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Last December, escaping from the dank, dark English winter, I spent a week in Tenerife during which time I made a fairly sophisticated attempt to eat my body weight in guacamole made from fresh local avocados. This week I will explore the history of this delicious foodstuff, forever, it seems, the byword for spendthrift millennials. Let me start by dispelling a myth around the name. You may find online that the word guacamole means ‘ground testicles’. The rationale for this is that the word ‘avocado’ comes from the Nahuatl word meaning ‘testicle’ and in combination with the Spanish word moler...

Many Americans believe the Biden administration brought four of the worst years we have encountered in the past half century, if not longer, for the nation and the American spirit. The purpose of presenting here the most damaging actions of those four years is to recall how we allowed ourselves to go off the rails for that time, and the effects wrought, so as to not repeat them or anything similar in our future. These five failings are presented in the order of significance regarding harm to America: financial, psychological, and social effects. 1. COVID Mandates. Many books will be...

23 April 2025 Easter Wednesday St.Adalbert Church in Prague, Czech Republic Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 3:1-10I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus, walk!Once, when Peter and John were going up to the Temple for the prayers at the ninth hour, it happened that there was a man being carried past. He was a cripple from birth; and they used to put him down every day near the Temple entrance called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from the people going in. When this man saw Peter and John on...

The O’Keefe Media Group is getting ready to drop a video exposing resistance inside the Pentagon. On Tuesday evening James O’Keefe said his team is going to release the new video on Wednesday. *************************************************************** Detectives came to the home of one of my reporters today to try to intimidate me. More on that soon.Nothing stops.We’re releasing video of resistance inside the Pentagon, tomorrow!— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) April 23, 2025*************************************************************** James O’Keefe did not drop any additional hints about his upcoming video. However, the new footage comes amid a leaks probe at the Pentagon. As previously reported, three Hegseth aides placed...

WASHINGTON — Many Republican lawmakers lie low when they have differences with President Trump. Sen. Rand Paul has taken the opposite approach. “Congress needs to grow a spine, and Congress needs to stand up for its prerogatives,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters, complaining that Trump relied on a national-emergency law to impose tariffs that Paul believes should be controlled by lawmakers. His comments came just days after he was one of only two GOP senators to vote against the party’s budget framework that is key to Trump’s tax cuts, saying it didn’t do enough to reduce the deficit. The libertarian...

In a post on January 28 — a week into President Trump’s second term — I urged that it is time to “purge the climate scam from the federal websites.” Trump 1.0 did a remarkably poor job of taking control of communications on the climate issue on websites like those of EPA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Transportation. Are they doing any better this time? They have definitely taken some significant steps to address this issue here in the early weeks of the new administration. For example, on April 15 the Guardian ran a piece with the...

This is a session/interview with Vince Guaraldi and his band with guest musician Bola Sete from Brazil. Bossa Nova style was big at the time and Vince hopped onboard. Of course, Vince and his band went on to make the music for the Charlie Brown cartoons and introduced a generation of kids to jazz.

A federal raid at a Home Depot store in Pomona [California] has sparked concern as families and community members said a group of day laborers were taken into custody Tuesday. Immigrant rights advocates held a demonstration outside the store, protesting the targeting of those they described as innocent civilians. “Our people should not be living in fear,” one speaker said. Video of the incident showed vehicles appearing to belong to Border Patrol surrounding the store’s parking lot Tuesday morning. The people who were taken into custody were transported to an undisclosed location. A man named Carlos spoke in Spanish as...

Intel is preparing to unveil plans to prune more than 20% of its workforce, a move that the storied chipmaker believes would reduce bureaucracy, according to a report by Bloomberg News, citing a person with knowledge of the matter. According to the report, the significant job cuts are a part of Intel’s plan to streamline management and rebuild an engineering-driven culture. This move would be the first major organisational restructuring under the newly appointed CEO, Lip-Bu Tan.

US Vice President JD Vance warned Wednesday that Moscow and Kyiv must strike a deal or Washington will end its efforts to reach a ceasefire. 'We've issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it's time for them to either say yes, or for the United States to walk away from this process,' Vance told reporters in India, where he is on a four-day visit. -snip- 'It's now time, I think, to take, if not the final step, one of the final steps, which is, at a broad level, the party saying we're going to...

