'Electoral schedule'

'The wives of the Philadelphia beat reporters tweeting for them back in Philly'

'Shame on you'

We wish we could have expanded this list beyond just the 15 we present. However, there are reasons for keeping these articles under a certain limit because of loading times and other factors. However, these 15 female guitars represent various musical styles and playing. We thought it would be more interesting for our readers to mix it up instead of just creating a list of 15 Blues players, 15 metal players, or pop players. In the end, what we have here is 15 fabulous musicians who play with extraordinary passion and skills that will knock you off your rock and The post 15 Female Guitarists That Will Blow Your Mind appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

From Fox News Digital comes the incredible story of a Canadian family that stopped at nothing to find a cure for their newborn son’s rare disease. Putting their life savings on a wing and a prayer, the determination to see their boy grow up turned to compassion after they decided that the medicine they helped […] The post There Was No Treatment for His Son’s Rare Disease, so Dad Moves Mountains to Make One for Children Worldwide appeared first on Good News Network.

Books Terry Pratchett Book Club Terry Pratchett Book Club: Raising Steam, Part IV As always, the wars are better when they don’t happen at all. By Emmet Asher-Perrin | Published on September 6, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Keep your eye on that Stoker Blake, he’s just so good at his job! Who can say why. Summary Moist lets more of the day go by, then hops outside the train carriage to run along the top of it and get a feel for the railway. He goes to sleep that night and, elsewhere, a dwarf attacks the granny of a railway worker, who throws her full chamberpot at him. They get into Zemphis, where laws are far more lax, and Moist almost has his head taken off by a boomerang, but Vimes saves him. The new and improved Iron Girder meets them there, and she has been significantly upgraded. The grags are planning to attack the train as it runs through the upcoming mountain range, the Paps of Scilla. They are attacked as soon as they make their way into the mountains and fight off the group with trolls, goblins, and a particularly talented stoker. Some kids try to stop the train as well, hoping to be heroes who saved it from a landslide they caused; Moist goes and talks to one of the kids’ fathers, asks them to clear the track of the landslide, and is sure to demand that none of the children are beaten for not having a clear grasp of the possible consequences of their scheme. They are welcomed to Ohulan Cutash, where the people are determined to feed them, and stay for dinner before heading on their way. Later that night the train halts again; the decoy Flyer train has derailed ahead of them, and King Rhys managed to spot it and stop them just in time. They run into a group of gnomes who are terrified by the carnage and want to be left in peace. The water crane at the depot has been destroyed and the workers are missing. Detritus and Bluejohn go looking for them while the gnomes help them with the water reserves by heading to a nearby spring. Simnel asks the gnomes if they could make boots for railway workers much like their own. Moist forces many of the engineers to finally get some sleep during the day. Albrecht (who is getting daily updates from a goblin about Rhys’ progress) talks with Ardent, who will not change his mind. Simnel is worried about the bridge ahead being structurally sound enough to take the train, but Moist promises that they will fly across it. Moist inquires to Aeron about what secret Rhys is keeping, thinking of how strangely Simnel’s mother had behaved. He’s invited to an audience with the King only to learn that she is, in fact, the Low Queen, and means to finally end this ridiculous hidden gender business. Moist also figures out that Aeron is her lover. They do indeed make it across the bridge, with Moist seeming to invoke magic to make it happen; in reality he and Adora Belle worked in concert to have golems shore things up. They are closing in on Bonk, which means that it’s the gran’s last chance to stop the train, and they make a good show of it. There’s fighting in top of the train and in the carriages, and the grags manage to uncouple the guard car, but Bluejohn has a handcart to get them back to the rest of the Iron Girder. Many of the attackers fall from the train and many more are captured. They arrive in Bonk and Rhys heads into Schmaltzberg after words making it clear that she will sit on the Scone of Stone and anyone who tries to prevent this might be killed. The fight is short-lived, as no one truly wants to wind up dead in this, and Moist is surprised, then cowed a little by Vimes pointing out that this is always the desired outcome. Rhys reclaims the Scone, has Ardent put away for a later trial, and announces to her