Woman's dead body found in car following high-speed police chase: 'Foul play is suspected'



A Florida man is in custody and facing a long list of charges, including murder, after he allegedly led Kentucky police on a high-speed chase with the corpse of a woman in the back of his SUV.

Beginning just after 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Kentucky State Police had what Trooper Scottie Pennington described to LEX18 News as "a very unique situation." A trooper monitoring traffic on I-75 near Richmond, Kentucky, spotted a Lincoln SUV weaving through traffic and otherwise "driving carelessly," a KSP report stated. The trooper then attempted to pull the driver over.

The driver, later identified as 54-year-old David Maurice Reed, initially complied. However, as the trooper approached the vehicle, Reed allegedly sped off, heading southbound on I-75. Reed then led troopers on a high-speed chase for 40 miles and across three counties, reaching speeds of up to 120 mph, reports claim. Eventually, police employed spiked strips and what the report called "a legal intervention maneuver" to bring the suspect's vehicle to a halt. Reed was then arrested without further incident.

However, an inspection of the SUV yielded a horrifying surprise. The deceased remains of 53-year-old Rachel Louise Carder of Huntington, West Virginia, were discovered inside a "plastic tote" located in the back. Though an official cause of death has yet to be determined, reports say that Carder appeared to have suffered facial trauma and other bodily injuries. In particular, she seemed to have sustained an injury "caused by an edged weapon," reports said.

"The cause of death is undetermined at this time, and foul play is suspected," the police report stated. "[Carder's remains] will be sent to the Kentucky State Medical Office in Frankfort for an autopsy."

Though WKYT has reported that Reed was a "stranger" to Carder, Reed allegedly later admitted to police that he and Carder had been fighting in a motel or hotel room near the interstate. Reed also supposedly had red marks on his clothing at the time of his arrest, and officials suspect that those marks may be blood. Officials are still trying to determine when and where Carder was killed.


\u201cA KSP citation lists the relationship of a Florida man to the West Virginia woman he's accused of killing as a that of a "stranger." We're learning more about the chase that led to the discovery of a murder victim in the back of his SUV in Laurel County. More at 5pm @WKYT @WYMT\u201d
— Phil Pendleton (@Phil Pendleton) 1674162446

Reed, who is from St. Petersburg, Florida, has been charged with murder — domestic violence, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, first-degree fleeing or evading police, second-degree criminal mischief, second-degree wanton endangerment of a police officer, careless driving, resisting arrest, and operating a vehicle without a license. He is being held in Laurel County Corrections Center on $1 million bond. He is scheduled to appear in court again on January 20.

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Stanford University professor of medicine who challenged COVID lockdowns: 'Academic freedom is dead'



A tenured Stanford professor who called into question the efficacy of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, lockdowns, masking for infants, and Dr. Anthony Fauci's recommendations throughout the pandemic gave a damning evaluation of the state of critical thought and academic freedom earlier this month, suggesting that they are not dying on campus but dead.

Thought crimes

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is a tenured professor of medicine at Stanford University, where he directs the Stanford Center on the Demography of Health and Aging. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Earlier this month, Bhattacharya raised the matter of a censorious and dialogue-averse university community at the Academic Freedom Conference at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the conference was met with fierce opposition in the days and weeks leading up to the event.

The aim of the conference was "to identify ways to restore academic freedom, open inquiry and freedom of speech and expression on campus and in the larger culture."

A host of Stanford academics signed an open letter accusing the observers of trolling Stanford with their talk of academic freedom, claiming that the event would not leave the university "unscathed."

The letter called on Stanford to "emphatically dissociate itself" from the event, going so far as to accuse gay Pay-Pal cofounder Peter Thiel, who made remarks at the event, of homophobia and other speakers of racism.

Those opposed to the event were altogether unable to prevent Bhattacharya from joining a panel titled, "Academic Freedom Applications: Climate Science and Biomedical Sciences," and stating, "We live in an era where ... you have a scientific bureaucrat who ironically tells the world that if you question him, you're not simply questioning the man, you're questioning science itself."

Bhattacharya was referencing Fauci's suggestion that by criticizing him — the scientist who ran the agency that funded dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab — "you're really attacking not only Dr. Anthony Fauci, you're attacking science."

"We have a high clerisy that declares from on high what is true and what is not true," Bhattacharya suggested, adding that the collapse of academic freedom has accelerated significantly in the last two of the 36 years he has spent at Stanford.

"When you take a position that is at odds with the scientific clerisy, your life becomes a living hell," Bhattacharya told the conference. "You face a deeply hostile work environment."

He emphasized that while the university prides itself on having academic freedom, nothing could be further from the truth, especially when "academic freedom only matters when you take controversial positions."

Academic Freedom Applications Climate Science and Biomedical Sciences youtu.be

Bhattacharya expounded on his thinking in a recent interview with Fox News Digital, saying, "The basic premise is that if you don't have protection and academic freedom in the hard cases, when a faculty member has an idea that's unpopular among some of the other faculty – powerful faculty, or even the administration ... if they don't protect it in that case, then you don't have academic freedom at all."

