As Expected, Sen Fetterman [Fill In The Blank]

From WHYY:

An effort to constrain President Donald Trump’s power to continue the war in Iran failed Wednesday in the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., joined U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and other Republicans in voting against advancing the war powers resolution, allowing the conflict to continue. 

Best buds. 

Some background on Fetterman's "reasoning":

Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.

I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that.

Empty sloganeering vs. commitment to global security — which is it?

— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 2, 2026

But what about this, Senator?

From a White House statement dated June 25, 2025 (posted with a headline that reads):

Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated — and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News

Donald Trump said:

Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!

So was it or wasn't it obliterated less than one year ago, Senator? 

Let me remind you, Senator, of something that happened during the conflict that you're supporting.

At least 175 people, most of them likely children, were killed in a strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran on Saturday, health officials and Iranian state media said.

And:

Several videos and images verified by The New York Times showed that at least half of the two-story school was destroyed in the explosion. Emergency workers with the Red Crescent could be seen alongside families desperately combing through the rubble, which was littered with schoolbooks and book bags covered in blood and ashes. Portions of the building jutted out from the rubble, with bits of colorful murals visible on what were once the walls of the school. Desks were piled with debris.

Donald J Trump's war - and now yours. 

This is the Trump train you're on now, Senator:

Intentionally attacking a school, hospital or other civilian structure is a war crime, and indiscriminate strikes also violate the law. Even if schools are used for military purposes, the law requires armed parties to avoid or minimize harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Any comment, Senator?  Anyone else, feel free to send this to Senator John Fetterman.

I am pretty sure a group of your constituents will be at your office in Pittsburgh tomorrow. Maybe you want to justify the slaughter of 175 schoolgirls to them?

 

 

 

Another Question for Sen McCormick

While the rest of the world is focused on Iran, I wanted to run this one by Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick.

It's about this:

Watch the whole thing, if you can.

And now we turn to Dave. 

On a number of topics (most notably, on the killings of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti), Sen McCormick has warned against "irresponsible rhetoric" leading to violence.

But he's very careful not to point in any one political direction. Readers can read into that what they wish - both in what how he avoids specificity and how I described it.

On the other hand, here's a few examples from last night, posted by CBS:

Our reporting found hundreds of threats were left on judges voicemails. This one after a judge ruled the president had violated the First Amendment:

Recording of threat: I hope your whole family and everybody you love is raped in front of you and has their heads cut off.

That president being Donald J Trump, of course.

And before anyone "both sides" this:

Judge Jones: The national rhetoric from both sides has probably gotten worse over time. However I would not concede that the Democratic party or or that Democratic office holders have conducted themselves in any way that's similar to what this is administration is doing with respect to the federal judiciary. There's simply no evidence of that.

Judge Jones (a retired federal judge from Pennsylvania and a George W. Bush appointee) also said: 

In very plain English: if we're not careful we're gonna get a judge killed. It's just that stark.

So if Senator McCormick was sitting across from me right now, I'd ask him, plainly and starkly, if he'll denounce the irresponsible rhetoric coming out of the White House, rhetoric that is an obvious threat to the nation's judicial system.

What say you, Senator?

I'll be contacting the Senator's office with this in a minute or two. 

If you feel so compelled, perhaps you can, too.

Watch This

I found this on FB.

Science

We'll start with the anti-science from RFK Jr (as reported by the Beeb): 

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to cancel $500m (£376m) in funding for mRNA vaccines being developed to counter viruses that cause diseases such as the flu and Covid-19.

That will impact 22 projects being led by major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, for vaccines against bird flu and other viruses, HHS said.

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic, announced he was pulling the funding over claims that "mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses".

This was published August 5, 2025. 

And now the science from a few months later (as published by JAMA): 

In this national cohort study of 28 million individuals, the results found no increased risk of 4-year all-cause mortality in individuals aged 18 to 59 years vaccinated against COVID-19, further supporting the safety of the mRNA vaccines that are widely used worldwide.

Specifically, the study was to answer this question:

Are COVID-19 mRNA vaccines associated with the long-term risk of all-cause mortality?

So it seems that science has an answer and, simply put, that answer is "No."   

Science. 

 

ICE Mistreats Women

Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick is on the record regarding ICE, saying:

I support ICE officers and other federal law enforcement personnel who risk their lives daily to protect our communities and uphold the rule of law.   

I'm wondering if this "devoted husband and father of six bright young women" is fully aware of what ICE officers are doing to some women in this country - particularly in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

From The Minneapolis Star Tribune: 

The young Muslim woman was shackled at the ankles. For 24 hours, she was locked inside a bathroom with three men at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, she said. They were given no bedding or pillows. Meals consisted of one sandwich a day.

