Massive Winter Storm Blasts Most of US With Snow, Rain, Fierce Wind Chills & Power Outages

The Firestone family makes their way across Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, N.Y. after stocking up on supplies at the grocery store, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. Winter weather is blanketing the U.S. as a massive storm sent temperatures crashing and created whiteout conditions.(Derek Gee /The Buffalo News via AP)

A series of intense storms have been battering the US this week, beginning on Wednesday with snow pounding the Rockies before spiraling into an intense blizzard that placed more than 100 million people under winter weather alerts, caused whiteouts, freezing temperatures, and damaged power lines.

Tens of millions of Americans endured bone-chilling temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages and canceled holiday gatherings Friday from a winter storm that forecasters said was nearly unprecedented in its scope, exposing about 60% of the U.S. population to some sort of winter weather advisory or warning.

More than 200 million people were under an advisory or warning on Friday, the National Weather Service said. The weather service's map “depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” forecasters said.

Power outages have left about 1.4 million homes and businesses in the dark, according to the website PowerOutage, which tracks utility reports. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public utility, ended its rolling blackouts Friday afternoon but continued to urge homes and businesses to conserve power. In Georgia, hundreds of people in Atlanta and northern parts of the state were without power and facing the possibility of sub-zero wind chills without heat.

And nearly 5,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled Friday, according to the tracking site FlightAware, causing more mayhem as travelers try to make it home for the holidays.

The US Midwest and East were hit by a severe winter storm on Friday, with conditions causing car crashes and the deaths of multiple individuals. To date, as many as 12 deaths have been reported. Three separate car crashes were reported in Kansas on Wednesday evening, all believed to have been caused by poor road conditions, with one fatality confirmed to have been caused by the extreme weather.

Water Rescue Brush Creek: “Initial call came out at 2:20 PM with reports of a vehicle turned over in the water. Crews arrived on scene within minutes to confirm. Crews entered the water and were able to pull out 1 victim. Transported emergency to an area hospital.”@KCTV5 pic.twitter.com/dApTUVTWtG

— Emily Rittman KCTV5 (@EmilyRittman) December 22, 2022

Three deaths in Kentucky were also reported with two of those deaths being attributed to car accidents caused by poor weather, and the other believed to be a housing insecure person in Louisville who was found outside with no obvious signs of trauma.

A person in Kansas City, Missouri, lost control of their minivan on an icy street and plunged into Brush Creek, landing their car upside down and partially submerged in the icy stream. That person later died at the hospital.

A tow company is working to pull the vehicle out of Brush Creek. Live reports on @KCTV5 at 5,6 PM

“We’ve just got to stay positive,” said Wendell Davis, who plays basketball with a team in France and was waiting at O’Hare in Chicago on Friday after a series of flight cancellations.

The huge storm stretched from border to border. In Canada, WestJet canceled all flights Friday at Toronto Pearson International Airport, beginning at 9 a.m. as meteorologists in the country warned of a potential once-in-a-decade weather event.

And in Mexico, migrants waited near the U.S. border in unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether and when to lift pandemic-era restrictions that prevent many from seeking asylum.

Forecasters said a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — had developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.

Multiple highways were closed and crashes claimed at least six lives, officials said. At least two people died in a massive pileup involving some 50 vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike. A Kansas City, Missouri, driver was killed Thursday after skidding into a creek, and three others died Wednesday in separate crashes on icy northern Kansas roads.

Water Rescue Brush Creek: “Initial call came out at 2:20 PM with reports of a vehicle turned over in the water. Crews arrived on scene within minutes to confirm. Crews entered the water and were able to pull out 1 victim. Transported emergency to an area hospital.”@KCTV5 pic.twitter.com/dApTUVTWtG

— Emily Rittman KCTV5 (@EmilyRittman) December 22, 2022

Some 1.3 million customers were left without power after severe winds battered power lines. The states of Maine, North Carolina, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania were hit the hardest by power outages.

