Ben Ferguson (2:43)
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Good Tuesday morning. Welcome. It is the 47 Morning Update, Ben Ferguson with you. And I want to say, first off, for many of you that may be hearing the show for the first time, thank you for joining us. And make sure you hit that subscribe or auto download button so you do not miss a single episode of the 47 Morning Update. Now we've got three big stories for you. And the first one deals with your safety as Donald Trump has issued a major executive order restricting the funding for gain of function research. I'll have all the details on this amazing moment in the Trump presidency on that in just a second. Up next, pro immigration advocates losing their mind as Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security is now offering $1,000 in a free flight for illegal immigrants who self deport. So why are they against it? We'll have that for you in just a moment as well. And finally, Donald Trump has a big week at the White House meeting with Canada, as well as talking with China on trade negotiations. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now. Common sense is back in the White House. We all know that. But now we have a president that's making sure that certain things that changed our world forever may never happen again. President Donald Trump issuing a very important executive order restricting federal funding for research that involves a controversial field of scientific study known as gain of function research. Now, the research, which is also known as dual use research, involves experimenting with viruses and other pathogens that have the potential to trigger a pandemic. Those studies could discover how infectious agents might become more transmissible or make people even sicker. This field has long been controversial because of fears that scientists could make a more dangerous pathogen in their lab that could get out and cause a pandemic. Well, those concerns became a reality with COVID 19, and those concerns have led to many efforts over the years to more tightly monitor and control this type of gain of function research. Many didn? T even know about gain of function research and what it actually meant until COVID 19 pandemic hit. One theory for how the pandemic started says that these SARS Covid 2 virus, which causes COVID 19, spilled out of the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology. Don't worry. Our government at the time said, no, no, no, that didn't happen, and Dr. Fauci was one of those involved. You may also remember that Dr. Fauci said that he wasn't funding gain of function research technology, when in fact he absolutely was. And when I say he was funding it, it means your tax dollars were going exactly to that quote. Many people believe that gain of function research was one of the of the COVID pandemic that struck us in the last decade. That's what the White House Secretary, Will Scarf said. That is exactly what this executive order does. First of all, it provides powerful new tools to enforce the ban on federal funding of gain of function research abroad. It also strengthens other oversight mechanisms related to that issue and creates an overarching strategy to ensure that biomedical research in general is being conducted safely. Many scientists have said, well, hold on a second. We need to weigh the evidence and understand that pandemics can happen and that we can learn from them when they do happen, when the reality is as well, we know where this started, and it wasn't in China in a wet market. It was in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where they were doing gain of function research. Now, according to the White House, the executive order would block any US Funding of gain of function research in countries of concern, such as China and Iran, as well as other foreign nations deemed to have insufficient research oversight. The order also prohibits US Tax dollars from contributing to foreign research likely to cause another pandemic and also US Dollars in general. The order also, quote, empowers American research agencies to identify and end federal funding of other biological research that could pose a threat to American public health, public safety, or national security. That, according to the White House's own fact sheet on this issue, an executive order. The order will increase the safety and security of biological research without impending US Innovation. The White House also issued statements from several top Trump administration officials who argued the funding restriction is necessary. The Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Put it this way, saying, I commend President Trump for his courage and his vision. This is a historic day is what Dr. Jay Bhattachary, the director of the National Institute of Health, said, the conduct of this research does not protect us against pandemics, as some people might say. It doesn't protect us against other nations. There's always a danger in doing this research. It might leak out just by accident even and cause a pandemic. It is crazy to think the entire nightmare was probably the result of some scientists messing with Mother Nature in a laboratory with technology is what the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Dr. Marty McCary, said about Donald Trump's executive order. So at the end of the day, what you need to know is this. The president knew there was a problem. He knew the gang of function research was out of control. He knew that your tax dollars should not be going to adversaries like China and Iran. And he's stopping it once and for all. Next story number two, media going crazy because they're actually having to cover a brilliant from the Trump administration. The idea is to save American taxpayers money while also getting deportations underway in a very serious way with a large number of people self deporting. How does it work? We're going to pay them to do it. The Trump administration has now come out saying they are willing to pay $1,000 to an undocumented immigrant who self deports. The Department of Homeland Security announced it will provide travel assistance and $1,000 stipend to those who use the CBP Home app to actually leave the United States of America. The Department of Home and Security says we are intensifying our efforts to persuade unauthorized immigrants to self deport by offering them the thousand dollar stipend and the travel assistance. This will save Americans money. Now, the best part about this story is the fact that the media is actually having to cover it and they don't know how to criticize it, but they don't like it. CBS News putting a big story out there and here's how they explained it to their audience. So, Willie, how would this actually work?