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Medieval Diseases Have Returned To Los Angeles

In what can only be described as a stunning failure of state and local policy and leadership, Los Angeles County recorded its highest tally of flea-borne typhus cases in 2025, confirming 220 diagnoses, up from 187 the year before, according to the county’s Department of Public Health. Almost nine in ten of those patients ended up hospitalized. Fleas that feed on infected rats, opossums, and other small mammals carry the bacteria behind the disease to humans, and Los Angeles has watched the case count climb for years. The 2025 total marks the sharpest jump yet.

Dr. Dean Winslow has practiced infectious disease medicine for fifty years. He taught at Stanford, ran COVID-19 testing programs for the federal government, and served as President Trump’s 2017 nominee for assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. Asked whether a typhus outbreak in one of the wealthiest counties in America points to a broader failure in public health and sanitation, Winslow gave a one-word answer. “Absolutely,” he told the Daily Signal.

“It’s largely an issue of … people living in just horrible conditions in close proximity to rats,” Winslow said, naming rodents as the primary vector for the infection’s spread.

The conditions track with the county’s homelessness numbers. Homelessness in LA County rose 3.3% over the past year, and in the city of Los Angeles itself the figure climbed 7.9%, according to data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Winslow said encampments put residents at heightened risk given their proximity to rats, though he cautioned the problem extends beyond encampments alone.

Asked what he would tell city officials, Winslow said the priority should be to “get a handle again on rat control issues.”

That task has gotten harder since 2020, when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1788 into law, restricting the use of four rodenticides over concerns about their effects on mountain lions and other wildlife. Winslow pointed to the restrictions as one likely culprit behind the county’s swelling rat population, since pest-control operators have shifted toward traps and less potent methods in response. “Those may be two reasons why … the rat population is out of control [in LA],” he said.

The county’s own public health guidance seems to put the burden of prevention on residents, telling them to keep pets on flea-control products, avoid stray animals, clear yard debris, secure trash in tightly lidded containers, and report rodents or opossums to animal control. Mayor Karen Bass’s office did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, examined the county’s internal records for City Journal. His team filed public records requests and received a thousand pages of documents from the county health department. What those documents showed is a public health system bracing for outbreaks it had fallen behind on.

“This is about plague rats that have returned,” Rufo told Hugh Hewitt on the Salem News Channel. “So we did a story, we did FOIA, we got 1,000 pages of documents from the County Health Department in Los Angeles. And the picture that these documents painted was quite grim. You have a return of typhus, you have outbreaks of hantavirus, you have really a plethora of medieval diseases that are on the rise in LA.”

Rufo laid out two forces behind the outbreak. “And there are a couple of causes for this. The first is that the homeless encampments that are scattered, not just in Skid Row, but throughout the city, are the perfect breeding ground for rats. And so now there are millions of rats breeding under the streets of Los Angeles. And the County Health Department admits in these internal documents that they’re not ready for these outbreaks,” he continued. “And at the same time, you have California Governor Gavin Newsom in two separate pieces of legislation in recent years banning all of the most effective rodenticides, so rat poisons that can keep that population at bay. And when you put those ingredients together, you get something that experts predicted in LA seems powerless to stop, which is typhus, including three deaths from typhus in recent years.”

.@christopherrufo: “You have a return of typhus. You have outbreaks of hantavirus. You have a plethora of medieval diseases that are on the rise in L.A.
There are a couple of causes for this. The first is that the homeless encampments that are scattered, not just in Skid Row,… pic.twitter.com/bam0xbUkPb
— Manhattan Institute (@ManhattanInst) August 18, 2026
Three deaths and 220 hospitalization cases in a single year mark a policy failure in a county that absolutely has the resources to prevent it. Encampments stayed in place. Rodenticides came off the shelf. The health department knew what was coming and clearly could not (or would not) stop it. State and local officials built, permitted, and, in some cases, legislated the conditions that allowed the rat population to multiply beneath the streets of one of the wealthiest cities in America.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/21/2026 – 05:45

