Category: Opinion

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called out White House press secretary Jen Psaki for making statements about Florida’s handling of COVID-19.

Psaki said Friday that Florida used “little to no steps” to distribute funds to ensure that school districts remain open during the pandemic. The Florida governor lobbed back saying that the press secretary “lies through her teeth” during a briefing at Miami-Dade College.

“An example would be Florida, where they have done little to distribute money — little to no steps to distribute money across the state into school districts,” Psaki said. “Part of it is you have to write a plan for how you’re going to keep schools open to get the third tranche of money and some have been delayed in that, but right now that’s an example of a state that can do more.”

“The White House press secretary stands in front of that podium and lies through her teeth every single day and it’s usually about the state of Florida. The other day, she said Florida hasn’t done enough to get schools open,” DeSantis said. “Are you kidding me? I remember them criticizing me when we did this almost two years ago. We were the only big state to have every school district open for in-person, and we did that way before Biden was even president.”

“We didn’t need the Biden stimulus money for that. We did it, we opened them and they’re saying ‘Florida didn’t do it and you look right now at all the school closures across the country. You don’t see that happening here like you do there and yet that’s what they do,” he continued.

DeSantis also slammed Psak for the statement she made saying that the monoclonal antibody treatments (mAbs) from Regeneron and Eli Lilly are ineffective in treating the Omicron variant during a Tuesday press briefing. The Florida governor called her statements “a lie” that support the administration’s political position.

“So recently, she said that monoclonals do not work, definitively do not work against Omicron and they have really bad side effects,” DeSantis stated. “That’s what she said! And that is not true based on what we’ve seen in the state of Florida. But the idea that this has led to massive, adverse reactions is just a lie. And it is a lie designed to buttress politically a position that they have taken, which is just indefensible, as a matter of policy, as a matter of basic decency for people.”

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Monday that emergency authorization use (EUA) for two monoclonal antibody treatments (mAbs) from Regeneron and Eli Lilly would be revoked due to its ineffectiveness in fighting Omicron. The order led to the cancellation of 2,000 appointments for Floridians to receive the antibody treatment.

DeSantis, along with Florida health officials, began advocating in August for the use of monoclonal antibodies for individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to treat those with mild-to-moderate symptoms of the virus. The governor condemned the administration’s “royal decree” of revoking Regeneron and Eli Lilly, claiming the order “takes treatments out of the hands of medical professionals.”

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the latest to show that there is no connection between COVID-19 vaccines and infertility in either women or men.

The study which was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and funded by the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found “no adverse association” between getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and fertility in 2,000 couples in the United States and Canada.

There was evidence, however, that being infected with COVID-19 can temporarily suppress a man’s fertility.

Concerns about infertility have made many reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccination, however, the NIH study isn’t the first to find that fertility is unaffected by the shots.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published on Jan. 4 showed there was no increased risk of preterm or low-weight births from pregnant women who got a COVID-19 vaccine, nor was there any evidence of an increased risk of miscarriage in vaccinated women.

Additionally, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine both urge all pregnant women to get vaccinated, as does the World Health Organization.

A study published Jan. 13 in Nature Medicine found that unvaccinated pregnant women who contracted COVID-19 were more likely to have a preterm birth or pregnancy loss.

“The findings provide reassurance that vaccination for couples seeking pregnancy does not appear to impair fertility,” said Dr. Diana Bianchi, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “They also provide information for physicians who counsel patients hoping to conceive.”

Over a dozen Republican lawmakers, including Texas Rep. Lance Gooden and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, announced legislation Tuesday that would block TSA from allowing migrants from using certain Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest warrants as alternate forms of identification at airports.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske disclosed to Gooden’s office that several Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents, including an ICE Form I-200, a “Warrant for Arrest of Alien” and an ICE form I-205, a “Warrant of Removal/Deportation,” would be acceptable alternate forms of identification for illegal immigrants to present to airport security.

The ICE documents are considered administrative removal warrants signed by ICE officials who believe satisfactory evidence the person should be removed from the country. An ICE officer must make such an arrest in a public location.

“An illegal immigrant who commits a crime should be arrested and brought before a judge,” Gooden said in a statement Tuesday. “The Biden Administration is instead putting our national security and American families at risk by allowing them to fly on U.S. airlines.”

