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Acting National Institutes of Health Director Lawrence Tabak has named Jeanne M. Marrazzo, M.D., as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Shes a really good person, said Dr. Fauci, who held the post from 1984 to 2023. I think shes going to do a really good job.

Marrazzo, currently director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, shares some career experience with the longtime NIAID boss.

Fauci and Marrazzo are both medical doctors, but neither built a career practicing medicine. Like Fauci, Dr. Marrazzos bio shows no advanced degrees in molecular biology or biochemistry, both vital for virology.

Dr. Marrazzo specializes in sexually transmitted infections, especially as they affect womens health. Her research interests include pathogenesis, the management of bacterial vaginosis, sexually transmitted diseases in HIV-infected persons, and the management of antibiotic resistance in gonorrhea.

She is a co-author of the 2022 paper Sexually transmitted infections and female reproductive health, which contends that women are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections (STIs) throughout life. Marrazzo is also known for a commitment to health equity.

In a 2021 interview with Todd Unger of the American Medical Association, Marrazzo said that health equity should be part of every physicians training because most physicians in training are very privileged people. Unger asked Marrazzo about strategies to improve health equity.

I think they can walk the walk, Marrazzo said. All these places are developing policies. Theyre naming chief diversity officers, equity officers. I think those are first steps, but if you dont do the hard stuff and follow up with the meaningful actions that increase representation in the C-suite or in the deans office or whatever you want to call it, then its not going to help.

Marrazzo was also distressed over disparities in outcomes with COVID, claiming, History is going to judge us very, very harshly. During the pandemic, Marrazzo took a high-profile role.

In an April 17, 2020, session on C-SPAN, Dr. Marrazzo lamented the wild fluctuations in the models but said she was not a modeler. She recommended the CDC website for both the public and health professionals. The Washington Post, in her opinion, was another fantastic source.

In a June 2020 video, Marrazzo touted masks as a way to control the pandemic. If physical distancing was also applied, that would help shut down community transmission. In Oct. 2020, Marrazzo contended that wearing a mask is very effective and the single best thing people could do to prevent COVID.

On Halloween, kids could trick-or-treat if they wore masks and practiced social distancing. People could also put out the candy in a container. As Thanksgiving 2020 approached, Marrazzo said, The safest thing is not to gather in groups that you have not been cohorting with. That applied in gyms, bars and churches and singing is a great way, Im sorry to say, to share this virus. The virus was incredibly communicable, and even a negative PCR test was not a passport, not definitive. People could be asymptomatic and still pass on COVID.

In 2021, with the Omicron variant looming, Marrazzo said that COVID vaccines, masking, and social distancing do actually work and, if applied, could help avoid anything looking like a total lockdown. Marrazzo contended that lingering damage from the last lockdown is still tangible, particularly with young kids, families, and schools. Even so, wearing masks was the only way to keep kids in school and keep them safe and, particularly, to keep schools open.

Marrazzos views on the origin of COVID are hard to find. Fauci, who claims to represent science, contended that the virus arose naturally in the wild, but the FBI believes the likely source was a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Dr. Fauci lied about American funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virologys gain-of-function research, which makes viruses more lethal and transmissible. Marrazzos views on the dangerous practice, once banned by the NIH, are likewise hard to find.

As new studies contend, wearing masks can be harmful, particularly for children. Marrazzo has not exactly gone public with any second thoughts she might have on the subject. In a similar style, the subject of vaccine injuries does not appear to interest the new NIAID director. Since NIAID is the NIH division for developing vaccines, that would be an interesting question for a confirmation hearing. Unfortunately, none will take place.

Marrazzo is the pick of acting NIH boss Lawrence Tabak, and that settles it. She will command a budget of $6.3 billion, with 21 laboratories and 133 countries conducting NIAID-funded activities. Despite all that money and influence, there appears to be no limit on the term of the NIAID director.

Fauci, in government for more than half a century, ruled the roost for nearly 40 years. In 2020, Fauci teamed up with NIH director Frances Collins to shut down the scientists of the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD), who argued for a more humane policy on lockdowns.

If we want scientists to speak freely in the future, GDB signatory Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine at Stanford, said, we should avoid having the same people in charge of public health policy and medical research funding. That unchecked concentration of power is still in place.

