How Dobbs Triggered a 'VASECTOMY REVOLUTION'

The Supreme Court ruling made men more interested in how they can prevent unwanted pregnancies. That’s where ‘the Nutcracker’ comes in.

JOPLIN, Mo. | Inside a black trailer vinyl-wrapped with illustrations of cartoon sperm, the faint smell of burning flesh fills the enclosure. Here, in this unconventional operating room — situated in a Planned Parenthood parking lot — the doctor is trying, with mixed success, to get his patient to relax.

“You have to breathe,” Esgar Guarín, small-framed and slender, tells Denny Dalliance gently. “Take a deep breath.”

Dalliance, who’s 31, drives a truck for a living and arrived clad in black, is trying to keep his cool. Just minutes before, he peeled off his leather jacket and hopped on the operating table. Now he’s forcefully exhaling, squeezing his eyes shut, folding an arm over his head, as his partner reassuringly caresses his arm.

We’re sitting inside the country’s only mobile vasectomy clinic, owned and operated by Guarín, who is so committed to getting men to participate in contraception that he once performed the procedure on himself, on camera. He’s been practicing medicine for 20 years and over the past few, he’s clocked in more than 3,000 vasectomies.

Left: Dr. Esgar Guarín opens the door to the mobile clinic, with Denny Dalliance
and Lee Vereecke waiting outside. Right: A close-up of medical scissors and other tools on a
table used for a vasectomy. Bottom: Dalliance and Vereecke pose for a portrait on
the waiting bench in the mobile clinic.

U.S. Aid to Ukraine, Explained

When asked whether Republicans would “make it more difficult” for Congress to approve Ukrainian aid, Rep. Mike Turner criticized the $40 billion package enacted in May, saying: “We don’t need to pass $40 billion large Democrat bills … to send $8 billion to Ukraine.” Much more than that, however, was allocated for military support.

The aid legislation, which passed with broad bipartisan approval, included about $19 billion for military support, though not all of that will be transferred to Ukraine. For instance, a chunk of it is allocated for replenishing U.S. stocks of weapons that have gone or will go to Ukraine to assist the country in its defense against Russia.

The rest of the $40 billion included humanitarian and economic aid, among other measures. We’ll break down how the funding was allocated.

Turner, who is the ranking GOP member of the House intelligence committee, made his remarks on ABC’s “This Week” on Nov. 27. He went on to say, “What we’re going to do — and it’s been very frustrating, obviously, even to the Ukrainians where they hear these large numbers in the United States as a result of the, you know, burgeoned Democrat bills and the little amount of aid that they receive. We’re going to make certain they get what they need.”

His office told us he was talking about the direct, lethal aid going to Ukraine, and the $8 billion he cited was an example of how there is “confusion” over the funding. We asked what specifically the $8 billion referred to, but we didn’t get an answer to that.

He was “not objecting to other funding in the bill,” Turner’s office said, noting that the lawmaker had voted for it.

Alabama Football Holds Annual Awards Banquet on Sunday

Will Anderson Jr., Jordan Battle and Bryce Young named permanent captains for 2022

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. | The University of Alabama football team held its annual awards banquet Sunday evening inside Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban addressed an audience that included members of the team, coaching staff, administration and support staff following the awards session in which he recapped the 2022 season. Saban also discussed the team's upcoming matchup with No. 9 Kansas State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 31.

The Crimson Tide capped the night off by naming three permanent team captains in Will Anderson Jr., Jordan Battle and Bryce Young. The group was selected by their teammates as the representatives for the 2022 team.

The complete list of award winners is as follows.

Auburn Women's Basketball Dominant In All Phases In 86-46 Win Over UCF

AUBURN, Ala. | Aicha Coulibaly recorded her second double-double of the year, Honesty Scott-Grayson scored 22 points, and the Auburn women's basketball team steamrolled past previously unbeaten UCF 86-46 Saturday afternoon at Auburn Arena.

The Tigers (6-2) dominated all phases of the game, using a smothering defense to hold the Knights (6-1) to their lowest scoring total of the season while securing its largest margin of victory in 2022-23.

"I thought we came out and imposed our will, played our style of basketball," Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris said. "The last game, I didn't feel like they played hard enough, and I didn't feel like they played our style of basketball. So we challenged them, and I thought we came out and did that tonight.

"I've been waiting on that. I let them know what (the effort vs. Little Rock) looked like, and I let them know that's not us. That's not our style of play. Just trying to instill in them, it's not just what we do, it's who we are. We have to be that every day, every possession. I thought we made a big step forward today."

Coulibaly finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season and seventh of her career. She was a force in all areas, recording four assists with a pair of blocks and one steal. Scott-Grayson led the Tigers in scoring for the fourth straight game, scoring 20-plus for the third time in those four contests.

Trojans Have Strong Showing in First Meet of the Season

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. | Troy Track and Field wrapped up action at the BSC Icebreaker held by Birmingham Southern College Friday afternoon finishing with 10 top-five finishes across eight events.

Leading the way was Biniosa Ezukuse, who came away with Troy's only first-place finish in the meet during the women's weight throw with a 16.53-meter toss. Samra Nelson placed fourth with a 15.55-meter throw, while Abby Grosinske (6) and Leah Kennedy (9) rounded out the top 10.