subject that she is their queen—and their pregnant queen at that. Albrecht admits that he has been humbled of late and believes that Rhys is right in her convictions; he stands beside her and the matter is concluded. Everything is settled. The bridge being out means that the dwarfs can keep Iron Girder around for the bit while things are repaired and see what’s possible with steam. Moist has a chat with the Iron Girder, who speaks to him and insists that she is, in some ways, a sort of goddess. Back in Ankh-Morpork, Drumknott is working with Charlie and Clown, who has been flawlessly impersonating Lord Vetinari for a couple of weeks. Moist makes it home and decides to devote some attention to the bank so he can have some calm for a bit. Sybil asks Vimes if they can holiday by train, once the line to Uberwald is fixed. Harry King is made a Lord and his wife a Duchess, and Simnel is given a knighthood and made a master engineer. Moist goes to see the Patrician and learns that Vetinari was disguised as the famed Stoker Blake throughout their journey on the Iron Girder. He asks what he gets for the whole affair, and Vetinari tells him he gets the gift of staying alive. Drumknott brings Vetinari to see a new goblin invention: a bicycle. Vetinari is impressed and suggests that the goblin get a patent lawyer and that the velocipede be sent to Vimes, as they might be of great help to the Watch. He wonders what will be made next as tinkers keep tinkering. Commentary Obviously, you had to have a fight on top of a train. Though I appreciate the fact that Moist goes up on the roof of the carriages beforehand to get a feel for it because that’s a bit of realism that never comes into fight-on-top-of-train narratives, and it should? The idea that any person, no matter how fit, has that coordination down without ever experiencing it beforehand is absurd. (Okay, yes, the whole concept is pretty absurd, but adding just a whiff of common sense to things can ease a whole lot of disbelief in one go.) We get a lot of notable moments throughout this section where Moist is thinking about how he views different species and adjusting his worldview accordingly. For example, when their party is attacked, he thinks first that the goblins are running away when they pour out of the train to defend the Iron Girder. He quickly corrects himself, noting that it’s old thinking on his part. It reminds me of an anecdote I encountered online where someone’s mother told them that your first thoughts are what you’ve been conditioned to think, and your second thoughts are what you really believe as a person. Whether or not that’s ultimately true, it’s a great way of giving yourself space to work through internalized prejudices, which is what Moist ultimately does in that moment. Similarly, we have the moment when the party encounters the gnomes, who are desperate to get away and not get caught up in the fighting. Moist notes: But the face of Slam suggested to him that the gnomes had been through the mill and come out as a very fine grist, and had been content to slip into obscurity and somehow were now drifting into a kind of sad oblivion. It’s a very clever way of Pratchett noting that he never did much with gnomes in any of these books, and asking what that means contextually as a result. It may not have been his intent as an author to ignore them, but the fact that he did means that he should address it, so he makes the effort here. And it winds up being a suggestion that as a species, gnomes deliberately faded into the background until they are now coming up against a potential “unmaking” as it were, leading to extinction or something like it. The gnomes are given work by the end of that section, the possibility of a little reprieve, but it doesn’t stop this from being incredibly sad. Queen Blodwen (formerly Rhys) also finishes the work that Cheery started years ago. While it’s not entirely certain how many years have passed between these books, in terms of our own timeline it was a twenty-year journey from Men at Arms to this moment. Which is flipping fabulous. A truly satisfying end-to-end change, from the bottom up. It’s heartening to see a figure like Albrecht also choose change, despite being a very conservative figure, and it shows the path for anyone similarly minded. Albrecht comes to realize how much he is missing by adhering so strictly to his traditions. He becomes friends with the goblin messenger who is keeping him appraised of the situation, and knows that he would never have experienced this person otherwise, wouldn’t have spoken to him or learned about him. He wouldn’t have cared. And he finally understands that he is the one who loses in that scenario. That he has spent a lifetime making a habit of it. Of course, the goal is to prevent fighting, and the heroic figures of the day manage just that. But most of the exciting reveals occur after the day is won and the chips are down. Am I mostly talking about the fact that Vetinari was, in fact, on