Well THIS Should Be Fun! (Dr. Oz Looking To Run For US Senate in PA)

We'll start here:

Don't forget promoter of mediums, vaccine fear monger, pal of Mercola, and xenophobe. https://t.co/PI8I2KiVYE

— Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) November 30, 2021

The link leads to this piece by Carys Anderson:

Celebrity doctor and pyramid scheme pitchman Mehmet Oz is likely to join Pennsylvania’s US Senate race, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Pennsylvania Republicans told the paper that Dr. Oz has already contacted top campaign aides and is ready to spend his diet pill money to win the race.

And we'll flesh out Dr Jen Gunter's charges:

Promoter of Mediums - John Edward is one of those James van Praagh/Teresa Caputo-type psychics who claim to speak to the dead - for a healthy fee, of course. I've actually written about Edward before.

Vaccine Fear Monger:

The craze has been pumped up, moreover, by figures who have a large public platform, including Trump and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Trump promoted [Didier] Raoult’s claims about a drug cocktail containing chloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin at a public briefing March 20 and tweeted about the drugs on March 21: “HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine.”

Dr. Oz, a prominent heart surgeon whose television show is a platform for dubious health advice, interviewed Raoult on March 23 and subsequently discussed his research on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show. On the latter, he said Raoult had “shown he could get rid of the virus in six days in 100% of the patients he treated.”

That is not remotely true, as Raoult’s own published paper reveals. According to his paper, several subjects dropped out because they got sicker (one died), but he didn’t include their cases in his results. A follow-up study covered largely subjects whose infections were mild enough to be treated at home.

Pal of Mercola:

The doctor is in. To reach him, you must cross the limestone-pillared entrance of his headquarters in Hoffman Estates and go past the chocolate-brown paneled walls and soothing tiled lounge, down a labyrinth of hushed halls and empty conference rooms, to the door of a spacious corner office. Two soft knocks and a person instantly recognizable to most any true believer in alternative medicine appears. The doctor is Joseph Mercola, the face, the voice, the prime mover behind one of the nation’s most heavily trafficked—and controversial—natural health websites, Mercola.com.

He may not have the mainstream name recognition or rock-star appeal of, say, Mehmet Oz (though he has twice been a guest on The Dr. Oz Show). But Mercola’s influence is nonetheless considerable. Each month, nearly two million people click to see the osteopathic physician’s latest musings on the wonders of dietary supplements and minerals (“The 13 Amazing Health Benefits of Himalayan Crystal Salt”), the marvels of alternative therapies (“Learn How Homeopathy Cured a Boy of Autism”), and his take on medical research, from vaccines (“Your Flu Shot Contains a Dangerous Neurotoxin”) to vitamin D (“The Silver Bullet for Cancer?”).

I'm not sure how to google the "xenophobe" part, to be honest. But let's leave this discussion with this quote from Time:

On March 22, midway through a series of guest-hosted shows, Jeopardy! fans revolted. Their target was Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Oprah-approved, Ivy League-educated surgeon, author and host of The Dr. Oz Show, who was the most recent celebrity to step into the late Alex Trebek’s dress shoes. As viewers fumed on social media, Variety called Oz’s engagement a “black eye” on the show and some 600 former contestants signed an open letter arguing that he “stands in opposition to everything that Jeopardy! stands for.” Indeed, everyone from other physicians to elected officials to GLAAD has blasted Oz, over the years, for pushing weight-loss scams, giving a platform to anti-vaxxers, normalizing gay “conversion” therapy and, most recently, endorsing shoddy COVID remedies. That didn’t necessarily disqualify him from a two-week gig reading pre-written questions and making small talk. From another angle, though, the outrage made perfect sense. At a time when the idea of objective facts has been so catastrophically eroded, if you can’t trust the host of Jeopardy!, whom can you trust?

Feel free to peruse the links.

Dr. Oz - soon to be (?) GOP candidate for US Senator?

Anthony Fauci Defends Science.

From yesterday's Face The Nation:

MARGARET BRENNAN: And in real world terms, what does that mean? Does that mean you fear vaccination rates go down? Does that mean the next national emergency people just don't listen to the doctors. What- what do you mean?

DR. FAUCI: Yeah, what I'm concerned about is that if you put science aside and if you discredit science, you start to discredit the truth of what it takes to get people their health preserved, prevent disease, treat disease. When you do that, you are going to really disrupt society in very many respects, and that's what I worry about. I mean, anybody who looks at what's going on in the United States to say there's not a lot of- lies become normalized now, and the social media amplifies the normalisation of lies. So scientists try to say this is the truth, and it's based on data. That's what we live by, data, evidence, truth. And then you all of a sudden have permeating in society, it is OK to say anything you want that is patently, obviously wrong. And if you say it long enough and often enough and you get social media involved, then everybody- not everybody, X percent of the population starts believing it. See, that's what I worry about more than people throwing slings and arrows at me because my whole life has been as a scientist and I identify with the field of health and science.

Spreading misinformation about the virus, misinformation about the vaccines is only putting more people at risk.

And it's reprehensible.

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

Here are some of my Thanksgiving-themed blogposts for yinz to (rhetorically) chew on today:

• My letter to Sue - December, 2 2020

  My memories and traditions circle almost exclusively around the non-historical aspects of the day. For me, it's about a big multi-course meal (many hours long) with a large loud multi-generational Italian-American family that's happy to be in each other's company on a chilly late November Thursday.
  
  The day begins watching a parade and ends watching football.
  
  Of course, I am not unaware of the historical myths surrounding the meaning of the day. But like Columbus Day, Thanksgiving sits at an intersection of a number of different (some overlapping, some discrete) narratives. We can't erase the sins of the past, that's for sure, and the dissonance at the core of the American Experience is the result of how we want (or perhaps need) to perceive our collective past grinding against the painful realities of that past.

• Wendy Bell's Batshit Conspiracy Theory
  Well not exactly about Thanksgiving but worthy of a visit anyway:
  

  On Thanksgiving Day, Radio Karen aired Wendy Bell's explanation to her audience the only plausible explanation (as she saw it) for Donald Trump's election loss - a vast and mighty multi-level corruption.

  Yes, it's as batshit crazy and you can imagine.

  No, wait. Strike that. It's even more batshit crazy than you can imagine.

