Newspaper readers, generally speaking, seek the truth.

This week’s dose comes courtesy of my decision to take two days off, which in the life of a newspaper columnist comes with a caveat: front-load the things you have to do before you leave or spend some fleet-footed time in The Great Hamster Wheel of Catch-Up on the flipside.

The Very Best Banana Pudding — EVER? ‘Yes!’ say my colleagues.

I split the diff between Columns A and B … and in my haste landed on something that timed out nicely: National Chocolate Pudding Day (June 26). A from-scratch chocolate pudding, I surmised, would be pretty easy to whip up — and likely widely appreciated.

For there is almost no acceptable reason for not liking chocolate pudding.

It’s smooth and creamy and cool and chocolaty. It’s great out of those little lunchbox cups. (Remember the cans? The filter of my Gen X memory bank has me convinced it tasted better than today’s plastic containers.) It’s great out of the Kozy Shack tub. It’s great plain or with whipped cream or swirled into cake batter where it imparts its lusciousness into the final product.

My very first batch of actual, from-scratch chocolate pudding. Perhaps not quite as easy as the boxed mix. But honestly? Not a lot harder and exceptionally luscious. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Chocolate pudding is glorious. And, indeed, I found it simple to execute.

My friend, Tony, called as I was making this chocolate pudding recipe from The Pioneer Woman, who credited its inclusion of egg yolks as a thickener (along with the more commonly employed cornstarch) with bringing ” … a little bit of that French custard feel to the pudding.”

“I’m making chocolate pudding,” I told him. “First time.”

“You never made chocolate pudding before?!” he asked.

Fudgy brownies are my preference to “cakier” ones and wonderfully easy to dice for these single-serve trifles. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

The reaction seemed outsized. I don’t know Tony to be a particularly avid cook.

“I mean, I’ve made it from the box.”

“Wait. There’s another way to make it?”

That comment made more sense.

You could accent this chocolate trifle any number of ways, including those that exclude toffee bars and include something that increases its nutritional properties, if marginally. Chopped nuts, for example. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

And as I whisked, I wondered if there weren’t more people out there who simply considered Jell-O and My*T*Fine “homemade,” as well. They’re not. Nor were the Duncan Hines salted caramel brownies I “made” to include in what became a “what to do with your from-scratch chocolate pudding once you’ve made it” column.

I chose the pudding recipe because it was a simple one in a week when I had no time to spare. But the Type A in me couldn’t sit with just the chocolate pudding recipe, and so this semihomemade Death By Chocolate trifle recipe. The original of which is ENTIRELY semihomemade. I had a laugh about that.

The author, Allrecipes contributor LaNita, says that this trifle is “a true favorite. Every time we have a church supper, I have to make this!”

I don’t doubt it.

Most people are just thrilled you show up with food. They don’t care if the pudding or brownies are from a box. The box stuff tastes good. This is why some folks don’t realize there’s another way to make pudding! There’s some more truth for you, along with the fact that they’ll also appreciate the extra work (and seriously, it’s not much) that goes into whipping up this truly silky pudding — for real from scratch.

Trifling with the holiday: Do it right with a patriotic delight

Trifles themselves are wonderfully easy summer desserts and ridiculously flexible. This one is hellaciously chocolaty, but you could offset that by omitting the brownies in favor of cheesecake, pound cake, coconut cake, shortbread cookies or just about anything else. Instead of toffee bars, toasted nuts would make for a wonderfully crunchy texture (and an actual smidge of nutrition). You could also use this for divine inspiration and make a trifle with vanilla pudding. Or butterscotch. Or banana.

I made a more traditional Fourth of July version a few years back that would be ideal for any upcoming BBQ plans you might have.

Pudding is a universal good. No matter where it comes from.

Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group or follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

How to Make Chocolate Pudding

Recipe courtesy The Pioneer Woman (thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a85701/how-to-make-chocolate-pudding)

Ingredients

2 large egg yolks2 tablespoons cornstarch2 cups whole milk, divided1/2 cup sugar1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder1/4 teaspoon salt2 teaspoons chocolate extract (or vanilla extract)

*I used vanilla

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks for about 60 seconds until light yellow and increased in volume, then whisk in the cornstarch and about 1/4 cup of the milk. Once smooth and incorporated, set aside.2. Place the sugar, cocoa, salt and remaining milk in a saucepan and bring to a scald over medium-high heat, which is when the liquid is about 180-190º F. This is before the mixture comes to a boil, and in this stage you will see little bubbles start forming on the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and, while whisking constantly, dribble the hot cocoa into the egg cornstarch mixture very gradually. We are tempering, so we don’t scramble the eggs. Pour everything back into the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue whisking for a couple of minutes until the pudding is thickened.3. Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in the chocolate or vanilla extract. Pour the pudding into a bowl and press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding so a skin doesn’t form. Refrigerate for an hour or two until chilled. Serve and enjoy!

