Is Putin being Arrested?

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with his actions during the Ukraine war—the first international charges that have been brought since Russia invaded the neighboring country more than a year ago.

The ICC issued the warrant Friday, accusing Putin of being “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

A similar warrant was issued for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, over her alleged involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children and teenagers.

Investigators in The Hague have been gathering evidence against Putin over the past year, but an ICC prosecution remains a challenging task because Russia does not recognize the court or its jurisdiction, making a trial unlikely. Moscow also does not extradite its nationals.

At the same time, Ukraine is also not a member of the court. However, it has granted the ICC jurisdiction over its territory.

Speaking about Putin’s arrest warrant, Eleonora Tafuro, a senior research fellow at the Russia, Caucasus and Central Asia Center at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, told Newsweek, “Obviously, this is a symbolic decision.”

She continued, “As long as [Putin] remains in Russia, he’s safe, and frankly I don’t see him traveling to Poland or other states that could enforce the arrest warrant and jail him.

“However, the decision sends a very powerful message: No one, not even the leader of a permanent U.N. Security Council member, is untouchable,” Tafuro said.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Kham, who has visited Ukraine four times since beginning his investigation a year ago, has previously indicated that abductions of Ukrainian minors were a priority for his team.

Last month, a report published by Conflict Observatory found that Russia systemically relocated at least 6,000 children since the beginning of the war, taking them to camps and facilities that used pro-Russia reeducation efforts on the kids. Conflict Observatory, which is supported by the State Department, is a program that tracks alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The report was done in partnership with Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab.

The ICC investigation was launched during the early days of the war and has been focused on probing allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine.

As defined by the United Nations, a war crime means “serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict,” including intentional attacks on civilian populations, torture, hostage taking, rape and conscription of children, among other atrocities.

The ICC, which was established in 1998 by the Rome Statute, has jurisdiction in cases where individuals are charged with such crimes. Russia and Ukraine are omitted from the court’s 123 members because while they signed the statute, they did not ratify it.

However, these types of prosecutions can take years and can be difficult to argue because not only do prosecutors have to establish a violation, they have to prove “intent and knowledge” of the crime.

In instances of crimes like targeting civilians, those facts could be hard to prove.

Despite the warrant, the ICC does not have the authority to arrest suspects and can only exercise its jurisdiction with the court’s 123 members. Since Russia is not a member, the Hague cannot send authorities to arrest Putin within his own country’s territory. And since Russia does not extradite its nationals, and will be especially unlikely to do so with its president, Putin’s arrest is not imminent.

Original Article

“Jeopardy!” Rules Debated After Contestant’s Botched Answer

Jeopardy! fans launched into a debate regarding the quiz show’s rules this week, after reigning champion Stephen Webb was seen initially slipping up on his clue response before correcting himself and being awarded the points.

Following the conclusion of the High School Reunion Tournament last week, Webb—a data scientist from Longmont, Colorado—has been seen resuming his win streak, which on Monday reached five consecutive games.

However, during the episode in which he hit his fifth win—and qualified for the Tournament of Champions—Webb left a number of Jeopardy! fans baffled after host Ken Jennings awarded him points for a response that he initially botched.

Jennings shared a clue with Webb and his fellow challengers under the category “Blossom” that read: “The U.S. Botanic Garden noted the ‘powerful stink’ of this flower that opened in peak bloom on August 9, 2022.”

After quickly buzzing in, Webb responded: “Is that the corpse blossom? What’s the corpse blossom, corpse flower?”

All-time Jeopardy! champion Jennings accepted the response as correct as he indicated that it was “the infamous corpse flower.”

Later on in the episode, a clue was selected under the category “Call Me Cat,” which Jennings read out: “This No. 1 hit has haunted fathers since 1974 as they watch time pass too quickly as their sons grow up.”

Contestant Karen Rittenbach, an academic tutor from Freehold, New Jersey, buzzed in and responded: “What’s Cat’s Cradle?”