On Friday at 6:39 p.m. EST, Maine still had 230,499 people without power as another 120,316 people in New Hampshire left in the same situation. Some 96,271 were without electricity in New York, 91,364 people in Virginia were without power and 87,188 people in Pennsylvania were left in the dark.

This is a storm. #mewx #maine #portlandmaine pic.twitter.com/eT0vkqHhQK

— Benjamin Williamson (@photographmaine) December 23, 2022

Unbelievable level of coastal flooding in Provincetown today. New moon definitely had an effect on the storm surge, but with sea level rise that’s already “locked in” — we should be full on emergency planning for the decades to come. We are currently not. #WinterStorm #capecod pic.twitter.com/RxBwTN7T5H

— Jack Stanton (@realJackStanton) December 23, 2022

“This is not like a snow day when you were a kid,” President Joe Biden warned on Thursday. “This is serious stuff.”

Parts of Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming have already seen wind chills below -50 degrees Fahrenheit in the past two days, while the state of Texas also saw temperatures below freezing early Friday afternoon. The cities of Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Tallahassee are all expected to have their coldest temperatures ever recorded on Christmas Eve.

“I called it a kitchen sink storm because it is throwing everything at us but the kitchen sink,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a press conference Friday afternoon. “We’ve had ice, flooding, snow, freezing temperatures, and everything that mother nature could wallop at us this weekend.”

Lake Erie is angry today. We could see waves between 14-18 ft with this storm here in Hamburg, NY @foxweather pic.twitter.com/lFGrub4dne

— Max Gorden (@Max_Gorden) December 23, 2022

“Whiteout conditions, frigid temperatures, and the waves are like what you would see during a hurricane,” said New York resident Vrian Trzeciak, who has a home in Hamburg, New York.

“My mother lives about 30 minutes away and so does my sister and her family, in the other direction,” he added. “We always get together for Christmas Eve and Christmas, but we’re all hunkering down in our houses until it all stops on Monday.”

Hi there, I'm Sara with CNN. I hope you're safe! Did you take this photo? If so, can CNN have permission to use it across all our platforms, worldwide in perpetuity along with affiliate distribution? Thank you

— Sara Smart (@CNN_Sara) December 23, 2022

As the storm moved East, leaving California to warm up in 80F weather, it turned into a “bomb cyclone” with a pressure expected to match that of a Category 2 hurricane as it traversed the Great Lakes early Friday. The cities of Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Atlanta saw wind gusts higher than 45 to 55 mph.

"This is a difficult weather event. We needed to prepare not only for rain, but also tidal flooding that was made worse by the new moon, in addition to large amounts of wind offshore that was piling water into New York Harbor, in addition to Jamaica Bay, adding about three [feet] above mean tide flood surge," said Zachary Iscol, New York City's Emergency Management Commissioner.

The "next phase," he warned, "is going to be a precipitous drop in temperature, going down to the low teens, single digits over the weekend."

Across the United States about 5,100 domestic and international flights were canceled and another 8,400 were delayed on Friday, making holiday travel plans impossible for some. Airports in Cleveland, Buffalo and Chicago reported on Friday morning that more than half of their departing flights were canceled.

“My family is calling, they want me home for Christmas, but they want me to be safe, too,” said Ashley Sherrod, who planned to fly from Nashville, Tennessee, to Flint, Michigan, until her flight was canceled. “Christmas is starting to, for lack of a better word, suck.”

Alaska Airlines and Allegiant Air were forced to cancel more than a third of their flights on Friday and more than 400 Southwest Airlines flights were delayed. Some major US airlines including American, Delta, and United said they were waiving fees to change flights due to the severe weather.

Water floods a restaurant terrace during high tide on Long Wharf, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in Boston. Winter weather is blanketing the U.S. More than 200 million people — about 60% of the U.S. population — were under some form of winter weather advisory or warning on Friday. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Multiple highways were closed and crashes claimed at least six lives, officials said. At least two people died in a massive pileup involving some 50 vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike. A Kansas City, Missouri, driver was killed Thursday after skidding into a creek, and three others died Wednesday in separate crashes on icy northern Kansas roads.

