A Supervolcano in New Zealand Is Rumbling So Much It’s Shifting The Ground Above It

JESS COCKERILL –  July 12, 2022

The vast expanse of Lake Taupō’s sky blue waters, crowned by hazy, mountainous horizons, invokes an extreme sense of tranquility.

And yet, deep in the ground below, geological unrest is brewing, according to a new paper in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics.

Lake Taupō is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia, located at the center of New Zealand’s north island. And while it appears peaceful today, the lake has a violent origin story.

The lake’s waters sit within a prehistoric caldera – a word based on the Spanish for ‘cauldron’ or ‘boiling pot’ – formed during Earth’s most recent supereruption, the Oruanui eruption, 25,400 years ago.

When magma is released from a supervolcano (defined as having released at least 1,000 cubic kilometers of material in any one eruption) in an event like the Oruanui eruption, the depleted magma vents cave in, Earth’s surface sinks, and the landscape is permanently changed into a caldera.

In the last 12,000 years, the Taupō volcano has been active 25 times. Its most recent eruption in 232 AD is described by authors of the new paper as “one of the Earth’s most explosive eruptions in historic times”. Since then, the volcano has had at least four documented “episodes of unrest”, causing destructive earthquakes and, in 1922, a massive ground subsidence.

It’s the supervolcano’s more modern periods of unrest that the researchers have studied, analyzing up to 42 years of data collected at 22 sites dotted around and across the lake. And there’s evidence that the supervolcano is still rumbling.

https://www.sciencealert.com

CDC: US infants are falling sick with a life-threatening virus that triggers fever, delirium, seizures, and sepsis

Hilary Brueck – July 13, 2022

Federal health officials in the US are warning doctors and parents that a dangerous virus is spreading across the US causing fevers, seizures, confusion and other “sepsis-like” issues that can be life-threatening for young infants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that parechovirus is currently circulating in “multiple” US states. So far, the CDC has only collected positive samples of PeV-A3, which is the specific type of parechovirus that is most often associated with severe disease. At least one newborn is dead in Connecticut.

Baby Ronan was less than two weeks old when his mom starting noticing he was becoming “very angry,” and “crying a lot,” WTNH New Haven reported.

His chest turned red, and then his face too, and at 14 days old he was admitted to the hospital, where he started having seizures. At 34 days old, the child died.

There is no known treatment for parechovirus. Older children who get infected may “only have mild illness,” like a cold, while others may remain completely asymptomatic during their infection, and feel nothing at all, the CDC says.

https://www.insider.com

Disney Doesn’t Want Christians in their Parks, Says Ex-Employee

– July 13, 2022

A former Walt Disney World employee claims the company doesn’t want Christians in their parks or on their payroll.

In an interview with Fox News, Barbara Andreas, who was let go in March, said, “We’ve been very vocal that it feels like Disney is getting closer and closer to not wanting Christians there. Not on their parks, not on their payroll.”

This comes after two other former Disney employees were fired after giving religious exemptions for the vaccine; they are now suing the company for religious discrimination.

Barbara Andreas, says she was called out by a general manager, “made to feel like a bad person, a bad leader, and totally singled out.”Both employees claim to have reached out multiple times about the status of their exemptions but were ignored by their higher-ups at Disney. When Stephen Cribb, the other employee, asked to have an attorney present, they allegedly refused further conversations regarding his exemption.

Carroll Sanders, the attorney representing them, “spent a great deal of time reaching out” as well and was met with similar silence before filling the lawsuit. He continued to say they have “at least a dozen more plaintiffs in the pipeline” meaning the lawsuit could grow to a larger problem for Disney.

“We want to be valued; we want to be accepted… Disney just thinks they are above the law,” said Andreas.

Disney’s decision to jump into the culture wars has caused significant debate with the nation’s Christian community.

https://www.toddstarnes.com

US House Passes Abortion Defense Bill in Response to End of Roe Protections

Ilya Tsukanov – July 15, 2022

Democratic Party lawmakers in both houses of Congress have vowed action to protect women’s ability to travel across state lines to get an abortion after Republican states rushed to criminalize the procedure. The legislative rush has come in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to abolish federal abortion protections last month.

The House of Representatives passed two bills Friday aimed at safeguarding abortion access, including a measure allowing women to travel across state lines to get the procedure if it is banned in their home state.

The first bill, entitled the ‘Ensuring Access to Abortion Act’, was passed by a margin of 223-205, with three Republicans, including never Trumper Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, joining all 220 Democrats to vote in favor of the measure.

The bill proposes making it illegal for states where abortion is lawful to bar women from out of state from getting the procedure at a registered clinic, introduces legal protections for those who assist women getting an abortion, and provides for the legalization of the interstate transportation of Food and Drug Administration-approved abortion drugs.