The NIAID director should be limited to a single four-year term and held to account for all actions in office. All NIAID grants should be posted on the internet in real time and in a downloadable form. Absent these reforms, NIAID will be the same as the old boss, a tough act to follow.

Anthony Fauci is now the subject of an official criminal referral by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for lying about funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology

Paul, a medical doctor, charges that viruses that in nature only infect animals were manipulated in the Wuhan lab to gain the function of infecting humans.

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Fauci-Friendly Jeanne Marrazzo Named New Director of NIAID | K ... - The Beacon

A day after striking a deal in principle with President Biden to suspend the debt limit, Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his leadership team began an all-out sales pitch on Sunday to rally Republicans behind a compromise that was drawing intense resistance from the hard right.

To get the legislation through a fractious and closely divided Congress, Mr. McCarthy and top Democratic leaders must cobble together a coalition of Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate willing to back it. Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus have already declared war on the plan, which they say fails to impose meaningful spending cuts, and warned that they would seek to block it.

So after spending late nights and early mornings in recent days in feverish negotiations to strike the deal, which would suspend the debt ceiling for two years while cutting and capping some federal programs over the same period, proponents have turned their energies to ensuring it can pass in time to avert a default now projected on June 5.

This is the most conservative spending package in my service in Congress, and this is my 10th term, Representative Patrick T. McHenry, Republican of North Carolina and a lead member of Mr. McCarthys negotiating team, said at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Sunday morning.

House Republicans circulated a one-page memo with 10 talking points about the conservative benefits of the deal, which was still being finalized and written into legislative text on Sunday, hours before it was expected to be released. The G.O.P. memo asserted that the plan would cap government spending at 1 percent annually for six years though the measure is only binding for two years and noted that it would impose stricter work requirements for Americans receiving government benefits, cut $400 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for global health fundingand eliminate funding for hiring new I.R.S. agents in 2023.

Legislative text released Sunday evening also revealed that the bill includes expedited approvals for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a project favored by Senator Joe Manchin III, a key Democratic swing vote, and other West Virginia lawmakers.

The deal also includes some agreements not clearly included in the 99 pages of bill text.

Administration officials said on Sunday that they had agreed to repurpose $10 billion of extra I.R.S. money in each of the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years, which would be a loss of a quarter of the $80 billion the agency received for enhanced services and enforcement as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

But officials said in a call with reporters that they expected no disruptions whatsoever from the loss of that money in the short term. That is likely because all of the $80 billion from the 2022 law was appropriated at once, but the agency planned to spend it over eight years. Officials suggested the I.R.S. might simply pull forward some of the money earmarked for later years, then return to Congress later to ask for more money.

It doesnt get everything everybody wanted, Mr. McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill. But, in divided government, thats where we end up. I think its a very positive bill.

Mr. Biden told reporters that he was confident the deal would reach his desk and that he spoke with Mr. McCarthy on Sunday afternoon to make sure all the Ts are crossed and the Is are dotted.

The agreement prevents the worst possible crisis, a default for the first time in our nations history, Mr. Biden said later in the day, adding, It also protects key priorities and accomplishments and values that congressional Democrats and I have fought long and hard for.

Mr. Biden said it was an open question whether the deal would make it through Congress. I have no idea whether he has the votes, he said of Mr. McCarthy. I expect he does.

Still, the deal was facing harsh criticism from the wings of both political parties.

Terrible policy, absolutely terrible policy, Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, said on CNNs State of the Union, referring to the work requirements for food stamps and other public benefit programs. I told the president that directly when he called me last week on Wednesday that this is saying to poor people and people who are in need that we dont trust them.

Ms. Jayapal, the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she wanted to read the bill before she decided whether to support it.

Some on the right had already ruled out doing so before seeing the details.

No one claiming to be a conservative could justify a YES vote, Representative Bob Good, Republican of Virginia and a member of the House Freedom Caucus, wrote on Twitter. Representative Dan Bishop, Republican of North Carolina, posted his reaction to news of the deal: a vomit emoji.

Russell T. Vought, President Trumps influential former budget director who now runs the Center for Renewing America, encouraged right-wing Republicans to use their seats on the House Rules Committee which Mr. McCarthy granted them as he toiled to win their votes to become speaker to block the deal. Conservatives should fight it with all their might, he said.

Some Senate Republicans, who under that chambers rules have more tools to slow consideration of legislation, were also up in arms.