Rainn Wilson, the actor best known for appearing in the comedy series ‘The Office’ recently spoke with MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle and pushed back on her when she tried to blame President Trump and Elon Musk for the loss of trust in media. Wilson is probably not a Trump supporter himself, but he does make an excellent point about the media and their selective concerns about government. Ruhle talks about her belief that it’s the media’s job to hold the powerful to account, and Wilson reminds her that the media did not think that way at all when Biden was...

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that countries involved in peace talks around Ukraine still needed to narrow their differences and that there were "a lot of nuances" that needed to be worked out before any deal could be reached. The Kremlin made its comments after talks between the U.S., Ukraine and European officials to discuss ending Russia's war in Ukraine faltered on Wednesday as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio abruptly cancelled his trip to London and negotiations were downgraded. -snip- Unconfirmed details of those proposals have appeared in various media, but the Kremlin on Wednesday said it would not...

Now this is funny what I'm going to tell you. .... All the theologians tell us we ought to keep the 10 commandments. They all do. Billy Graham, everybody. And then we say, what about the 4th commandment. Oh, they say the commandments were nailed to the cross. ...... You can't have it both ways. Let's be a little honest. Let's not lie. The commandments are eternal. There's only one commandment that talks about times. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath...

Under the banner of national security, the Biden administration fused behavioral surveillance with ideological profiling to create a system that was intrusive, biased, and unconstitutional. On April 16, Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Tulsi Gabbard declassified the Biden-era “Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism.” The release followed an April 2 declassification request from Stephen Miller’ legal organization America First Legal (AFL). While much of the document’s content had been publicly discussed in general terms, the newly declassified version reveals troubling new specifics. The declassified version features language that outlines how the Biden administration planned to operationalize counterterrorism efforts. It...

“‘It was said, “Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce”; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery’” (Matthew 5:31–32). Jesus no more approves of divorce than did Moses (cf. Matt. 19:6). Adultery, another reality God never condoned, is the only reason under the law that allows for dissolving of a marriage, with the guilty party to be put to death (Lev. 20:10). Because Jesus mentions this here and again in Matthew 19:9,...

Britain is set to approve funding of up to £50million for outdoor experiments to dim sunlight as part of efforts to combat runaway climate change. The Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) will announce the funded projects within weeks, making Britain one of the world's biggest funders of geoengineering research. Professor Mark Symes, Aria's programme director, confirmed there would be "small controlled outdoor experiments on particular approaches". The controversial technology aims to reflect sunlight back into space, potentially providing a temporary brake on rising global temperatures while emissions reduction efforts continue. Aria has emphasised that all experiments will be "safe...

Ancient rhinos in Nebraska lived in large local herds and died slowly from volcanic ashfall, not sudden disaster. Credit: John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum ************************************************************************* Volcanic eruption from 12 million years ago preserves a snapshot of extinct animal life. Rhinos that once roamed much of North America 12 million years ago likely lived in large herds, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati. Researchers examined isotopes in the teeth of rhinos found in what is now northeast Nebraska. At this site, more than 100 rhinos died at a single water hole and were buried in...

These days, if you dare to suggest that the United States is a Christian nation or that it should be a Christian nation, you are likely to get viciously attacked. There are many voices on the left that have convinced themselves that America has never been a Christian nation and that it will never be a Christian nation. But in our system of government matters of law are not settled by what intellectuals on the left think. Rather, in our system of government matters of law are settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended its quality control program for testing fluid milk and other dairy products, citing reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division. This decision follows the termination and departure of 20,000 employees from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), part of a broader federal workforce reduction initiative. ​ Reuters reported, effective April 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has suspended its quality testing program for Grade A milk and other dairy products, citing massive staffing losses tied to federal budget cuts. While the move may seem bureaucratic, it...

Singer John Legend was slammed on Tuesday after footage emerged of him calling Donald Trump a white supremacist. A lifelong liberal, Legend - along with wife Chrissy Teigen - has called Trump a 'dyed in the wool racist' with Trump describing him as a 'boring musician' and Teigen as 'filthy-mouthed' for calling him a 'p***y-a** b****' in 2019. Now, a clip of The Voice judge speaking at The Fifteen Percent Pledge's 15th Street Block Party in Hollywood in February has surfaced with Legend again going all in on his distaste for the president. 'America made a decision that I strongly...