The second bill, the ‘Women’s Health Protection Act’, was passed 219-201, with Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas the only Democrat to vote against. That bill has already been around the block of congressional debate, and was passed by the House last September, but thrown out twice by the Senate, which is split 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats.

Senate Democrats drafted legislation similar to the ‘Ensuring Access to Abortion Act’ earlier this week, calling it the ‘Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022′. That bill proposes protections for non-profits which assist women traveling to states where abortion is permitted to get the procedure.

The fate of both of the House bills passed Friday remains uncertain amid the possibility that rogue Democrat Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema could block their Senate versions. The two lawmakers already dashed Democrats’ hopes for a filibuster change to codify federal abortion rights late last month, despite paying lip service of their support for Roe v Wade.

Lawmakers also face time constraints, with the House going on a month-long recess at the end of July, and the Senate following suit a week later in early August.

https://sputniknews.com

Health Min. wants to expand euthanasia access to terminally ill children under 12 | NL Times

NL Times – June 28, 2022

Minister Ernst Kuipers of Public Health wants to make euthanasia possible for terminally ill children aged 1 to 12 who suffer unbearably and without hope. He is working on a regulation to allow this, with a series of due care criteria like is the case for euthanasia in adults and infants younger than 1, he said in a letter to parliament, the Volkskrant reports.

The Netherlands currently has nothing formally in place to relieve critically- and terminally ill children aged 1 to 12 from unbearable suffering. While a study in 2019 showed a great need for an option to end the life of kids in this age group who suffer “without hope and unbearably.” In the study, parents described how they could do nothing while their children screamed in pain for hours on end or had almost continuous seizures. One mother told how a brain tumor had her child screaming for three days, banging his head, and shouting for help.

Kuipers stressed that this concerns “a small group of terminally ill children who suffer hopelessly and unbearably and for whom all options of palliative care are insufficient to alleviate their suffering.” He opts for regulation instead of a legislative amendment at the request of pediatricians. They worry that a change in the law will spark another polarizing debate while they are looking for a practical solution for a very small group of children who need urgent help.

The Euthanasia Act already allows adults and children over 12 to end their lives if they are suffering unbearably and without hope. The law considers them capable of understanding their situation and the gravity of their decision. Euthanasia presupposes self-determination and competence, considered lacking by children under age 12 by the law.

For infants under the age of 1, the 2005 Groningen protocol applies. It contains guidelines for the termination of the life of infants who suffer unbearably and without hope. Bot parents must give informed permission, and the decision is checked afterward. Kuipers plans to build on this protocol for kids aged 1 to 12.

https://nltimes.nl

Hizballah drones were the opening shot of a maritime energy war vs Israel

– July 7, 2022

The IDF’s revelation on Wednesday, July 6, of a fourth Hizballah drone that was intercepted heading for Israel’s Karish gas rig, confirmed an assessment that the Lebanese terrorist organization was bent on starting a war, initially over this offshore gas platform. This hitherto undisclosed drone was intercepted three days before the three that were shot down on July 2 by Barak missiles. This one was downed by advance electronic warfare measures after being identified at a distance from Israel’s maritime economic zone, while still over Lebanese waters. No reason for the disclosure of this fourth drone at this time was offered by the military.

DEBKAfile’s Mid-East sources have concluded that Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Iran’s terrorist proxy Hizballah, has decided to go to war against Israel over its newest gas rig. In his words, “Lebanon’s oil and gas resources must be freed from Israeli control, just as the south was freed [in 2000] and Israel’s ‘security zone’ dismantled by force of arms.”

The drone tactic is the opening shot, say our sources, for three objectives:

  1. To scare the staff employed on Israel’s offshore gas and oil rigs in the eastern Mediterranean into fleeing for fear of their lives.
  2. Nasrallah included Greece’s maritime energy projects in his declaration of war.
  3. As a strong message that the management of gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean had passed from the Lebanese government to Hizballah control. The intention was to nullify the Lebanese prime minister’s condemnation of the drones as “unacceptable” and as jeopardizing ongoing US-brokered negotiations on the drawing of a maritime border between Lebanese and Israeli economic zones.

The interception of the three Hizballah unarmed UAVs was presented by the Israeli military as an important feat, although the Barak missiles were highly expensive compared with the cheap drones. However, Hizballah, did not care about recovering the drones but aimed at this stage for a psychological advantage. This was meant as a declaration that a new page had been opened in its contest against Israel over the oil and gas fields of the Mediterranean.

https://www.debka.com

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Is Assassinated

Milton Quintanilla – July 8, 2022

Hospital officials in Japan have confirmed that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe died after he was shot during a campaign speech in Western Japan Friday morning.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was shot twice from behind while speaking to a crowd on the streets of Nara on Friday. Abe was delivering a campaign speech ahead of an election for the parliament’s upper house this Sunday.