No real cuts to see here, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said on Twitter. Conservatives have been sold out once again!

With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats? asked Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, who has vowed to delay the debt limit deal.

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, was also critical though for a much different reason. He called the deal too stingy, demanding more robust military funding, particularly for the Navy.

I am not going to do a deal that marginally reduces the number of I.R.S. agents in the future at the expense of sinking the Navy, Mr. Graham said on Fox News Sunday.

But Mr. McCarthy argued that Republican critics were a small faction.

More than 95 percent of all those in the conference were very excited, Mr. McCarthy, who briefed Republicans about the deal on Saturday night, said on Fox. Think about this: We finally were able to cut spending. Were the first Congress to vote for cutting spending year over year.

The deal would essentially freeze federal spending that had been on track to grow, excluding military and veterans programs.

Representative Dusty Johnson, Republican of South Dakota and an ally of Mr. McCarthys, said that House Republicans would overwhelmingly support the debt deal. He played down the right-wing revolt, claiming that leaders never expected certain House Freedom Caucus members to vote for it.

When youre saying that conservatives have concerns, it is really the most colorful conservatives, Mr. Johnson said on State of the Union, pointing out that some Republicans even voted against a more conservative proposal to raise the debt ceiling. Some of those guys you mentioned didnt vote for the thing when it was kind of a Republican wish list.

Still, it was clear Mr. McCarthy would need votes from Democrats to pass the measure through the House and those might not prove easy to deliver, especially from the left wing in the House.

Representative Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, said he was undecided about how to vote but expressed anger at the negotiations, which he compared to hostage-taking on the part of Republicans.

None of the things in the bill are Democratic priorities, Mr. Himes said on Fox. Mr. Himes said the legislation was not going to make any Democrats happy.

But its a small enough bill that in the service of actually not destroying the economy this week may get Democratic votes, he said.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader, said on CBSs Face the Nation that he expected that there will be Democratic support once we have the ability to actually be fully briefed by the White House.

But he was clear that he did not like the position Democrats were in.

We have to, of course, avoid a market crash. We have to avoid tanking the economy. We have to avoid a default, Mr. Jeffries said. The reason why were in this situation from the very beginning is that extreme MAGA Republicans made the determination that they were going to use the possibility of default to hold the economy and everyday Americans hostage.

Peter Baker, Catie Edmondson, Jim Tankersley and Alan Rappeport contributed reporting.

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With Debt Limit Deal in Hand, McCarthy and Biden Turn to Task of ... - The New York Times

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), as well as other senators including Ron Wyden, Rand Paul, Edward Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Mike Lee, Cory Booker, and Steve Daines have sent a bi-partisan letter to the United States Postal Services and they want answers. At stake is your privacy contained in letters, shipments and other parcels that travel through the mail system each and every day.

Last week, Senator Lummis tweeted, We cannot allow the federal government to be weaponized to violate the privacy of the people of Wyoming.

The letter calls for stronger protections for the privacy of Americans letters and packages, according to a press release.

So how is the USPS possibly snooping through your correspondence? Even though a private citizen may not have their mail examined without a warrant under the law, there could be a way that the Senators are worried may be exploited by the postal service. The loophole, although not explicitly defined, could happen when those who send and receive packages are tracked in a process called mail covers.

What these covers do is allow the government to see the types of letters and correspondence private citizens are receiving.

The press release states, While mail covers do not reveal the contents of correspondence, they can reveal deeply personal information about Americans political leanings, religious beliefs or causes they support.

What the Senators are worried about is that this method of surveillance is a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees the right to freedom of speech as well as the establishment of religion. Senator Lummis and her colleagues are also claiming that the government doesnt have the right to watch or monitor these activities, but its not necessarily clear what law actually defends that assumption.

We cannot allow the federal government to be weaponized to violate the privacy of the people of Wyoming, Lummis clearly says in a statement. Government surveillance needs to be conducted within the guidelines of the Constitution and fully transparent to the public. Federal agencies do not have the authority to grant themselves loopholes to trample on the freedom of the people of Wyoming.

An audit by the Office of the Inspector General has revealed that government agencies sought information on more than 100,000 mail records from 2010-2014, according to the press release.

