FDA Warns of Excessive Lead Levels in ‘Baby Junk Food’

Molly Bruns
-
0
FDA Warns of Excessive Lead Levels in ‘Baby Junk Food’

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) The Food and Drug Administration recently released guidelines on how to feed babies and young children the least amount of lead and other toxic heavy metals possible.

According to the Daily Wire, many foods meant for infants and young children is processed and packaged in ways that may expose them to lead.

Fruits, vegetables, mixes, meats, custards, puddings and yogurts may contain 10 parts per billion. Root vegetables that are one ingredient and dry breakfast cereal are both 20 parts per billion.

“For more than 30 years, the FDA has been working to reduce exposure to lead, and other environmental contaminants, from foods. This work has resulted in a dramatic decline in lead exposure from foods since the mid-1980s,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf said.

While the agency stated that the guidelines are not hard and fast rules, they will be taking the levels of lead into consideration when reviewing food items.

They also stated that their intent is not to influence consumers in their food choices.

“The action levels in today’s draft guidance are not intended to direct consumers in making food choices,” said Susan Mayne, the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition director. “To support child growth and development, we recommend parents and caregivers feed children a varied and nutrient-dense diet across and within the main food groups of vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein foods.”

Several critics noted that the great majority of food manufacturers already follow these guidelines.

“Nearly all baby foods on the market already comply with what they have proposed,” Jane Houlihan, the National Director of Science and Health at Healthy Babies Bright Futures, said.

Some reports noticed that despite higher lead levels in highly manufactured “baby junk food,” the report neglects to mention them.

“It appears that the proposed standards were set based more on current industry feasibility to achieve the limits and not solely on levels that would best protect public health,” Brian Ronholm, Consumer Reports’ director of food policy said.

Dog Fatally Shoots Kansas Man in Tragic Hunting Accident

Jacob Bruns
-
0
Dog Fatally Shoots Kansas Man in Tragic Hunting Accident

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) A Kansas man was shot by a dog Saturday morning in a tragic hunting accident, the New York Post reported.

Witchita plumber Joseph Smith, 30, was sitting in the front seat of a pickup when the dog, in the back seat, stepped on his hunting rifle, causing it to fire right into Smith’s back. Although first-responders arrived within minutes, Smith reportedly died at the scene.

Sumner County police confirmed that the dog belonged to the truck’s owner but did not disclose whether it was his dog or someone else’s. Smith was a passenger in the truck and was on a weekend hunting trip about 40 miles south of Wichita, according to KSN News.

Smith’s boss, Chris Brown of Brown’s Plumbing Services, started a GoFundMe page to help his family cover funeral costs.

On the page, Brown noted that Smith was a beloved member of the community.

“Joe is absolutely the most unique individual I have had the pleasure of meeting,” Brown wrote. “He was loved by all of us from all walks of life and loved the same.”

Smith’s coworkers also had kind words of remembrance for the deceased.

“Joseph Smith was a truly amazing man. He was kind, funny, smart, and very loving. Every time he walked through the door, he would make someone smile,” a friend and coworker named Jessica said.

“Either from being a goofball or just his natural presence making everything better,” she added. “It wasn’t hard to love Joe because he always made you feel like you were one of a kind and never left a conversation without letting you know he loved you.”

Geofence Warrant Used to Sweep Up Jan. 6 Protestors Ruled Legal

Ken Silva
-
0
Geofence Warrant Used to Sweep Up Jan. 6 Protestors Ruled Legal

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A U.S. district judge has slapped down a challenge to the FBI’s use of a “geofence warrant” to collect location data on more than 5,000 devices at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, ruling that the controversial surveillance method is constitutional.

Unlike typical warrants that authorize the surveillance of specific targets, geofence warrants allow police to collect vast troves of location data from devices within a given area in a certain timeframe. In its Jan. 6 investigation, the FBI used a geofence warrant to collect location info on more than 5,000 devices from Google—later collecting the personal information of 1,498 devices determined to likely be inside the Capitol building.