Video footage posted to social media shows Abe speaking when a loud bang erupted, and smoke began to rise from behind the former Prime Minister. The first shot, however, missed the former prime minister, who paused and turned around only to get shot at again seconds later. The second shot struck Abe in the chest, causing him to collapse to the ground. His security then tackled and arrested the gunman, later identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. According to the Japanese outlet NHK World News, a police officer retrieved a gun at the scene that is believed to be homemade.

Yamagami, who served in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) for three years, reportedly told police that he was dissatisfied with the former prime minister and sought to assassinate him.

According to Fox News, Abe was left unconscious and in cardiac arrest after being shot. He was taken to a hospital for treatment but later succumbed to his injuries.

Doctor Fukushima Hidetada of Nara Medical University told NHK World News that a team of more than twenty doctors spent four hours trying to save Abe’s life.

“We tried to resuscitate him, but, unfortunately, he died at 5:03 pm,” he said.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Boris Johnson’s resignation caps off tumultuous tenure

Peter Aitken , Anders Hagstrom – July 7, 2022

Boris Johnson announced plans to resign as prime minister of the United Kingdom on Thursday in a tumultuous end for a government that once enjoyed a strong democratic mandate.

Johnson’s roughly three-year tenure ended in disarray after he threatened a standoff with his party and a possible general election following the resignation of 42 ministers who deemed his position “untenable.” He says new leadership is “clearly now the will” of Parliament.

Johnson hopes to remain in a caretaker position as his Conservative Party elects a new prime minister, a process that may take roughly two months.

“I have appointed a new cabinet who will serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place,” he said. “When the herd instinct moves, it moves.”

Conservative ministers declared that they had lost confidence in the prime minister after news emerged he had elevated Chris Pincher to the powerful role of deputy chief whip despite allegations of sexual misconduct.

But it was not the only scandal that Johnson’s government had to wrangle with. It was merely the final one that ministers could tolerate, bringing an end to his sole ambition and goal in politics.

“Boris Johnson’s place in history is assured given his stewardship of Brexit, vaccine rollout during the COVID-19 crisis and staunch defense of the free world in Ukraine,” Alan Mendoza, co-founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital.

https://www.foxnews.com

Global Food Crisis ‘Will Kill Millions’ By Disease, Health Executive Warns

AFP –   June 23, 2022

The global food crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine will kill millions by leaving the hungriest more vulnerable to infectious diseases, potentially triggering the world’s next health catastrophe, the head of a major aid organisation has warned.

A Russian naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has stopped grain shipments from the world’s fourth-largest exporter of wheat and corn, raising the spectre of shortages and hunger in low-income countries.

The knock-on effects of the food shortages mean many will die not only of starvation but from having weaker defenses against infectious diseases due to bad nutrition, Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria told AFP this week.

“I think we’ve probably already begun our next health crisis. It’s not a new pathogen but it means people who are poorly nourished will be more vulnerable to the existing diseases,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of a G20 health minister meeting in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta.

“I think the combined impact of infectious diseases and the food shortages and the energy crisis… we can be talking about millions of extra deaths because of this,” he said.

World governments should minimize the impact of the food crisis by providing frontline healthcare to their poorest communities, who will be the most vulnerable, said the British former banker who now heads the $4 billion fund.

“That means focusing on primary healthcare so the healthcare that is delivered in the villages, in the communities. Hospitals are important but when you are faced with this kind of challenge, the most important thing is primary healthcare.”

“It’s been a disaster for TB,” said Sands.

https://www.barrons.com

CDC Warns: ‘One of the Worst Outbreaks of Meningococcal Disease Among Gay and Bisexual Men in U.S. History’

Michael W. Chapman – June 27, 2022

(CNS News) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement that it is working with the Florida Department of Health to “investigate one of the worst outbreaks of meningococcal disease among gay and bisexual men in U.S. history.”

So far, there have been “24 cases and 6 deaths among gay and bisexual men,” reported the CDC in its June 22 press release.

Meningococcal disease refers to any illness caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis, said the CDC. “These illnesses are often severe, can be deadly, and include infections of the lining of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis) and bloodstream.”

The disease is spread to other people “by sharing respiratory and throat secretions (saliva or spit),” said the health agency.  “Generally, it takes close (for example, coughing or kissing) or lengthy contact to spread these bacteria.”

To counter spread of the disease, the CDC is “recommending gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men get a meningococcal vaccine (MenACWY) if they live in Florida, or talk with their healthcare provider about getting vaccinated if they are traveling to Florida.” The also recommend routine vaccination for people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

“Getting vaccinated against meningococcal disease is the best way to prevent this serious illness, which can quickly become deadly,” said José R. Romero, M.D., director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

“Because of the outbreak in Florida, and the number of Pride events being held across the state in coming weeks, it’s important that gay and bisexual men who live in Florida get vaccinated, and those traveling to Florida talk to their healthcare provider about getting a MenACWY vaccine,” said Romero.

https://www.cnsnews.com