Elected officials see angry voters cram into local meeting rooms and line streets to oppose data centers and feel an irresistible urge to cater to the populist anger. The next thing they do is hit the pause button.However, leadership requires thinking through consequences. Moratoria on new data center construction will arrest innovation, cede the future of artificial intelligence to Beijing, and threaten our national security. Blanket opposition deprives hardworking Americans of hundreds of millions of dollars in future wages per year. It shackles the most vibrant sector in commercial construction and eliminates a tax revenue lifeline that is currently funding local police departments, roads, and teacher salaries in counties across the nation.If Democrats want to regain the trust of the American people, we must have a defined vision for the future that brings prosperity to all – not just the ultra-rich – and we have to be for something not just saying, “No.” We need to offer a constructive solution that doesn’t succumb to fearmongering, and prove that the party of the New Deal, the Great Society and the Apollo program is the party of solutions and sound policy, not demagoguery.FROM NEW YORK TO TEXAS, STATES SHOULD RESPECT LOCAL CONTROL ON DATA CENTERSToday, our party’s message is controlled by a vocal minority who don’t understand – or perhaps care – about the facts. In New York State in July, for instance, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul imposed a statewide moratorium on new data center construction. A growing number of local jurisdictions are taking similar action. In Congress, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are proposing a national moratorium.Have they considered that without data centers, the internet, their path to fame and national stature, is essentially useless? The tech industry would collapse and the economy would enter a tailspin. In lieu of letting states lead the way with blunt-force moratoria, we should develop national- or state-level Centers of Excellence that would provide every county board and municipal zoning authority the knowledge to make informed, transparent decisions. Those local governing bodies should absolutely listen to their constituents, be mindful of their many concerns, but above all, they need to give as much weight to facts as to emotions.AI BOOM: DEMAND FOR DATA CENTERS DRIVES INNOVATION BY ENERGY, TECH INDUSTRIES TO PRODUCE NEW POWER SOURCESConsider the controversy over electricity prices. It isn’t data centers driving up residential rates but a combination of issues with our aging power grid, President Donald Trump’s pointless war in Iran, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. The data center industry has agreed to supply its own power or pay for grid upgrades. The White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge now has 200 signatories resolving to find policy solutions. If data center and technology companies want to pay for the grid upgrades, let them.Multiple studies show that under a well-designed rate policy, such as the new rate for Virginia’s Dominion Energy large-load customers, data centers pay as much or more in fees than the cost of the energy they consume, precluding the need for rate hikes while providing extra funds for grid upgrades and additional generation online, including nuclear and renewables.WILLIE NELSON URGES AMERICANS TO FIGHT ‘WATER THIEVING’ AI DATA CENTERS DEVOURING RURAL TEXAS FARMLANDAmericans alarmed about water used to cool servers should know data centers’ consumption is a drop in the bucket compared to residential lawn irrigation, household plumbing leaks and golf courses. Here in Virginia, a state legislative committee found “most data centers use about the same amount of water or less as an average large office building.”Newer data centers use treated sewage or closed-loop systems recycling water over and over again. These are all decisions that localities should mandate, without giving up the construction jobs, the permanent jobs and the local tax revenue.Communities also worry data centers’ backup diesel generators are dirty and noisy. But these generators typically run only about 20 hours per year (or three minutes per day) for maintenance and testing. As for emissions, the proof is in the air itself. According to the EPA, the air in Northern Virginia – a data center hub – is the cleanest in decades.In addition to facts, skeptics need to weigh the merits of prudent planning.AMERICA’S AI BOOM IS A JOBS OPPORTUNITY, NOT AN EXCUSE FOR UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOMEWell-conceived development must limit data centers to land properly zoned for their use. Unfortunately, in Loudoun County, my home for the past 26 years, the Board of Supervisors made a poor decision to permit data centers in areas previously zoned for some office space within residential areas. The data center developers and the union labor building the data centers follow the rules, even bad ones.Ultimately, the debate over data centers comes down to one question: Are they net contributors to our communities? For an answer, don’t just look at the tax revenue – look at the high-paying union jobs that are creating a new middle class – employees who are able to buy a home at 28 instead of 41 – jobs that pay $45 to $60 per hour.THE WAR ON DATA CENTERS JEOPARDIZES OUR ECONOMY AND NATIONAL SECURITYData centers are disproportionately high contributors but light users of public resources. A 2025 PwC study found the industry contributed $162.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2023 alone. Here in Virginia’s Loudoun County, data centers take up 2% of our land but yield 38% of tax revenue. In Mecklenburg County, local officials built the first new school in 75 years with data center proceeds.Data centers’ role in providing jobs and funding public services put the tax incentive debate in a more realistic context than the false claim that the industry receives unmerited “handouts.”KEVIN O’LEARY WARNS CHINA IS WINNING THE AI RACE BECAUSE U.S. STATES ARE SLOWING DATA CENTER PRODUCTIONIn Virginia this year, for instance, Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Democrats in the legislature came under pressure to kill a data center tax exemption common to all industrial companies. Then, the unions came to Richmond in May to express their support for the exemption, because data center investments supported 113,000 highly skilled, well-paying jobs in Virginia alone.Instead of a moratorium, Spanberger and the Democrats brought data center developers into the conversation and found them prepared to pay more taxes to address concerns. The legislature passed a first-in-the-nation tax on energy consumption, a step Spanberger sees as foundational to a longer-term conversation about water usage and energy standards.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONData centers are private businesses, largely owned and operated by Americans within our framework of laws. Americans will debate; elected officials have an obligation to lead rather than simply react.I’d urge my fellow Democrats: Follow the facts, bring data centers and their heavy spending on capital goods, wages and tax revenue into the conversation. And leave it to local authorities to decide if data centers belong in their communities.