• SEE? The Zombie Thanksgiving Story STILL Lives
  This a link to my debunking of the Thanksgiving-Socialism myth I wrote for The Pittsburgh Current.
  

• Basted in Blood

  Again, while you CAN get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant, I'm not sure Cinder Calhoun approves.

• Exercising My First Amendment Rights at Trump Tower:
  
  
  
• Alice's Restaurant
  

  You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
  You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
  Walk right in it's around the back
  Just a half a mile from the railroad track
  You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wendy Bell AGAIN Misleads Her Public On Vaccine Safety (UK Edition)

Wendy Bell's still at it only this time she's just jumped the pond to do her VAERS-style distortion waltz on some UK numbers.

Take a look at her 11 22 2021 BS Board:

We all know what happens next right?

Right.

Reuters debunked this almost a month ago:

However, the numbers alone miss the context necessary to understand the impact of COVID-19 vaccines. This data does not show that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are more likely to die from the virus.

When much of a population has been vaccinated, most infections and deaths are “expected to be among those vaccinated”, Dr Muge Cevik, a clinical lecturer in infectious diseases and medical virology at the University of St Andrews, previously told Reuters (here).

On Sept. 19, 64.9% of over-16s in England had received one vaccine dose, with 59.5% having also received the second, according to the document.

When adjusted proportionally to display the rate per 100,000 people in all age groups, the number of COVID-19 deaths is higher in the unvaccinated population than in the vaccinated population, the data shows.

For the over-80s, the rate of death per 100,000 unvaccinated was 156. For those vaccinated, it was 49.5.

 And so on.

Reuters concludes:

Missing context. The rate of death from COVID-19 is higher in the unvaccinated population than the vaccinated.

And if you missed Reuters, Factcheck,org has a whole page dedicated to educating the public to avoid the mistake you just made.

They even linked to a blog post written by an actual statistician (that would be someone who is an expert in statistics) to explain, in general terms, the mistake you made.

Wendy, you posted just a few days ago that you "believe 100% in facts truth and data."

If that were truly the case, you would have found and addressed Reuters and Factcheck on your board full of bullshit.

But you didn't.

Wendy: By misleading your audience to steer clear of the vaccines, you're putting their individual and collective health at risk.

By now it's probably safe to assume that some of your adorings have already gotten sick simply because you lied to them about the vaccines.

Happy Thanksgiving, Wendy.

More 1/6 Committee Subpoenas. Is PA State Senator Mastriano Worried?

I am wondering if Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano is getting (more?) worried.

This hit the news yesterday:

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued subpoenas Monday to more people involved with the Stop the Steal rally, including conspiracy theorist and right-wing media figure Alex Jones and longtime Donald Trump ally Roger Stone.

This is on top of all the other subpoenas issued.

A few paragraphs later there's this:

The committee has also subpoenaed conservative activists Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence — a couple with ties to some of the rally organizers who have already been subpoenaed by the committee. The committee letters cite Stockton and Lawrence’s work with Women for America First in organizing rallies held after the November 2020 election “in support of then-President Trump and his allegations of election fraud, up through and including the rally held on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.”

As stated above, Dustin and Jennifer (Dustifer? Jennistin?) are activists working with a group called "Women for America First."

That group is mentioned in this Rolling Stone article from a few days ago:

At 5:30 pm on Jan. 6, police were in their third hour of battle with supporters of former President Trump on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, about a mile away in a suite at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, Amy Kremer, a conservative activist who organized a major pro-Trump rally near the White House that preceded the violence, apparently had hors d’oeuvres on her mind.

Kremer sent her fellow rally organizers a text preceded by three siren emojis. It was an urgent update.

“We ordered dinner again tonight. Sorry, but we forgot to take orders in the chaos of the event this morning, so we just ordered the same thing as last night. I figured that was better than not eating. Lol,” Kremer wrote. “Cheese & Charcuterie should be here at 6PM and dinner around 7PM.”

An emergency curfew took effect and National Guard troops arrived at the Capitol to clear the remaining crowds at roughly the same time Kremer and her fellow organizers received their cured meats. Three sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigations into the rally, told Rolling Stone that, along with food, people were drinking champagne in the suite while rioters skirmished with law enforcement at the Capitol complex.

Kremer’s insurrection night dinner order was detailed in a series of text messages and group chats from January 6 rally organizers that were obtained and reviewed by Rolling Stone. The messages included months of discussions as Kremer’s “March For Trump” group staged a bus tour around the country to protest the former president’s election loss. The conversations revealed new details of the rally organizers’ coordination with the Trump White House.

Amy Kremer has already been subpoenaed by the committee.

And her bus tour rolled through Harrisburg in December, 2020.

And guess (just guess!) who was there?

Yep. Pennsylvania's own Doug Mastriano.

Women for America First also hosted an "Audit The Vote" rally this past August 17 in Gettysburg, PA.

Amy Kremer was listed as speaker.

As was (you guessed it) Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano:

The location is within Doug's legislative district, by the way.

How much did Doug Mastriano know about the planning of the January 6 attacks? How much (if any) was he involved?

He seems to have (at the very least) rubbed elbows with a few of the now-subpoenaed players.

We already know he was on Trump's mind as far as short list of helpful GOP members. 

We already know he was witness to both breaches of The Capitol 

So Doug, are you expecting to be subpoenaed anytime soon for what you know?

 

Don't Get Mommy Mad (Wendy Bell On Kyle Rittenhouse)

After Rittenhouse verdict yesterday, Wendy Bell took to the FBwaves and aired her own take on the zeitgeist.

As Jon tweeted:

Wendy Bell, fired for advocating the shooting of peaceful protesters, celebrates Kyle Rittenhouse as having more “stones” than any human being out there….with her teenage son in the car next to her.

She says in the video that she was taking her son to get his driving permit. 

And to that I have to say, whah???

She's getting her son a guv'ment-approved road-passport?

Doesn't Wendy Bell believe in freedom?

What authority does the guv'ment have telling her that her son can't drive on the tax-payer funded roads with out some sort of guv'ment approval? What is this, Russia? Isn't this Amurika where "freedom" means that people are free to do as they wish with no concern for anyone else?

