January 31, 2022

Taste of Sicily (In Palmyra, PA) Is Putting People's Lives At Risk

You remember those good, loving, kind, wonderful people in Palmyra Pennsylvania who run an eating establishment called "Taste of Sicily" right?

They've been tussling with the guv'ment over freedom public health for a while now.

If you'll recall, about 10 months ago they were cheering the coronavirus.

That's right. These good, kind, loving, wonderful people at Taste of Sicily in Palmyra PA cheered the virus that at that point had killed Pennsylvanians in the tens of thousands and Americans in the hundreds of thousands.

Wonderful, loving, good pro-life, Christian people.

Shame on them.

Anyway, I got a tweet last night from Jon informing me of this:

You can listen to the entirety of Christine's complaint about me here.

Don't worry, my part's the just the first few minutes.

And what was it that triggered Christine so so badly?

This:


What I sent is in blue. How Christine of Taste of Sicily in Palmyra, PA responded is in grey.

After that, she blocked me from responding (as she says in the video).

So what is she doing that got me to send her what I sent?

Evidently, Christine Wartluft (owner of Taste of Sicily of Palmyra, PA) has found a sympathetic Dr and pharmacist somewhere in the state to prescribe and to distribute ivermectin to those willfully unvaccinated and yet still fearful of Covid-19.  Evidently, she's collecting contact information and shuttling it off to said Dr for those (no-visit?) prescriptions to be filled by the sympathetic pharmacist.

It's all hush-hush double secret cloak and dagger stuff because, you know, the guv'ment.

Is this even legal? I don't know. I'm asking. If it's legal then why the secrecy on Christine's part?

Whatever that answer, it still doesn't change the fact that the vaccines work and as evidence there's this chart from this website:


The last data point (December 4, 2021) shows that there were 9.74 deaths per 100,000 unvaccinated people and 0.71 and 0.1 deaths per vaccinated and vaccinated + boosted people, respectively.

And the FDA has still not approved ivermectin for treatment of Covid-19.

But hey, Christine Wartluft of Taste of Sicily over in Palmyra, PA working diligently from her tiny restaurant says she knows better than the entire medical establishment of the US Government.

So you know whom to trust.

Like Wendy Bell, she's putting people's lives at risk.

January 29, 2022

Real Journalism Triggers Wendy Bell!

Take a look at this Jon-tweet:

Wendy is talking about this piece by Lisa Cunningham in the City Paper.

Wendy's offended by Cunningham's use of facts and logic and context. Oh and Lisa's inclusion of "meow" as one of her pronouns on her Twitter page really triggers the usually even-tempered Wendy Bell.

I'm not sure why Wendy's so offended by the CP reporting. The piece opens:

Local controversial media personality Wendy Bell is joining national far-right online opinion site Newsmax.

Bell’s new show, Wendy Bell Common Sense, will premiere on Sat., Jan. 29, according to a Newsmax press release, and will examine daily news with a “lively approach to national issues.”

"People are hungry for common sense in this country, and that's what this new program is about," Bell said in the press release. "Telling the truth, having great conversations, talking about what really matters.”

All of which is absolutely true. The last paragraph is "true" in the sense that it's faithful to what Wendy said in the Newsmax press release.

Then there's some context:

Recently, she has been spreading anti-vaccine rhetoric on her website Wendy Bell Radio, as frequently reported by David DeAngelo of local blog 2 Political Junkies. During the pandemic, she also went as far as comparing those who disagreed with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's coronavirus closures to people killed in Benghazi attacks.

Both points are also true - as you can see by those links.

For this, Wendy's triggered into saying this in the above linked video snippet:

[This] quote unquote journalism is disrespectful to anyone out there who wants to be an actual journalist.

This is coming from someone who doxxed someone on the air.

I remember it like it was one year and twenty-two days ago. Here's what happened:

Wendy Bell Radio has sponsors and an otherwise concerned citizen called one of those sponsors, in this case a company called "Sierra Experts" (who can be reached at at 412 379-8333, by the way) and left a message that was critical of our wonderful and completely ethical Wendy Bell.

Wendy explained (in public!) what happened next:

That woman left, what she thought was an anonymous phone call at my advertisers. Well, my advertisers are really smart people. And they don't like it when people they don't know, who aren't customers of theirs, try to browbeat them into submission to join "Joe Biden's America." So one of my advertisers managed to unravel the no-caller ID private line blocked number and I got to see the number.

Wendy Bell then found out the woman's name, a picture of her, her phone number, her place of employment and then Wendy Bell told her adoring listeners to call the woman to harass her.

So Wendy, you don't get to define or gate-keep or lecture anyone on "journalistic ethics" ever again. I don't give a flying fuck how many Emmys you won in your earlier life. You doxed someone on the air.

Let me say that again, Wendy.

You doxed someone on the air and that led to your victim being harassed by your followers.

And that's reprehensible behavior for a human being, don't you think? And I haven't even mentioned the medical misinformation you routinely regurgitate into the brains of your fans.

As a followup to this blog post, I asked Lisa Cunningham for her a comment regarding Wendy's charges. She responded:

I think it's important to highlight Wendy Bell's problematic past, and her misinformation, not for clicks or for laughs, but to educate readers on the difference between factual journalism and misguided right-wing opinions that have the potential to put people in harm's way. Readers can, and will, make up their minds on whether they will listen, but they should have the information available before they do so. Pittsburgh City Paper writers are not activists, but we do lean left in the stories that we choose do cover, not in our balanced reporting on those subjects. But we make no apologies for believing that Black lives and LGBTQ lives matter. That's not activism, that's human dignity.

