BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM We’ve all been there: One moment, you’re riding the lunch-hour high, and the next you’re half-asleep at your desk, contemplating a nap under it. Welcome to the dreaded food coma, also known in science-speak as postprandial somnolence. If this mid-afternoon meltdown is tanking your productivity, mood, and ability to keep up with life, you’re far from alone. “Afternoon drowsiness can disrupt a person’s daily routine by reducing productivity, alertness, and concentration, as well as performance, mood, and quality of life,” says Meredith Liss, RD, CDN, a clinical dietitian at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. So why does a hearty meal sometimes feel like a sleep spell? And more importantly, how do we break it? Why you feel tired after eating It turns out, your plate might be the culprit. According to gastroenterologist Lisa Ganjhu, DO, from NYU Langone Health, carb-heavy meals, especially the refined kind like white bread, pizza, and sweets, cause a blood sugar spike followed by a dramatic dip. That crash? It’s your brain on sugar withdrawal. Meals high in tryptophan (yes, turkey’s sleep-inducing rep is legit) or big enough to stress your digestive system can also lead to drowsiness. “The more we eat, the more is required of our digestive system,” Liss explains. That digestive overload diverts energy from the rest of your body, leaving you zonked. Even your meal schedule matters. Eating erratically or skipping meals can mess with your blood sugar and lead to energy dips. How to stop the slump: six smart fixes 1. Build better-balanced meals Skip the carb avalanche. Instead, aim for balanced meals that combine protein, healthy fats, and fiber. This slows digestion and keeps blood sugar steady. Liss recommends whole grains like oats, barley, or brown rice; plus fruits, vegetables, and smart protein choices. Need ideas? Try: Baked salmon, roasted sweet potato, and steamed spinach sautéed with olive oil Lentils with brown rice, air-fried broccoli, and avocado Greek yogurt with nuts and berries Apple slices with almond butter And maybe ease up on tryptophan-rich ingredients if you notice they knock you out. 2. Eat on a schedule Skipping meals or eating whenever the mood strikes sets you up for crashes. Regular meals = stable energy. Think of it as blood sugar jazz, not a rock concert. 3. Downsize your portions (just not too much) Yes, big meals can trigger a nap attack. But going too light can backfire, too. “Make sure that you’re not overeating,” Dr. Ganjhu says, but don’t undereat either. Stay satisfied, not stuffed. 4. Hydrate like it’s your job Dehydration is sneaky. It can look like hunger or feel like exhaustion. Sip throughout the day to stay energized and keep your body running smoothly. 5. Move a little Stretch. Stroll. Channel your inner grandparent and take a “fart walk.” Research suggests light activity right after eating can help digestion and steady your blood sugar. 6. Skip the sun-and-sauv blanc combo Heat and alcohol both sap energy. Alcohol is a depressant (literally), and a blazing hot afternoon can make your body work overtime to cool down. If you’re already prone to post-meal sleepiness, maybe save the cocktail and lawn chair for later. Could it be something more? Sometimes post-meal sleepiness isn’t just about food. “Excessive daytime sleepiness could be a sign of an underlying health condition,” Liss notes. These can range from diabetes, thyroid issues, or sleep disorders. If you’ve tried all the tips above and still crash hard every time you eat, talk to your doctor. Your lunch shouldn’t be your downfall. With a few strategic tweaks, you can stay energized and keep the post-meal coma where it belongs: on Thanksgiving.The post Why your lunch is making you sleepy (and how to stop the slump) first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

'president can do it anyway'

A shell-shocking saga of mutants, martial arts and New York mayhem, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy brought comic book grit, practical effects wizardry and pizza-fuelled fun to a generation of moviegoers, helping turn four CONTINUE READING... The post A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy 4K UHD Set is Coming in November appeared first on The Retro Network.