Doesn't she, as her son's parent, have the only authority to determine when he's capable of driving on those tax-payer funded roads? As his parent she knows her son's driving capabilities much better than some unelected do-gooder guv'ment bureaucrat, amirite?

I can hear all the the communist socialist Marxist assholes say, "But it's about public safety!"

To that any "common sense conservative" (like Wendy Bell) should say that if people want to feel safe and protected on the roads around newbie drivers like her son, it's up to them to protect themselves on the road. The guv'ment has no authority to mandate collective action to ensure public safety, amirite?  

It's not their responsibility to make sure the public is safe from bad driving and any such action the guv'ment takes to do so is a tyrannical encroachment on individual rights because each of us should trusted to be responsible for taking care of ourselves.

"I do me and you do you," they'd surely say. Amirite?

She and her son should be able to walk and drive as free people. Send that road-passport back to Hell where Satan spawned it!

(Wendy, if you don't get what I am mocking here you really need to check your meds.) 

But back to Wendy's rant.

At 2:09 she says:

These are human beings and anyone out there who wants to say, "Kyle Rittenhouse made a decision to go be a vigilante and cross state lines and blah-blah-blah, yadda yadda yadda. 

You know what? That young man had more stones than I think the vast majority of human beings on planet earth anymore.

Look at all these keyboard warriors who get on to criticize you, me, him, whatever. 

Addressing those "warriors" (like me, presumably) she continues:

Have you ever been in an actual situation where it mattered what you did? Have you ever actually stood up and taken action when shit was going wrong? Have ever actually done or do you just sit back and criticize?

Well, actually no. But then again, I've never crossed state lines, put on body armor, armed myself with a military-style weapon, gone looking for trouble at a protest and, after having found it, shot three human beings (killing two of them) all without any sort of legal accountability. I'm not a vigilante. And what happened in Wisconsin was not Justice.

But nothing in your charge negates in anyway my right to criticize you, Wendy. For you are endorsing Rittenhouse's behavior.

Wendy continues:

And for Bill de Blay-sio Blah-sio whatever that hack Marxist wants to say - to go on twitter and to say and to repeat the fallacies that have been debunked repeatedly? That CNN and MSNBC and all of the morons who follow these communist socialist Marxist assholes?

It's reprehensible. It's reprehensible.

Hmm...repeating debunked fallacies. Now where have I heard any debunked fallacies lately?

• VAERS data!
  
• Voter fraud!
• Ivermectin!
  

From you, Wendy. Good psychological projection though. Very subtle and not at all obvious.

Anyway, the timestamp on the video shows that Wendy was broadcasting this at about 3:08 pm on Friday.

She's responding to this tweet of Mayor de Blasio (note the time):

Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum are victims. They should be alive today.

The only reason they’re not is because a violent, dangerous man chose to take a gun across state lines and start shooting people.

To call this a miscarriage of justice is an understatement. https://t.co/TwaI2ghgM5

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) November 19, 2021

And about 2 hours later (more importantly 40 minutes before Wendy's rant) he tweeted:

The far-right trolls who think it makes a difference whether a violent gunman got his weapon before or after he crossed state lines are missing the point: two people are dead and their killer is left unaccountable. That’s not justice and they know it.

 Did you miss that, Wendy? That was the point he was making, Wendy.

Two human beings were killed (and one more was wounded), Wendy, by the young man you laud as having "more stones" than most anyone else because of those killings.

That's reprehensible, Wendy. Reprehensible.

Wendy Bell, still the Angel of Death.

Meanwhile, Outside

Covid is still raging, though the unvaccinated are (at least as of August of 2021) about 11 times more likely to die of the virus than the vaccinated:

But there's still the ongoing climate crisis going on.

According to the scientists at NOAA:

The global surface temperature for October 2021 was 0.89°C (1.60°F) above the 20th century average of 14.0°C (57.2°F) — the fourth highest October temperature in the 142-year record. Only Octobers of 2015, 2018, and 2019 had a warmer October. The 10 warmest Octobers have occurred since 2003. October 2021 also marked the 45th consecutive October and the 442nd consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.

Again, a chart:

Wendy Bell Does NOT Support Law Enforcement. (Wendy HATES The FBI)

And as evidence, I give you Wendy Bell's words:

She can take down the 3%-er flag for her new “studio” but she’s still a 3%-er at heart.

3%-er @WendyBellPgh attacks the @FBI. “They’re the worst-I trust none of these people-the jig is up”.

Sounds like she has been talking with her friend, insurrection-curious Doug Mastriano. pic.twitter.com/baxu1DZI7m

— JON (@JonInPGH) November 18, 2021

Transcript:

Have you seen this?

Man, can we get the FBI out of everything? They are everywhere.

They were at the insurrection. They're at - they're at this trial.

They're infiltrating things, trying to make it look like all hell's going to break loose.

I think we need the FBI to be recalled.

They're the worst.

How many are there? 35,000 FBI agents, doing what?

Snooping on parents?

Trying to stir up commotion?

Presenting false FISA warrants in what - spying on President Trump?

What do they do that is of any benefit that we hear about?

I haven't heard of much.

I trust none of these people.

And the jig is up.

Let's dive into a couple of points that Wendy's making here. We'll start with:

They were at the insurrection. They're at - they're at this trial.

They're infiltrating things, trying to make it look like all hell's going to break loose.

Wendy says that the FBI is infiltrating "things" immediately after saying that the Bureau was "at the insurrection."

There you go. Wendy Bell, January 6 Truther.

If you've been following this story, you'll remember that only about 2 weeks ago an actual conservative Republican (whose politics and mine overlap, perhaps, by a micron or two) said this:  

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) blasted those who are spreading conspiracy theories about the January 6th insurrection — that the violence that day was a “false flag” operation — as “un-American” and “very dangerous.”

“It’s the same kind of thing you hear from people who say 9/11 was an inside job, for example,” Cheney said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. “It’s un-American to be spreading those kinds of lies, and they are lies.”

Does Ireland Contracting know they're supporting a January 6 Truther? 

Maybe someone should ask them.

Of course, Wendy's lying about the FBI "snooping on parents."

Here's the actual story. You'll note some of the important details Wendy has dutifully omitted from her triggered rant:

The F.B.I. has begun to track threats against school administrators, teachers and board members to assess the extent of the problem, part of the Justice Department’s effort to grapple with the heated and occasionally violent clashes over culture war issues like the teaching of racism and mask requirements.

