Schumer: Batter Up Blue Jays! Buffalo’s The Natural Place to Play in 2020

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered mandatory testosterone screening for all active-duty service members 30 and older, framing the program in a video posted Wednesday as essential to keeping troops on the "leading edge of lethality."

The new screening will be added to the annual health assessment soldiers already complete each year, Hegseth announced on his official X account.

Service members under 30 may request the test voluntarily, according to the video, while those over 30 will not have a choice. If a deficiency is found, testosterone replacement therapy — a medical treatment to restore hormone levels — remains optional.

"The High-T Department of War," Hegseth wrote on X alongside the video.

"This initiative — it's not about artificial enhancement," Hegseth said in the video. "It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities."

The announcement is the latest in a string of body-focused mandates Hegseth has imposed on the force since taking office, Newsweek reported.

Last September, he assembled hundreds of generals and admirals at Quantico to declare the Pentagon's softer era finished.

"We're empowering drill sergeants to instill healthy fear in new recruits," Hegseth told the assembled brass. He also codified mandatory daily physical training for every service member and imposed the "highest male standard only" for all combat roles, acknowledging the change would push women out of those jobs.

Those same Quantico memos cut cybersecurity and privacy training requirements — even as Wednesday's order adds a new medical test to the annual calendar, Hegseth's office confirmed.

Last September, he also declared "no more beardos" and banned most shaving exemptions. But during a June visit to a Navy ship, he found multiple sailors still wearing beards and left the vessel pressing officials to enforce the policy more aggressively, CNN reported.

Sailors with razor bumps — a painful shaving condition that affects an estimated 60 percent of Black men — face discharge if they cannot resolve it within a year, the Navy announced this month.

"We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world," Hegseth said in Wednesday's video, "and this program delivers on that obligation."

A former GOP operative revealed the viral past of the independent journalist who's been camped outside Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) hospital.

During an episode of Bulwark Takes, host Tim Miller went into detail about the history of Desiree Townsend, who also goes by the name Desiree Jennings.

According to Miller, Jennings has been doing "standups outside of the hospital of Mitch McConnell," whose recent hospitalization has raised concerns and stirred speculation.

"Her standups are kind of like a mix of Inside Edition and like Russia Today," Miller explained. "And like an insane person, she's going around like, 'We see Elaine Chao's eyebrows, and in the picture, they're different from in the last picture, and Mitch McConnell, how can you serve right now?'"

According to Miller, Jennings describes herself on her LinkedIn page as an "independent journalist," and her presentation makes her seem like a news correspondent from an established network.

"She's gaining momentum lately because a lot of people are interested in what's happening with Mitch McConnell," Miller explained. "It kind of has an air of authority, though in kind of an uncanny valley way."

Miller then explained that someone had flagged information about Jennings that shocked him. "I don't even think I can put words to it," he said.

Jennings used to be "an early viral sensation" and an ambassador for the Washington Redskins cheerleading squad who claimed she developed a rare neurological disorder called dystonia, according to a clip from Inside Edition that Miller played. The clip also featured Jennings bouncing and jerking up and down.

She claimed that she got the disease "after receiving a seasonal flu shot, causing dramatic spasms and slurred speech," continued the Inside Edition clip, which also revealed Jennings acting normally when she thought the cameras were gone. Miller laughed while noting that she also seemed to have a sudden British accent in the clip.

"My favorite part of the clip is she was able to both walk backwards and run, which is interesting," Miller said while cracking up. "It was like she couldn't walk sideways or forward, but she could walk backwards or sprint."

Sen. John Fetterman's increasingly independent political moves are drawing concern from Senate colleagues and raising questions about whether the Pennsylvania Democrat might eventually leave his party.

Fetterman said last week he would formally switch his party affiliation if Democrats make opposition to Israel part of their official platform — the first time he's laid out specific conditions for departing – and he pointed to recent contested primaries as evidence the party is shifting toward candidates who are "intensely anti-Israel," not just critical of its policies.

One Democratic senator, speaking anonymously to NOTUS, said, "I am concerned" about the prospect of Fetterman switching parties unexpectedly.

Fetterman has also set up a joint fundraising committee with Republican Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), an arrangement that struck colleagues as unusual. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said he'd "never seen it before." Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), a progressive who has left open the possibility of challenging Fetterman in 2028, called the move "crazy stuff," arguing it helps Republicans in battleground Pennsylvania races.

Fetterman brushed off the arrangement as "nothing sinister," rooted in shared state interests, and fired back at Deluzio over the congressman's earlier campaign donation to Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate who dropped out amid a sexual assault allegation he denies.

The senator has increasingly clashed with his party over Israel, the Iran war, and border security, and recently expressed regret for once calling to eliminate the filibuster, praising former Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for opposing its removal.

His standing among Pennsylvania Democrats has slipped sharply — a Quinnipiac poll found his approval at just 19% among Democrats, with 52 percent of voters overall saying they want him to leave the party.

Adam Jentleson, Fetterman's former chief of staff, said he believes Fetterman might switch parties "in order to stay relevant," particularly if Democrats win a narrow Senate majority in November and Fetterman could become a decisive vote. Jentleson also warned Fetterman could side with Republicans on a future Supreme Court nomination.

“I think, if he is the majority-maker, he will flip, because it would give him a massive amount of attention,” said Jentleson, who last year expressed concerns about Fetterman's mental health.

Other Democrats pushed back on the switching narrative. Sen. Peter Welch noted Fetterman "votes Democratic all the time," while Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) urged him to stay, saying his positions still align more with Democrats than Republicans on balance.

“I would just encourage him to stay,” Heinrich said. “I think you can have policy differences, but on balance, with the exception of one or two issues, when you look at what he cares about, I think that looks a lot more like the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. He’s always, always welcome in our caucus.”