In Case You Missed It: Fulton County In Contempt?

And guess who's attached to this all this drek?

(We'll get to it later.)

But in case you missed it:

A Pennsylvania judge has recommended the state's high court impose civil contempt penalties against a Republican-majority county government that this summer secretly allowed a third party to copy data from voting machines used in the 2020 election lost by former President Donald Trump.

Commonwealth Court President Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer's 77-page report issued late Friday said the July inspection and copying of computer data from machines rented by Fulton County was a willful violation of a court order designed to prevent evidence from being spoiled.

She recommended that the justices find that the county, based on the actions of Republican Commissioners Stuart Ulsh and Randy Bunch, "engaged in vexatious, obdurate, and bad faith conduct" in their lawsuit against the Department of State over whether a 2021 inspection by another outside group meant the machines could no longer be used.

You can read the recommendation here. 

Basically this is what happened:

103. Commissioners Ulsh and Bunch knew that by allowing the Speckin Inspection to proceed, they would be in violation of the Supreme Court’s Injunction Order. (pg 46)

But let's look at to some of the stuff adjacent to this recommendation, shall we?

 Like this from Reuters: 

Pennsylvania's top election official has decertified the voting equipment of a rural county that participated in an audit of the 2020 election requested by a Republican state lawmaker and staunch ally of former President Donald Trump. 

Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid said on Wednesday that Fulton County violated the state election code by giving a third party access to its election databases and other certified equipment in an audit of the 2020 results. 

The audit was conducted in December at the request of Republican state Senators Doug Mastriano and Judy Ward, who asked county officials to allow Wake Technology Services Inc to probe the county's results, according to media reports.

Didja see it? Didja? DIDJA?

But what's this about "Wake Technology Services Inc" and how does it relate to the "Speckin Investigation" mentioned in the recommendation? 

Basically, this happened:

The Secretary decertified the Dominion Voting Equipment in Fulton County’s possession after the County permitted a third-party consultant known as Wake TSI, Inc. (Wake TSI) to inspect the Voting Equipment following its use in the 2020 General Election.

Then this happened:

On July 8, 2021, several months after Wake TSI’s investigation and report, the Secretary issued “Directive 1 of 2021” , which prohibited county boards of elections from providing physical, electronic, or internal access to third parties for purposes of conducting an examination of state-certified electronic voting systems.

Then this:

On October 18, 2022, the Secretary filed an application in the Supreme Court requesting an order holding Fulton County in contempt and imposing sanctions, alleging it violated the Supreme Court’s Injunction Order by allowing a different third party known as Speckin Forensics, LLC to inspect the Dominion Voting Equipment at issue in this litigation on July 13 and 14, 2022.

Which led to this:

All chain of custody has been broken, and it is now impossible to determine what the state of the Dominion Voting Equipment was immediately after the Wake TSI Inspection. That is, the Speckin Inspection rendered the Voting Equipment unreliable as evidence of what Wake TSI did, and it is impossible to reverse that effect.

And so on.

And it all began with this: 

The company that is conducting a hand recount of nearly 2.1 million Maricopa County ballots conducted an election audit in rural Pennsylvania county at the request of a state senator who has been a prominent advocate of the “Stop the Steal” movement that has spread baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Donald Trump.

According to records and news coverage from Fulton County, Penn., state senators Doug Mastriano and Judy Ward asked county officials to allow Wake Technology Services Inc. to conduct an audit of the election. Ward, who represents the rural county in southern central Pennsylvania, told the Arizona Mirror that she passed the request on to county officials at Mastriano’s behalf.

Now the he lost the governor's race (I'd say "Thank God!" But, according to Doug, God was supposed to make sure Doug won.), shouldn't someone ASK DOUG MASTRIANO WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT:

• Wake Technology?
• Speckin Forensics?

Scratch the surface Trump's coup for any reference to Pennsylvania and you find DOUG MASTRIANO.

State Senator Doug Mastriano has a lot to answer for.

Mastriano Lost And He's Still Lying About His Loss.

Let's start here:

Sort of a weird (albeit more benign) form of election denialism going on here? Mastriano here repeats a claim that was pointed out as false yesterday. (https://t.co/IkS8v6IPG8) pic.twitter.com/dTNHw4otCI

— Chris Potter (@CPotterPgh) November 17, 2022

So just HOW WRONG was this? Ryan Deto (above) has the facts about the real numbers of votes.

