Dr. Casey Means, President Trump's pick to fill the role of surgeon general, which has been empty for over a year, faced a Senate committee grilling on Wednesday over conflicts of interest concerns, her endeavors with psilocybin, her stance on vaccines, and more. Means, who co-authored the bestselling book that has been dubbed the bible of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda, with her brother, Calley, a senior advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services, impressed upon senators that her goal is to attack the "root causes" of disease. "My vision for Surgeon General, and for the future of America, is to get more healthy, whole food on Americans' plates and work to systematically encourage our health care system to focus on the root causes of why we are sick, and not just reactive sick care," Means, 38, told senators.

Wellness influencer, author and entrepreneur Dr. Casey Means on Wednesday shared a vision for addressing the root causes of chronic disease instead of feeding into "reactive sick care" during her confirmation hearing to become the nation's next surgeon general. "Our nation is angry, exhausted and hurting," the 38-year-old said in Washington before the Senate health committee Wednesday. "If we're addressing shared root causes, we're going to be able to stop the whack-a-mole medicine that's not working for us." It's a message that dovetails with that of Means' ally, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his "Make America Healthy Again" movement. It also has some bipartisan support, with many Democrats and Republicans agreeing that the rise in chronic disease is a problem that needs solving.

During Tuesday's State of the Union, Donald Trump welcomed members of the US men's national hockey team to the House gallery to chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A!". Trump revealed that Team USA's goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "What special champions you are," Trump told the players, who had beaten Canada on Sunday in the gold medal game of the Winter Olympics. In Trump's America, proximity is never neutral. While the hockey players were greeted with warm applause from both Republicans and Democrats, Trump also had used the team as props in his speech. "Our country is winning again," Trump said just before he introduced them. "To prove that point, here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud."

Dr. Casey Means, the president's nominee for surgeon general, believes the US is a "nation with a broken heart" reckoning with unprecedented amounts of chronic illness and mental illness. But during a lengthy confirmation hearing on Wednesday, she said vaccine policy would not be her priority. At one point, she sparred with a senator over the benefits of flu vaccination, dodging repeated questions on whether she thinks it's effective against hospitalization and death. Means was interrogated by senators from both sides of the dais about her positions on vaccines, abortion and contraception and pesticides. She also fielded questions about her qualifications, conflicts and even her personal use of psychedelic mushrooms.

President Donald Trump's nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means, defended her views on vaccines, autism, and public health in a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, but her responses underscored the steep challenges she faces in winning support from Democrats. Means, a physician aligned with the Make America Healthy Again movement, sought to frame her approach as focused on chronic disease and patient empowerment rather than vaccine skepticism.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) lashed out against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over Obamacare during a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday for President Trump's surgeon general pick, Casey Means, leading to a brief but tense exchange between the lawmakers. Mullin used much of his time railing against a "broken" health care system, which he blamed on the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a law Sanders has supported, even while arguing it didn't go far enough.

from The National Pulse: WHAT HAPPENED: The Trump administration is considering an Executive Order requiring banks to gather citizenship information from customers.

by Martin Jay, Strategic Culture: The news that a U.S. aircraft carrier has had to dock in Crete to deal with thousands of seamen needing to leave it in order to, as the saying goes, “take a dump,” should not come as a great surprise to sceptical geopolitical observers. Many might see it as ominous […]