Democracy Has Prevailed.

November 28, 2020

Wendy Bell's Conspiracy Theory (SPOILER: It's Wide And Deep And Batshit Crazy)

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

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

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

But first, let me get a little something out of the way. At about 5:00 in, Wendysplains Rudy Giuliani at Gettysburg this week:

Think about the significance of Gettysburg. Where 157 years ago - what, just last week - pivotal things were happening in this fledgling country. Where people wanted to push the expansion of slavery west and and others said, "No, we ought not own people. We are free people we are one people." And brothers fought against brothers, neighbors against neighbors in the bloodiest three days of the Civil War in what ultimately would be the turning point of the war.

Hang on, is Wendy saying that The Battle of Gettysburg was 157 years ago last week? It certainly looks like the more-factualier-than-thou Wendy Bell is saying exactly that.

Too bad The Battle of Gettysburg took place in early July of 1863 - about 4 and a half months before November of 1863. What took place 157 years ago,"just last week" was The Gettysburg Address.

How did you miss this one, Wendy? Your credibility as someone who gets her facts right has just taken a bit of a hit, right?

But let's move on to Wendy's vast batshit conspiracy. At 9:54 in on the video, she says: 

The media, not only the democrats in the elected political party in office but all of you with Biden Harris yard signs you are complicit in what must be the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on American soil and that is the thieving of the 2020 general election.

See that? Everyone who voted for Biden is complicit in the fraud! How short a step would it be from this to "Toss all the votes from those who are complicit!"

At 11:57 in Wendy sets a time frame for the conspiracy:

This has been a deliberate planned fraud. The effort to overtake the 2020 election and to secure Joe Biden's victory was not something that was hatched on November 2nd. It wasn't something that was born of Covid. Covid was a very convenient manipulating factor but this is something that has been in the works for years - I dare say decades - and it is the brazen boldness of the left - of the democrat, socialist, Marxist, communist left. [Emphasis added.]

Decades! This "planned fraud" has been in the works for decades, says Wendy. For decades!

And so how big is this conspiracy?

At 13:00, Wendy illuminates the deep darkness for us:

The primary tool of this fraud was one singular thing and that was the push for mail-in ballots. That was the way they could control how far behind Joe Biden was going to be and control how he would swing back. Of course there are many mechanisms of that, You need to have a lot of players, ladies and gentlemen. You need to have law enforcement. You need to have court officials. You need to have elections officials. You need to have legislators. You need to have a very vast network of collusion in order to pull off perhaps the greatest stunt in American history.

Huh. So this is who's also in on the conspiracy, according to Wendy:

  • Law enforcement
  • Court officials
  • Elections officials
  • Legislators

Wow. All those folks in on this decades-old conspiracy to win Pennsylvania for Joe Biden in 2020. Wendy, you indeed have a dizzying intellect.

And how high does this conspiracy go?

At 13:43 Wendy says:

So the mail-in ballots and this is where Pennsylvania, the land before time, is the greatest example of corruption we are the armpit of American corruption. And you can thank none other than our Supreme Court here in this Commonwealth. Five democrats two Republicans. 

This is what they did to grease the skids of the 2020 general election; They set the table for the scheme which was executed by our Secretary of State none other than the wholly corrupt Kathleen Boockvar. 

Number one. They redrew the legislative districts in this Commonwealth - which is not legal or lawful to do - redrew the districts. 

Number two. They rewrote the law and pushed something called Act 77 to push mail-in ballots without an excuse. It used to be that if you needed an absentee ballot or you needed to vote by mail you had to provide a legitimate reason. Act 77 waived that and said, “Nope this is the way we're doing it this is the way it's going to be.” That's unlawful period. 

And finally they established drop boxes for ballots and these drop boxes, ladies and gentlemen, were highly concentrated in Democrat districts, Philadelphia Pittsburgh and not in Republican districts. Furthermore these ballot drop boxes were never monitored so people who are only by law allowed to deposit their ballot were seen delivering 20 30 40 or more. That is the beginning of ballot stuffing.

Thanks, Wendy! Now we can unweave the roots of the conspiracy!