The key to a beautiful trifle is a little space, which allows each layer and texture to be seen in the glass. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Death by Chocolate Trifle

Recipe courtesy Allrecipes (allrecipes.com/recipe/8308/death-by-chocolate-iii)

Ingredients

Brownies

1 (16.3 ounce) package brownie mix (such as Betty Crocker)2 large eggs1/2 cup vegetable oil2 tablespoons water

Other

3 (1.4 ounces) bars of chocolate-covered English toffee1 (16-ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

1. Follow box instructions for both brownies and chocolate pudding (if using scratch-made pudding, use provided recipe). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.2. To assemble, crumble or chunk-chop brownies in the bottom of one large or four small trifle bowls. Spoon pudding over top. Layer on whipped topping then sprinkle crushed toffee bars over the top. Repeat layers in same order, ending with whipped topping.3. Refrigerate until ready to serve, adding the final layer of chopped toffee bar before doing so.

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By JOEY CAPPELETTI and MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are set to meet with top national security officials Thursday as some lawmakers question President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites and whether those strikes were ultimately successful.

The classified briefing, originally scheduled for Tuesday, also comes as the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump were to order another strike on Iran.

Democrats, and some Republicans, have said the White House overstepped its authority when it failed to seek the advice of Congress. They also want to know more about the intelligence that Trump relied on when he authorized the attacks.

“Senators deserve full transparency, and the administration has a legal obligation to inform Congress precisely about what is happening,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who said Tuesday that it was “outrageous” that the Senate and House briefings were postponed. A similar briefing for House members was pushed to Friday.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are expected to brief the senators. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who was scheduled to be at the Tuesday briefing, is not expected to attend.

A preliminary U.S. intelligence report found that Iran’s nuclear program had been set back only a few months, contradicting statements from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to two people familiar with the report. They were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated — choose your word. This was an historically successful attack,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday.

On Wednesday, Gabbard and Ratcliffe sent out statements backing Trump’s claims that the facilities were “completely and fully obliterated.” Gabbard posted on social media that “new intelligence confirms what @POTUS has stated numerous times: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed.”

She said that if the Iranians choose to rebuild the three facilities, it would “likely take years to do.”

Ratcliffe said in a statement from the CIA that Iran’s nuclear program has been “severely damaged.” He cited new intelligence “from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.”

Most Republicans have defended Trump and hailed the tentative ceasefire he brokered in the Israel-Iran war. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., went as far as to question the constitutionality of the War Powers Act, which is intended to give Congress a say in military action.

“The bottom line is the commander in chief is the president, the military reports to the president, and the person empowered to act on the nation’s behalf is the president,” Johnson told reporters.

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But some Republicans, including some of Trump’s staunchest supporters, are uncomfortable with the strikes and the potential for U.S. involvement in an extended Middle East conflict.

“I think the speaker needs to review the Constitution,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “And I think there’s a lot of evidence that our Founding Fathers did not want presidents to unilaterally go to war.”

Paul would not say whether he would vote for the resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would require congressional approval for specific military action in Iran. A simple majority in the Senate is needed to pass the resolution and Republicans hold a 53-47 advantage.

“I will have Republican votes, plural,” Kaine said. “But whether it’s two or 10, I don’t know.”

Kaine authored a similar resolution in 2020 aimed at limiting Trump’s authority to launch military operations against Iran. At the time, eight Republicans joined Democrats in approving the resolution.

“I think I have a chance to get some votes from people who are glad that President Trump did this over the weekend, but they’re saying, ‘Ok, but now if we’re really going to go to war, it should only have to go through the Congress,’” Kaine told The Associated Press before the briefing.

While Trump did not seek approval, he sent congressional leaders a short letter Monday serving as his official notice of the strikes, which occurred Saturday between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. EDT, or roughly 2:10 a.m. on Sunday in Iran.

The letter said the strike was taken “to advance vital United States national interests, and in collective self-defense of our ally, Israel, by eliminating Iran’s nuclear program.”

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs thought his “fame, wealth and power” put him above the law as he led a criminal enterprise for two decades, using “power, violence and fear” to carry out brutal crimes, a prosecutor told a jury at the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial during closing arguments Thursday.

“Over the last several weeks, you’ve learned a lot about Sean Combs,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik began. “He’s the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn’t take no for an answer. And now you know about many crimes he committed with members of his enterprise.”

She said charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy were supported by proof that over two decades, Combs kidnapped one of his employees, committed arson by trying to blow up a car, engaged in forced labor, bribed a security officer and carried out the “brutal crimes at the heart of this case.”

Combs “again and again forced, threatened and manipulated” former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and an ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” into “having sex with escorts for his own entertainment,” Slavik said, speaking from a lectern positioned between jurors and the tables where prosecutors and defense lawyers sat.

“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” she said. “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”

Slavik said Combs “counted on silence and shame” to enable and prolong his abuse. He used a “small army” of employees — an inner circle that included personal assistants and bodyguards — to harm women and cover it up, she said.