Jan. 6 defendant David Rhine filed a challenge to this mass surveillance method last October, seeking to have a federal judge suppress the FBI’s geolocation data from his case. Rhine is charged with four misdemeanor counts, including disorderly conduct and entering a restricted building or grounds.

Rhine argued that the geofence warrant was overly broad in violation of the 4th Amendment. In his motion to suppress, Rhine said the warrant was overbroad because it required Google to query a vast trove of data without probable cause “to search untold millions of unknown accounts in a massive fishing expedition.”

He also argued that there is up to a “32% chance that the user in any of this data is actually not within the radius surrounding the estimated location and could be somewhere else.”

However, U.S. Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled on Jan. 24 that the FBI’s geofence warrant was constitutional. He noted that overly broad geofence warrants could violate the 4th Amendment, but said the FBI had ample probable cause in the case of Jan. 6.

“Because the Capitol building was not open to the public on January 6 due to the counting of the votes of the Electoral College, the fact of having entered the building during the geofence timeframe itself constitutes evidence of a crime,” Contreras said.

The judge added that even if he had found the FBI’s geofence warrant to be in violation of the 4th Amendment, he still would have allowed the location data from Rhine’s device to be used as evidence.

“The Court … would not suppress the evidence obtained from the geofence warrant under the good faith exception even if it had found that the Warrant lacked probable cause,” he said.

Government’s use of geofence warrants has risen dramatically in recent years. Google provided the public the first glimpse of this in an August 2021 report, which revealed that the company received more than 11,500 geofence warrants from federal, state, and local agencies in 2020 alone—up from 9,000 in 2019. Google only began receiving geofence warrants in 2016, the company said.

Privacy organizations have raised alarms about government’s growing use of geofence warrants, but they were notably silent about the Jan. 6 investigation.

In a September 2021 article, the Electronic Frontier Foundation decried the ATF’s use of geofence warrants in the wake of the 2020 protests and riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while remaining silent on the FBI’s use of the same tactic against the Jan. 6ers.

The ACLU has also been silent on the use of geofence warrants in the Jan. 6 investigation, and has instead chosen to warn about their use to investigate illegal abortions.

“Abortion rights advocates say geofencing and keyword warrants are among their top fears for the future of digital privacy after Roe v. Wade,” the ACLU said last August. “In states where abortion is restricted, women could come under scrutiny for searching for abortion services or just being near a clinic, they worry.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

SF 49ers Underdog QB Brock Purdy Says Jesus Is His Rock

Ezekiel Loseke
-
0
SF 49ers Underdog QB Brock Purdy Says Jesus Is His Rock

(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Brock Purdy, the biggest underdog in the NFL, says his identity is entirely formed by Jesus Christ.

Purdy was taken with the last pick of the 2022 draft by the San Francisco 49ers, earning him the title of “Mr. Irrelevant”. As the title suggests, players taken at that position are not expected to start, and sometimes don’t even make the final roster the year they are drafted.

Purdy was no different than the other Mr. Irrelevants on paper, as he began this season as a third-string quarterback. However, after both quarterbacks ahead of Purdy were injured, he started his first game in week 13 against the Miami Dolphins. He has since gone undefeated in his first eight games, which includes two playoff victories, according to NFL.com.

Purdy has led his team to the NFC Championship, is only a single game away from playing in the Super Bowl and was named one of the three finalists for offensive rookie of the year, according to Yahoo!

Purdy credits his Christian faith for giving him confidence and poise, according to CBN.

Purdy admits that at one point, he elevated football above his relationship with God, but he reports his identity is now entirely in Jesus.

“I continue to lean on Him,” he said. “The next day [after refocusing his life on Christ] I didn’t go out and throw for 500 yards and was this awesome quarterback, but it was just this peace that I had with Him knowing that, ‘Hey, no matter what, I’m going to face moving forward during college football, God and Jesus are going to be my identity,” he continued.

“Whatever I face, I won’t be shaken from it.’ I’ve got a great foundation in Him.”

Purdy, in a video posted on Twitter, said his rock through his trials has been Jesus.

“The bottom line, my identity is in Jesus,” he said. “I just want to witness and defend the Christian faith the best as I can moving forward.”