“No,” said Jennings, before Rittenbach attempted to correct herself by responding. “What’s ‘Cats in the Cradle’?”

In that case, Jennings did not award the points, explaining: “I’m sorry Karen, I’d already ruled against you by the time you corrected yourself.”

The moment sparked outrage among a number of viewers, one of whom wrote on Twitter: “Stephen: *rambles off three different answers and is ruled correct*. Karen: *gets ruled incorrectly after one answer*.”

“‘Sorry Karen, only Stephen gets to ramble off 3 different answers.’ -Ken,” another viewer sarcastically quipped on the social media platform.

Asked another viewer: “What’s up with Ken Jennings so quick with the ‘no’ for Karen, but Stephen gets 3 tries for the correct answer?”

Countering the criticism, one Jeopardy! fan explained: “Contestants can change their responses as long as neither the host nor the judges have made a ruling.”

Pushing back, another said: “That does seem incredibly unfair and borderline arbitrary depending on how willing the host is to interject. You should be given the allotted amount of time to come up with one answer and judged on your 1st response, the way virtually every other game show does it.”

“Sometimes answers aren’t wrong, but not specific enough, and contestants are allowed to add specificity,” a different viewer responded. “Stephen said ‘corpse blossom,’ and then without pausing, and before Ken ruled, modified to ‘corpse flower.’ Karen, [on the other hand], paused, and Ken ruled before she revised her answer.”

Echoing that take, noted Jeopardy! fan account @OneEclecticMom commented that “there are very specific rules in Jeopardy about this and Ken followed them precisely. If you fix your answer: BEFORE the host says ‘no,’ it’s fair game (Stephen is adept at this!), AFTER the host says ‘no,’ it’s incorrect.”

Reposting a clip from a previous episode to illustrate the point, they continued: “Stephen did a totally legal, classic example of this on Friday with ‘wake me up… before you go… go.’ Ken was waiting to see if Stephen would finish the title and Stephen was watching Ken for confirmation of whether he had given enough yet.”

Concluding the thread, the fan wrote that Jennings “is actually really good at managing this in the moment, if the contestant has completed their answer (like Karen w/ Cat’s Cradle) he usually rules quickly before they rephrase it. But he waits longer if the answer is partially correct and just needs additional info.”

While fans have previously voiced objections over similar scenarios, Jeopardy! says on its website regarding rules that contestants “may change their responses as long as neither the host nor the judges have made a ruling.”

“There’s no way to prepare for how nerves may affect you when the game is in play,” the statement continues. “For instance, have you ever seen a contestant blurt out a response, then give a ‘where-did-that-come-from’ look? Don’t laugh! It happens.

“If you’re giving a response and suddenly hear your mouth saying something your brain wasn’t planning or forget to phrase your response in the form of a question—you can correct yourself; but you’ll have to be quick.”

Webb, on Wednesday evening’s episode, won his seventh consecutive game and increased his total earnings to $136,881. He will be seen vying for his eighth win on Thursday.

Original Article

Melania Trump Breaks Silence After NOT Attending Donald’s Campaign Events

Melania Trump is the former First Lady and the third wife of Donald Trump, who is currently undertaking another bid for the American presidency after losing the last election to President Joe Biden. Fifty-two-year-old former model Melania has been noticeable in her absence recently.

Fans of Melania have been left asking where she is amid Donald’s campaign. She has missed a number of events during his run.

The 76-year-old announced his candidacy on November 15, 2022, and has undertaken a number of visits since but Melania has been at none of them.

This includes a recent visit to East Palestine, Ohio, where a toxic train derailment has devastated the town. This left many wondering where Melania is, and if she will be involved in Donald’s political efforts this time around.

Now, however, Melania has started speaking out again after a months-long period of silence on her social media.