Senator Lummis and the other politicians are demanding the USPIS reform its regulations and better protect Americans privacy from the mail covers. Lummis added government agencies should only conduct mail covers with a federal warrant, which is the current policy for inspecting contents of mail.

The U.S. Postal System and the United States Postal Inspection Service was founded by Benjamin Franklin back in 1775, under the Second Continental Congress, on August 7th. That is the established birth date of the United States Postal Inspection Service. The USPIS or United States Postal Inspection Service, enforces over 200 federal statutes related to crimes that involve the postal system, its employees, and its customers, its website states. [Their] Postal Inspectors are federal law enforcement officers who carry firearms, make arrests, execute federal search warrants, and serve subpoenas. Over 1200 Inspectors enforce roughly 200 federal laws covering crimes that include fraudulent use of the U.S. Mail and the postal system.

Senator Lummis took to Twitter to express her concern. If the government wants to look at your mail, they need to get a warrant.

The federal inspection of mail hasa long history of documented abuses committed through postal surveillance. In 1976, it was discovered that the CIA had documented 2 million pieces of mail and opened hundreds of thousands of letters from prominent activists and authors all without a warrant.

The Senators are requesting statistics on how much sealed mail is opened and inspected by USPIS and the United States Postal Service on an annual basis.

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Wyoming Senator Lummis Wants Answers From USPS | Big Horn ... - mybighornbasin

SOUTHGATE, Ky. - Forty-six years to the day of the tragic fire that claimed 165 lives at the Beverly Hills Supper Club, a permanent memorial was dedicated Sunday in a moving ceremony that inspired memories of the deceased and tributes to those who fought the fire and tended to the injured.

We gather here today to remember those who lost their lives 46 years ago today, said Southgate Mayor Jim Hamberg. I pray this Memorial will give their families, friends and loved ones some peace and a place to come and remember because we must never forget, and we never will, what happened on that fateful and tragic night.

The memorial includes the names of those who lost their lives in the 1977 fire.

The Beverly Hills Memorial was dedicated along U.S. 27 at Memorial Pointe Drive before a crowd estimated at 300 on the anniversary of the 1977 fire. Moments of silence, prayers and the solemn sound of a bagpipe provided the backdrop for an emotional and appropriate afternoon of remembrance.

We also gather today to give thanks to the many firefighters, police officers, first responders, Red Cross workers, and volunteers who did their best and gave everything they could to save as many lives as possible, Mayor Hamberg said.

Southgate Volunteer Fire Department Chief JohnBeatschwas a young volunteer firefighter who was among the hundreds of first responders who fought the fire, helped care for the injured and ultimately saved many lives.

I think I can speak for the firefighters who were there, when I say that May 28, 1977, was the worst day of our firefighting career, ChiefBeatschsaid. But I believe it was also our finest hour.Every firefighter who was there either risked their life or was willing to risk their life to try and save those trapped. Over 2,000 patrons got out alive.

Even when it was clear that no one left in the building could be saved, firefighters went back into the building over and over to try and remove the bodies of those who perished, he said. To this day, that haunts all of us who were there. It always will.

David Brock of Independence was an 18-year-old bus boy at Beverly Hills the night of the fire. For more than four decades, he has been a tireless advocate for remembering those who died in the fire as well as the family, loved ones and friends they left behind.

To me, this memorial represents closure, Brock said. It is important to have a place where the families and friends of those who died can go to remember those they lost. It is important for our community to make sure we never forget.

The Beverly Hills Memorialfeatures names of those who lost their lives; a list of local first responder units that responded to the fire; a list of the federal and state fire safety regulations that were implemented because of the fire; the recollections of a firefighter; and photos of the Beverly Hills Supper Club. The Memorial sitewill become a park maintained by the City of Southgate.

Among those involved on the memorial planning committee include Tim Rolf ofRolf Monument, Northern Kentucky first responders and community members and individuals with personal connections to the fire.

The 80-acre Beverly Hills property is currently being transformed into Memorial Pointe, a residential community being developed byAshley Builders Groupin conjunction withVision Realty Group. The companies provided the land and funding for the design and construction of the monument along with Fischer Homes, which is building homes in the development and provided for the landscape improvements.

When we started this project, we set out to create something special here, said Vision Realty Group Managing Partner Matt Olliges. We chose to name the community Memorial Pointe because we knew that honoring the history of this site, honoring the memory of the lives that were lost here and the lives that were forever changed as a result of what happened here with a permanent memorial would be of the utmost importance.