Rand Paul: FBI Can Only be Reformed if ‘Political Class’ is Fired

Ezekiel Loseke
-
0
Rand Paul: FBI Can Only be Reformed if ‘Political Class’ is Fired

(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Tuesday told Newsmax that the only way to reform the FBI is to fire its members of the political class and bring on law enforcement officers, in yet another spat with the national security agencies.

Paul explained that the problem with the FBI is that it has been captured by swamp creatures.

“I think it’s swamp fever, Potomac fever,” he said. “The ones closest to the swamp have become infected with influence and power and politics,” he said. “It’s the political class up here that is corruptible and [has] become very left-wing…these are the people infiltrating the FBI at the highest levels.”

Paul was clear, he is not condemning law enforcement officers.

“I play golf with a retired FBI agent. He’s conservative,” he explained. “Most of the agents that I meet in the field are conservative,” he continued. “They [the conservative agents] are typical law enforcement kind of people.”

Paul suggested that the problem can only be solved by politics.

“We need a thorough cleaning,” he said. “It’s only going to happen if we get a president who gets rid of the top 10% and brings in some law enforcement people from out in Kansas or Kentucky or someplace,” he said.

“Let’s repopulate the FBI at the top with real law enforcement people, not politicians.”

This is not Paul’s first fight with the establishment in the intelligence agencies.

  • Paul, when responding to Merrick Garland investigating parents seeking school reform, said Americans should “be afraid of your government,” because its top law enforcement officer is “criminalizing dissent.”
  • Paul criticized advice given to President Trump by John Bolton regarding strikes on Iran. Bolton is a ‘conservative’ foreign policy hawk and an established figure in national security and international relations circles, according to Britanica.
  • Paul has also proposed the destruction of the Espionage Act, one of the security state’s most frequently used tools.

Paul is joined by the Freedom Caucus in denouncing the behavior of the FBI and other intelligence agencies.

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., a leader of the Freedom Caucus, tweeted out a similar message last week.

“We entrust our Department of Justice, FBI and intelligence community with great power to keep us safe,” he said. “And yet, as long as these agencies have existed they’ve violated American’s civil rights.”

Philly Is Recruiting Lifeguards Who Don’t Know How to Swim

Jacob Bruns
-
0
Philly Is Recruiting Lifeguards Who Don’t Know How to Swim

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is so desperate for lifeguards that it is willing to hire people who do not know how to swim, Philadelphia magazine reported.

It blamed the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent budget cuts for depleting the workforce after the pools shut down in the summer of 2020.

As has been the case with many other unintended consequences of the COVID response—from school and business closures to vaccine side-effects—rebounding from the draconian pandemic policies that were inflicted by left-leaning states and cities during the final year of the Trump administration has not been quite so simple.

With teens already dropping out of the workforce prior to the pandemic, due to factors like immigration creating fewer low-wage summer jobs, the current crop of young people may be accustomed to a more sedentary lifestyle, replete with entitlements.

Last year’s labor shortage forced the closure of many pools nationwide—and the trend appears likely to continue heading into 2023’s scorching summer months.

In order to boost its rapidly dwindling lifeguard force, Philly decided to relax its prerequisites, among which was the ability to swim.

Those who cannot swim will receive free swimming lessons.

It also has upped the pay rate to $16 per hour minimum, while also agreeing to cover the cost for additional certifications, such as the Red Cross Lifeguard Certification.

Per the American Lifeguard Association, the lifeguard shortage has forced at least one third of the nation’s public pools to either close, or continue with limited operations.

Last summer, Fox News noted that the shortage may be here to stay.

According to the ALA’s director of health and safety, Bernard J. Fisher II, he has “never seen it this bad”—and even with the extra incentives and lower standards some pools may be unable to recruit the necessary staff.

“A lot of our cities during the summer, we’re not even going to have a community pool open for them,” Fisher said.

Kathryn Ott Lovell , Philadelphia’s Parks and Recreation Department commissioner, defended the city’s decision to lower the bar.

She claimed that the prospective lifeguards do know how to swim, they just cannot pass the swimming test.

“We only have to train a handful of folks,” she said. “I wouldn’t say they can’t swim, they just can’t pass our screening test on the first try.”