Michigan also faced a deluge of crashes, including one involving nine semitrailers.

Brent Whitehead said it took him 7.5 hours instead of the usual six to drive from his home near Minneapolis to his parents’ home outside Chicago on Thursday in sometimes icy conditions.

“Thank goodness I had my car equipped with snow tires,” he said.

Activists also were rushing to get homeless people out of the cold. Nearly 170 adults and children were keeping warm early Friday in Detroit at a shelter and a warming center that are designed to hold 100 people.

“This is a lot of extra people” but it wasn't an option to turn anyone away, said Faith Fowler, the executive director of Cass Community Social Services, which runs both facilities.

In Chicago, Andy Robledo planned to spend the day organizing efforts to check on people without housing through his nonprofit, Feeding People Through Plants. Robledo and volunteers build tents modeled on ice-fishing tents, including a plywood subfloor.

“It’s not a house, it’s not an apartment, it’s not a hotel room. But it’s a huge step up from what they had before,” Robledo said.

In Portland, Oregon, nearly 800 people slept at five emergency shelters on Thursday night, as homeless outreach teams fanned out to distributed cold-weather survival gear. Shelters called for volunteers amid high demand and staffing issues. Employees were laid low by flu or respiratory symptoms or kept from work by icy roads, officials said.

DoorDash and Uber Eats suspended delivery service in some states, and bus service was disrupted in places like Seattle.

The power ceased at Jaime Sheehan’s Maryland bakery for about 90 minutes Friday, shutting off the convection oven and stilling the mixer she needed to make butter cream.

“Thankfully, all of the orders that were going out today already finished yesterday,” she said a few moments before the power returned.

Water floods a street during high tide, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston. Winter weather is blanketing the U.S. More than 200 million people — about 60% of the U.S. population — were under some form of winter weather advisory or warning on Friday. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

At about the same time, Corey Newcomb and his family were entering their sixth hour without power at their home in the small town of Phenix, Virginia.

“We are coping and that’s about it,” Newcomb said in a Facebook message.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said she was deploying the National Guard to haul timber to the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes and help with snow removal.

“We have families that are way out there that we haven’t heard from in two weeks,” Wayne Boyd, chief of staff to the Rosebud Sioux president, said.

Fearing that some are running out of food, the tribe was hoping to get a helicopter on Saturday to check on the stranded.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe, meanwhile, was using snowmobiles to reach members who live at the end of miles-long dirt roads.

“It’s been one heck of a fight so far,” said tribal President Frank Star Comes Out.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Harlie Young was huddled with five children and her 58-year-old father around a wood stove as 12-foot (3.6-meter) snow drifts blocked the house.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Harlie Young was huddled with five children and her 58-year-old father around a wood stove as 12-foot (3.6-meter) snow drifts blocked the house.

“We’re just trying to look on the bright side that they’re still coming and they didn’t forget us,” she said Friday, as the temperature plunged to frigid lows.

The weather service is forecasting the coldest Christmas in more than two decades in Philadelphia, where school officials shifted classes online Friday.

Atop New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeast, the wind topped 150 mph (241 kph).

In Boston, rain combined with a high tide, sent waves over the seawall at Long Wharf and flooded some downtown streets. It was so bad in Vermont that Amtrak canceled service for the day, and nonessential state offices were closing early.

“I’m hearing from crews who are seeing grown trees ripped out by the roots,” Mari McClure, president of Green Mountain Power, the state’s largest utility, said at a news conference.

Calling it a “kitchen sink storm,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency. In parts of New York City, tidal flooding inundated roads, homes and businesses Friday morning, with police trudging through knee-deep water to pull stranded motorists to safety in Queens.

In Iowa, sports broadcaster Mark Woodley became a Twitter sensation after he was called on to do live broadcasts outdoors in the wind and snow because sporting events were called off. By midday Friday, a compilation of his broadcasts had been viewed nearly 5 million times on Twitter.

