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Yes, it's that time of the year again. April 1, a.k.a. April Fools Day, when would-be funsters cook up pranks that they consider to be cleverly amusing but most people view as being somewhere between monotonous and irritating. It's bad enough when an individual pulls an April Fool's prank on friends or family, but it's another matter when a major corporation inexplicably thinks it needs to be funny on the first day of April. As a somber plea for the private sector to ignore the temptation to start this month in an advanced state of shenanigans, we offer this (admittedly...

Biden supports legal abortion, the redefinition of marriage, taxpayer-funded abortion and transgender ideology. Despite this, 67% of U.S. Catholics, including Bishop William Malooly of Wilmington, Delaware and Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington D.C., believe he should be allowed to receive Communion.Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Two-thirds of U.S. Catholics say that President Joe Biden, who has contradicted Church teaching on abortion, marriage, and gender ideology, should be allowed to receive Communion. According to a Pew Research Center survey released on Tuesday, 67% of U.S. Catholics say that Biden should be allowed to receive Communion at Mass,...

From charges of neo-colonialism to debt and vaccine diplomacy, China-Africa experts face dual responsibilities. Not only do they need to tell the real story of China’s engagement in Africa, they also need to break down and challenge the cynicism surrounding the topic, in order to encourage better and more sustainable engagement. Author and professor Deborah Bräutigam is one of these experts. In 2014, she created the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies to gather credible sources of data that can be used to better understand China’s engagement in Africa. Hannah Wanjie Ryder is...

The day has finally arrived! The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has revealed the second phase of its Conditional Sailing Order. Cruise lines now have more details on resuming cruises, and yes, test sailings are set to go ahead. This comes after growing calls for the CDC to let cruises resume and move to the next phase of the four-phased framework. These technical instructions cover a range of implementations cruise lines will need to sort out so that cruises can resume. How long this will take, remains to be seen. Phase Two of Conditional Sailing Order Released It’s...

Parish priest Fr PJ Hughes says gardaí blocked roads to church A parish priest in Co Cavan has accused gardaí of harassing him and churchgoers on Sunday as he went to celebrate Mass in breach of pandemic restrictions which do not allow public worship. Fr PJ Hughes, parish priest of Mullahoran and Loughduff in Co Cavan, has already received a €500 fine following a Sunday Mass he celebrated on March 7th last in Mullahoran. The priest has said he does not intend to pay this fine. Speaking to The Irish Times about his dealings with gardaí on Sunday, he said:...

The influence of Donald Trump will be seen on Ted Nugent’s new album, after the former U.S. president called the guitarist a “handsome devil." Apparently that's now the record's title. Nugent appeared to say he wasn’t all that impressed with the public compliment, which he suggested was repeated on a number of occasions. But he noted that he had recorded evidence of the outspoken politician using the phrase. The equally outspoken Nugent told Bolling With Favre that such an incident took place at a Trump rally in the guitarist's home state of Michigan in the run-up to last year’s election....

Ripping the agreement as "the worst deal ever negotiated," former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord in 2018. Xiyue Wang, a former hostage in Iran, tweeted Friday that "Americans should know team Biden’s approach to reassert US global leadership is to appease authoritarian regimes." After Trump's withdrawal, Iran ramped up its uranium enrichment. Critics of the deal argue, however, that it lacked sufficient measures for ensuring compliance and allowed billions of dollars to flow to the state-sponsor of terror. "Biden is set to give up the leverage Trump gained on Iran," said Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. in...

An official at the Ministry of Health has advised the Catholic Church against proceeding with plans to reopen churches during the Easter holidays. The Coronavirus Incident Manager says lockdown measures exist to slow down the transmission of the virus. This came after the church announced it would welcome believers on Good Friday, April 2, 2021. But there is a ban on social and religious gathering imposed in South Sudan. Early this month, the National Taskforce on Coronavirus extended the partial lockdown for another one month with planned punitive measures against violators. It shut down all businesses except essential services like...

Ingredients found in hair dye and anti-ageing cream could delay breast cancer progression by two years, scientists believe. Early research suggests they boost the effectiveness of radiotherapy when injected into a tumour before treatment. The cocktail of hydrogen peroxide, which bleaches hair, and hyaluronic acid, which moisturises skin, costs less than £100....

The Army is investigating a rifle that was possibly stolen from D.C. National Guard during a training event in Virginia last month, Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesperson Chris Grey confirmed Tuesday, according to Politico.Two people familiar with the probe said the M4 rifle and a scope disappeared around March 11 while a quick reaction force that was created to protect the U.S. Capitol was training at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia.The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command alerted D.C. National Guard of its examination Tuesday. Statements were collected on Thursday from those who were at the Fort A.P. Hill range at the...