Melania took to Twitter to celebrate Women’s History Month by highlighting a planned women’s suffrage national monument on the National Mall in Washington. The plan was led by Congressman Joe Neguse and Congresswoman Debbie Lesko.

Melania tweeted to her 2.2M Twitter followers: “Wonderful to see bipartisan legislation introduced in the House to help secure a monument on the National Mall to tell the unique, moving, & powerful stories of women throughout American history.”

All women in the US were given the federal right to vote in 1920. This is eight years earlier than the UK, which enshrined in law all adult women’s right to vote in 1928.

While this might seem late, a number of countries only instated this right in the 21st century. Saudi Arabia allowed women to vote in 2015 for the first time in municipal elections.

Melania Trump accompanies Donald at Presidential bid launch

Melania also tweets to commemorate Presidents’ Day, simply tweeting: “Happy #PresidentsDay”.

She retweeted a quote from her husband Donald Trump, posted by the account @USAmemorabilia. It read: “No dream is too big. No challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach.”

Last month Ivanka Trump was criticised for an “expensive” Valentine’s Day celebration with her husband Jared Kushner.

She initially posted a tribute to her husband, with a sweet picture. Ivanka wrote: “13 years, 3 kids, countless adventures and so much love and joy! Endlessly grateful for my sweet Valentine! I love you so much Jared!”

Could Michelle Obama Run for President In 2024?

The prospect that President Joe Biden might not run for reelection is increasing. As investigations swirl around Hunter Biden and the possibility that his family—including the president—may have been involved in his illicit business dealings, with Biden’s age becoming an ever-present concern for most voters, the Democratic Party’s elite need to start contemplating who could replace Biden. 

Sadly for the Democrats, their bench is not that deep.

In fact, of those Democrats believed to be interested in running for president, few appear capable of attracting the kind of attention that would be needed to ensure that the Left gets another four years in control of the White House. 

Here Comes Michelle Obama: More Hope and Change?

There is one person, however, who could completely reset the 2024 Presidential Election in the Democratic Party’s favor. That is former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Many are skeptical that this is a real possibility, of course. These skeptics, including Michelle Obama herself, argue that the former First Lady was never interested in the hurly-burly of domestic politics the way that another former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, was. 

Yet, as someone who was married to a successful politician—a former president who made history by being the first African-American elected to that role, no less—Mrs. Obama is likely not immune to the needs of her preferred political party. A recent CNN report stated that Michelle Obama “stopped short of a full-throated” endorsement for a Biden reelection campaign in 2024.

For instance, should President Biden choose not to seek reelection, that would mean that the Democratic Party’s bogeyman, former Republican President Donald J. Trump (who is running for reelection) would have an increased chance of returning to power. Michelle Obama famously described Trump’s 2016 victory as a “direct rebuke” of her husband’s legacy. 

What’s more, the Obamas are clearly interested in keeping their hands in the political pie. After all, rather than leave Washington, D.C. after their term in office was over, the Obamas purchased a palatial home in the historic Kalorama neighborhood of the nation’s capital. That home was described by Seth Barron of City Journal as having been the “nerve center” of the anti-Trump “resistance” that pervaded all of Washington, D.C. (and the political establishment) throughout the entirety of the contentious Trump Administration.

Clearly, both former President Barack Obama and his wife desired to maintain their investment in politics, if only to preserve their legacy (which Trump made a point to threaten). As 2024 approaches and the crises both to the United States and to the Democratic Party mount, might Michelle Obama decide to try her hat at politics? 

Under the right circumstances, yes. 

Political Animals Don’t Change

The fact remains that the Obamas remain political creatures strongly tethered to their party.

It increasingly looks like Trump will become the Republican Party’s nominee. There is still time for that to change, but Trump keeps gaining momentum—even with some of his former administration officials running against him and Fox News supposedly refusing to allow him to appear on their network to promote his 2024 candidacy. 

