A recent transcript of Dr. Fauci’s testimony before Congress indicates that there is no national security review of NIH grants that send money to China. I wonder, is this also so true for grant money that goes to Russia, North Korea or Iran? Or is only China exempt from such a review?
Former National Institutes of Health official Anthony Fauci has faced many hostile questions from members of Congress, but when he appears before a House panel on Monday, he’ll have something new to answer for: a trove of incendiary emails written by one of his closest advisers.
[snip]
“We are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns, and if we did we wouldn’t put them in emails, and if we found them we’d delete them,” Morens wrote on June 16, 2020.
“The best way to avoid FOIA hassles is to delete all emails when you learn a subject is getting sensitive,” he wrote on June 28, 2021.
The unnamed individual worked on a dairy farm and was in close contact with infected cows, the state health department said in a statement. The farm involved is different from the one where an earlier human case was detected last week.
“With this case, respiratory symptoms occurred after direct exposure to an infected cow,” Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement. The individual was not wearing protective equipment, she said.
In a separate statement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the individual had a cough without a fever and “eye discomfort” with watery discharge.
The significance of respiratory symptoms relates to the possibility of onward spread. In people, influenza transmits via the respiratory route. A person with flu virus in their airways could be more likely to spread the virus — if the virus has the capacity to transmit between humans — than a person with an infection in their eye.
[snip]
Comment: How did the virus get into the respiratory system of the farmworker? Regardless of the route, once its there, it now has a chance to adapt to human-specific receptors in human lungs. Sequencing the virus in this farmworker and characterizing its range of adaptations should obviously happen very fast. One hopes that all this individual’s contacts are being tested and offered Tamiflu.
A third person in the US has tested positive for H5 bird flu in connection to an ongoing outbreak in dairy cattle, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday. This is the second human case reported in the state and the fourth ever in the US.
“This individual had respiratory symptoms, including a cough, congestion, sore throat and watery eyes,” Dr. Nirav Shah, the principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a briefing Thursday.
This time, in addition to some of the eye symptoms seen with previous H5N1 cases, the farmworker reported a cough and other respiratory symptoms that are more typical of human influenza infections, the health department said.
[snip]
Comment: The soothers are already out in force. However, the presence of respiratory symptoms is obviously very bad news.
Michigan seems to be doing a better job at surveillance than other States. So, there are probably other cases than are not being reported.
Vaccines are coming. The question is: will they be here fast enough?
China has reported a fatal H5N6 avian flu infection in a 52-year-old woman from Fujian province in the southeastern part of the country.
Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said the woman’s symptoms began on April 13, and she was hospitalized on April 20, where she died on April 30. An investigation found that she had been exposed to backyard poultry before she became ill.
The woman was from Quanzhou, Fujian province’s largest city, which has a population of more than 8 million.
The Bay Area, in particular, is a hotspot for flu activity, according to data from approximately 700 sites published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly all monitored facilities in the region show moderate to high increases in influenza A viruses.
[snip]
Normally, the circulation of influenza A — the type that more commonly causes flu in adults — diminishes significantly after the peak of the winter flu season. However, the current increase suggests otherwise.
Testing of the latest human case of bird flu has revealed a “notable” mutation in the virus, officials have said.
The case, which was identified this month in a dairy worker in Michigan, marks the second human infection linked to the multi-state H5N1 outbreak among US cattle.
Genomic sequencing has now found a change in the virus compared to an earlier infection in a dairy worker in Texas, raising concerns that the virus is evolving to better infect humans.
The slight change in the virus’s genetic makeup is “associated with viral adaptation to mammalian hosts,” the Centre for Disease Control said in a statement published on Friday.
This change has also been identified as resulting in enhancement of virus replication and disease severity in mice during studies with avian influenza viruses, the agency added.
[snip]
USDA have stressed that the US meat supply is safe, but have encouraged meat-eaters to cook beef to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit – which is classified as ‘well done’.
