H5N1 Bird Flu

Pandemic / Epidemics Update, June 4, 2025

by Anne Laurie| June 4, 20256:14 am| 31 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, H5N1 Bird Flu

FDA approves Moderna's new COVID-19 vaccine
The company's "next-generation" COVID-19 vaccine, mNexspike, was approved for adults 65 and older and younger people at risk of severe disease.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 4:26 PM

#FDA has approved #Moderna's next-generation #Covid shot, with the same use restrictions it imposed on Novavax's vaccine earlier this month.
www.statnews.com/2025/05/31/m…

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— Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) May 31, 2025 at 9:43 AM

Exclusive: Pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos of the US CDC resigned as co-leader of a working group that advises outside experts on COVID vaccines and is leaving the agency, two sources familiar with the move told Reuters reut.rs/4ksJLZt

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— Reuters (@reuters.com) June 3, 2025 at 5:29 PM

US Weekly COVID update: June 2, 2025
🔸1 in 211 People Currently Infected
🔸227,000 New Daily Infections
🔸1,589,000 New Weekly Infections
🔸79,000 to 318,000 Weekly Long COVID Cases
🔸600 to 900 Weekly Excess Deaths
Source: pmc19.com/data/

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— Denis – The COVID Info Guy (@thecovidinfoguy.bsky.social) June 3, 2025 at 2:42 AM

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According to this chart we are currently experiencing the lowest rate of COVID deaths since March 14, 2020.
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t…

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— Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 7:01 PM

Exactly. The fact that a lot of Americans have grown complacent over Covid boosters (or seasonal flu shots) is hardly a reason for banning access to them.

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— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) June 1, 2025 at 11:24 AM

A new variant of COVID-19 is circulating in parts of the world and may be driving an increase in cases in the eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and western Pacific regions.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) May 29, 2025 at 3:30 AM

In the most recent COVID wave, white people had more than twice the death rate of black people
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t…

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— Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM

A new, highly transmissible COVID subvariant has been detected in California — heightening the risk of a summer wave as recent moves by the Trump administration threaten to make vaccines harder to get, and more expensive, for many Americans.
www.latimes.com/california/s…

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— Ian Weissman, DO (@drianweissman.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 11:12 PM

Australia:

“It’s taking off pretty quickly,” said Professor Catherine Bennett, warning that “if you’re exposed, you’re more likely to catch it.”
She added, “We might be in for a bigger winter wave,” and COVID deaths were 5x higher than flu—"So COVID-19 is still to be taken seriously"

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— Denis – The COVID Info Guy (@thecovidinfoguy.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 2:57 AM

Local observations are sometimes random noise. But sometimes they're early indicators of trends that take time to show up in regional/national data (collecting & reporting data takes time, even if you care about that sort of stuff, which may not be true nationally).
Why I always mask seeing pts 🤷‍♂️

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— Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS (@dimitridrekonja.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 5:47 PM

ICYMI: I wrote about ongoing Republican attacks on COVID vaccines, which make use of years of state propaganda claiming COVID is mild, COVID is over, Long COVID isn't real, and that healthy people have nothing to fear from COVID.

www.thegauntlet.news/p/republican…

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— Julia Doubleday (@juliadoubleday.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 12:30 PM

Long-COVID diagnoses fairly common in Medicare claims
Beneficiaries with four or more COVID-19 vaccine doses had a 39% lower adjusted rate of long COVID.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) June 3, 2025 at 3:27 PM

I know we all like to forget COVID, but imo it’s bonkers that politicians talk so much about increasing defence spending, yet we’ve apparently forgotten to spend any time or money guarding against a future pandemic

— Sam Bright (@writesbright.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 4:58 AM

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This very bad thing happened that killed a lot of people a few years ago yet stopping it from happening again isn’t remotely part of the public / political conversation. Barmy.

— Sam Bright (@writesbright.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 2:35 PM

Long COVID is now the most prevalent chronic disease in American kids, surpassing ASTHMA. Children/ teens are NOT immune to damage from covid.
"Long COVID is common, affecting up to 10% to 20% of children with a history of COVID-19."
That means ANY covid infection.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam…

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— EvolutionaryEve (@evolutionaryeve.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 11:30 PM

The parents of kids in the original pediatric Covid vaccine trials care more about scientific integrity than the people leading our scientific agencies.
Unbelievable. And maddening.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025…

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— Alt CDC (they/them) (@altcdc.altgov.info) June 2, 2025 at 10:19 PM

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RKF Jr. May Have Just Ruined Our Best Weapon Against Bird Flu www.thebulwark.com/p/rkf-jr-ken… from @citizencohn.bsky.social

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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) June 1, 2025 at 9:15 AM

Study finds live avian flu virus in raw milk for more than 1 day at room temperature, 1 week in fridge
The preprint findings highlight the risk of contracting #H5N1 avian flu from raw milk or occupational exposure in dairies.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/a…
Photo: xymox / Flickr cc

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 12:15 PM

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Dataset shows national decline in MMR vaccine uptake since peak of COVID

Of the 2,066 counties, 1,614 (78%) showed a decline in MMR coverage.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/m…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) June 3, 2025 at 4:06 PM