Bad Idea, Mr President

The Trump-despising Politico senior writer, Ankush Khardori, has found four, count 'em, FOUR, foreign diplomats who are remarkably all worried about the rule of law under President Donald Trump. Also very conveniently, all these diplomats happen to be unnamed.  And Khardori milked them to warn about Trump on Monday in "‘We Still Don’t Know How Far They’ll Go’." Was that quote by the unnamed diplomats given to Khardori in unison or separately? The subtitle warns "Foreign diplomats are growing nervous about the rule of law in Trump’s America — and it could complicate law enforcement across the globe." So are those the same unnamed foreign diplomats who are nervous or can at least ONE diplomat be named? Senior officials in some of America’s closest European allies are quietly fretting about the law enforcement priorities of the Trump administration and even the conduct of the Justice Department, according to four European diplomats who are stationed in Washington and who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive trans-Atlantic diplomatic and law enforcement matters. Wait! So the four unnamed European diplomats based in Washington are citing UNNAMED senior officials in Europe to whine about law enforcement priorities of the Trump administration? Is this what a court of law would refer to as double hearsay? ? Their concerns run the gamut from the administration’s approach to specific issues — including immigration, free speech and international drug trafficking — to broader and more structural questions about the integrity of the U.S. legal system and the potential erosion of the rule of law. It must have been quite a shock for poor Khardori to discover that President Trump would be enforcing existing immigration law rather than ignoring it entirely as happened in the previous autopen administration. It's "erosion of the rule of law" to control the border? The mood among the European diplomatic set, to the extent that it can be summed up based on these conversations, appears to be one of heightened vigilance and of low-level — but persistent — anxiety about where things are headed in the U.S. legal system in Trump’s second term and beyond. “We still don’t know how far they’ll go,” one of them told me. Claimed one of the four conveniently unnamed diplomats... or was it a unicorn? Another diplomat put things more bluntly, accusing “the Trump DOJ” of “disregarding foundational legal commitments, including protections for asylum seekers and due process in deportations.” That, in turn, “has undermined the credibility of U.S. leadership and signaled that domestic politics could override international obligations.” Does this unnamed diplomat realize that the previous administration had no process for deportations? And why should FOREIGN diplomats have any say in how our immigration laws are enforced whether named or conveniently unnamed? Finally we come to the most laughable of the claims supposedly whispered to Khardori by the unnamed diplomats: There are also broader and more serious concerns about whether the Justice Department is being irreversibly politicized under Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. Two of the diplomats I spoke with zeroed in on this issue without prompting. One of them described the strident and aggressive tone in public remarks from Bondi and Patel on law enforcement matters like violent crime and illegal immigration as both counterproductive and unprofessional. They worry that the standards for decorum among the nation’s top law enforcement officials have fallen, and that senior administration officials like Bondi and Patel — as well as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem — have politicized law enforcement in a way that may seriously compromise the integrity of the U.S. criminal justice system and make allied law enforcement agencies reluctant to lend support to Trump administration investigations or prosecutions they see as primarily political. The reason this is so amusing is that it was Ankush Khardori himself, not an unnamed source, who was urging in July 2024 for the Judge Chutkan trial of Trump to be put on speed dial in order that he would face political harm by election day: Special counsel Jack Smith and his colleagues at the Justice Department have been put in a terribly difficult position, but they should advance the case as aggressively as possible, even if that means that it cannot be fully resolved by Election Day. ...One way to go forward would be for Chutkan to solicit briefs as quickly as possible on the parties’ position on the status of the indictment in the wake of the court’s ruling. Trump will continue to argue that it should all be dismissed or held in abeyance for some reason or another, but Smith and his team can present their best case for continuing the prosecution after the Supreme Court’s ruling. If for some reason there are evidentiary questions that need to be resolved, those hearings should happen as quickly as possible, and the government should present as much evidence as is reasonably possible — including evidence concerning the conduct on Trump’s part that remains at issue in the prosecution, and including evidence that has not yet become public. Prosecutors usually do not like to have trial witnesses testify in pretrial proceedings — among other things, because they can potentially be impeached at trial with any inconsistent statements — but this is the rare situation where that preference should be ignored. If there are hearings of any sort before November where it would be appropriate, prosecutors should consider calling people like Raffensberger and even Pence. Chutkan’s overriding objective should be to move this case as expeditiously as possible before November, even if that means trying to resolve all of these questions and perhaps even scheduling a trial that may not end before Election Day. No unnamed diplomats (or unicorns) were harmed during the making of this report.