At 35 years old, you might have a mortgage, two kids, a six-figure salary and an MBA degree hanging on the wall. And you still might want to call your parents before making a major financial decision.That isn’t a walk of shame. It might actually be financially savvy.Somewhere along the way, we decided that becoming an adult meant we were supposed to have all the answers about money. By 35, you’re supposed to understand investing, mortgages, taxes, insurance, retirement, college savings and how much house you can afford.THE RICH HAVE ONE FINANCIAL HABIT MOST AMERICANS IGNORE AT THEIR PERILReally?You can have an MBA and still make terrible money decisions. I see people do this every day. I’ve met incredibly successful executives who couldn’t explain their 401(k). Entrepreneurs who built multimillion-dollar businesses but carried ridiculous credit card debt. Highly educated professionals who bought way too much house because the bank told them they could “afford” it.COLLEGE GRADS EXPECT TO EARN $80,000 A YEAR, BUT THE MATH ISN’T MATHINGEducation gives you knowledge. Experience gives you scar tissue. And your parents may have 30 or 40 years of financial scar tissue you haven’t earned yet.They’ve lived through recessions. Stock market crashes. Housing booms and busts. Layoffs. Inflation. Raising kids. Unexpected medical bills. Bad investments. Good investments. Maybe even a financial decision or two they wish they could take back.THE GREAT WEALTH LIE: MILLENNIALS ARE RICHER THAN YOU OR THEY THINKYou can’t download that from ChatGPT or learn all of it in business school. So why wouldn’t you ask?The mistake is confusing asking your parents for financial advice with asking your parents for financial support. Those are two completely different conversations.The Wall Street Journal has explored how the Bank of Mom and Dad increasingly stays open well into adulthood, with parents helping grown children with everything from housing to everyday expenses.That’s where the line can get blurry. If you’re 35 and asking Dad whether putting 20% down on a house makes sense, that’s advice. If you’re asking Dad to provide the 20% because you spent your down payment on a $90,000 Range Rover, that’s a different problem.THE AMERICAN DREAM NOW COMES WITH A ZIP CODE: HERE’S WHERE STARTER HOMES ARE STILL WITHIN REACHAsk for wisdom before you ask for a wire transfer.There’s another reason your parents may be worth calling. They probably know you better emotionally than your financial advisor does. Your father may know you tend to chase the next shiny investment. Your mother may remember that every time you’ve stretched your budget, you’ve regretted it.YOUR FAMILY COULD BE ONE PHONE CALL FROM A BANK SCAMSometimes the best financial advice isn’t, “Can I afford this?” It’s your mother saying, “Ted (or she would probably say Theodore Michael), you know yourself. You’re going to hate that payment six months from now.”That’s not financial planning. That’s financial self-awareness.SKIP TWO YEARS OF COLLEGE DEBT AND GIVE YOUR FAMILY A LIFETIME OF WEALTHOf course, your parents shouldn’t automatically get the final vote.The financial world has changed. Their 12% mortgage from 1985 existed alongside dramatically different home prices. Pensions have largely given way to 401(k)s. Today’s tax rules, investment choices and retirement strategies are different.AMERICA’S RETIREMENT SYSTEM IS BROKEN. TRUMP MAY HAVE FOUND A BOLD FIXYour parents’ experience is valuable. It isn’t infallible.That’s why, at 35, I would ask Mom and Dad three questions before making a major money decision:Then make your own decision. Because financial independence shouldn’t mean pretending you know everything.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONBeing 35 means you don’t need your parents’ permission anymore. But being smart enough to still ask for their wisdom?That’s called growing up.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM TED JENKIN