US CDC updated its measles travel advisory:
'International travellers should be fully vaccinated with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.' @cidrap.bsky.social
Highly infectious, it can remain in the air for up to 2 hours after an infected person leaves the area.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/us-m…

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— @DrJoePajak CSci CChem FRSC (@drjoepajak.bsky.social) May 31, 2025 at 7:32 AM

Pandemic / Epidemics Update, June 4, 2025Post + Comments (31)

More Bad Healthcare News

by Anne Laurie| May 30, 20259:26 am| 124 Comments

This post is in: H5N1 Bird Flu, Healthcare

In the future, they’re going to call 2024 the Heaven’s Gate Election.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/h…

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— Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) May 29, 2025 at 1:42 PM

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The Trump administration has delivered its latest blow to vaccines, canceling a nearly $600-million contract to the drugmaker Moderna that was intended to develop a shot for humans against bird flu.

The decision also forfeited the U.S. government’s right to purchase doses ahead of a pandemic, and canceled an agreement set up by the Biden administration in January to prepare the nation for a potential bird flu pandemic. The Moderna contract built on a previous government investment of $175 million last year.

The move was not entirely unexpected. The Department of Health and Human Services said earlier this year that it was reviewing the contract. And Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly questioned the safety of mRNA technology, which is used in Moderna’s Covid vaccine…

Andrew Nixon, a Health and Human Services spokesman, said: “After a rigorous review, we concluded that continued investment in Moderna’s H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable.”

Moderna said it would explore alternatives for developing the vaccines covered by the contract, which were to be designed for several types of flu viruses that have the potential to cause a pandemic.

Christopher Ridley, a spokesman for Moderna, defended the mRNA technology. “Results during the pandemic speak for themselves, including demonstrated efficacy and a safety profile established in over a billion people worldwide,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

For several years, a type of avian flu known as H5N1 has circulated around the world, killing wild birds and domestic flocks, and spreading to a range of other species including bears and sea mammals.

It arrived in the United States in 2022, and has resulted in the culling of more than 173 million birds, frequently devastating commercial poultry flocks.

Last year, bird flu also spread to dairy cattle. It has since struck more than 1,000 herds in 17 states and sickened 70 people, most of them dairy or cattle workers. In January, Louisiana reported the death of an older adult who had interacted with sick backyard birds, the first such fatality in the United States.

So far, the virus does not seem to spread easily among people. But scientists have long worried about a bird flu pandemic because flu viruses can rapidly mutate and acquire new abilities.

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The national stockpile holds a few million doses of an existing H5N1 vaccine to protect humans. But it is unclear whether the shots would continue to protect Americans if the virus were to change significantly. The government has three other avian flu contracts, according to the health department.

Many scientists regard mRNA vaccines, which can be quickly altered to match the newest versions of virus, as the best option for protecting Americans in a fast-moving outbreak.

“When the next flu pandemic occurs, there is not going to be enough vaccine for everyone who wants it unless we invest to broaden the types of flu vaccines being made and the number of companies that make them,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health…

Mr. Kennedy’s ideas for containing bird flu are unorthodox. He has suggested that instead of culling birds when the infection is discovered, farmers should let the virus run through the flocks. Then, he has said, farmers should identify birds that survive the illness and study them to identify the source of their immunity. Many scientists assert that would be inhumane and dangerous.

Last week, Mr. Kennedy urged the Canadian authorities not to kill 400 ostriches that had been exposed to H5N1, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who oversees Medicare and Medicaid, offered to relocate the birds to his ranch in Florida…

“Pandemic preparedness is about being proactive, fast and adaptable — the mRNA vaccine platform is all of that,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

“The rationale given is likely fabricated and more of a function of R.F.K. Jr.’s assault on vaccines, the value of which he evades,” he added. “Canceling this contract makes the world less safe.”

Reuters:

… Moderna in January was awarded $590 million by the Biden administration to advance the development of its bird flu vaccine, and support the expansion of clinical studies for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza.

This was in addition to $176 million awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last year to complete the late-stage development and testing of a pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenza.

HHS told Reuters earlier this year that it was reviewing agreements made by the Biden administration for vaccine production.
“The cancellation means that the government is discarding what could be one of the most effective and rapid tools to combat an avian influenza outbreak,” said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, adding that it is the opposite approach Trump took with Operation Warp Speed to combat COVID-19…

Moderna said it plans to explore alternatives for late-stage development and manufacturing of the vaccine.

The company has been banking on revenue from newer mRNA shots, including its bird flu vaccine and experimental COVID-flu combination vaccine, to make up for waning post-pandemic demand for its COVID vaccine.

Moderna also said on Wednesday that it had received positive interim data from a mid-stage trial set up to test the safety and immunogenicity of its bird flu vaccine targeting the H5 avian influenza virus subtype.

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Pandemic / Epidemic Updates, May 28 2025

by Anne Laurie| May 28, 20256:20 am| 136 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, H5N1 Bird Flu

The CDC is pulling its Covid-19 vaccine recommendation for healthy children and pregnant women, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced.

