FENTANYL POSTERS IN NYC SUBWAYS ENCOURAGE USE~GERMANY: RAMSTEIN U.S. AIR BASE HOSTS DRAG QUEEN SHOWS FOR CHILDREN~Biological male celebrated for ‘breastfeeding’ newborn while the mother hemorrhages post-childbirth

SEE: https://thepostmillennial.com/us-air-force-base-holds-drag-queen-story-hour-for-kids

US Air Force Base holds Drag Queen Story Hour for kids

WOKE Air Force gets BACKLASH and CANCELS Drag Queen Story Time for CHILDREN!

NYC health department’s heroin-fentanyl poster sparks anger from top City Council Republican

Biological male celebrated for 'breastfeeding' newborn while the mother hemorrhages post-childbirth

Biological male celebrated for 'breastfeeding' newborn while the mother hemorrhages post-childbirth

SEE: https://thepostmillennial.com/biological-male-celebrating-for-breastfeeding-newborn-while-mother-hemorrhages-post-childbirth

ALLIE BETH STUCKEY: Pride Month & the Christian Response

Today we're going over the pervasive influence of LGBT ideas in our culture and what we as Christians should think about it. Today is the first day of this year's "Pride Month," and everyone from liberal personalities to woke corporations are scrambling to do more and more virtue-signaling to the gay community. We also talk about Matt Walsh's new documentary, "What Is a Woman?" in which Matt travels all over the world to ask different people that "controversial" question. Lastly, we cover the Biden administration's push to withhold money for school lunches from schools that don't go along with the transgender agenda.

Biden Appoints Supporter of ‘Intifada’ as ‘Ambassador’ to PLO in Israel

FDP im Wahlkampf: Christian Lindner zieht rote Linien für Koalitionen

BY DANIEL GREENFIELD

SEE: https://robertspencer.org/2022/06/biden-appoints-supporter-of-intifada-as-ambassador-to-plo-in-israel;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

After a wave of violence that saw repeated murders of Israelis, with guns and axes, among other means, in attacks that involved ISIS, but were praised by Hamas and the PLO’s Palestinian Authority, Biden is rewarding the terrorists.

 The Biden administration has settled on a series of steps aimed at boosting its diplomatic ties to the Palestinians in lieu of reopening the US Consulate in Jerusalem — a move it reluctantly shelved amid Israeli opposition.

The “opposition” consisted of telling Biden that if they gave in, the leftist-Islamist-RINO (right in name only) coalition government would collapse and they’d have to deal with Netanyahu again.

According to two US and Palestinian officials who spoke to The Times of Israel, US President Joe Biden will elevate Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr to the role of special envoy to the Palestinians.

Front Page Magazine had the first deep background on Amr.

“I was inspired by the Palestinian intifada,” Hady Amr wrote a year after September 11, discussing his work as the national coordinator of the anti-Israel Middle East Justice Network.

Biden has now chosen Amr as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel-Palestine.

“I have news for every Israeli,” Amr ranted in one column written after Sheikh Salah Shahada, the head of Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was taken out by an Israeli air strike.

Amr warned that Arabs “now have televisions, and they will never, never forget what the Israeli people, the Israeli military and Israeli democracy have done to Palestinian children. And there will be thousands who will seek to avenge these brutal murders of innocents.”

Hady Amr had accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and coordinated an organization that had accused Israel of “apartheid”

On top of that, Amr was essentially working for the Qatari terror state that backs Hamas and the rest of the Muslim Brotherhood. Since then there were numerous reports of his abusive behavior when meeting with Israelis and Jews.

So this appointment formalizes what everyone knew, Amr is there to advocate for the terrorists. At least Biden will stop pretending that Amr is there to handle relations between Israel and the terrorists. 

He’s playing for one team only. 

Amr will remain in Washington but will make regular trips to the region and work closely with the Palestinian Affairs Unit, which currently is a branch within the US Embassy to Israel and is housed in the old Jerusalem consulate building. But in a move aimed at again setting apart the diplomats serving the Palestinians from those serving the Israelis, the PAU will officially begin reporting directly to Amr in Washington, rather than to the US ambassador in Israel, the US and Palestinian officials said.

So Biden is essentially making Amr a kind of ambassador to the terrorists. But he’s not representing America to the terrorists, he’s representing the terrorists to America.

