Snopes, a liberal fact-checking site, was mocked by critics this week for rating reporting on the Biden administration’s alleged funding of crack pipe distribution to drug users as “mostly false,” while also admitting that “safer smoking kits” were required to be distributed as part of a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grant. 

In a Tuesday piece claiming news reports “grossly misrepresented” details about the substance abuse harm reduction program, Snopes stuck with its “mostly false” rating by arguing it was inaccurate to say that the distribution of the “smoking kits” was intended to “advance racial equity,” but admitted that the pipes would be distributed with race as “a secondary consideration.”

HHS SEC. BECERRA SAYS CRACK PIPES WON’T BE DISTRIBUTED USING FEDERAL FUNDS IN SMOKING KITS

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the grant program, overseen by HHS, would help make drug use safer for addicts by providing funds to nonprofits and local governments. The grant includes funds for “smoking kits/supplies,” and, according to a spokesman for the agency speaking with the Free Beacon, the kits “will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance.’”

The Free Beacon added that, “Applicants for the grants are prioritized if they treat a majority of ‘underserved communities,’ including African Americans and ‘LGBTQ+ persons,’ as established under President Joe Biden’s executive order on ‘advancing racial equity.’”

“In 2022, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services substance abuse harm reduction grant did require recipients to provide safer smoking kits to existing drug users. In distributing grants, priority would be given to applicants serving historically underserved communities,” Snopes wrote in its fact-check.

“This was just one of around 20 components of the grant program and far from its most prominent or important one, despite being the primary focus of outraged news reports. The purpose of the program was to reduce harm and the risk of infection among drug users, not to advance racial equity, although that was a secondary consideration,” it added, essentially disproving its own fact-check.

SENATOR RIPS WHITE HOUSE FOR FAILING TO BE ‘CANDID’ ON ALLEGED CRACK PIPE DISTRIBUTION

Critics took to social media to mock Snopes for proving the Free Beacon’s reporting on the crack pipes accurate, despite it’s “mostly false” rating.

“I don’t understand why fact-checking sites twist themselves into rhetorical pretzels like this,” wrote one critic, while another joked that one needed to “read the fine print” when it came to Snopes’ fact-checking.

BLACKBURN DEMANDS ANSWERS REGARDING REPORTS OF BIDEN’S TAXPAYER-FUNDED CRACK PIPE DISTRIBUTION

After being pilloried by critics, Snopes oddly updated its fact-check from “mostly false” to “outdated.” It also updated the piece with an explanation to reflect the change.

“After a wave of grossly misleading news coverage in February 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stipulated that federal funding would not be used to include pipes in safe smoking kits, as part of a substance abuse harm reduction grant program. This newly-stipulated detail was not originally available, meaning the assertions made in a first wave of coverage had become outdated,” it adjusted its original fact-checking piece to read.

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Snopes’s updated piece appeared to reflect HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra’s Wednesday statement that no pipes would be put into “safe smoking kits.”

In a press release, Becerra and Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta said the administration was “focused on using our resources smartly to reduce harm and save lives. Accordingly, no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits.”

Fox News’ Sam Dorman contributed to this report.

Columbia University clinical professor Dr. Irwin Redlener, a disaster preparedness expert, told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Tuesday that many actions by local authorities in response to the coronavirus outbreak amount to “guesswork” until more guidance is given by federal authorities.

Redlener was discussing the “containment zone” in the town of New Rochelle, N.Y., announced earlier Tuesday by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The one-mile-radius zone has been set up around a portion of the town where a cluster of coronavirus infections have materialized.

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According to the New York Post, there have been 108 coronavirus cases in Westchester County, where New Rochelle is located, as of Tuesday.

Redlener said the New Rochelle ‘containment zone’ is not being placed on lockdown, but is where “very special attention [is] being paid to identifying as many people as possible who have been in contact with the index case, and making sure the contacts are free of disease or evidence of disease.”

“There could be a larger zone, I guess, if the governor so chose, and it could be different in other states and other attempts to create areas where we can contain the disease and hopefully get it under control,” the doctor added.

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For his part, Cuomo has urged the public to use common sense and take preventative measures against the virus but underlined that there is no reason to downplay the severity of the illness itself.

Redlener warned that New York City, though largely spared from a large-scale outbreak thus far, will not likely be immune for long.

“A lot of the restrictions and public health interventions are pretty much guesswork,” he said. “And it is sort of every man for himself, so to speak, what they were doing in Washington [state], in Seattle, is different what they doing in Orlando, New Rochelle, New York City et cetera.”

“And what we are looking for now is to really have some definitive firm recommendations from the CDC … Not ‘we recommend this’, but ‘Here is what we need to do to control this in the country.’,” Redlener said.

Media analysts sounded the alarm over an airline pilot who reportedly told passengers “Let’s go Brandon,” accusing him of substance abuse or comparing his actions to terrorism.

A pilot on a Southwest flight from Houston to Albuquerque signed off his announcement for passengers by saying, “Let’s Go Brandon,” according to An Associated Press journalist who was reportedly on the flight. The phrase has become codeword for a more profanity-laced message for President Joe Biden in response to an animated audience at the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama earlier this month. As racecar driver Brandon Brown was chatting about his victory, the crowd began chanting, “F— Joe Biden.” But the reporter interviewing Brown instead reported that the crowd was chanting “Let’s go Brandon.”

“TFW you’re trying to go on vacation and then the pilot says the very thing you’re working on over the loud speaker and you have to try to get him comment but then almost get removed from plane,” the AP’s Colleen Long wrote Saturday.