Here are some of my quick takeaways from watching this video:
Dr. Morens is a moron. Was he always as stupid as he appears in this video or has something happened to his brain? Covid? Chronic alcoholism? Age? Hard to say. Whatever is causing his stupidity, it is clear that someone this dumb should not have the job he has. Top level jobs at NIH are obviously not being assigned based on merit. There is no reason to give someone like this any respect at all based on his intellect.
Dr. Morens is a liar. He has told such bold-faced lies to Members of Congress that even these seasoned politicians are taken aback. They are no strangers to exaggeration and misleading statements. However, I don’t think it is every day when someone tells such obvious lies when he knows, or should know, he will be exposed by evidence that the people questioning him have in hand. Tommy Flanagan could take lessons in lying from Dr. Morens.
The NIH is corrupt. It is clear from available emails and Dr. Morens’ own testimony that serious conflicts of interest are occurring. Dr. Morens is a personal friend of Dr. Dazsak. He discusses Dr. Dazsak’s funding in inappropriate ways for an NIH official. One gets the impression that NIH money was steered to Dr. Dazsak by NIH officials, although we need more evidence to be sure of this. Dr. Morens indicates that Dr. Fauci got Dr. Rochelle Walensky the job of Director of CDC because she “wears a skirt.” It’s not clear exactly what he meant by that, but that is something that should receive further investigation.
Dr. Morens participated in a conspiracy to hide information relevant to the role of EcoHealth Alliance (directed by Dr. Dazsak) in funneling money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to conduct dangerous experiments with viruses very similar to SARS-CoV-2. This is now indisputable. Both Republican and Democrat Members of Congress no longer doubt this.
Dr. Morens likely committed crimes for which he may be charged.
Subpoenaed private emails from Dr. Fauci’s senior adviser, David Morens, now show how NIH officials and EcoHealth President Peter Daszak sought to conceal their lapses. After the Trump administration in April 2020 suspended funding for EcoHealth, Dr. Morens rallied to Mr. Daszak’s defense.
“There are things I can’t say except Tony [Fauci] is aware and I have learned there are ongoing efforts within NIH to steer through this with minimal damage to you, Peter, and colleagues, and to nih and niaid,” Dr. Morens wrote to Mr. Daszak on April 26, 2020. “I have reason to believe that there are already efforts going on to protect you.” (NIAID is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which Dr. Fauci directed from 1984 through 2022.)
[snip]
Dr. Morens wrote to Mr. Daszak on April 21, 2021: “PS, i forgot to say there is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”
The next day, Dr. Morens wrote to Dr. Keusch: “If i had to bet, i would guess that beneath Tony’s macho I-am-not-worried reaction he really is concerned. And whatever the case he should be very concerned about what happened to Peter, to our research portfolio in an extremely important area, and to scientific independence.”
[snip]
Mr. Daszak thought so. “On a cynical note, I suspect HHS is doing this because they feel that Tony Fauci & Francis Collins [then head of NIH] are under pressure, and they don’t want more mud to be slung around,” he wrote to Dr. Morens. The halt on FOIA releases may also have given NIH officials more time to clean out their emails.
Dr. Morens wrote to another outside collaborator, Baylor College of Medicine’s Peter Hotez, on June 28, 2021, that he had deleted all his emails related to the Covid origin “when the s— started hitting the fan.” “I feel pretty sure Tony’s was too. The best way to avoid FOIA hassles is to delete all emails when you learn a subject is getting sensitive.” In other words, Dr. Morens believed that Dr. Fauci’s emails with Mr. Daszak were also deleted to avoid public disclosure.
Amid increasing scrutiny from House Republicans of the EcoHealth grant, Dr. Morens wrote to Mr. Daszak on Oct. 25, 2021: “Peter from Tony’s numerous recent comments to me, and from what Francis [Collins] has been vocal about over the past 5 days, they are trying to protect you, which also protects their own reputations.”
[snip]
The House investigation is another illustration of why Americans have lost trust in public-health institutions. Members of Congress might consider cutting funding for the NIH as punishment for employees’ obfuscations.
[snip]
Comment: The email excerpts are worse than I expected. Who would have guessed what a bunch of clowns we had running the NIH? I think they may have committed actual crimes.