Let's start with the gerrymandering. In 2017 The League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit challenging the 2011 restructuring of Pennsylvania's Congressional Districts, alleging that they unconstitutionally favored the Republican Party. The Commonwealth Court that year found that while the new districts favored the GOP, this was not illegal. The case went to the PA Supreme Court (the table setters for the current electoral fraud) and on Jan 22, 2018 they ruled that:

First, the Court finds as a matter of law that the Congressional Redistricting Act of 2011 clearly, plainly and palpably violates the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and, on that sole basis, we hereby strike it as unconstitutional.

Does Wendy not know that the congressional districts are (or at least can be) redrawn every decade? So her charge that it's "not legal or lawful" to change them is simply (and laughably) incorrect. How does arbiter of the truth Wendy Bell not know this?

So Wendy, this is another hit on your mostly nonexistent credibility, right?

In any event, Wendy Bell said that the PA Supreme Court "set the table" for Biden's electoral fraud wa-a-a-y back in January of 2018 with this decision.

Do I need to point out that Vice-President Biden announced his candidacy about 13 and a half months after the PA Supreme Court declared the 2011 gerrymandered districts to be unconstitutional? Or that it would be three more months before he would have secured the necessary delegates for the nomination?

So how did this work, Wendy? Did Biden command the PA Supreme Court to do his bidding knowing that he'd be announcing more than a year later? And they paid attention to him even though he wouldn't get the necessary delegates for another 3 months after that?? Or did they command him?

Wow. That's amazingly deep planning on his part, Wendy. Kudos for being sharp enough to connect all those otherwise unconnectable dots.

Then there's Act 77. This bipartisan bit of legislation passed both houses of the Republican controlled Pennsylvania legislature in October of 2019:

  • House 138-61. By the way, this includes Daryl Metcalfe and Mike Turzai
  • Senate 30-20. By the way, this includes Joe Scarnati and Douglas Mastriano

The part of the legislation that so offends Wendy the part about mail in voting. As Gov Wolf put it:

The law creates a new option to vote by mail without providing an excuse, which is currently required for voters using absentee ballots. Pennsylvania joins 31 other states and Washington, D.C. with mail-in voting that removes barriers to elections.

And evidently, it was good enough for Metcalfe, Turzai, Scarnati and Mastriano, But Wendy Bell thinks it's illegal.

Wendy, are those four part of this "vast network of collusion" you described? Are these four among those who are part of your the decades old scheme to get Joe Biden into the White House? Did they know that they were voting for unlawful legislation? Will you be confronting them with this information? When?

And finally the drop boxes. Doesn't Wendy Bell know that this has been litigated already? Take a look:

Therefore, as this case presently stands,only three claims remain.First, whether the use of so-called “drop boxes” for mail-in ballots is unconstitutional, given the lack of guidance or mandates that those drop boxes have security guards to man them. Second, whether the Secretary’s guidance as to mail-in ballots—specifically, her guidance that county election boards should not reject mail-in ballots where the voter’s signature does not match the one on file—is unconstitutional. Third, whether Pennsylvania’s restriction that poll watchers be residents in the county for which they are assigned, as applied to the facts of this case, is unconstitutional.

And:

After a careful review of the parties’ submissions and the extensive evidentiary record, the Court will enter judgment in favor of Defendants on all of Plaintiffs’ federal-constitutional claims, decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state-constitutional claims, and dismiss this case.

The "Defendents" in this case are Secretary of State Boockvar et al and the "Plaintiff's" are Trump et al.

Trump already lost this fight, Wendy. Didn't you know? But this triggers the bigger question. You mention that "court officials" are in on this fraud, right? The author of the above decision oking the use of drop boxes is Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan. He was appointed by Donald Trump to that court in 2018. Is he in on the corruption, too?

Wendy, have you ever heard about something called "Occam's Razor"? It's a philosophical "rule" that states, in effect, that the simpler explanation is probably the more correct one (you'll forgive my over-generalization). So we have two explanations for Biden's win over Trump.

  • Wendy Bell's - who states that Biden didn't win. He cheated. And that a huge number of individuals (including some very prominent Pennsylvania conservatives) are in on the cheat.
  • Biden actually won.

