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The U.S. government this week bought $290 million in supplies of a drug designed to treat blood cell injuries following radiological and nuclear emergencies as part of what it said were long-standing efforts to prepare for potential health impacts from threats to national security.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services purchased the drug Nplate from Amgen Inc.

When asked whether the purchase, announced Tuesday, was linked to tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, an HHS spokesperson said it was part of ongoing efforts to prepare for a wide range of threats including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and emerging infectious diseases. Source

Hackers backing Iran’s wave of women-led protests interrupted a state TV news broadcast with an image of gun-sight crosshairs and flames over the face of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in footage widely shared online on Sunday.

In other anti-regime messages, activists have spray-painted “Death to Khamenei” and “The Police are the Murderers of the People” on public billboards in Tehran.

“The blood of our youths is on your hands,” read an on-screen message that flashed up briefly during the TV broadcast Saturday evening, as street protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, again rocked Tehran and other cities. Source

A woman from Las Vegas, Nevada has garnered more than 3 million followers on social media for showing what she can do with a microchip implanted in the back of her hand.

Burgundy Waller has called her husband a “tech genius.” She had a chip implanted in her hand a little more than two years ago. It serves as a key to the couple’s mansion, The Daily Mail reports. Her husband programmed the chip for her.

Waller is known as “The Chip Girl” in her TikTok videos. She shares what the chip can do, like unlocking doors, drawers, closets, and other storage areas throughout their lavish home just by touching them. Source: CBN News

With Russian leader Vladimir Putin hinting at using nuclear weapons in Ukraine and Russian armies flailing and floundering, concerns are growing over the disappearance of a Russian nuclear-powered submarine that some reports say has a “doomsday” weapon aboard.

NATO has warned member nations that the submarine Belgorod left its base in the Arctic Circle, according to the New York Post, citing the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

The Post report said the submarine can carry “doomsday” Poseidon nuclear torpedo drones, which Russia claims have the power to create 1,600-foot nuclear tsunamis, causing devastation along a coastline. Source: Western Journal

A federal judge handed down the latest rebuke of the Biden administration by striking down the federal COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates for teachers and students in the Head Start program.

Judge Terry A. Doughty, on the bench of a U.S. District Court in Louisiana, on Wednesday ruled the federal government cannot require Head Start program teachers, staff and volunteers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, nor can it require adults or students to wear masks. His order “permanently enjoins the vaccine and mask mandate in 24 states,” a release from the Liberty Justice Center says, and impacts 280,000 teachers, staff and volunteers.

In his ruling, he wrote, “The public interest is served by maintaining the constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals who do not want to take the COVID-19 vaccine. This interest outweighs Agency Defendants’ interests. The public has a liberty interest in not being required to take a vaccine or be fired from their jobs. The public interest must be considered before allowing Agency Defendants to mandate vaccines. Although vaccines arguably serve the public interest, the liberty interests of individuals mandated to take the COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any interest generated by the mandatory administration of vaccines.” Source: Just the News

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) has taken center stage in the Biden administration’s push to force health care providers to perform abortions. Faith-based organizations have been forced to take action to protect their sincerely held religious beliefs, including the belief that human life begins at the moment of fertilization, from being violated by requirements that health care providers perform abortions.

Shortly after the Dobbs v. Jackson Woman’s Health Organization opinion was released, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to find ways to make abortion accessible despite the Supreme Court ruling. The order instructed HHS to rely upon EMTALA to ensure that abortion as a treatment option is available in emergency medical situations. Read More … Source: The Federalist

Israel has acquired a previously unknown ancient papyrus bearing a Hebrew inscription dated to around 2,700 years ago that had long been in possession of a Montana resident, the country’s antiquities authority said Wednesday.

The scrap of papyrus — scarcely larger than a postage stamp with four lines of angular script — is one of just a few from the region in the Late Iron Age, archaeologists said. The Israel Antiquities Authority said it authenticated its age using radiocarbon dating, which corresponded with the age of the text’s writing style.

Joe Uziel, director of the Judean desert scrolls unit, said the matching radiocarbon date and paleographic style makes him “very certain” that it is not a modern forgery.

The papyrus, which bears the Biblical name Ishmael, was likely looted sometime in the last century from a cave in the Judean Desert, he said. Source: CBN News

Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a sacred object for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or “rad trad”) Catholics. On this extremist fringe, rosary beads have been woven into a conspiratorial politics and absolutist gun culture. These armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal.

Their social-media pages are saturated with images of rosaries draped over firearms, warriors in prayer, Deus Vult (“God wills it”) crusader memes, and exhortations for men to rise up and become Church Militants. Influencers on platforms such as Instagram share posts referencing “everyday carry” and “gat check” (gat is slang for “firearm”) that include soldiers’ “battle beads,” handguns, and assault rifles. One artist posts illustrations of his favorite Catholic saints, clergy, and influencers toting AR-15-style rifles labeled sanctum rosarium alongside violently homophobic screeds that are celebrated by social-media accounts with thousands of followers. Source: The Atlantic