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— Politico (@politico.com) May 27, 2025 at 2:13 PM

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A reminder that CDC's COVID-19 vaccine recommendations are directly tied to:
– requirements for what health insurance is required to cover with no out-of-pocket costs
– liability protections expanding access to COVID shots in places like pharmacies
www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-…

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— Alexander Tin (@alexander-a-tin.bsky.social) May 27, 2025 at 3:16 PM

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By changing CDC guidelines on who can get the COVID vaccine
It will likely not be covered by insurance and Medicare/Medicaid
So if people want it, they’re going to have to pay for it
Meaning that those who can’t afford it are out of luck

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— Adam Cohen (@axidentaliberal.bsky.social) May 27, 2025 at 3:19 PM

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From the CIDRAP Vaccine Integrity Project
Viewpoint: Making key COVID vaccine decisions without input, transparency is a public disservice
Rollout of new rules suggests that federal officials are opposed to open discussion & transparency
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) May 21, 2025 at 4:00 PM

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FDA Commissioner Makary: "The day of rubber-stamping covid vaccines for young healthy kids is over. You cannot send us an application for a new covid booster each year with no new updated clinical trial data and expect the FDA to just blindly rubber-stamp it … people don't trust us."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 25, 2025 at 10:43 AM

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“A CDC report found that among pregnant U.S. women infected with COVID-19, about 1 in 80 deliveries was a stillbirth — the loss of a fetus anytime after 20 weeks. That’s compared with 1 in 155 among uninfected women”
Pregnant women need access to Covid boosters.
TW for photos of Covid placenta:

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— Kelly (@broadwaybabyto.bsky.social) May 27, 2025 at 5:50 PM

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“Experts have been closely watching the variant, which is now dominant in China and is on the rise in parts of Asia. Hong Kong authorities say that rates of COVID-19 in the city have climbed to the worst levels they have seen in at least a year…”

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— Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 9:14 PM

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WHO adds NB.1.8.1 as SARS-CoV-2 variant under monitoring
TAG-VE said illnesses don't seem more severe and more studies are needed to further assess the risk of antibody escape.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…
Photo: NIAID/Flickr cc

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) May 27, 2025 at 2:55 PM

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CDC posted updated #SARSCoV2 genomic surveillance today (<-that's good)
XFC is now showing growth, ~10% of new cases. It's a recombinant of LP.8.1 (dominant variant) + LF.7 (not the same as XFG, but related).
Unclear if this or the others in the mix (XFG or NB.1.8.1) can/will drive a wave here.

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) May 27, 2025 at 6:25 PM

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A reminder that South African researchers gave the world crucial early insights into the Beta, Omicron BA.1 and BA.4/5 variants, as well as valuable ongoing work into many other pathogens/outbreaks…

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— Adam Kucharski (@adamjkucharski.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 1:38 AM

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Macedo and Lee are cranks.
20% of the population got COVID in 2020, pre-vaccine, and 350k died.
If we’d just thrown caution go the wind, as these crackpots suggest (views that editors should be more skeptical of), the death count would have been MUCH, MUCH higher and hosp. capacity collapsed.

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— Clean Observer (@hammbear2024.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 8:37 AM

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Quick COVID update from me discussing latest variants and prospects for summer here.
open.substack.com/pub/christin…

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— Prof Christina Pagel (@chrischirp.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 3:15 AM

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#USDA confirmed 2 more #H5N1 #birdflu infected dairy herds in Idaho, bringing the state's total to 107.
The cumulative national total is 1072 in 17 states.
www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po…

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— Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 12:29 PM

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This is really stupid and unnecessary: latest on measles outbreak cases in the U.S.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/…

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— Rasmus E. Benestad (@brasmus.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 12:02 PM

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'A national scandal': US excess deaths rose even after #pandemic, far outpacing peer countries
The United States has been in a 'protracted health crisis' for decades, the researchers say.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 1:34 PM

Pandemic / Epidemic Updates, May 28 2025Post + Comments (136)

Parsing the Pandemic Pause

by Anne Laurie| May 21, 20256:01 am| 326 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, H5N1 Bird Flu

FDA approves Novavax COVID vaccine with new conditions reut.rs/4mmmkCc

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— Reuters (@reuters.com) May 17, 2025 at 10:40 PM

There has been a dearth of aggregateable news on all my usual sources since March, and I don’t think it can all be blamed on a deliberate cover-up. After five years, our collective immune systems are less susceptible… and, of course, there’s a lot of other vaccine-related outrages…

Health officials are making a renewed call for vigilance against bird flu, but some experts are puzzling over why reports of new human cases have stopped.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) May 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM

Health officials are making a renewed call for vigilance against bird flu, but some experts are puzzling over why reports of new human cases have stopped.

Has the search for cases been weakened by government cuts? Are immigrant farm workers, who have accounted for many of the U.S. cases, more afraid to come forward for testing amid the Trump administration’s deportation push? Is it just a natural ebb in infections?

“We just don’t know why there haven’t been cases,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University. “I think we should assume there are infections that are occurring in farmworkers that just aren’t being detected.”…

In the last 14 months, infections have been reported in 70 people in the U.S. — most of them workers on dairy and poultry farms. One person died, but most of the infected people had mild illnesses.