Wendy, given how complicated (and heretofore invisible) your conspiracy theory is, don't you think the simpler explanation (that Biden won) is more likely correct? 

Yea, I know. That's funny. Logic doesn't work on Wendy Bell, does it?


But someone has to say this.


November 24, 2020

Wendy Bell, Yesterday. Still Unhinged From Reality

Wendy Bell continued with another ranting living room live broadcasts yesterday, (her living room being her last remaining venue after being fired from both TV and Radio for being, well, Wendy Bell).



You can see the Ireland Contracting logo on her BS/bullshit board. It includes their phone number. Do you see it? Wendy put it there. It's 1 800 NEW ROOF. Now, I am sure they do fine roofing work but do they know that they're sponsoring batshit crazy Wendy Bell? I am sure they do so there's no need to call them via the toll free number on Wendy's bullshit board to remind them that Wendy Bell is batshit crazy and they they sponsor her. That they're profiting off of her batshit bullshit. Nope. No need to do that at all.

Anyway. Wendy, after spouting some stats showing Trump's increases in the number of people who voted for him in 2020 compared to 2016 asks, about 9 minutes in:

But we're supposed to "suck it up" and believe that somehow Joe Biden, who couldn't pack his own lunch let alone a high school gymnasium with people, we're told that he, who did not campaign at all, who spent the majority of the summer and the fall in his basement "being safe" [irony airquotes here], we're told that he beat Donald Trump?

Yes, Wendy. You're told that because it's the truth.

Via the AP:

The popular vote

  • Biden (the winner) 79,887,852
  • Trump (the loser) 73,815,488

That's a difference of 6,072,488 votes, Wendy.

The electoral vote

  • Biden (the winner) 306
  • Trump (the loser) 232 

That's a difference of 74 electoral votes, Wendy. BTW, this is the exact same spread as last go-round. And of that spread (306-232) Trump said it was a "landslide." So this must be a landslide too, right??

The popular vote in Pennsylvania:

  • Biden (the winner) 3,459,246
  • Trump (the loser) 3,378,197

That's a difference of 81,049

That's a lot of votes Wendy, right? 

There's no evidence of voter fraud, Wendy. If there were then Trump's own lawyers would be presenting it in court. But they're not. So there isn't any.

How can you not see this?

Biden won, Wendy. Trump lost. By a lot.

Suck it up.


November 23, 2020

What, Exactly, Triggered Toomey's Trump-Disgust? And When?

 Not sure if you caught this, but look:


Look who's on Bernstein's list: Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey.

While it's true that Toomey finally came around this weekend and issued a statement containing those eight syllables that are, at this point still banished from the GOP/MAGA episteme: President-elect Joe Biden. 

But when did Pat Toomey express "extreme contempt for Trump & his fitness as POTUS"? 

Was it before or after he voted to acquit Trump for obstruction and abuse:

Today, I joined a majority of senators in voting to acquit President Trump. The Constitution sets a very high bar for impeachment and removal of a sitting president. While some of President Trump's actions were inappropriate, they did not come close to meeting the very high bar required to justify overturning the last election, removing him from office, and kicking him off the ballot in an election that has already begun. In November, the American people will decide for themselves whether President Trump should stay in office. In our democratic system, that's the way it should be.

Was it before or after Trump tweeted this (in response to Toomey calling Roger Stone's pardon a "mistake"):

Note: Stone was convicted of seven felony counts, including lying to Congress and witness tampering. And Obama did not spy on the Trump campaign.

Senator Toomey, I have a few questions: 

  • Did you discover your Trump disgust before or after either of the above?
  • If it's before, then why weren't you honest with your constituents and say so then?
  • And if it was after, can you please explain why you were OK with Trump then but not now?

I realize that you're not running for reelection in 2022 and so you have a fair amount of freedom from the Trump's MAGA crews, but if you could explain yourself, that would be great.

Ok?

November 22, 2020

Donald Trump Loses In Pennsylvania. Again.

 From the AP:

A federal judge issued a scathing order Saturday dismissing the Trump campaign’s futile effort to block the certification of votes in Pennsylvania, shooting down claims of widespread irregularities with mail-in ballots.

You can read the opinion here (and I suggest you do). 