“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news," he told an anchor. “The good news is that I can still feel my face right now. The bad news is, I kind of wish I couldn’t.”

Bleed reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Associated Press journalists Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit; Gillian Flaccus in Portland, Oregon; Zeke Miller in Washington; and Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.

Rute Alternatif Puncak Saat Malam Tahun Baru Dan Ambulan Berlambang Partai Nasdem Kena Tilang Lawan Arus

Kemacetan arus lalu lintas Puncak Bogor. IST

Satlantas Polres Bogor akan melakukan buka tutup atau pengalihan arus lalu lintas di Jalur Puncak, Kabupaten Bogor, pada malam Tahun Baru 2023.

Kendaraan menuju Puncak dialihkan melalui alternatif Jonggol atau Sukabumi.

“Sesuai kesepakatan bersama, penutupan itu dilakukan mulai pukul 18.00 WIB tanggal 31 Desember 2022 sampai pukul 06.00 WIB pada tanggal 1 Januari 2023,” kata Kasatlantas Polres Bogor AKP Dicky Pranata.

Sedangkan, arah sebaliknya dari Puncak menuju Jakarta masih bisa melintas dengan menerapkan sistem oneway.

Selain pengalihan lalu lintas di Jalur Puncak, pihaknya juga telah menyiapkan personelnya di sepanjang jalur itu.

“Kita laksanakan ganjil genap untuk Jalur Puncak dan rekayasa lainnya kita melihat situasi nanti,” katanya.

Diperkirakan, volume kendaraan mulai mengalami peningkatan pada Jumat 23 Desember 2022.

Semua personel mulai disiagakan pada besok hari mengantisipasi kemacetan lalu lintas di Jalur Puncak. “Prediksi kami tanggal 23 itu mulai kepadatan orang-orang masuk ke kawasan wisata Puncak,” katanya.

Sopir Ambulans Legislator DKI Partai Nasdem Lawan Arah di Puncak Bogor Ditilang

Polisi menindak sopir ambulans berstiker anggota DPRD DKI dari Partai NasDem, Jupiter, yang melawan arah di kawasan Puncak, tepatnya di Simpang Gadog, Kabupaten Bogor, Jawa Barat. Sopir ambulans tersebut telah dikenai sanksi tilang.

"Tadi ditilang, untuk kekuatan hukumnya kita tindak dengan penilangan aja," kata Kanit Turjawali Satlantas Polres Bogor Ipda Ardian Novianto saat dihubungi wartawan, hari Jumat, 23/12/2022.

Sopir ambulans ditilang karena membahayakan sesama pengendara. Kemudian karena perbuatannya berpotensi mengganggu arus lalu lintas.

"Karena satu, membahayakan keselamatan orang lain. Juga menghambat fungsi jalan juga kan. Tapi yang ditilang barbuknya kendaraan itu aja," ungkapnya.

Ardian mengatakan sopir tersebut dikenai pasal melawan arus dan tidak menggunakan kendaraan sesuai peruntukannya. Mobil ambulans tersebut masih berada di Pos Polisi Gadog.

"Pasal tentang melawan arus serta menggunakan kendaraan yang bukan peruntukannya. Yang seharusnya ambulans itu membawa orang sakit, tapi dipergunakan untuk mengawal rombongan," ucapnya.

Ambulans Bawa Alat Gathering

Sebelumnya diberitakan, sopir sempat mengaku membawa donasi untuk korban gempa Cianjur, tapi ternyata dia membawa alat-alat family gathering.

"Setelah kita periksa, ternyata ambulans tersebut tidak membawa pasien sakit. Namun membawa peralatan yang akan digunakan, tadi info dari driver untuk donasi bantuan gempa," kata Kanit Turjawali Satlantas Polres Bogor Ipda Ardian Novianto kepada wartawan di Simpang Gadog.