Cutting NIH funding will not help. The people who control NIH will simply make sure whatever funding remains goes to their cronies. What it will do is hurt young investigators who have not yet been corrupted by the system.
The new patient is a 39-year-old male who was admitted at Addington Hospital in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, without a travel history to countries and regions currently experiencing the disease outbreak.
The first case was logged in Gauteng when a 35-year-old man tested positive on May 9.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is under fire after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic reviewed more than 30,000 pages of subpoenaed emails and documents from Dr. David Morens, Fauci’s former senior adviser.
The subcommittee, led by Republican Representative Brad Wenstrup, said the emails raised “serious questions as to whether Dr. Fauci took part in a conspiracy amongst the highest levels of [the National Institutes of Health] to hide official records related to the origins of COVID-19.” Morens testified in front of the subcommittee Wednesday, and Fauci is slated to testify on June 3.
According to a press release from the subcommittee, the 35-page memo “incriminates Dr. Morens in undermining the operations of the U.S. government, unlawfully deleting federal COVID-19 records, using a personal email to avoid the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and repeatedly acting unbecoming of a federal employee.”
[snip]
The subcommittee wrote in the press release that the emails suggested “Dr. Fauci was aware of Dr. Morens’ nefarious behavior and may have even engaged in federal records violations himself.”
[snip]
In an April 21, 2021, email to Daszak, Morens sought to conduct business either via personal email or with no electronic record. He wrote: “PS, I forgot to say there is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony [Fauci] on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”
[snip]
On May 13, 2021, Morens wrote an email, which Daszak was copied on, suggesting someone speak with Fauci through an unofficial, private channel. He wrote: “Interview Tony directly and connected him to our ‘secret’ back channel. He emailed Tony a few hours ago.” The subject line of the email suggested the conversation was about the origins of COVID-19.
On November 19, 2021, Morens emailed Dr. Gerald Keusch, the associate director of Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory Institute, about navigating communications to avoid FOIAs.
He wrote: “BOTH my gmail and phone calls are now safe. Text is NOT, as it can be FOIA’d, as can my govt email. So you and Peter and others should be able to email me on gmail only, with the caveat that no other govt. employee is copied at a govt address, as all govt emails are potentially FOIA’able.”
Findings from other emails showed Morens sought help from “our IT folks” and “our FOIA lady how to make emails disappear.”
[snip]
On June 16, 2020, after the pandemic was in full swing, Morens sent an email to Daszak, with other members of EcoHealth Alliance copied, about FOIAs. He wrote, “We are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns, and if we did we wouldn’t put them in emails and if we found them we’d delete them.”
Later, on October 5, 2021, Morens sent an email to Daszak—with the subject line “Re: Talking with Elizabeth Warren’s staff”—saying he had deleted emails.
He wrote: “I deleted that email but I now learn that every email I ever got/sent since 1998 is captured and will be turned over, whether or not I instantly deleted it. Gmail, phone, text … I need to scrupulously rely on those exclusively.”
Morens served as Fauci’s senior adviser from 1998 to 2022.
[snip]
An August 27, 2020, email from Morens to Daszak and Keusch—with the subject line “NIH awards $7.5 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance, months after uproar over political interference”—showed Morens asking for monetary reimbursement.
He wrote: “Ahem … do I get a kickback???? Too much f*****g money! DO you deserve it all?” Hours later, Daszak replied: “Of course there’s a kick-back. It starts with 5 more years of FOIA requests.”
The subcommittee said that “this action is not only highly concerning, but it is also likely illegal.” Federal employees are not allowed to accept gifts from outside parties for their work.
[snip]
Comment: Conspiracy theory no longer. Morens, Fauci, Daszak and others conspired to keep the American people from knowing about their role in funding the Wuhan institute where many believe SARS-CoV-2 originated. More will come out about this and some of the other steps they took to suppress information. This is a pretty classic example of a coverup. Surely, everyone can see this now.