Friday’s PBS News Hour unleashed a strangely energetic fusillade against the retail behemoth Target for supposedly bowing to Donald Trump and discreetly rolling back its objectively divisive and harmful "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) initiatives, hosting the pastor leading the left-wing boycott and parroting his talking points. The segment is particularly jarring given the hostile fashion the News Hour treated a conservative boycott of Target over Pride Month in June 2023. The news hook was the announcement last week that Target’s chief executive would be stepping down in February. Geoff Bennett: The big box retailer Target is reeling. Sales have stalled, its stock price has plunged, and the company faces growing backlash months after rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI initiatives. A boycott led by our next guest slowed store traffic nationwide, and is among the factors that pushed longtime CEO Brian Cornell to step down after 11 years. Now Target is scrambling to reset its image and strategy. We're joined now by Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, who spearheaded that boycott….Before we get your reaction to the change in leadership at Target, I do want to ask, why focus on Target, when a number of retailers and corporations from Walmart to McDonald's have rolled back their DEI initiatives? Why single out Target, when this appears to be a broader corporate retreat? Pastor Jamal Bryant: After the inauguration of President Trump, 23 corporations backtracked away from diversity, equity and inclusion, and we thought it prudent to just go after one at a time. The African American community spends upwards of $12 million a day at Target. And so we thought that the one that was the most trafficked should be the focus of our media attention. Evidently not even a meeting with racial charlatan Al Sharpton could stop Cornell’s resignation. Bennett marveled that Target hadn’t yet cried uncle and reinstated its discriminatory and divisive plans. Bennett: It's striking that Target hasn't reinstated its DEI program, even as it struggles with declining sales, sluggish foot traffic. What does that tell you about the current climate and how corporations are valuing diversity today when faced with the political pressure? Bryant: I think that diversity is in as much danger as democracy is…. After those fierce polemical attacks, Bennett asked a couple of semi-decent questions, noting Target's $2 billion investment in black-owned businesses, asking Bryant “Why do you see those efforts as insufficient?” More sharply, Bennett asked: “Why, in your view, does Target owe Black Americans anything beyond what it already provides as a public company that employs and serves millions of Americans of all races?” One detail skipped: at the height of the George Floyd protests in May 2020 Black Lives Matter rioters destroyed a Target in Minneapolis. The vivid portrait of Target’s decline painted by PBS contrasts with June 2023, when News Hour reporter William Brangham condemned a conservative boycott over Target’s Pride Month displays. After host Bennett fretted that the “right-wing backlash has forced some companies to rethink Pride," Brangham set the scene through a woke prism. Brangham: ….In just the last few months, companies like Bud Light, Target, PetSmart, Nike, The North Face and Adidas have all faced right-wing protests over LGBTQ+ products and ads and partnerships. Activists have taken their criticism to social media and spread false information over Pride products targeting kids, like these at Target. PBS then aired a brief Instagram clip from “Patriot Barbie” in a Target store: Patriot Barbie: So, we are like 10 steps in before there is an entire Pride display for your children to see. Whatever “false information” there was went uncited by PBS. When it came to conservatives boycotting Pride displays, it was a “right-wing backlash” fueled by “false information” against Target. When it comes to liberals boycotting the retreat on DEI, it’s a triumph that left the company “reeling.” A transcript is available, click "Expand." PBS News Hour 8/22/25 7:29:54 p.m. (ET) Geoff Bennett: The big box retailer Target is reeling. Sales have stalled, its stock price has plunged, and the company faces growing backlash months after rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI initiatives. A boycott led by our next guest slowed store traffic nationwide, and is among the factors that pushed longtime CEO Brian Cornell to step down after 11 years. Now Target is scrambling to reset its image and strategy. We're joined now by Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, who spearheaded that boycott. Pastor Jamal Bryant, thank you for being with us. Pastor Jamal Bryant, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church: My privilege. Thank you. Geoff Bennett: Before we get your reaction to the change in leadership at Target, I do want to ask, why focus on Target, when a number of retailers and corporations from Walmart to McDonald's have rolled back their DEI initiatives? Why single out Target, when this appears to be a broader corporate retreat?   