Long’s critics mocked her for being so offended.

“AP stands for Activist Progressives,” Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary Christian Pushaw responded.

But several other pundits shared their outrage over the pilot’s purported message, with some pledging to avoid the airline in future.

GOP CONGRESSMAN ENDS FLOOR SPEECH WITH ‘LET’S GO, BRANDON’

“Vulgarity stand-in from ⁦@SouthwestAir cockpit,” Washington Post editor Cathleen Decker wrote.

“Its pilots now giving the ‘f*ck you Biden’ or ‘let’s go Brandon’ GOP line during the flight,” Will Bunch, an opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, tweeted. “I’ve always loved flying Southwest. Don’t plan on doing it ever again.”

A few CNN analysts added to the onslaught. Juliette Kayyem, for instance, suggested substance abuse may account for the pilot’s conduct.

“Yes pilot conduct. His words reflect possibility of anger management or substance abuse. It is worth asking,” Kayyem tweeted.

Social media users hit Kayyem for the “baseless accusation.”

“Your words reflect the possibility of emotional instability,” Pushaw said.

If you actually believe this, you have credibility issues,” Chicago attorney Ari Cohn added.

But the swiftest backlash was saved for CNN analysts Asha Rangappa, who appeared to compare the Southwest pilot to an ISIS sympathizer.

“As an experiment, I’d love for an @SouthwestAir pilot to say ‘Long live ISIS’ before taking off. My guess is that 1) the plane would be immediately grounded; 2) the pilot fired; and 3) a statement issued by the airline within a matter of hours,” she tweeted.

The Washington Examiner’s Jerry Dunleavy, conservative radio host Mark Davis, and New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz were among those who told Rangappa that one of these things is not like the others.

ANTI-BIDEN RAP SONG  ‘LET’S GO BRANDON’ REACHES TOP ON ITUNES CHART

The phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” has also popped at other sporting events across the country. Amid the rise in the phrase’s popularity, NPR published a piece that told readers it “is being used in conservative circles in place of a more vulgar message directed at President Biden.” 

Several of the same media critics mocked the outlet for publishing such “hard-hitting journalism” and for being “late to the party.”

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Southwest “takes pride in providing a welcoming, comfortable, and respectful environment for the millions of Customers who fly with the airline each year and behavior from any individual that is divisive or offensive will not be tolerated,” the airline said in a statement following the controversy.

Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report

An American tourist is hopeful that the “magic” of social media will lead her to two people she spontaneously photographed just one hour before the Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames on Monday in Paris, in a bittersweet image that has since been declared a “historic” shot.

On April 15, Brooke Windsor took to Twitter to share her plea in a post that has since gone massively viral. In the image, a smiling man is about to lift and swing a jubilant little girl in front of the 800-year-old landmark.

“I took this photo as we were leaving #NotreDame about an hour before it caught on fire. I almost went up to the dad and asked if he wanted it. Now I wish I had,” Windsor wrote online of the heartbreaking scene. “Twitter if you have any magic, help him find this.”

INSTAGRAM COUPLE RESPONDS TO ‘STUPID’ INFINITY POOL PHOTO CONTROVERSY

As of Tuesday morning, 23-year-old Windsor told the BBC that she had not yet been able to identify the pair, whom she believes may be a father and daughter, or related in some other way.

Windsor did not immediately return Fox News’ request for comment.

Though many commenters have questioned the Michigan woman regarding why she thinks the two share a parent-child relationship, she said their suspected familial bond was evidenced by “simply the dynamic I observed from them while debating on interrupting this moment,” as per BBC.

The emotional tale has since touched the hearts of many Twittizens, who have since graced the post with over 95,000 shares, 190,000 likes and 950 comments.

“This has easily become my favorite photograph of Notre Dame. I hope you find the father in the photo,” one commenter wrote. “So we hope.”

“This is going to become THAT photo,” another agreed.

“I hope Twitter does have some magic, that is a great picture,” another offered.

“This photo is not only a keeper, it’s historic,” one proclaimed.

“So sad to see the building looking [serene] and safe in the sun,” another opined. “Just before this dreadful disaster.”

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“You’re going to find this daddy and his little girl. I just know it. Beautiful photo,” an optimist said.

“I agree. The stunning picture against an iconic backdrop,” another lamented. My heart breaks for the nation of Paris.”

Located on the Ile de la Cite in the center of Paris, the Gothic cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century, attracts millions of tourists each year. It is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions. It was also featured in Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.”

On Monday night, two-thirds of the cathedral’s roof was ravaged by the blaze, which is being investigated as an accident.

The flames collapsed the cathedral’s spire, which had been shrouded in scaffolding as part of a $6.8 million renovation project on the spire and its 250 tons of lead.

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It was not immediately clear what caused the fire. Sources told Fox News that it appears the blaze, which came one day after Palm Sunday and during Holy Week, was related to construction being done at the cathedral.

In the hours since, French billionaire François-Henri Pinault, husband of Salma Hayek, pledged almost $113 million to rebuild the historic site.  Bernard Arnault, owner of the luxury goods group LVMH, also pledged $226 million toward reconstruction efforts.

“It is what our history deserves,” French President Emmanuel Macron told a sorrowful crowd as he vowed to rebuild the cathedral. “It is, in the deepest sense, our destiny,”

Fox News’ Lucia I. Suarez Sang, Nicole Darrah, Samuel Chamberlain, Danielle Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.