the train the whole time, as the most impressive stoker in the pack, and that no one was ever the wiser? Yes. Yes, I am talking about that, and about how the advent of a reliable imposter in the Oblong Office means this guy can go anywhere now at any time as anyone he pleases, and I’m so sad that we didn’t get to read those books. But, you know, he gets to go visit Margolotta whenever he likes now. And Harry’s wife gets to be a real Duchess, and Dick Simnel gets made a master, and Moist gets to live. Progress continues. Asides and little thoughts There are a couple mentions of a character using a “jim crow” as a weapon, which is a little hard to find information on, but it is an implement used for rail-bending. No idea why it was given that moniker, however. Vimes ripping off his shirt so the dwarfs can see the Summoning Dark marking is spectacularly extra of him. Between that and the dramatic lighting of cigars to punctuate other people’s points, our boy is on form. I wasn’t entirely certain on the dates of invention for the steam locomotive and the velocipede respectively, but my assumption was that Pratchett put the bicycle in at the end for a reason. Sure enough, the first locomotive trial was 1802, while the first “dandy horse” didn’t show up until 1817. It’s one of those great historical facts that sounds wrong, which these books have always enjoyed playing with. Pratchettisms From what Moist remembered, the trees stood shoulder to shoulder. And if you thought that trees didn’t have shoulders, you hadn’t been to the Forest of Skund. Cheery was looking very cheerful, as cheerful as any decoy could be who had been the winner of a battle and had come out more or less unscathed, except for a small scar which you had to have, didn’t you, or no one would believe you. The delvers discovered all too rapidly that trying to fight while a a busy goblin was in your underwear was very bad for the concentration. It was a sight to yodel for. The Queen appeared as innocent as one of those mountains which year after year do nothing very much but smoke a little, and then one day end up causing a whole civilization to become an art installation. “Tomorrow. That, Mister Lipwig, is what we can achieve. Tomorrow.” Next week we start on the final (what how) Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown. We’ll read Chapters 1-6.[end-mark] The post Terry Pratchett Book Club: <i>Raising Steam</i>, Part IV appeared first on Reactor.

Rep. Colin Allred, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives running for U.S. Senate in Texas, has adopted pro-energy stances during his campaign that often appear to conflict with his voting record. While Allred’s opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has warned that his opponent would support a ban on hydraulic fracturing—a method of extracting oil and gas from rock formations that drives down energy prices—Allred claims he would do no such thing. His voting record on the issue is mixed. The Democrat chided President Joe Biden for pausing the export of liquefied natural gas—after he voted against a measure to reverse the LNG export pause. The American Energy Alliance, a pro-energy group, gives Allred a 25% score for his votes in the current Congress. Meanwhile, an environmental activist group, the League of Conservation Voters, gives Allred a 100% score. “Fracking is incredibly important for us,” Allred, a former NFL linebacker, said at a campaign stop last month, the Houston Chronicle reported. According to the Chronicle, the Democrat said he would oppose a nationwide ban on fracking in the House, and in the U.S. Senate if he wins in November. Yet in 2023, Allred voted against a measure to protect fracking. When the House considered HR 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., offered an amendment that would have prevented federal commissions from “finalizing, implementing, or enforcing any regulations relating to hydraulic fracturing other than those issued by the state in which the regulation is to be implemented or enforced.” Allred voted against that amendment, which the American Energy Alliance supported. In October 2019, Allred voted to block an amendment to protect fracking in a slate of environmental bills. FLOOR ALERT: Democrats just blocked @RepDLesko's request to prevent the Administration – and any future president – from imposing a ban on hydraulic fracking. #jobs #americanenergy pic.twitter.com/etYHHEKbw3— House Rules Committee (@RulesReps) October 29, 2019 Yet, Allred did support one measure protecting fracking. In March, the Democrat voted for HR 1121, the Protecting American Energy Production Act, which would have prevented any attempt to impose a ban on hydraulic fracturing without congressional approval. While Allred did join a small number of Democrats in supporting HR 1121, he did not join Democratic defectors in other instances. In January, the House passed HR 21, the Strategic Production Response Act, which would have barred the administrative state from drawing on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for nonemergency reasons. That followed Biden’s decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to drive down oil prices in 2022 ahead of the midterm elections. