Commentary: American Fitness Has National Security Implications

Fiscal year 2023 is projected to be the most difficult year for military recruiting since the inception of the all-volunteer force in 1973. Every branch of the military is reporting extreme challenges in recruiting enough volunteers to fill their ranks. Not only are fewer people volunteering, but there are fewer eligible Americans to recruit as the prevalence of obesity grows and disqualifies an ever-increasing number from military service.

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CDC: Alcohol-Related Deaths Spiked During Pandemic

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published new data revealing the full extent of alcohol-related deaths during the roughly two-year lockdown period of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

As reported by CNN, the rate of alcohol-related deaths in the United States spiked by 26 percent between 2019 and 2020, with this one-year percentage increase being higher than the cumulative increase over the entirety of the previous decade. As a result, alcohol was the cause of death for over 49,000 Americans in 2020, which amounts to 13 out of every 100,000 people on average, up from 2019’s total of 10.4 people out of every 100,000.

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Humphreys County Parent Angered After Child Brings Bible Home from School

A Humphreys County parent is angry after she said her child was given a bible from school. 

“[My daughter] said they put the Bibles on a table and the principal himself said, ‘You can take them,’ and she felt very uncomfortable not doing it because she was afraid to catch hell from kids,” according to the parent, who asked to remain anonymous. 

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Arizona State Senate Will Not Require Public School Students to Receive a COVID-19 Vaccine

The Arizona State Senate has reassured that public school students will not be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine despite recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“This is just another example of how out of touch the federal government and its agencies are with everyday families,” said Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott). “With Republicans currently in control of our state government, we can promise that we will never subject Arizonans to the requirement of an experimental vaccine that has raised questions over long-term health implications.”

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Connecticut GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Bob Stefanowski Vows to Reject COVID Shot Mandate for School Children

Connecticut GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski said Thursday in a press statement that if he is elected Connecticut governor that the state would never mandate the COVID vaccine for “schoolchildren, public or private employees, or anyone else.”

“It’s time that we start allowing actual science — not political science — to inform how we approach public health decisions,” Stefanowski added. “I challenge Governor Lamont to make this same pledge to the people of our state.”

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Drug Task Force Finds $200 Million Worth of Fentanyl in Shelby County

The West Tennessee Drug Task Force (WTDTF) found over $200 million worth of fentanyl in Shelby County on Thursday.

WTDTF shared a post on Facebook saying, “The investigation led to the discovery of 22 pounds of fentanyl and the arrest of three Kentucky men. This amount of fentanyl is enough to overdose the population of Shelby County nine times over. Fetanyl and fentanyl derived pills are deadly! Don’t even try it once! The agent who made the stop is assigned to the task force by Sheriff Garrett of Haywood County.”

The West Tennessee Drug Task Force shared a post on Facebook saying, “The investigation led to the discovery of 22 pounds of fentanyl and the arrest of three Kentucky men. This amount of fentanyl is enough to overdose the population of Shelby County nine times over. Fetanyl and fentanyl derived pills are deadly! Don’t even try it once! The agent who made the stop is assigned to the task force by Sheriff Garrett of Haywood County.”

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Attorney General Mark Brnovich Pushes Back Against CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendation

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) pushed back against the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for voting to put the COVID-19 vaccine on the recommended immunization schedule for children and the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program.

“Every month, it seems that we hear more revealing details about COVID-19 and strong critiques about our government’s initial beliefs and response,” said Brnovich in a press release. “For such relatively new and controversial vaccines to be added to the list of childhood immunizations at this point defies common sense and the rights of parents to decide what’s best for their families.”

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CDC Immunization Advisory Panel Likely to Weigh Recommending Routine COVID Shots for Children

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) may have scheduled in its meeting agenda for Wednesday and Thursday a vote on whether to recommend adding COVID-19 shots to the standard Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule.

The agenda’s wording is ambiguous, as Children’s Health Defense (CHD) President and General Counsel Mary Holland noted.

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CDC Allocates $85 Million for Grants Requiring Schools to Start Student-Led Clubs Supporting LGBT Youth

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent $85 million on a grant program requiring public schools to start Gay-Straight Alliances, public documents show. 

According to a notice of funding report for a grant offered by the CDC, the federal agency has a total of $85 million to spend over a five year period from 2018-2023 with a twelve month budget period. 

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Arizona Police Seize 52 Pounds of Fentanyl from Smuggler

Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) troopers on September 14 seized more than 50pounds of fentanyl during a traffic stop in Pima County, according to a release from this week. 