Other Democratic Party leaders have been mentioned to run in 2024, should President Biden decide not to run. But none have the cachet that Michelle Obama has. The former first lady has the right qualifications for a successful Democratic Party presidential candidate: she’s got star power, she’s got experience, she rankles all the correct people on the Right, and she has a truly national and even international profile. 

What’s more, she’d be bringing along with her a former president who has effectively stage-managed the Democratic Party from behind-the-scenes since he left the Oval Office in January 2017. For Democrats, it’d be the two-for-one special they were promised with Bill and Hillary Clinton but never got (only, unlike Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Obamas really are dyed-in-the-wool Lefties).

Michelle Obama: the Most Admired Woman

According to a YouGov poll, Michelle Obama has a 67 percent approval rating and she is considered the 302nd most famous person of all time (right between Bob Saget and Joe DiMaggio). In a May 2020 YouGov poll, the former First Lady had a 55.8 percent favorability rating among Americans. That was the third time in a row that Michelle Obama had received the reward. Interestingly, in a 2020 Gallup poll asking Americans to rank their most admired men and women, Michelle Obama was given the top billing status for women. 

In the same poll from 2020, it was Donald J. Trump who topped the list of most admired men.

If Donald Trump does, in fact, become the Republican nominee, given the dearth of alternatives if Biden doesn’t run, Michelle Obama will enter the race against Trump. For her, this is a personal matter. She and her husband view Trump as a political knife aimed at the very heart of their legacy. Mrs. Obama described Trump’s 2016 victory as something “much uglier than a political defeat.” During a tour for her recent book, Obama stated that Trump’s 2016 victory “hurt” her. 

These visceral feelings toward Trump’s presidency are what prompted Mrs. Obama to lead an effort to register one million new voters in the runup to the 2022 Midterms. Obama’s views about Trump and his party compelled Michelle to hit the campaign trail during the 2022 Midterms with such a ferocity that is usually only exhibited by a politician whose running for office. 

Such actions are not those of a conventional former first lady. Michelle Obama readying to take decisive action aimed at stunting the restoration of her great bugaboo, Donald Trump. And Michelle Obama is the possible Democratic Party candidate in 2024 that most Republicans—including Donald Trump—most fear. Trump may very well get the GOP’s nomination in 2024. But, in so doing that, Trump might galvanize his greatest foe, Michelle Obama, to run against him in the general election and squelch his ambition of returning to the Oval Office.

Original Article

Sen. Dianne Feinstein Hospitalized in California

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California was hospitalized in recent days with shingles and is now being treated in her hometown of San Francisco, her office announced Thursday.

Feinstein missed a key vote Wednesday when the Senate voted 50 to 46 to block a Biden administration rule allowing retirement fund managers to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in investment decisions. She has also missed a pair of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

‘I was diagnosed over the February recess with a case of the shingles. I have been hospitalized and am receiving treatment in San Francisco and expect to make a full recovery. I hope to return to the Senate later this month,’ she said through her spokesman, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The news of Feinstein’s hospitalization comes weeks after it was announced she would be ending her long and consequential political career. 

There was some initial confusion when Feinstein told reporters she was unaware that her staff had sent out a statement making the announcement.

She had stepped back from her critical role chairing the Judiciary Committee following multiple reports that she had trouble recalling details about staff and legislation.

Some Democrats also griped at her handling of the confirmation hearing of now Justice Amy Coney Barrett.  

Shingles is a virus that can lead to powerful rashes and scabs. It typically occurs when the long-dormant virus that causes chickenpox reemerges years later. It is not considered life-threatening.

She was first elected in 1992 and is now the oldest serving female senator.

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania also missed votes this week as he continues treatment for clinical depression at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Their absence pointed to the fragility of the Democrats’ narrow 51-49 Senate majority (which includes three independents who caucus with the party).

Although she relinquished her chair on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrats hold only an 11-10 majority on that panel, where the minority can slow nominations when membership is evenly divided. 