But what about how those numbers relate as percentages of the total?

Let's look there (these are Wikipedia numbers, BTW).

2022:

Shapiro: 3,000,503 votes or 56.3% of votes cast

Mastriano: 2,230,260 votes or 41.9% of the votes cast

2014:

Wolf: 1,920,355 votes or 54.9% of votes cast

Corbett: 1,575,511 votes or 45.1% of the votes cast

2010:

Corbett: 2,172,763 votes or 54.5% of votes cast

Onorato: 1,814,788 votes or 45.5% of the votes cast

2002:

Rendell: 1,913,235 votes or 53.4% of votes cast

Fisher: 1,589,408 votes or 44.4% of the votes cast

If my numbers are accurate, of the previous 6 gubernatorial elections in Pennsylvania (2022, 2018, 2014, 2010 and 2006) fully half of the losers in each race (see above) got a larger percentage of the total vote than did Doug Mastriano in 2022.

Let's see. 

Doug got the real numbers wrong and the numbers as percentages wrong. 

Gets me to thinking that his trying to muster up some sort of popularity cred by pointing out his factoid without any context makes St Sen (and failed GOP cand. for PA Gov) Doug Mastriano doubly dishonest about his massive massive embarrassing loss.

In Case You Missed It, There's This

From The NY Times:

The Senate on Wednesday took a crucial step toward passing landmark legislation to provide federal protections for same-sex marriages, as 12 Republicans joined Democrats to advance the Respect for Marriage Act, putting it on track to become law in the twilight of the Democratic-held Congress.

The 62-to-37 vote, which came only days after the midterm elections in which Democrats retained control of the Senate but lost the House to Republicans, was a rare and notable last gasp of bipartisanship by a lame duck Congress as lawmakers looked toward an era of political gridlock.

This is the legislation, by the way.

And it says:

In general.—No person acting under color of State law may deny—

“(1) full faith and credit to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State pertaining to a marriage between 2 individuals, on the basis of the sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin of those individuals; or

“(2) a right or claim arising from such a marriage on the basis that such marriage would not be recognized under the law of that State on the basis of the sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin of those individuals.

Why is this important? Let's go back to The Times:

The push to bring it up for a vote began over the summer, after Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in his opinion in the ruling that overturned the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision, which had established abortion rights, that the court also “should reconsider” precedents enshrining marriage equality and access to contraception.

Here's what Justice Thomas wrote:

The Court today declines to disturb substantive due process jurisprudence generally or the doctrine’s application in other, specific contexts. Cases like Griswold v. Connecticut, (right of married persons to obtain contraceptives); Lawrence v. Texas, (right to engage in private, consensual sexual acts); and Obergefell v. Hodges, (right to same-sex marriage), are not at issue. The Court’s abortion cases are unique, and no party has asked us to decide “whether our entire Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence must be preserved or revised.” Thus, I agree that “[n]othing in [the Court’s] opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”

For that reason, in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Because any substantive due process decision is “demonstrably erroneous,” we have a duty to “correct the error” established in those precedents. After overruling these demonstrably erroneous decisions, the question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated.

So, yea.

The Orange Vulgarity Has Returned.

If you missed it, I'll let The Times fill you in:

Donald J. Trump announced his third run for the White House in a rambling speech late Tuesday, retreading old themes as he sought to remake himself as a political outsider for his 2024 run.

And so on. 

The news was met by some deep fact-checks:

• The NYTimes
• CNN

And so on.

But let's let the last paragraph of this Washington Post piece sum up Trump's political baggage.

And he has profoundly altered the tenor of American public life — shattering long-held standards of decorum and civility with often shocking attacks on political rivals, judges and reporters. He has frequently made racist and antisemitic remarks, mocked people with disabilities and denigrated developing countries, bragged about sexual assault and paid hush money to a porn star, praised dictators, declined to disavow extremists, inspired his supporters to resort to violence and defended white supremacists and Jan. 6 rioters.

That's a lotta links.

Feel free to peruse them at your leisure.

Well, It IS A Concession, But...

By now we all know that failed GOP gubernatorial Doug Mastriano has conceded.