"Power replaced the idea of truth as the guiding light," he added, noting how many scientific communities were cowed into uniformity and uncritical thinking during the pandemic.

Nothing against or outside the state's official narrative

Bhattacharya was one of three authors of the Oct. 4, 2020, "Great Barrington Declaration," a document expressing "grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies" and recommending instead a "focused protection" approach.

According to the declaration, public resources should be focused on those most vulnerable to succumbing to COVID-19. Everyone else who is at minimal risk should build up natural immunity and "resume life as normal."

Anticipating the fallout of lockdowns and school closures, Bhattacharya and his co-authors recommended that schools and universities remain open for in-person teaching; extracurricular activities resume; and low-risk adults work normally, rather from home.

At the Academic Freedom Conference, he noted that the purpose of the document was to "tell people that there was an alternative and that the scientific community had not coalesced around a single lockdown-focused policy ... that there was not a scientific consensus in favor of lockdown, that in fact many epidemiologists, many doctors, many other people – prominent people – disagreed with the consensus."

For publicly doubting claims advanced by the Biden administration and the media about the good of lockdowns, he was roundly castigated.

Last year, CNN called him "crazy" and accused him of spreading "dangerous COVID disinformation."

Fox News Digital reported that extra to the media, he was also denounced by so-called health leaders, including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, who deemed his declaration "nonsense and very dangerous."

In his talk, Bhattacharya referenced former National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Dr. Francis Collins' letter to fellow health bureaucrats imploring them to issue a "quick and devastating published take down" of the declaration's premises.

\u201cNew email dump showing Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins coordinating a propaganda campaign to attack the Great Barrington declaration last October. More coming soon so here's a teaser...\u201d
— Phil Magness (@Phil Magness) 1639776786

Bhattacharya previously told UnHerd that early in the pandemic, "there was a debate going on inside the scientific community, and Tony Fauci and the federal government of the United States could not abide that […] because they implemented an extraordinary policy that required absolute consensus."

While the government "suppressed and censored and smeared" independent thinkers and critical scientists, there was no support to be found on campus, only "a chill."

Bhattacharya said that one student who had sought to have the Stanford professor publicly discuss his declaration was reportedly met with "reprisals," given the prevailing noting that "platforming [Bhattacharya] was a dangerous thing."

Bhattacharya suggested that what is actually dangerous is refusing to platform opposing or alternate views: "If you have a legitimate scientific view, a legitimate policy view, to not speak of it ... sends a message that we do not care about the truth."

He indicted the university, particularly its leaders, suggesting that their refusal to support those on campus with differing viewpoints made it abundantly clear that "academic freedom is dead ... and if university leaders do not stand up for it, they do not deserve the positions they have."

Communist Chinese government flexes international 'clout' by defeating UN vote to debate China's genocide of the Uyghurs



On Thursday, the United Nations' human rights council voted on an American-led motion to hold a debate about human rights abuses committed by communist China against Uyghurs in the nation's western region of Xinjiang. Of the council's 47 nation state members, 36 voted: 19 against and 17 for the motion. The result, said to be an "abdication of responsibility and a betrayal of Uyghur victims" by Human Rights Watch's China director, Sophie Richardson, is regarded as a win for the communist regime.

The motion proposed debate regarding the findings of a 48-page U.N. rights office report published on August 31 that detailed potential "crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang. While the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and a number of other countries have already formally declared the Chinese communist party's (CCP) internment and ethnic cleansing of the country's Uyghur population a genocide, this debate would have invited greater international scrutiny.

The result of the vote also revealed China's growing international influence and leverage over third-world countries.

The vote

The following countries voted against the motion to debate whether the CCP's genocide constitutes a human rights concern: Bolivia; Cameroon; China; Cote d'Ivoire; Cuba; Eritrea; Gabon; Indonesia; Kazakhstan; Mauritania; Namibia; Nepal; Pakistan; Qatar; Senegal; Sudan; United Aram Emirates; Uzbekistan; and Venezuela.

A number of countries abstained from voting, including Brazil, India, Mexico and Ukraine.

\u201cShameful #HRC51 outcome on human rights situation in #Xinjiang. OIC states fail to stand with Uyghur Muslims. Somalia the only African state to actually stand against systemic discrimination. Ukraine abstention betrays values of solidarity and accountability to which it appeals.\u201d
— Phil Lynch (@Phil Lynch) 1665060830

In addition to the European powers, a handful of countries supported the American motion including the Republic of Korea, Japan and Somalia.

The response

Though not surprised by the result, Olaf Wientzek of the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation suggested that it damaged the credibility of the UN and "shows China's diplomatic clout." He emphasized that the motion did not propose a monitoring mechanism, but simply debate, but "that was too much for many members."

