EPA Awards $50 Million to Group that Says Palestine is a ‘Climate Justice Issue’

 The Inflation Reduction Act strikes again. The beneficiary is a group of radical nut cases. The loser is you, the taxpayer.

The Wall Street Journal comments on The Radicals Getting Your Tax Money

The Biden Administration is showering far and wide more than $1 trillion in climate largesse from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Still, who could have thought that taxpayer funds would flow to a left-wing group that thinks “climate justice” involves everything from freeing Palestine to dismantling capitalism?

That’s the discovery made by West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s office. Democrats appropriated $3 billion in the IRA to the Environmental Protection Agency for “environmental justice” grants, including $600 million for a “national grantmaker” program. In December the EPA awarded $50 million to Climate Justice Alliance, a network of nearly 90 affiliates, which plans to use the money to “resource community-based organizations (CBOs) to address past, current, and future environmental health and justice challenges.”

What else does Climate Justice Alliance do? Last November it helped to coordinate a “March on Washington,” where protesters waved the banner “Free Palestine Is a Climate Justice Issue.” Other slogans included “Our Government Funds Palestinian Genocide” and “Only Socialist Revolution Can Stop World War III.”

Climate Justice Alliance’s website also offers a collection of anti-Israel art “that you are invited to use for Palestine solidarity protest actions.” One shows a bulldozer tearing down an Israeli fence. Another has a man waving a Palestinian flag standing atop a tank, with the quotation: “Where there is oppression, there will be resistance.” That line is attributed to Assata Shakur, who fled the U.S. to Cuba after being convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. A third poster says: “Abolish Prisons Everywhere.”

Climate Justice Alliance’s website says that “more than $3 trillion will move through federal agencies” from the IRA and Congress’s 2021 infrastructure law, and “now is the time for grassroots organizations to influence the direction of, and step into governance of, these monies.” It’s no surprise that radicals are trying to get the money, but it’s disturbing that the Administration would give it to them.

Hoot of the Day: No One Wants Green Energy if It’s Too Cheap

On May 21, my Hoot of the Day was No One Wants Green Energy if It’s Too Cheap

Wind turbine manufacturers in the EU have protested that Chinese rivals are undercutting them by 50% in a move that is appealing to cash-strapped state and regional authorities facing targets in reductions of greenhouse gases.

In the effort to produce more clean energy from wind, the economic and energy illiterates would rather pay 100 percent more for wind turbines.

Autos

Despite the fact that China sells no cars in the US,  Biden Wants EVs so Badly That He Will Quadruple Tariffs on Them

Astute readers will immediately notice the title of this post makes no sense. It’s not supposed to. But it is exactly what President Biden is doing.

Cheaper Houses? Who Needs Em?

Question of the Day

Do you want four more years of inflationary and regulatory nonsense like this, at an accelerated pace?

If you do, then go ahead and vote for Biden. First, you may wish to seek medical attention because something is wrong with the functioning of your brain.

To be fair, Trump wants big tariffs too, but at least his energy policy will make sense. And he will not be giving away billions of dollars for “climate justice” when people are struggling to pay bills.

https://mishtalk.com/economics/epa-awards-50-million-to-group-that-says-palestine-is-a-climate-justice-issue/

FDA Advisers Back Approval for Guardant's Blood-Based Cancer Test

 Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recommended for the approval of Guardant Health's blood test to detect a cancer that begins in the colon or rectum.

The panel voted seven-to-two in favor of benefits outweighing risks when using the test called Shield for colorectal cancer (CRC).

If approved, Shield could become the second blood-based test for CRC diagnosis in the United States after Epigenomics' Epi proColon, which was approved by in 2016.

CRC occurs in about 150,000 patients in the U.S. annually and is the second-leading cause of cancer fatalities in the country, with more than 50,000 deaths each year, according to the FDA.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2024-05-23/u-s-fda-advisers-back-approval-for-guardants-blood-based-cancer-test

'Did Delete All Peter's Emails Relating To Origin': COVID Cabal Conspired To Destroy Evidence, Evade FOIA

 A new trove of emails released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic reveal that top researchers involved in manipulating bat coronaviruses to better-infect humans then conspired to delete email evidence of their communications surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak.

The communications focus on top NIH adviser Dr. David Morens, who solicited help from the NIH's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office to dodge records requests. Morens is currently on administrative leave.

"Evidence in possession of the Select Subcommittee suggests that Dr. Morens, while employed by NIAID and NIH acted as an agent on behalf of a federal grantee, EcoHealth," the Subcommittee notes. "Morens began assisting Dr. Daszak in how to respond to NIH compliance efforts," the release continues - referring to EcoHealth Alliance boss Peter Daszak, whose organization was suspended this month from receiving federal funds for three years.

"i learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after I am foia’d but before the search starts," Morens wrote in a Feb. 24, 2021 email to an unknown recipient, adding "Plus i deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail."