Jimmy Fallon Mocks Joe Biden… Says His ‘Brain Derailed’

Jimmy Fallon poked fun at an awkward moment featuring U.S. President Joe Biden when he forgot the word for a Zoom online meeting.

“President Biden was asked if he intends to visit the site of the train derailment in Ohio, and he had a very interesting response. Take a look at this,” Fallon started his opening monologue on Monday’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

He then cut to a clip of the 80-year-old president chatting to a group of reporters before boarding Marine One, the presidential helicopter.

When asked if he would be traveling to East Palestine, Biden said: “At this time, I’m not. I did a whole video, I mean, what the hell… ” He stumbled as he tried to think of the word ‘Zoom.’ This is the teleconferencing service that gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After about 17 seconds of stumbling, a reporter yelled out, “Zoom?” The president agreed and added, “Every time I hear the word ‘Zoom’, I think of that song from my generation, “Who’s Zoomin Who?” This is a 1985 song by Aretha Franklin.

The clip ended and cut back to Fallon hanging his head, and the jokes about the president’s cognition started rolling in.

“Well, that ought to put those age questions to rest,” the host said. “For 17 seconds, Biden’s brain derailed.

“If that one guy didn’t shout out ‘Zoom’, Biden would’ve stood there for six more hours,” Fallon added. “Song from his generation? That song came out in 1985. Biden was 60, by the way.”

Biden, who was born in November 1942, would have been coming up to 43 at the time Franklin released the hit song in August 1985.

Fallon’s quip about Biden’s ‘brain derailing’ was a play on words and referenced the train incident near the border between Ohio and Pennsylvania.

A Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed on February 3, and caused a large fire. Emergency responders drained five cars of toxic vinyl chloride and carried out a controlled burn, which sent toxic gases phosgene and hydrogen chloride into the air.

The Environment Protection Agency said on February 26 that public drinking-water testing results confirmed that there was no indication of risk to East Palestine residents. The EPA added that “578 homes had been screened with no exceedances for residential air-quality standards.”

Biden’s age and cognitive ability have raised much conjecture since his presidential campaign in 2020.

He underwent a routine medical examination earlier this February, his second since taking office in January 2021.

A summary of Biden’s condition was written by his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor. It described the president as “a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and ‘Commander in Chief.”

Watch the video here

Dr. Fauci Slammed After Bombshell Energy Department Report

Republicans have slammed Dr Anthony Fauci for ‘lying’ about the origins of COVID after an Energy Department report found it was most likely from a Wuhan lab leak.

Lawmakers tore into the former chief medical adviser after he repeatedly shot down the claim during and after the pandemic.

But the 82-year-old broke his silence on Monday and again urged caution in believing the report, saying Americans need to keep an ‘open mind to all possibilities’.

The Wall Street Journal report revealed this weekend that the US Energy Department now believes the virus that took over the world in 2020 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), in China. 

Fauci told the Boston Globe on Monday: ‘We must all keep an open mind to all possibilities’ about the origins of the coronavirus, but added that ‘we may never know.’

‘I don’t see any data for a lab leak,’ Fauci said in the interview. ‘That doesn’t mean it couldn’t have happened.

‘But evolutionary virologists published a study in the peer-reviewed journal Science with data that ‘rather strongly suggests it was a natural occurrence’ — a virus that leaped from animals to humans.’

The FBI concluded in 2021 that the virus leaked from a lab and said it did so with ‘moderate confidence’.

The Energy Department has switched its position and done so with ‘low confidence’, the WSJ reported.

US officials told the publication that although both departments are in agreement, they formed their conclusions for different reasons.

Fauci on Monday said although the FBI and the Department of Energy believe a lab leak was to blame, ‘four other intelligence agencies believe it was a natural occurrence.’

He called for ‘openness and transparency’ as well as cooperation from China over the outbreak.

‘There needs to be a lot more investigation into the origin,’ he said. ‘It’s very difficult to do if you don’t have access to the location in which it occurred.’