Pastor Jamal Bryant: After the inauguration of President Trump, 23 corporations backtracked away from diversity, equity and inclusion, and we thought it prudent to just go after one at a time. The African American community spends upwards of $12 million a day at Target. And so we thought that the one that was the most trafficked should be the focus of our media attention. Geoff Bennett: Do you see the stepping down of Target's longtime CEO as a direct result of your campaign? And what do you expect from the company's new leadership? Pastor Jamal Bryant: The reality is, it's not stepping down. It's stepping aside. He's being replaced by the COO, and he has now moved upwards as the chair of the board. So it's really rewarding of bad behavior. We're really disappointed. But we hope and we are hopeful that there will be a change of perspective when it comes to a DEI for the company. Geoff Bennett: It's striking that Target hasn't reinstated its DEI program, even as it struggles with declining sales, sluggish foot traffic. What does that tell you about the current climate and how corporations are valuing diversity today when faced with the political pressure? Pastor Jamal Bryant: I think that diversity is in as much danger as democracy is. The president of Target, as well as Walmart and Amazon, met with the president back in February. And I think that they have held on to his admonishment more than what the consumers are clamoring to say. And so I think it's unfortunate that it has to go this far and this long. Geoff Bennett: I reached out to Target ahead of this conversation. And while the outgoing CEO wasn't made available, the company pointed us to his recent op-ed where he highlights Target's $2 billion investment in Black-owned businesses, more than doubling the number of Black-owned brands on its shelves, supporting more than 500 entrepreneurs, completing a $100 million investment in Black-led community organizations. Why do you see those efforts as insufficient? Pastor Jamal Bryant: I think it's insufficient because they produce no receipts, $2 billion, and yet they have not been forthcoming as to what entities were the recipients of it. We asked them to lay out, where did they make the investment? They said, because of privacy, they couldn't release it. We'd love to put a ribbon on it, but if Black companies or Black banks were the recipients, they would be clamoring to announce it, and yet we're in silence of the lambs. Nobody can attest to the graciousness that they are claiming to represent. Geoff Bennett: Why, in your view, does Target owe Black Americans anything beyond what it already provides as a public company that employs and serves millions of Americans of all races? Pastor Jamal Bryant: It is one of the lead employers of African Americans. They are the beneficiaries of African American consumption. When George Floyd died, we didn't protest, we didn't march, we didn't boycott. Out of their own will, they made the pledge of $2 billion, and then it stalemated. It was supposed to be turned over to us July 31. And we still are not seeing anything. We are reasonable and amenable to a meeting to be able to see it in private, but none of those requests have been responded to. Geoff Bennett: What's the endgame if Target does not meet your requests? Pastor Jamal Bryant: Then they will continue to hemorrhage. And I think, with 9.7 percent of foot traffic being slowed down, online sales being slowed down, the stock continuing to plummet, the valuation has dropped by $12 billion, then I think that it's time now for the shareholders to make their voice clear on what is needed and necessary. The Montgomery bus boycott went for a year and a day. And this is just our fifth month. And so I think it would be advantageous of them to meet and see how it is that we can reconcile, so that the company can go forward and so that the community can continue to rise. Geoff Bennett: Given the parallel you raised to the Montgomery bus boycott, given the impact of this boycott in influencing a major corporation, how do you see yourself leveraging this kind of organizing power on other issues? Pastor Jamal Bryant: Well, this is the first real organizing power of Black economic strength in 70 years. And I think a lot of corporations are sitting back waiting to see what will be the outcome. And that's why this is so critical and so important. And this generation, quite frankly, needs a victory to know that our collective works are not in vain, but can really make an impact and make a difference. Geoff Bennett: Pastor Jamal Bryant, thank you for your time. We appreciate it. Pastor Jamal Bryant: I'm grateful. Thank you, sir.

Controversial rapper Lil Nas X was charged with four felonies after police confronted him for walking around in his underwear and boots on the streets of Los Angeles. Video of the performer, whose given name is Montero Lamar Hill, was published by TMZ and showed him dancing, laughing, and yelling at strangers in the incident early Thursday morning. Police say he charged at them when they tried to question him. 'Gimme that phone so I can throw it.' Hill was arrested but hospitalized on the suspicion that he might be overdosing. After a few hours in the hospital, he was taken to jail. "It's gonna be a beautiful sunrise," he says on the TMZ footage. "Gimme that phone so I can throw it," he says to the person recording on a cell phone. "I'm gonna throw it far away so you never see it again!"Hill was charged Monday with three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one felony count of resisting an executive officer. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was reportedly released on $75,000 bail. His release also included a restriction on illegal narcotics. A photographer captured images of the rapper leaving the Van Nuys Jail. RELATED: Artists that created Satanic Lil Nas X sneakers are selling 'eat the rich' popsicles for $10 Photo by MEGA/GC Images Fox News Digital said his representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Lil Nas X skyrocketed to global fame after his song "Old Town Road" went mega-viral. The openly gay rapper turned many fans off after he began employing satanic themes in his music and music videos. At one point, he released satanic-themed shoes that included human blood. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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