But look closely at how he does it and what he says when he does it.

Take a close look at paragraph Five:

Pennsylvania is in great need of election reform. As I write this, the final results of the 2022 Mid-term Elections are still not available. We can and must do better to make our elections more transparent, secure and more quickly decided. Pennsylvanians deserve to have faith in our elections. In my role as a State Senator, I will do my very best to help Josh Shapiro deliver that to Pennsylvanians and, if he does, I will be the first to acknowledge and applaud his achievement.

Let me get one chunk of Doug's dishonestly out of the way early.

Second and third sentences:

As I write this, the final results of the 2022 Mid-term Elections are still not available. We can and must do better to make our elections more transparent, secure and more quickly decided.

As a member of the state legislature knows full well that it's the law that the counting has to take as long as it does. Doug Mastriano knows full well that the state legislature could have changed this. The mail-in and early ballots, for example, could have been counted as they arrived if only the law allowed.

And yet while he's telling his followers that it's part of the system that still must be changed for them to regain their faith in the system, he knows full well that the GOP dominated state legislature could have changed it, but chose not to.

But the bigger question here is: How do you think the words in Doug's fifth paragraph will land in the ears of Doug's many followers? Those whose faith in the system, for example, was degraded when they swallowed whole Doug's big lie that the 2020 election was stolen and that Pennsylvania's insecure voting system was part of the cause?

After reading the above paragraph, how easy would it be for them to think that Doug's victory was also stolen but there's nothing he can do about it right now so he's doing what's right by conceding anyway?

When you've grasped that, you're hearing Doug's dog-whistle to the 2.2 million that voted for him.

Keep that in mind when you read what Doug wrong after thanking his voters he says:

This was indeed "The People's" movement. It's a movement that defied the odds, and it's a movement that will continue to defy the odds. It must.

But still it's a concession, I suppose.

Mastriano Concedes [Reformatted]

Here it is: 

And so on

November 11 - A Repost

 Happy Birthday, Stanley Tucci, Gen George S. Patton, Demi Moore, and Calista Flockhart.

And of course, a Happy Birthday to Kurt Vonnegut who wrote this:

I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.

Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.

So I will throw Veterans' Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't want to throw away any sacred things.

What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.

And all music is.

All music is sacred.

So it goes.

Things Only A Few Days Old That Did NOT Age Well

This, for instance:

pic.twitter.com/2iFf0RpKrU

— Doug Mastriano (@dougmastriano) November 8, 2022

 Or this:

The red waves began with the red moon today pic.twitter.com/6CSz93a5Wq

— Doug Mastriano (@dougmastriano) November 8, 2022

Or this:

“We had Josh Shapiro putting out an ad on me, condemning me because I’m very Trump-like. Thank you very much for that ad. This is going to be a huge red wave in November,” Mastriano told Steve Bannon on his show on Monday.

As of this writing The NY Times has:

• Shapiro: 2,958,399 (56.1%)
• Mastriano: 2,220,692 (42.1%)

A difference of about seven hundred and thirty-seven thousand votes. This is with 95% of the votes in so expect the numbers to shift a little.

But still. That's a huge margin. 

When will failed GOP cand. Doug Mastriano concede?

Fetterman WINS! Shapiro WINS! (Oz Loses! MASTRIANO LOSES!!)

A Democratic win in The Senate:

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the unconventional, tattooed figure into whom Democrats poured their hopes of preserving their tenuous hold on the Senate, defeated Mehmet Oz to capture Pennsylvania’s Senate race on Tuesday, according to New York Times projections, flipping a seat that had been in Republican hands.

This had been Sen. Pat Toomey's seat. 

As of this writing (bet on this changing) the NYTimes has Fetterman up 2,587,382 (50.2%) to 2,441,145 (47.4%) votes. A difference of about 146,000. That's with 94% of the votes in. Expect the numbers to shift a bit.

Now let's look at the race that God himself involved himself in.