Namun ternyata, kendaraan tersebut membawa barang-barang untuk kegiatan di Puncak. Acara tersebut berupa family gathering atau kumpul keluarga salah satu pengurus partai.

Namun ternyata, kendaraan tersebut membawa barang-barang untuk kegiatan di Puncak. Acara tersebut berupa family gathering atau kumpul keluarga salah satu pengurus partai.

"Ternyata setelah kami dalami, kendaraan ambulans membawa barang untuk family gathering salah satu pengurus partai. Karena kita lihat juga di bodi ambulans itu memang terdapat gambar salah satu partai," ucapnya.

Mobil Tercebur ke Laut di Pelabuhan Merak 2 Orang Dilarikan ke RS

Sebuah mobil tercebur di Dermaga II Pelabuhan Merak, Kota Cilegon, Banten. (Foto: Yandhi Deslatama/Liputan6.com).

Mobil Daihatsu tercebur ke laut di dermaga 2 Pelabuhan Merak, Banten, saat hendak masuk ke KMP Shalem. Kedua penumpang di dalam mobil itu pun ikut tercebur dan berhasil diselamatkan petugas gabungan. Keduanya langsung dilarikan ke rumah sakit akibat peristiwa tersebut.

Belum diketahui pasti penyebab mobil tercebur, tapi peristiwa itu terjadi sekitar pukul 22.15 WIB. Mobil tersebut berada di posisi ramp door kapal sebelum akhirnya jatuh ke laut.

"Iya mobil kecebur, belum tahu kita belum dapat (kronologi lengkap) ke arah penyebabnya," kata Kasi Ops Basarnas Banten Heru Amir saat dikonfirmasi, hari Jumat, 23/12/2022.

Kabid Humas Polda Banten Kombes Pol Shinto Silitonga mengatakan, peristiwa terceburnya mobil terjadi pada pukul 22.00 WIB saat proses muat penumpang KMP Shalem di dermaga dua.

"Posisi mobil Daihatsu silver di atas ram door mau ke Kapal Ferry Shalem, saat mau naik, tali di kapal melebar sehingga side rem tidak lagi menempel di kapal," kata Shinto melalui keterangan tertulisnya.

"Penyelidikan akan di utamakan pada unsur kelalaian orang dan dilakukan permintaan keterangan hari ini, kepada operator side ramp maupun penyelamatan korban tersebut," ujar Kabid Humas Polda Banten, Kombes Pol Shinto Silitonga.

Kapolda Banten, Irjen Pol Rudy Heriyanto, bersama Wakapoda dan Pejabat Utama (Pju) Polda Banten yang berada di Pelabuhan Merak, segera mendatangi lokasi kejadian.

Kapolda Banten, Irjen Pol Rudy Heriyanto, bersama Wakapoda dan Pejabat Utama (Pju) Polda Banten yang berada di Pelabuhan Merak, segera mendatangi lokasi kejadian.

KMP Shalem yang sempat menunda perjalanan, kemudian diminta melanjutkan menyenangkan penumpang ke Pelabuhan Bakauheni, agar arus lalulintas tidak terganggu.

Sedangkan penanganan korban tengah dilakukan tim medis di RSKM Kota Cilegon. Kemudian evakuasi mobil akan dilanjutkan kemudian.

"Korban yang di evakuasi ada dua orang, perempuan dan laki laki, kondisi korban selamat dan langsung dibawa ke RSKM," ujar Kepala Unit Siaga SAR Merak, Fery Krisna, di Banten, hari Jumat, 23/12/2022.

Dia menuturkan, sebelum kejadian, tali kapal sudah berada di tempat tambatnya. Kemudian ada alun atau gelombang air laut di Dermaga 2 Pelabuhan Merak.

Dugaan sementara, karena gelombang itulah kapal agak menjauh dari side ramp atau jembatan penghubung dari dermaga ke kapal dan menyebabkan mobil minibus terjatuh ke air laut.

