Darryl Grant

Politically Speaking: March Jobs Report: Optimism or despair? speakingpoltically.blogspot.com/2026/04/march-…

@Sachinettiyil Absolutely right!

“A bishop, therefore, has to have many skills. He has to know how to govern, to administer, to organise and to know how to deal with people. But if I had to point out one trait above all others, it is that he must proclaim Jesus Christ.” Pope Leo XIV

@histories_arch @archeohistories Had no idea of this. Thanks for sharing.

On March 20, 1811, Napoleon Bonaparte's greatest dynastic dream was finally realized when his second wife, the Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise, gave birth to a son in Paris. The child was named François Charles Joseph Napoleon and was granted the title King of Rome at the moment of his birth, a deliberate echo of ancient imperial grandeur designed to signal that Napoleon's empire was built to last across generations. The birth came after years of pressure on Napoleon to produce a legitimate heir, as his first marriage to Joséphine de Beauharnais had produced no children despite over a decade of union. Napoleon had divorced Joséphine in 1809 and pursued the Austrian match with calculated political intent, seeking both a dynastic heir and a symbolic alliance with one of Europe's oldest royal houses. The labor was reported to have been dangerously difficult, and Napoleon was said to have been consumed with anxiety, reportedly instructing doctors to prioritize the mother's life if forced to choose. When the boy was finally delivered and confirmed healthy, Paris erupted in celebration, with cannon salutes announcing the birth to the city. Napoleon reportedly wept openly upon learning he had a son, an unusually raw display of emotion from a man famous for iron composure. The child's title, King of Rome, was not merely ceremonial but a direct political statement that Napoleon envisioned his empire as the successor to Roman imperial tradition. The moment was carefully managed as a propaganda triumph, with artists, poets, and newspapers across the empire celebrating the birth as proof of divine favor upon Napoleon's dynasty. The birth of the King of Rome had immediate and far-reaching consequences across Europe. It temporarily strengthened Napoleon's position at home by silencing critics who had questioned the dynasty's long-term stability, and it deepened the Franco-Austrian alliance forged through his marriage to Marie Louise. Rival courts across Europe grew more alarmed at the prospect of a consolidated Napoleonic dynasty stretching into future generations, accelerating existing hostilities. Tragically, the child would never rule. After Napoleon's final defeat and exile, the boy was taken to Vienna by his mother and raised as an Austrian prince under the name Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, effectively erased from French political life. He died of tuberculosis at just twenty-one years old, leaving no children, and bringing the direct Napoleonic line of succession to an abrupt and quiet end. #archaeohistories

@Noirchick1 Gosh yes, that quirky over the top humor, and wacky characters were very funny and ahead of the times.

Remembering Carolyn Jones, #BOTD 4/28/1930... in her most well-known role as the darkly glamorous - and irresistable -Morticia Addams.... Were you a fan?

@For_Film_Fans Nothing gets me laughing morevthan watching old episodes of her show, the first one. Then the change of scenery to Connecticut and the visit of Tallulah Bankhead. Fred and Ethel as the servants. Hilarious. Lucy deserved that Emmy!

The time LUCILLE BALL — who left us 37yrs ago today, aged 77 — did not expect to win an Emmy for ‘The Lucy Show’.

@FrUgochukwu Terrible suffering.

Cardinal Ernest Simoni is a 97-year old hero of the viciously persecuted Albanian Church. In 1963, as a young priest, Cardinal Simoni was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death by the Communist authorities for offering Mass for the soul of John F. Kennedy. His sentence was later converted to life imprisonment of hard labor. Communist authorities offered to free him if he renounced his faith. He didn’t and after 28 years of penal labour, he was eventually freed. Pope Francis heard his testimony during his trip to Albania in September 2014, visibly moved to tears by the words of this priest, whom he always called a “living martyr”. In 2016, Pope Francis named him a Cardinal, thanking him for this testimony "that does good for the Church." He chose the motto: “My Immaculate Heart will Triumph.” Cardinal Simoni celebrated the 70th anniversary of his priestly ordination on April 7, 2026.

@thetruth21519 No one expected the king to meet them.

Chukkie refusing to meet with Epstein survivors is shameful but this so called head of the Church and supposed father and grandfather irrespective of the stupid excuse of it’s a state visit being in the same country as the Sussex family and not seeing them is reprehensible

@oldmovieactress She worked her ass off and Kelly verbally abused her so much she was in tears.

Debbie Reynolds in the movie 🎥 singing in the rain ☔ 1952

@Noirchick1 Terrific dialogue! Got past the Hayes office did it?

Some of the sexiest dialogue ever -Humphrey Bogart meets his match in Lauren Bacall in "The Big Sleep"

@archeohistories Wonderful woman!

She was born into slavery… and her words now travel the world in U.S. passports... Anna Julia Cooper entered the world on August 10, 1858, in Raleigh, North Carolina—owned, not free. Her mother, Hannah, was enslaved. Her father was believed to be the very man who claimed ownership over them. That was her starting point. But Anna refused to stay where history placed her. After emancipation, she fought for an education in a world that didn’t believe Black women needed one. At St. Augustine’s, she challenged the system directly—demanding the same classical curriculum as men. Not a simplified version. Not a “suitable” one. The same. She won. She went on to teach, lead, and eventually became principal of the prestigious M Street High School in Washington, D.C.—transforming it into one of the most academically rigorous Black schools in the country. So rigorous, in fact, that white officials pushed back. They thought she was “over-educating” Black students. She refused to lower the bar. At an age when most people had long stopped chasing anything new, Anna did something almost unthinkable—she earned her Ph.D. from the Sorbonne in Paris at 66 years old, becoming one of the first Black women in history to do it. And through it all, she wrote. In A Voice from the South (1892), she made something clear that still echoes today: “The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect… it is the cause of humankind.” Those words didn’t stay on a page. They became part of how America presents itself to the world—printed in U.S. passports, carried across borders, stamped into history. Anna Julia Cooper lived 105 years. She survived slavery. She outlived systems built to silence her. And she turned her voice into something no one could erase. © Women In World History #archaeohistories

@consequence The president mocked the assault on Paul Pelosi.