Damn! That was so much better than what I wrote!

January 28, 2022

Local Coverage Of Wendy Bell's Upward Fail!

Yesterday we learned of The Angel of Death's upward fail into Chris Ruddy's Newsmax.

At that point, there had been no local SWPA news coverage of Wendy's trip upward into the dominion of  Newsmax conspiracy theories.

However as the day progressed that situation changed.

I wanted to see whether the local coverage of Wendy's hiring included her history of being fired for her "controversial" (read: racist and fascist) statements.

I was not disappointed.

There was Joshua Axelrod over at the P-G. After doing the what where whys, he included this:

She spent 18 years at WTAE-TV before being fired in 2016 for posting racist comments about a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg. Bell landed at KDKA Radio in 2019 but was taken off the air in September 2020 after suggesting that park rangers should “shoot on sight” anyone caught vandalizing public monuments.

WJAS Pittsburgh took a chance on Bell in January of last year before taking her off the air in May. She has been hosting the “Wendy Bell Radio Program” on the Wendy Bell Radio Network app since leaving WJAS.

BTW, I didn't include any WJAS material in my coverage as I was filling in the gaps in the press release from Newsmax - and Newsmax didn't mention WJAS. 

Then there's former Tribune-Review writer Eric Heyl over at Patch:

Bell's last Pittsburgh job was at WJAS, which she left in May after just four months on the air. St. Barnabas Radio, which owns the station, attributed her departure to an unspecified personnel matter. Bell joined WJAS in January 2021, three months after she parted ways with KDKA-AM.

KDKA took the former WTAE-TV anchor off the air then after she suggested that park rangers should shoot people who vandalize monuments honoring historical figures. In October 2020, the station said KDKA and Bell had agreed to mutually part ways.

This piece was also mirrored at msn.com, BTW.

I have no idea why he left out the racist Facebook posting. Eric, if you're reading this, feel free to email me and let me know why you left out Wendy Bell's racist Facebook posting. It was kind of a BFD.

Finally, there's Lisa Cunningham over at the CP:

Bell was fired in 2016 after she posted a message on Facebook about a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg, which was called out for being racist. In September 2020, Bell was taken off the air from her radio host position at KDKA Radio following comments she made on-air advocating for park rangers to shoot protesters while talking about demonstrators protesting Mt. Rushmore in summer 2020.

During her time at KDKA Radio, she also questioned if it was worth shutting down many parts of the American economy to avoid millions of Americans dying from coronavirus, causing advertisers to pull from her show.

After losing her job at KDKA Radio, Bell hosted a show on her Facebook page, which accumulated tens of thousands of viewers, but her account was banned from posting videos for spreading misinformation.

Yep. Lisa hit all the right notes. Go take a look. Her news sourcing is impeccable. 

In spite of all that, let's remember what Chris Ruddy said of our Angel of Death:

"Wendy Bell has had a remarkable career as a television journalist and radio host, and throughout it all has been an advocate of common sense and American values," Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said. "We are glad to have her on the Newsmax team." 
Chris, you apologized to Dominion for your stuff on their voting machines. Did you know that Wendy pushed the same BS?

Did you know that?

January 27, 2022

Wendy Bell Fails Upward!

 An astute reader sent me this link yestiddy:

Newsmax Media Inc. announced Wednesday that 21-time Emmy Award-winner Wendy Bell on Saturday will premiere her new show, "Wendy Bell Common Sense," which will examine the news of the day with a lively approach to national issues.

Yay.

Longtime readers of this blog will recognize the name "Newsmax" but in case one needs a reminder, let's take a look at Newsmax and it's founder, Christopher Ruddy.

Let's start here:

Christopher Ruddy founded the West Palm Beach, Florida-based Newsmax in 1998 with a $25,000 investment along with Richard Mellon Scaife, who owned the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, where Ruddy worked as a national correspondent. According to a report in Forbes, the duo quickly raised $15 million from 200 private investors and then bought them out in 2000. Ruddy now owns a 60 percent stake with the rest owned by Scaife.

This was 12 years ago, so there's no reason to think the ownership is the same. But it's good to know Ruddy's pedigree, isn't it?

And what did Ruddy do at the Trib when he "worked as a national correspondent" you might ask?

This

The day after Vincent Foster, the deputy White House counsel, was found dead in Fort Marcy Park, an old Civil War fort on the Potomac, Christopher Ruddy says, a Government official investigating the matter told a colleague to ''handle this as a normal case.'' ''It's not a normal case,'' the colleague replied.

No kidding. The Park Police, the F.B.I., Special Counsel Robert Fiske and Foster's family all concluded that he had killed himself where he was found. But for four years a floating crap game, including Clinton bashers, radio hosts, Net crawlers, kooks, Jerry Falwell and a few journalists, has questioned the verdict, suggesting or insisting that he died elsewhere or by some other hand.

Christopher Ruddy first wrote about the Foster story for The New York Post and for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a daily newspaper owned by the conservative millionaire Richard Scaife.

