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Pneumonia vaccine may raise risk of pneumonia

A new study published in BMC Infectious Diseases challenges current recommendations for the pneumonia vaccine. Researchers say people who received the shot were actually more likely to develop pneumonia.

“A landmark population-based study published in BMC Infectious Diseases has shattered the rationale for current pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) recommendations”

Nicolas Hulscher, M.P.H.

Nicolas Hulscher, M.P.H., discusses the findings on CHD.TV and says they could be used to push for changes in vaccine policy.

Watch the video here.

Read the study here.

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Perth men charged over seizure of more than five tonnes of illicit cigarettes, vapes and loose tobacco

Two Perth brothers have faced court charged over the alleged distribution of illicit tobacco products in WA after the seizure of more than four million cigarettes, about 50,000 vapes and almost 900 kilograms of loose-leaf tobacco.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) charged Nedlands man Hossein Al Mansouri, 32, and Dianella man Mousa Al Mansouri, 33, as part of an investigation into a national organised crime syndicate allegedly selling illicit tobacco and vaping products in WA, then sending the profits back to the eastern states.

Police allege illegally distributing the seized products would have avoided about $8 million in Commonwealth excise and taxes.

The AFP and WA Police, along with Australian Border Force, say they executed multiple search warrants in Perth in August.

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Jailed in America for Free Speech

In the aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk, many folks who dared to express views of him and his work outside the mainstream lost their jobs, professional standing and State Department visas as they were fired or otherwise disciplined by employers or bureaucrats who concluded that anti-Kirk views could harm the employers’ businesses or were inconsistent with institutional values.

All discipline based on speech needs to be scrutinized strictly. Yet, even in states with strong public accommodations laws — laws that generally protect free speech in the workplace and in public places — at will employees can generally be disciplined for expressive activities that their bosses reasonably fear may impair the product or services they were hired to produce or deliver, or undermine the values or message of the institution with which they are affiliated.

Thus, reasonable fears of the loss of business or charitable donations due to the anti-Kirk public sentiments may lawfully result in silencing or firing those employees.

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Judicial Misconduct And Christian Persecution Against A Single Mother. This Case Should Outrage Every American

If you needed another reminder that the federal justice system is broken, look no further than the case of Shana Gaviola. The Gateway Pundit has previously reported on Shana’s case, and yet more continues to be exposed.

What started as a custody dispute has exploded into a full-blown scandal involving federal prosecutors, judicial misconduct, and a system that seems more interested in protecting its own than delivering justice.

Gaviola, a California resident, is accused of violating a protective order involving her then-minor son in 2021. Prosecutors claim she conspired with Julio Sandoval, a Missouri boarding school dean, to remove her son from California against court orders. But instead of handling the case fairly, the government went nuclear. Why does the court have such an inappropriate interest in this case?

In 2023, Gaviola alleged that Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Tierney, one of the prosecutors assigned to her case, made highly inappropriate advances of a sexual nature toward her at a Fresno bar. He chose to become intoxicated and continue the inappropriate behavior. Rather than investigate the claim transparently, the entire Eastern District of California was quietly removed from the case. Every judge. Every prosecutor. Gone. Just like this flagrantly appalling behavior never happened.

Gaviola’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing that the prosecution (more than) violated her constitutional rights as a parent and her religious liberty by criminalizing her decision to send her son to a religious boarding school. That motion was denied even after her team cited the Supreme Court decision of TAMER MAHMOUD, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. THOMAS W. TAYLOR, ET AL.

Then came the venue shuffle. A Fresno-based judge initially ordered the case moved to the Northern District of California due to the misconduct allegations. But Chief Judge Troy Nunley overstepped his authority and reversed that decision, stating the case would remain in Fresno. Instead of transferring it, the Ninth Circuit’s Chief Judge assigned Seattle-based, Reagan-appointed Judge John C. Coughenour to be flown in to preside over the trial, setting a new precedent.

So, while the courtroom stays in Fresno, the people running it are outsiders brought in because the local bench was too compromised to continue.

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Disgraced ex-Kiama MP Gareth Ward sentenced for sexually abusing two young men

Former New South Wales Liberal minister and independent Kiama MP Gareth Ward has been sentenced to five years and nine months in jail for sexually abusing two young men.

In July Ward was found guilty of sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of indecent assault.

The 44-year-old appeared via audiovisual link from a Hunter correctional facility as Judge Kara Shead handed down the sentence in the Parramatta District Court.

Ward’s offending was against a 24-year-old political staffer in 2015 and an 18-year-old man in 2013.

Both men watched the proceedings via audiovisual link.

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FBI Arrests Illinois Man Accused of Making ‘Heinous’ Threats Against Trump

An Illinois man has been charged in federal court with making threats against President Donald Trump, following an investigation led by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service.

Derek Lopez, 27, was arrested on Oct. 28 without incident in El Paso after FBI agents from the agency’s Springfield office and El Paso police conducted a coordinated traffic stop.