Ukraine is buying a homegrown glide bomb that could help its pilots strike Russian forces from a safer distance while relying less on weapons supplied by the U.S. and Europe.The new weapon is called the Vyrivniuvach, or “Equalizer.” It was developed by Ukrainian company DG Industry with support from Brave1, a government-backed defense technology group.A Ukrainian military official told Ukrinform that the bomb has finished testing and is now being bought for the armed forces. Fox News Digital has reached out to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense for more details.Until now, Ukraine’s warplanes have relied heavily on U.S.-supplied JDAM-ER bomb kits and Small Diameter Bombs, as well as French-made Hammer bombs, for precision strikes from safer distances. The Equalizer could give Kyiv more control over its own supply of guided bombs as foreign military aid remains uncertain.’A NEW KIND OF WAR’: INSIDE UKRAINE’S HIDDEN FACTORIES MASS-PRODUCING COMBAT DRONESThe Equalizer turns a conventional bomb into a precision weapon by adding wings and guidance systems. It is designed to be dropped from Ukraine’s MiG-29, Su-24 and Su-27 warplanes, allowing pilots to attack targets farther behind Russian lines while staying farther away from Russian air defenses.Brave1 told The War Zone that the bomb could eventually be used by Ukraine’s donated F-16 and Mirage fighter jets, but it needs additional certification before that can happen.Russia’s use of glide bombs has become one of the most punishing parts of the war for Ukrainian troops and towns near the front. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces dropped more than 8,300 guided aerial bombs in July — the highest monthly total of the war and an average of more than 267 bombs a day.Russia’s wider air assault has also intensified in recent days. A Russian missile-and-drone barrage on Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight killed at least 16 people and wounded about 40, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. The attack damaged homes, a school and a children’s hospital.RUSSIA LAUNCHES BALLISTIC MISSILE ATTACK ON KYIV HOURS AFTER ZELENSKYY WARNS OF MAJOR STRIKEThe Equalizer does not make Ukraine fully independent from foreign supply chains. Brave1 said the bomb’s wings and flight-control software were made in Ukraine, but its chips and microcircuits come from abroad. The group said about 90% of the weapon’s parts come from Ukraine, Europe and the U.S.The weapons have helped Russia pound Ukrainian defensive positions and communities near the fighting.Ukraine has continued to press the U.S. and European allies for more air-defense weapons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that the U.S. had agreed to send Patriot interceptor missiles each month, but he warned that the volumes were not enough to meet Ukraine’s needs.RUSSIA EXPOSES NATO WEAPONS GAP AS TOP COMMANDER WARNS ‘THE MATH IS NOT IN FAVOR OF THE WEST’SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTERIt is not yet clear when the Equalizer will reach Ukrainian units in large numbers or whether it has been used in combat.Fox News Digital has reached out to DG Industry and Brave1 for comment.

Concerns over the Treasury Department’s debt repurchase program continue to weigh on markets.

Vance said “what has been true over the last couple of weeks is they felt a lot more pressure than we have.”

US To Send Hospital Ship Next Year To Peru To Help With Impact Of El Nino

Authored by Victoria Friedman via The Epoch Times,

The United States will send a military hospital ship to Peru’s Pacific coast next year to help the country cope with the impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Plans to send the hospital ship USNS Comfort to the northern Pacific coast of Peru in February 2027 were confirmed by U.S. Ambassador to Peru Bernie Navarro on Aug. 19 during a press conference at Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Miami, Florida.

Appearing alongside Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Espá, Navarro told reporters that “one of the biggest things the United States is doing is bringing the military vessel Comfort, which we are going to bring in February.”

The ambassador said that February is when they believe the problem with El Niño will peak.

Espá told reporters that officials were already starting to develop a road map.

“We are concerned, but we’re not just concerned; we’re taking action,” Espá said.

“That’s why we’re so grateful to the ambassador, because thanks to him, the day before yesterday we met at Southern Command with all the U.S. agencies that will be assisting us, along with civil society and the business sector, to develop our roadmap.”

Following the press conference, Navarro said in a post on X:

“The United States will stand with Peru in facing El Niño. With a strategy focused on prevention rather than reaction, we will set an example for regional cooperation.”

El Niño is a warming of the Pacific Ocean near the equator that affects global weather patterns. According to meteorologists, it could soon equal or surpass the 1997 phenomenon, which caused damage from heat waves, heavy rains, floods, and forest fires.

Peru, which lies on the western coast of South America, has been subject to flooding this year as a result of the weather phenomenon.

Aid to South America

The planned deployment of USNS Comfort, which was already in Peru in 2018 and 2019, was announced in an earlier statement from the U.S. Embassy in Peru on Aug. 17 following the summit at SOUTHCOM.

The summit on disaster preparedness for El Niño was attended by the U.S. ambassador, Espá, SOUTHCOM, representatives from the U.S. and Peruvian governments, and individuals from academia and civil society.