“During the traffic stop, the trooper observed multiple indicators of criminal activity,” the release said. “A subsequent search of the vehicle led to the discovery of 52 pounds of suspected fentanyl pills concealed within a compartment built into the vehicle’s rocker panels. The suspected fentanyl was being smuggled from Nogales, Mexico, to Tucson.”

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CDC: Administrative Federal Agency Charged with Americans’ Health and Safety Flooded With Credibility Problems

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is only one example of an administrative federal agency run by unelected bureaucrats, it is one charged with ensuring Americans receive truthful health and safety information, a daunting role for an organization now engulfed with concerns about its credibility.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky wrote in a letter made public this week her agency did not conduct a type of analysis on reports made to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) regarding COVID shots during 2021. Her agency, however, indicated otherwise in its documents and through some of its other representatives.

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Biden Administration Awards over $7 Million to ‘Elevate Parent Voices in Education’ After Smearing Vocal Parents as Potential ‘Domestic Terrorists’

The Biden education department announced Thursday it was awarding more than $7 million in competitive grants to eight organizations that have worked to achieve what the department calls “the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing efforts to enhance and increase parent and family engagement in local education.”

Grants from the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program, the announcement states, “provide financial support to organizations that offer technical assistance and training to state educational agencies and school districts that effectively engage families over policies, programs, and activities that lead to improvements in student development and academic achievement.”

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Sen. Rand Paul: ‘Dr. Fauci Continues to Lie, Cover-Up, and Deny the Science to Promote Himself’

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) once again battled with White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci Wednesday about whether children with natural immunity from a prior COVID infection should be injected with the mRNA shots the government has referred to as “vaccines.”

“Dr. Fauci continues to lie, cover-up, and deny the science to promote himself,” tweeted Paul about his tense exchange with Fauci during a Senate committee hearing whose central focus was the federal response to monkeypox.

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Arizona Troopers Making Traffic Stop Seize Enough Fentanyl to Kill Seven Million People

An Arizona state trooper made a massive drug bust when he pulled over a motorist in late August. 

“During the traffic stop, the trooper observed multiple indicators of criminal activity,” said a Friday press release from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS). “A subsequent search of the vehicle led to the discovery of approximately 46 pounds of suspected fentanyl pills concealed in natural compartments within the vehicle.”

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U.S. Life Expectancy Sees Largest Two-Year Decrease in 100 Years

Life expectancy across all groups in the U.S. has fallen 2.7 years from 2019 to 2021, the largest two-year decrease in 100 years, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Wednesday.

Overall, life expectancy at birth fell to 76.1 years, with life expectancy declines driven primarily by the coronavirus pandemic and unintentional injuries including overdoses, with heart disease, liver disease and suicide representing smaller contributions, the CDC reported. While life expectancy is expected to increase slightly in 2022, it is unlikely to rise to pre-pandemic levels and CDC researchers are still waiting to see how the U.S. fares in an expected winter rise in death rates, according to Reuters.

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Commentary: The CDC Finally Admits the Science on Natural Immunity

In August 2021 Science Magazine, a peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, highlighted groundbreaking research out of Israel that upended the public health establishment.

The research, which relied on a database enrolling some 2.5 million Israelis and was led by Tal Patalon, head of the KSM Research and Innovation Center at Maccabi Healthcare Services, and deputy Sivan Gazit, found that previous infection from Covid-19 conferred considerably stronger and longer-lasting protection against the Delta variant than vaccines.

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University of Arizona Says Pandemic Is Not Over, Pushes Vaccines

The President of the University of Arizona is still pushing COVID-19 precautions, despite the fact that even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has significantly reduced its COVID-19 guidelines. 

“The pandemic is not over … though our situation is much improved over the start of last academic year,” University of Arizona President Robert Robbins said in an interview with the school newspaper. “While transmission of COVID-19 remains persistent around the nation, we have successfully navigated the past two years with continued innovation, support and cooperation from students, faculty and staff. We have the tools to continue our success and we know how to use them.”

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Arizona AG Brnovich and Coalition of States Fight Against Mask Mandates on Public Transportation

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich joined 22 other states this week in filing an amicus curiae brief at the appellate level opposing the Center for Disease Control’s attempt to continue a mask mandate on public transportation, which includes airplanes and buses. He sued the CDC over the requirement with 20 other attorneys general in March.

“Upholding the law is especially important during times of emergency,” he said in a statement. “Federal overreach is most often attempted under the guise of addressing a crisis.”