"Mungkin disebabkan tinggi gelombang, sehingga kapal menjauh dari side ramp, itu yang kita duga diawal. Untuk pengikat sudah terikat, ketika ada alun dia (kapal) akan menjauh," jelas Krisna.

Sementara itu Kabid Humas Polda Banten, Kombes Pol Shinto Silitonga menegaskan bahwa, Kapolda Banten Irjen Pol Rudy Heriyanto memerintahkan kepada penyidik Ditpolairud untuk melakukan penyelidikan lebih lanjut dari insiden terceburnya mobil tersebut.

"Kapolda Banten memberi peringatan tegas kepada otoritas penyeberangan untuk senantiasa memastikan keselamatan penyeberang diprioritaskan sehingga dapat menghindari terjadinya kecelakaan seperti hari ini," ujar Shinto.

Sebelumnya, Kapolda Banten Irjen Pol Rudy Heriyanto melakukan peninjauan di Pelabuhan Merak Pasca ditutupnya layanan lintas Merak-Bakauheni karena cuaca buruk pada hari Kamis malam, 22/12/2022.

Rudy meminta kepada otoritas pelabuhan untuk bersama-sama menyukseskan angkutan Natal dan Tahun Baru 2023 dengan memberikan pelayanan terbaik.

“Hal ini kami lakukan guna memastikan jumlah kendaraan masyarakat yang hendak melakukan perjalanan mudik, supaya tidak membludak di dalam area Pelabuhan,” kata Rudy.

In Search of Big Bucks: Zelensky Zips Over to Washington

©Photo : Telegram / Zelensky Official

Throwing good money after bad is never a sound political strategy, especially at a time when the US public is feeling the strain of an economy in crisis.

The one thing every observer of US domestic politics must concede is that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi know how to work Congress. For four decades, Biden walked the halls of the US Senate, strong-arming colleagues to line up votes for legislation, with Pelosi team-tagging in the House of Representatives. In the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi did the same thing. Now, as president and House speaker, respectively, Biden and Pelosi pulled out all the stops to get one last piece of legislation across the finish line—the passage of an additional $45 billion in assistance for Ukraine.

To avoid the potential hurdles that would have to be negotiated trying to get a Republican-controlled House of Representatives to pass legislation authorizing more aid to Ukraine in the coming year, Biden and Pelosi conspired to push through a massive package in the final days of the lame duck session of Pelosi’s tenure as speaker.

But there was the chance that such an effort would be seen by many in Congress for what it was— a naked political maneuver designed to obviate the will of the US people who had voted to impanel a new Congress less disposed to freely dispensing treasure in support of a cause — Ukraine — which by all accounts appears to be on the ropes. Throwing good money after bad is never a sound political strategy, especially at a time when the American public is feeling the strain of an economy in crisis.

Enter, stage right, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine and the US' most powerful propogandist when it comes to getting the US Congress to open its purse.

Previously, Ukraine’s beleaguered president was dispatched to the frontlines, where he handed out medals and received a flag signed by the “heroes of Bakhmut.” Zelensky then boarded a US Air Force plane, which whisked him off to Washington, DC where, on cue, he met with President Biden in the White House (and gave him a medal from one of the “heroes”), and addressed a joint session of Congress, handing Pelosi the autographed flag.

Nancy Pelosi alluded to the precedent of Winston Churchill as Zelensky spoke to Congress. But let there be no doubt—“Ukraine is alive and kicking” will not be carved alongside any pantheon inscribed with the words of the former British Prime Minister. Indeed, in a year’s time, no one will remember anything about Zelensky’s speech; its content was as vacuous as the cause it purported to support. Zelensky’s Washington visit was little more than empty gestures and empty words offered up as window dressing for the grift that is the more than $100 billion in aid earmarked over the course of the past year for Ukraine.

Lest anyone lose sight of what was actually transpiring in Washington DC during Zelensky’s visit. Ponder the following: it had nothing to do with providing Ukraine with the weapons it claims to need to successfully wage war against Russia. Nothing on Zelensky’s so-called “Christmas list” was funded by Congress—no M-1 Abrams tanks, no F-16 fighters, no long-range artillery rockets, no additional Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries.