Last month the F.B.I. created a “threat tag” to apply to reports of threats, harassment and violence against school officials, to comply with a memo sent by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, according to a directive issued on Oct. 20 to the bureau’s criminal and counterterrorism divisions that House Republicans made public on Tuesday.

Wendy, it's not "parents" but "parents who threaten school board members."

Like in Pennsbury:

The messages flooded Christine Toy-Dragoni’s inbox, social media and voicemail. Some threatened to share her personal information far and wide, while others wished for all the women in her family to be raped. Also, for her to die.

“You better grow eyes in the back of your head,” one warned.

“My husband would say, ‘This is crazy, you need to get off the school board,’” said Toy-Dragoni, president of the Pennsbury School Board. “I just explained to him that I would never do that for the people who voted for me. But it definitely gives you pause.”

Wendy, are you saying that the FBI should not be investigating these death and rape threats?

We'll get back to the FISA Court and the FBI's investigation into Carter Page later.

Non-Economist Wendy Bell Attempts To Refute Actual Economists

And these economists are Nobel Prize-winning economists!

So the outcome is as embarrassing as you'd imagine.

Yesterday's BS Board:

And what was the collective offense of this gang of 17?

For Wendy, it seems the fact that they're all elderly white men invalidates their opinions on economics.

This is a logical fallacy known as an ad hominem attack:

This fallacy occurs when, instead of addressing someone's argument or position, you irrelevantly attack the person or some aspect of the person who is making the argument. The fallacious attack can also be direct to membership in a group or institution.

 But what did these 17 say/write that so triggered Wendy Bell's fragile ire?

This:

The American economy appears set for a robust recovery in part due to active government interventions over the past year and a half, including President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. But, reversing years of disinvestment in public goods and addressing the country’s long-term needs—including building toward sustainable and inclusive growth and facilitating our clean energy transition—will require more.

Success in the 21st century will require building upon the bi-partisan infrastructure deal that has passed the Senate, which prioritizes investments in our nation’s “hard” infrastructure. The President’s Build Back Better agenda employs a broader conception of infrastructure by making critical investments in human capital, the care economy, research and development, public education, and more, which will reduce families’ costs.

While we all have different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we believe that key components of this broader agenda are critical—including tax reforms that make our tax system more equitable and that enable our system to raise the additional funds required to facilitate necessary public investments and achieve our collective goals. Because this agenda invests in long-term economic capacity and will enhance the ability of more Americans to participate productively in the economy, it will ease longer-term inflationary pressures.

Um, Wendy? Simply pointing out the age and background of all the people signing this document does nothing to refute anything in that document.

You see that, right?

Had you found one or more Nobel Prize winning economists who've argued against Biden's economic agenda and then stated each argument/counter argument clearly and succinctly, you might have had an intelligent BS board.

On the other hand, these 17 old white guys have 17 Nobel Prizes in Economics and hundreds of years of economic study between them.

So they probably know the subject. My best guess is that you, Wendy, do not.

I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings but facts don't care about your feelings.

You know that, right?

How Many More Americans Died Because Of Donald Trump?

From Salon:

Documents released Friday reveal how in early 2020 the Trump administration downplayed the deadly danger posed by the nascent Covid-19 pandemic, silencing and sidelining top health officials who tried to warn the public and destroying evidence of political interference while issuing rosy declarations that the outbreak was "totally under control" and would soon be over.

The emails and transcripts—released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis—show that as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) became aware that the highly infectious virus that causes Covid-19 was spreading rapidly, agency officials requested to hold briefings about mask guidance and other issues. Their requests were denied.

Top Trump officials also moved to block the CDC from publishing information about the pandemic and tried to alter the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWRs) to reflect former President Donald Trump's unrealistically optimistic Covid-19 messaging—which infamously included such claims in January and February 2020 as "we have it totally under control," that the outbreak is "going to have a very good ending," and that infections would "be down close to zero" with days.

Perhaps this may give us a clue as to the number of dead Trump caused:

Dr. Deborah Birx, who helped run the coronavirus pandemic response for former President Donald J. Trump, told congressional investigators earlier this month that Mr. Trump’s White House failed to take steps that could have prevented tens of thousands of deaths.

In closed-door testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Dr. Birx said that tens of thousands of deaths could have been prevented after the initial phase of the pandemic if Mr. Trump had pushed mask-wearing, social distancing and other efforts to slow the spread of the virus.

“I believe if we had fully implemented the mask mandates, the reduction in indoor dining, the getting friends and family to understand the risk of gathering in private homes, and we had increased testing, that we probably could have decreased fatalities into the 30 percent less to 40 percent less range,” Dr. Birx testified, according to excerpts provided by the committee.

As of this writing, the CDC is reporting just over 760,000 Covid deaths.

That's hundreds of thousands of dead because:

The Trump administration was “distracted” by last year’s election and ignored recommendations to curb the pandemic, the White House’s former coronavirus response coordinator told congressional investigators this month.

“I felt like the White House had gotten somewhat complacent through the campaign season,” said Deborah Birx, whom President Donald Trump chose to steer his government’s virus response, according to interview excerpts released by the House select subcommittee on the pandemic.

Apart from all the other corruption metastasizing through the Trump GOP, the above should never ever be forgotten.

His complacency caused hundreds of thousands of Americans to die. 

And, because of the GOP's anti-science anti-vaxx fetish, it's feeding on their own:

The gap in Covid’s death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point.

In October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from Covid, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties (7.8 per 100,000). October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened.

And:

Charles Gaba, a Democratic health care analyst, has pointed out that the gap is also evident at finer gradations of political analysis: Counties where Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote have an even higher average Covid death toll than counties where Trump won at least 60 percent. (Look up your county.)

As a result, Covid deaths have been concentrated in counties outside of major metropolitan areas. Many of these are in red states, while others are in red parts of blue or purple states, like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Virginia and even California.

MAGA.

An Open Letter To Doug Mastriano About Steve Bannon

My open letter to Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano:

Senator:

I am wondering if you saw this tweet (or something like it) this weekend:

CNN: Steve Bannon is expected to self-surrender on Monday and appear in court Monday afternoon, according a source familiar with the matter.

— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) November 12, 2021

Now, you have something of a history with Mr Bannon, don't you?

I mean, you were with him in Adams County the night the House voted to hold him in contempt, weren't you?

Why, yes, yes you were.

In case the facts are fuzzy, let me set the stage. It's Adams County (in your legislative district, isn't that right?) and it's the Annual Eisenhower Dinner, hosted by the Adams County Republican Committee

This is how the committee described the evening:

Enjoy Dinner and an evening with political strategist and host of Bannon’s War Room, Steve Bannon, Senior Fellow at Family Research Council, Joseph Backholm, founding President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, Michael Geer and PA District 33 Senator Doug Mastriano. Meet likeminded Republicans who share conservative values here in Adams County, throughout Pennsylvania and across our Nation.

Two quick questions: Did you discuss Bannon's contempt charge with him that night? What would Ike have thought of the Trump-mob's attack on The Capitol on January 6?

Anyway, just before that conference, the contemptible Bannon said this:

“One of the reasons I accepted the gracious invitation of Charlotte Shaffer, the chairman, was that this was the railhead of where 3 November started, the counter reaction, the great conference,” Bannon said on War Room.

Bannon was referring to an event in Gettysburg at which former Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani publicly protested the election results. Mastriano organized that event as a member of the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee.

So Bannon himself said that "the counter reaction" to what your party insists (with no actual evidence, by the way) is a fraudulent election started with your event in Gettysburg that November.

And of course, I don't think I need to remind you (or anyone else reading this) of your wanderings around the Capitol on January 6 or your lies about it later or how Trump singled you and Representative Scott Perry in his discussions with DOJ to overturn the 2020 election.

Given all this evidence regarding your involvement with the January 6 insurrection (either directly or indirectly) I have a few more questions for you:

• Are you concerned that Steve Bannon will implicate you in something?
• Are you expecting to be subpoenaed by the Congress?
• Was it worth it? 

With all the respect I can muster,

Dayvoe

Feel free to pass this on to State Senator Doug Mastriano.

Wendy Bell, The Virus, And that CDC FOIA Letter

Outraged. Wendy Bell is outraged, my friends.

An astute reader sent a link with a brief message:

I found Wendy’s source for her outrage today.

The link is to this article at the right-wing "news" source The Blaze. The lede:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not have any records of an unvaccinated person with a COVID-19 reinfection transmitting the virus to another person and admitted that it does not collect such information. 

Keep that in mind as you read through how Wendy outrages on it. 

At about 9:52 in to her Facebook rant, Wendy outrages:

Because I told you, when you fight with adults, that's one thing. But when you go after our kids the gloves are off and it's war. And the war I'm waging today is against any person, any governor, any president, any doctor, any teacher, any school administrator, any lackey county executive who tells you your kid should be vaccinated.

And I'm going to tell you why.

Ah. A golden-oldie. And anti-vaxx rant!

She continues the outrage:

And the war I'm waging today is against any person, any governor, any president, any doctor, any teacher, any school administrator, any lackey county executive who tells you your kid should be vaccinated.

And I'm going to tell you why.

I have a seething bitterness in my mouth.

We have been lied to. We have been manipulated. We have been threatened. The bribes of yesterday are now the tracking of you and your decision making of today. With the ultimate goal being getting a syringe that your does not need in their body now.

Any my friends, we have the proof that it's not necessary.

The jig was up long ago but I think the nail in the coffin of Covid and the fear and the hysteria and the manipulation and the endless lies on TV -

[She makes some sort of Doo-doo-doo sounds here] - Breaking news ticker.

And the sheep being led, believing that they could actually have faith not only in their government but in the science and the data.

And this is what she looks like when she says "science and the data":

Oh, look! Another golden-oldie! The Wendy Finger quotes!

On to what Wendy's thinks is proof of the guv'ment's Covid lies:

It's all garbage.

And the one person who's peeled back the nasty scab of this giant farce is a young lady by the name of Elizabeth Brehm – she happens to be an attorney in New York.

Siri & Glimstadt is her lawfirm. And this one individual in September, because she couldn't get the answers that she needed, had to file a request, had to go to the court system and file a Freedom of Information Act request – a FOIA asking for something that we should all have easily accessible at our fingertips.

She requested from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention something very specific:

Documents reflecting any documented case of an individual who never received a Covid-19 vaccine, was infected with Covid-19 once, recovered, then later became infected again and spread Covid to another person.

Somebody who didn't get the jab but who had Covid, who recovered. Then somehow got Covid again and spread that virus to someone else during that reinfected status.

The CDC responded to this young woman just a few days ago admitting they have no evidence of someone - whose natural immunity pumps beautifully through their ever perfect body - no evidence of someone who's been infected and recovered spreading the virus to another human being.

Why is that significant?

Because there's no reason for people who've had this virus - and we can safely estimate that 150 million Americans have – there is no reason to force vaccination on anyone who has natural immunity.

None.

And they know it.

Wendy seems to be making the point that a vaccine mandate is unnecessary for someone who's already had Covid because having Covid gives someone something called "natural immunity" (something that "pumps beautifully through their ever perfect body") and therefore no vaccine is ever needed after. Ever.

She also draws the wrong conclusion about what the CDC actually said in their FOIA response. Which was:

A search of our records failed to reveal any documents pertaining to your request. The CDC Emergency Operations Center (EOC) conveyed that this information is not collected.

But go back and look at what Wendy said and what she's hoping her adorings infer from what she said.

No evidence.

But the CDC said they don't collect such evidence - not that there's no evidence to collect.

There's a difference.

So is there actual science regarding what Wendy's outraging on?

Yes. For example there's this:

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been much uncertainty about how long immunity lasts after an unvaccinated person is infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Now a team of scientists led by faculty at Yale School of Public Health and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte have an answer: Strong protection following natural infection is short-lived.

“Reinfection can reasonably happen in three months or less,” said Jeffrey Townsend, the Elihu Professor of Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health and the study’s lead author. “Therefore, those who have been naturally infected should get vaccinated. Previous infection alone can offer very little long-term protection against subsequent infections.”

Wendy, have a nearby medical professional explain this to you. It's the study mentioned above. It shouldn't be that difficult to find an MD close by, right?

