DEVELOPING: Salmonella outbreak from unidentified food source has sickened people across 25 states

Ricky Scaparo – September 23, 2021

At least 127 people have been infected — and 18 hospitalized — amid an outbreak of salmonella across dozens of states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infections linked to the outbreak had been detected in 25 states as of Sept. 15, with Texas alone reporting 45 of the cases.

According to News Nation, Salmonella Oranienburg, the strain observed in this outbreak, began sickening people on Aug. 3, according to the CDC. By Sept. 2, a total of 20 infections had been linked to the outbreak, which grew “rapidly” in the following weeks, sickening at least 127. Of the 48 whose medical information was made available, 18 had been hospitalized.

The CDC estimates that the actual number of sick people is “likely much higher,” as many infected individuals often recover without seeking treatment or getting tested.

It can also take up to four weeks to determine if a sick person is indeed part of the outbreak, the agency says. The CDC has yet to identify a source linked to the outbreak, though public health officials are currently interviewing to try to determine a possible food item.

“Several groups of people (‘subclusters’) at restaurants in multiple states have been identified,” the CDC wrote of the outbreak. “These subclusters are groups of people who do not know one another who ate at the same restaurant and got sick. Investigating these subclusters can sometimes help identify a food item eaten by all of the sick people that could be the source of the outbreak.”

https://endtimeheadlines.org

House Democrats Pass Most Radical Pro-Abortion Bill Ever, Overturning Every Pro-Life Law Nationwide

Micaiah Bilger – Sepember 24, 2021

The U.S. House passed a radical pro-abortion bill Friday that would force states to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions without limits up to birth nation-wide.

The deceptively named Women’s Health Protection Act passed in a 218-211 vote with one Democrat joining Republicans in voting against it. No Republicans supported the pro-abortion legislation.

Democrat leaders portrayed the bill as the “codification” of Roe v. Wade into federal law, but the legislation goes far beyond Roe.

Pro-life leaders said the Abortion Without Limits Up to Birth Act is a more accurate name for the bill. The legislation would erase basically all restrictions on abortion and prevent states from enacting even modest protections for unborn babies. Limits on late-term abortions and bans on sex-selection abortions would be gone.

The legislation would get rid of laws that protect women and girls, too, including parental consent for minors and informed consent laws that ensure mothers receive basic facts about their unborn baby’s development before going through with an abortion.

The text of the bill states, “A health care provider has a statutory right under this Act to provide abortion services, and may provide abortion services, and that provider’s patient has a corresponding right to receive such services, without any of the following limitations or requirements,” and then lists numerous examples of pro-life laws and regulations.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a leading pro-life congressman from New Jersey, lamented how abortion activists have gone to extraordinary lengths for decades to ignore “the battered baby victim” of abortion.

“For the first time ever by congressional statute, H.R. 3755 would legally enable the death of unborn baby girls and boys by dismemberment, decapitation, forced expulsion from the womb, deadly poisons, or other methods at any time until birth,” Smith said.

https://www.lifenews.com

The Inflation Train Is Still Gaining Speed

Peter Reagan – September 2021

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and other members of the Fed have been using the term “transitory” to downplay the threat that the last 16 months of skyrocketing inflation would last.

But inflation has been sharply on the rise since March 2020, with only a minor pause toward the end of last year before rising even more sharply since January 2021. Two Fed officials dissented in June of this year, but Powell’s money-printing habit hasn’t slowed.

The “light at the end of the tunnel” for the Fed? A miniscule .1% (one tenth of one percent) down tick in the official monthly inflation report this August.

You can almost hear the relief in the Fed’s chatter… “See, we were right! It was only transitory inflation, and it’s already going down! There’s nothing to see here, move along, buy more stocks.”

Don’t crack open the champagne just yet.

Unfortunately for us, the Fed’s optimism seems misplaced. That 0.1% reduction in monthly official inflation leaves us with a 5.3% annual inflation rate, more than 2 1/2 times higher than the Fed’s official inflation target.

And if you think everyday folks have it rough, small businesses have taken a major hit:

Inflation for businesses reached a year-over-year rate of 8.3% — the metric’s highest level since at least 2010.

On top of that, consumers are waking up to the reality that inflation won’t be “transitory,” but instead will likely stick around for a few years.

https://www.newsmax.com

Hamas punctuates Israeli air strike with another rocket – a shift in tactics

Debkafile – September 13, 2021

A fourth rocket punctuated the third round of Israeli air strikes over the Gaza Strip that responded to three nights of single Palestinian rocket fire. This last rocket like the others was aimed on Sunday night, Sept. 12 at Sderot and the Eshkol Council. All four Hamas projectiles were intercepted in time by Iron Dome rockets. The military spokesman reported that the fourth rocket prompted an expansion of the Israeli raid to five major Hamas facilities, including a “terror tunnel” as well as training compounds and arms production sites and depots.