The U.K. ambassador in Geneva, Simon Manley, stated: "China's attempts to stifle debate and hide the truth will not succeed."

\u201cMy statement following the vote on #Xinjiang at @UN_HRC \u2b07\ufe0f\u201d
— Simon Manley (@Simon Manley) 1665060819

Marc Limon of the Universal Rights Group said, "It's a serious blow for the credibility of the council and a clear victory for China ... Many developing countries will see it as an adjustment away from Western predominance in the UN human rights system."

Zhang Meifang, consul general of China in Belfast, tweeted "Justice prevails!"

A spokesman for the communist Chinese regime's ministry of foreign affairs stated, "The issues related to Xinjiang are not about human rights. They are about countering violent terrorism, radicalization and separatism."

Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said, "Today's vote protects the perpetrators of human rights violations rather than the victims — a dismaying result that puts the U.N.’s main human rights body in the farcical position of ignoring the findings of the U.N.’s own human rights office."

The report

The topic for the precluded debate was the Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner's report. This report countered the CCP's claims that its suppression, internment, and murder of Uyghurs were justifiable as part of a broader "counter-extremism" strategy.

Among the report's recommendations, it suggested that a thorough investigation be undertaken into "allegations of torture, sexual violence, ill-treatment, forced medical treatment, as well as forced labour and reports of deaths in custody."

Uyghurs who have escaped China have detailed forced late-term abortions, routine tortures, and forced labor in China's re-education camps (called "Vocational Education and Training Centers" by the CCP) where an estimated 1 million people have been confined in recent years.

Xinjiang itself has reportedly been transformed into an open air prison camp.

Uyghur neighborhoods are surrounded by militarized checkpoints. Those who want to leave are retinal-scanned. Each neighborhood is assigned a "grid monitor" who surveils their activities and ensures against their adherence to religious customs.

According to Nury Turkel, the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Uyghurs outside the camps are subjected to "a barrage of scans, tests and examinations ... [including] retinal scans and fingerprints ... blood or hair samples ... for DNA profiling."

The New York Post reported that they must also "read from a set text for forty-five minutes so their voices could be recorded and identified," enabling spies to determine who was talking in tapped and taped communications.

Cullen Hendrix, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, wrote that Xinjiang, home to nearly 12 million Uyghurs, "may be the most tightly controlled media environment on Earth, on part with North Korea."

\u201cUighurs sitting, bound and blindfolded, waiting to be loaded onto train cars and taken \u2014 somewhere.\n\nDrone footage from an unknown hero in China.\n\n#Uighur\u201d
— \ud835\udd7b\ud835\udd86\ud835\udd97\ud835\udd8e\ud835\udd86\ud835\udd8d\ud835\udd6f\ud835\udd94\ud835\udd8c \u2199\ufe0f\u2199\ufe0f\u2199\ufe0f (@\ud835\udd7b\ud835\udd86\ud835\udd97\ud835\udd8e\ud835\udd86\ud835\udd8d\ud835\udd6f\ud835\udd94\ud835\udd8c \u2199\ufe0f\u2199\ufe0f\u2199\ufe0f) 1594811659

A 2020 report from the Washington-based Center for Global Policy indicated that under the pretenses of a "poverty alleviation" scheme, the CCP forces an estimated 570,000 Uyghurs to to pick cotton by hand for the CCP.

The UN high commissioner's report suggested that the CCP's actions may also "constitute international crimes."

Just as Christians who have fled China are hunted down internationally by the CCP, so too are Uyghurs. In fact, the recently exposed international network of communist Chinese police stations that operate in the U.S., Canada and Europe, reportedly help keep tabs on those who have escaped persecution in Xinjiang.

Safeguard Defenders, a European pan-Asian human rights NGO, issued a September report entitled "110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild," documenting these extralegal forward operating communist bases.

While touted as pseudo-embassies, the primary function of these forward operating bases is instead to compel persons to return to China whenever the regime has determined them to have broken Chinese law. Uyghurs who have fled China are regarded by the regime as lawbreakers.

In fact, many of the estimated 1,500 ethnic Muslim Uyghurs who were hunted down and detained in the Near East and North Africa have been extradited back to China.

According to a 2021 Freedom House report, "China conducts the most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world." The CCP "targets many groups, including multiple ethnic and religious minorities, political dissidents, human rights activists, journalists, and former insiders accused of corruption."

International implications

All of the nations that voted against the motion have been pulled into China's sphere of international influence.

China, which has been materially supporting Russia during its war on Ukraine, has expanded this influence, in part, through its Belt and Road Initiative. Through its BRI, the CCP helps poorer nations build ports, rail lines and telecommunications networks, as well as secure financing. Since this assistance is usually unaffordable by design, the BRI transforms countries into politically malleable debtors. The Economic Times characterized BRI as one of "China's colonial advances wrapped in benign global treaties."