The US government was playing to a domestic audience, which means that the perception of military assistance is more important than giving Ukraine what it believes it needs. The standard US excuses—the advanced tanks and aircraft are too difficult to maintain, that the Ukrainian soldier is better off with old Soviet-era weaponry than the modern western equivalent—is mooted by the fact that the current formula guiding military assistance has failed. Russia has stabilized the situation on the battlefield and is preparing to seize the initiative, a reality that obviates the tens of billions of dollars of military assistance that has been dispatched to Ukraine. The current package, except for a single Patriot missile battery, is simply more of the same, virtually guaranteeing that Ukraine will continue to lose this conflict going forward.

This, of course, appears to be an outcome the US is willing to accept. US policy appears to be geared toward the concept of, to paraphrase US Senator Lyndsey Graham, letting Ukraine fight to the last Ukrainian, so long as Russia pays a heavy price in the process. This is known to Ukraine, and yet Zelensky still came to Washington, DC.

That a Ukrainian leader would debase himself to the point of so eagerly serving as a political puppet on the US domestic political scene speaks volumes about the reality of how far Ukraine has fallen in the past year. The tragedy is that, far from helping Ukraine prevail in its war with Russia, the US aid will only guarantee the further destruction of the Ukrainian nation and its people.

Polygamist 'Prophet' Who Wed Underage Girls Arrested by Authorities

Having been caught transporting underage girls in an unventilated trailer, the self-proclaimed "prophet" has since pleaded guilty to charges of child abuse, with his followers claiming that the accusations brought against their leader are false.

Police bodycam footage of the arrest of a self-styled “prophet” with a penchant for polygamy has emerged on social media this week.

The arrest, which took place on August 28 in Arizona, was thrust into the media spotlight this month due to the filing of federal court documents that shed light on the matter.

Samuel Bateman is a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), an offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints commonly known as the Mormon Church.

Having parted ways with the former sect, Bateman formed his own group and proclaimed himself a prophet in 2019.

Having taken at least 20 wives, many of them underage girls, Bateman “orchestrated sexual acts involving minors and gave wives as gifts to his male followers,” according to a federal affidavit cited by media.

Deputies arrested Bateman in the city of Flagstaff in Arizona, after authorities discovered that he was driving several underage girls in an unventilated trailer. Bateman has since pleaded not guilty to state child abuse charges and federal charges of tampering with evidence, with his followers claiming that the accusations brought by federal authorities are false.

Three of Bateman’s wives have also been charged with kidnapping and impeding a foreseeable prosecution after eight girls associated with the “prophet’s” group escaped from state custody in Arizona to be found in Washington state.

Tucker Carlson's emotion to Zelensky

Fox News host Tucker Carlson. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Volodymyr Zelensky's uplifting speech to US Democrat lawmakers this week, Not so for Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson launches a diatribe that put schoolyard sadists everywhere to shame. “No one's ever addressed the United States Congress in a T-shirt before,” he seethed, slamming Zelensky as a “strip club” manager whose presence was “embarrassing” to “the greatest country on Earth.”

Carlson’s attack on Zelensky, whose olive green garb was meant to dramatize his country’s wartime plight, has sparked outrage because of its demeaning quality at a time of extraordinary duress for the Ukrainian people. But this episode deserves a deeper look than Carlson’s adolescent belittling usually merits.

Carlson’s rant carried a more hateful edge than usual, a kind of shrill fury. Perhaps that’s because Zelensky’s presence before Congress was far more humiliating to Carlson and his ideological comrades than to anyone else: It demonstrated how badly they misjudged Ukraine’s will to resist Russian conquest and the durability of the U.S. commitment to our beleaguered ally.

This represents the failure of a worldview, a strain of far-right authoritarian populism, that goes well beyond Ukraine. A whole lot of things have happened that, in Carlson’s mental universe, were not supposed to happen.