Some people wonder why the American people don’t trust public health officials. This is one reason why. The scientific administration of this country is a cesspool. It needs to be cleaned up before trust can be restored.
There’s also evidence that animals can get sick from consuming raw milk, Davis said. “We know on dairy farms that cats on the farm that have been consuming the raw milk have been getting very sick with neurologic, as well as respiratory, disease and high mortality.”
Aside from bird flu concerns, raw milk can also contain salmonella, E. coli and listeria, the FDA says.
Yet raw milk sales have been on the rise, according to the market research firm NielsenIQ. Between mid-March (when the bird flu virus was confirmed in U.S. cattle for the first time) and mid-May, weekly sales of raw cow’s milk have ticked up 21% to as much as 65% compared with the same periods a year ago.
Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farm USA in Fresno, California, said he can’t keep his unpasteurized products in stock.
“People are seeking raw milk like crazy,” he said, noting that no bird flu has been detected in his herds or in California. “Anything that the FDA tells our customers to do, they do the opposite.”
The surge surprises Donald Schaffner, a Rutgers University food science professor who called the trend “absolutely stunning.”
“Food safety experts like me are just simply left shaking their heads,” he said.
[snip]
Comment: I’m not surprised, not at all. When you lie to people, over and over again, why should they believe you, even if this time you’re telling the truth? The CDC warns against drinking raw milk – on their website. That is such a joke. We need a massive, high-quality PR campaign to warn people about what H5N1 can do to them. That won’t happen, however, because big Ag and the Biden administration don’t want to take the economic consequences – especially during an election year. What will be, will be.
The United States and Europe are taking steps to acquire or manufacture H5N1 bird flu vaccines that could be used to protect at-risk poultry and dairy workers, veterinarians and lab technicians, government officials said, moves influenza experts say could curb the threat of a pandemic.
U.S officials last week said they were moving bulk vaccine from CSL Seqirus that closely matches the current virus into finished shots that could provide 4.8 million doses of vaccine. European health officials told Reuters they were in talks to acquire CSL’s prepandemic vaccine.
Canadian health officials said they have met with GSK, maker of Canada’s seasonal flu shots, to discuss acquiring and manufacturing a prepandemic bird flu vaccine once its seasonal flu production capacity is freed up.
Other countries, including the UK, are discussing how to proceed on prepandemic vaccines, scientists said.
[snip]
Dr. Richard Webby, a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital virologist who studies flu in animals and birds for the World Health Organization, said the situation in dairy cattle merits vaccine use.
“If we look at the exposure levels that some of these farmers are getting, it’s high,” Webby said.
[snip]
Comment: And what about the millions of Americans who drink raw milk? Probably not the type who are eager for a vaccine. What will be, will be.
Monotreme's Blog 
Cities with high levels of Influenza A, which may or may not be H5N1:
Chicago, Illinois
Portland, Oregon
Kansas City, Kansas
Dallas, Texas
Reference:
https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/wastewater-surveillance/Flu-A-data.html
A recent transcript of Dr. Fauci’s testimony before Congress indicates that there is no national security review of NIH grants that send money to China. I wonder, is this also so true for grant money that goes to Russia, North Korea or Iran? Or is only China exempt from such a review?
After Grilling an NIH Scientist Over Covid Emails, Congress Turns to Anthony Fauci
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/nih-scientist-covid-emails-congress-anthony-fauci-hearing/
David Hilzenrath May 31, 2024
[snip]
[snip]
Latest bird flu infection made farmworker sicker than earlier cases
https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/30/bird-flu-third-case-human-infection-caused-respiratory-symptoms/
Helen Branswell May 30, 2024
[snip]
[snip]
Comment: How did the virus get into the respiratory system of the farmworker? Regardless of the route, once its there, it now has a chance to adapt to human-specific receptors in human lungs. Sequencing the virus in this farmworker and characterizing its range of adaptations should obviously happen very fast. One hopes that all this individual’s contacts are being tested and offered Tamiflu.
Third person in US tests positive for bird flu in connection to outbreak in dairy cattle
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/30/health/bird-flu-michigan-third-human-case/index.html
Brenda Goodman
[snip]
Comment: The soothers are already out in force. However, the presence of respiratory symptoms is obviously very bad news.