The New York Times reported that extra to economic leverage, some in the U.S. suspect that BRI is enabling China to build "a globe-spanning bloc of nations that will mostly buy Chinese goods and tilt toward China's authoritarian political model."

Every one of the countries on the human rights council that voted with China are part of the BRI. Somalia was the outlier, which is part of BRI but nevertheless took a stand.

Liu Mingfu, a retired colonel in the Chinese communist military, wrote a book to which Chinese president Xi Jinping has referred, entitled "The China Dream." Liu, a proponent for communist Chinese global supremacy, characterized the competition between China and the U.S. not a "shooting duel" or "boxing match," but as a "track and field" competition, or a marathon.

Michael Pillsbury, director of the Center on Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute, indicated in the book "The Hundred-Year Marathon" that elements of the communist Chinese regime have long aspired to "replace the United States as the economic, military, and political leader of the world by the year 2049 (the one hundredth anniversary of the Communist Revolution)," in part to "avenge or 'wipe clean' (xi xue) past foreign humiliations," such as the Chinese addiction to opium in the 19th century.

Pillsbury stated that the CCP's aim is "a world without American global supremacy."

Pillsbury detailed how Liu and other influential Chinese political thinkers believe China to have a responsibility "to 'improve' all the nations and people of the world by 'harmonizing' them—spreading Chinese values, language, and culture so they can better fit into under heaven. This empire 'values order over freedom, ethics over law, and elite governance over democracy and human rights.'"

In addition to evidencing China's growing political clout, Thursday's UN vote hints at the nature and priorities of the world order the CCP seeks to establish.

'Cesspool of political bias'

The Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the council because of its inclusion of numerous human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Pakistan and Venezuela. The U.S. was the first country in the council's 12-year history to drop out voluntarily.

Then-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said, "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights." She added, "the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias."

The Biden administration had the U.S. rejoin the council last year.

9 Reasons People REALLY Go to Church | @Phil Robertson

9 Reasons People REALLY Go to Church | @Phil Robertson

Dave Chappelle's 'bisexual' attacker speaks out, says comedian's LGBTQ jokes were 'triggering' and Chappelle should be more 'sensitive'



The man accused of physically attacking comedian Dave Chappelle onstage during his Hollywood Bowl show earlier this month told the New York Post in an exclusive interview that Chappelle's jokes about the LGBTQ community and homelessness were "triggering" and that the funnyman should be more "sensitive."

“I identify as bisexual … and I wanted him to know what he said was triggering,” 23-year-old Isaiah Lee told the paper at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles. “I wanted him to know that next time he should consider first running his material by people it could affect.”

What's the background?

Video captured the moment Chappelle was tackled during his May 3 show as well as the aftermath:

Dave Chappelle Tackled, Slammed on Stage at Hollywood Bowl by Man with Gun | TMZ youtu.be

“They spat on me and twisted me as if on purpose,” Lee told the paper in regard to security guards who broke his arm and gave him two black eyes.

It was initially reported that Lee was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and booked into jail on $30,000 bail.

This is the general kind of weapon the suspect in Dave Chappelle attack had according to @LAPDHQ It's a replica gun w/ a folding knife blade attached. $13 dollars on line Details of night that could've been so much worse live from @HollywoodBowl @FOXLApic.twitter.com/Du3ZUxd1PZ
— Phil Shuman (@Phil Shuman) 1651702687

However, two days after the attack, the L.A. County district attorney's office declined to bring felony charges against Lee. Instead he was charged with four misdemeanors: battery, possession of a weapon with intent to assault, unauthorized access to the stage area during performance, and commission of an act that delays the event or interferes with the performer; Lee pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The County DA's report said "slow motion review of video footage of the incident revealed that the suspect did not have the weapon in his hand at the time he rushed and tackled victim Chappelle," KCBS-TV reported, adding that the DA's report said "felony assault charges do not appear to be warranted because of the nature of the unarmed assault, the lack of injuries, and because no weapon was actually used in the assault."

A judge denied a request that Lee be released on his own recognizance; if found guilty, Lee faces a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail, KCBS said.

What else did Lee have to say?

Lee told the Post he got angry when Chappelle joked about homelessness as well as his headline-grabbing controversies over material about the LGBTQ community in his special last fall, "The Closer."

“I’m also a single dad, and my son is five,” Lee — who once was homeless — added to the paper. “It’s a struggle, and I wanted Dave Chappelle to know it’s not a joke.”

Lee also told the Post another comedian in the show’s lineup make a crude joke about pedophilia, which brought back memories of being molested at age 17 while under the care of the Department of Children and Family Services in Los Angeles.

Lee told the paper Chappelle asked him backstage at the Hollywood Bowl why he attacked him: “I told him my mother and grandmother, who fought for his civil rights to be able to speak, would be upset at the things he said."

Lee noted to the Post that Chappelle replied, “Now your story will die with you, son.”

“But he’s wrong,” Lee told the paper. “I’m sitting here talking to you about it.”