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, joined Republicans in voting for the bill, while Allred opposed it. The Texas Democrat has also signaled his opposition to Biden’s pause in LNG exports, but he had previously voted to protect the president’s measure. In January, Biden announced a temporary pause on LNG exports to countries without free trade agreements, a move that experts warned would drive up the price of energy and empower Russian President Vladimir Putin. (European countries relied on U.S. LNG exports in the early months of the Ukraine War as they sought energy suppliers other than Russia.) While a federal judge struck down the pause in July, the policy remained operative for months. In February, the House passed HR 7176, the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2024, which would have repealed Biden’s pause. Allred voted against the measure. Three months later, however, Allred penned an op-ed for the Houston Chronicle calling on Biden to end the LNG pause. Allred’s campaign drew attention to the opinion column on its website. “If we were a country, Texas would be the third-largest producer of natural gas in the world,” Allred wrote. “Natural gas directly supports well over 100,000 Texas jobs.” “LNG is also critical to our national security and stability around the globe,” he added. “Reducing the world’s dependence on adversarial countries like Russia by providing an alternative and dependable supply of energy will make all of us safer.” “Texas has and always will be an energy state … the best way forward is an all-of-the-above energy approach that harnesses everything from renewable energy to nuclear to geothermal to natural gas,” Allred added. The Democrat did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment about his energy record. Cruz, Allred’s opponent, is tied with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., for the highest score (90%) among senators from the American Energy Alliance. “I am a fierce advocate for American energy and Texas jobs,” Cruz told The Daily Signal in a statement Thursday. “Texans deserve a senator who puts them first and understands the importance of American energy. Since arriving in the Senate 12 years ago, I have led the fight for Texas energy and have pushed back against the Left’s radical climate agenda.” The post Frack-Flopper? Ted Cruz’s Foe Takes Pro-Energy Stances on Campaign Trail, but His Voting Record Is Mixed appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Looking for some natural immune system support? Come learn how to make delicious homemade elderberry syrup with this easy step-by-step recipe. Elderberries can help prevent illness, soothe cold, flu and allergy symptoms, and promote a quick recovery when you’re feeling crummy. It tastes so good, the kiddos will love it too! Sharing bottles of elderberry syrup is also a fantastic DIY gift idea for the holiday season.We’ve been making this elderberry recipe for many years, adapted from the queen-of-herbs Rosemary Gladstar’s book Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide. You can make elderberry syrup using dry, frozen, or fresh elderberries, so I’ve included instructions for all options.This post was originally published in February 2019.Disclosure: Homestead and Chill is reader-supported. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.RELATED: Looking for more ways to naturally support your immune system? Don’t miss our homemade fire cider recipe or this delicious fermented garlic honey recipe!The History of ElderberryKnown in the botanical world as Sambucus Nigra, elderberry has been used for centuries by traditional cultures and herbalists in natural medicine, both early in Europe and later in North America. Native Americans used the plants bark and leaves to make poultices to heal bruises and sprains, and internally to rid themselves of parasites. Now, the bark and leaves are not used as commonly in modern natural medicine due to its content of cyanide.Safety precautions with fresh elderberriesThere are several types of elderberries native to North America and Europe. The blue-black varieties are used for medicinal purposes (Sambucus Nigra). The varieties with red berries (Sambucus racemosa) are toxic and should be avoided.Also, while there are no studies showing that elderberry is harmful during pregnancy, there is also a lack of studies to prove that it is safe. According to PubMed, “health care personnel should not advise pregnant women to use echinacea or elderberry against upper respiratory tract infection.”Finally, please note that it is only safe to consume cooked, ripe, fresh elderberries (or dried). Other parts of the elderberry plant contain cyanide, including the stems or