Jimmy Kimmel responded directly to Melania Trump during his opening monologue on Monday night after the First Lady called for his firing: "I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it." "You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We've all been there, right? What a day. "As you know, they had to cancel the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington on Saturday night after a man with multiple guns and knives crashed the party and may have shot a Secret Service officer. Fortunately, the guy was wearing a bulletproof vest and is okay. He was charged today. No one was hurt, thank goodness. A lot of people were shaken up on a night that is supposed to be light-hearted. "The White House Correspondents' Dinner, if you don't know, it used to be an annual event before Trump showed up, but every year they'd have a comedian roast the room. The President, the Vice President, members of the press—everybody got roasted. I did it once; I hosted it. It was a lot of fun. "But this year they said, 'No comedian. We're bringing in a mentalist instead.' So on Thursday, three days before the event, in order to keep that cherished tradition alive, I did my own version of the correspondents' dinner on my show. I put on a tuxedo. We pretended we had an audience of luminaries. We used old footage of the Trumps, of Pete Hegseth, J.D. Vance, Kid Rock, Vanilla Ice, all the members of his cabinet, and we made it seem like they were all together in a room. We had a little roast. "Again, this was Thursday, and there was no big reaction to it until this morning when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm, and a call to fire me from our First Lady, Melania Trump, saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago. "It was a pretend roast. I said, 'Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at her. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.' Which obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together. It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination, and they know that. I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular. "But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it... because, by the way, I also should point out: Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you, and as am I, as are all of us. Because under the First Amendment, we have as Americans a right to free speech."

@RichRaho I think the two denominations can coexist in a commitment to Christ. One of the chief benefits of the Anglican Communion is they do ordain women.

Pope Leo in audience with the Archbishop of Canterbury: “As my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, said to the Primates of the Anglican Communion in 2024, ‘it would be a scandal if, due to our divisions, we did not fulfil our common vocation to make Christ known.’  For my part, I add that it would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear.” vatican.va/content/leo-xi…

@Old_But_Gold50s His looks helped.

Enjoying great success in music, film, television, and the stage, Dean Martin was less an entertainer than an icon, the eternal essence of cool.

@ShakeLS Well, they're not spring chickens.

Hahahaha no curtsy from the US ambassador, everything looks so awkward no charisma. They both look so old. The Geriatric state visit has started. Omg Camilla doesn't know what to do Charles pushing her behind him lol 😂 Camilla rushing to get in the car hahaha 🤣. A mess. No grace or charisma.

@SageKnowsAll There must-have been marks on the carpet indicating where they should stand.

Charles and Camilla deserve it.

@BlackMusicHstry Danced to this in the clubs!

Vicki Sue Robinson - Turn The Beat Around (1976)

@Diana_Kuegler My favorite Jazz vocalist. Love whe sang Cole Porter!

Ella Fitzgerald Born on this day in 1917 - It Don't Mean a Thing -

@For_Film_Fans Terrifically funny. Who could resist Bill Holden?

Remembering the late, great, pioneering LUCILLE BALL — who left us 37yrs ago today, aged 77. I LOVE LUCY (1955) #WilliamHolden

@ShakeLS Might be a protocol issue.

Camilla Parker Bowles zero grace so awkward. Charles treats her like she hardly exists, always leaving her behind. It's poetic justice, how low the monarchy has fallen with these two.

@ShakeLS True, and she's not a good public speaker, seems not to be briefed well. Appearances over the last year were cringeworthy. Nerves? No coaching?

Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales finds the two appearances she does every 6 months really hard because she gets told to speak louder. I mean you cannot make this up. And these people had the nerve to judge Princess Diana who at 19 she was doing nonstop appearances and world tours. I'm laughing my ass off. Workshy William Parker Bowles and Kate just came back from vacationing for 5 weeks, and the hard work was an hour event. Absolutely out of touch from reality.

@lisa_hamner @ShakeLS Lisa! Isn't this interesting! Whoa. He had a mad boyhood crush on Tsar Nicholas's daughter Maria and wanted to marry her. Then there was the revolution, but the Orthodox church forbade marriage between first cousins. Had there not been either she would have suffered.

@dgrantchi @ShakeLS Source: IrishCentral share.google/KjcOdVvSBLs0ka…

Absolutely tone deaf. The complete out of touch and unaware of the Royal family 😲 is unbelievable to watch. Charles telling people his mother would be troubled from this world lol 😂 "King: My ‘darling mama’ would be troubled by the modern world" She wasn't troubled having so many Pedophiles around her, her uncle Lord Mountbanten and her son Prince Andrew whom she chose to protect. Seriously OMG they really are locked in their palaces and don't get the feeling , don't really get the climate about them right now. You cannot say those things when your family has been protecting Epstein and so many Pedophiles.