Journalist apologizes for false report of Clarence Thomas and Ron DeSantis meeting before Dobbs decision: 'I am just embarrassed as hell'



A journalist with the Independent issued profuse apologies after he falsely reported a meeting between a Supreme Court justice and a Republican governor the day before the pivotal Dobbs decision.

The report said that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had met with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas just before the court overturned Roe v. Wade, the decision that established federal abortion rights in the U.S.

Apparently, Eric Michael Garcia simply misread the dates of the meeting and decision.

Garcia apologized after DeSantis' deputy press secretary Jeremy Redfern called out the error and pointed out the mistake in the dates, which were separated by a year, not just one day.

"Hey @EricMGarcia from the @Independent, Is June 23th, 2021 a day before June 24th, 2022?" Redfern tweeted.

\u201cHey @EricMGarcia from the @Independent,\n\nIs June 23th, 2021 a day before June 24th, 2022?\u201d
— Jeremy Redfern (@Jeremy Redfern) 1666966019

Garcia began a long series of tweets with apologies only four minutes after Redfern sent his rebuke.

"I am legitimately so sorry. I was not trying to mislead. I am legitimately embarrassed and humiliated. I never wanted to do anything malicious. I am so apologetic. I should have double-checked the dates," Garcia tweeted.

"We are taking the article down. I cannot apologize enough. I should have double-checked triple-checked dates," he said in a second tweet.

"I am mortified and legitimately embarrassed. I want to thank @JeremyRedfernFL for flagging. And apologize to Governor DeSantis and Justice Thomas. This is a horrible error on my part," he said in a third tweet.

"The story is in the process of being retracted. I am just embarrassed as hell. Words cannot describe how mortified I am. I try to be honest in my work. I don't try to do gotcha journalism. I always hated that. I can never apologize enough," he said in a fourth tweet.

Others pointed out that even if the story had been true that the meeting would not have proven that Thomas had been politically pressured by DeSantis to revoke the Roe v. Wade decision.

Despite the retraction, some left-wing activist accounts continued to amplify the false story.

"If you support impeaching Justice Clarence Thomas after he was just EXPOSED by leaked emails revealing that he had a shady meeting with MAGA Gov. Ron DeSantis the day before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — please retweet and follow us!" wrote Occupy Democrats.

\u201cBREAKING: Justice Clarence Thomas is EXPOSED as leaked emails reveal that he had a shady meeting with MAGA Gov. Ron DeSantis the day before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade \u2014 raising serious questions about what was discussed. RT TO DEMAND A FULL INVESTIGATION!\u201d
— Occupy Democrats (@Occupy Democrats) 1666903175

Twitter added a note to the tweet explaining that the story had been retracted.

Here's more from Clarence Thomas:

Justice Clarence Thomas: "I do think what happened at the Court is tremendously bad."www.youtube.com

Liberals are melting down over 'character building' video posted by Lara Trump of her son in rain from Hurricane Ian



Lara Trump posted a video of one of her children in a "character building" exercise in the rain, and many on the left are absolutely melting down and calling it child abuse.

The daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump posted the video that showed her 5-year-old son riding a toy bulldozer in the rain during the landfall of Hurricane Ian. She owns a home in Jupiter, Florida, with her husband Eric Trump.

"Thought we had a clear window, turns out we did some character building instead," she wrote on the Instagram post, "stay safe everyone!"

Critics of the Trumps quickly reposted the video and accused her of child abuse because the boy appeared to be crying during the video.

"I don’t know what’s worse - that Lara Trump did this to her child, or that she filmed it and then posted it as some sort of brag," said JoJo Fletcher, a liberal activist.

\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s worse - that Lara Trump did this to her child, or that she filmed it and then posted it as some sort of brag.\n\nhttps://t.co/qhNvDOaCYM\u201d
— Jo \ud83c\udf3b (@Jo \ud83c\udf3b) 1664379160

The Occupy Democrats account called the video "deeply disturbing":

\u201cBREAKING: Lara Trump \u2014 wife of Donald's submoronic son Eric \u2014 posts a deeply disturbing video of their young son wiping his eyes in discomfort in a "character building" exercise in the pouring rain pushed in by Hurricane Ian. RT IF YOU THINK THAT ALL TRUMPS ARE TERRIBLE PARENTS!\u201d
— Occupy Democrats (@Occupy Democrats) 1664403098

"Somebody needs to call Child Protective Services on Lara trump for having her son out in the storm and filming him crying his eyes out, FFS. Disgusting," replied another Democrat activist.

"What Lara Trump is doing by making her child stay in the storm scared while filming him is abuse. Plain and simple," responded author Tony Posnanski.

"If Lara Trump thinks it’s a good look to post a sickening video where she’s callously laughing at her young son who’s clearly in distress - she’s wrong," read another response.