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Tennessee Identifies First Monkeypox Case

Tennessee has identified its first case of Monkeypox, a rare affliction that can be deadly. 

“Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness. Although infection may begin with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion before the development of rash, many of the cases associated with the 2022 outbreak have reported very mild or no symptoms other than rash,” according to the Tennessee Department of Health (TDOH).

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Tennessee House Leaders Ask Gov. Lee to Halt Vaccine Rollout for Children Under Five

Tennessee’s Republican House leaders this week penned a letter to Governor Bill Lee (R) asking him to halt the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines for children under the age of five.

“Governor, the COVID-19 emergency has long passed in Tennessee,” the letter, penned by State Rep. Jason Zachary (R-District 14), said. “Based on the data in the FDA’s own 66-page report, there is no concrete basis for amended emergency authorization to vaccinate small children.” 

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FDA Quickly Authorizes COVID Shots for Infants and Young Children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quickly authorized the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine shots for infants and young children Friday, paving the way for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee to vote on authorization over the weekend to allow the youngest children to get the shots as early as next week.

Per the press announcement by the FDA, the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Moderna COVID vaccine for older children and adults has been “amended” to “include use of the vaccine in individuals 6 months through 17 years of age,” while the EUA for the Pfizer COVID shot will now include use of the vaccine for babies as young as “6 months through 4 years of age.”

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Republican Lawmakers Demand Answers from FDA on COVID Vaccines for Babies and Toddlers

A group of Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House are demanding answers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its vaccine panel regarding the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) application for COVID vaccines in babies and young children under five years of age.

Though young children without other significant medical issues bear the least risk of serious illness from catching the COVID infection, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha is already planning for the distribution of COVID vaccines for babies and toddlers under five years of age as early as June 21 if the FDA and CDC approve.

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U.S. Birth Rate Increases for the First Time in Seven Years

The U.S. birthrate in 2021 increased for the first time since 2014, with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions potentially causing the jump.

The U.S. birthrate saw a 1% increase over the course of 2021 with 3.66 million babies being born throughout the year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. All age groups of women over 25 contributed to the jump in birthrates, with some experts suggesting that a lengthening COVID-19 pandemic might have contributed to the bump, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Lesko Joins Letter Demanding Info on CDC’s Location-Tracking of Americans During Lockdown

A U.S. congresswoman from Arizona has signed onto a letter with her House of Representatives colleagues demanding information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding the organization’s data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I joined [Rep. Kelly Armstong (R-ND)]’s letter to CDC Director Walensky to demand answers about the CDC’s legal authority to obtain Americans’ location data. This violates the rights of Americans!” Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) said. 

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Federal Court Deals Another Crushing Blow to Biden Admin’s Immigration Order

A federal judge ordered the Biden administration Wednesday to fully implement Title 42 for the next 14 days, the latest setback in the administration’s efforts to end the public health policy.

Louisiana Judge Robert R. Summerhays issued the order in Arizona’s case against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) decision to end Title 42, which is used to quickly expel certain migrants during the pandemic. The order requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to continue enforcing the policy, and prevents the agency from implementing the CDC’s order to terminate the program.

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Biden Administration Will Fight to Keep Mask Mandate for Planes, Trains and Airports

The U.S. Department of Justice has appealed a federal judge’s ruling overturning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask mandate on planes, trains and in airports.

In her ruling to overturn the mandate, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle called the CDC mandate “unlawful,” saying the Biden administration did not follow proper procedures and went beyond its authority in making the rule.

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Texas Mask Mandate Repeal Case Attorney Welcomes Florida Judge’s Ruling

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Robert Henneke, the executive director and general counsel of The Texas Public Policy Foundation, about Florida federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle’s Oct. 18, 2022 ruling that overturned the Centers for Disease Control’s mask mandate for air travelers and public transportation passengers.

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Four Largest Airlines Drop COVID Mask Requirement Hours After Trump-Appointed Judge Strikes Down CDC Mandate

Four major U.S. airlines are ditching COVID-19 mask requirements after a federal judge in Florida on Monday struck down the Biden administration’s mask mandate for air passengers and others mass travelers.

Several airlines, including United Airlines, Delta, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines announced that they were dropping the mask requirements for passengers and employees.

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Arizona, Others Sue Biden Admin for Rescinding Title 42

Arizona is leading the charge in suing the President Joe Biden’s administration over its plan to rescind Title 42, one of the few remaining protections that allows for the deportation of illegal aliens.