"Natural immunity" wanes. That's the point here. So does immunity gained from the vaccines - hence the need for the booster.

Then there's this: A comparison between the chances of being reinfected and the chances of a post-vaccination "breakthrough" infection are also the subject of, uh, science.

Like here:

Among Kentucky residents infected with SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, vaccination status of those reinfected during May–June 2021 was compared with that of residents who were not reinfected. In this case-control study, being unvaccinated was associated with 2.34 times the odds of reinfection compared with being fully vaccinated.

Or here: 

Among COVID-19–like illness hospitalizations among adults aged ≥18 years whose previous infection or vaccination occurred 90–179 days earlier, the adjusted odds of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 among unvaccinated adults with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were 5.49-fold higher than the odds among fully vaccinated recipients of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine who had no previous documented infection (95% confidence interval = 2.75–10.99).

But don't mistake me, reinfection is rare according to this academic medical center in Houston: 

While rare, reinfection with COVID-19 is possible

Immunity isn't universal, and it's certainly not simple. Case reports and studies also show that reinfection with COVID-19 is possible — albeit rare.

"Another recent study found that not only can a person get COVID-19 a second time, reinfected individuals can carry significant amounts of the virus without showing any symptoms — raising concern about inadvertent transmission of the virus during reinfection," warns Dr. Martinez. 

Wait. Stop. Look at all that again. Doesn't all that medical science more or less completely contradict Wendy Bell's non-medical assertions about how vaccines for the already infected are unnecessary because of all that natural immunity beautifully pumping through all those ever perfect bodies?

I am sorry, Wendy, that the science doesn't agree with your feelings on this matter. But let's be clear: Facts don't care about your feelings.

The more you steer members of your audience away from the vaccines the more you're putting their health and well being at risk. 

That's also a fact that doesn't give a damn about your feelings.

More On Sean Parnell's Political Troubles (And The Moral Corruption of The GOP)

Let's not spend too much time on Candidate Sean Parnell's domestic issues. 

We all know the testimony, what's been alleged, and so on.

All of that is very serious, of course, and domestic abuse is never something to be swept aside.

But the only thing new in this story is that the judge has yet to make a ruling.

But there's another angle to Sean's troubles: the political fallout from the domestic abuse allegations.

We'll start with CNN:

In the last two weeks, the Parnell campaign -- already endorsed by former President Donald Trump -- has canceled two fundraising events, according to two people familiar with the events. One of those events, a virtual call last Friday pitched to donors as a forum for asking Parnell anything, was abruptly canceled that morning, just days after the first day of the custody trial.

 

In addition, some advisers and staff have said they are considering resigning from their roles with the campaign, those same two people told CNN.

And:

"I think it's safe to say the donors have all fled," one Republican donor in Pennsylvania told CNN. "These are really difficult accusations for a lot of people to look past."

Uh-oh, Sean. What are you gonna do?

Though CNBC has this:

A Parnell ally said most donors and other political supporters are waiting on a ruling in the custody case before they make any moves.

But what a hook upon which to hang one's hat. IF a judge decides in his favor - basically (though I am sure there are a great many other legal issues at play here) that his testimony is more believable than hers, then the donors from the "family values party" will return and shower Sean with that sweet sweet GOP donor cash.

Something I hadn't seen popped up on CNBC that, perhaps, those GOP guardians of conservative family values should take a look at:

But during her testimony last week, Snell gave previously unknown details about what she says prompted her to seek the orders. Snell testified that Parnell once choked her on a couch to the point that she had to bite him to break free, The Inquirer reported. She said his abusive behavior started before their marriage in 2010 and became worse in 2018, the year they separated.

According to The Inquirer, she testified that Parnell called her a "whore" and a "piece of s---" while pinning her down. She testified that in 2008, when she was pregnant with their first child, Parnell briefly forced her out of their vehicle during a trip and told her to "go get an abortion."

Setting aside the serious allegations of domestic abuse made in the testimony (allegations made under oath in a case that's yet to be decided), take focus, instead, at the dates in those two paragraphs:

• Marriage in 2010
• Pregnant with their first child in 2008
  

Imagine if this was a quarter century ago and that Sean Parnell was a Democrat. Imagine the GOP values outrage at just that. But now, if the judge rules in his favor, Sean's in the clear with the guardians of our new Trumpian social order.

This is how far the GOP has fallen.

Presidents are not kings, and [Donald Trump] is not President.

 From Politico:

A federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s effort to block Jan. 6 investigators from accessing White House records related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, determining that he has no authority to overrule President Joe Biden’s decision to waive executive privilege and release the materials to Congress.

You can read the ruling here.

Wendy Bell Misuses The VAERS Data. Again.

We don't have to go far into Wendy's discussion about VAERS to see her duplicity.

About 1:23:17 in we hear Wendy say:

So the CDC's VAERS website, the VAERS pages, the "Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System" is really very illuminating. 

Though it's shocking that a Stanford Study many years ago discovered that only between one in nine percent of all adverse events or one in ten percent are actually reported.

It is a grossly under-reported figure.

So you can only imagine if we say ten adverse events, the number could be as high as one hundred, could be higher than that.

Truly, it's dizzying if you think about it.

But this rush to vaccinate children is really a rush to find a blank check to big pharma.

So you've got twenty-eight million school kids between the ages of five and and twelve who are now in that new bucket that the greedy among us want to basically syringe.

Even though we know that they're 99.998% likely to survive a Covid infection, OK?

Two points here. About that "that only between one in nine percent of all adverse events or one in ten percent are actually reported" part - that's misleading.

And it's misleading because Wendy always omits the VAERS disclaimer:

VAERS accepts reports of adverse events and reactions that occur following vaccination. Healthcare providers, vaccine manufacturers, and the public can submit reports to the system. While very important in monitoring vaccine safety, VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. The reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. In large part, reports to VAERS are voluntary, which means they are subject to biases. This creates specific limitations on how the data can be used scientifically. Data from VAERS reports should always be interpreted with these limitations in mind.

There's more to the disclaimer but you get the gist.  

The VAERS data is not intended to be complete or comprehensive. It's the first place investigators would go to see if there are any patterns of events, not a complete assessment of those events.

Anytime Wendy Bell talks about the VAERS numbers without mentioning the disclaimer, she's misleading her public.