The U.S. Embassy in Peru said in a statement that during the summit, Navarro highlighted that the United States has demonstrated its support for the South American country through its aid and assistance.

This includes the construction of 18 Regional Emergency Operations Centers; the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration training provided to its officials in emergency response and risk management; and scientific and medical cooperation, such as the upcoming arrival of the hospital ship.

The United States has also been sending increased humanitarian aid for earthquakes in Colombia and Venezuela.

SOUTHCOM said in an Aug. 17 post on X that U.S. assistance to Colombia for earthquake relief is ongoing.

“Today, a [U.S. Air Force] C-17 Globemaster III delivered more life-saving assistance and supplies from the [State Department’s] disaster response warehouse in Miami to Medellín for distribution to hard-hit communities in Colombia,” the command said.

“SOUTHCOM is actively supporting the [State Department-led] humanitarian response following the Aug. 10 earthquake in western Colombia. The United States stands in solidarity with the Colombian people during this crisis.”

Heavy Rain in Peru

Heavy rains attributed to El Niño caused flooding in Peru on Aug. 19, resulting in flooded homes, collapsed sewage services, and school closures in the capital, Lima.

Authorities also closed the main route to Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca citadel, due to the overflow of waterways.

There were also road closures from landslides in the southern regions ​of Arequipa and Moquegua.

Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori, who took office on July 28, said that tackling the impact of the weather phenomenon is a priority.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/21/2026 – 05:00

South Korea’s presidential Blue House on Friday called on North Korea to halt its “derogatory remarks” toward Seoul, one day after Kim Yo Jong mocked the South.

Popular Ukrainian Official Raises Stakes Against Zelensky With Election Call: Democracy Held ‘Hostage’

Ukrainian President Zelensky is once again under immense internal pressure, amid new corruption investigations which run straight through the presidential office as well as growing calls to finally hold elections despite the ongoing war with Russia.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s popular young former defense minister and a longtime political ally of Zelensky – who was dismissed just last month largely as a result of tensions between him and army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi – stunned Kiev’s political establishment this week by issuing a video address urgently calling for a path to elections.

“We have to answer a fundamental question – how should a state function, if the war has lasted for years?” Fedorov said in the nine-minute-long YouTube video.
via Reuters

“Can Russia actually be entitled to define when Ukrainians can elect their authorities next time? I’m sure it’s not. Democracy can’t be Russia’s hostage,” he said.

Zelensky has long argued that martial law must stay in place, leaving no room for new elections based on the current constitution.

The 35-year-old Fedorov’s message was unexpected, and is being widely seen as a stab in the back to Zelensky. Al Jazeera has noted, for example:

Since he was fired, Fedorov has repeatedly emphasized his loyalty to Zelenskyy and refused to accept other jobs such as a presidential aide in charge of reforms.

He also claimed to have turned down a project with Palantir Technologies, a controversial, US-based software company that began collaborating with Ukraine’s military during Fedorov’s tenure.

But Federov is now calling for “a legal, safe and realistic mechanism” to restart a full democratic process “even in the conditions of a long war” – which flies directly in the face of the Zelensky government’s stance.

This marks the first time a high-level political ally of Zelensky has publicly pushed national elections since the war’s start.

It is also significant given Federov remains well-liked among the Ukrainian public. There was a lot of anger and confusion, including rare wartime protests, upon his mid-July dismissal.

His plea has sparked a little momentum:

Former foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba reportedly backed Fedorov’s idea, saying on Tuesday that elections “after war will not be more civilized, than during it.”

“We don’t know when [the war] ends. What if it lasts for another three years? We will be living under the political model that was formed in 2019, which has already been emotionally exhausted,” Kuleba, who helmed the Foreign Ministry in 2020-2024, was quoted by the Interfax Ukraine news agency as saying.

Back in December of last year, at a moment it was clear that the Ukrainians were backing away from Washington pressure to get to the negotiating table with Russia, President Trump had unleashed rare criticism on the Zelensky government.

Ukraine’s ousted defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a video address, arguing the nation faced a crisis of governance, in the biggest internal challenge to ‌President Volodymyr Zelenskiy since Russia’s invasion https://t.co/DJRxjcWH6t pic.twitter.com/b72CVNvj4Q
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 19, 2026
“They haven’t had an election in a long time,” Trump said at the time to Politico. “You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”

But the reality is that American taxpayer funds, as well as US-made weaponry, continue to flow largely uninterrupted to Kiev. Trump had vowed to quickly wind down the war and achieve peace, but that has remained elusive.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/21/2026 – 04:15