Yea, that's right. Chris Ruddy was the "Vince Foster Was Murrderred" guy. 

Something not even The Starr Report agreed with:

An exhaustive three-year investigation by the office of Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr has reaffirmed previous findings that White House deputy counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr. commited suicide.
So tell me again why Christopher Ruddy has any sort of journalistic credibility?

Oh yea, that's right. He started Newsmax with a steaming pile of Scaife money.

But let's get back to Wendy's upward fail, which BTW fits in with this reporting from The Washington Post. It's from more August of 2020 and the headline reads:

Anyway, here's how Newsmax characterizes Wendy's recent job history. There are certainly some gaps in the coverage. I've inserted some necessary corrections to make them obvious (Note: everything in bold is my addition/correction):

Host of the "Wendy Bell Radio Program," heard nationally weekdays 9 a.m. to noon ET, Bell worked in television for the nationally syndicated show "American Journal," NBC affiliate KSDK in St. Louis, and ABC’s Pittsburgh affiliate WTAE, where she became the station’s main anchor and most decorated reporter. [And she then she was fired for a racist Facebook posting.]

She moved into radio in 2018 as the lone conservative female voice on southwestern Pennsylvania airwaves, hosting an afternoon-drive program on KDKA 1020 AM. In less than one year, Bell’s talk show climbed from 17th to second place in the market, handily beating Sean Hannity. [And then she was fire from KDKA Radio for pushing the idea that those protesting statues honoring Confederate generals should be shot "on sight."]

There. Fixed it.

Needless to say, Newsmax continues:

"Wendy Bell has had a remarkable career as a television journalist and radio host, and throughout it all has been an advocate of common sense and American values," Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said. "We are glad to have her on the Newsmax team." 
This is what they're thinking after omitting Wendy's racism and fascism.

Evidently, they're OK with Wendy's racism and fascism. They just don't want their readers to know.

So far, no local coverage of The Angel of Death's upward failure.

I'll keep you posted.

January 26, 2022

Question For PA State Senator Doug Mastriano (Who's Running For Governor, BTW)

I'm wondering if Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano is getting (even more) nervous about this news from CNN:

Federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certifications that declared former President Donald Trump the winner of states that he lost, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told CNN on Tuesday.

"We've received those referrals. Our prosecutors are looking at those and I can't say anything more on ongoing investigations," Monaco said in an exclusive interview.
 
The fake certificates falsely declaring Trump's victory were sent to the National Archives by Trump's allies in mid-December 2020. They have attracted public scrutiny amid the House's January 6 investigation into the pressure campaign that sought to reverse Trump's electoral defeat.

Elsewhere in the news, we learn: 

Trump campaign officials, led by Rudy Giuliani, oversaw efforts in December 2020 to put forward illegitimate electors from seven states that Trump lost, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the scheme.

The sources said members of former President Donald Trump’s campaign team were far more involved than previously known in the plan, a core tenet of the broader plot to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory when Congress counted the electoral votes on January 6.

Giuliani and his allies coordinated the nuts-and-bolts of the process on a state-by-state level, the sources told CNN. One source said there were multiple planning calls between Trump campaign officials and GOP state operatives, and that Giuliani participated in at least one call. The source also said the Trump campaign lined up supporters to fill elector slots, secured meeting rooms in statehouses for the fake electors to meet on December 14, 2020, and circulated drafts of fake certificates that were ultimately sent to the National Archives.

Trump and some of his top advisers publicly encouraged the “alternate electors” scheme in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico. But behind the scenes, Giuliani and Trump campaign officials actively choreographed the process, the sources said.

A few weeks after all those fake electoral certificates were signed sealed and delivered, Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano tweeted:

Towards the end of the letter, Doug writes:

BTW, that "disparity" had already been debunked by then. It was based on incomplete data, not true, fake, incorrect so on and so forth. But the state GOP pushed it anyway.

We already know that Doug hosted Rudy at that information desert they called a hearing back in November, 2020:

At the request of Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Cumberland/Franklin/York), the Senate Majority Policy Committee is holding a public hearing Wednesday to discuss 2020 election issues and irregularities. The hearing will feature former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Senator Mastriano, are you concerned that your name will come up (as it inevitably will) during the DOJ's investigation into Trump's attempted coup? Was there a discussion of the upcoming fake certificates at that hearing, Senator? How much did you know about the fake certifications signed on December 14?

Don't you think the voters of Pennsylvania have a right to know?

January 21, 2022

Well, It's Happened.

Earlier today, Jane Pitt tweeted:

However maddening this may be, it is also immensely, immensely sad.

Up until now, this story - my warnings to Wendy about how her use of medical misinformation is putting her fans' health at risk - has always been somewhat academic for me.

But now it's been made utterly and irretrievably real.

A woman named Kay, who lived in Greene County with her husband of 37 years and who so approved the Wendy and Brock show that she linked to them daily when their show was still on Facebook, has died of Covid-19.

She died January 17.

As I said, this is immensely sad.  "I told you so" (if aimed at Kay) is not an option here. Let me say that again "I told you so" is not an option. A human being has died. A family is grieving. Chuckling at their grief is just cruel.

Yes she was on the wrong side of some very stupid choices. But would she have made them were it not for Wendy Bell's incessant crooning of Covid misinformation?

I think not.

This did not have to happen, Wendy. This adoring fan of yours did not have to die. 