Now onto that second percentage.

She says that there are 28,000,000 kids between five and twelve and that they're 99.998% "likely to survive a Covid infection."

Now do the math. Assuming her numbers are accurate (yea, I know) that still means that Wendy Bell is OK with the estimated deaths of 560 school kids between five and twelve.

Wendy Bell, The Angel of Death.

"Pro-life" Wendy Bell Misleading On Covid Vaccines. Again. (UPDATED)

As is tradition, we'll start with a tweet from the dogged, unrelenting Jon:

Shameless.

Anti-vaxxer Wendy Bell talks about Sean, a 17 yo who died a few weeks ago & also was vaccinated. She found his dad on Twitter, doesn’t know his name but texted him to get him for her latest @meta video so she could use him to spread more vaccine disinformation. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/udtHxAd7YI

— JON (@JonInPGH) November 6, 2021

And move on quickly to what The Angel of Death says. We catch her mid-thought at the beginning of the video:

They had a vaccination requirement. And so his father took him to get vaccinated. And Sean died.

He died September 27. He had been healthy. His dad didn't know anything wrong with his son.

I'm not a medical examiner. I'm not going to tell you why he passed away.

I'm just going to tell you that a beautiful life on this earth is gone.

And he's not the only one. 

And so I have carried this young boy's image around with me. And I think it's so much part of the fuel and the fire I have inside of me to fight back against preventing us from having an honest conversation about what we're doing.

She then moves on to another vaccine story.

Let's take a look at Wendy's telling of Sean's story and what is reasonable to assume the message she's trying to communicate to her many many adorings. 

From these three simple declarative sentences, can we assume anything about what Wendy is trying to say:

• They had a vaccine requirement.
• His father took him to be vaccinated.
• And he died.

Yes. Wendy is saying that Sean died because of the vaccine - that his getting the jab (and thus the mandate, uh, mandating it) led directly to this young man's death. Of course she is. This is why she's telling this story.

She's smart enough legally (but careless enough rhetorically) to mention that she's not a medical examiner and so can't actually tell you why/how this 17 yr old died.

So what's the truth here? Can we find any more facts than what's found in Wendy's bullet points?

This might take a while. Go get yourself some coffee (or tea or perhaps a good glass of Château de Chasselas - it's very passable, very passable indeed, I've heard).

I'm back. That didn't take long.

Here are some more facts:

BEETON, ONTARIO – A 17-year-old boy has died shortly after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Sean Hartman, a student at Banting Memorial high school, got the shot at the beginning of September. He unexpectedly passed away at home on September 27th. He died as a result of a heart attack according to this Twitter user. Sean got the vaccine so that he could play hockey in an arena where the vaccine is mandated.

But wait. There's more!

Remember when Wendy said she's not a medical examiner (and thus couldn't comment on how/why Sean died)? And I said that point would come back to haunt her rhetorically?

Why do you think I wrote that?

Because an actual medical official has commented on Sean's death. A month ago.

Take a look:

The region’s top medical official addressed rumours surrounding a Beeton teen’s death, saying there is nothing to suggest it was in connection to a recent COVID vaccine.

A 17-year-old teen from Beeton passed away suddenly on September 27. Since his death, rumours have circulated on social media that he died as a result of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

“The individual had received a dose of vaccination more than a month before passing away,” said Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. “There was nothing in his history or medical records to suggest an adverse reaction of significance or myocarditis, despite what may be portrayed on social media.”

“There were some social media at play, positioning that this individual had developed symptoms and had been very ill shortly after having received their vaccination. And in fact, that was not the case,” continued Gardner, who confirmed the teen had received one Pfizer dose.

And:

There’s nothing in the investigation to date to suggest that there is a causal association between that person having received immunization and his unfortunate passing.

This was, as I said, one month ago. This has been on-line for a month and I found this in about 20 minutes. Why didn't Wendy find it?

Or did Wendy find it and just simply chose not to tell her adorings? 

Why is she afraid of a truly honest conversation about this?

Meanwhile, more than three quarters of a million of our fellow citizens have passed away from this virus. How many beautiful lives is that, Wendy? 

The simple, honest truth, Wendy is that the more you work to turn your fans away from the vaccine that science has shown will protect them from the virus, the more you're putting their health at risk.

You, Wendy. You're putting their health at risk, Wendy. You.

Yours is not a pro-life position. You know that, right?

UPDATE: An astute reader emailed me with this comment:

David, while I ordinarily enjoy your blog it is important for me to point out a very serious personal experience that has raised doubts about the safety of vaccines. In 1956 my brother was given the polio vaccine. Then he died. In 1994. Coincidence? I am not a medical examiner but I do have many opinions, so that should suffice.

Also, you might be startled to learn that not one person who has received the Pfizer Covid vaccine has survived longer than 16 months after receiving it.

This reminds me. Wendy? Anytime you want to email in a comment, I promise to post it here verbatim - with the caveat, however, that I get to critique it relentlessly. For as long as I want. As many times as I want. Whenever I want.

[Verbatim means: in the exact words : word for word]

[Caveat means: a warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations]

[Critique means: review or analyze critically]

Jon Snags Wendy Bell In (Yet Another) Hypocrisy

Take a look:

Wherein Darling Wendy is extremely passionate that abortion is a choice that should be a woman’s choice and should be regulated in no way. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/AxZzcYx7LR

— JON (@JonInPGH) November 4, 2021

I don't listen to/watch The Wendy and Brock show so I am missing if there's any sort of context here so I am guessing that Wendy was triggered by this (or something like it): 

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that Pope Francis told him he was a "good Catholic" who can receive communion, widening a gulf between Francis and conservative U.S. bishops who want to deny it because of Biden's support for abortion rights.

I just realized that since this source is Reuters and Reuters is a real news source, Wendy probably didn't get this directly from Reuters.

Perhaps it was the AP by way of Breitbart:

President Joe Biden received Communion at St. Patrick’s Church during Saturday Vigil Mass, a day after saying Pope Francis told him he should continue to partake in the sacrament, despite the opposition of some conservatives in the U.S. upset with his position on abortion.

Biden and his wife, Jill, visited the English-speaking church that is the main place of worship for the American Catholic community in Rome and is located near the U.S. Embassy. The president stopped in between events at the Group of 20 world leaders’ summit taking place in the city this weekend.

