Carol ReMarks
Carol reMarks on glamour, pop culture, and front-page news. Join me. I'm not a traditional podcast. Most of the time I am recording on-the-go with my iPhone voice memo app. Come along with me.
Carol ReMarks
Pharma Scandals, School Tragedies, and Grandmother's Ride: A Dive into Ethics and Accountability
What if pharmaceutical giants are conducting drug tests on prisoners in regions plagued by genocide? This episode kicks off with explosive allegations against Pfizer and Eli Lilly, as a bipartisan group of US lawmakers demands an investigation into their alleged drug testing on prisoners in Uyghur-populated areas of communist China. Next, we examine the heartbreaking story of Colt Gray, a 14-year-old involved in a high school shooting at Appalachee High School. Despite countless warnings and prior FBI scrutiny, no action was taken to prevent this tragedy. Our intense discussion questions the effectiveness of red flag laws and delves into the complex issue of parental accountability in such devastating events.
Shifting focus, we unravel the saga of Susie Holland, a 61-year-old grandmother, who landed in hot water for offering unlicensed rides to Burning Man attendees. Her seemingly harmless act of kindness drew the ire of the Nevada Transportation Authority, resulting in hefty fines. This story thrusts us into the labyrinth of transportation regulations, sparking a heated debate on personal freedom versus regulatory oversight. Can individuals offer informal transportation services in a free society, or do we need stringent regulations to ensure public safety? Join us for a riveting and thought-provoking exploration of these pressing issues.
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Hello and good morning, happy Thursday. We have five topics to go over today. I don't know that I'm going to go into detail on all of them. Some of them are sad. I'm going to try to end on a lighter note, but we're going to start off with some serious stuff here. Just some topics that I found interesting.
Speaker 1:Us lawmakers accuse Pfizer Eli Lilly of testing new drugs on prisoners in communist China. Wow, this is from the LifeSite News. I forget that I have this sometimes. I know I usually draw all my topics usually from the New York Post, but the LifeSite News is also a very good source to get some stories from Washington DC.
Speaker 1:Lifesite News, a bipartisan group of Congress members, has leveled stunning allegations against pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Eli Lilly, calling on the US Food and Drug Administration to investigate and potential the potential testing of new drugs on prisoners of communist china. Does this even surprise you? It does not surprise me in the least. This is atrocious. The letter was sent august 19th to fda commissioner dr robert calif and signed by select committee on the chinese communist party, ccp chair rep john mulinar and republican from florida and ranking member. Oh my, there's a lot of words, titles and illinois democrat rep rajah, whatever. I can't even pronounce these people's names and they are in the united states congress rajahaja Krishnamoorthi, health and Energy Commerce Subcommittee Ranking Member and California Democrat. Oh God, I can't with these people. I'm sorry I got off track there. That's a long-ass paragraph with nothing but titles and names. I apologize. For over a decade, it appeared that the US biopharmaceutical companies conducted clinical trials with China's military organizations, and specifically with medical centers and hospitals affiliated with the People's Liberty Army's PLA, to determine the safety and effectiveness of new drug candidates prior to approval. The letter reads we are also concerned that US biopharmaceutical companies have conducted clinical trials with hospitals, infrastructure located in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, where the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in genocide of the Uyghur autonomous region, where the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in genocide of the Uyghur population. Well, there you have it. So not only are the Uyghurs enslaved, but they're also test animals. Oh my gosh, they're not animals. You can go finish reading that. I am not surprised in the least of this at all. All right, and you're going to hear a lot about this.
Speaker 1:Colt Gray, 14 years old, the Appalachee High School shooter. Oh my gosh, this is from the New York Post. There were, there was, there were. There are a lot of stories on the New York Post about this story. I just decided to pick the headline one, the big one that was out there, to go over this briefly, because you're going to hear about it all day today and you should hear about it all day today.
Speaker 1:Reveals alleged Appalachian high school shooter, colt Gray, 14 years old, was probed over a 2023 school shooting threats. So this 13, at the time, I'm sure he was 13, fbi questioned him and his parents Okay, is this what the red flag laws are called? Is this like what this is about? And they did nothing. They did nothing but question him. Did they not have any grounds to do anything about it? I mean, what in the hell?
Speaker 1:Colt Gray, the teen suspected of gunning down four people at a Georgia high school Wednesday, has been on the FBI's radar since last year, when he was investigated by local authorities in connection to online school shooting threats. The Bureau revealed, in May of 2023, the FBI received several anonymous tips Several anonymous tips, y'all. Several anonymous tips, y'all several anonymous tips. So people around him knew what this was going on and you know you always hear people being interviewed after the fact and being surprised oh, he was such a quiet neighbor, he's always helped me. Blah, blah, blah, and then they're surprised that this person lost their minds and shot up a bunch of people. But this is not the case here, because received several anonymous tips about threats to carry out violence at an unidentified school with the harrowing post including photos of guns, according to Wednesday night a statement from the Bureau's Atlanta field office. So if the FBI went and investigated this but it came up with nothing, they have photographs on social media by this kid.