 

Uvalde, TEXAS Police chief Arredondo gave money to campaign of anti-gun Robert ‘Beto’ O’Rourke who now promises to confiscate AR-15s

Uvalde Police Department refusing to cooperate with the investigation

Uvalde PD refusing to cooperate with the investigation is a knife in the back to the loved ones of the 21 killed. The police should not get special treatment. There were colossal failures that must be investigated thoroughly to ensure accountability & save lives in the future

Image: Uvalde Police chief Arredondo gave money to campaign of anti-gun Robert ‘Beto’ O’Rourke who now promises to confiscate AR-15s

Mayor delays swearing in of Uvalde School District Police Chief to City ...

BY J.D. HEYES

SEE: https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-06-01-uvalde-police-chief-arredondo-gave-money-to-beto-orourke-campaign.html;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

(Natural News) The outrages following the mass murders of 19 school children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas last week continue to emerge as we learn more about the tragedy, including a little detail about the city’s police chief.

Uvalde Schools Police Chief Peter Arredondo donated a total of $17 to Act Blue and $5 of it was “earmarked for Beto.” The $10 donation was earmarked, “Need to Impeach.” And while the amount donated was not much, it certainly shows his political affiliation and ideology: That citizens should not be able to own the most popular self-defense rifle in the country.

You may recall that year Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, formerly a Democratic member of Congress, was running for governor against current GOP Gov. Greg Abbott. After he lost that race, he decided to run for president and entered the Democratic primary sweepstakes. During a debate, he famously said, “Hell yes, we’re coming after your AR-15s.” Indeed, that ‘pledge’ inspired now-Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who owns a restaurant in Rifle, Colo., where wait staff are required to wear a sidearm, to run for Congress.

“The police chief of the Uvalde CISD Police donated money to ActBlue in December of 2017 that was earmarked for… Beto O’Rourke. Can’t make it up,” noted political commentator Pete D’Abrosca.

He then reminded his followers that Arrendondo was the one who stopped responding police officers from entering the Robb Elementary School as the shooter was inside killing people.

“To be clear: this is the same guy who stopped 19 LEOs from entering the school while 21 people were being murdered,” he wrote.

“A first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field.”

5/9 pic.twitter.com/tQCcODkfTa

— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) May 28, 2022

Biden Navy Secretary Says Climate Change Is the “Focal Point” of His Tenure

Biden Navy Secretary Says Climate Change Is the “Focal Point” of His Tenure

Biden’s Culture War Pick for Secretary of the Navy | Frontpagemag

BY JAMES MURPHY

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/biden-navy-secretary-says-climate-change-is-the-focal-point-of-his-tenure/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

In a new report, President Joe Biden’s Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro called climate change an “existential threat” and said it was the “focal point” of his time in the position. The 32-page report, “Climate Action 2030,” sets forth the stated goals to “build climate resilience” and “reduce climate threat.”

Put in perspective, the Chinese PLA navy has the stated goal to match or surpass the United States Navy in both size and capability by 2049.

Del Toro is a Navy veteran of 22 years, retired with the rank of commander before moving into business and founding SBG Technology Solutions in 2004. From 2019 until 2021 he was on the board of directors of the Washington-based think tank the Stimson Center.

Now Del Toro — according to the new report — appears to have swallowed the worst climate change propaganda hook, line, and sinker and seeks to save the United States Navy from global warming.

“Climate change is one of the most destabilizing forces of our time, exacerbating other national security concerns and posing serious readiness challenges,” Del Toro stated in the report’s introduction.

It’s so serious, according to Del Toro, that the secretary has made climate change the “focus” of his tenure as secretary of the Navy.

“It is because of this direct threat to the mission that I chose climate as a focal point for my tenure as Secretary. While this reality is one that the Department of Navy (DON) has faced for some time, it is a reality that we face with new urgency and resolve,” Del Toro wrote.

Climate change, Del Toro believes, is an “existential” threat to one of the world’s great fighting forces.

“For the Department of Navy, this is existential,” Del Toro claimed. “If we do not act, as sea levels rise, bases like Norfolk Naval Base and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island will be severely tested in their ability to support their missions.”

Like most climate propaganda, the report is full of meaningless charts and photos of hurricanes, floods, and solar panels. The text of the report focuses on how the Navy intends to “build climate resistance” and “reduce climate threat.”

The report speaks of a climate catastrophe that, in Del Toro’s eyes, is a fait accompli.