Anything else?

The Post said the physical attack against Chappelle led to more criminal charges against Lee, who's accused of stabbing his roommate last year. The victim identified Lee as his attacker after the Chappelle incident went viral, the Post said, citing prosecutors.

Lee added to the paper that legal issues "went from me probably only doing six months [in jail] and having to do community service and living in a transitional home" in connection to the Chappelle case "to possibly 15 or more years in jail" over the stabbing charges.

"My son will be big by the time I get out," Lee told the Post.

A representative for Chappelle didn't return the paper's request for comment.

Isaiah Lee, man who attacked Dave Chappelle onstage, admits why he charged comedianyoutu.be

Man pointed a replica handgun with a knife at Dave Chappelle before tackling him, police say



The man who tackled comedian Dave Chappelle while he was on stage pointed a replica handgun with a knife in it, police said.

Chappelle was speaking to the audience at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, Tuesday when the man jumped on stage and assaulted the legendary comedian. Security personnel chased down the man, and he was arrested by Los Angeles police later.

Initial reports said the suspect had a gun and a knife, but ABC News later reported that police sources indicated the man had a replica gun with a large knife inside of it. Local Fox reporter Phil Shuman posted an image of the kind of gun believed to be found on the suspect.

This is the general kind of weapon the suspect in Dave Chappelle attack had according to @LAPDHQ It's a replica gun w/ a folding knife blade attached. $13 dollars on line Details of night that could've been so much worse live from @HollywoodBowl @FOXLApic.twitter.com/Du3ZUxd1PZ
— Phil Shuman (@Phil Shuman) 1651702687

The man was identified as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee. It's unclear what motivated Lee to attack Chappelle, but he had reportedly rapped about him and had composed a song named after him.

The LAPD confirmed in a statement that the replica gun had a knife that folded out of it.

“The suspect produced what was later discovered to be a replica handgun and pointed the item at the victim,” police said in a press release. “Hollywood Bowl uniformed security officers, who witnessed the incident, engaged the suspect and removed him from the victim and took him into custody.”

Videos after the incident show him being taken into an ambulance with severe injuries from his run-in with the security staff.

“The replica handgun that also contained a knife blade was recovered and later processed as evidence,” police added.

Lee was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and booked into jail on $30,000 bail.

Chappelle joked moments after he was tackled that the assailant was a "trans man," referring to the outrage from transgender activists at comments he had previously made during his comedy specials.

Here's the video of the attack on Chappelle:

Dave Chappelle Tackled, Slammed on Stage at Hollywood Bowl by Man with Gun | TMZwww.youtube.com

Biden: Expect 'real' food shortages due to sanctions — oh, and sanctions never work



During a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, President Joe Biden admitted that food shortages are "going to be real" because that is "the price of the sanctions" that have been imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

"With regard to food shortages … it's gonna be real," Biden said. "The price of the sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia. It's imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well. Including European countries and our country as well."

Biden on food shortages:\n\n"With regard to food shortage...it's gonna be real."pic.twitter.com/F3dQ7NLqqB
— TheBlaze (@TheBlaze) 1648144392

Of course, we all know the incoming food shortages have absolutely nothing to with any of the Biden administration's policies.


We\u2019re about to face massive energy and food shortages, and Biden\u2019s solution is to ban drilling and put expensive and inefficient solar panels and windmills on what\u2019s left of American farmland that hasn\u2019t been bought up by China or BlackRock.https://mobile.twitter.com/theblaze/status/1507052928925941766\u00a0\u2026
— Sean Davis (@Sean Davis) 1648146689


The sanctions will have the same disastrous consequences as the lockdowns, the ruling elite will play God and the result will be the lining of the pockets of the already wealthy while the overlooked, forgotten and despised masses will pay the price, many with their lives.
— Phil Brown (@Phil Brown) 1648162056


You get what you bite for. The government\u2019s policy towards O&G created this situation, during Covid we saw shortages of urea and ammonia due to Covid restrictions workforce destruction in energy (nat gas) now cutting of the #1 supplier of nat gas just adds fuel to the fire.
— Chickey \ud83e\udd80,\ud83d\udc38,\ud83d\udd3a (@Chickey \ud83e\udd80,\ud83d\udc38,\ud83d\udd3a) 1648154842


Does he not know we don\u2019t have to settle for high gas prices, open borders, high crime, food shortages, etc\u2026 we are the USA !! We\u2019re not a 3rd world country. Wake up or let someone else take the wheel @LawrenceBJones3 @WillCainShow
— J Walsh (@J Walsh) 1648145399

Minutes later, Biden was asked why the U.S. and other NATO nations are continuing to impose sanctions when "deterrents didn't work."

"Let's get something straight," snapped a visibly peeved Biden. "I did not say that, in fact, the sanctions would deter [Putin.] Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter."

