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RFK Jr. fires back in defense of vaccine stance amid heated Senate confirmation hearing

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From LifeSiteNews

By Emily Mangiaracina

Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. firmly defended his cautious stance on vaccines amid today’s grueling Senate confirmation hearing.

“Are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine, or did you lie on all those podcasts?” pressed Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), suggesting that Kennedy flatly contradicted during interviews his insistence during the hearing that he is not “anti-vaccine.”

Kennedy pointed out to Wyden that he was referring only to a “fragment” of the full statement that he made on the Lex Friedman podcast. “He asked me, ‘Are there any vaccines that are safe and effective?’ And I said to him, some of the live virus vaccines are. And I said, ‘There are no vaccines that are safe and effective — and I was going to continue, ‘for every person.’”

“Every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines,” Kennedy continued.

Kennedy has previously clarified that he is not opposed to all vaccines, but has found that, in practice, many of them pose safety problems. He adopted this stance of extreme caution toward vaccines after the mothers of vaccine-injured children implored him to look into the research linking thimerosal to neurological injuries, including autism.

He went on to found Children’s Health Defense, an organization with the stated mission of “ending childhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure,” largely through vaccines.

Kennedy has before stressed that “not one of the 72 vaccines mandated for children has ever been safety tested in pre-licensing, placebo-controlled trials,” something even Dr. Anthony Fauci recently admitted.

If Kennedy is confirmed by the Senate, he will oversee a broad range of health organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In a late October interview, Kennedy shared that Trump has tasked him with cleaning up the corruption in these agencies and ending their conflicts of interest.

In recent years, Kennedy has spoken much about the pattern of corruption and conflicts of interest that he witnessed firsthand during his many years as an environmental attorney. During Kennedy’s presidential run, he discussed how the “corporate capture” of regulatory agencies is the “biggest threat to American democracy.”

According to Kennedy, the problem is pronounced in health agencies. For example, the FDA “gets 50 percent of its budget from Big Pharma” and the NIH “collects royalties when (a) pharma company sells (its) product,” as he explained in an interview last year.

Kennedy and Children’s Health Defense are routinely dismissed as “anti-vax” for openly discussing the scientific evidence regarding the link between vaccines and chronic diseases, including autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, and other neuropsychiatric and autoimmune disorders, in some children.

Rather than investigating the science, mainstream media mostly insists these links have been “debunked,” without providing any evidence for their claim.

Kennedy has also called for the removal of fluoride from public drinking water, citing recent studies and a landmark federal court decision that show it interferes with children’s brain development – a concern that has even been flagged by some mainstream public health commentators.

His supporters hope these issues will now receive serious public attention that will lead to policy change.

Kennedy has faced vehement opposition from among establishment professionals, including 77 Nobel laureates who signed a letter urging the Senate to oppose Kennedy’s confirmation as head of HHS.

The New York Times described Kennedy as “a staunch critic of mainstream medicine” who “has been hostile to the scientists and agencies he would oversee.”

To many Americans, those are the perfect qualifications for the next head of HHS.

Business

Trump demands free passage for American ships through Panama, Suez

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Quick Hit:

President Donald Trump is pushing for U.S. ships to transit the Panama and Suez canals without paying tolls, arguing the waterways would not exist without America.

Key Details:

  • In a Saturday Truth Social post, Trump said, “American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America.”

  • Trump directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “immediately take care of, and memorialize” the issue, signaling a potential new diplomatic initiative with Panama and Egypt.

  • The Panama Canal generated about $3.3 billion in toll revenue in fiscal 2023, while the Suez Canal posted a record $9.4 billion. U.S. vessels account for roughly 70% of Panama Canal traffic, according to government figures.

Diving Deeper:

President Donald Trump is pressing for American ships to receive free passage through two of the world’s most critical shipping lanes—the Panama and Suez canals—a move he argues would recognize the United States’ historic role in making both waterways possible. In a post shared Saturday on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America.”