Speaker 1:The Jackson County Sheriff's Office identified Gray, then 13, as a possible suspect and interviewed him and his father. Gray's dad told investigators at the time that he had hunting guns in the house, but his son didn't have unsupervised access to them. According to the statement, look if they're in the house, I guess if they're not under safe at like a I don't know how gray, now 14, also denied making the school shooting threats. There was no probable cause to take any further actions. However, local schools were alerted for continued monitoring of Gray. Per the statement, maybe the kid just took pictures of it and put it on social media and that's it. A lot of people take pictures of their guns and put it on social media. I think that's a mistake. You shouldn't be doing that. Remember, you should lose all of your firearms in the lake right.
Speaker 1:Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey confirmed that authorities are probing any possible links between 2023 threats and Wednesday's shooting of the Appalachian. This is not recent, this is the past, but we wanted to bring that to your attention because we are pursuing that, working with the fbi on this. Uh, if there's any connection, blah, blah, blah. Okay, who are these people? Oh, these are the. Oh, these are the. Oh goodness, these are the two teachers and the kids that were shot dead in the school. They have pictures of them and their names. I'm sure You're going to hear about this all day today. My question is are the parents going to be charged? And, if so, I think the FBI agents should be charged as well, because they didn't do anything. If that's the route we're going to take, then that's the route we're going to take.
Speaker 1:All right, next up. This is so sad. Y'all remember that big yacht that sank and people died. Well, they're coming up now with how these passengers died, and it's not good. They didn't drown, believe it or not. The Bayesian I don't even know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Super yacht victims were trapped alive when ship went down Died of dry drowning report. I've never heard of this before, but I've never heard of dry drowning. But once I tell you what it is, you're going to understand.
Speaker 1:Four of the seven victims killed in the Bayesian superyacht wreck were trapped alive inside the ship's cabins as the vessel went down off the coast of Sicily last month. According to their autopsies, new York lawyer Chris Marvillo, his wife Nita, along with Morgan Stanley Bank International Chair Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, all died of dry drowning. According to tests conducted over the past two days. Italian outlet the Republic reported None of the four passengers aboard the 1855 foot sailboat had water in their lungs, trachea or stomach, revealing that they did not drown in the seawater.
Speaker 1:After the ship began sinking during August 19th, storm Pathologists with the Palermo Institute of Forensic Medicine determined the four victims died of asphyxiation when the air bubble they huddled in ran out of oxygen and became toxic with carbon dioxide. Oh, to me. That tells me they were alive for a while while the ship sank down to the bottom of the ocean. They were alive. I don't know how much air bubble they had. I just I can't imagine. Gosh, it makes my heart sink for these people. Terrifying, I can't, even I can't, I can't even imagine what that must have been like, so scary and terrifying. I'm sure they eventually, you know, kind of went to sleep. If it was carbon dioxide poisoning, they just kind of passed out. But but still, how long were they in there like that. What must have been going through their minds? Oh my gosh, I can't. They said the victim's cause of death was death by confinement.
Speaker 1:According to the italian publication, the bodies of the morvelo's and the bloomers and that of the british billionaire in the yacht, owner, mike Lynch, were found inside the same cabin room on the left side of the $40 million yacht. The body of Lynch's 18-year-old daughter, hannah, was discovered in the next room, also on the right side, which means the victims were likely awake as they headed inside the cabins that filled with water last in hopes of finding air pockets. My God, but the air pockets quickly became toxic as the victims breathed in the last of its oxygen and breathed out carbon dioxide. So sad, oh, I can't, I can't imagine. All right, we're going to tidy this up, or? Uh?
Speaker 1:Lesser, more, less serious topics the next two stories. One of them is pop culture has sunk to a new low with anna delvey and her ankle monitor on dancing with the stars. You guys have heard of this famous person before she uh, there was a movie made about her and the girl who played in the Ozark I forget her name. She played Ruth in the series Ozark. She plays this Anna girl in this movie. So we'll soon find out when the con woman Anna Delvey, who served nearly four years in prison for posing as a German heiress to scam hotels, socialites and banks out of $250,000, takes a shot at the Mirrorball trophy. She's going to be on Dancing with the Stars with an ankle monitor. Come on.
Speaker 1:It was announced Wednesday that she is joining the new season of Dancing with the Stars alongside retired NFL receiver Danny Amendola, olympians Iola, mayer and Stephen. I can't pronounce these names. Why can't these people have regular names like Smith and Jones and Marks, sorry, all right. So Disney-owned ABC press release shamelessly sanitized Delvey's resume, calling her an artist, fashion icon and infamous New York City socialite who gained international attention after Netflix purchased the rights to her story and developed it into a 2022 miniseries called Inventing Anna. That's the Netflix series I might have to watch that. The show's Wikipedia page, however, was more accurate in its description convicted fraudster. So she's going to be on Dancing with the Stars. Oh my gosh, they are reaching new lows.
Speaker 1:All right, this next one is I want you to know your opinion on this next one. This is crazy. Nevada grandmother faces up to $30,000 in fines for offering rides to Burning man revelers. Launches a GoFundMe to pay them. This is I don't know how I feel about this. I do, but I don't. All right, let's read it and then I want to get your opinion on this. This might be the question of the day. Opinion on this. This might be the question of the day.