Back to the AP:

U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann wrote in his order that Trump had asked the court to disenfranchise almost 7 million voters.

“One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption,” Brann wrote, so much that the court would have no option but to stop the certification even though it would impact so many people. “That has not happened.”

Let's take a deeper look at that section of the opinion - it's the opening of the Introduction:

In this action, the Trump Campaign and the Individual Plaintiffs (collectively, the “Plaintiffs”) seek to discard millions of votes legally cast by Pennsylvanians from all corners – from Greene County to Pike County, and everywhere in between. In other words, Plaintiffs ask this Court to disenfranchise almost seven million voters. This Court has been unable to find any case in which a plaintiff has sought such a drastic remedy in the contest of an election, in terms of the sheer volume of votes asked to be invalidated. One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption, such that this Court would have no option but to regrettably grant the proposed injunctive relief despite the impact it would have on such a large group of citizens.

That has not happened. Instead, this Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence. In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state. Our people, laws, and institutions demand more. At bottom, Plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Therefore, I grant Defendants’ motions and dismiss Plaintiffs’ action with prejudice.

For those who are curious as to what it means to dismiss a case "with prejudice," it means

When a lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice, the court is saying that it has made a final determination on the merits of the case, and that the plaintiff is therefore forbidden from filing another lawsuit based on the same grounds.

And in case my non-attorney research is wrong, here it is from ABC News:

The judge, a Barack Obama appointee, dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the Trump campaign cannot resubmit the case. The defeat levels a blow to the most high-profile case brought by the president in his multi-state effort to challenge the results of the Nov. 3 election.

Let's not be so quick to dismiss him as an "Obama appointee" however. Take a look:

Brann, who is active in Republican politics in Pennsylvania, faced the most challenging questioning of the hourlong hearing at which five candidates for federal judgeships and a spot on the U.S. Sentencing Commission were considered. 

Citing Brann's involvement with the state Republican Party, the National Rifle Association and the conservative legal organization the Federalist Society, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called him "probably the most Republican judicial nominee from the Obama White House."

There's more (I'm adding this just in case your MAGA uncle starts ranting about the Demonrat judge in Pennsylvania who's keeping Trump from fulfilling God's purpose of at least two terms:


And now, look at what's happenned. Senator Pat Toomey finally pulls the trigger

With today’s decision by Judge Matthew Brann, a longtime conservative Republican whom I know to be a fair and unbiased jurist, to dismiss the Trump campaign’s lawsuit, President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania.

This ruling follows a series of procedural losses for President Trump’s campaign. On Friday, the state of Georgia certified the victory of Joe Biden after a hand recount of paper ballots confirmed the conclusion of the initial electronic count. Michigan lawmakers rejected the apparent attempt by President Trump to thwart the will of Michigan voters and select an illegitimate slate of electoral college electors. These developments, together with the outcomes in the rest of the nation, confirm that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and will become the 46th President of the United States.

I congratulate President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory. They are both dedicated public servants and I will be praying for them and for our country. Unsurprisingly, I have significant policy disagreements with the President-elect. However, as I have done throughout my career, I will seek to work across the aisle with him and his administration, especially on those areas where we may agree, such as continuing our efforts to combat COVID-19, breaking down barriers to expanding trade, supporting the men and women of our armed forces, and keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill.

Of course Toomey is not running for reelection in 2022 so he's got little to lose politically.

Which is good news, I suppose, because:

Again, no evidence of 900,000 fraudulent votes in PA. If there was evidence of such fraud it would have been presented in court.

And it wasn't.

 

November 21, 2020

Wendy, Wendy, Wendy. What Are You Doing?

 On her Facebook Page, Wendy Bell posted this:


I posted this as a comment:

Not sure where you're going with this, Wendy.
 
Biden won Georgia by 12,670 votes.
Biden won Michigan by 155,629 votes.
Biden won Wisconsin by 20,608 votes.
Biden won Pennsylvania by 80,996 votes.
 
Are you saying that Justices Thomas, Kavanaugh et al are now going to overturn the will of the people? To disenfranchise all those votes? On what grounds? No evidence of widespread voter fraud has been presented in any court - certainly not enough to overturn the tens of thousand votes needed to give the electoral votes from those four states to Trump.
 