The launching of the fourth rocket in the course of the latest Israeli counterstrike marked a change in Hamas tactics. Until now, the Palestinian terrorists ruling the Gaza Strip were wont to fire a rocket or two, wait for Israeli punishment and hold back for a while before launching their next small-scale rocket or arson balloon offensive against the Israeli population next door to the Gaza Strip. On Sunday night, Hamas changed the rules by initiating its next attack while an Israeli punitive operation was still ongoing.

DEBKAfile’s military sources note that Hamas’s decision to change the rules is worrying in the sense that it copycats Syria’s latest mode of retaliation for Israel’s alleged air strikes on pro-Iranian sites. On Sept.3, Syria aimed two SA-5 rockets at central Israel in direct response to a purported air raid over the outskirts of Damascus. Both were intercepted by Israel’s air defense system. This new government in Jerusalem downplayed that event as well another new feature of Hamas aggression. In the past fortnight, Hamas has been seen to direct heavy machine gun fire at its Israeli neighbors – so far without causing casualties. But there is no doubt that Hamas is diversifying its offensive tactics and very much on the warpath.

https://www.debka.com

EU Chief Von der Leyen Says Europe Must Build the ‘Political Will’ for an EU Army

Kurt Zindulka – September 16, 2021

The European Union needs to build the “political will” to craft an army of its own, President Ursula von der Leyen said in her State of the Union speech on Wednesday.

Addressing the European Parliament in Brussels, the EU Commission chief said that in the wake of President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the bloc should look towards the formation of a “European Defence Union”.

“In the last weeks, there have been many discussions on expeditionary forces. On what type and how many we need: battlegroups or EU entry forces. This is no doubt part of the debate – and I believe it will be part of the solution,” von der Leyen said.

“But the more fundamental issue is why this has not worked in the past… What has held us back until now is not just a shortfall of capacity – it is the lack of political will.

“And if we develop this political will, there is a lot that we can do at EU level.”

The former German defense minister argued for a more centralized command structure of the militaries of Europe rather than what she termed as the “fragmented” system in place now, saying: “This is why the EU could consider its own Joint Situational Awareness Centre to fuse all the different pieces of information.”

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Germany’s current defence minister, hailed the speech, writing: “Ursula von der Leyen is right… Real EU defence depends on the political will of member states. That’s why Germany and France must lead.”

The speech from the EU President comes amid a growing consensus in Brussels for a fully-fledged EU Army in the wake of Afghanistan.

https://www.breitbart.com

Strong earthquake swarm under Cumbre Vieja volcano, Canary Islands

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A strong earthquake swarm started under Cumbre Vieja volcano, La Palma, Canary Islands at 03:18 UTC on September 11, 2021.

From the beginning of the seismic series until 08:00 UTC on September 13, a total of 1 570 earthquakes have been detected, of which 354 were located. 315 earthquakes have been detected (90 located) to 17:45 UTC on September 12.

The magnitude of earthquakes have been increasing in recent hours, with a maximum magnitude of 3.4 mbLg.

The depth of the earthquakes remains between 8 and 13 km (5 – 8 miles).

Since October 2017 there have been 10 seismic series with similar characteristics in this area of the island of La Palma.

“The occurrence of events of this type in an active volcanic zone is within normality and does not present any risk to the population,” the Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN) said.1

Only 15 earthquakes (M0.9 – 2.6) have been detected on the island during the entire month of August. 10 of these earthquakes have been part of a small seismic series that occurred on August 27 and 28 located in the south of the island.

Shallow depths suggest that new magma is currently intruding into a reservoir under the volcano, volcanologist Dr. Tom Pfeiffer said.2

“Whether or not this might be leading up to new volcanic activity is impossible to say at this stage, as there seem not to be other signs of significant volcanic unrest at this stage.”

Earthquakes registered in the previous two earthquake swarms under the volcano — December 20203 and February 20214, were deeper (20 – 30 km / 12 – 18 miles, and 15 – 20 km / 9 – 12 miles, respectively), which could indicate that magma has now risen higher in the volcano’s underground storage systems.

“Without a doubt, the current seismic swarm represents a significant change in the activity of the volcano and is related to a process of magmatic intrusion beneath La Palma Island,” the Volcanology Institute of the Canaries (INVOLCAN) said.

https://watchers.news

Africa Swine Fever: Is China downplaying another disease outbreak?