“The driver, identified as Derek Lopez of El Paso, was wanted on a federal warrant for making threats against the President,” the El Paso Police Department said in a statement. “Lopez was apprehended without resistance.”

The suspect was interviewed by FBI and Secret Service agents before being booked into the Woodford County Jail. He faces a federal charge of making threats against the president, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

FBI Director Kash Patel called the alleged threats “heinous” and said they would be pursued with the full force of law.

“The threats against President Trump allegedly posted by this individual are heinous and have no place in our society,” Patel said in a post on social media. “Let this be a message: anyone who threatens violence against public officials or any American will be found and brought to justice.”

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‘Ghost students’ continue to steal millions in financial aid from California community colleges, report says

“Ghost students” continue to steal millions in financial aid from the California Community College System despite efforts to stop them, a new report finds.

While Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said there is $1 billion in fraudulent financial aid paid out to the scammers, who might use bots to enroll and participate in class, the number is likely much larger according to a professor interviewed by Open the Books and The College Fix.

Kim Rich, a criminal justice professor at Pierce College, said she determined half of the students in her classes are fake.

Rich told The Fix that she has tried “to stop this fraud in its tracks for the past four years,” but she doesn’t “feel like [she’s] anywhere closer.” She previously spoke to The Fix in 2022 after determining about 36 percent of the students of newly-issued student ids were fake just from one week period at her college. She regularly comments on the problem of fake students.

In the spring 2025 semester, according to the Open the Books report, 24 students in Rich’s 40-student class were fake. Rich estimated that if just one ‘ghost student’ were enrolled in each of the 4,000 online classes offered in Los Angeles community colleges per semester, the nine schools in the county would lose a combined $20 million per semester.

Referencing the expected ID verification mandate the chancellor’s office planned to implement on Oct. 30 Rich told The Fix that she is “not very confident it will solve the problem or even reduce the instances of financial aid fraud, mainly because none of the other efforts or millions of dollars they have spent to remedy this issue have.”

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Mamdani Leads as Election Day Approaches in High-Stakes NYC Mayoral Race

New York City voters will go to the polls on Nov. 4 to cast their ballots in a three-way mayoral race that could have far-reaching consequences for the city and beyond.

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party nominee who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is heavily favored to win. He faces former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee known for wearing a red beret.

Previously, sitting New York City Mayor Eric Adams was also running for reelection as an independent, but he dropped out on Sept. 28 and backed Cuomo.

Cuomo has repeatedly called for Sliwa to back out of the race. Sliwa has rejected that demand.

Despite his rivals’ efforts to consolidate opposition to the self-described democratic socialist, polling shows that Mamdani is overwhelmingly favored to win the race in America’s largest metropolis.

Mamdani has led by double-digits in every poll of New York City voters taken since July. He has garnered about 45 percent of the vote in recent polls, compared to about 30 percent for Cuomo and roughly 15 percent for Sliwa.

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Russia Successfully Tests Unmanned Underwater Vehicle 2M39 Poseidon – Capable of Triggering Radioactive Tsunamis

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed a successful test of the ‘2M39 Poseidon’ days after a trial of the new Burevestnik cruise missile, which was followed by nuclear launch drills.

Putin described the Poseidon as a nuclear-powered super-torpedo designed to create radioactive tsunamis and wipe out coastal cities.

President Putin says Russia successfully tested its nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed unmanned underwater vehicle, the 2M39 Poseidon.

According to the Telegraph, The Poseidon has its roots in Soviet plans for a weapon that would be able to render coastal cities on the shores of the United States uninhabitable.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says its new ‘Poseidon’ nuclear torpedo capable of triggering radioactive tsunamis “can be considered a true doomsday weapon.”

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Shocking scenes as huge crowds of ultra-Orthodox Israelis protesting against military conscription throw bottles at female reporter before boy, 15, falls to his death during demonstration

A massive rally of ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis protesting against military conscription today turned violent as the crowd threw bottles at a female reporter and a teenage boy fell to his death. 

A packed crowd of an estimated 200,000 people, mostly men, clogged the roads around the Route 1 highway leading into Jerusalem today. 

Photos showed many had climbed atop roofs of buildings, a gas station and onto cranes.  

Video footage showed the agitated crowd stalking a female reporter from Israeli news outlet V1 who was covering the event before chucking glass bottles at her.  

Crowds of men set fire to pieces of tarpaulin as hundreds of police officers cordoned off several roads across the city. 

Demonstrators packed onto the tops of buildings, petrol stations, bridges and balconies above a sea of fellow protesters, some of whom held signs declaring: ‘Better to go to prison than to the army.’

A helicopter flew overhead as people gathered to take part in collective prayers. 

The Israeli ambulance service said a 15-year-old fell to his death and police said they had opened an investigation into the incident.

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