You did this, Wendy. You.

Evidently, Wendy guzzled up all your vaccine-hating, ivermectin-loving, VAERS misinformation for months and months and months. And now we know the result.

She's dead.

How many more have there been, Wendy?

How many more of them will there be?

Wendy Bell is the Angel of Death.


Oh. My. God. Wendy Bell IS Going To Get People Sick

Take a look at her latest BS Board:

Seems pretty damning to the cause, right? Using a CDC Mortality Report, Wendy is "proving" that:

Natural Immunity Protects Against Reinfection & Hospitalization

Um. Not when you actually look at that damn report. Here's a screen shot:

Notice anything?

The data stops at November, 2021.

Gee, Wendy. Has there been any change or variation in the virus since November, 2021?

Wait, let me answer that for you. It only took me a minute so it'll probably save Brock an hour out of his busy day assisting you.

Take a look at this from the CDC:

The B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) was first detected in specimens collected on November 11, 2021, in Botswana and on November 14 in South Africa; the first confirmed case of Omicron in the United States was identified in California on December 1, 2021. [Emphasis added.]

So basically none of the data from the study you cite to prove "NATURAL IMMUNITY PROTECTS US!" is about the Omicron variant.

None of it, Wendy.

And what's happened since?

This:

The extremely transmissible Omicron variant is spreading quickly across the United States, making up a vast majority of U.S. cases after becoming dominant in the week before Christmas. 
And:

In New York City, Boston and Chicago — cities with some of the country’s earliest Omicron surges — deaths have followed cases at a slightly reduced scale than in previous peaks. But because of the extraordinarily high case count, even a proportionally lower death toll from the current case curve in the United States could be devastating.

In early-hit cities, hospitals are seeing more patients testing positive for Covid-19 than at any time last year. Because of the sheer infectiousness of the Omicron variant, many who arrive at the hospital for other ailments test positive for the coronavirus. Some doctors have also said that patients who do have Covid as a primary diagnosis are faring better than during previous waves.

Even so, the number of Covid-19 patients who need intensive care or mechanical ventilation is approaching levels not seen since last winter. And the sheer number of patients is overwhelming to hospitals, where staffing shortages are putting health care workers under immense strain.

This is from about 2 weeks ago. How did you miss it? You used to be an award winning journalist. How did you miss this?

And as far as protection due to previous Covid infection, there's this:

While it likely provides protection against severe disease, immunity from previous infections does little to hinder infections with Omicron. The first clues that Omicron could evade immunity came from South Africa, where scientists estimate that at least 70 percent of people have had Covid-19 at some point in the pandemic. An unexpectedly large fraction of Omicron cases involved people who had previously been infected.

When Omicron surged in England, British researchers similarly found that many people infected with the new variant had already survived Covid. The researchers estimated that the risk of reinfection with Omicron was about five times that of other variants.

So Wendy. Someone stumbling across your BS Board might come away with the (incorrect) notion that were infected by Covid previously (either in its original or in a variant) they would be protected from Omicron now.

And that would be false, wouldn't it?

By presenting this BS as a complete fact, you're putting people's health at risk, Wendy.

Doesn't that mean anything to you at all?

When you go to sleep at night, do you ever wonder how many people ended up in the hospital simply because they trusted you? Or how many of those many have died?

How do you sleep after wondering that?

This is why you are The Angel of Death.

January 19, 2022

Rudy Giuliani SUBPOENAED (Pennsylvania/Mastriano Connection)

We'll start, my friends, with the January 6 Committee subpoena:

Pursuant to the authorities set forth in House Resolution 503 and the rules of the House of Representatives, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (“Select Committee”) hereby transmits a subpoena that compels you to produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by February 1, 2022, and to appear for a deposition on February 8, 2022.

 The Select Committee is investigating the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack and issues relating to the peaceful transfer of power, in order to identify and evaluate lessons learned and to recommend to the House and its relevant committees corrective laws, policies, procedures, rules, or regulations. 

The Select Committee’s investigation has revealed credible evidence that you publicly promoted claims that the 2020 election was stolen and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of the election results based on your allegations. Between mid-November 2020 and January 26 (and thereafter) you actively promoted claims of election fraud on behalf of former President Trump -

At this point in the text, there's a footnote to a document from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York. It's the court's decision to suspend Rudy Giuliani from practicing law in New York State.

Aren't you curious about why I am going down this route?

Take a look at page 9-10:

Respondent repeatedly stated that in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania more absentee ballots came in during the election than were sent out before the election. The factual “proof” he claimed supported his conclusion was that although Pennsylvania sent out only 1,823,148 absentee ballots before the election, 2,589,242 million absentee 10 ballots were then counted in the election. This factual statement regarding the number of ballots mailed out before the election was simply untrue. The true facts are that 3.08 million absentee ballots were mailed out before the general election, which more than accounted for the over 2.5 million mail-in ballots that were actually tallied. Notwithstanding the true facts, respondent repeatedly advanced false statements that there were 600,000 to 700,000 fabricated mail-in ballots, which were never sent to voters in advance of the election.5 Respondent made these false claims during his November 8, 2020 radio program, Uncovering the Truth with Rudy Giuliani & Dr. Maria Ryan, during a November 25, 2020 meeting of the Republican State Senate Majority Policy Committee in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania [Emphasis added.]