The most recent infections confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were in early February in Nevada, Ohio and Wyoming…

During a call with U.S. doctors this month, one CDC official noted that there is a seasonality to bird flu: Cases peak in the fall and early winter, possibly due to the migration patterns of wild birds that are primary spreaders of the virus.

That could mean the U.S. is experiencing a natural — maybe temporary — decline in cases.

It’s unlikely that a severe human infection, requiring hospitalization, would go unnoticed, said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases.

What’s more, a patchwork system that monitors viruses in sewage and wastewater has suggested limited activity recently.

New infections are still being detected in birds and cattle, but not as frequently as several months ago.

Dr. Gregory Gray said he wasn’t concerned about the CDC not identifying new cases in months.

“I don’t think that anybody’s hiding anything,” said Gray, an infectious disease speicialist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

But Osterholm and some other experts think it’s likely that at least some milder infections are going undetected. And they worry that the effort to find them has been eroding.

The CDC characterizes the risk to the general public as low, although it is higher for people who work with cattle and poultry or who are in contact with wild birds.

Earlier this month, an agency assessment said there is a “moderate risk” that currently circulating strains of bird flu could cause a future pandemic, but the CDC stressed that other emerging forms of bird flu has been similarly labeled in the past.

Still, research is continuing…

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FDA significantly limits COVID-19 vaccine recommendations
Critics said today’s announcement is more evidence of the current administration’s willingness to undermine public trust in vaccines.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) May 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM

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Prohibiting children from receiving the COVID vaccine violates my religious beliefs. My faith obligates me to protect others from avoidable harm, & withholding vaccines risks tremendous harm on the entire population. I am asserting my right to a religious exemption so my children can be vaccinated

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) May 20, 2025 at 1:23 PM

Under 65 years old? No Novovax COVID vaccine for you this year.
As expected, the Republicans have enabled RFK Jr. and his coterie of antivax grifters to take away your right to make your own medical decisions in consultation with your doctor.
Gift Link: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/h…

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— Carl T. Bergstrom (@carlbergstrom.com) May 18, 2025 at 12:11 AM

I remember a time when Novavax was championed by these very people as the better vaccine because it uses an "older"platform compared to mRNA vaccines. Everything to them is a ruse and the real end goal is to limit vaccine access to align with their antivaxx views.
apnews.com/article/nova…

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— BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 7:12 AM

Wisconsin to begin milk sampling for H5N1 avian flu
In other H5N1 developments, the USDA confirmed an outbreak at an Arizona layer farm that has more than 2 million birds.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/a…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) May 20, 2025 at 4:15 PM

This from the NYT ed board after they platform unqualified cranks who push discredited gain of function/lab leak conspiracies or in other cases give false equivalency to them. They need some self reflection here and understand that they’ve been part of the problem
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/o…

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— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 8:18 AM

And BTW all the ideas mentioned in this ed board piece seem fine and are welcomed

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 8:35 AM

The World Health Organization's member countries have approved an agreement to better prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics in the wake of the devastation wrought by the coronavirus.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) May 20, 2025 at 6:30 AM

US measles outbreak grows to 1,024 cases
Texas remains the country's hot spot, with 718 cases.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/m…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 4:17 PM

Measles cases in Texas rise by four to 722, state health department says reut.rs/3H56tIo

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— Reuters (@reuters.com) May 20, 2025 at 11:50 AM

Poll: 83% of Americans say benefits of MMR vaccines outweigh risks
Fifty-seven percent of those polled said they were unsure of complications if a pregnant woman contracts measles.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/m…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 4:33 PM

Parsing the Pandemic PausePost + Comments (326)

H5N1 & COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 26, 2025

by Anne Laurie| March 26, 20253:16 am| 27 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, Foreign Affairs, H5N1 Bird Flu

Also that the deaths and suffering were largely invisible on TV news

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— BeijingPalmer (@beijingpalmer.bsky.social) March 24, 2025 at 7:31 PM

Not an auspicious date: 1 year ago today #USDA confirmed #H5N1 #birdflu in dairy cows in Texas, a first.
Since then nearly 1000 infected herds have been confirmed; lord knows how many others missed detection. 70 human cases were confirmed in the past year; again the true number is likely higher.

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM

#H5N1: About 150 hens & other birds in a New York City live poultry market have died of #birdflu. This is the 1st NYC #birdflu outbreak since Feb when >1000 live poultry market birds died. The latest involved 2 markets, which were detected during routine inspections abc7ny.com/post/nyc-bir…
.

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 24, 2025 at 12:41 PM

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#USDA confirmed another California dairy herd has been infected with #H5N1 #birdflu. That brings CA's total to 756. The CA Dept of Ag. says 422 of those herds have recovered & cleared quarantine.
Cumulative national total = 990 herds in 17 states. This doesn't include the herd MN reported y'day.

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 9:57 AM

I missed this y'day about the new report from Minnesota of an #H5N1 #birdflu infected herd: The herd in question was previously infected. As such it's not going to be counted again.
Just guessing, but I'd wonder if the bulk milk testing showed they never managed to clear the earlier infection.

