Can’t beat the horse (Fauci)? Beat the saddle (Morens)..

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/1/800030901/courts/trump-war-on-science/

The Trump administration did some genuine stormtrooper garbage earlier this week when it arrested David Morens, a 78-year-old research scientist who served as an aide to Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases until 2022.

Morens is accused of pretty much the most nonviolent crime ever: concealing federal records, which—even if true—does not really warrant six federal agents in tactical gear and bulletproof vests showing up at his door, with another officer team standing by. It also does not really warrant removing Morens’ pants and shirt, because what the actual fuck?

And it certainly does not warrant throwing Morens into a car and driving him 40 miles away to be fingerprinted, photographed, and jailed.

Yes, jailed—though Morens was later released on his own recognizance, probably because he is a 78-year-old doctor with no criminal record.

Contrast this with the administration’s tender loving care for violent insurrectionists. Not content to just mass pardon treasonous rioters, the Department of Justice is now moving to entirely vacate the convictions of several Oath Keepers who helped plan the Jan. 6 insurrection.

This indictment is … a lot. Broadly, Morens is charged with concealing records about the origins of COVID-19, which is all part of President Donald Trump’s rewriting of history where China nefariously unleashed the virus, and U.S. scientists helped cover it up to get some sweet, sweet research cash.

The most laughable part of the indictment has to be that Morens got “illegal gratuities” from scientists, consisting of two bottles of wine and the promise of a fancy meal. It’s honestly not clear how this constitutes a crime—and not just because Trump is the most enthusiastic bribee that the nation has ever seen, but also because the trend at the Supreme Court is to say that gratuities aren’t bribes.

Cont’d and featuring more fascist stuff…smh