Ezukuse, Nelson, and Grosinske all saw success in the women's shot put as well, with all seeing top 10 finishes as Ezukuse led the group once again with her 14.13-meter throw placing her second. Nelson followed with her second, fourth place finish and Grosinske placed seventh.

Army To Use Old Slogan 'BE ALL YOU CAN BE' For New Recruits

The Army is planning to launch a new marketing campaign next year using an old slogan — “Be all you can be” — to attract potential recruits.

Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, chief of Army enterprise marketing, hinted at a forthcoming brand refresh for the service in August.

“We will be focusing a little bit more on Army brand work in the upcoming fiscal year,” he said on a call with 'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' Talk Show, noting conceptualization for the project began pre-pandemic in March 2020.

Army’s “Be all you can be” ads ran for over two decades starting in the 1980s, according to the Army Historical Foundation. The public first saw the campaign during the 1981 New Year’s college football bowl games.

The magazine Advertising Age ranked the “Be all you can be” campaign as the 18th best in a list of the top 100 marketing campaigns in the 20th century, the foundation added.

As the Army and other services continue to look for ways to resolve their recruiting dilemmas, a revamp of former marketing material is being considered a worthwhile choice to drive up enlistment numbers through a challenging recruiting environment.

“I mean, we did these things ... because of the situation that we found ourselves in,” Fink said regarding the prior campaigns.

The blast from the past follows the U.S. Military Academy at West Point revealing it will use World War II-era themed uniforms in its upcoming annual football game against rival Navy.

Air Force Chief: Military Must 'PICK SOME WINNERS' Among Startups

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. | To take advantage of the needed capabilities offered by technology startups, the military has to focus more specifically on a smaller number of companies to nurture, the Air Force’s top officer said Saturday.

Gen. CQ Brown, speaking here on a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum, said that he visited Silicon Valley recently and met with multiple companies and venture capitalists. While he didn’t identify specific firms, he said he “learned a lot this past week on semiconductors and artificial intelligence.”

“What we’ve got to do is actually pick some winners,” he said, pointing to rocket maker SpaceX as an example of an innovative company that has gained traction in the defense space.

“How we align and bring them forward — it’s going to take some nurturing,” Brown said of helping new tech companies move through the acquisition process. “It’s like hand-walking a staff package through the Pentagon to make sure it gets done.”

Once successful, Brown added, the military will have developed a “pattern of doing things a little differently.”

This Oficer Is The First Woman To Serve As XO of A Submarine

A woman is serving as the executive officer of a submarine for the first time — just over 10 years after the Silent Service opened to women.

Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan, who joined the Navy in 2010, reported for duty to the ballistic missile submarine Kentucky, based out of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington, as its executive officer Nov. 12.

Although Cowan, a Colorado Springs, Colorado native, planned to become an aviator after graduating from the University of Washington, her eyesight prevented her from pursuing that ambition. It prompted her to attend Nuclear Power School to become a submarine officer, which was barred to female officers until 2011.

“It’s 2022 and women are still doing the ‘first’ of things?” Cowan said, according to a Navy news release.

The 1st Female Marine Expeditionary Force Sergeant Major Is on Her Way

For the first time, a female Marine will serve as the top enlisted adviser to a three-star general, the Corps announced Wednesday.

Sgt. Maj. Joy Kitashima, now the senior enlisted leader of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, was selected on Nov. 22 to be the sergeant major of III Marine Expeditionary Force, the Pacific-focused force based in Okinawa, Japan. She tentatively is scheduled to assume the role in July 2023.

Sergeant Majors serve as the senior enlisted advisers to senior commanders. At III Marine Expeditionary Force, the commanding general is Lt. Gen. James W. Bierman Jr.

A Bloomington, Indiana, native, Kitashima enlisted in May 1996 and became a member of the military police, according to her official bio. She served as a military police officer at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Japan; Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina; and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California.

Kitashima did two tours as a combat instructor at infantry schools and then became an enlisted leader for The Basic School, which trains newly commissioned Marine officers.

Before her leadership role at 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, she served as sergeant major for Marine Air Control Squadron 4, 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, and concurrently for 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group and Marine Corps Installations Pacific.

‘Died Suddenly’ Pushes Bogus Depopulation Theory

Misinformation masquerading as documentary has been a fixture of the COVID-19 pandemic — from the “Plandemic” videos that suggested “the scientific and political elite” planned the pandemic to the Stew Peters video claiming that the disease was caused by snake venom secretly injected into the water supply by the Catholic Church and government agencies.

Now another video from Peters, a conservative radio host, is making the rounds on social media, racking up millions of views across major platforms — such as Facebook and YouTube — and niche platforms — such as Rumble and Gab.

It’s also been promoted by high-profile anti-vaccine campaigners, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The roughly hourlong video repeatedly flashes across the screen what appear to be postmortem blood clots, which are often found in dead bodies. Although such clots are common, the video features nine embalmers and funeral directors who describe the clots as a new anomaly and surmise that they were caused by COVID-19 vaccines. The video suggests that this is part of a shadowy plot to depopulate the world.

The video, which is called “Died Suddenly,” offers no evidence to support this theory and, instead, relies on references to previous conspiracy theories — including the false claim that circulated earlier this year that Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome was somehow related to vaccination; the long-standing false claim that athletes are dropping dead due to vaccination; and the false claim that pilots are causing plane crashes because of COVID-19 vaccination.