“This suit challenges an imminent, man-made, self-inflicted calamity: the abrupt elimination of the only safety valve preventing this Administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated chaos and catastrophe. Specifically, this action challenges the Biden Administration’s revocation of Title 42 border control measures, which will, absent judicial relief, become effective May 23, 2022,” says a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) and his counterparts in Missouri and Louisiana. 

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Tennessee Republican Legislators Look to Strip Parents of Consent in Vaccinating Their Minor Children Against STDs, Parental Rights Watchdog Says

Bob Ramsey and Richard Briggs

Legislation sponsored by Republicans that is advancing through the Tennessee legislature would strip parents of their consent relative to their children receiving vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), a parental rights group said in a recent call to action.

Two bills with placeholder language, known as “caption” bills, caught the attention of Stand for Health Freedom (SHF), a nonprofit launched in 2019 that is dedicated to protecting basic human, constitutional and parental rights, according to the organization’s website.

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Commentary: Pharma Giant’s Mandate Makes Ex-Workers of Vaccine Objectors

Eli Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Mandy Van Gorp was confident that her employer of 18 years, Eli Lilly and Company, would treat her fairly when she objected to its company-wide COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The pharmaceutical giant had promised to exempt employees with valid health or religious objections to the policy and she believed she had had both.

Despite presenting a doctor’s note in support of her exemption, citing an auto-immune disease, the company denied her request for a medical exemption. To add injury to the insult she felt, she tested positive for COVID-19 the day after receiving her rejection letter. She then appealed for a six-month deferral on grounds of the positive test. Lilly also denied that request. When she then raised her religious concerns, Lilly said she had missed the application deadline – a deadline that had lapsed several weeks before Lilly replied to her initial accommodation request.

The “toughest night was when we were sitting at the dinner table and my 12-year-old was sobbing, hysterically begging me to get the vaccine so I could keep my job,” recalled Van Gorp, a 42-year-old sales representative and mother of three. “I had to explain that my choice was not about money and that I felt God was leading me not to follow a mandate. It’s hard to explain that to a 12-year-old.”

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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson and Dr. Robert Malone: ‘COVID Cartel’ Lied to Scapegoat Unvaccinated Americans in Effort to Divide Nation

Wisconsin. Senator Ron Johnson (R) and Dr. Robert Malone wrote in an op-ed at The Federalist Thursday the “COVID cartel” – federal health agencies, Big Pharma, establishment media, and Big Tech – lied in order to scapegoat unvaccinated Americans in a campaign to divide the nation.

Johnson, who has spearheaded efforts to break the silencing of physicians and scientists on the issue of early treatment for COVID-19, and Malone, a pioneer in the development of mRNA technology, wrote Americans have been deceived for the sake of covering up government fraud and incompetence, while likely thousands have died unnecessary deaths.

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CDC Set to Announce Easing of Mask Guidelines

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is allegedly set to announce an easing of mask restrictions on the national level.

Fox News reports that the updated guidelines will focus less on the overall number of cases, and will instead emphasize a community’s general risk of spreading the coronavirus. As such, current guidelines apply to individuals who live in communities with allegedly “substantial or high transmission.” The CDC claims, without evidence, that 95 percent of all counties in the United States qualify as “high transmission.”

The new guidelines will apparently not apply to most Americans, as the new criteria will factor in hospitalizations with the overall capacity of local medical facilities. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has said that the new guidelines will focus more on “enhanced prevention efforts.”

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Vanderbilt Concerned After Uptick in Suicide Among Medical Students

Woman in lab coat looking through microscope

Vanderbilt University is concerned after four of its medical school students have committed suicide in less than two years. 

“Vanderbilt University is committed to a culture of caring in which the well-being of all community members—our extraordinary students, the faculty who teach them, and the staff who play an immeasurable role in the success of this remarkable university—is enhanced and supported,” Vanderbilt said in a statement. “We strive to foster a culture of openness through brave dialogue, honest self-reflection, and willingness to invest in this incredible university by investing first in the mental health and wholeness of every member of the Vanderbilt family.”

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Florida U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez Calls for Reduced COVID Regulations on Cruise Industry

Congressman Carlos Gimenez (R-FL-26) called for reduced coronavirus regulations on the cruise industry, penning a letter to Jeffrey Zients, the White House COVID coordinator.

The letter, which gathered bipartisan support, criticized a new program implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that will require cruise lines to report the vaccination status of passengers and crew for each ship, if they opt into the program.

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