In another email, Morens claims that "With the help of our IT folks, I went over the whole computer and phone situation... Basically, my gmail is safe from FOIA."

"Please pass this on to Peter and I ask you both that NOTHING gets sent to me except to my gmail."

Morens also emailed Daszak, advising him: "We are all smart enough to know never to have smoking guns, and if we did we wouldn't put them in emails and if we found them we'd delete them."

And in another email to Peter Hotez, Morens writes: "The email somehow fell into the hands of the Congressman, probably via FOIA of someone who didn't delete it, as I did (delete all of Peter's emails and others relating to origin) when the shit started hitting the fan."

Meanwhile, Morens joked about getting a kickback from EcoHealth, to which Daszak replied jokingly: "of course there's a kickback. It starts with 5 more years of FoIA requests ... I just hope it doesn't culminate in 5 years in Federal jail, or even Chinese 're-education camp'...

According to Diane Cutler, an ex-investigator for the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, "He has violated the ethical standards of conduct for executive branch employees and has potentially violated criminal law," she said, referring to Morens, the NY Post reports.

Both Republicans and Democrats on the panel were united in their denunciations of Morens.

“The information contained in these 30,000 pages of emails are deeply concerning, and in my opinion reflects poorly upon Dr. Morens and the Office of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease under Dr. Fauci’s leadership and the NIH under Dr. Francis Collins,” Subcommittee chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said in his opening remarks.

“Dr. Fauci’s NIAID was unfortunately less pristine than so many, including the media, would have had us all believe,” he added.

Ranking member Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) echoed Wenstrup’s remarks in calling Morens’ behavior was “deeply troubling” — but cautioned the emails were “not a breakthrough moment in actually understanding the actual origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.” -NY Post

Now what?

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/i-did-delete-all-peters-emails-relating-origin-covid-cabal-conspired-destroy-evidence

Experimental mRNA avian flu vaccine developed

 An experimental mRNA vaccine against avian influenza virus H5N1 is highly effective in preventing severe illness and death in preclinical models. The vaccine could potentially help manage the outbreak of the H5N1 virus currently circulating in birds and cattle in the United States, and prevent human infections with the virus, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published today in Nature Communications.

"The mRNA technology allows us to be much more agile in developing vaccines; we can start creating a mRNA vaccine within hours of sequencing a new viral strain with pandemic potential," said Scott Hensley, Ph.D., a professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine. "During previous influenza pandemics, like the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, vaccines were difficult to manufacture and did not become available until after the initial pandemic waves subsided."

Hensley and his laboratory collaborated in the study with the laboratory of mRNA vaccine pioneer and Nobel Prize winner, Drew Weissman, MD, Ph.D., the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research and Director of Vaccine Research at Penn Medicine.

"Before 2020, experts thought the influenza virus posed the greatest risk of causing a pandemic, and we had limited options for creating a vaccine if that had happened," said Weissman. "COVID-19 showed us the power of mRNA-based vaccines as a tool to protect humans from emerging viruses quickly, and we are better prepared now to respond to a variety of viruses with pandemic potential, including influenza"

Most influenza vaccines are egg-based, where experts inject fertilized chicken eggs with what they predict will be the dominant viral strain, let it replicate, and then inactivate the virus to use in the flu shots distributed globally.

However, viruses must first be adapted to replicate in fertilized eggs before these conventional vaccines can be produced, which can take up to six months, presenting potential problems for quickly producing vaccine when it's needed most during the first few months of a pandemic. mRNA vaccines are easily and quickly adapted to protect against different strains of influenza viruses, and don't require eggs for their development.

The Penn researchers developed an mRNA vaccine targeting a specific subtype of the H5N1 virus that is circulating widely in birds and cattle. While it rarely infects humans, some fear that the virus may evolve and cause a human pandemic. The researchers found that the vaccine elicited a strong antibody and T cell response in mice and ferrets. What's more, the animals maintained high levels of antibodies even a year after vaccination.

Additionally, the researchers found that vaccinated animals who were subsequently infected with H5N1 cleared the virus more rapidly and displayed fewer symptoms than unvaccinated controls. The researchers also note that all of the vaccinated animals survived following H5N1 infection, whereas all the unvaccinated animals died.

Finally, researchers compared the mRNA vaccine response in mice to their response to a traditional egg-based vaccine and found that the mRNA vaccine was just as effective; both vaccines elicited strong antibody responses, regardless of prior seasonal flu exposures.

More information: Colleen Furey et al, Development of a nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine against clade 2.3.4.4b H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48555-z

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-experimental-mrna-avian-flu-vaccine.html

Cancer drug may lower blood sugar

 University of Oklahoma researchers have deepened their understanding of a drug's ability to prevent fat buildup in the liver, a condition that often occurs with obesity and can lead to serious fatty liver disease. Their findings—which illustrate the complexity of metabolic disorders—are published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The publication builds on a previous discovery made by Tiangang Li, Ph.D., and a team of researchers at OU Health Harold Hamm Diabetes Center: A drug developed to suppress cancerous tumors can also improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood glucose (sugar) levels. The drug, known as MLN4924, works by preventing the degradation of a specific protein needed for all cells to respond to insulin.

