News
Compiled by Michael Hernandez, 8-19-24
There are so many stories making up the mosaic of national/international news that we can’t cover them all every week. The biggest stories now seem to be: election, Trump lawfare, immigration, wars, massive orchestrated ‘Palestine’ protests/riots, weaponization of government, our nation going bankrupt, massive inflation, phony climate change controversy and related expenses of government/industry attempting to address these issues, and the Chinese threat. So here are just a few:
Aug. 14: Gateway Pundit By Cullen Linebarger
World Health Organization Declares Monkeypox Outbreak A Global Health Emergency
The Chinese-friendly World Health Organization announced today that a global emergency had been declared over a recent monkeypox (mpox) outbreak in Africa less than three months before Americans are scheduled to vote for president.
CNN reported that WHO convened its emergency “mpox” committee amid concerns that a deadlier strain of the virus had spread into four additional regions in Africa. More than 17,000 cases and more than 500 deaths have been reported in 13 countries in Africa since the beginning of 2024 according to the outlet. The monkeypox outbreak had previously been contained to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the outlet, independent “experts” on the committee met virtually Wednesday to advise WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to emphasize the “severity” of the situation. Following the discussion, Ghebreyesus announced that he had declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the highest level of health alarm under international law.
As CNN notes, PHEIC is a status given by WHO to “extraordinary events” that pose a public health risk to other countries through the international spread of disease. These outbreaks often require a coordinated global response. The outlet further reports WHO previously authorized the Emergency Use Listing process for monkeypox vaccines along with a regional response plan requiring $15 million in funds. $1.45 million of these finds have already been distributed.
The current strain of monkeypox is deadlier than the previous one that entered America in 2022. Symptoms of monkeypox are quite nasty. They include a fever, a painful rash, body aches, enlarged lymph nodes, and extreme fatigue. However, unlike COVID, monkeypox cannot be spread via the air and is nowhere near as contagious. Monkeypox spreads through close contact via kissing, touching, and sexual intercourse with someone is infectious. The virus is primarily spreading via sex and predominantly affecting gay and bisexual men like the previous strain.
Moreover, not a single case of the new variant has been located in the U.S. yet, but the CDC is requesting doctors to look out for symptoms like skin rashes and lesions. No other continent has reported infections at this point either.
Aug. 14: Gateway Pundit By Ben Kew
Columbia President Resigns Months After Pro-Hamas Demonstrations, Complains of ‘Threats and Abuse’
The president of Columbia has resigned from her position just months after the pro-Hamas demonstrations that engulfed the university campus. In a statement on Wednesday evening, Minouche Shakif said the past few months had taken a “considerable toll” on her personal life and complained about the abuse she had received:
The Columbia Board of Trustees confirmed they had “regretfully” (accepted) her resignations and thanked her for her contributions during a “difficult year” for the university. Katrina Armstrong, the executive vice president for the health and biomedical sciences, will replace her as interim president.
The announcement comes just days after three of the university’s most senior deans resigned after the release of various anti-semitic text messages. Shafik’s resignation makes her the third president of an Ivy League to resign so far this year following a public outcry over their Congressional testimony on anti-semitism and their handling of prolonged anti-Israel demonstrations on campus.
Claudine Gay and Elizabeth Magill, who were the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, both stepped down in similar circumstances.
Aug 17: The Western Journal By Jack Davis
Gunfight Breaks Out As San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base Gate Guards Return Fire on Multiple Shooters Trying To Gain Entry
Gunfire rattled twice early Saturday at the main gate of Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas as the base’s guards came under fire. The incident erupted at the gate to JBSA-Chapman Training Annex as the active shooters tried to gain entry, according to KSAT-TV.
The first of two incidents took place at 2:15 a.m., according to AP. Shortly after 4:30, a similar incident took place, Sgt. Washington Moscoso said. The vehicle fled. No injuries were reported.
Base representative Stefanie Antosh said it was not known how many rounds were fired nor the motive for the shooting. Antosh said more than one shooter was in the car, but did not provide a number of people who were in the vehicle, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The gate where the shooting took place was closed until shortly after 9:30 a.m. but no lockdown was initiated, according to AP.