Back in April, before the primaries, St Sen (and now failed GOP cand. for PA Gov) said a few words at a QAnon rally called "Patriots Arise." And this is what he said. This is what Doug Mastriano said:

Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano told the QAnon "Patriots Arise" event last weekend that he'll win election in November because "my God will make it so." And once he does, Mastriano promised to make Florida look like "amateur hour." https://t.co/MBqq24ad1a pic.twitter.com/mNDiEXkXDv

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) April 26, 2022

Well, something got in the Almighty's way yesterday:

Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and Pennsylvania’s attorney general, won the governor’s race in the state early Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. He defeated Doug Mastriano, a Republican who was central to efforts to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results.

This had been Gov. Tom Wolf's seat. 

As of this writing, the Times has Shapiro up 2,862,252 (55.5%) to 2,199,592 (42.7%) votes. All the caveats from above hold here. Expect these numbers to shift a tad (or a skosh, depending). It's a difference of about 662,000 votes with 93% of the votes in.

Of course election denier Doug is going this route:

Election denier and far-right state Sen. Doug Mastriano refused to concede the gubernatorial race in Pennsylvania late Tuesday, despite most major networks calling him the loser before midnight.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro had a gargantuan lead of more than 11 points over Mastriano with about 80 percent of votes counted by midnight, according to the Associated Press. Most major outlets called the race for Shapiro, including AP, NBC News, Fox News and CNN.

But Mastriano wasn’t having it. “There’s about 30 percent of the votes still to go, we’ve got a ways to go,” he told supporters. “Have faith, we’re gonna, uh, of course, we’re gonna have faith and have patience. We’re gonna wait until every vote counts, right?”

I dunno. 600,000 votes is a yuge number to overcome with only 7% (or so) of the votes yet to be counted.

NOW GO VOTE!

Vote as if your health depended on it.

Because it does.

Vote as if the health and safety of the women in your life depended on it.

Because it does.

Vote as if the freedoms our friends in the LGBT+ community depended on it.

Because it does.

Vote as if democracy and the rule of law depended on it.

Because it does.

What's At Stake. (Oz and Mastriano on Choice)

First, let's look at what our GOP friends want for our society.

Doug Mastriano:

Asked whether he believed in exceptions for rape or incest or to save the life of the mother, he replied during a primary debate, “I don’t give a way for exceptions.”

Dr Oz:

There should not be involvement from the federal government in how states decide their abortion decisions,” Oz said. “As a physician, I’ve been in the room when there’s some difficult conversations happening. I don’t want the federal government involved with that, at all.

I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.

That's what they want for Pennsylvania (and the nation).

Meanwhile, this is what's happening in the places lovingly emancipated by Roe v Wade:

The federal government has launched its first confirmed investigation of an alleged denial of an abortion to a woman experiencing a medical emergency.

And:

The Missouri investigation involves the case of Mylissa Farmer, 41, who went to Freeman Hospital on Aug. 2, after her water broke nearly 18 weeks into her pregnancy, followed by bleeding and cramping. Physicians there reportedly recommended terminating the pregnancy because it was not viable, Farmer had lost amniotic fluid, and she faced a risk of serious infection. Her case is described in detail in an Oct. 19 article in the Springfield News-Leader, which Farmer, in a brief interview with KHN, said was accurate. Farmer confirmed she was contacted and questioned in October for the EMTALA investigation.

According to the newspaper article, Farmer’s physicians, after consulting with Freeman Hospital’s legal team, told her they could not offer her the standard procedure to terminate the pregnancy — dilation and evacuation — due to Missouri’s law banning all abortions, which took effect June 24.

According the Springfield News-Leader, Farmer made this assessment:

Farmer's options were limited in Missouri: "Sit and wait in the hospital for however long it took for her heartbeat to either stop, or for infection to set in or for me to bleed to death. We didn’t like those options."

This is cruel and the cruelty is the point.

Nationwide, this is what's going on:

Hamstrung physicians and limited access to reproductive and non-reproductive care stemming from states’ “broadly worded laws” were in the spotlight during a Tuesday House Subcommittee meeting polling medical experts and abortion advocates on the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The majority of witnesses called before the Democrat-led Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy characterized abortion as a private healthcare decision between a pregnant person and their provider.

Medical professionals who testified also corroborated media reports from the past month describing practitioners who were told by their organization’s lawyers to withhold certain procedures until a patient’s condition deteriorated to the point where their life was at risk.

“Physicians are struggling every day. These are not rare examples,” American Medical Association (AMA) President Jack Resneck, M.D., said during the meeting. “The lack of flexibility due to that government intrusion is very frightening.”

