Trump expected to meet Senate Republicans in Washington on Wednesday

 President-elect Trump will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday at the invitation of Senate Republican leadership, according to three sources familiar with the invitation.

GOP leaders haven’t released the time of the meeting, but Trump has met with Republican senators at their weekly Tuesday Republican policy lunch meeting in the past.

Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso (Wyo.) told reporters Monday that GOP senators would meet with Trump soon to talk about his agenda.

“We’re likely going to meet with the president, relatively shortly, visit with him, talk about what he’d like to have done. We’re all heading in exactly the same direction,” Barrasso told the press gaggle, according to a reporter for Semafor.

The meeting is expected to be more of an opportunity for senators to get face time with Trump than a heavy discussion on strategy or policy details, the three sources told NewsNation.

One of the big questions that needs to be hashed out is whether to move Trump’s agenda in a single budget reconciliation package or break it up into two packages.

Using the budget reconciliation process would allow Republican leaders to circumvent a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has spoken in favor of first moving a budget reconciliation package that would beef up border security and expand fossil fuel production domestically.

He wants the second package to be devoted to extending the expiring Trump tax cuts and reducing spending.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republican leaders, however, would prefer to tackle all of Trump’s major agenda items in a single package.

Senate GOP sources say that House Republican leaders want to avoid going through the arduous task of passing a budget reconciliation bill twice, given their very slim majority.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-meet-senate-republicans-wednesday-235040997.html

Insulin delivery device maker Beta Bionics files for a $100 million IPO

 Beta Bionics, which makes an automated insulin delivery system for type 1 diabetes, filed on Monday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.

Beta Bionics' iLet Bionic Pancreas (iLet) is the first insulin delivery device cleared by the FDA to utilize adaptive closed-loop algorithms to autonomously determine every insulin dose without requiring a user to count carbohydrate intake. These algorithms allow the iLet to deliver the correct insulin doses every five minutes throughout the day and night, requiring only the user’s body weight for device initialization and the autonomous determination of all insulin doses. The iLet received FDA clearance for patients with type 1 diabetes ages six and older in May 2023. The company plans to pursue expanded use of the iLet to patients with type 2 diabetes, and it is also in the early stages of developing an insulin "patch pump" and a bihormonal configuration of the iLet.

The Irvine, CA-based company was founded in 2015 and booked $53 million in sales for the 12 months ended September 30, 2024. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol BBNX. Beta Bionics filed confidentially on September 13, 2024. BofA Securities, Piper Sandler, Leerink Partners, and Stifel are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.

Relevant Profile: BBNX

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/108534/Insulin-delivery-device-maker-Beta-Bionics-files-for-a-$100-million-IPO

Denali misses endpoints in ALS trial

 

• Primary endpoint of overall function (ALSFRS-R) and survival, and key secondary endpoints of muscle strength and respiratory function, were not met at 24 weeks
• Overall, DNL343 was found to be safe and well tolerated
• Additional analyses, including neurofilament light (NfL) and other fluid biomarkers, prespecified sub-group analyses and analyses from the active treatment extension period are expected later in 2025

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/01/06/3005002/0/en/Denali-Therapeutics-Announces-Topline-Results-for-Regimen-G-Evaluating-eIF2B-Agonist-DNL343-in-the-Phase-2-3-HEALEY-ALS-Platform-Trial.html

Turkey Threatens US, Kurdish Proxies: 'Matter Of Time' Before Eliminated From Syria

 American and Turkish policies in Syria are increasingly clashing in the open in the wake of Assad's ouster on December 8. As we detailed last week, the Pentagon is building a new base in the heart of Kurdish territory in northern Syria near the Turkish border (which the US has since denied, despite videos showing the military build-up).

This is a huge provocation to the Erdogan government, given the Turkish army and its proxies are at war with the US-backed Syrian Kurds. In fresh Monday statements, Turkey has put both the Kurds and by extension Washington on notice, saying it is only a "matter of time" before Kurdish militants are driven out of Syria.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan emphasized that Turkey will not accept any future Syria with the YPG in it. The YPG makes up the core of the US-funded and trained Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), but Turkey sees it as but an extension of the outlawed PKK.

Via Arab Center Washington 

"We are in a position not only to see but also to break any kind of plot in the region," Fidan told a press conference alongside his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi in Ankara.

"Conditions in Syria have changed. We believe it's only a matter of time before the PKK/YPG is eliminated," he said, calling on the group to lay down its arms "as soon as possible."

"The PKK’s empire of violence built over Kurdish people is on the verge of collapsing," he added, according to Turkish media. That's when he indirectly addressed the United States, which has propped up the YPG for at least a half-decade at this point:

"If you (the West) have different aims in the region, if you want to serve another policy by using Daesh as an excuse to embolden the PKK, then there is no way for that either," he said.

The Pentagon has long justified its troop presence in the northeast Syria as part of the 'counter-ISIS' mission, even though the Islamic State had been defeated long ago. At times US officials also talk about the 'counter-Iran' mission, which is less pressing now in the wake of Assad's defeat.