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 10:36 AM

Though I didn't have sheep on my #H5N1 #birdflu bingo card, by this point nothing should surprise me or us about this tricky, tricky virus.
The UK has found an infected sheep. Where there's one, there certainly could be more. www.gov.uk/government/n…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM

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— Medical Xpress – medical research advances and health news (@medicalxpress.com.web.brid.gy) March 25, 2025 at 11:45 PM

A different strain of #birdflu has wiped out a Mississippi poultry farm. H7N9 has been detected elsewhere in the world & hadn't been confirmed in the U.S. since 2017. The strain was found in Noxubee County & 46k birds either died or were euthanized after infection spread phys.org/news/2025-03…

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 5:19 PM

Current antivirals—including Tamiflu—are ineffective against #H5N1 in raw cows’ milk. While human infections have been rare, more than 60 people infected at dairies were exposed to H5N1 via raw milk reaching their noses or eyes in splashes or aerosolized particles www.genengnews.com/topics/infec…

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 7:22 AM

Cat food products have been recalled for #birdflu risk: Here are the latest ones👇
Savage Pet recalled 66 of its large 84 oz. chicken products & 74 of its smaller 21 oz size due to possible #H5N1 flu virus contamination. They join other recalled products: Wild Coast Raw, Northwest Naturals, & more

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 1:15 PM

Like it or not, we have entered 'a forever war' with #birdflu. The threat of an #H5N1 pandemic is here to stay www.theverge.com/science/6326…

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 22, 2025 at 10:07 AM

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Times are going to get hard — harder — for public health departments. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 3:49 PM

In <24 hours, Covid funding is DOGEd across HHS, CDC, NIH as if it and Long Covid didn't exist and there is no worry for future pandemics
www.science.org/content/arti…
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt…
www.science.org/content/arti…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 6:30 PM

Last night's update: 136,257 new cases, nearly 1,000 new deaths https://t.co/obHAfa7XlX

— BNO News (@BNOFeed) March 24, 2025

March 21st update:
The decline has stuttered over the past couple weeks, and NWSS also re-adjusted a couple of the past values upwards. South and Midwest both at medium levels, W/NE are low. Latest WW estimates:
🔸328,000 new infections/day
🔸~1 in 100 currently infected

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— JPWeiland (@jpweiland.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 9:19 PM

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The stark contrast between Rwanda’s handling of a deadly Marburg virus outbreak this year & the rest of the world’s chaotic response to #Covid provides textbook lessons in how to properly respond to a threat and how to make a threat worse www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt…

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) December 21, 2024 at 4:10 PM

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Today's update. Sad to see. A pill vaccine would have been a positive step forward.
www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/vaxa…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 11:58 AM

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— Medical Xpress – medical research advances and health news (@medicalxpress.com.web.brid.gy) March 25, 2025 at 11:42 AM

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— Medical Xpress – medical research advances and health news (@medicalxpress.com.web.brid.gy) March 24, 2025 at 11:46 AM

Uncertainty about long COVID lingers years after the pandemic began
Nine percent of people who described themselves as permanently sick or disabled had long COVID.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 5:07 PM

As more States attempt to enact mask bans & Trump continues to dismantle public health, it becomes increasingly clear that we’re on our own.
Masks should be mandatory in healthcare, yet you will often see more patients masking than healthcare workers.
My guide to avoiding hospital acquired COVID

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— Kelly (@broadwaybabyto.bsky.social) March 22, 2025 at 11:54 PM

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Seismic scoop from @lenasun.bsky.social: A long-time anti-vaxer who was disciplined for practising medicine without a license has been selected by #HHS to conduct the study RFK Jr. wants looking yet again at whether vaccines cause autism. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 7:15 PM

An antivax nightmare is about to unfold: The Texas measles epidemic could possibly continue for a year. Vaccination efforts have already faltered & many residents have turned to loony alternative treatments endorsed by RFK Jr. Dangerous times are ahead www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/h…

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 22, 2025 at 9:11 AM

More states are reporting measles cases amid rising instances of vaccine misinformation. Ohio, Maryland & Alabama among states outside the Texas-New Mexico-Oklahoma epidemic to report cases. The TX-NM-OK epidemic has >350 cases. All other states bring the total to 378

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM

The ultimate Gain of Function laboratory is Mother Nature.
Let a virus spread and spread, spill over again and again to mammals that share more genes with people, like cats and rats and cows, maybe a few mink and ferrets, and we end up with a problem much bigger than what we have now – for people.

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— Infectious Diseases (@infectiousdz.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM

Parents of the child who died of measles have joined RFK-founded Children's Health Defense. Anti-vaccine groups excel at swooping in for tragedy, offering parents a cause.
“Don’t do the shots,” her mother said, measles is “not as bad as they’re making it out to be.”
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt…

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— Brandy Zadrozny (@brandyzadrozny.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 9:42 AM

Parents of unvaccinated child who died of measles still tell other parents to be anti-vax.

Mother: "We would still say don't do the shots… It’s not as bad as they're making it out to be."