According to the report:

The coming decades will witness climate change that challenges the DON’s global strategic laydown and operations. Climate change will drive more severe and more frequent weather events that will stress our systems and platforms, and threaten our installations. Melting Arctic ice will yield more access to resources and navigable sea routes, enabling greater transit of military and commercial vessels alike. Considering these factors and more, the Department has an urgent charge: to build a climate-ready force. [Emphasis in original.]

Del Toro’s vision of our climate future includes wide-ranging, non-naval concerns.

“We will see more extreme heat events such as the record-setting heatwaves in the normally temperate Pacific Northwest, and the expansive fires and unprecedented droughts in the West. These events mean more black flag days with temperatures at-or-above 90 degrees Fahrenheit,” Del Toro explained.

The secretary summed it up: “It is my expectation that every individual, command, and component will take an active role and clear responsibility for integrating climate action into every aspect of the Department of Navy mission.”

The document reads as if it were created by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change instead of the United States Navy. Instead of focusing on strategies that might be needed to defend Taiwan or Guam or Hawaii, this report focuses on “Climate-informed decision-making,” “Integrating Climate Considerations into the Budget Process,” and “Worldwide Climate Health Partnerships.”

As the Communist Chinese continue to upgrade their military in anticipation of using it someday, our military appears to be mired in a struggle to keep climate change extremists happy — a task they can never accomplish. Besides this new naval document, the Army released its own climate policy in February calling for the military to “prioritize climate change considerations in our activities and risk assessments.”

The ultimate goal of our military should be to defend the United States from external armed threats; not to virtue signal to climate change extremists who will never appreciate any efforts made to mitigate so-called climate change anyway.

Dystopian Viral Videos Stream Out of Decaying New York City

BY ATHENA THORNE

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/athena-thorne/2022/05/31/dystopian-viral-videos-stream-out-of-decaying-new-york-city-n1602231;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

As the Big Apple rots, dystopian videos stream out of New York City almost daily. They range from disturbing to surreal, and like a bloody car crash, they are almost impossible to look away from.

A video of a man being held by one man and as others beat him on a New York subway platform has been making the rounds. But this isn’t merely your average clip of an Asian being attacked in Gotham. In a twist, the man holding the victim from behind told the videographer that his captive had attempted to sexually assault a female passenger on a subway. The videographer then called the police.

This would have been fine if the story ended there, but it didn’t. Some of NYC’s fine, upstanding citizens happened to be passing by and decided this was a great opportunity to beat on an Asian guy for fun.

First, one man takes a comically long time to wind up before finally striking the captive in the face. The man holding him, who almost qualified as a good guy for a hot second, laughs along with everyone else before tightening his grip so a second random passerby can deliver a series of one-two punches to the accused pervert’s head.

According to The New York Post (which posted a slightly longer version of the video that shows the first attacker’s wind-up performance), most of the people involved were gone by the time NYPD arrived on scene. No one’s been arrested yet.

It’s bizarre to watch New Yorkers fail to react when there are shocking acts of brutality occurring just a few feet away, but I guess people can become accustomed to anything. Check out this next hair-raising horror show. A deranged woman (at least, I think it’s a woman) paces up and down a subway car, yowling, cursing, and generally terrorizing the passengers. At one point, she yells “Mother n*gger” at a seated passenger before sitting beside her. As the passenger tries to move away, the maniac grabs hold of her hair and yanks her back down into the seat. The captive passenger can be seen mouthing, “Somebody help me” at the other subway riders, but no one intercedes.

At this point, the man shooting the video can be heard chanting, “I rebuke this demon in the name of Jesus Christ.”

After a while, the psycho gets bored, commands her prisoner to “Get up!” while pulling her up by the hair, then shoves her towards the end of the subway car. Then the lunatic paces and curses some more climbs on a seat to kick at a window, and finally exits the car when the subway stops.

Just another day in New York City's safest subway system, where innocent people are being harassed and assaulted.

But the mayor wants you to ride the subway instead of driving, to save the environment. pic.twitter.com/9FfVzfzLoC

— Joel Fischer 🇺🇸 (@realJoelFischer) May 25, 2022

Related: Bite the Big Apple; Don’t Mind The Maggots! NYC Is a War Zone, but ‘Rapper’ Who Shot Cop Goes Free

Which brings us to that timeless symbol of urban decay, the rat. Who can forget the celebrated Pizza Rat, the ambitious rodent whose efforts to bring home a slice became emblematic of the city’s decline under the despised Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Live your best life,” the videographer cheers on Pizza Rat as he struggles to drag a slice bigger than himself down a flight of stairs.