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning blasted what she termed ‘politicization’ of theories on the origins of COVID-19, after an Energy Department analysis that pointed to possibility of a leak from the Wuhan lab

The FBI also has expertise in disease and virology as it hires microbiologists and immunologists and part of its efforts to protect the country against bioterrorism and weapons. 

Congressional Republicans, who have previously talked up the lab leak theory, seized on the new report as they slammed Fauci on Monday. 

‘Anthony Fauci lied, and millions of people died,’ Sen. Marsha Blackburn tweeted. ‘For years, Anthony Fauci and Biden officials called this a conspiracy.’

Sen. John Kennedy tweeted: ‘Remember when I asked Dr. Fauci how he knew that China didn’t lie to him and use American money for gain-of-function research in Wuhan? Fauci told me, ‘you never know.’ Maybe we’re getting closer to knowing.’

Sen. Rand Paul retweeted a reporter who wrote: ‘@RandPaul⁩ asked Fauci about a lab leak. He denied it. Repeatedly.’

His wife Kelley tweeted about a time when Fauci tweeted at her husband writing: ‘Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect. The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.’

Kelley wrote: ‘Fauci lied. He knew NIH and NIAID money was sent to Wuhan via intermediary EcoHealth Alliance.’

Former Trump administration official Monica Crowley tweeted: ‘Fauci and the rest of the COVID criminal cartel didn’t ‘get everything wrong.

They knew the truth and lied, destroying countless lives & the health of the nation. On purpose. Instead of being vilified and prosecuted, they were celebrated. There must be justice.’ 

Rep. Byron Donalds tweeted that he’s looking forward to questioning Fauci: ‘Dr. Fauci sought the limelight on the backs of the American people, their businesses, education, & quality of life. From magazine covers, Sunday shows, & elitist receptions, he ignored the science to clench power & clout. I have many questions, & I look forward to asking them.’

On Sunday, the official House Republican Twitter account posted a picture of Fauci with the words: ‘Accountability is coming.’

The Energy Department made its judgment with ‘low confidence’ in a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress, the Journal said, citing people who had read the intelligence report.

 The agency’s change of tune is important because the agency is known for its expertise and oversees various US laboratories, some of which carry out biological research.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday there were a ‘variety of views in the intelligence community’ on the pandemic’s origins.

‘A number of them have said they just don’t have enough information,’ Sullivan told CNN.

Officials in the East Asian nation disputed the findings.

Chinese officials also responded to the report with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning accusing unnamed parties of trying to smear or vilify China. 

The question of whether the global outbreak began with a spillover from wildlife sold at the market or leaked out of the Wuhan lab just eight miles across the Yangtze River has given rise to fierce debate about how to prevent the next pandemic. Studies point to a natural spillover at the Huanan wildlife market. Positive swab samples of floors, cages and counters also track the virus back to stalls in the southwestern corner of the market (bottom left), where animals with the potential to harbour Covid were sold for meat or fur at the time (bottom right)

The question of whether the global outbreak began with a spillover from wildlife sold at the market or leaked out of the Wuhan lab just eight miles across the Yangtze River has given rise to fierce debate about how to prevent the next pandemic. New studies point to a natural spillover at the Huanan wildlife market. Positive swab samples of floors, cages and counters also track the virus back to stalls in the southwestern corner of the market (bottom left), where animals with the potential to harbor Covid were sold for meat or fur at the time (bottom right)

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning accused unnamed parties of trying to smear or vilify China – even amid continued calls for China to provide full access to information from its Wuhan facility.

‘Certain parties should stop rehashing the ‘lab leak’ narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing,’ she said during a press briefing Monday.

‘The origin of the novel coronavirus is a scientific issue and should not be politicized.’

She talked up Chinese cooperation with investigating agencies, although in 2021 China rejected a World Health Organization effort to hold a second phase of its investigation.

The group has denied abandoning its inquiry amid China’s obstacles.