The party of limited government is doing this, doing this right now. This is what's at stake (among other things, of course) this election.

If it hasn't happened already it surely will. Some woman someplace will die because a hospital legal team under threat by that state's "pro-life" legislation interposed itself between that women and the medical staff trying to save her life. Thoughts and prayers.

If you're more concerned about inflation and vote republican, great. You just said you're willing to let a few women suffer and die just so you can put more gas in your car. 

Congratulations.

The cruelty is the point.

And Now. A Word or Two From The White House

 

The New York Times has a transcript.

Some important points:

In this moment, we have to confront those lies with the truth. The very future of our nation depends on it. My fellow Americans, we’re facing a defining moment, an inflection point. We must with one overwhelming unified voice speak as a country and say there’s no place, no place for voter intimidation or political violence in America. Whether it’s directed at Democrats or Republicans. No place, period. No place ever.

And:

We the people must decide whether we will have fair and free elections, and every vote counts. We the people must decide whether we’re going to sustain a republic, where reality’s accepted, the law is obeyed and your vote is truly sacred.

We the people must decide whether the rule of law will prevail or whether we will allow the dark forces and thirst for power put ahead of the principles that have long guided us.

 And:

Well, I think, first, we believe the vote in America’s sacred, to be honored, not denied; respected, not dismissed; counted, not ignored. A vote is not a partisan tool, to be counted when it helps your candidates and tossed aside when it doesn’t. Second, we must, with an overwhelming voice, stand against political violence and voter intimidation, period. Stand up and speak against it.

And so on.

No, They Haven't. (Mastriano Silent on Right Wing Political Violence)

This is an answer to yesterday's blog post.

As far as I can tell (with a search on each at google and twitter) neither St Sen Doug Mastriano or Rep Guy Reschenthaler have had the decency to denounce the hammer attack on Speaker Pelosi's husband Paul.

On the other hand, over at the Mastriano-controlled FB page Mastriano Memes, they're spreading the latest Pelosi attack conspiracy theory.

Why do I say that it's Mastriano-controlled?

This is why:

Republican Pennsylvania governor candidate Doug Mastriano’s official campaign Facebook account is also helping with another group on the social media site: a Facebook group which has for months featured a stream of xenophobic, transphobic, and antisemitic memes.

The campaign’s role in the public group—called “Mastriano Memes”—has not been previously reported, but Mastriano’s official Facebook account was still an active administrator for the page as of Monday evening.

So no movement on denouncing right wing political violence and no movement tamping down on the right wing that fueled that violence.

Got it. More info on who St Sen (and now GOP cand for PA Gov) Doug Mastriano really is.

Have They Denounced DePape Yet?

Hey, you remember Sean Parnell, right?

He was the leading GOP candidate for PA Senator until, well, you know.

You remember how he said, at one time, "If you don't denounce the mob, you embrace the mob."?

Keep that phrase in mind.

Let's now go look and see what David Wayne DePape told the SFPD:

DEPAPE stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her. If Nancy were to tell DEPAPE the truth, he would let her go, and if she lied, he was going to break her kneecaps. DEPAPE was certain that Nancy would not have told the truth. In the course of the interview, DEPAPE articulated he viewed Nancy as the leader of the pack of lies told by the Democratic Party. DEPAPE also later explained that by breaking Nancy's kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions. (p. 6)

This was after being Mirandized, by the way.

So we're talking torture (what? no waterboarding?) and terrorism here aren't we? Not to mention kidnapping a high government official and all the rest.

When he broke in, he also had zip ties and rope with him.

He broke in, was going to restrain Paul Pelosi until The Speaker arrived and then torture her until she told him what he had already concluded was "the truth" in order to show the rest of the Democrats that there are consequences to actions.

Then there's this from the LA Times:

In the months before police accused him of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Friday morning, David DePape had been drifting further into the world of far-right conspiracies, antisemitism and hate, according to a Times review of his online accounts.

QAnon, Pizzagate, Jeffrey Epstein, the gamut of right wing conspiracies. 

And of course this stuff:

DePape posted videos to Facebook by MyPillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell saying that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, according to reports.

He also linked to sites with claims about the deadliness of COVID-19 vaccines.