BIDEN: "I did not say that, in fact, the sanctions would deter him. Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter."pic.twitter.com/JlAFyMBW2D
— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1648144502

So, what is the point of sanctions if "sanctions never deter"?

Also, President Biden and several administration officials representing him, have most definitely said that the sanctions are intended to deter.

Yea just ask Kamalahttps://www.wsj.com/video/vice-president-kamala-harris-says-russia-will-face-swift-severe-sanctions-if-it-invades-ukraine/6C02EBD7-DA48-4E8C-B14E-5633AB0C7316.html\u00a0\u2026
— John Escover \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@John Escover \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1648161363
CNN's @KaitlanCollins: "If sanctions cannot stop President Putin, what penalty can?"\n\nBiden: "I didn't say sanctions couldn\u2019t stop him."\n\nCollins: "You've been talking about the threat of these sanctions for several weeks now."pic.twitter.com/LeJFxYpXol
— Curtis Houck (@Curtis Houck) 1645730195
pic.twitter.com/DDEyDCzXDw
— Tayo (@Tayo) 1648148154
Biden today: "I did not say that, in fact, the sanctions would deter [Putin]. Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter."\n\nKamala Harris in February: "The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence."pic.twitter.com/F0fccsFYnJ
— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1648145102


.@MajorCBS Garrett with an immediate fact-check of Biden claiming no one ever said sanctions were a deterrent: "History will record...several administration officials representing the President of the United States, Joseph Biden, said, in fact, sanctions might deter...invasion."pic.twitter.com/FDx1VNx6Qe
— Curtis Houck (@Curtis Houck) 1648144828

Critics rip former Biden health adviser, MSNBC for peddling lie that unvaccinated kids are likely to get 'serious' COVID: 'Dangerous misinformation'



Critics are calling out a former COVID policy adviser to President Joe Biden after he recently claimed on national TV that children are "likely" to get a "serious" case of COVID-19 if they do not get vaccinated against the virus.

What did he say?

Dr. Zeke Emanuel, who formerly served in the Obama administration and as a member of Biden's coronavirus advisory board, made the fallacious claim during an interview with MSNBC reporter Kristen Welker on Wednesday.

The two were discussing vaccine efficacy in children amid the rise of the Omicron variant, when he said, "With the Omicron variant, kids are either going to get the vaccine or they're likely to get a serious condition of Omicron."

"I am confused about parents’ attitude. Five and above, seems like it's a no-brainer," he added. "Two to five, I understand some hesitancy. Two and under with the small dose, I think probably a very good idea."

"Parents have to be more willing" to get their children vaccinated, Emanuel argued.

MSNBC followed up the interview by promoting Emanuel's warning on Twitter, despite his claim being obviously dubious.

Numerous scientific studies since the start of the pandemic have shown that children are extremely unlikely to present even mild symptoms as a result of the virus, much less come down with a severe case of COVID-19.

Furthermore, Reuters reported last month that a recent study showed Omicron is even less dangerous for children than previous variants of the pathogen.

What was the reaction?

Critics were quick to call out Emanuel and MSNBC for peddling misinformation about the pandemic, many noting that they reported the post to Twitter for removal.

"Report this dangerous misinformation," columnist Phil Kerpen tweeted.

Report this dangerous misinformation.https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1489400069203939335\u00a0\u2026
— Phil Kerpen (@Phil Kerpen) 1643937935

"This is a lie," Townhall senior editor Matt Vespa added.

This is a liehttps://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1489400069203939335\u00a0\u2026
— Matt Vespa (@Matt Vespa) 1643942360

Reason editor at large Matt Welch added, "This statement is not remotely true."

This statement is not remotely true.https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/1489400069203939335\u00a0\u2026
— Matt Welch (@Matt Welch) 1643939630

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) said, "This is garbage @MSNBC. Totally, 100%, indisputably untrue COVID misinformation."

This is garbage @MSNBC. Totally, 100%, indisputably untrue COVID misinformation.https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1489400069203939335\u00a0\u2026
— Lee Zeldin (@Lee Zeldin) 1643944160

"There is zero evidence that unvaccinated kids as young as 5 are 'likely to get a serious condition of omicron.' Zero," The Hill columnist Joe Concha argued.

There is zero evidence that unvaccinated kids as young as 5 are \u201clikely to get a serious condition of omicron.\u201d Zero.https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/1489400069203939335\u00a0\u2026
— Joe Concha (@Joe Concha) 1643957299

New York Assemblyman Jarrett Gandolfo called Emanuel's claim "demonstrably false" and "straight up fearmongering."

This is demonstrably false. Straight up fearmongering.https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/1489400069203939335\u00a0\u2026
— Jarett Gandolfo (@Jarett Gandolfo) 1643940285

WEX magazine managing editor Jay Caruso noted the statement as an example of how "platforms are much more lenient with COVID/vaccine hysteria content than they are with COVID/vaccine skeptical content."