Speaker 1:A grandmother is facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines after she was busted in a sting operation this weekend for giving revelers rides to the annual Burning man festival in the Nevada desert. So she's done this once before. I think last year she did it. I don't think she charged it charged last year for giving rides, but this year she decided oh, I'm gonna make a couple of dollars. I don't think she charged it charged last year for giving rides, but this year she decided, oh, I'm gonna make a couple of dollars. She wasn't charging much, apparently, but I guess the authorities didn't like that she was.
Speaker 1:She's 61 years old. Her name is Susie Holland. She thought that she would offer helping hand and make a little extra cash on the side by offering car rides to the festival goers also known as burners this year, according to the report. Now, I wouldn't do something like that because I don't want you, I don't want a bunch of strung out drunk, high people on drugs in my car. No, thank you. But good for her 61 years old that she's 61, so that tells me she's still in that mentality. She's thinking of you know, like Woodstock and everybody's all loving. No, people aren't like that anymore. When they get on drugs, they no, they're evil. No, most, not everybody. But I'm not taking the chance, okay.
Speaker 1:But when she arrived to pick up the burners at a location they'd agreed upon while speaking online, she was immediately surrounded by the Nevada Transportation Authority. What, okay? When I pulled in, they just swooped up on me and three undercover Ford Explorers. Holland told the Reno Gazette Journal they were coming at me so fast, so hard and so intensely. I was like what is happening right now, I guess.
Speaker 1:So Holland posted a Craigslist ad three weeks ago offering rights to the event, which draws up to 80,000 people annually. That's another reason I'm not doing that. There's too many people, too much traffic. No, I'm not doing it. She was contacted for a ride and, unaware of the going rate, she said she would take them to the festival for just $65. The supposed burner in turn offered $500 if she offered to come back and pick them up. Okay, but then the burner went radio silent for weeks before responding with a meeting time and date leading Holland to suspect something seemed a little off.
Speaker 1:According to the Gazette-Journal, she agreed to pick up her party at the parking lot of the Grand Sierra Resort at 6.30 am on Monday. However, when she arrived, she was met by NTA agents who boxed her car in and told her she had broken the law. What laws has she broken? I'm 61 years old, you know she joked. I've never been in a situation like that. Police told her she was facing up to $10,000 per violation for the three laws she apparently violated, for driving without proper certification. Totally a whopping of three thirty thousand dollars. So I guess she needed some kind of there.
Speaker 1:Doesn't she have a driver's license, does that not? I mean what this? We live in a communist country, now Socialist country. You can't go. You can't, what? Why is that we have so many stupid laws? It's ridiculous. A driver's license is not good enough. You have to have a certain certification to pick up, to charge people to no.
Speaker 1:So the NTA's mission? So to me, isn't that also entrapment? If they were the ones doing this, I don't know. To me that would be. Isn't that also entrapment? If they were the ones doing this, I don't know. To me that would be. Wouldn't that be entrapment? The NTA's mission is to protect the traveling public, which requires that the agency regulate certified oh sorry. Okay. The NTA's mission is to protect the traveling public, which requires that the agency regulate certificated oh my God, certificated and permitted providers, as well as take proactive measures to identify and deter unlicensed activity.
Speaker 1:Terry Williams, a spokesperson for the agency, told the newspaper in an email ultimately, people that engage in commerce of any kind must be knowledgeable about what is required to operate legally. The onus falls on the individual to be informed and in compliance. Compliance of what you have a driver's license. Is that not good enough? Ultimately, people, okay, I, okay. I already said that they also impounded her car, leaving her without means to get to work. Holland paid $1,000 in cash to the NTA to release her vehicle and another $500 to the impound lot. When she went to pick up her car, an employee told her that 18 cars had been impounded in the same sting operation, so she's not the only one that has gotten busted on this. Luckily, the NTA told her that, as a first-time offender, her fees would likely be reduced. Now she is waiting for the final bill, which is expected to in a few months.
Speaker 1:Holland said she hopes her story will alert others to the potential consequences of driving festival goers to Burning man. Clearly I'm not. Clearly I'm just a grandma giving rides to the burn, holland said. But they know what they're doing. We just weren't aware. No one was aware of it. The grandmother has never been into burning. She's never been to the Burning man. She says she got the idea to offer rides this year after she had an incredible time picking up a friend and some others who had gotten stuck at the week-long festival last year following torrential following torrential rains. Holland said she got a kick out of listening to their crazy stories.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I guess you're. What do y'all think of that? Do you think that was right for the nta to do that, did she? What laws did she break, I guess, because she wasn't like a cab driver or an Uber driver. Do you think that's wrong for people to offer that and and, and you know, kind of charge people for it? And she was charged a $65. I mean, what do you think? What do you think? Do you think we should be a free society, that we should be able to do that? Or is the regulation to protect the public? I mean, what do you think? I want your opinion on that and I've gone way too long, so I hope you guys have a great one and I'll be back again tomorrow. Thanks for listening.