There it is. That would be this meeting organized by Pennsylvania State Senator (and GOP candidate for Pennsylvania Governor) Doug Mastriano: 

At the request of Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Cumberland/Franklin/York), the Senate Majority Policy Committee is holding a public hearing Wednesday to discuss 2020 election issues and irregularities. The hearing will feature former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Hello Senator Mastriano!. Did you think I wasn't going to look for a connection to you in Rudy's subpoena? 

Your December 25 meeting is clearly referenced in the document. That's a BFD, don't you think?

Anyway, the letter to Giuliani ends with this:

Accordingly, the select committee seeks documents and a deposition regarding these and other matters that are within the scope of the select committee’s inquiry.
So Senator Mastriano: 

  • Are you worried that in his deposition to this congressional committee, the disbarred and discredited Rudy Giuliani will be mentioning you at some point? 
  • Are you worried that he might have to pass on to this committee documents with your name on them?
  • Are you worried that they might want to talk to you about your involvement in Trump's attempted coup?

If you're not worried about the above, don't you think you should be?


January 18, 2022

We Have An Answer! (PA Forged Electoral Certificate Story)

Former Tribune-Review investigative reporter Mike Wereschagin now working in Harrisburg filed this story yesterday at Lancasteronline:

An effort by former President Donald Trump’s campaign legal team to get Republicans in key swing states to send alternate slates of electors to Washington ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, election certification hit a snag in Pennsylvania when GOP leaders here balked, documents and interviews show.

Documents obtained by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit American Oversight show Trump electors in five swing states signed documents wrongly declaring a Trump victory as they attempted to cast their states’ electoral votes for Trump.

Republican electors in two other states — Pennsylvania and Nevada — hedged the language on their certificates to say they’d cast their votes for Trump only if his election challenges succeeded in the courts.

This was yesterday, Janaury 17.

I had this story on January 13 - 4 days earlier.

Hey Mike! Nice to see you!

But as Mike has far more resources than yours truly, he does have some interesting info on why the PA GOPers hedged the language:

While Trump supporters in five states used identical language outright declaring themselves “the duly elected and qualified electors,” their Pennsylvania counterparts insisted on saying they would only cast their votes for Trump “if, as a result of a final non-appealable court order or other proceeding prescribed by law, we are ultimately recognized as being the duly elected and qualified electors.” Trump electors in New Mexico added similar language.

We were not going to sign unless the language was changed to say ‘if.’ This was in no way, shape or form us trying to go around the election,” said Allegheny County Republican Committee Chairman and Trump elector Sam DeMarco. DeMarco has been among the highest-profile Republicans in the state to push back against false allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 election made by Trump and his allies. [Emphasis added.]

And this is what I wrote on the 13th:

For some reason [the Pennsylvania GOP electors] felt compelled to give themselves some sort of political cover. Why?

If only to show that they knew how fishy the original text was?

So I guess I was right? The PAGOP "electors" saw that the text that just happened to be used verbatim in five other states was an attempt "to go around the election" as DeMarco remarked?

Nice to get confirmed.

Hey, Mike! Any news on whether they hedged the language waiting for Trump v Broockvar?

Asking for a friend, my friend.

In related news:



 

 


January 17, 2022

January 17

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,    From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

[Text from American Rhetoric]

January 16, 2022

A Forged-Certificate Follow-Up

I want to revisit the "forged" electoral certificate I blogged about recently.

I pointed out that other states (Nevada and Wisconsin, for instance) started their documents with this:

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Wisconsin, do hereby certify the following...
Whereas the document from Pennsylvania started this way:

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, on the understanding that if, as a result of a final non-appealable Court Order or other proceeding prescribed by law, we are ultimately recognized as being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Pennsylvania, hereby certify the following...[Emphasis added.]

And I wondered why they put in the phrase that offered them some political cover. Was it because they sensed how fishy the original text was?

Then something else occurred to me. The text references a couple of would-be triggers for their elevation to real electors:

  • "a non-appealable Court Order"
  • "other proceeding prescribed by law"

And what would those have been for our fake-electors from Pennsylvania?

Let's start at the end and work our way back.

Was there any legislation working its way through the GOP controlled legislature in Harrisburg? 

The PA House concluded its business on November 20, 2020 and was scheduled to reconvene on January 24, 2021.

The PA Senate also concluded its business on November 20, 2020 but was scheduled to reconvene (unless called back early by the Senate Pres, Pro Temp) on January 14, 2020.

While there was legislation proposed in each chamber in the intervening days, none of it had anything to do with 2020 election, as far as I could tell.

So it looks like there was little, if any, legislative relief from Harrisburg to trigger these fake-electors into being real electors. 

Please check my work and correct me if I am mistaken. 

How about court cases?

Well, one would think that a "non-appealable Court Order" would have to come from a non-appealable court - namely the US Supreme Court. So what was bubbling up at the time (remember they drafted this on December 14, 2020) on its way, presumably, to SCOTUS?

One might think it was Kelly v Pennsylvania - the lawsuit filed to declare the mail-in balloting outlined in Act 77 to be unconstitutional. However The Washington Post reported, on December 8, 2020, that:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a last-minute attempt by President Trump’s allies to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania, a blow to the president’s continuing efforts to reverse his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The court’s brief order denying a requested injunction provided no reasoning, nor did it note any dissenting votes. It was the first request to delay or overturn the results of last month’s presidential election to reach the court, and it appears that Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s latest nominee, took part in the case.

