Biden administration and fact-checkers misinformation on crack pipe plans

 Washington Free Beacon:

The Biden administration thinks you, the American people, are stupid. That much is clear given its response this week to a Washington Free Beacon report exposing the administration's plan to "fund the distribution of crack pipes to drug addicts as part of its plan to advance ‘racial equity.'"

Despite confirming the details of reporter Patrick Hauf's story, the Department of Health and Human Services subsequently determined—more than 24 hours after publication—that the story was "blatant misinformation." A spokesperson offered no evidence to support this claim. Asked for clarification, the spokesperson responded 10 hours later to denounce once again the report as "misleading and misinformed" but offered no evidence as justification.

Media "fact-checkers" willingly repurposed the administration's talking points in an attempt to discredit our reporting. Not surprisingly, the result was an incoherent mess. Snopes, for example, said our story was "mostly false" because crack pipes were "just one of around 20 components of the grant program." (We know, because we listed several others in the report, such as "syringes, vaccinations, disease screenings, condoms, and fentanyl strips.") Not a single word contradicted what the Free Beacon reported.

Another "independent" "fact-check" by a website called Lead Stories (we've never heard of it, either) resulted in Facebook censoring the report for containing "false information." The site was co-founded by a former CNN journalist and a Colorado personal injury attorney who has donated thousands of dollars to Democrats and zero dollars to Republicans, so it must be a reliable source.

Both fact checks have been updated after the administration announced on Wednesday that "no federal funding will be used" to distribute crack pipes to underserved communities in an effort to promote racial equity. White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted that crack pipes "were never a part" of the "safe smoking kits" described in government documents. She blamed "inaccurate reporting" for the confusion.

The Drug Policy Alliance was also confused, and understandably so. The group's executive director, Kassandra Frederique, accused the administration of "backtracking" and expressed disappointment that "they will no longer allow federal funding to go towards putting pipes in safer smoking supplies."
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It looks like the Biden administration is lying in response to the widespread opposition to their program and "fact-checkers" are facilitating those lies.  This is yet another mark against the "fact-check" industry which seems to be mainly a cover operation for Democrat politicians.  It is a shame to see that Facebook is going along with this cover-up.

See, also:

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin launches bipartisan bill to stop taxpayer funds being used on 'crack' pipes and two Republican Reps. introduce the 'HUNTER' Act to ban federal spending on needles and drug paraphernalia

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 Though Health and Human Services (HHS) has denied that crack pipes were ever to be included in the 'safe smoking kits' they will fund, Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Dan Bishop of North Carolina told Fox News that the Biden administration got caught 'red-handed.' 

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