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It's not hard to see how the sapphire tower gets its name. Image Credit: HannaTor/Shutterstock.com Sometimes in nature, there are events that we have to wait for. Some, like the upcoming American cicadapocaplypse might not be so popular – whereas, across the pond in Birmingham, UK, botanists are thrilled to reveal the blooming of their sapphire tower. The sapphire tower plant (Puya alpestri) from the Chilean Andes can take up to 10 years to flower. The plant is a member of the bromeliad family, distantly related to the pineapple. Normally found at high elevations of up to 2,200 meters (7,218...

“An impactful storm system will bring rain and wind to the area today and tonight,” the National Weather Service (NWS) Bay Area branch warned on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The first of the two storms, heading from Hawaii to Northern California, could bring “quite rambunctious” winds from the Bay Area to the Central Coast, according to the local NWS. Such winds, coupled with saturated soil conditions, could topple trees and cause power outages, the meteorologists warned on X. “This one’s going to pack quite a punch,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los...

A group of highly trained US military veterans have been conducting secret rescue missions behind the Biden State Department’s back, rescuing hundreds of Afghan allies from Afghanistan with their heroic efforts. Furious over the terrible situation in they had already sacrificed so much to prevent when they served, the team of retired specialists, including Green Berets and Navy SEALS, risked their lives. They volunteered to travel to Kabul because they were afraid that Joe Biden was abandoning at-risk Afghan elite forces, leaving them to die at the hands of terrorists. They felt it was necessary for someone to step up...

With the Taliban growing more violent and adding checkpoints near Kabul's airport, an all-volunteer group of American veterans of the Afghan war launched a final daring mission on Wednesday night dubbed the "Pineapple Express" to shepherd hundreds of at-risk Afghan elite forces and their families to safety. Moving after nightfall in near-pitch black darkness and extremely dangerous conditions, the group said it worked 'unofficially' in tandem with the United States military and U.S. embassy to move people, sometimes one person at a time, or in pairs, but rarely more than a small bunch, inside the wire of the U.S. military-controlled...

Islamic countries are more eager to accept Christians from Afghanistan than our State Department: ‘They have more compassion for these Christians than our American Government. It is insulting, embarrassing, and wrong.’ .. The Biden Administration’s State Department is reportedly blocking the rescue of Afghani Christian converts seeking to flee the now Taliban-run nation in order to escape an almost certain and unimaginably grotesque death. With the August 31 deadline looming to get endangered people out of Afghanistan, conservative radio and TV commentator Glenn Beck quickly raised $30 million to charter planes to airlift Christians who have been all but abandoned...

<p>In times of crisis, we look to our heroes. And, though the Afghanistan development seems insurmountable at this point, we’re relieved by a new group of heroes who stepped up to the plate.</p><p>We’ve been hearing of growing violence in the region, with Americans stranded behind enemy lines amid the Taliban’s growing presence, yesterday’s ISIS attack that killed at least 13 U.S. service members and wounded 15 others, and re-surging persecution of vulnerable groups. But one group of all-volunteer special forces veterans of the Afghan war wasn’t going to take the Taliban’s abuse lying down.</p>

A group of highly trained US military veterans has been secretly rescuing hundreds of allied operatives from Afghanistan — volunteering over fears those allies would otherwise be left for dead, according to a report. The weeklong secret operation dubbed “Pineapple Express” has been carried out by a group of special ops veterans including retired Green Berets and SEAL Team commanders, they told ABC News. They were driven by deep frustration “that our own government didn’t do this,” former Navy SEAL Jason Redman told ABC. “We did what we should do, as Americans,” he said. They initially formed to rescue an...

"As a proponent of freedom, enjoying some Taiwanese dried pineapple. Checkmate." - Mike Pompeo Mike Pompeo Twitter

The Lincoln Project is a 'toxic' workplace with a culture of infighting where women are sidelined, young men are referred to as 'wizards' and political rivals are disparaged, current and former staffers have claimed. The anti-Trump PAC has had a tumultuous week after being rocked by sexual harassment allegations involving co-founder John Weaver and subsequent claims the group knew about it months before acknowledging it publicly. Now, nearly two dozen current and former staffers - or people associated with the group - have detailed in interviews with the 19th the 'toxic' inner workings of the Lincoln Project.