This was six days before those fake electors in Pennsylvania signed that fake electoral certification.

Perhaps it was Texas v Pennsylvania, filed on December 8. As reported by The Hill:

Texas announced on Tuesday that it would be filing a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against four battleground states in an effort to halt presidential electors from finalizing President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

Texas argued that electors from Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin should not be allowed to cast their votes in part because those states unconstitutionally changed their voting procedures during the coronavirus pandemic to allow for increased mail-in ballots. Biden won all four states.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) alleges that the new voting processes in the battleground states skewed the presidential election results and asked the Supreme Court to delay Monday's deadline for the Electoral College to make Biden's victory official.

"Their failure to abide by the rule of law casts a dark shadow of doubt over the outcome of the entire election," Paxton said in a statement. "We now ask that the Supreme Court step in to correct this egregious error.”

However, on December 11:

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid launched by Texas and backed by President Donald Trump that sought to undo President-elect Joe Biden’s wins in the key swing states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The ruling dealt a death blow to Trump’s desperate and unsuccessful efforts to reverse Biden’s projected Electoral College victory.

This was three days before the fake certificate was signed.

So what could they have been thinking of?

Well, there's Trump v Broockvar - filed on December 20, only six days after the signing of the fake electoral certificates.

This is how The Philadelphia Inquirer characterized the suit:

[I]t challenges three Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions on mail ballots and says the state court overstepped its constitutional role. Those opinions, which resolved multiple cases, prohibited counties from comparing mail ballot signatures to those on file; said campaigns and political parties can’t challenge ballots as they are being processed and counted; allowed limitations on observers to the vote count in Philadelphia; and allowed ballots to count even if voters had forgotten to fill out the address or date on the envelope.

In making those decisions, the campaign argues, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court violated the Constitution by taking the state legislature’s power to determine how federal elections are run, similar to an existing argument Pennsylvania Republicans are making in a separate set of challenges. The campaign also says the state court violated the Constitution’s due process clause and equal protection guarantees.

“Collectively, these three decisions resulted in counting approximately 2.6 million mail ballots in violation of the law as enacted by the Pennsylvania Legislature,” reads the petition for a writ of certiorari, the document which asks the Supreme Court to take up the case. If the state Supreme Court erred, the campaign said, that would mean “over 110,000 invalid ballots were illegally counted — more than enough to have affected the outcome of the election, where the margin between the two principal candidates for President currently stands at 80,558.”

So is this it? If SCOTUS ruled in favor of Trump that case, was that the trigger making the fake electors real-life honest-to-goodness true-blue Trump electors? 

In reality however, The Supremes were not cooperative:

The latest Trump campaign appeal to the Supreme Court won't see any action from the justices until after the inauguration.

The justices this week set a reply deadline for Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the other respondents named in the case of Jan. 22. The campaign had asked for the Supreme Court to order those on the other side of the litigation to respond by Wednesday and have reply briefs from the Trump campaign submitted by Thursday. It also asked the court to rule by Jan. 6. But the court did not oblige.

This means that by the time Boockvar and the others the Trump campaign is seeking to take to the Supreme Court even respond to the petition, President-elect Joe Biden will already be sworn in.

One thing to point out about Trump v Broockvar. It was written (or co-written to be more precise) by John Eastman, counsel for the Trump Campaign who also wrote the Emerson Memo. CNN described it thusly:

John Eastman, a conservative lawyer working with then-President Donald Trump's legal team, outlined in a two-page memo a scheme to try to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to subvert the Constitution and throw out the 2020 election results on January 6.

The memo contains a six-part scenario for Trump's overthrow of the Constitution. 

Some highlights:

3. At the end, [VP Pence] announces that because of the ongoing disputes in the 7 States, there are no electors that can be deemed validly appointed in those States. That means the total number of “electors appointed” – the language of the 12th Amendment -- is 454. This reading of the 12th Amendment has also been advanced by Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe (here). A “majority of the electors appointed” would therefore be 228. There are at this point 232 votes for Trump, 222 votes for Biden. Pence then gavels President Trump as re-elected. 

4. Howls, of course, from the Democrats, who now claim, contrary to Tribe’s prior position, that 270 is required. So Pence says, fine. Pursuant to the 12th Amendment, no candidate has achieved the necessary majority. That sends the matter to the House, where the “the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote . . . .” Republicans currently control 26 of the state delegations, the bare majority needed to win that vote. President Trump is re-elected there as well.

The memo was presented to VP Pence on January 4 (twenty-one days after the Pennsylvania fake certificate was signed) but the plan seems to have been put in place.

However again I have to ask, why did the Pennsylvania fake-electors insert the phrase that both gave them political cover and also seemed to very closely align to John Eastman's scenario to overturn Biden's win?
 
Did they know the substance of Trump v Broockvar before it was filed? Were they privy to the substance of Eastman's memo 3 weeks before it was presented to the Veep? How much of the big picture did they know? 

Can someone ask them? Please?

January 14, 2022

A Question For PA State Senator Doug Mastriano

Senator;

Now that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has been indicted on a number of charges, including seditious conspiracy, I was wondering if you were free for a chat about that "Jericho March" you attended on December 12, 2020.