Turkish media is meanwhile reporting that Jolani's HTS government in Damascus, which is without doubt serving Turkey's interests, has ordered the Syrian Kurds to immediately lay down their arms:

The interim Syrian government held talks with representatives of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), demanding that they disarm, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

...Two meetings have taken place between the new Syrian authorities and representatives of the PKK, who reportedly sought recognition as a division or corps within the official Syrian army in exchange for disarmament. The new Syrian authorities did not accept any conditions, the Turkish newspaper said.

But the Kurds do have significant leverage, given they are directly supported by US special forces and aerial assets, and currently control almost all oil and gas fields in Syria.

The Kurds will likely settle for nothing less than clear autonomy and self-governance within a federated system if they are to be part of the Syrian state. As for Washington, it's anything but clear what the end-game is for the US occupation. Another big looming questions is whether it will keep up the sanctions, which have brutalized the common populace in the region.

Trump during his first term in office expressed a desire to bring the troops home, and it remains uncertain whether he'll try to see this through during this next term. He doesn't take kindly to threats from Turkey, however.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/turkey-threats-us-kurdish-proxies-matter-time-they-are-driven-out-syria

Poisoning National Medals (with vaccine)

 By Deane Waldman, M.D.

Soon-not-to-be President Biden recently awarded National Medals to the two pharmaceutical companies responsible for poisoning the American public with their self-proclaimed “vaccines.” This is a disgrace, a taint on these honors, and an additional stain on his presidential legacy.

The Medal of Freedom is the highest non-military award in the U.S., given to those who have had a singular, profound, and strikingly positive effect on American society. Medal of Freedom recipients have well-known names like Walt Disney, Carl Sandburg, Joe DiMaggio, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Edward R. Morrow, Neil Armstrong, and (my personal favorite) Aretha Franklin. By awarding the Medal of Freedom to Nazi collaborator George Soros, Biden put the Soros name in this august body and tarnished the Medal.

However, Biden did something more egregious.

The Medal of Technology and Innovation is analogous to the Medal Freedom but in the realm of scientific advancement.  Names of Medal of Technology and Innovation are not well-known except in their fields such as electrical engineering and biochemistry where they are rock stars.

This year’s Medal of Technology and Innovation recipients include worthy recipients such as the following. Jennifer A. Doudna’s gene splicing work will help treat and possibly cure conditions like Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Paula Hammond’s nanoparticles will eventually make targeted delivery of medications a reality. Solid-state imaging sensors pioneered by Eric Fossum are turning fuzzy ultrasound pictures into sharp, readily diagnostic images, and David Walt’s DNA sequencing may show the way to curing sickle cell disease.

A January 3, 2025, White House press release touted Pfizer and Moderna as organizations that, “have made discoveries that...create lifesaving vaccines,” referring to their mRNA shots that President Biden mandated every American take into their bodies at no direct cost. Washington paid billions of taxpayer dollars to Pfizer and Moderna through a no-bid contract.

Depending on pharmaceutical companies’ assurances of reliable medical testing, Washington bombarded the airwaves with public service announcements saying the mRNA vaccine was, “safe, effective, and doctor approved.” Americans leery of the mRNA jab, who tried to invoke their medical autonomy and refuse the injections, were censored, censured, canceled, and fired from their jobs. A dying cardiac patient who refused the jab was taken off the transplant list.

Despite a well-organized campaign designed by Washington and implemented by complicit legacy media to suppress information that contradicted the Fauci narrative, the truth about mRNA shots surfaced. Adverse side effects were reported: cardiac, hematologic, neurologic, genetic, low sperm count, pregnancy complications, carcinogenic, among other complications. In fact, mRNA injections, self-styled “vaccinations,” caused more harm than infection from the virus itself, even sudden death. Pfizer and Moderna guarantees that their treatments were safe and effective were proven false.

Big Pharma’s promise that mRNA shots were adequately tested and of highest quality were equally untrue. According to the British Medical Journal, “FDA oversight of clinical trials [wa]s ‘grossly inadequate.’” Some batches of the vaccine caused 71 percent of adverse effects while others caused minimal harm. Thus, quality control, consistency, and reliability of active ingredients were unacceptably variable.

The two companies that Biden rewarded with National Medals sold (literally) the American people a pack of lies, forcing us to take an inadequately tested, low quality treatment that produced transient, insufficient protection and grave medical harm.

By conferring prestigious Medals on Pfizer and Moderna, President Biden has cheapened the value of these awards and irrevocably tarnished a Joe Biden legacy damaged by numerous disastrous decisions over four years, already tainted with the pardon of his drug-addicted, convicted felon son, Hunter Biden.

Deane Waldman, M.D., MBA is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Pathology, and Decision Science; former Director of Center for Healthcare Policy at Texas Public Policy Foundation; former Director of New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange; and author of 12 books, including multi-award winning, Curing the Cancer in U.S. Healthcare: StatesCare and Market-Based Medicine.  Follow him on X.com @DrDeaneW or contact via www.deanewaldman.com.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/01/poisoning_national_medals_with_vaccine.html

Joe Biden authors an essay for WaPo about ‘what to remember’ on January 6

 By Jack Hellner

Joe Biden probably doesn’t remember what he had for lunch, what he did yesterday, or what day it even is—there’s no way he remembers anything accurately from four years ago.