leaves – so be sure to thoroughly remove all the stems! Even pruning our elderberry plant gives me a rash. Raw, uncooked, or unripe berries will also likely cause an upset stomach and uncomfortable side effects. Considered “cooked”, dried berries do not pose the same risk.Health Benefits of Elderberry SyrupCombining the benefits of both elderberries and honey, elderberry syrup is a powerful natural cold and flu preventative and healer. Our elderberry syrup recipe also includes ginger, cinnamon, and other spices – making it extra therapeutic, and extra delicious!Studies show that elderberries have antiviral and antimicrobial properties, helping to prevent illness as well as well as shorten and alleviate symptoms of the common cold. It’s full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that strengthen your immune system, cardiovascular system, and more. Elderberry syrup is also reported to help ease the symptoms of seasonal allergies.Thick and sweet, honey is excellent at soothing sore throats and naturally suppressing coughs. Like elderberries, raw honey is also highly antimicrobial and loaded with antioxidants. Honey can help ward off internal pathogens when ingested, and can even be used topically to heal wounds too!Health benefits aside, there are a number of other perks to making your own elderberry syrup at home. It’s fun and easy to do, and the end result is a nutrient-dense natural supplement for the fraction of the cost of buying it at the store!Ingredients and SuppliesThis recipe yeilds approximately 40 ounces of elderberry syrup.4 cups of dried organic elderberries OR 8 cup fresh, ripe organic elderberries (or frozen berries). We usually use these organic dried elderberries. One bag is plenty to make this recipe. Honey, 16-24 ounces. Honey is best for immunity though you could substitute with agave or maple syrup to make vegan elderberry syrup. 2 tablespoons of grated raw fresh ginger or 1 tsp ground 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder OR 2 whole cinnamon sticks 1/2 teaspoon cloves (whole or ground) Optional: 2-3 whole star anise Optional: a splash of whiskey, vodka, or other alcohol (to help extend the shelf life) Water Cheese cloth or a nut milk bag to strain the berries Air-tight glass storage containers for the finished elderberry syrup, such as 8 oz swing top bottles, 16 oz glass bottles, or mason jars.Another option is to get a convenient all-in-one DIY elderberry syrup kit like this one from TC Elderberry. It includes organic dry elderberries, cinnamon sticks, and other spices. All you have to do is brew it with water and add honey. Their “kicked up” version also has echinacea, rosehips and aronia berries for an added boost! They also offer finished syrup – made fresh to order. Use code “deannacat” to save 15% at TC Elderberry.When we don’t have time to make our own, we get our elderberry syrup from my friend Sarah at TC Elderberry. The DIY kit also makes an awesome gift!Step 1: Combine Elderberries and WaterUsing dried berries: In a large pot or saucepan, combine 4 cups dried elderberries with 8 cups of water. Note the height of liquid in the pan.Using fresh berries (or frozen): If you’re fortunate enough to have fresh elderberries available, use 8 cups of berries and just 1 cup of water. The natural juice in the berries will make up for the little amount of water added! If you’re using frozen elderberries, there is no need to defrost them first.Using dried berries, and taking note of how full the pot is at the start.Step 2: Add SpicesTurn the stove on a medium-low heat, enough to simmer the mixture but not boil. Once the mixture has begun to heat up, stir in:1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder OR 2 whole cinnamon sticks ½ teaspoon of whole cloves (or 1/2 tsp powder) 2 heaping tablespoons of freshly grated raw ginger Optional: 2-3 whole star aniseStep 3: Simmer and ReduceDried elderberry variation:  Continue to simmer until the liquid has reduced to about half of the original volume. This could take only 30 minutes, or up to an hour or two, depending on how vigorous a simmer you set your stove to. We usually opt for slow-and-steady. As the berries soften and the water reduces, the elderberry juice becomes increasingly concentrated.While simmering, leave the pot uncovered so steam can evaporate. Also stir the mixture on occasion. I use a large flat wood spoon to press the elderberries against the side of the pot as I stir. (Or you can use a potato masher if you have one.) This helps to squeeze out all the good juices we’re after!Fresh elderberry variation: Simmer the berries and water for at least 30 minutes, until they’re soft and release their juices. Press and stir on occasion. Next, strain out the skins and pulp (as shown below) and return the elderberry juice to the pan. Continue to simmer until the original amount is reduced by about one-half.Reduced by half!Step 4: StrainOnce the liquid reduces to about half of the original volume, it is time to