Joint Base San Antonio includes Randolph Air Force Base and Lackland Air Force Base and two Army installations — Fort Sam Houston and Camp Bulllis training camp. About 24,000 active duty service members are based at Lackland. Units at the base include the 37th Training Wing; 149th Fighter Wing; 59th Medical Wing; the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency; 24th Air Force Wing, 67th Network Warfare Wing; the Cryptologic Systems Group; the National Security Agency; and 70 other units.
Aug. 18: Breitbart By Olivia Rondeau
Major Companies Leave Illinois
Morton Salt has joined the growing list of major companies to ditch Chicago for safer and more business-friendly cities. The company, easily recognizable by its iconic umbrella girl logo, started in Chicago nearly 180 years ago and grew to become the biggest salt producer in North America. In 2021, the company had to slash 40 percent of workers at its headquarters in order “help meet our business goals,” ABC 7 Chicago reported.
Morton is now set to relocate to Overland Park, Kansas, according to Illinois Policy.
According to CNBC, Illinois is ranked at 33 in the U.S. for business friendliness.
Other corporate moves:
- Boeing
Aerospace manufacturer Boeing announced in May 2022 that it would move its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia in order to repair soured relationships with lawmakers and regulators in Washington, DC, after two deadly 737 Max crashes, CNBC reported.
- Caterpillar Tractor Company (CAT)
Construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar announced in June 2022 that it would relocate its headquarters from its longtime home state of Illinois to Texas, the Associated Press reported. After spending over 90 years in Peoria and about five in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, CAT said it would transfer its global base to the Dallas suburb of Irving.
- Citadel
Billionaire Ken Griffin moved his hedge fund, Citadel, from Chicago to Miami, Florida after one colleague was robbed at gunpoint and another was approached by “some random lunatic just trying to punch him in the head,” he told Bloomberg. Griffin, a Florida native with a net worth of over $38 billion according to Forbes, made the announcement in September 2022 after he could no longer stand Chicago’s soaring crime rate.
- TTX
Rail car company TTX declared it was leaving Chicago for Charlotte, North Carolina in a July 2023 joint statement with Gov. Roy Cooper (D). The move created 150 new jobs in North Carolina and the company pledged to invest $14.5 million in Mecklenburg County, the press release stated.
- Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods, the world’s second-largest processor of chicken, beef, and pork, became the sixth company in 2022 to leave Illinois, with 500 corporate jobs in its Chicago and Downers Grove offices moving to Arkansas. The company also closed their office in South Dakota in order to consolidate manpower at their global headquarters in Springdale, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
Aug. 20: NBC News Team
GOP-Led House Committees Release Lengthy Report Alleging Biden Committed Impeachable Offenses
The Republican-led House committees investigating whether to impeach President Joe Biden released their long-awaited report about their findings Monday morning, arguing that Biden has committed impeachable conduct but deferring to the full House on whether to pursue a formal impeachment.
The nearly 300-page report is a summary of the investigation conducted by the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees over the past year and a half, nearly all of which has already been made public.
It argues that Biden enriched himself through his family’s business ventures and concealed his mishandling of classified information in office, the subject of the investigation conducted by special counsel Robert Hur, who declined to press charges this year.
In addition, the committees say that the Justice Department mishandles its investigation into his son Hunter Biden’s tax problems and that the White House has withheld key documents and witnesses from the impeachment investigation.
The report itself provides extensive details about the interaction with and payments from foreign companies to Hunter Bien and the president’s brother James Biden and their business associates during the end of his time as vice president and when he was a private citizen.
The investigators put the total at $27 million, according to the bank records they received. But the investigators failed to turn up evidence that Biden himself received money from those companies or participated in the foreign business deals beyond the occasions when Hunter Biden called him on speakerphone to exchange pleasantries while in the company of foreign business associates or when he saw them at his son’s birthday dinner.
https://www.aol.com/news/gop-led-house-committees-release-090000339.html
Michael Hernandez, from California is co-founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted at [email protected] and is editor of the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes” and “Nov. 5 Election Day Countdown,” and writes a column on “Revive America.”