“The death rates being promoted are what ever ‘THEY’ want to be promoted as the death rate,” one post read.

All that disinformation/misinformation fueled DePape to swing that hammer at Paul Pelosi's head.

Have any of my local right wing friends denounced this violence yet? 

• St. Sen Doug Mastriano?
• Rep Guy Reschenthaler?
• Wendy Bell?
• Wendy's assistant Brock Schneider?

I haven't found anything yet. 

NOTE: That does not mean none of the above have denounced it only that I haven't seen any evidence of it yet. 

If I find any, I will be happy to post, say, Doug Mastriano's denouncement of the attack on Paul Pelosi. If he were to, I'd be curious to see him deal with DePape's embracing of some of the same right wing conspiracies Doug pushes. Same thing with Guy or Wendy/Brock.

Because remember, if you haven't denounced something, you've endorsed it.

Doug Mastriano Is Lying To You. Again. This Time on Fox "News"

October 29, 2022 Fox "News" gave St Sen (and GOP cand. for PA Gov) Doug Mastriano a platform to say this that and the other bits of Mastriano-speak.

One of those things was this:

After all, [PA AG Josh Shapiro] is the same man who took Catholic nuns to court to force them to defy their religious convictions.  

And with that Doug Mastriano lied to all those viewers on Fox "News" - not that they'd do the work to see it, however.

It is Fox "News" we're talking about here. Home of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.

That charge about Shapiro and the nuns actually scored a three on the Washington Post Pinocchio test. 

Basically because Doug said Josh took the nuns to court and the reality is this:

“Pennsylvania did not sue the Little Sisters,” said Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor and leading authority on the law of religious liberty. Shapiro “sued the federal government, and the Little Sisters intervened.”

The Post's analysis:

The fact remains: The nuns sued to join a case that was aimed at the federal government; Shapiro did not sue the nuns. Mastriano is falsely claiming otherwise. Given that the Little Sisters ended up as a litigant, we can’t quite say this is worthy of Four Pinocchios. But Mastriano earns Three. [Emphasis added.]

Doug Mastriano is lying.

And then there's this:

On day one, I will restore common sense to our education system by banning the Critical Race and Gender Theory Studies in Pennsylvania schools.

There's only one problem with this plan:

The Pennsylvania Department of Education says critical race theory is not being taught in public schools. 

Specifically:  

Critical Race Theory is not part of or taught in any state required curriculum. Equity, inclusion, and belonging in education helps create spaces for ALL learners and staff to be their authentic selves. Discussions about cultures and identities in education are important to ensure equitable access for ALL learners. [Emphasis added.]

And so on.

CRT is not taught in the public schools.

But Doug's promise presumes that it is.

That is a lie.

Doug Mastriano is lying to you about CRT and about The Little Sisters of the Poor.

Yea, You Know They're Gonna Try...

A week or so ago, Rolling Stone published this:

To whit: 

In recent months, Trump has convened a series of in-person meetings and conference calls to discuss laying the groundwork to challenge the 2022 midterm election results, four people familiar with the conversations tell Rolling Stone. In these conversations, pro-Trump groups, attorneys, Republican Party activists, and MAGA diehards often discuss the type of scorched-earth legal tactics they could deploy. 

And they’ve gamed out scenarios for how to aggressively challenge elections, particularly ones in which a winner is not declared on Election Night. If there’s any hint of doubt about the winners, the teams plan to wage aggressive court campaigns and launch a media blitz. Trump himself set the blueprint for this on Election Night 2020, when — with the race far from decided — he went on national television to declare: “Frankly, we did win this election.”

Over at Elon's place, J.J. Abbott tweeted:

What is your media outlet doing to be prepared not to amplify false, misleading and anti-democratic narratives about Pennsylvania’s election and results?

— J.J. Abbott 📮 (@jjabbott) October 28, 2022

J. J. (Hey, J.J.! Do you prefer "Good Times" or "Abbot and Costello" references? 'Cause I got both.) follows that up with a couple of good sources for info.

Mediamatters:

Leigh Chapman, Pennsylvania’s top election official explained during a Wednesday interview that because of a state law that does not allow officials to begin counting mail-in ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day, results for Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections might not be available for “days” afterwards. Since Democrats are more likely to trust and participate in mail-in voting while Republicans are more likely to vote in-person, early tabulations could show Republican candidates with a lead that is then whittled down as mail-in ballots are tabulated over time.