squeeze and strain! (If you haven’t already done that with your fresh berries in Step 3, that is.) Allow the elderberry mixture to cool slightly before proceeding, but not completely. You don’t want to burn yourself, but also want to keep the liquid warm to help dissolve the honey later.To strain the elderberries, we set a fine-mesh stainless steel strainer lined with either a nut milk bag or cheesecloth, set on top of a glass mixing bowl. We like this organic cotton unbleached cheesecloth. Gently pour some of the mixture into the strainer. I found it best to add a little at time, pressing the berries down into the strainer and cheese cloth with a wooden spoon as we went. This helped to extract as much of the precious juice as possible. Add some, smush and mash, add some, smush and mash. Continue this until all you have left in the strainer is fairly dry berry pulp, with a nice bowl of elderberry juice below. Next, carefully lift and close up the sides of the cheesecloth, forming a nice little sack of berries. Then squeeze the heck of out it! This will dye your hands purple for a day or two, so wear gloves if you want to avoid that.FAQ: What should I do with leftover elderberries after making syrup? You can compost the leftover berry pulp, or steep it in water to create a dilute elderberry tea. If you have a food dehydrator, you can dry the leftover elderberries to save for future loose-leaf tea or to use in fire cider. They’ll be slightly “spent”, but should have some good stuff left inside too! Re-drying the spent elderberries in our dehydrator. Dry on a low setting until they’re completely crunchy dry, and then store in an air tight container! We use the leftover dry berries with loose leaf tea.Step 5: MeasurePour the strained, concentrated elderberry juice into a measuring cup and take note of its volume or amount (e.g. 3 cups). Now add the juice back into your pot, but do not turn the heat back on.Step 6: Add HoneyNow it is time to turn your elderberry juice into syrup with the addition of honey! Most elderberry syrup recipes say to add an equal amounts of honey to concentrated elderberry juice. For instance, 3 cups of juice and 3 cups of honey. Honey offers key healing properties of its own and acts as a preservative for the syrup.The juice is likely still a bit warm, hopefully enough to whisk in the honey without needing to heat anything further. Avoid directly heating the honey, which can destroy its beneficial properties. If your honey is extra cold, set the sealed jar of honey in a bowl of warm water to help gently warm it up.Since I’m Type 1 diabetic, we sometimes only use about ¾ the amount of honey – such as 16 ounces of honey to 24 ounces of elderberry juice. That’s plenty to preserve it, though we try to use it up faster than recommended just in case. (Storage and shelf life notes to follow.) To extend the shelf life of homemade elderberry syrup, you can also add a splash of liquor like vodka, whiskey, or brandy as an extra preservative. One-third to half a cup of liquor for this size batch of elderberry syrup will do the job just fine.Step 7: Bottle Finally, transfer your delicious homemade elderberry syrup into final storage containers such as mason jars, glass swing-top bottles, or these rad swing-top flasks. Store in the refrigerator.StorageHow long is homemade elderberry syrup good for? When made with the full honey-to-juice ratio, elderberry syrup should stay good for at least three months in the refrigerator. The addition of alcohol will help prolong the shelf life further too. As long as it doesn’t develop mold, off flavors or odors, it is likely still good and safe to consume even after 3 months. How to Take Elderberry SyrupYou can take one teaspoon of elderberry syrup up to three times per day. We generally consume one teaspoon per day as a preventative measure, such as during cold and flu season or when something is going around our workplace. If we feel crud coming on or are actually sick, we increase our dose to 2 or 3 times per day.Elderberry works to inhibit viral replication, so it is best to take it as the very first symptoms of illness appear, or soon after you’re around someone who is sick.Bottoms up! I hope you found this guide to be helpful. If so, please leave a review below. Also feel free to ask any questions. Thank you so much for tuning in. Cheers to staying healthy, naturally.You may also like:Fire Cider Recipe: How to Make Fire Cider for Immune Health How to Make Medicinal Herb Infused Oil: Two Ways Preserving Apples: How to Make Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar 10 Best Vegetarian and Vegan Supplements for Improved Health Calming Chamomile: How to Grow, Harvest, Dry and Use Chamomile Print Homemade Elderberry Syrup (Dried or Fresh Berries) Support you immune system, fight colds and viruses, and stay healthy with this easy homemade elderberry syrup recipe – using dried, frozen or fresh elderberries. Course Natural Medicine BeverageKeyword Elderberry Syrup