You were listed on the Jericho March press release as among the:

Political Leaders, Business Leaders, and Activists

who would be there. 

BTW, also on that list were:

RightwingWatch has this about the event:

At the Dec. 12 Jericho March rally emceed by Metaxas—at which Oath Keepers’ Stewart Rhodes threatened a bloody civil war if Trump did not remain in power—Mastriano told rallygoers not to be discouraged in spite of the “gut shot” of the night before, presumably a reference to the Supreme Court rejecting a case brought by the state of Texas contesting election results in battleground states won by Biden. Mastriano told the crowd that things had looked pretty bad in America in 1776, but God had intervened and handed George Washington victory. “This is our day,” he told rallygoers. “This is our hour. Let’s stand together. We don’t hang together, we’ll hang separately.”

So were you there when the now-indicted for Seditious Conspiracy Stewart Rhodes threatened a "bloody civil war" at that rally?

And if you were there at that point, what did you do to "obey and defend" The Constitution - as your oath of office demands

And are you worried that you might be subpoenaed?

 

January 13, 2022

Forged Certificates For Trump! (Pennsylvania Edition)

Steeped in political intrigue, this story has been brewing for a couple of days.

We'll start here:

American Oversight has obtained copies of phony electoral vote certificates from seven states that were submitted to Congress as part of the failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The fake electoral certificates were assembled by groups of Trump supporters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin who sought to replace the valid presidential electors from their state — who had been chosen by voters in free and fair elections — with bogus slates of pro-Trump electors.

None of the certificates contains any indication that they list illegitimate slates of electors not chosen by those states’ voters. [Emphasis added.]

You can find the "certificates" from Pennsylvania here (pg 32-43). We'll get to them in a minute.

Politico touched on this a few days ago:

The public focus of Congress’ Jan. 6 investigation, so far, is what happened in Washington, D.C. Behind the scenes, the probe’s state-level work is kicking into overdrive.

The House committee investigating the Capitol attack has gathered thousands of records from state officials and interviewed a slate of witnesses as it attempts to retrace former President Donald Trump's attempts to subvert the 2020 election, particularly in four key states that swung the presidency to Joe Biden. They're getting ready to take their work public, possibly as soon as the spring.

And:

The select panel asked states for any scrap of evidence to justify allegations of election fraud that Trump baselessly promoted, focusing much of its efforts on officials in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Those states found virtually no evidence of fraud, according to Thompson. [Emphasis added.]

And here's the BFD:

As Trump's team pushed its discredited voter fraud narrative, the National Archives received forged certificates of ascertainment declaring him and then-Vice President Mike Pence the winners of both Michigan and Arizona and their electors after the 2020 election. Public records requests show the secretaries of state for those states sent those certificates to the Jan. 6 panel, along with correspondence between the National Archives and state officials about the documents. 
Rachel Maddow had some visuals:

Here's where things get interesting-er. Here's the text from Wisconsin's faked certificate (pg 45):
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Wisconsin, do hereby certify the following...

And Nevada's (pg 28):

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Nevada, do hereby certify the following...

There's a word that linguists use to describe the relationship between those to groups of words: identity. This is at the heart of Maddow's (undoubtedly correct) assertion that the forged documents from those state could not be coincidental. Where did the original text come from?

Now let's look at Pennsylvania's:

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, on the understanding that if, as a result of a final non-appealable Court Order or other proceeding prescribed by law, we are ultimately recognized as being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Pennsylvania, hereby certify the following...

Look at what they added: 

...on the understanding that if, as a result of a final non-appealable Court Order or other proceeding prescribed by law, we are ultimately recognized as...

Everything else is exactly the same. For some reason they felt compelled to give themselves some sort of political cover. Why?

If only to show that they knew how fishy the original text was?

But they finessed the forgery sent it in anyway.

What does that tell you?

I'm wondering of Pennsylvania's own players in the Trump mob coup (Representative Scott Perry and State Senator Doug Mastriano) have any comment on these forgeries.

January 12, 2022

Wendy Bell Is Getting The UK Numbers Wrong! Again!

Take a look at her latest BullShit Board:

First off, take a look at Wendy's sources:

  • Infowars
  • Daily Expose

The first is the online latrine of Alex Jones. This is the same Alex Jones who had to apologize for pushing the QAnon-linked Pizzagate story. This is the same Alex Jones from this story in the NYTimes:

A state court in Connecticut granted a sweeping victory to the families of eight people killed in a 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., who had sued the far-right broadcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars media outlet for defamation.

The judge ruled on Monday that because Mr. Jones had refused to turn over documents ordered by the courts, including financial records, he was liable by default. The decision, combined with previous rulings in Texas in late September, means Mr. Jones has lost all the defamation lawsuits filed against him by the families of 10 victims.

This is how the factcheckers at Logically.ai view the Daily Expose:

The Daily Expose is a U.K.-focused conspiracy site created in November of last year, and since its establishment, it has promoted a standard portfolio of COVID-denialist, anti-vaxxer, and Great Reset myths framed as breaking news.

And:

Unusually for a conspiracy site, The Daily Expose produces original content several times per day, rather than resharing memes or articles from elsewhere. On its “about” page, it claims to use only official documents from government or scientific sources to write its stories. The writers often distort or misinterpret the information within the snapshots of the documents they use to push a number of conspiratorial narratives. For instance, The Daily Expose has claimed that vaccines were approved without any sort of safety checks and that vaccines are causing mass death. 