She also noted that the inability to find employees has affected numerous other businesses in the city.

“Every fast food place, every retail location is hiring,” Lovell said. “They’re offering signing bonuses, and higher hourly rates.”

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

Nat’l Archives Blows Off House Deadline to Update on Biden Docs

Jacob Bruns
-
0
Nat’l Archives Blows Off House Deadline to Update on Biden Docs

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) The United States National Archives has ignored and missed the House Oversight Committee’s deadline to turn over information about President Joe Biden’s mishandled classified documents, Axios reported.

The committee requested that the National Archives turn in the information by Tuesday, Jan. 24, which came and passed with no word from the Archives regarding the four batches of illegal materials discovered in President Biden’s home.

Some of the materials date back to Biden’s time in the U.S. Senate, which ended in 2009, when he assumed the vice presidency.

Per committee spokesman, the USNA’s refusal to cooperate has dragged the investigation from Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., to a halt.

“Chairman Comer’s request still stands and anticipates moving forward with a transcribed interview with NARA’s general counsel soon,” the spokesman noted.

Comer made the initial request on Jan. 10, before the subsequent batches of classified documents were discovered.

However, the USNA, noted on Jan. 18 that, due to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of a special counsel, that counsel would have to approve any information turned over to Republicans in Congress.

Considerable speculation has arisen that special counsel Robert Hur’s appointment may have been part of a DOJ effort to cover up the crimes and thwart the oversight of the new House GOP majority rather than to investigate them for possible prosecution.

But the lack of transparency has fueled even more questions about the handling of the documents as they pass from one administrative-state official to another.

Thus far, the White House response, led by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, has been to avoid any straight answers concerning the nature of the classified documents or the president’s mishandling of those documents.

“After the special counsel was named, but before the FBI searched, President Biden went to his house in Wilmington. What was he doing in there?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked.

“I would refer you to the White House Counsel’s Office,” Jean-Pierre responded.

“So, something relating to this case,” Doocy questioned.

“I would refer you to the White House Counsel’s Office,” Jean-Pierre unhelpfully repeated, continuing on to repeat the same line two more times.

Sen. Hawley Introduces PELOSI Act to Ban Insider Trading

Molly Bruns
-
0
Sen. Hawley Introduces PELOSI Act to Ban Insider Trading

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a bill that, if passed, would forbid members of Congress from trading individual stocks.

The Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act, otherwise known as the PELOSI Act, would necessitate that members move their private stocks into blind-trust accounts.

According to the Daily Caller, it would also forbid the immediate family members of congressional representatives from trading.

Upon failure to forfeit control of the stocks, representatives would relinquish their stocks to the U.S. Treasury.

“For too long, politicians in Washington have taken advantage of the economic system they write the rules for, turning profits for themselves at the expense of the American people,” Hawley said in a statement posted to Twitter.

“As members of Congress, both Senators and Representatives are tasked with providing oversight of the same companies they invest in, yet they continually buy and sell stocks, outperforming the market time and again,” he added.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., opposed a similar bipartisan bill in the 117th Congress.

She also claimed that trading stocks allows members to “participate” in the “free market economy.”

Democrats delayed the vote and did not pass the legislation. However, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was House minority leader at the time, vowed that the issue would return in the 118th Congressional session, should he assume the speakership.

Pelosi is offender No. 1 for Congressional insider trading. Many of the stocks she and her husband, Paul, have a hand in are related to goings on in Congress.

For example, in 2022, the Pelosis invested in chip stocks days before Congress passed a bill providing subsidies to the manufacturers of semiconductors, giving a boost to the market.

There is even a Twitter account dedicated to tracking all of the stocks the Pelosis stock trading.

Several members of Congress own outperforming stock portfolios, according to analysis site Unusual Whales.

Pelosi’s stock ended the 2022 fiscal year 19.8% down, partially because she was forced to divest in her chips stocks at a $340,000 loss after public outrage over the scandal.