And we chose to place the memorial at the front entrance to the community as a way of making sure that what happened on this site is never forgotten.

Memorial Pointe will include 84 single-family homes, 200 luxury apartments and an assisted living facility of 79 residential units.

Also attending Sundays Memorial dedication were Commissioner of the Department for Local Government Dennis Keene, a Campbell County resident; Campbell County Judge-executive StevePendery; former Southgate Mayors Ron Blanchet, Ken Paul, who served as mayor the night of the fire; and current and former members of Southgate City Council.

Several elected officials and government bodies provided proclamations and resolutions recognizing and honoring the Memorial dedication, including:

Kentucky U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, who represents Kentuckys 4th Congressional District.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

Kentucky State Sen. Shelley Funke-Frommeyerand the Kentucky Senate.

Kentucky State Rep. Rachel Roberts and the Kentucky House of Representatives.

Campbell County Fiscal Court.

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Beverly Hills Memorial dedicated on 46th anniversary of fatal fire - Kentucky Today

FIRST ON FOX: Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul will release a book later this year that focuses on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, and argues that former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' director Dr. Anthony Fauci deceived the world about the disease.

The book is called "Deception: The Great CovidCoverup" and will be released in October by Regnery Publishing, a Salem Media Group company and the publisher of numerous conservative books.

"Covid-19 was deadly, but the real killer was the cover-up, led by Anthony Fauci Americas most durable medical bureaucrat who knew from the beginning the virus was likely genetically engineered and possibly leaked from a lab," Paul said in a statement in the publisher's news release. "He knew because hed skirted regulations and funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan and elsewhere. We cant allow Fauci and his yes-men to walk away from what theyve done, or the next pandemic may be far worse."

SEN. RAND PAUL ACCUSES FAUCI OF COLLUDING WITH TEACHERS UNION TO PROMOTE 'HYSTERIA' AROUND SCHOOL REOPENINGS

Sen. Rand Paul will release a book later this year that focuses on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' director Dr. Anthony Fauci's role in the process. (Regnery Publishing, Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

"Wielding previously unimaginable power, Anthony Fauci misled the country about the origins of theCovid pandemic and shut down scientific dissent. One of the few leaders who dared to challenge'Americas Doctor' was Senator Rand Paul, himself a physician. Deceptionis his indictment ofthe catastrophic failures of the public health bureaucracy during the pandemic," Regnery said of the book in a press release.

Paul has consistently taken aim at Fauci for his role in the COVID-19 pandemic response, and has criticized the health official for the NIAID's involvement with the Wuhan, China, lab that studied coronaviruses.

Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to questions from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on January 11, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

Last month, Paul accused Fauci of being culpable of "one of the worst judgment errors" in his handling of COVID by pushing for the funding "gain of function" research in China.

RAND PAUL BLASTS FAUCI AFTER FREEZE-OUT ALLEGATIONS: A FACT FAUCI CONVINCED SCIENTISTS TO CHANGE MINDS

"I think Fauci deserves culpability and history is going to judge him very poorly because he made the judgment to fund this research. It's dangerous research. He doesn't want to call it gain of function, but most other scientists do call it gain of function in Wuhan in an opaque totalitarian country. And in the end, there was a leak from the lab and millions of people died worldwide. And this didn't happen sort of accidentally. The leak may have been accident, but the funding wasn't accidental," Paul said during an appearance on Fox and Friends in April.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., questions Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing to examine the federal response to COVID-19 and emerging variants on Jan. 11, 2022 at Capitol Hill in Washington. (GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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"Tony Fauci actually went around the system. We had set up a system where there's a committee, they're supposed to go before a committee to judge whether this was dangerous and whether it should be funded. Tony Fauci exempted Wuhan from the committee. They never went before the committee. And this is extraordinary. The committee that was supposed to provide safety and review this, never looked at the research in Wuhan because Tony Fauci gave them exception. So the thing is, yes, he does bear responsibility for maybe one of the worst judgment errors in the history of modern medicine or modern public health to fund this dangerous research," he added.

Paul's book, which is now available for pre-order on Amazon, is slated to be released on October 10.

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Sen. Rand Paul takes aim at Dr. Fauci in new book focused on the COVID-19 'cover-up' - Fox News