"To be clear, the disgusting feckless vacuous crude moron Lara trump filming her child outside as he cries as a deadly hurricane approaches when everyone should be inside and all you hear is her horrid laughter is called child abuse. Child protection services should have a word," tweeted singer Ricky Davila.

"Would you publicly post a video exploiting and humiliating your very young child for clicks? Because it sure looks like Lara Trump did," read another very popular tweet.

Here's more about the destructive hurricane:

Hurricane Ian makes landfall over southwest Floridawww.youtube.com

'Anti-vaxxer' Aaron Rodgers' playoff loss sparks celebration among Occupy Democrats, other rabid leftists: 'America needed this'



After Green Bay Packers superstar Aaron Rodgers ripped President Joe Biden last week — the latest sociopolitical critique from the outspoken quarterback now known for defying vaccine mandates and standing up to cancel culture and woke bullies — leftists far and wide were hoping for one thing Saturday: for Rodgers and the Packers to lose their playoff game to the San Francisco 49ers.

It seemed like a pipe dream. Green Bay usually is a graveyard for visiting teams, and Rodgers has been having an MVP-caliber season.

But alas, Rodgers and the Packers managed to cough up the game on a last-second field goal — and on cue, leftists cut loose on Rodgers in a kind of rabid unity, posting delirious, sarcastic tweets as if they won the game instead of the Niners.

What did the leftists have to say?

Seriously, when was the last time you observed Occupy Democrats get so excited about a football score?

BREAKING: Anti-vaxxer quarterback Aaron Rodgers just lost to San Francisco 49ers and got eliminated from the NFL playoffs. RT IF YOU THINK THAT THIS IS GOOD RIDDANCE!
— Occupy Democrats (@Occupy Democrats) 1642915405

"BREAKING: Anti-vaxxer quarterback Aaron Rodgers just lost to San Francisco 49ers and got eliminated from the NFL playoffs," the leftist outfit tweeted. "RT IF YOU THINK THAT THIS IS GOOD RIDDANCE!"

And the venom was still spewing the next day. Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali sure was enjoying the extended Rodgers "roasting," apparently seeing it as a salve for the nation's woes:

Twitter is still roasting Aaron Rodgers. I love it. America needed this. #ByeAaron
— Wajahat Ali (@Wajahat Ali) 1642965128

"Twitter is still roasting Aaron Rodgers. I love it," Ali wrote, adding a "ByeAaron" hashtag. "America needed this."

And Robert Reich — perhaps relieved attention had shifted after his deleted tweet days before about Democrats giving Kyrsten Sinema the "backs of their hands" over the filibuster — was suddenly standing tall with sports knowledge:

Just a reminder: Colin Kaepernick led the 49ers to three victories over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
— Robert Reich (@Robert Reich) 1642915064

Here's a sampling of other reactions from left-wing foot soldiers carrying Twitter's coveted blue checkmark:

Once again we all mistakenly believed Aaron Rodgers had a shot
— Keith Olbermann (@Keith Olbermann) 1642915974
I guess Aaron Rodgers also got immunized against winning in the postseason.
— Skip Bayless (@Skip Bayless) 1642911707
I\u2019ve read the same Aaron Rodgers \u201cnatural immunity\u201d jokes 100 times already and still can\u2019t get enough.
— Chris Hayes (@Chris Hayes) 1642912189
Aaron Rodgers gonna wait for all the research to come in before he declares this score final
— Drew Magary (@Drew Magary) 1642911409
.@AaronRodgers12 is blaming the loss tonight on Dominion Voting Systems.
— Don Winslow (@Don Winslow) 1642919259
Aaron Rodgers was winning until they counted the mail in points.
— Akilah Hughes (@Akilah Hughes) 1642918212
Look at the bright side for @AaronRodgers12 he doesn\u2019t have to worry about meeting @POTUS at the White House.
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari Sellers) 1642911033
Unlike Aaron Rodgers\u2019 play calling, vaccines actually work.
— Jon Cooper \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Jon Cooper \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1642945433
Aaron Rodgers\u2019 playoff run thwarted by snowflakes, cancel culture strikes again
— Kyle Neubeck (@Kyle Neubeck) 1642910946
I guess Aaron Rodgers decided to boycott the Super Bowl after all.
— Cousin Sal (@Cousin Sal) 1642911097
The vaccine reduces the severity of COVID so much that Aaron Rodgers is unvaccinated and yet his receivers didn't catch anything significant.
— Steve Hofstetter (@Steve Hofstetter) 1642946433

Oh, but we've long since had a retort from Rodgers

If the giddy leftists reveling in Rodgers' loss hope they're somehow getting to him and contributing to twisting the knife, they may want to remind themselves that Rodgers already said they're a joke to him.

"Now the rules of the game are that you must acquiesce with the woke mob at all times," he told podcast host Pat McAfee a few months back, adding that he's "not a part of this game ... being played out by these individuals. And I see it, I hear it, but to me it's comedy."