In the study, conducted in mice, his research team eliminated a gene in the liver called Cul 3. When Cul 3 is present in the body, the drug inhibits it to prevent the degradation of the protein. Eliminating the gene provided a fuller understanding of what would happen when mice become obese on a high-fat diet.

His discovery was both anticipated and surprising. Without the gene, the mice eating a high-fat diet did not accumulate fat in their livers, despite being obese. However, the lack of fat build-up in the liver instead prompted fat to enter the bloodstream and into other tissues like muscle, where it's not supposed to be stored. As a result, the muscle—the largest organ in the body—had a poorer response to insulin, and the mice developed high blood sugar.

"By eliminating the gene, we aggressively prevented fat accumulation in the liver, but this actually worsened insulin resistance in the muscle, which tells us that fat metabolism in these organs is interconnected," Li said.

"These findings suggest that, in addition to lowering liver fat, the simultaneous reduction of obesity and improvement of insulin sensitivity are important for treating fatty liver disease. That's because these improvements outside the liver are critical for preventing the fat that enters the liver from also building up in other tissues."

The research also illustrates why treating chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease is never simple—an improvement in one area may trigger negative effects in another. Even so, the study was extremely helpful for understanding the process by which fatty liver disease occurs and what the drug is doing in the context of that disease, said study co-author Jed Friedman, Ph.D., director of OU Health Harold Hamm Diabetes Center and a professor in the OU College of Medicine.

"We have some promising ideas going forward to target potential pathways to lower liver fat accumulation while also improving insulin sensitivity," Friedman said. "Drug repurposing like we're doing in this study is exciting because so much is already known about the drug and its safety. We believe it holds a lot of possibility."

More information: Lijie Gu et al, Cullin 3 RING E3 ligase inactivation causes NRF2-dependent NADH reductive stress, hepatic lipodystrophy, and systemic insulin resistance, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320934121

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-illuminates-ability-cancer-drug-blood.html

143 Democrats Voted Against Bill Barring Non-Americans Voting In DC Elections

 The GOP-led House passed a bill with bipartisan support on Thursday to prevent noncitizens from voting in local Washington, DC, elections. This is a further push for election integrity by Republicans at a time when radicals in the Biden administration have facilitated the greatest illegal alien invasion this nation has ever seen. The latest government data shows ten million migrants have invaded the country through the open southern border. Predictably, the majority of Democrats opposed the bill.

House passes bill to ban noncitizens from voting in local D.C. elections

143 Democrats voted for

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 23, 2024

Fifty-two Democrats joined 210 Republicans in favor of bill HR 192, while 143 Democrats opposed.

The bill bars noncitizens from voting in "an election for public office in the District of Columbia or in any ballot initiative or referendum in the District of Columbia." Federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal-level elections.

Republicans blasted the local law this week, arguing that noncitizens should not participate in local elections in the nation's capital. 

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) released a statement on X that said "radical policy" from local DC politicians is "anti-American and dilutes the constitutional rights of DC residents." 

Here's what other politicians are saying:

It's utterly absurd that a majority of Democrats voted against HR 192. Now you understand why radicals in the White House have flooded the nation with millions of illegals. This lawless behavior is a move to steal elections. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/143-democrats-voted-against-bill-barring-non-americans-voting-dc-elections

'EU reports no bird flu cases in humans or cows as virus spreads to 2nd person in US'

 There have been no reports in the European Union of bird flu infecting a human or cow but research is ongoing on the virus's transmission, an EU official said on Thursday, one day after U.S. officials confirmed that country's second human case.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), commonly called bird flu, has killed millions of birds around the globe in recent years. Its spread to humans and other mammal species, including U.S. dairy cattle in March, is raising concerns that the virus could mutate into one easily transmissible between humans and spark a pandemic.

EU member states are required to inform the European Commission and other members if they detect bird flu or any other disease likely to create serious risk to animal or public health.

No member state has informed the commission about HPAI findings in humans or cattle on their territories, a European Commission spokesperson told Reuters.

An EU network of laboratories called DURABLE is studying how existing immunity might protect against an infection with bird flu viruses and how the viruses are transmitted between cattle, the spokesperson added.

The U.S. government last month said cow-to-cow transmission was a factor in the spread of bird flu in dairy herds, but it still did not know how the virus was moving around.

France has been testing both humans and ruminant animals in recent months and all tests came back negative, a spokesperson for the French farm ministry said.

The infections of dairy cattle in the United States are with a type of H5N1 bird flu that has not been detected in Europe, the European Food Safety Agency told Reuters.

Even though expansion of the bird flu outbreak to mammals raises concern of a potential pandemic, both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and France said the risk to the general public remains low.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/eu-reports-no-bird-flu-170844093.html