Father: "The measles are good for the body… in long run you won't get cancer as easily… pic.twitter.com/ICCwXGYmgE

— LongTime??FirstTime????? (@LongTimeHistory) March 20, 2025

H5N1 & COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 26, 2025Post + Comments (27)

H5N1 & COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 19, 2025

by Anne Laurie| March 19, 20255:28 am| 20 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, Foreign Affairs, H5N1 Bird Flu

FAO urges nations to ramp up actions to blunt impact of H5N1 avian flu
Amid economic and food supply concerns, officials continue to track animal detections and scientists shed new light on pathogenicity and treatment.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/a…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM

H5N1 dairy cow study finds sustained milk production drop, extensive transmission across herd
Milk losses, mortality, and herd removal led to an estimated $737,500 loss to the farm over the observation period.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/a…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 4:29 PM

#USDA confirmed 1 more #H5N1 #birdflu infected dairy herd in California, the 755th in the state to test positive for H5. CA says 384 of those herds have cleared infection & been released from quarantine.
Cumulative national total: 986 herds in 17 states.
www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 17, 2025 at 9:36 AM

#USDA confirmed 3 more #H5N1 #birdflu infected dairy herds in Idaho, bringing the state's total to 41 and the cumulative national total to 989 herds in 17 states. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 8:51 AM

JFC the Trump administration thinks it would be great for farmers to let bird flu "run through the flock" to identify immune birds. The result would kill a lot of chickens and provide an excellent opportunity for H5N1 to mutate into something far deadlier. https://t.co/2Ev7HEyxcx

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) March 18, 2025

#H5N1 avian influenza in cows' milk poses a challenge as common antivirals show limited efficacy. #Infection route impacts treatment success, highlighting the need for preventive measures over reliance on current drugs. @NatureMicrobiol https://t.co/0aD6FKin89…

— Medical Xpress (@medical_xpress) March 18, 2025

show full post on front page

Important brief commentary in @lancetrespirmed.bsky.social summarizing licensed H5 vaccines
– Most are inactivated vaccines.
– 80% produced in chicken eggs.
– All require a 2-dose schedule
– Good safety data from 32,000 trial participants cumulatively
– Only Finland is deploying a vaccine currently

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— BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) March 17, 2025 at 12:06 PM

#Birdflu virus is infectious for months in cheese made from raw milk, posing health risks. Cornell scientists made the discovery. U.S. law bans sales of raw milk across state lines yet sales of raw milk cheese are legal if aged 60 days—but that's not long enough for H5N1 www.cnn.com/2025/03/14/h…

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 17, 2025 at 1:48 PM

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Last night's update: More than 150,000 new cases https://t.co/pN0CJFCZKr

— BNO News (@BNOFeed) March 17, 2025

CDC continues the SARS-CoV-2 variant surveillance which today shows steady rise of the LP.8.1 variant; no others emerging with clear growth advantage. This is consistent with relatively low levels of circulating virus. For now.

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 9:54 AM

Some input at the 5-year mark of Covid
www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 4:32 PM

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Abrupt cessation of US aid funding has plunged programs to fight #malaria, #TB, & #HIV into a crisis, #WHO said Monday. Director-General Tedros said while the US has the right to decide how to spend its money, if it is to withdraw it should do so in a planned way. www.statnews.com/2025/03/17/w…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 17, 2025 at 12:53 PM

Nothing will kill more children than the ongoing decimation of CDC, NIH, and USAID work to lift vaccine uptake in the US and world.
Child survival rose 75% in the last 50 years. Vaccines account for 40% of that. Measles vax alone was 60% of the benefit. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan…

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— Atul Gawande (@agawande.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 8:05 AM

COVID-19: How did Africa defy the odds with fewer deaths? https://t.co/IubZ4Go3yS My latest story with @BUKAdebayo and @KimHarrisberg

— Nita Bhalla (@nitabhalla) March 12, 2025

Study: #COVID pandemic stole nearly 17 million years of life from adults in 18 European countries
If the pandemic hadn't occurred, over half of the person-years of life lost would likely have been lived without disability, the authors say.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 3:21 PM

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New and encouraging results for a combined flu and Covid mRNA vaccine randomized clinical trial in >1,200 healthy adults age 18-79
www.nature.com/articles/s41…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 7:31 AM

A pill to prevent #Covid is showing promise in Japan. The drug is made by pharmaceutical giant Shionogi. Researchers say the drug—ensitrelvir—blocked #SARSCoV2 among people exposed to it. Ensitrelvir is approved in Japan at a lower dose, which helps reduce hospitalizations time.com/7267886/pill…

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 18, 2025 at 12:21 PM

A #SciencePerspective by @zalaly.bsky.social and @erictopol.bsky.social identifies key issues that need to be prioritized in the study of #LongCovid.
Learn more on #LongCovidAwarenessDay: scim.ag/3XKbds3

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— Science Magazine (@science.org) March 15, 2025 at 10:07 AM

1 in 8 #COVID survivors still have symptoms 2 years after infection, researchers say
From 2021 to 2023, 23% of participants developed long-COVID symptoms, with 56% of those infected in 2021 reporting symptoms for 2 years.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 2:48 PM