Last week, a new rat arose to challenge Gotham’s favorite furry. But alas, the newcomer was not in nearly as advantageous a situation. This rat made the near-fatal mistake of joining the cavorting canines for a romp in the local dog park. Unfortunately for him, the pampered apartment pups still had enough instincts left that they targeted the rat for destruction. Watch the urban hipsters admonish their pets to stay away from their new playmate:

Live from New York City pic.twitter.com/ziN3NZrWhR

— dinny (@dinfowars) May 24, 2022

I’m old enough to remember the deplorable condition into which the Big Apple sank in the 80s. And I saw for myself the difference after heroic Rudy Giuliani redeemed NYC from sh*thole status to a thriving, healthy, cosmopolitan destination for the entire world. Nowadays, things seem just as bad as they were before Giuliani. At least back then, the Guardian Angels arose to help protect vulnerable citizens. Today, New Yorkers have become so callous and reluctant to intervene that people are pretty much on their own. As of now, it’s a toss-up whether there remains the will, the morality, and the seriousness to save the city once again.

 

Georgia Mom Barred From School District Property After Speaking Out at School Board Meeting

BY STACEY LENNOX

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/uncategorized/stacey-lennox/2022/05/31/georgia-mom-barred-from-school-district-property-after-speaking-out-at-school-board-meeting-n1598852;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

In March, a group of concerned parents led by Chelle Brown raised concerns about explicit sexual content in books available in Georgia’s Cherokee County School District (CCSD) libraries. A school board member attempted to silence Brown. Patsy Jordan ironically stated that the content Brown was reading from a book found in a CCSD library was inappropriate if children were listening. The video of Brown’s speech went viral. However, what happened to another mother during and after the March meeting is just becoming public.

Brenda Danielle Reprieto entered the March CCSD meeting as the mother of a student and substitute teacher in the district. Within days of making a brief out-of-order comment while CCSD Board Chairwoman Kyla Cromer spoke, Reprieto was fired from her teaching position and barred from all school district property.

While Cromer was defending keeping the explicit content in the library, Reprieto stated from the audience, “You should be arrested.” In response, Cromer threatened, “You could be removed.” In the chairwoman’s two and half minute speech, the exchange lasts approximately 10 seconds, beginning at 1:53 in the video:

While Cromer continues to speak, Clark Menard, the member second in from the left, gestures and points out in the audience. According to Reprieto and Chelle Brown, who was sitting next to Reprieto, the board member was motioning to officers present at the meeting and pointing toward them. After a few minutes, three officers approached Reprieto.

According to Brown, the officers told Reprieto that the board wanted her to leave. She asserted she had a right to be there and asked them if they understood the discussion at the meeting. The officers said it was not their call. She tried to reason with them and assert she had a right to be there. As the discussion continued, Brown encouraged Reprieto to go with the officers.

When Reprieto exited into the vestibule, she asked officers where she could wait for the other attendees. They told her she could be charged with criminal trespass if she did not leave the property. They added that she broke the board’s rules.

After Reprieto left, Menard lectured parents for a full minute about disrupting meetings. “We will not continue to allow you to disrupt and create scenes,” he warned. Menard then asked how exchanges, like the one about sexualized content, were beneficial to students. The tone is pretty amazing.

The next day, Reprieto was teaching at Cherokee High School. She was removed from her assigned classroom, told all of her future assignments were canceled, and she found out she was locked out of the system used to claim days. A few days later she received a warning letter via certified mail banning her from all CCSD property. This included her daughter’s school and future board meetings. Reprieto also votes at a CCSD school as her assigned precinct. The letter reads:

In compliance with Georgia Code 16-7-21(b)(3) and 20-2-1180, you are hereby put on notice that you are not to enter onto the property or premises of all Cherokee County School District Board of Education Properties. The property  and/or premise belongs to Cheorkee County School System and this notice is being given to you by an authorized representative/agent of the Cherokee County School System.

In the future, if you enter/remain on the property or premise, without written permission, after receiving this notice you may be arrested for the offense of Criminal trespass or any other offenses that may be applicable.

There is no hearing in court and no appeals process as there would be with a typical restraining order in the state of Georgia. The school board through the assigned school police force from the city police is able to ban a mother and taxpayer from all school district property for speaking out of turn at a board meeting with no due process.

Reprieto’s attorney, David Oles, called it revenge. “This was naked retaliation for Brenda asserting that board members should be arrested for allowing pornographic content to be available in school libraries without restriction to impressionable children,” he said.