TSA says it vets the DHS documents through databases available to airport security, including the National Transportation Vetting Center (NTVC) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) One Mobile application, according to Pekoske’s earlier letter to Gooden.

From Jan. 1, 2021, to Oct. 31, 2021, the NTVC processed 45,577 non-citizens and non-U.S. nationals trying to use their DHS documents, 44,947 of which had their documents verified through the NTVC, according to the letter.

The letter also stated that TSA used CBP One 60,000 times during that same time period.

“Illegal immigrants should not be able to board flights using warrants for their arrest or deportation, and it is ridiculous that the Biden Administration is allowing this to happen,” Rubio said in the joint press release with Gooden. “Rep. Gooden and I are working on legislation that will put a stop to this insane practice and secure air travel in this country.”

Emails recently obtained by Judicial Watch show how U.S. officials reacted to reports that the Chinese government was requiring anal swab tests to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The emails and reports were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State.

“It took six months and a federal lawsuit to confirm that our embassy in Beijing was concerned about the Chinese government’s invasive anal swab and other COVID testing of our diplomatic personnel – at that as many as two people were asked to submit to a test,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

He added: “Our diplomatic personnel were harassed in a reprehensible way by the Chinese government, and the Biden administration seems to have done little in response – except to cover it up.”

A State Department spokesperson said that some U.S. personnel had been “subjected” to the anal swabs “in error.”

“The State Department never agreed to this method of testing and protested directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) when we learned that some U.S. Mission personnel were subjected to it,” the spokesperson said. “We have received assurances from the MFA that this testing was conducted in error and that diplomatic personnel are exempt from this requirement.”

On Jan. 25, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing sent an email about COVID-19 testing procedures, noting that China was conducting tests of its citizens “that are not in line with our diplomatic rights or our general agreement with the host government.” The official went on to ask if anyone had been asked to submit to the anal swab test.

“There’s no good way to ask this, but has any health authority asked you or your spouse to conduct an anal swab test? The embassy obviously does not authorize or permit this type of testing on diplomats but others have been asked so I need to verify everyone’s experience,” the official wrote.

The official added: “Sorry for the strange questions, but I was directed by embassy management to survey our people and ensure we are not being asked to participate in the more invasive testing procedures.”

The U.S. government agreed to swabs of the nose and throat and nothing more, according to the email.

One response to the email read: “No, I have had no unusual requests. I received a nasal and throat swab when I arrived in Shanghai and just a throat swab before departing.”

In a separate email chain with the subject line “Test,” a sender wrote, “..…..please call me at your convenient time …….This is not good!”

Another recipient responded, “This is becoming so nondiplomatic status testing. Disgusting. I hope the GSO [general services officer] and VIP Beijing visits can do something about this. I am so disgusted right now.”

On Jan. 27, a sender wrote, “At this point, if they will insist the anal test, we would like to just go back to the States.”

One recipient said someone was being asked to do an anal swab test.

China denied requiring anal swab testing of U.S. diplomats following U.S. complaints.

An embassy official sent an email inquiring about reports that travelers flying into Shanghai were required to take certain tests, including an anal swab if over 5 people on their flight test positive for COVID-19. “I hadn’t heard this rule before,” the official wrote.

A recipient responded, “VIP – please check with FAO again on this. Seems to be a CDC rule and given our history with close contacts and following hotel separations, want to make sure the MFA/FAO understand this is not acceptable for our people regardless of the reason.”

The recipient responded that close contact required a hotel quarantine and an additional nose or throat swab.

The State Department replied, “Just checked with my contact from the PEK [Beijing International Capital Airport] customs. The airport only does nasal and throat swabs. However, according to Chinese social media, international travelers are required to get anal tests during centralized quarantine. It could happen on Day 3, Day 7, Day 14, or Day 21. Some people were tested once and some were twice.

While enjoying a round of golf, former President Donald Trump said he would the 47th president amid speculation he will launch a bid against President Joe Biden in 2024, according to a video posted Wednesday.

“First on the tee, 45th president of the United States,” a man says while filming Trump tee up a golf ball while playing a round at one of the former president’s golf courses.

“45th and 47th,” Trump immediately responded.

“47th, yes, I love that,” the cameraman said while others on the course applauded.

Trump has hinted several times at a possible run in 2024. During a May interview, Trump said he was “absolutely enthused” and looked “forward to doing an announcement at the right time.”