Michigan seems to be doing a better job at surveillance than other States. So, there are probably other cases than are not being reported.
Vaccines are coming. The question is: will they be here fast enough?
We can add alpacas to the many species infected by H5N1.
China reports fatal H5N6 avian flu case
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/china-reports-fatal-h5n6-avian-flu-case-0
Lisa Schnirring May 28, 2024
[snip]
Officials investigate unusual surge in Northern California flu viruses
https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/california-wastewater-h5n1-bird-flu-risk-19482460.php
Aidin Vaziri
[snip]
[snip]
[snip]
Bird flu outbreak: H5N1 virus in latest human case has mutated, officials say
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/h5n1-virus-in-latest-human-case-has-mutated-officials-say/
Maeve Cullinan May 28, 2024
[snip]
[snip]
Worth watching in its entirety:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?535836-1/top-adviser-dr-anthony-fauci-testifies-covid-19-origins
Here are some of my quick takeaways from watching this video:
References
https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-908-elements-18-usc-1001
https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-dr-faucis-top-advisor-held-accountable-for-covid-19-federal-records-violations-undermining-nih-operations/
https://oversight.house.gov/release/new-covid-select-memo-details-allegations-of-wrongdoing-and-illegal-activity-by-dr-faucis-senior-scientific-advisor/
What Was Anthony Fauci’s Top Aide Hiding?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-was-anthony-faucis-top-aide-hiding-investigation-0d890911
Allysia Finley
[snip]
[snip]
[snip]
[snip]
[snip]
Comment: The email excerpts are worse than I expected. Who would have guessed what a bunch of clowns we had running the NIH? I think they may have committed actual crimes.
Cutting NIH funding will not help. The people who control NIH will simply make sure whatever funding remains goes to their cronies. What it will do is hurt young investigators who have not yet been corrupted by the system.
Second case of mpox disease recorded in South Africa
https://sundayworld.co.za/news/second-case-of-mpox-disease-recorded-in-south-africa/
May 27, 2024
[snip]
The new patient is a 39-year-old male who was admitted at Addington Hospital in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, without a travel history to countries and regions currently experiencing the disease outbreak.
The first case was logged in Gauteng when a 35-year-old man tested positive on May 9.
[snip]
Comment: Clade I or Clade II?
Biggest Bombshells From New Fauci COVID Emails
https://www.newsweek.com/inside-fauci-morens-coronavirus-emails-1904099
Mandy Taheri
[snip]
[snip]
[snip]
[snip]
[snip]
[snip]
Comment: Conspiracy theory no longer. Morens, Fauci, Daszak and others conspired to keep the American people from knowing about their role in funding the Wuhan institute where many believe SARS-CoV-2 originated. More will come out about this and some of the other steps they took to suppress information. This is a pretty classic example of a coverup. Surely, everyone can see this now.
Some people wonder why the American people don’t trust public health officials. This is one reason why. The scientific administration of this country is a cesspool. It needs to be cleaned up before trust can be restored.
Bird flu: Why health experts are so worried about raw milk
https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/4677103-bird-flu-why-health-experts-are-so-worried-about-raw-milk/
Alix Martichoux May 26, 2024
[snip]
[snip]
Comment: I’m not surprised, not at all. When you lie to people, over and over again, why should they believe you, even if this time you’re telling the truth? The CDC warns against drinking raw milk – on their website. That is such a joke. We need a massive, high-quality PR campaign to warn people about what H5N1 can do to them. That won’t happen, however, because big Ag and the Biden administration don’t want to take the economic consequences – especially during an election year. What will be, will be.
US, European nations consider vaccinating workers exposed to bird flu
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-european-nations-consider-vaccinating-workers-exposed-bird-flu-2024-05-27/
Julie Steenhuysen, Jennifer Rigby May 27
[snip]
[snip]
Comment: And what about the millions of Americans who drink raw milk? Probably not the type who are eager for a vaccine. What will be, will be.