When I requested a comment from Board Chairwoman Cromer, the CCSD chief communications officer, Barbara Jacoby, responded. Jacoby stated:

A woman was escorted from the March 17, 2022 School Board meeting after refusing repeatedly to heed CCSD school police officers’ orders to stop disrupting the meeting.  She did not speak during public participation – she was shouting from the audience and disrupting the meeting.

After the woman repeatedly disrupted the meeting, police officers were in the audience with her for more than 10 minutes as she continued to be disruptive and would not heed their orders.  She continued to argue with police officers in the lobby and also in the parking lot.  The police officers decided not to charge her, but instead issued a criminal trespass order.

District personnel responding to inquiries for the board that is supposed to oversee them seems kind of like the State Department press secretary answering questions for members of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

A full video of the meeting is no longer available online. I asked if the district wished to provide videos to support the allegations in Jacoby’s e-mail and the account of events in the meeting minutes.  Jacoby quoted a cost of $55 to provide the video to bolster her claims, which are not in evidence on the attendee videos.

The complete video of Reprieto’s interaction with police while in the audience is less than three minutes while the meeting carried on without interruption. The viral video of Brown’s speech to the board also demonstrates that Reprieto was not the only attendee adding color commentary at the meeting. She was the only one officers approached that evening and the only one to be barred from attending future meetings.

Jacoby also stated that Reprieto’s employment was at will and that the criminal trespass order prevented her from continuing to work as a substitute teacher. She added, “She [Reprieto] has been given permission to attend all events at her child’s school that are open to parents.”

ANOTHER fire devastates Minnesota chicken farm, killing tens of thousands of chickens that provide eggs for the food supply

BY ETHAN HUFF

SEE: https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-06-01-fire-devastates-minnesota-chicken-farm-eggs.html;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

(Natural News) Almost unbelievable, yet another food facility in the United States was burned to the ground over Memorial Day weekend.

At least one large barn at Forsman Farms in Minnesota housing egg-laying chickens was turned into a pile of ash, reports indicate. The cause of the fires remains unknown. (Related: There have been dozens of similar fires in recent months all targeting food facilities.)

“It was unbelievable how quick it grew; it was insane,” said Andy Trebesch, a neighbor who observed flames at the facility around 10 p.m. on Saturday night. “It was the whole sky; it was quite large.”

The Trebesch family immediately called 911, which sent firefighters from multiple agencies across Wright County to the site. Many of these firefighters are volunteers.

One barn housing tens of thousands of chickens was completely leveled in what a farm spokesperson called a “tragic accident.”

Forsman Farms, by the way, has been around since 1918. It is a massive fourth-generation business that sells more than three million eggs per day to some of America’s largest retailers.

“Overnight, a fire destroyed one of our barns at our Howard Lake farm,” the spokesperson added. “No one was injured and we are grateful that first responders were quickly on the scene to put out the fire.”

“Unfortunately, chickens were lost because of the fire. We are evaluating the extent of the damage – which appears to be confined to a single structure – as well as investigating the cause of the fire.”

Was the Forsman Farms fire arson or an accident?

Eddie Olson, a resident of nearby Cokato, says he heard about the fire on his scanner, which he typically uses to track severe weather events.

“Fires are scary in general, but when you see something of that scale you know, out of control,” Olson told a local police affiliate. “It was just hard to, you know, to think about the chickens, the company, you know, people that work there.”

“It’s kind of a hard hit because we’re already struggling, you know, with the eggs and the cost of stuff and that takes kind of a bite out of the market.”

The extent of the damage at Forsman Farms is still under investigation, as is the cause of the fire. Its timing and synchronicity with other recent fires of a similar nature are certainly suspicious, to say the least.

The egg supply, in particular, has already been under attack by the new avian flu narrative, which suggests that chickens and other fowl are contaminated with another disease that requires their flesh and eggs to be destroyed.

As we reported back in early April when the bird flu hysteria was starting to gain traction, the government is using the same fraudulent PCR tests that it used for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) to test birds for avian flu – which means the whole thing is probably another fraud.

The combination of bird flu propaganda and this new fire in Minnesota attacking egg-laying hens is all too convenient in light of the “Great Reset” agenda that appears to be well underway.

“At least we know why these animal viruses popped up recently now,” wrote someone at Natural News about the bird flu situation.

“The silly thing is they suggest that killing the animals is the best way to deal with the situation. If the virus was deadly, wouldn’t the animals already be dying from it?”