In his diatribe, Carlson depicted Zelensky as little more than a sleazy street thug who had come to “demand money” from Congress, telling his audience that the lawmakers “love him much more than they love you.” He exaggerated Ukraine’s conditions for ending the war, depicting Ukraine as the unreasonable party.

Carlson has long insisted that Ukrainians are “pawns” in the United States’ quest for “regime change” in Russia, predicting our warmongering would trigger nuclear catastrophe. He has trivialized the invasion as a faraway “border dispute,” and has scoffed that Democrats are hypnotizing Americans into feeling “hate” for Russia.

Carlson’s obvious bet has been that voters wouldn’t care about the conflict and would see little virtue in U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Lawmakers would ultimately abandon the cause.

But Zelensky’s appearance itself forcefully repudiated all of this. It demonstrated that Ukrainian resistance is driven by its people’s own extraordinarily courageous commitment to self rule. It showed that U.S. support for Ukraine is unwavering. It displayed the success of President Biden’s careful balance, which has enabled Ukraine to regain substantial ground while avoiding direct U.S. escalation, refuting Carlson’s predictions otherwise.

There is an ideology behind all that wrongness, and Carlson has clearly laid it out. It tells Americans that Democratic elites prioritize Ukraine’s border over our own — they love Zelensky more than they love you. This conflation of the two borders, a widespread right-wing populist trope, encourages Americans to turn inward in multiple ways, washing our hands of responsibility for international allies and desperate migrants alike.

This worldview also rails against elite wokeness. Carlson frequently tells viewers that the same elites who want people to hate Russia and are obliterating the southern border are also brainwashing kids with anti-White racism.

As Cathy Young writes at the Bulwark, right-wing populist distaste for Zelensky is driven partly by Ukraine’s desire for integration with the liberal, secular, internationalism-minded West. That through-line links attacks on elite wokeness, pro-Ukraine sentiment and receptiveness to migration.

As a political argument, all this has proved pretty impotent.

Just before the midterm elections, Carlson wrongly predicted a “humiliating repudiation” for Democrats. Importantly, Carlson based this in part on Democrats’ wokeness and border policies, hubristically certain that voters would reject both.

Carlson’s show also promoted 18 GOP candidates who went on to lose, as tallied by Matthew Gertz of Media Matters. And while Carlson backed Ohio Sen.-elect J.D. Vance, he also hawked Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters as “the future of the GOP.” That’s almost certainly because Masters’s demonization of migrants (including ads featuring machine-gun fire at the border) was peerless. But Masters lost by 5 points — in a border state.

Outside our borders, Carlson also lionized Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro as one of the great illiberal populist hopes of the Western Hemisphere. This year, Bolsonaro was ousted after one term. (To be fair, Carlson was able to celebrate a hard right victory — in Ital.)

And Carlson has been ham-handed in his efforts to counter the House committee investigating Donald Trump’s insurrection with his own propaganda, even smearing the committee as “Stalinist.” He used similar language about the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

All this also reflects Carlson’s broader dogma: The elites who obsess about Ukraine’s border and are brainwashing kids are also wielding the “deep state” against Trump and his supporters (which is supposed to discredit elites’ devotion to the Western liberal democratic project). But the revelations in the committee’s final report are utterly damning, and they’re heavily based on Republican witnesses. The Mar-a-Lago search produced devastating evidence and courts have validated it. All this is advancing the rule of law, no matter how hard Carlson tries to lie that away. None of this should prompt liberal overconfidence. Future electoral losses are inevitable. Cultural liberals need a proactive case against charges of wokeness. The war will grind on. Trump may still evade accountability. Carlson-style politics is being wielded effectively by a certain presidential aspirant in Florida who is crouched in the wings. But a year ago one couldn’t have predicted that Carlson’s brand of politics would be repudiated in so many ways. If that prompts a bit of, dare we say, Carlson-grade smugness from his critics, well, it’s well deserved.