And (as far as this non-expert can tell) this is the law that says so.

From Title 25 § 3146.8 

[1.1] The county board of elections shall meet no earlier than seven o'clock A.M. on election day to pre-canvass all ballots received prior to the meeting.

And: 

[2] The county board of elections shall meet no earlier than the close of polls on the day of the election and no later than the third day following the election to begin canvassing absentee ballots and mail-in ballots not included in the pre-canvass meeting.

 Something the Republican led legislature could have changed, but they didn't.

Negotiations between the Republican-led legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf to let counties begin opening mail ballots in Pennsylvania before Election Day appeared to collapse Wednesday, setting up a potential nightmare scenario that some fear could leave the state counting millions of ballots for days after Nov. 3.

The Democratic governor and legislative leaders had been negotiating behind closed doors as recently as Tuesday to change the election code after months of inaction. But the General Assembly adjourned Wednesday and is not scheduled to reconvene until Nov. 10, a week after the election.

So next time you hear your crazy MAGA friends question the authenticity of the "sudden" influx of "democrat votes" posted a day or so after election day, now you know that this is a situation the Republicans in Harrisburg could have changed, but simply chose not to.

They want it this way so they can wail about "election integrity."

Abbot also posted this link.

Let's take a look at what PA has to say about:

Ballot Security:

Ballots cast in PA are subject to strict security measures known as chain-of-custody requirements. Votes cannot be added, changed or deleted. Election results are audited for accuracy.

Learn more

Voting Machines:

PA counties choose what voting systems they use. Federal and state laws require counties have verifiable, auditable paper records and that voting machines are kept secure and tested for accuracy.

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And remember, when our MAGA friends start in on Act 77, remind them that both the GOP led House and GOP led Senate voted for it.

Including St Sen (and right wing nut job) Doug Mastriano and St Rep (and right wing nut job) Daryl Metcalfe.

J. J. posted two good sources of info so take your pick (I'll take the shovel.)

My profound Apologies: I could not resist the Abbott and Costello joke.

It was just begging to be done...

 

October 27

Yea, today.

Today in 2018, this happened: 

Eleven people have been killed and a number of others injured after a shooting at The Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday.

Police sources tell KDKA's Andy Sheehan the gunman, Robert Bowers, walked into the building and yelled, "All Jews must die." Sheehan's sources also confirmed that eleven people have died. No children are among the deceased.

So why, let's look again, did he do it?

This is why: 

“They’re committing genocide to my people,” Bowers told police during the shootout, according to an FBI affidavit. “I just want to kill Jews.” 

Investigators searched Bowers’ home with a robot on Saturday and searched his vehicle on Sunday, the FBI said. They’re looking for surveillance footage from the area that could provide clues.

For weeks before the shooting, Bowers targeted Jews in frequent posts on Gab, a social media platform that bills itself as “the free speech social network.” He used anti-Semitic slurs, complained that President Donald Trump was surrounded by too many Jewish people and blamed Jews for helping migrant caravans in Central America. 

Gab, you say? 

Is that the social media platform that St Sen (and now GOP cand. for PA Gov) Doug Mastriano paid five large for consulting services access to members?

Why, yes. Yes it is.

Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano’s campaign for governor in Pennsylvania paid $5,000 for “consulting services” to Gab, a social media platform that provides a home for conspiracy theories and antisemitic content.

Gab is the website used by Robert Bowers, who is charged with killing 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill in 2018. Bowers routinely posted antisemitic content on Gab before the shooting, according to archives of the posts.

It was earlier this year - about 3.5 years after the Tree of Life shooting. So Doug must've known Gab's history, right? I mean he's an intelligence guy, right? Thoughtful, careful researcher, right?

Anyway, Bowers' attack was an inevitable outcome of the so-called "Great Replacement" Theory.