Prep Time 10 minutes minutesCook Time 1 hour hourStraining & Bottling Time 10 minutes minutes Servings 40 ounces Ingredients4 cups dried organic elderberries OR 8 cups of fresh elderberries or frozen2 tbsp freshly grated raw ginger OR 1 tsp powder1 tsp cinnamon OR 2 whole cinnamon sticks1/2 tsp cloves ground or whole8 cups water OR only 1 cup, if you're using fresh elderberries 16-24 ounces honey InstructionsAdd 8 cups of water and 4 cups of dried elderberries (or 8 cups fresh berries and 1 cup water) to a saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat.Once simmering, add cinnamon, clove, and grated ginger and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until the liquid is reduced by half.Once reduced by half the original volume, allow the elderberry mixture to cool slightly.Using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth perched over a bowl, strain the mixture, using a spoon (and hands) to press the berries to extract as much juice as possible.Add the extracted elderberry juice back into the saucepan with the called-for honey, using a whisk to thoroughly combine. If needed, created a warm water bath to lightly heat and soften honey, but avoid microwaving or boiling honey!Optional: Add a splash (up to half a cup) of your liquor of choice, as an extra natural preservative.Pour the elderberry syrup into jars or bottles, and refrigerate. Without liquor, it should stay fresh for about 3 months. It is safe to use until mold develops! Did you enjoy this article? Want to hear more? Stay in touch! Sign up below to receive weekly updates on new posts from Homestead and Chill. The post How to Make Elderberry Syrup with Fresh or Dried Berries appeared first on Homestead and Chill.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has granted a partial preliminary injunction in the X Corp. v. Bonta case, which concerns some provisions from California’s online censorship (“moderation”) law, AB 587. In explaining the ruling, the court said that X Corp. is “likely to succeed in showing that the Content Category Report provisions facially violate the First Amendment.” The law, introduced by 10 Democrats and one Republican in the state legislature and later adopted, mandates that large social media companies must report to California’s attorney-general regarding the details of their “moderation” apparatus. These companies are required to submit “Content Category Reports” twice a year. The reports should include statements regarding whether the companies’ terms of service define hate speech or racism, extremism or radicalization, disinformation or misinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference; if that is the case, the authorities want to know what those definitions are. The irony of many laws dealing with the same subjects failing to properly define these categories aside, but the court of appeals judges found that this was one of the provisions that likely violated the First Amendment, therefore granting an injunction against it, and several other portions of AB 587 (under section 22677). Another part of the law that saw the same fate relates to large social media platforms submitting a detailed description of their “moderation policies, and information about flagged content” when it comes to the same categories of speech (hate speech, racism, etc.) The Ninth Circuit in this way reversed a previous decision by a district court not to grant a preliminary injunction – which is a temporary block until the courts decide on the merits of the case. We obtained a copy of the opinion for you here. The panel of three judges found that Content Category Reports are not commercial speech, which “does no more than propose a commercial transaction.” But in this case, even though social media companies’ terms of service (TOS) can be considered to be commercial speech – their presenting opinions and reasons behind the TOS, “are different in character and kind,” the ruling said. The Content Category Report provisions “would require a social media company to convey the company’s policy views on intensely debated and politically fraught topics, including hate speech, racism, misinformation, and radicalization, and also convey how the company has applied its policies,” the ruling reads. The appellate court also rejected the state’s claim that these requirements are “only” a transparency measure and therefore “subject to lower scrutiny.” However, the judges write, “But even if the Content Category Report provisions concern only transparency, the relevant question here is: transparency into what? Even a pure ‘transparency’ measure, if it compels non-commercial speech, is subject to strict scrutiny. That is true of the Content Category Report provisions.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Court Blocks Parts of California’s Social Media Law in Free Speech Clash appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Republicans to Biden: Push Qatar to Extradite Hamas Leader After Indictment