“It’s very early, but I think people are going to be very, very happy … when I make a certain announcement,” Trump said. “For campaign finance reasons, you really can’t do it too early because it becomes a whole different thing. Otherwise, I’d give you an answer that I think you’d be very happy with. So we are looking at this very, very seriously.”

Trump also insinuated that he would be running — and winning — after he said he would not be dining with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife the “next time I’m in the White House.”

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) said Monday that it had “substantial reason” to suggest that Republican Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn misused official resources and solicited and accepted inappropriate gifts from his subordinates.

Investigators said that Lamborn’s staff was expected to do personal errands for him and his family during work hours. His aides even said that they were required to help Lamborn’s son get a job in government.

Other staffers said they were frequently required to run errands and cater to Lamborn’s wife, Jeanie. “If mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy,” she said, according to anonymous staffers.

Following the detailed investigation, the OCE officially recommended that the House Ethics Committee look further into the allegations against Lamborn.

“The Committee notes that the mere fact of conducting further review of a referral, and any mandatory disclosure of such further review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” Reps. Ted Deutch of Florida and Jackie Walorski of Indiana, the chair and ranking member of the committee, said in a joint statement.

While the committee can report “substantial evidence of a violation of any law,” it’s primarily an advisory role. However, it can also move the case before the whole House, which could vote to impose a fine, censure, or more severe penalties.

The OCE report follows a federal lawsuit that Brandon Pope, a former Lamborn staffer, filed last spring. Pope alleged that Lamborn blatantly disregarded COVID-19 precautions and created a physically unsafe environment for his staff.

The suit also alleged that Lamborn allowed his son to live in the Capitol basement.

Cassandra Sebastian, Lamborn’s communications director, said that the investigation was “overzealous” and that his own office was “biased” against him.

“It is extremely disappointing that two disgruntled former staffers have weaponized the ethics process for political and personal purposes,” Sebastian said. “Congressman Lamborn intends to cooperate fully with the bipartisan House Committee on Ethics, just as he did with all reasonable requests of the OCE. He remains certain the committee will ultimately reach the appropriate decision by dismissing the OCE’s referral and he expects to be fully exonerated.”

Lamborn has been in office since 2007, representing Colorado’s 5th congressional district, and intends to run for reelection in November.

A new Trafalgar Group poll does not bode well for the reputation of President Joe Biden’s medical adviser and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s.

According to the poll released Thursday, a narrow majority of Americans, 53.7%, believe Fauci should not resign from his role leading America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, a majority of Independents along with a majority of Republicans agreed that he should resign.

A huge majority of Democrats, 82.5%, said Fauci should not resign his position to allow for new leadership. Among Independents, 58.9% said he should resign, with 76.6% of Republicans saying the same.

The poll, which was commissioned by the Convention of States Action, was conducted from Jan. 12 to Jan. 14 and reached 1,081 respondents. It had a margin of error of 2.98%. Trafalgar Group has an A- pollster grade from FiveThirtyEight.

Even as his favorability ratings have fallen since the beginning of the pandemic, Fauci has continued to act as the spokesperson for the Biden administration’s COVID-19 response during the past year.

Just a day before the Trafalgar poll was conducted, Fauci was raked over the coals by Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul concerning his attempts to suppress the lab-leak theory of the COVID-19 origin. At the same Senate hearing, he was caught on a hot mic calling Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall a “moron.”

Hugh Hefner’s ex-girlfriend and former playmate, Sondra Theodore of Playboy claimed that she once walked in on the founder of Playboy having a sexual encounter with her dog.

“I walked in on him with my dog and I said, ‘What are you doing?’” Theodore recounted in the upcoming A&E Documentary “Secrets of Playboy.”

“I was shocked,” she added. “He made it seem like it was just a one-time thing, and that he was just goofing off. But I never left him alone with my dog again.”

The former Playboy model also called Hefner a “predator” and said she was “groomed” by him beginning when she was 19 and he was 50. Theodore was in the house in the 70s.

“He was a predator,” the former playmate said. “I watched him, I watched his game. And I watched a lot of girls go through the Playboy Mansion gates looking farm-fresh, and leaving looking tired and haggard.”

“He groomed me and twisted my mind into thinking his way was normal,” she added. “He introduced me to drugs. I’d never had a drink or a drug before going up to the Playboy Mansion. And my first night there I was handed champagne and the drugs came later, and I was underage.”