How does SARS-CoV-2 lead to the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, a rare, potentially fatal condition?
www.nature.com/articles/s41…
High levels of TGFβ interfere with the child's response to control Epstein Barr virus, leading to its reactivation and severe inflammation @nature.com

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 12:39 PM

3 vaccine doses cut #long-COVID risk by over 60%, analysis suggests
Lower risks for vaccinated participants were also seen when restricting analyses to the pre-Omicron and Omicron periods, sex, age, or previous infection.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 17, 2025 at 2:59 PM

My colleague @scripps.edu @julialmv.bsky.social today on Long Covid

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM

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FDA announces flu strain picks for next season's vaccines
Like the recent WHO recommendation, the picks swap out the H3N2 strains for egg- and cell-based vaccines.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/i…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 2:03 PM

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Vermont reports measles case; Europe warns of highest case count in 25 years
Last year, European countries reported 127,350 measles cases.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/m…
Photo: CDC / Tatiana Lanzieri, MD, MPH

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 4:13 PM

Facts: Measles is unlike other viruses. It seriously damages 11%-73% of a patient’s antibody stockpile. A 2015 study estimated this: Before vaccinations, when measles was common, the virus was likely implicated in 1/2 of all childhood deaths from infectious diseases www.nbcnews.com/health/healt…

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— Delthia Ricks (@dricks.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 8:09 AM

Hey RFKJr:
Measles Can Damage the Immune System for Years www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/w…

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— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 6:49 PM

RFK Jr.'s claims on the safety of vaccine safety aren't backed by the data.

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— STAT (@statnews.com) March 14, 2025 at 10:33 AM

Texas public health official predicts the measles outbreak could take a year to contain

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— STAT (@statnews.com) March 18, 2025 at 6:33 PM

H5N1 & COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 19, 2025Post + Comments (20)

H5N1 & COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 12, 2025

by Anne Laurie| March 12, 20256:52 am| 62 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, Foreign Affairs, H5N1 Bird Flu

(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)

#USDA confirmed 5 more #H5N1 #birdflu infected dairy herds in California. The state's total is 754, although 373 herds have cleared infection and emerged from quarantine.
Cumulative national total is 983 herds in 17 states. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 9:58 AM

Cow-derived #avian flu can infect pigs but doesn't spread among them, preprint suggests
None of the sentinel pigs housed with the infected pigs were infected, suggesting low viral replication, the authors say.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/a…
Photo: liz west / Flickr cc

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 6, 2025 at 3:14 PM

#Avian flu was in Oregon wastewater weeks before state's first bird outbreaks, study shows
Detections occurred most often in two communities with important wild bird habitats.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/a…
Photo: LHG Creative Photography / Flickr cc

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 12:00 PM

show full post on front page

Avian flu detected in Belgian cats as outbreaks continue on US poultry, dairy farms
The cats were part of a group that lived on a poultry farm hit by the virus a few weeks earlier.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/a…
Photo: Cindy Cornett Seigle/Flickr cc

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM

Five years after COVID first arrived in New York, bird flu has mainly been a threat to animals and the people who raise them—so far. What happens if it becomes the next pandemic?
One thing is undeniable: We aren't prepared. Read the cover story now: nymag.visitlink.me/2QH4ZA

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— New York Magazine (@nymag.com) March 10, 2025 at 8:10 AM

… Now, the country is, in Russo’s words, “a pot of swirling virus with every species thrown in the middle.” Multiple strains of H5N1 are burning uncontrolled through cattle herds and poultry flocks in almost every region. Farmers have been forced to euthanize millions of chickens, turkeys, and ducks. Pet food made from infected meat has been linked to the deaths of multiple house cats, and the list of species testing positive for bird flu grows longer every day: squirrels and raccoons, dolphins and deer mice, polar bears and rats, skunks and alpacas. In November and December, at an animal sanctuary in Washington, 20 big cats died of the virus, including four cougars, four bobcats, and a tiger.

Most of the 70 human cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been mild. A bad case of pink eye, maybe a fever, then a full recovery. But in January, when authorities in Louisiana announced that a man had died after being exposed to sick and dead birds in his backyard flock, it seemed to signal an ominous turn. Of the 964 human cases of H5N1 reported to the World Health Organization since 2003, nearly 50 percent were fatal.

This was, and is, a crisis that seems to demand an overwhelming response. The longer we allow the virus to run rampant through animal populations, the greater our chances of disaster. Instead, we’ve had a replay of the first year of the COVID pandemic, overseen this time, until recently, by a Democratic president: Early detection gave way to months of confusion and inaction. Good guidance was circumvented or ignored. Each state had its own rules about how to handle an outbreak or whether to test for one in the first place. We are now approaching a moment when our final line of defense for both people and animals may be an effective vaccine — just as the most anti-vaccine administration in history has taken power.