RINOs Try to Protect Committee Assignments for Schiff, Swalwell, Omar

Jacob Bruns
-
0
RINOs Try to Protect Committee Assignments for Schiff, Swalwell, Omar

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., are stepping up to fill the shoes of ex-Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney as the newest House RINOs to throw their own party under the bus.

The two congresswomen said they planned to oppose an effort by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to remove three far-left Democrats from their powerful committee appointments, NBC News reported.

In keeping with a longstanding promise, McCarthy refused to seat Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both California Democrats, from the House Intelligence Committee.

He also removed Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

McCarthy argued that all three posed specific national security risks due to Schiff’s long history of lying, Swalwell’s relationship with a Chinese spy and Omar’s outspoken anti-Semitism.

He said the moves were necessary “[i]n order to maintain a standard worthy of this committee’s responsibilities.”

However, Democrats insisted it was retaliation over former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s removal of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., due to their over-the-top rhetoric, during the previous House session.

Although they had ample notice of McCarthy’s intentions, the move sent leftists and RINOs alike into spasms and hysterics.

“As I spoke against it on the House floor two years ago, I will not support this charade again,” Spartz wrote in what NBC described as “a strongly worded statement.”

“Speaker McCarthy needs to stop ‘bread and circuses’ in Congress and start governing for a change,” she added. “Two wrongs do not make a right.”

McCarthy has emphasized that the three disgraced Democrats are welcome to sit on other committees, just not ones where they would have access to classified information.

However Spatz—who said she spoke out against Pelosi’s partisan move as well—drew no distinction.

“Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented actions last Congress to remove Reps. Greene and Gosar from their committees without proper due process,” she said. “Speaker McCarthy is taking unprecedented actions this Congress to deny some committee assignments to the Minority without proper due process again.”

Mace, whose coastal district includes the liberal-leaning Charleston area, likewise drew parallels between Omar’s removal and Democrats’ prior treatment of Greene.

She echoed one of the Left’s partisan talking points by accusing McCarthy of caving to far-right nationalists by not promoting anti-American leftists in congress.

“It’s disappointing but not surprising that Kevin McCarthy has capitulated to the right wing of his caucus, undermining the integrity of the Congress, and harming our national security in the process,” she claimed.

McCarthy has cited Omar’s disparaging comments about Israel, a top U.S. ally, as a reason for removing her.

“It would be odd to me that members would not support that based upon her comments,” he said.

Freedom Caucus Reps on Key House Committee: ‘We’re Putting the Deep State on Notice’

Mark Pellin
-
0
Freedom Caucus Reps on Key House Committee: ‘We’re Putting the Deep State on Notice’

(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) House Freedom Caucus members gained key positions on a select subcommittee to investigate the weaponization of the federal government unveiled by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who vowed to hold the Biden administration accountable for its myriad transgressions.

“The government has a responsibility to serve the American people, not go after them,” McCarthy said in naming members to the House’s “Weaponization of the Federal Government” subcommittee. “Unfortunately, throughout Democrats’ one-party rule in Washington we saw a dangerous pattern of the government being used to target political opponents while they neglected their most basic responsibilities.”

Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., amplified that sentiment when the committee was being debated last week.

“We entrust our Department of Justice, FBI and intelligence community with great power to keep us safe. And yet, as long as these agencies have existed they’ve violated American’s civil rights,” said Bishop, who was named to the “Church-style” committee to investigate the weaponization of the federal government.

“That’s not all just illegal, it’s un-American and it cannot continue,” Bishop said. “There’s still much more we do not know. We owe it to the American people to reveal the rot within our federal government and cut it out so it can no longer harm everyday Americans. Today, we’re putting the Deep State on notice.”

The subcommittee’s mission is to probe allegations the Biden regime’s DOJ was weaponized to target political opponents and penalize and censor conservative speech and narratives.

Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, will lead the weaponization investigation. The subcommittee also includes Republican Reps. Chip Roy and Thomas Massie, two outspoken critics of the Biden administration.

“The American people deserve answers to the myriad questions resulting from the blatant disregard of American’s rights and freedoms by their own government,” Roy said in a statement. “This subcommittee will not be afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead and expose the weaponization of the federal government.”

1...2,2222,2232,224...3,893Page 2,223 of 3,893