These are Wendy Bell's sources for this medical information.  Wendy, you were once an award winning journalist, right? Don't they teach, somewhere in Journalism school, about assessing the credibility of your sources? 

Did you forget all that or just decide it wasn't for you?

Maybe you did and for you Inforwars is credible. How did Sandy Hook turn out for Alex?

In any event, this is not the first time Wendy's played fast and loose with the UK fatality numbers.

Only 7 weeks or so ago Wendy danced this same denialist dance.

The story wasn't true then and it isn't true now - for the same reason.

I even linked back then to a page explaining your error, Wendy. Did you see it? Did you even bother to do any real research on this?

I suppose not.

So why then, Wendy Bell, are you pushing medical misinformation as if it's accurate?

By convincing people that the vaccines aren't safe, aren't effective, you're putting their lives at risk. It's as simple as that, Wendy (and Brock - you're just as guilty).

On the other hand, I'm wondering if you saw this this in The Washington Post:

In a sweeping speech on the pandemic and other global issues, Pope Francis on Monday called for widespread vaccination in all countries and suggested the global coronavirus response was being complicated by “baseless information or poorly documented facts.”

“Vaccines are not a magical means of healing,” Francis said, directly addressing vaccine hesitancy as the omicron variant surges. “Yet surely they represent, in addition to other treatments that need to be developed, the most reasonable solution for the prevention of the disease.”

Countries that have widely used vaccines, the pope noted, have seen a reduction in severe cases.

“It is therefore important to continue the effort to immunize the general population as much as possible,” Francis said.

Yea, I suppose not.

Wendy Bell, the Angel of Death.

January 11, 2022

When Do We Start Worrying About Wendy Bell's Mental Health (Part 3?)

Look at how much "air time" Wendy Bell spent on an extended Ranch Dressing metaphor:

Ranch Dressing? Really?

When do we start worrying about Wendy Bell's mental health?

January 10, 2022

Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano Announces For Governor!

Look how many people where there!

And look how many are masked!

Hey, look who was there!

Um, isn't that Wendy Bell and her husband Dr. Joe O'Toole?

Is there any verifying video of Dr. Joe being by Wendy's side at this Mastriano superspreader event?

Yes, there is:

Praising Doug Mastriano's honesty is a stretch, don't you think, Dr Joe? I mean there's this:

Internet sleuths have unearthed video from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that appears to show Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano was much closer to clashes with police than earlier statements about his whereabouts that day indicated. 

And:

After photos emerged of Mastriano posing on Capitol grounds with former State Rep. Rick Saccone not long before the breach, the senator was quick to state that he had personally steered clear of police barricades and left soon afterward.

“When it was apparent that this was no longer a peaceful protest, my wife and I left the area and made our way out of the area,” Mastriano said. “At no point did we enter the Capitol building, walk on the Capitol steps, or go beyond police lines.” 

And:

Yet over the weekend, individuals using the hashtag “#SeditionHunters,” which has been used to crowdsource information about the riot from social media and many hours of streamed video, uncovered screenshots that appear to show Mastriano much closer to the action.

In one, he is visible standing on the Capitol lawn with his wife. In another, Mastriano appears poised to stroll past police barricades as rioters push past them. 

Um, doesn't this mean that Doug Mastriano lied?

Didn't Doug also take an oath to "obey and defend" The Constitution? How do you call him "honest" when he, in violation of that oath actively participated in Trump's attempts to overturn the election?  

And Dr O'Toole, does UPMC know that you were there, maskless, at what certainly looks like a Covid superspreader event?

So who else was there?

The York Daily Record has some info:

Mastriano is part of a cadre of military men who have worked to convince Americans the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. He was flanked at his Saturday announcement by former Army Gen. Michael Flynn, who peddled unproven conspiracy theories that voting machines were hacked by the Chinese government to make Trump lose. Jenna Ellis, a Trump attorney who worked to overturn election results, also appeared with Mastriano.

 That would be one-time QAnon supporter Mike Flynn who admitted to lying to the FBI. And I say "one-time QAnon supporter" because:

Michael Flynn, who once filmed his family at a July 4 barbecue saying the QAnon oath, “Where we go one, we go all,” said in private that the Q conspiracy theory was “total nonsense” and a “disinformation campaign created by the left.”

In a recording of a phone call purportedly between Trump lawyer Lin Wood and Flynn released late Saturday night, Trump’s disgraced former national security advisor said of QAnon, “I think it’s a disinformation campaign that the CIA created. That’s what I believe. Now, I don’t know that for a fact, but that’s what I think it is. I think it’s a disinformation campaign.”

Did everyone at that Mastriano Superspreader event know that Mike Flynn thinks that QAnon is nonsense?

Finally there's this:

If you needed a refresher in what Everett Stern said about the Patriot Caucus, go here.

If you needed an update on all the "cadre of military men" involved with the Trump-coup go here

But one point to reiterate: Does the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) know that one of their doctors (cardiologist Joe O'Toole, MD) was at what looks like a huge (and thus quite dangerous) indoor Covid superspreader event? Do the other doctors and nurses and various aides who work along side him know?

Just asking.