Once again, we are running an experiment to see whether half-measures will be enough to defeat a virus that has proved shockingly successful at spreading around the world. For now, H5N1 remains primarily a threat to birds and cows and the people who raise them. But if that changes, one thing is undeniable: We aren’t prepared…

H5N1 is already a panzootic. It spreads easily among birds via their digestive tracts; everywhere an infected bird poops, a new host can be born. Although highly pathogenic H5N1 has been around since at least 1996, sometime in 2020 a newer, more transmissible version emerged in Europe or Central Asia. This strain, known by the unwieldy name H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, infected species H5N1 had never touched before, causing mass die-offs of seabirds and spreading rapidly beyond the virus’s original geographic range.

“It became quite clear early on that this was a completely different beast and that this was going to be potentially long term and not controllable,” said Martha Nelson, a computational biologist and the co-author of a recent paper about H5N1 in Nature. There were frequent crossovers into mammals but limited onward transmission until the first cows were infected — most likely when migrating birds left behind droppings on a dairy that got onto a cow’s udder. After that, spread was all but inevitable: Each cow stepping into the milking parlor could deposit virus on the automatic milker for the one that followed…

It's like, how many warnings do we have to give?
Every disaster starts with scientists being ignored and that is not a movie… #BirdFlu #H5N1 https://t.co/WoDbLrhbYY https://t.co/0aqXk6xhz7 pic.twitter.com/PPW0n3D6OZ

— Danielle Beckman (@DaniBeckman) March 8, 2025

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March 10th update:
Trends continue to improve! A ~20% drop in wastewater and 10% drop in ED visits this week. Overall tracking the model forecast of a ~14% weekly drop. Model + Latest WW estimates:
🔸310,000 new infections/day
🔸~1 in 110 currently infected

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— JPWeiland (@jpweiland.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM

Last night's update: More than 147,000 new cases https://t.co/UHaFOXeg4V

— BNO News (@BNOFeed) March 10, 2025

An important graph and caption on the impact of Covid www.nytimes.com/interactive/…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 11:01 PM

Opinion: But there is no evidence that migrants from the Southern border currently pose any major disruptive infectious disease threat to the U.S.

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— STAT (@statnews.com) March 9, 2025 at 1:43 PM

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5 years ago today: CNN starts calling COVID a pandemic pic.twitter.com/aUE9aEe581

— BNO News (@BNOFeed) March 9, 2025

#COVID-19 led to a loss of over 16 million disability-free years of life among 289 million adults in 18 European countries from 2020-2022, highlighting significant indirect impacts on mortality. @plos @plosmedicine https://t.co/8roh2xUcQT https://t.co/jDavvUjFxc

— Medical Xpress (@medical_xpress) March 11, 2025

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Just published @science.org
A basis—lung inflammation—for #LongCovid (PASC) in the experimental model, and a potential therapy
[driven by alveolar macrophages and loss of their peroxisomes (Figure)] www.science.org/doi/10.1126/…
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM

How Covid can affect the brain—the central role of blood vessel inflammation and microglia—and impact on body-wide inflammation @natureneuro.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 6, 2025 at 9:01 AM

Meta-analysis: Prone positioning benefits awake #COVID patients in respiratory failure
Prone positioning improved survival without intubation, cut the odds of intubation and in-hospital death, and lengthened the interval from enrollment to intubation.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 3:03 PM

1 in 5 men surveyed had erectile dysfunction up to 2 years after #COVID
These men had higher rates of shortness of breath and fatigue than those without erectile dysfunction.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM

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Data show homeless people didn't have higher #COVID death, hospitalization rates
But they had lower rates of critical care admission.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/c…

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 4:07 PM

CDC launches tool to track conflicts of interest for vaccine committee
ACIP members have routinely stated any conflicts of interests at the start of each meeting and ahead of each discussion and vote.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/p…
Photo: James Gathany / CDC

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— CIDRAP (@cidrap.bsky.social) March 7, 2025 at 4:10 PM

I got your waste, fraud, and abuse right here

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— Stacey Burns (@wentrogue.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 9:26 AM

The CDC is reportedly planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, "despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence of such links"

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— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) March 7, 2025 at 11:24 AM

In one week:
– An unnecessary study to investigate a debunked vaccine conspiracy has been authorized.
– Federal grants to study vaccine hesitancy have been rescinded.
– False conspiracies regarding measles are been pushed by health leadership.
The scale of damage this is causing will last decades.

— BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 6:37 AM

The MAHA Commission is made up of agency heads, domestic policy advisers and RFK Jr. advisers, including "MAHA moms," and will study childhood chronic disease. https://t.co/ybIGVLcsE4

— STAT (@statnews) March 12, 2025

very much looking forward to the new york times headline
"consumption epidemic ravages city, constables, public health officials seek to mitigate deaths. public health officials not focused on cholera"
i just live in 1894 now. it whips ass.

— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 10:49 PM

H5N1 & COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 12, 2025Post + Comments (62)

zhena gogolia on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 8:15pm)

zhena gogolia on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 8:13pm)

Miss Bianca on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 8:12pm)

AM in NC on GOP Venality Open Thread: The Emil Bove Nomination (Jul 17, 2025 @ 8:11pm)

Kirk on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 8:11pm)

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

People are complicated. Love is not.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

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