This is a good example of an issue @JonathanTurley raised several weeks ago. Platforms are much more lenient with COVID/vaccine hysteria content than they are with COVID/vaccine skeptical content.https://twitter.com/msnbc/status/1489400069203939335\u00a0\u2026
— Jay Caruso (@Jay Caruso) 1643974544

Others contrasted Big Tech's silence over Emanuel's and MSNBC's claims to the loud criticism being incessantly launched against Spotify podcaster Joe Rogan because of his opinions on COVID-19 treatments.

"This kind of stuff only proves the whole Spotify thing has nothing to do with misinformation and everything to do with power," Bridget Phetasy tweeted.

This kind of stuff only proves the whole Spotify thing has nothing to do with misinformation and everything to do with power.
— Bridget Phetasy (@Bridget Phetasy) 1643939939

Washington Examiner contributor Brad Polumbo remarked, "Lol but Joe Rogan spreads COVID 'misinformation.''"

Lol but Joe Rogan spreads COVID \u201cmisinformation\u201dhttps://twitter.com/msnbc/status/1489400069203939335\u00a0\u2026
— Brad Polumbo \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u26bd\ufe0f \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Brad Polumbo \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u26bd\ufe0f \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1643946434

Maryland county closes schools over COVID but opens 'Equity Hubs' where kids can meet in person to learn virtually



As four schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, have temporarily closed in response to surging COVID-19 cases, the school district is offering "Equity Hubs" where students can meet together in person to learn virtually.

Montgomery County Public Schools announced last week that Loiederman Middle School, Harmony Hills, Pine Crest, and Wheaton Woods elementary schools, and the autism program at Westover Elementary School will revert to virtual learning for 10 days beginning Monday. The schools are expected to reopen Feb. 10, the district said.

While the schools are closed, MCPS is providing spaces where students in kindergarten through grade 5 can gather in person for "a safe place to learn while their parents work." According to the district, not every student has access to virtual learning at home, and some live in a situation where at-home learning is difficult. These so-called Equity Hubs are a solution designed to provide a "more structured learning environment" for poor kids whose home lives make virtual learning a struggle.

MCPS is working with the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence and the Children’s Opportunity Fund, two certified child care providers, to establish these Equity Hubs, which first opened in fall 2020 at the height of school closures during the coronavirus pandemic. Students who qualify can meet in person Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. til 5 p.m. at schools located throughout Montgomery County. Child care providers at these Equity Hubs follow "strict health and safety guidelines," provide meals and exercise/play for the kids, and assign two staff members for each group of 13 students.

According to the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the Children's Opportunity Fund raised over $4.6 million in 2020 to enroll 1,500 students across 70 sites. In January 2021, MCPS and Montgomery County Council provided another $3.6 million to support the Equity Hubs through March 2021, when schools reopened.

There are 165,267 students enrolled in Montgomery County's 209 schools, 25.4% of whom are economically disadvantaged, according to U.S. News & World Report. Only a tiny fraction of them are served by the Equity Hubs.

Critics questioned why the schools are safe enough to open for these Equity Hubs but not safe enough to resume normal in-person learning.

They're doing it again.\n\nSchools safe enough for daycare but not for learning.\n\nThe additional cost is $300 per student per week\n\nMontgomery County Public Schools already spend about $17,000 per student per year\n\nGive that money directly to families so they can find alternatives.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@Corey A. DeAngelis) 1643338583
Montgomery County going virtual and then having the same students bring their laptops to a school without teachers and calling them Equity Hubs is beyond ridicule. These people shouldn\u2019t run a bake sale.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026
— Rory Cooper (@Rory Cooper) 1643377203
Like a work of absurdist art. An "Equity Hub" is school. It's just in-person school, which the county is admitting it CAN offer to offset the disastrous harm caused by its refusal to offer... in-person school.https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026
— Mary Katharine Ham (@Mary Katharine Ham) 1643377812
What is MCPS doing with these school closures???\n\nThe literature is quite clear that closures INCREASE transmission.\n\nThe wave is long past peaked in Maryland.\n\nAre they trying to prop it back up? Or just this dumb?\n\nCongrats to the kids who qualify for "Equity Hubs" though!https://twitter.com/MCPS/status/1486724665510825991\u00a0\u2026
— Phil Kerpen (@Phil Kerpen) 1643378468

The decision to close Montgomery County schools again was made after "a review of multiple key factors and input from a multi-stakeholder group." MCPS said the switch to virtual learning was made "in the interest of the overall school community's health and safety," but did not specify what those factors were or who those stakeholders are.

WTOP-TV reported last week that COVID-19 cases in the county are declining "precipitously," but health officials warn case rate numbers are "still at the highest they’ve been during the pandemic."

County Executive Marc Elrich said last Wednesday that cases in the county have fallen 51% since the week before, at 579.81 cases per 100,000.

“We can’t celebrate just yet, and we have to pivot our focus on what’s next," Elrich said.