“Control the food, control the people,” wrote another, citing a popular trope about how dictatorships often form.

To keep up with the latest news about the coordinated attack on both the national and global food supplies can be found at FoodCollapse.com.

Sources for this article include:

Minnesota.CBSlocal.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

______________________________________________________________

Update On Food Plants Blowing Up:

More Explosions, More Stress on Domestic Food Supply

BY JEFF REYNOLDS

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/jeff-reynolds/2022/06/01/update-on-food-plants-blowing-up-more-explosions-more-stress-on-domestic-food-supply-n1602423;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Over the past several weeks, PJ Media has covered the growing number of food plants across America that have caught fire, exploded, or had planes crash into them. More food processing plants, and more industrial fires of note, have occurred since those reports.

As we reported on May 2:

To be crystal clear: no pattern has yet emerged. The incidents still appear random. Nobody has produced a connection between all these incidents.

There are just a LOT of them, and they’re continuing.

The FBI has not made any mention of the fires, plane crashes, and explosions, but it has issued an alert about cyberattacks possibly timed to disrupt the grain harvest season.

Well, in the subsequent month, several more incidents have occurred.

Last week, a large chicken processing facility burned in Minnesota, killing tens of thousands of chickens.

That came on the heels of another large chicken processing facility catching fire. On May 23, the Cargill plant in London, Ontario, suffered “significant damage” from a large fire over a holiday weekend.

The plant employs about 700 people and processes a large number of chicken products for McDonald’s.

Somewhat related, over the Memorial Day weekend, a chemical plant in Omaha suffered several explosions and significant fire damage.

Jim Geraghty at National Review made the point that the number of such disasters hasn’t actually increased:

What we’re likely experiencing is the “Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon,” a.k.a. “frequency illusion” — when you hear a term and then feel like you’re suddenly seeing it everywhere. In reality, whatever you’re observing is occurring at the same frequency, it’s just that you didn’t notice it or ignored it before.

Because of the empty shelves earlier this year, people are paying much closer attention to supply chains these days. During the pandemic, many of us experienced sudden disruptions to our usually steady supplies of many varieties of food, as some meatpacking plants briefly shut down because of Covid outbreaks, and potato growers found it harder to get their spuds to consumers. (There was also that hacker attack on a major beef supplier in early 2021.) Then in January, tens of millions of Americans caught the Omicron variant at the same time, leading to disruptions to shipments of all kinds of products, and thus empty shelves and product shortages across the country. And those supply-chain problems still haven’t been worked out.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), which PJ Media quoted in the May 2 article, has since examined the reports of food plant incidents to determine if a trend has emerged. NFPA reports:

The truth, however, is that nothing is unusual about any of the fires that have occurred in food processing plants over the first few months of the year. Although no data is kept on fires that occur strictly at food processing facilities, the National Fire Incident Reporting System tracks fires within broader categories like manufacturing, refrigerated storage, and agricultural facilities. In 2019, the number of fires at all manufacturing or processing plants in the country topped 5,300—nearly 15 a day. Additionally, more than 2,000 fires occurred in agricultural, grain, and livestock, and refrigerated storage facilities, which could all include food processing operations.

Messerschmidt said food processing plants, like most industrial facilities, are prone to fires. “Food is fuel,” she said. “So as soon as you’re operating with food, you have something that is combustible.” On top of that, Messerschmidt added, you may have heat from cooking, high-pressure systems, combustible dust, and other risk factors for fires and explosions present at these facilities.

While Messerschmidt hopes the focus on these fires will shift away from the conspiracy theories surrounding them, she said there is still value to examining what went wrong in particular incidents.

“We need to pay more attention to the fire protection measures that are in these facilities, make sure they’re maintained, and make sure they continue to function so that when you are doing work in these kinds of plants you can make sure you control the risk that’s inherent,” she said.

NFPA probably could have avoided setting off more alarm bells with the title of its article — “Nothing To See Here” — and by not relying on the phrase “experts say” to make its point. But the point stands: there are lots of fires in America, and as PJ Media reported earlier, no trend has emerged.

Any number of factors could be at play, including the proclivity of fire to break out at these plants, supply chain stresses, deferred maintenance, and the possibility of insurance fraud and arson, which is hardly unheard of. We have also seen some high-profile cyberattacks, and the FBI has warned that more could be on the way.

So, while no trend has emerged, it’s still something to keep an eye on, and it continues to cause more stress on an already overburdened domestic food supply system.