‘Tis the season for respiratory illnesses — the flu, COVID, and RSV — for which vaccinations offer the best line of defense for the vast majority of individuals.
In addition to the protections that vaccines provide for these diseases, studies have shown that there are two other significant benefits from receiving a flu shot.
A recent study has indicated that for older Americans, there is a strong correlation between flu vaccinations and a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The study revealed that the high-dose flu shot, which is specifically recommended for those over 65, can reduce the risk of developing those debilitating diseases by up to 40%.
This finding comes on top of studies that have demonstrated the benefits of an annual flu shot for our hearts and cardiovascular system.
We urge our readers to look past the political noise and misinformation surrounding vaccines. The flu, COVID, and RSV account for tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations annually in the United States.
Vaccinations not only protect us directly from respiratory illnesses, but they also have additional benefits for our aging bodies. A day or two of muscle soreness is a small price to pay for the life-saving protections that these vaccines will provide.
Afghanistan, Iran — and the U.S.?
The announcement last week by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that the military will livestream the execution by firing squad of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former U.S. Army psychiatrist who killed 13 and wounded 32 in a shooting at Ft. Hood in Texas in 2009, is unfathomable.
The last public execution in this country occurred in the 1930s when 20,000 people witnessed the hanging of a Black man in Kentucky amidst a festive atmosphere. The sickening spectacle of that execution reverberated across the country and forever ended public executions in the U.S.
State-sponsored public executions today belong to the realm of only two nations, Afghanistan and Iran, where the barbaric treatment of those accused of a crime remains the same as it was in the Dark Ages.
Even worse, the livestreaming of executions became the calling card of terrorist organizations such as ISIS, who did it solely to promote fear and terror. Has America now become the new ISIS?
But what is most disturbing about livestreaming a public execution is that America’s children will be able to view a brutal event that will leave a lasting trauma in the psyche of many of them for the rest of their lives.
The ultimate irony of Hegseth’s perverse thinking is that instead of deterring terrorist acts, it will only serve to inspire the terrorists, for whom martyrdom via a live streamed execution would represent the pinnacle of their cause.
Even among our own citizenry, broadcasting an execution by firing squad via live stream risks further entrenching the culture of violence that already pervades our society.
Our feeling about this sordid situation aligns with the view expressed by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who stated the issue very succinctly: “The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.”