Yet, that didn’t stop The Washington Post from publishing an essay that was ostensibly written by him, relaying to the reader how important it was to remember January 6, 2021 as a “violent” event, which many (read, conservatives and Trump supporters) are attempting to “rewrite” and “erase” from the American memory:

Joe Biden: What Americans should remember about Jan. 6

But after what we all witnessed on Jan. 6, 2021, we know we can never again take it [peaceful transfer of power] for granted.

Violent insurrectionists attacked the Capitol, threatened the lives of elected officials and assaulted brave law enforcement officers.

[snip]

We must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it. We cannot accept a repeat of what occurred four years ago.

An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day. To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes. To dismiss concerns about it as some kind of partisan obsession. To explain it away as a protest that just got out of hand.

Does anyone actually believe Biden is cognizant or conscious enough to write a cohesive article, or is the WaPo pushing out more propaganda? It’s not like the newspaper has continuously lied about President Trump for ten years—oh wait, it has. I would think that its journalists and editors would be embarrassed for accepting awards for spreading lies, but apparently not.

There are a lot of things that Biden seems to forget about January 6th, or maybe it’s just because he’s lied so routinely over the years that he misremembers—anyway, here are just a few examples:

• Trump told people to march “peacefully” and “patriotically” to the Capitol.
• Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and others refused to secure the Capitol even though Trump suggested that they should have 10,000 troops there.
• Pelosi stacked the January 6th witch hunt committee with Trump haters.
• Liz Cheney and other committee members hid and destroyed evidence.
• Liz Cheney manipulated a witness.

The main thing Americans should remember is that the media and other Democrats began their campaign to destroy Trump and before he ever took office. They should, as Biden says, “never forget” the violent protests after Trump won in 2016, and how no one was punished.

They should remember that Democrats protested the results of elections in 2000, 2004, and 2016—basically anytime Republicans won.

And they should remember that Biden, Hillary, and other Democrats called Trump an illegitimate president his entire term in office. They are the election deniers and the threats to our great country, not Trump and his supporters.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/01/joe_biden_authors_an_essay_for_wapo_about_what_to_remember_on_january_6.html

What is HMPV? CDC ‘monitoring’ reports of spiking cases in China

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are currently “monitoring” reports of increasing cases of human metapneumovirus in China’s northern provinces, even though rates of the infection in the U.S. remain near typical “pre-pandemic” levels, the agency said.

“CDC is aware of reported increases of HMPV in China and is in regular contact with international partners and monitoring reports of increased disease,” a spokesperson for the CDC told Nexstar in an emailed statement on Monday.

“These reports are not currently a cause for concern in the U.S.,” the spokesperson added.

The CDC’s actions come in response to China’s government-run media confirming that positivity rates of HMPV are rising in children under the age of 14, despite respiratory illnesses being down overall since last year.

Human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, is not a novel respiratory virus, having first been discovered in 2001 (though possibly present for several decades prior). HMPV is also relatively common, infecting “most” of the population before they reach the age of 5, according to Dr. Eileen Schneider, an epidemiologist with the CDC.

HMPV usually circulates during flu season (or slightly later), when it causes both upper and lower respiratory infections in patients. Symptoms are similar to the common cold, including coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and congestion, according to the CDC. For this reason, it is sometimes not detected or diagnosed as HMPV.

Like other respiratory infections, HMPV can be especially severe for the elderly, those with compromised immune systems and children under 5. Schneider, in 2016, cited research that indicated HMPV was associated with “approximately 20,000” annual hospitalizations among U.S. children. Infections can also lead to bronchitis or pneumonia, Schneider noted.

People with existing respiratory conditions like asthma or emphysema are also at risk of more severe symptoms, the American Lung Association warns.

Current data from the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS), which compiles case reports from labs around the U.S., currently indicates that 1.94% of submitted diagnostic PCR tests for HMPV were positive in the week ending on Dec. 28. This marks a very slight upward trend over recent months, but nothing concerning.

For comparison, rates of positive HMPV tests were more than four times higher (peaking at 8.11%) in the spring of 2024, and more than five times higher (peaking at 10.99%) in the spring of 2023.

Since there are currently no vaccines or treatment therapies for HMPV, prevention and preventing the spread of HMPV is especially important. The public is advised to wash hands often and avoid coming into contact with those infected with HMPV, if possible. Patients who have HMPV are also urged to refrain from coughing or sneezing openly, sharing utensils, or leaving home when sick, among other measures.

China, meanwhile, also announced that its National Disease Control and Prevention Administration will be launching a new system to verify and monitor any respiratory diseases of “unknown origin,” Reuters reported. The program was launched, in part, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the outlet.

Health officials with the CDC will continue to monitor HMPV activity in the United States.

“We can expect that existing surveillance systems will rapidly detect any increase in HMPV cases in the U.S.,” a CDC spokesperson said. “CDC will continue to monitor and provide important updates to the public.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/5069778-what-is-hmpv-cdc-monitoring-reports-of-spiking-cases-in-china/