He reported that the county has seen 120 COVID-19 deaths in January, more than the previous four months combined.

“More people in the state of Maryland have died from COVID this month than any other month in the pandemic,” he said.

Elrich and other county health officials strongly encouraged residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with booster shots to avoid serious illness or death from COVID-19 infection.

Horowitz: Chasing our own tails has become the new pandemic



As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. ~ Leviticus 26:36

The hospitals throughout America are stressed and stretched thin. No, unlike during other times of the pandemic, there is not a flood of people coming in with blood clotting and respiratory distress. According to doctors throughout the country, they are stressed from endless testing of a mild virus, which creates logistically consuming quarantines and strains due to all of the staff who must quarantine, not to mention all those fired for not getting the shot that doesn’t work. Thus, the entirety of the strain on the hospitals now is coming from the response to the virus, not the virus itself. When will we finally flatten the curve of fear?

Within several weeks, it became apparent from South Africa and some European countries that barely anyone got clinically ill from Omicron. Yet, of course, in America, everything must always be different, or so we are told. Mask mandates are being brought back, the panic levels are through the roof, and the establishment is doubling and tripling down on the vaccines that quite literally don’t stop the virus. But now, two years into this virus, some media sources are finally reporting the truth about the COVID hospitalization numbers.

“I have not intubated a single COVID patient during this Omicron surge,” said Dr. Jeanne Noble, an associate professor of emergency medicine at UCSF, in an email to SFGate. “We have a total of 5 patients with COVID on ventilators across our 4 hospitals. An average of 1.25 intubated COVID patients per hospital is a good news story."

So what is the problem in the hospitals? Fearful patients who aren’t sick, quarantining doctors for a cold, and likely all of the staff members fired for not getting the shots that clearly failed to stop this spread. We are chasing our tails! SFGate reports that Dr. Noble determined 70% of all patients in the hospital for COVID were really there for other reasons but got ensnared in the universal testing regime. "The real COVID crisis that our hospitals are facing is a severe staffing shortage that is compromising the quality of our care," Noble said. Even the vast majority of those who do come in for COVID “need no medical care and are quickly discharged home with reassurance."

Noble credits the high vaccination rates for the lack of critical illness, but South Africa will forever serve as a control group against this theory, given that the country did not see a surge in seriously ill patients despite a low vaccination rate. Clearly, the variant is milder.

Further south in Los Angeles, two-thirds of the COVID patients were detected through mass testing but were presenting to the hospital for other reasons.

As other countries experience mild illness even among seniors, so many of the public health officials are attempting to suggest that somehow in America even children are getting seriously ill from Omicron, which makes no sense. It turns out that they are in the hospitals for routine seasonal viruses but test positive for COVID, revealing an irony known to any hospital worker — that we have long lived with winter pathogens for years that have hospitalized children in greater numbers than COVID. Yet to this day, many children are forced to wear masks for hours a day.

Fox5 reports that in San Diego, “Pediatric hospitalizations are on the rise, but not from COVID.”

“The kids are doing OK with the Omicron variant,” said Dr. John Bradley, director of infectious diseases at Rady Children’s Hospital.

“COVID isn’t the problem,” Dr. Bradley said. “It’s all the other viruses we’re seeing every year like RSV, and we’re beginning to see influenza, but there’s no kids admitted in the hospital COVID-pneumonia, period.”

Over on the East Coast in New Jersey, just 49% of the COVID hospital numbers can be considered as there “primarily because of their COVID diagnosis.” What about the children? Just 27 of the 82 children with COVID in the hospital are there for COVID as the primary diagnosis, with no word as to how many are in respiratory distress.

This insanity is beautifully depicted by Phil Kerpen’s tally of overall hospital numbers. While the number of COVID “patients” has grown by 74,000 since a month ago, the number of total admissions is down by nearly 8,000. In other words, there is absolutely no surge on the hospitals.

Nope. https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1480692722189148160\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/Qyugd0n2b0
— Phil Kerpen (@Phil Kerpen) 1641860164

It would be like counting cold cases in the hospital every winter.

Just how much has Omicron attenuated vs. Delta? A new preprint study of 52,000 COVID patients treated in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health care system in December found that Omicron had a 52% lower hospitalization rate, a 74% reduction in the odds of being treated in the ICU, and a 70% shorter average hospital stay. “Zero cases with Omicron variant infection received mechanical ventilation, as compared to 11 cases with Delta variant infections throughout the period of follow-up,” observed the research team, which included staff of the CDC.

Any sane country would react to Omicron by living life normally and just treating outpatient the people who need treatment. Instead, officials are doubling down on firing staff, panicking over a cold, and denying treatment for the few who still need it. Now, the Biden administration has ordered insurance companies to cover even more testing while denying coverage of ivermectin!

What the circuitous cycle of testing, fear, mandates, and hospital staff shortages demonstrates is that to the extent there is an emergency, it’s the urgency to end the emergency declarations.