From the ADL:

•  “The Great Replacement” theory has its roots in early 20^th century French nationalism and books by French nationalist and author Maurice Barres. However, it was French writer and critic Renaud Camus who popularized the phrase for today’s audiences when he published an essay titled "Le Grand Remplacement," or "the great replacement," in 2011. Camus himself alluded to the “great replacement theory” in his earlier works and was apparently influenced by Jean Raspail’s racist novel, The Camp of the Saints.
• Camus believes that native white Europeans are being replaced in their countries by non-white immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, and the end result will be the extinction of the white race.
• Camus focused on Muslim immigration to Europe and the theory that Muslims and other non-white populations had a much higher birth rate than whites. His initial concept did not focus on Jews and was not antisemitic.
• The “great replacement” philosophy was quickly adopted and promoted by the white supremacist movement, as it fit into their conspiracy theory about the impending destruction of the white race, also know as “white genocide.” It is also a strong echo of the white supremacist rallying cry, “the 14 words:” “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
• Since many white supremacists, particularly those in the United States, blame Jews for non-white immigration to the U.S. the replacement theory is now associated with antisemitism.
• The night before the August 2017 the Unite the Right rally, white supremacists, marching across the University of Virginia campus, shouted, “Jews will not replace us,” and “You will not replace us,” clear references to Camus’ theory.

Will St Sen Doug Mastriano be commemorating the Tree of Life shooting today? 

How about just thinking about all those dead people killed for an anti-Semitic theory spread on the "media platform" he shuttled five grand to be a part of?

Just wondering.

Last Night's Debate - The Main Takeaway

Yes, it was difficult to watch - both sides.

However if there's one thing to take away from the debate it's this:

pic.twitter.com/f7IGeJRazw

— Wegner’s Gr🎃ceries (@grocerieswegner) October 26, 2022

And remember if everything goes belly up (or "pear shaped" as our friends across the pond would say), this guy would be the chief "local politician" in Pennsylvania:

(h/t to DailyKos for image)

Does Doug Mastriano Watch 60 Minutes? Did He Watch This Sunday? (Doug's Lies About Dominion Voting)

Did he see this?

You can read along here.

It starts thusly:

It was just days after the 2020 presidential election that lawyers supporting then-President Donald Trump began spreading unsubstantiated claims that an American company - Dominion Voting Systems - had rigged the election. They said Dominion was backed by Venezuela, and that its machines and software switched millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

They never showed any evidence, but that didn't stop pro-Trump attorneys from making baseless claims, or conservative news networks from giving them plenty of airtime.

Unsubstantiated claims. They never showed any evidence. 

That didn't stop right wing politicians from spreading the lies.

Take a look here:

Pennsylvania Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano has been identified as a key figure by the House Jan. 6 committee in their investigation into the Capitol insurrection and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Mastriano repeatedly supported Trump’s election-fraud lies...

And so on.

Among those lies are Trump's lies about Dominion. For example:

• 11/12/2020 – Posts Trump tweet spreading debunked claims about Dominion voting machines altering election results.
• 11/16/2020 – Posts Trump tweet spreading debunked conspiracy theories about Dominion voting software being altered by its creators.
• 12/14/2020 – Shares article promoting baseless conspiracy theories about Dominion machines altering election results.
• 12/16/2020 – Appears on NewsMax and falsely claims Dominion voting machines were “intentionally built” to create tabulation errors. He provides no proof to support this.

Then there's this:

Mastriano emerged from obscurity to become the “GOP legislator most loyal to Trump.” Between November 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, he posted election disinformation on his Facebook page more than 100 times. Biden’s win, Mastriano claimed, was “statistically impossible.” He advocated decertifying Dominion voting machines.

And this: 

Mastriano also wants to cancel state contracts with “compromised voting machine companies,” particularly Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion machines are used in 14 Pennsylvania counties and were the subject of conspiracy theories that they flipped votes to President Biden away from President Trump in the 2020 election.

These claims are not just false. They’re the subject of a defamation lawsuit by Dominion against Fox News and One America News Network—but Mastriano wants to make state policy around them. Not “governor” material if you ask me.

And so on.

Doug must know he's vulnerable on this issue. See that link on "also wants"? It links to his "plan" for what he threatens to do if elected.

This is what it looked like when that Pennlive piece was written:

And this is what it looks like now:

See the difference?

He's removed the part about the "compromised voting machines" hasn't he?

Why?

Will Doug Mastriano correct his misstatements regarding Dominion Voting?

An honorable man would. Doug Mastriano won't.