sarah Palin unleashed a withering critique of congressional Republicans Saturday, lambasting them for not cutting spending deeper and faster, and saying the party needs to “fight like a girl.” "We didn’t elect you just to rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic," Palin said during a rally in front of the Wisconsin statehouse in Madison. "What we need from you, GOP, is to fight." Pointing to the national champion University of Wisconsin women's hockey team, Palin said the GOP could learn from its resolve and “needs to learn how to fight like a girl."

There are directions on the Internet on how to reach conscious dreaming. There are sites that tell you how to induce conscious dreaming through drug use. Yet with all of the discussions on Jared Loughner, very few pundits discuss his use of conscious dreaming or controlled hallucinations. Why?

With Christmas fast approaching, even America's First Lady has to help out with a few festive tasks. And today, Michelle Obama pitched in to make seasonal decorations and treats after unveiling the newly decorated White House to specially invited guests from military families. 'It’s Christmas. It’s exciting!' she told the assembled press before helping her younger guests make festive crafts and cards.