Dozens of former Playmates were interviewed for the documentary, including former “Girls Next Door” star Holly Madison who was in the Playboy Mansion with Hefner as one of his lovers, from 2001-2008.

Former Playboy bunny mother PJ Masten also claimed that Hefner forced porn actress and “Deep Throat” star Linda Lovelace to perform “oral sex” on a German shepherd.

“All the guys were laughing when Linda got out of the limousine,” Masten shared. “She was drunk and drugged … They got her so messed up that they made her give the German shepherd oral sex. You wanna talk about depravity? This is despicable.”

Former Playmate Brande Roderick spoke out against claims against the mogul. She was in the magazine in the late 90s.

“Well, you’re talking to someone who was there in the ‘70s,” Roderick shared. “For me, it was not like that whatsoever. In fact, there was one night at one party where security came to Hef and said, ‘There’s somebody doing cocaine in the bathroom.’ A certain celebrity, which I won’t mention the name, of course.”

“He had them kicked out and never allowed at the mansion again,” she continued. “He was very much against drugs. Maybe in the ’70s they were having fun. What she’s explaining, it sounds like she’s talking about men that go to the parties. I didn’t hear her say Hef was doing those things.”

Hefner’s son, Cooper Hefner, also defended his father saying they were “salacious stories.”

“Some may not approve of the life my Dad chose, but my father was not a liar,” Cooper said. “However unconventional, he was sincere in his approach and lived honestly. He was generous in nature and cared deeply for people. These salacious stories are a case study of regret becoming revenge.”

Despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calling for sanctions to be imposed on Russia as they continue to build a military presence along the Ukrainian border, Sec. of State Antony Blinken has resisted his request.

“When it comes to sanctions, the purpose of those sanctions is to deter Russian aggression. If they are triggered, now you lose the deterrent effect,” Blinken explained Sunday. Blinken reiterated that everything the U.S. is doing now, including working with Europe in a “united way” is intended to “deter and dissuade” Russia from taking aggressive action as the West continues to pursue diplomacy.

Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst disagreed with Blinken’s stance on sanctions, saying, “When it comes to pushing back against Russia, we need to show strength and not be in a position of doctrine of appeasement, which seems to be how President Biden has worked his administration.”

“So, we do need to go ahead and impose sanctions on Russia now.” Ernst continued. “We need to show them that we mean business and we will be there for Ukraine should they invade. Once an invasion happens, lives are lost. You can’t go back from that. So those sanctions need to be put in place now,” she concluded.

Russia has an estimated 100,000 troops stationed along the eastern border of Ukraine following the country’s pursuit of membership in NATO, something Russian President Vladimir Putin has called “unacceptable.” Putin has also voiced concern over U.S. missile sites being placed close to Russia’s borders.

“We are doing a lot right now,” Blinken maintained. “Besides the United States taking the lead in bringing countries throughout Europe and even beyond together, in putting together massive consequences for Russia if it takes renewed aggressive action, in Ukraine, as I mentioned, we’re providing and last year alone provided more military assistance to Ukraine than at any year in the past. We have been going against those inside Ukraine trying to destabilize the government. So we’re taking concrete action,” he concluded.

A truck transporting 100 monkeys was involved in an accident with a dump truck Friday afternoon, allowing three monkeys to escape into Montour County, Pennsylvania.

The cynomolgus monkeys, worth $10,000 each, were being taken to a lab in Florida when the crash happened at about 3:20 p.m., 150 miles north of Philadelphia. No one was injured in the accident. Troopers and state wildlife officials responded as the search for the monkeys intensified into the evening hours and temperatures dropped below freezing.

As of Saturday morning, only one of the escaped monkeys was still unaccounted for. Pennsylvania State Troopers Andrea Pelachick and Lauren Lesher urged the public not to “attempt to look for or capture the animal,” and asked that anyone who locates the missing monkey “call 911 immediately.”

Cynomolgus monkeys are best known for being the first preclinical test animal for the development of the polio vaccine, according to the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. Since the COVID outbreak, cynomolgus monkeys have been in high demand as scientists use them to test coronavirus vaccines before clinical trials begin on humans. The shortage of these monkeys has a growing number of American scientists calling on the government to ensure a constant supply of the animals.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is currently still searching for the remaining monkey.