While the lab leak theory was initially dismissed as conspiracy and xenophobic, a growing number of scientists have come around to the idea the virus may have escaped during an accident at the WIV.

The research facility is less than 10 miles from an animal slaughter market where the first series of human cases were clustered.

Some experts also claim Covid’s unique spike protein, which it uses to infect people, shows hallmarks of engineering.

But others have deemed those scenarios unlikely and say that there is some indirect evidence that Covid did jump from animals at the Huanan Seafood Market, where animals known to harbor Covid including raccoon dogs, hedgehogs, rats and squirrels, were kept in squalid conditions.

Direct evidence for a natural or man-made origin has yet to emerge.

After the eruption of the pandemic, Chinese officials were found to have wiped crucial databases from the lab and stifled independent investigations into the facility when questions started to be asked about its involvement.

The Energy Department has reversed its position and concluded based on new intelligence that the Covid-19 virus most likely leaked from a Chinese research lab. Pictured is the Wuhan Institute of Virology in February 2021

Researchers who fell ill with a mysterious flu-like virus months before the official Covid timeline were silenced or disappeared.

One of its chief scientists was nicknamed the ‘Bat Lady’ for her extensive work on coronaviruses like Covid.

In January the US Office of Inspector General openly criticized the National Institutes of Health for failing to properly keep up with US-funded virus experiments in China in the run up to the outbreak.

The federal audit looked at three taxpayer-funded research grants awarded to EcoHealth Alliance, run by British scientist Peter Daszak, between 2014 and 2021.

It found the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and EcoHealth failed to ‘understand the nature of the research conducted, identify potential problem areas, and take corrective action’.

‘With improved oversight, NIH may have been able to take more timely corrective actions to mitigate the inherent risks associated with this type of research,’ the report added.

Original Article

Tulsi Gabbard Shocks Fox News Host with Biden Comments

Tulsi Gabbard on Friday made the wild claim that there’s a historical “connection” between Nazism and the diversity-minded personnel choices made by the Biden administration—a statement that Fox News host Jesse Watters couldn’t get behind.

Gabbard, who seemingly hasn’t missed a chance to bash the Democratic Party as a Fox News contributor since she announced her departure from it last October, said “identity politics” was one factor in her decision.

“You see how their agenda of identity politics is directly undermining the traditional democratic values that were expressed so beautifully and clearly by Dr. Martin Luther King: that we should judge each other not based on the color of our skin, but based on our character,” Gabbard said, citing what was recently dubbed “the right’s favorite MLK quote.”

“And yet…they are proud to be judging people, hiring people, selecting people based on race,” she continued, reminiscent of some conservative commentators’ disapproval of Biden’s pledge to nominate the first Black Supreme Court justice. “Let’s be clear how serious of a problem this is. It’s based on genetics, race, based on your blood, your genes; and where do we see that connection? Well, these are the very same geneticist core principles embodied by Nazism and Adolf Hitler.”

Watters, likely sensing the inherent problem with Gabbard’s comment, followed up: “You are saying the focus on genetics is in a way similar to what was going on in Germany?”

Gabbard, who is no stranger to making comparisons between Biden and Hitler, made clear that this was no misstatement.

“You look at the core values and core principles of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. What is it based on? It’s based on genetics,” the former Hawaii congresswoman said.

“This is that philosophy of geneticism and discriminating against people based on their genes. And that’s the issue here really when you cut to the core of it. When they are standing there saying, ‘Hey, we are proud to be selecting people solely based on race,’ that is alarming to me on so many levels.”

Watters didn’t buy Gabbard’s comparison.

“I’m not sure about the German thing, but I think you are right on this point,” he said before sticking to a more palatable stance.

“They care about what the administration looks like, but they don’t care about what we look like. And we’re out here saying, ‘Hey, we need this, we need that,’ and they’re not even looking at us. They’re just looking at themselves.”

Original Article

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