DW – September 17, 2021

During a teleconference more than two years ago, Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua urged health authorities to step up efforts to rein in a growing outbreak despite initial “positive results,” and suggested that “enhancing quarantine and monitoring” measures would help prevent the spread of the virus.

Hu’s comments came before the discovery of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Instead, he was referring to a different, far deadlier disease: African Swine Fever (ASF) — an illness that affects pigs.

Chinese officials first identified ASF in 2018 in Liaoning, a coastal province in China’s northeast. Unlike SARS-CoV-2, ASF does not threaten human health. The disease, however, is highly virulent in pigs and mortality rates approach 100%.

ASF is of particular concern in China, the world’s top pork consumer and home to roughly half of the world’s pigs. Given the country’s enormous pig population, ASF could turn China into a significant reservoir of disease and pose a threat to China’s neighbors in the region if it becomes endemic.

This year, China reported 12 ASF cases to the OIE, the intergovernmental body that tracks animal diseases, down from a high of 105 in 2018. Except for a small bump in cases earlier this year, ASF numbers have consistently declined, according to official figures.

Some industry experts, however, believe that China may be obfuscating African Swine Fever’s actual toll on hog herds by under-reporting infection numbers, and painting an artificially rosy picture.

The cost of pork in China is an economic bellwether. Tapping into China’s strategic pork stockpile allowed Beijing to stabilize pork prices from a high last year, but ASF could still cause headaches of epic proportions.

https://www.dw.com

Broken Arrow pastor arrested outside Tulsa Women’s Clinic

Katie Keleher – September 02, 2021

TULSA, Okla. — A Broken Arrow pastor is charged with disturbing the peace after being arrested outside of the Tulsa Women’s Clinic.

Pastor Greg McEntire said he and members of his church, Broken Arrow Baptist Temple, have prayed and sung while protesting abortion outside of the Tulsa Women’s Clinic every week for five years.

He said there were about 25 of them outside of the clinic. He said after being there for about an hour, a police officer showed up, asking them to tone down their singing. McEntire said the officer told them you could hear them singing from inside the clinic, which is a violation of Tulsa’s noise statute. McEntire said the officer was going to write him a ticket, but McEntire refused to sign it. He was then arrested.

McEntire said he feels like they were trying to take his voice away.

“We feel like it’s an attempt to silence our voices because if we get so soft we can’t be heard, why should we be there. If people can’t hear us, why are we there,” McEntire said.

https://www.kjrh.com

FDA purchased baby heads and other body parts, documents show

WND Staff – September 14, 2021

Hundreds of pages of U.S. Food and Drug Administration records obtained under a Freedom of Information Act case brought by government watchdog Judicial Watch reveal the U.S. government was buying the heads of unborn babies, and other body parts, for its “humanized mice” project.

The watchdog organization announced this week it has obtained 198 pages of records from the FDA confirming the purchase plans for “human fetal heads, organs and tissue.”

The “supplies” came from Advanced Bioscience Resources, and many of the deals were reached between Perrin Lawton, of ABR, and Kristina Howard, an officer with the FDA.

The lawsuit over the records had sought “all contracts and related documentation on disbursement of funds, procedural documents and communications between FDA and ABR for the provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research.”

A federal court recently ordered the government to provide more details about the purchase of the human body parts, “including ‘line item prices,’ or the price per organ the government paid to ABR,” Judicial Watch said.”

The court also found ‘there is reason to question’ whether the transactions violate federal law barring the sale of fetal organs. Documents previously uncovered in this lawsuit show that the federal government demanded the purchased fetal organs be ‘fresh and never frozen,'” Judicial Watch reported.

https://www.wnd.com

Another Australian State Legalizes Voluntary Euthanasia

Newsmax – September 16, 2021

Voluntary euthanasia became legal in a fifth Australian state on Thursday, more than 20 years after the country repealed the world’s first mercy killing law for the terminally ill.

Queensland’s Parliament passed the law with 61 of the state’s 93 lawmakers voting in favor.

New South Wales, the nation’s most populous state, is now the only state that doesn’t allow assisted suicide.

The Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory do not have the same rights as states and the Federal Parliament has barred them from making such laws.

Queensland’s law, which takes effect in January 2023, allows people suffering from a disease or medical condition that is advanced, progressive, and terminal to have access to so-called voluntary assisted dying.

Their condition must be expected to cause death within a year, they must have decision-making capacity, and proceed without coercion.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the law would ease pain and suffering.

“It has been a very considered debate and … it’s been a very difficult debate,” Miles told Parliament.

Opponents argued that due to a funding shortfall for palliative care, the law would put pressure on some patients to end their lives.

https://www.newsmax.com