The theory of racketeering law is that “when someone commits crime as part of a group, they’re more powerful and dangerous,” Slavik said. “The defendant was a powerful man, but he became more powerful and dangerous because of his inner circle, his businesses — the enterprise.”

Combs and his inner circle “committed hundreds of racketeering acts,” she said.

As Slavik spoke, jurors saw photos of key figures in Combs’ orbit, as well as excerpts from related testimony in the trial transcript and slides to categorize evidence.

One slide listed crimes prosecutors allege as part of the racketeering conspiracy, including drug distribution, kidnapping, arson and witness tampering. Another slide listed drugs such as cocaine, meth, ketamine, Oxycodone and MDMA, that Combs’ aides said they procured for him, or that federal agents said they found last year in raids of Combs’ homes.

Combs sat with his head down, his chair pushed back a few feet from the defense table, as Slavik spoke. He was wearing a light-colored sweater over a white button-down shirt and khakis.

Since his arrest at a Manhattan hotel last September, prosecutors have said Combs coerced and abused women for years as he used his “power and prestige” as a music star to enlist a network of associates and employees to help him while he silenced victims through blackmail and violence.

They’ve said the Bad Boy Records founder induced female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed “Freak-Offs.”

Defense lawyers have argued that Combs was involved in domestic violence but committed no federal crimes.

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They built their case for acquittal through lengthy cross-examinations of most of the government’s 34 witnesses. Some witnesses testified only in response to subpoenas and made it clear to the jury that they didn’t want to be there.

Combs’ lawyers contend there was no racketeering conspiracy because none of his employees agreed to be part of any conspiracy.

But in her closing, Slavik said employees repeatedly agreed to commit crimes for Combs, such as delivering him drugs; accompanying him to kidnap his personal assistant, Capricorn Clark; and locking his girlfriend in a hotel room after he stomped on her face.

Before Slavik began her closing, Judge Arun Subramanian told the jury they would hear a closing argument from a defense lawyer on Friday and a rebuttal by a prosecutor before he instructs them on the law and allows them to begin deliberating as early as late afternoon.

The wife of the man accused in the attacks on Minnesota legislators said Thursday that she and their children “are absolutely shocked, heartbroken and completely blindsided.”

Vance L. Boelter, 57, is charged in the June 14 shootings that killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and husband, Mark, at their Brooklyn Park home, and that wounded Sen. John Hoffman and wife, Yvette, at their Champlin home.

Boelter’s wife, in her first public statement, expressed her family’s sympathies to the Hortman and Hoffman families.

Vance Luther Boelter (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

“This violence does not at all align with our beliefs as a family,” Jenny Boelter said in the statement. “It is a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian faith. We are appalled and horrified by what occurred and our hearts are incredibly heavy for the victims of this unfathomable tragedy.”

Jenny Boelter also said, in the statement issued on her behalf by the Halberg Criminal Defense firm, that she hadn’t been pulled over by law enforcement after the shootings. She said she received a call from law enforcement “and immediately drove to meet agents at a nearby gas station.”

She said they “voluntarily agreed to meet with them, answer their questions, provide all items they requested and cooperate with all searches.”

After a large-scale manhunt, Vance Boelter was arrested on June 15 near his and his wife’s home in rural Sibley County. Jenny Boelter’s statement concluded: “We thank law enforcement for apprehending Vance and protecting others from further harm.”

Boelter is charged with murder in both federal and state court.

The Hortmans will lie in state on Friday in the Minnesota Capitol rotunda in St. Paul, along with their golden retriever, Gilbert. The rotunda will be open from noon to 5 p.m. for the public to pay their respects to the Hortmans. Their dog also was gravely wounded in the shooting and had to be euthanized.

Officer who fired handgun identified

Also on Thursday, authorities identified a Brooklyn Park police officer who fired his handgun when shots were fired at the Hortman home. The charges again Boelter say he was posing as an officer when he went to the homes of Hoffman, Hortman and two other legislators who he did not encounter.

Officers arrived to check on the Hortman home after the shootings at the Hoffman home and encountered a man who officials later identified as Boelter.

“As officers arrived, they encountered a vehicle resembling a squad car with emergency lights flashing in the Hortmans’ driveway and a man, later identified as Vance Boelter, at the front of the home dressed as a police officer,” according to a Thursday statement from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. “Shots were fired and Officer (Zachary) Baumtrog discharged his firearm in response.”

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On the day of the shootings, officials said Boelter had shot at officers. Authorities said June 16 that is being further investigated.

“When Boelter saw the officers get out of the car, he drew his weapon and began firing,” Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson said previously. “He rushed into the house through the front door, firing into it. He repeatedly fired into the house, and when he entered, he murdered Rep. Hortman and her husband Mark.” He fled out the back door.

Baumtrog was wearing a body camera during the incident, which BCA agents are reviewing during their investigation into his use of force.

The officer has nine years of law enforcement experience. Brooklyn Park Police Department placed him on critical incident leave, which is standard.