The sink faucet did not work, but the single toilet did. When the men pulled down their pants to use it, the woman hid her face.

For context, this unnamed woman is a legal refugee waiting on a green card.

There's more:

After the young Muslim woman spent nearly 24 hours locked in the bathroom with the three men, agents moved her to a different locked bathroom in the building’s basement, she said.

When she had her period, agents told her to use toilet paper. When she felt dizzy and vomited twice, agents did not grant her request for medical care. When they gave her a sandwich, she didn’t eat it, fearing it contained pork.

And then after all that, this is what happened:

On the fifth day, agents drove her and two other recently released detainees to a light-rail station near Whipple. They took off her handcuffs and told her to call an Uber, even though she didn’t have a phone. She borrowed one from another detainee.

As they released her into the cold, she recalls their simple words: “You are good to go.”

The Star Tribune also reports about two other women:

The lead plaintiff in an ACLU lawsuit said she was knocked into a snowbank by ICE in December while observing ICE arrests from a sidewalk in her neighborhood. The woman, Susan Tincher, a longtime resident of Minneapolis’ Near North neighborhood, was detained at Whipple, where she said federal agents cut off her wedding ring and parts of her clothes. She believes her treatment was retaliation for protesting ICE activity.

She was released without charges.

One detainee described to the Star Tribune seeing a Somali grandmother be denied access to her diabetes medication. A 24-year-old Somali American woman, a U.S. citizen born in Hennepin County who asked her name not be used, described agents ignoring requests for medical help from a fellow detainee with a broken finger.

The Fifth Amendment states:

No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

I'll note (again) that it does not say "no citizen." It says "no person." 

Senator McCormick, explain to me how any of this falls under an appropriate definition of "due process." 

And more importantly, Senator, how can you possibly be OK with any of this?

 

 

 

ICE OUT

From Huffpost:

 

Some text:

Italian street artist Laika has taken aim at the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement staffers at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics with a new artwork in the host country's capital, Rome.

The Cover-up Continues - More Details Emerge

I am not sure if yinz missed it (what with all the Epstein file deflection and all) but The New York Times reported something quite chilling this weekend.

After point out that hours after the shooting of Renee Good, FBI agents sought a warrant as part of a "standard civil rights investigation" into the shooting, the paper reported this:

But later that week, as F.B.I. agents equipped with a signed warrant prepared to document blood spatter and bullet holes in Ms. Good’s S.U.V., they received orders to stop, according to several people with knowledge of the events who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The orders, they said, came from senior officials, including Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, several of whom worried that pursuing a civil rights investigation — by using a warrant obtained on that basis — would contradict President Trump’s claim that Ms. Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer” who fired at her as she drove her vehicle.

So after they obtained a signed warrant to document blood spatter and bullet holes (did you catch that?) they were told to stand down. After they'd already obtained the warrant.

Renee Good was killed on January 7, 2026 - which was a Wednesday. ABC has the time at about 9:37am (local time). So that's 10:37am Eastern. Trump set the limits for the investigation about 3:30pm (Eastern) that day with this. That's only about 5 hours later.

The Times noted that the investigators were told to stop "later that week."

Good to surmise that that's sometime before the following Monday, January 12. 

The Times also reported that, after investigators were ordered to stand down, DOJ  "officials presented alternative approaches" including:

• Getting a new warrant for the vehicle - as part of a criminal investigation into Renee Good and whether her killer was assaulted by her, and then
• Opening an investigation into Becca Good, Renee's partner, about their confrontation with ICE agents that day.

On the 10th, The Times reported:

The Trump administration blocked Minnesota officials from investigating the death of the woman shot on Wednesday by a federal agent, then quietly offered this explanation: Local investigators simply could not be trusted to conduct a fair inquiry.

The investigation into the killing of Renee Nicole Good, 37, federal officials said, would be the exclusive province of the F.B.I., which is overseen by a director, Kash Patel, who has described President Trump as an unerring boss, and even a king.

On January 13, Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick has emailed me that while he supports ICE he's also believed that the "tragic events in Minnesota are deeply concerning and warrant a full and transparent investigation to ensure the facts are clearly established and public confidence is maintained."

Considering what we've just learned, it's seems highly unlikely that there's a "full and transparent investigation" into Good's killing.

I'm wondering if Dave still thinks so. 

Feel free to contact Senator McCormick's office and ask him.

I know I will.