BATON ROUGE - Six of seven women charged in an August 2020 attack on a Chili's hostess are pleading not guilty. The women are charged with disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor. The attack happened when the hostess, 17-year-old Kelsy Wallace, explained to a large party of 13 people that due to coronavirus precautions, the restaurant was only allowing 6 to a table at one time. That's when things got violent, and the teenager was physically assaulted by multiple women in the group. Wallace described what happened to WBRZ, saying, "She pushed me. And when she pushed me, all I knew...

She is really spewing and sputtering tonight. Live video here.

China's unprecedented crackdown on billionaire businessman and Alibaba founder Jack Ma had raised quite a few eyebrows last year and made headlines all over the globe. Now, a news report suggests that the Chinese government may not be done with its crackdown on major tech firms in the country. It has come to light that another Chinese businessman is facing scrutiny for not complying with the country's anti-trust rules. Ma Huateng (also known as Pony Ma), the founder of Tencent Holdings, met with China's anti-trust watchdog officials earlier this month to discuss compliance at his group. Two people with direct...

A 29-year-old man is behind bars, charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a mother of six while driving down Interstate 95 in Lumberton. Dejywan Floyd, 29, of Lumberton, was arrested early Thursday at an apartment complex, the Robeson County Sherriff’s Office said in a news release. Julie Eberly, 47, was riding in the passenger seat with her husband on March 25. The couple, who are from Pennsylvania, were on their way to Hilton Head Island to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Floyd is charged in the fatal shooting of Julie Eberly, 47, of Manheim, Pennsylvania. The arrest comes...

White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci pushed back Friday on various criticisms directed at him by lawmakers, former federal officials and others during a wide-ranging interview on "Your World". Fauci, 80, told host Neil Cavuto he doesn't understand why people see him as a partisan figure when his job is to help develop medical responses to viruses like COVID-19. "You know, Neil, I've been a symbol to them of what they don't like about anything that has to do with things that are contrary to them, anything outside of their own realm," he said. [cut] The National Institute...

For instance, public opinion is strongly against perhaps the most controversial provision of Georgia’s new law: the prohibition on giving food or water to people waiting in line to vote. In a different, March 29 poll, YouGov found that only 18 percent of Americans thought handing out food and water should be illegal, while 69 percent thought it should be allowed. On the other hand, the public strongly supports one of the other major stipulations of Georgia’s new law: the ID requirement for absentee voting. That latest YouGov/The Economist poll found that Americans support requiring a photo ID in order...

Seven people have died from unusual blood clots after getting the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK, the medicines regulator has confirmed to the BBC. In total, 30 people out of 18 million vaccinated by 24 March had these clots. It is still not clear if they are just a coincidence or a genuine side effect of the vaccine. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency says the benefits continue to outweigh any risk. However, concern has led to other countries including Germany, France, the Netherlands and Canada to restrict the vaccine's use only to older people. The data released by...

***** Tunes For Our Troops ~Canteen Music Dedication Presents~~ The Music of Motown ~ *****~ Support The Artists You Hear Throughout The Canteen ! ~ ***** Warning: Not all music may be appropriate for children! Please click with caution. Thank you! Tunes For The Troops This music is provided for the entertainment of our Troops, Veterans, Allies & their families! Enjoy the variety of musical selections that the Canteen DJs provide throughout the thread. Please ping any DJ with your requests for the Troops! All music is removed on Monday.Thanks to all the DJs for their time & effort...

Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao has emerged from training camp and senatorial duties to speak out against the recent spike in anti-Asian attacks in the United States. The 42-year-old (professional record 62-7-1, 39 KOs), who is reportedly in talks to fight WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford in June, tweeted a message against discrimination in four different languages. "Stop attacking Asians who can't defend themselves! Fight me instead," he added in Tagalog, Chinese and Korean alongside a photo of himself against images of elderly Asians who had been attacked in the US and their perpetrators. Pacquiao announced in February that he...

The governing bodies of faculty and undergraduate students at Cornell University have voted against a proposed partnership with China’s Peking University (PKU), citing the state-run institution’s poor record of academic freedom and human rights. In a 16-39 vote with 20 abstentions, the Cornell Faculty Senate on Wednesday rejected a non-biding resolution endorsing a proposed dual-degree program between Cornell and PKU, one of the 76 top-tier universities directly administered by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The proposed two-year program, according to the website of Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration (pdf), would allow graduates to obtain a master of management in hospitality...