Of course they knew. Lincoln was born in a log cabin ....Log Cabin Republicans. Id bet good money they were all gay and all using the L. Project as a primary sex pick up org.

Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt is resigning from the group's board amid a series of scandals that has rocked the high-dollar anti-Trump super PAC, Axios has learned.Why it matters: Schmidt, a veteran Republican operative, is the latest and most high-profile departure from the group, which is reeling from revelations that another co-founder, John Weaver, used offers of professional advancement in a series of attempts to solicit sex from young men.

The Lincoln Project is falling apart. ---------- A second founder of the Lincoln Project, New Hampshire political consultant Jennifer Horn, announced that she would be leaving the organization following the exposé of a pedophile scandal implicating the group’s founder, John Weaver. “John Weaver’s grotesque and inappropriate behavior, coupled with his longstanding deceptions concerning that behavior, are sickening,” Horn said in a statement provided to the New York Times. “It is clear at this point that my views about how the Lincoln Project’s efforts are managed, and the best way to move the Lincoln Project forward into the future in the...

Morning Joe's pretense of journalism hit an abysmal new low today as Mika Brzezinski pretended to question George Conway about the sex scandal engulfing John Weaver, a co-founder along with Conway of the Lincoln Project. Conway had been on the show to thump the tub for Trump's impeachment over the January 6 riot, and in making her goodbyes, Mika apologized for asking an eensy-weensy question about it, saying she'd be "remiss" if she didn't. Other than saying it was terrible and appalling, Conway utterly dodged the "question." Stammering and stumbling, he replied: CONWAY: I didn’t know John very well. I...

A fierce debate is rumbling across the country, putting friends at war and families in turmoil. It is arguably the most divisive arguments of all time... The question of whether pineapple is an appropriate topping on a pizza is a controversial one. Last year an 18-year-old woman name Ali Johnson from Arizona posted on Twitter that her local pizza place refused to top her pie with pineapple, writing on her box that the choice was 'gross'.

HELL—The demonic forces of Satan proudly announced Thursday the debut of 13 new varieties of pineapple pizza, designed to torture millions of humans deceived into consuming the hellish abominations. The exciting new spins on pineapple pizza were forged in the fires of the hottest portions of hell, and are designed to cause the greatest pain and suffering on earth as possible. “We expect the new Krazy Pineapple Kale pizza to be especially nefarious,” one high-ranking demonic official said in a board meeting unveiling the new assault on all things good and holy. “The pizzas shall masquerade as good and wholesome...

Shakshouka is a Middle-Eastern egg dish, very similar to an Italian version called ‘Eggs in Purgatory’, both poached in a spicy tomato sauce. Eggs are not just for breakfast, and sometimes the perfect comfort dinner is an egg one. You can make this with fresh or canned tomatoes, and I like this one from the website Add a Pinch: https://addapinch.com/eggs-purgatory-recipe/I’ve always been very partial to the cookbooks that I began with when I was young; one of my favorite authors has always been Molly Katzen, whose ‘Enchanted Broccoli Forest’ was one of my go-to books when I was experimenting with...

In recent years the pineapple has superseded peaches to become my favorite fruit – perhaps partly because it’s so much easier to find very good pineapples in my area. But getting at the fruit inside a pineapple is a real project! I’ve often been tempted to buy one of those pineapple-coring gadgets, but I always turned it down – I thought it would be hard for my small hands to use, and it seemed like the kind of ‘unitasker’ (channeling Alton Brown, here) that would take up space and hardly be used. A few weeks ago, I saw one of...

Ingredients: 2 large cans pineapple chunks 3/4 cup sugar 3 tbsp. flour 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 1/2 stick butter, melted 1 sleeve Ritz crackers

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian scientists have discovered pineapple molecules can act as powerful anti-cancer agents and said the research could lead to a new class of cancer-fighting drugs. Scientists at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) said their work centred on two molecules from bromelaine, an extract derived from crushed pineapple stems that is used to tenderise meat, clarify beers and tan hides. One of the molecules, CCZ, stimulates the body's immune system to target and kill cancer cells, the other, CCS, blocks a protein called Ras, which is defective in 30 percent of all cancers. QIMR researcher Tracey...

EXCLUSIVE: FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE TO CAMPAIGN IN HAWAII… VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY TO CAMPAIGN IN HONOLULU ON SUNDAY