While Biden regularly receives Communion in his home dioceses in Washington and Delaware, it was significant that he also received Communion in Rome. The pope technically is the bishop of Rome, and while he delegates day-to-day administration to his vicar, St. Patrick’s parish is technically in the pope’s archdiocese. As such, Biden received Communion in the pope’s archdiocese.

And while Catholic expert Wendy Bell asks (in that first tweet):

How can people who love God, who love the church, who go to church, take communion and be for abortion? How?

Rev. Joe Ciccone, the Catholic priest who officiated that day in St Patrick's in Rome explains:

“Communion is what brings us together in the Lord. None of us are pure and perfect. We struggle through life. We’re all saints and sinners,” Ciccone told The Associated Press after the service.

Good to know that Wendy Bell is a better, more informed Catholic than the priests in the pope's archdiocese.

Will she ask the same question about Catholic politicians who favor the death penalty?  How about those Catholics who instructed police to "shoot on sight" protesters protesting memorial statues of Confederate traitors?

Like Wendy Bell.

More On Sean Parnell's Domestic Issues

Let's go see how far the story's gotten.

First, there's Politico, a DC-based political news source:

Sean Parnell’s military thriller “Man of War” contains graphic scenes of violence against female characters, raising additional questions about his attitude toward women in the wake of court testimony that he physically and verbally abused his estranged wife.

Parnell, who has emerged as the frontrunner in the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary, portrays multiple scenes of men assaulting women in the 2018 novel, the first of four in a fiction series written by the Army combat veteran.

Those scenes are in a new light following his wife Laurie Snell’s testimony under oath Monday that her husband strangled her and assaulted their children. Those were among the explosive allegations made in a child custody hearing, an account of which was reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Then there's this from Forbes: 

Pennsylvania Senate candidate Sean Parnell’s wife accused her husband of physical abuse during a Monday court hearing, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, a claim Parnell denied — as the Trump-endorsed Republican faces a child custody battle.

And then there's this from The Independent, in the UK: 

The estranged wife of Republican senate candidate Sean Parnell has levelled serious physical and emotional abuse allegations against him.

Laurie Snell testified before a family court under oath on Monday over the custody of their three children that the Republican candidate from Pennsylvania choked her until she had to bite him to escape.

She also accused him of hitting their young children and said he used obscenities and insults against her, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

But this may be the worst news for Sean. The story's made it into People:

The estranged wife of leading Senate candidate Sean Parnell spoke under oath in Pennsylvania court on Monday about what she described as his harrowing history of violence toward her and their three young kids — which he adamantly denies.

I could snark on how this story making it into People (PEOPLE!) is really bad, but I don't think that does this situation any justice.  This is very serious. Other than the culture-wide reach of People, what's really bad (for Sean) in that piece is now much it relies on Paula Reed Ward's reporting from Monday in The Trib.

Ward supplied some coverage I hadn't seen elsewhere and it only serves to underscore the severity of the story:

Laurie Snell said that about three months into their relationship, she was talking about an ex-boyfriend when Parnell threw a chair across the kitchen.

“I’d never seen anybody get so angry,” Snell said. “It scared me to death. I left. I didn’t want anyone to hit me.”

She said she contemplated ending the relationship, but learned later that day that she was pregnant.

“It started from the beginning,” Snell said. “It just got worse and worse. It was constant.”

Snell testified that when she and Parnell were driving along Interstate 79 over Thanksgiving 2008 and she was several months’ pregnant, Parnell pulled over on the side of the highway.

“‘Get out of the car. Go get an abortion,’” she said he told her.

He drove off, but then backed up along the highway and she got back in the car.

The screaming continued for hours, Snell said.

And this was at the beginning of the relationship as it was three plus "several" months in.

Yea, nothing to snark about.

Again, for the record Parnell denied Snell's story:

In a statement released by his campaign, Sean Parnell disputed her claims and said he would “set the record straight” when he testifies next week.

“We anxiously await the opportunity to refute these hurtful, baseless allegations,” the statement said. “Let me emphatically state: I have never raised a hand in anger towards my wife or any of our three children. What happened today in court was not justice, nor did it have any basis in fact or truth. Next week, I’ll have an opportunity to present the truth to the court and I look forward to that opportunity.”

Everyone deserves his/her/their day in court. It's only fair.

Unfit. Sean Parnell Is Unfit.

This story starts here at The Philadelphia Inquirer:

The estranged wife of Republican Senate candidate Sean Parnell testified under oath Monday that he choked her until she bit him to escape, that he hit their young children, and that he lashed out at her with obscenities and insults.

In tearful testimony, Laurie Snell told a family court judge that her husband once called her a “whore” and a “piece of s—” while pinning her down. On another occasion, she said, Parnell slapped one child hard enough to leave fingerprint-shaped welts through the back of the child’s T-shirt. And she said he once got so angry he punched a closet door with such force it swung into a child’s face and left a bruise. She said Parnell told his child: “That was your fault.”

She also testified that after a Thanksgiving trip in 2008, he briefly forced her out of their vehicle alongside a highway after raging at her, telling her to “go get an abortion.”

From Parnell's campaign website: 

I am pro-life, and will always vote to protect the unborn.

 Also, Thanksgiving 2008 was 13 years ago. According to The Week:

Monday was the first of three days of custody hearings in family court. Snell is seeking primary custody of their three children, ages 8 to 12.

Um. 

For the record, there's this from The Inky:

In a statement released by his campaign, Parnell, a decorated Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and was endorsed this summer by former President Donald Trump, vigorously disputed his wife’s claims, calling a number of them “lies” and said he was looking forward to rebutting them when he presents his case next week.

”Let me emphatically state: I have never raised a hand in anger towards my wife or any of our three children,” the statement said. “What happened today in court was not justice, nor did it have any basis in fact or truth.“

The story's gotten a lot of traction making it all the way out to:

• The Washington Post
• Rolling Stone 

If Laurie Snell's story is true (I'm not doubting it - she did testify under oath, y'know - I'm just setting up an if-then argument) then Sean Parnell has no right to be within 100 yards of her or their children.

But that part's for the court to decide.

If Ms Snell's story is true, then she's a victim of domestic abuse.

And Sean Parnell is unfit to hold office.