Trump added that he has instructed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “immediately take care of, and memorialize” the situation. His comments, first reported by FactSet, come as U.S. companies face rising shipping costs, with tolls for major vessels ranging from $200,000 to over $500,000 per Panama Canal crossing, based on canal authority schedules.

The Suez Canal, operated by Egypt, reportedly saw record revenues of $9.4 billion in 2023, largely driven by American and European shipping amid ongoing Red Sea instability. After a surge in attacks by Houthi militants on commercial ships earlier this year, Trump authorized a sustained military campaign targeting missile and drone sites in northern Yemen. The Pentagon said the strikes were part of an effort to “permanently restore freedom of navigation” for global shipping near the Suez Canal.

Trump has framed the military operations as part of a broader strategy to counter Iranian-backed destabilization efforts across the Middle East.

Meanwhile, in Central America, Trump’s administration is working to counter Chinese influence near the Panama Canal. On April 9th, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced an expanded partnership with Panama to bolster canal security, including a memorandum of understanding allowing U.S. warships and support vessels to move “first and free” through the canal. “The Panama Canal is key terrain that must be secured by Panama, with America, and not China,” Hegseth emphasized during a press conference in Panama City.

American commercial shipping has long depended on the canal, which reduces the shipping route between the U.S. East Coast and Asia by nearly 8,000 miles. About 40% of all U.S. container traffic uses the Panama Canal annually, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The United States originally constructed and controlled the Panama Canal following a monumental effort championed by President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century. After backing Panama’s independence from Colombia in 1903, the U.S. secured the rights to build and operate the canal, which opened in 1914. Although U.S. control ended in 1999 under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, the canal remains vital to U.S. trade.

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U.S. Army names new long-range hypersonic weapon ‘Dark Eagle’

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One of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon Transporter Erector Launchers assigned to Bravo Battery, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery, Long Range Fires Battalion, 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, participates in exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 on Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 5, 2024.

From The Center Square

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The U.S. Army’s newest long-range hypersonic weapon will be called “Dark Eagle” the Pentagon announced Thursday after a successful test flight.

The land-based, truck-launched system is armed with hypersonic missiles that travel 3,800 miles per hour with a range of 1,725 miles. They can reach the top of the Earth’s atmosphere and “remain just beyond the range of air and missile defense systems until they are ready to strike, and by then it’s too late to react,” according to Army statements in a March 2023 Congressional Research Service report.

In December, the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, in collaboration with the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs, completed a successful end-to-end flight test of a conventional hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

“Hypersonic weapons will complicate adversaries’ decision calculus, strengthening deterrence,” said Patrick Mason, senior official performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. “Their speed, accuracy and versatility are befitting its new popular name, Dark Eagle.”

Army officials repeatedly delayed tests of the Dark Eagle system after failures in 2021 and 2022, according to the CRS report.

The U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office and the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs partnered to get land and sea variants of a hypersonic weapon system.

The use of a common hypersonic missile and joint test opportunities allow the services to pursue a more aggressive timeline for delivery and to realize cost savings, according to the Pentagon.

A Congressional Budget Office study from January 2023, buying 300 Intermediate-Range Hypersonic Boost-Glide Missiles, which are similar to the LRHW, was estimated to cost $41 million per missile in 2023 dollars.

But that’s just an estimate. Since the 2023 CBO cost estimate, the Pentagon has said little about the per missile cost of the LRHW.

With the Army planning to field LRHWs to units by the end of FY2025 – if the Army’s new leadership team concurs – an actual per missile cost should be available for policymakers,” according to the CRS note. “With an established per missile cost, the Army should also be able to provide Congress with details about the total LRHW stockpile it intends to procure and how long it will take to ‘grow’ the LRHW stockpile.”

The prime contractors on the project are Lockheed Martin, Dynetics Inc. and Dynetics Technical Solutions, according to the CBO report.

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