Biden won the election. President-elect Joe Biden will be taking the Oath of Office in January. Trump's concession is long over due. The longer he waits the more damage he's doing to the nation and to the GOP.
 
Even the CONSERVATIVE Washington Examiner says it's time for Trump to concede.
 
It's over. Biden won. Checkmate.

Looking back at her posting, I am not sure Wendy understands the concept of "checkmate."

Be that as it may, as you can tell from my comment I think it's safe to infer that Wendy thinks that those newly reassigned justices will do Trump's bidding and reassign those errant electoral votes to their rightful owner: Donald Trump.

Regardless of the will of the people in those states.

Then there's this comment of mine:

Also Wendy, Trump as head of the Executive Branch has no authority to make these Judicial Branch assignments. Trump didn't do it.
 
From 28 USC 42:
The Chief Justice of the United States and the associate justices of the Supreme Court shall from time to time be allotted as circuit justices among the circuits by order of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice may make such allotments in vacation.
You'll note that "in vacation" means between legislative terms.
 
You really need get your facts straight BEFORE posting to your audience. How many of them RIGHT NOW think that Trump did this just because you said so?
 
Do you feel any responsibility to make sure you have your facts right?

Sadly, Wendy Bell represents a large and vocal segment of the once respectable Republican Party. I can't say I ever agreed with much of what the GOP stood for but whatever credibility it had is long gone in the face of Trumpism.

November 20, 2020

Senator Mitt Romney on Donald Trump. How Many Other Republicans Will Follow Suit?

The Senator from Utah tweeted:

The text:

Having failed to make even a plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the President has now resorted to overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election. It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President.

But this is Donald Trump we're talking here. Give it a day. I am sure he'll do something more undemocratic. 

How many Republicans are brave enough to follow suit? It's difficult to imagine any more than a few.

What say you, Senator Toomey? You're not running for re-election in 2022. That gives you a modicum of freedom from the GOP MAGA hordes, doesn't it? When can we expect you to stand up for what's right?

While we're waiting, here's some Keith Olbermann:


November 19, 2020

Wendy Bell - Putting The Public Health At Risk. Again

On her Facebook Page, Wendy Bell posted this:

Pennsylvania is now under a universal masking order.
 
The secretary of health says people are required to wear masks indoors and outdoors when they are with others who are not members of their household.
 
Further, she expects law enforcement and business owners to enforce her orders.
 
Do you think masks work?

Wendy, what's the point of asking your adoring fans whether they think masks work?

They do. Masks work. The scientific data support the use of masks to protect the public from spreading the virus. This is a fact. It's not a matter of opinion. A person watching your living room broadcasts with a different opinion does not change that fact.

From the CDC:

SARS-CoV-2 infection is transmitted predominately by respiratory droplets generated when people cough, sneeze, sing, talk, or breathe. CDC recommends community use of masks, specifically non-valved multi-layer cloth masks, to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Masks are primarily intended to reduce the emission of virus-laden droplets (“source control”), which is especially relevant for asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness to others, and who are estimated to account for more than 50% of transmissions. Masks also help reduce inhalation of these droplets by the wearer (“filtration for personal protection”). The community benefit of masking for SARS-CoV-2 control is due to the combination of these effects; individual prevention benefit increases with increasing numbers of people using masks consistently and correctly.

So a mask protects in two ways:

  • Source control  - the mask filters the virus in transmission from an infected person (including those who don't know they're infected) to someone else.
  • Filtration for personal protection - the mask filters the virus in transmission to an uninfected person.

But is there a downside to maskwearing? For example, what does the science say about the build-up of CO2 when wearing a mask?

From the American Lung Association

Do Masks Cause Low Oxygen Levels?

Absolutely not. We wear masks all day long in the hospital. The masks are designed to be breathed through and there is no evidence that low oxygen levels occur.

And if you want to read a study that says the same, here's one. From the paper's "Discussion" section:

Although we did not measure changes in tidal volume or minute ventilation, this data find that gas exchange is not significantly affected by the use of surgical mask, even in subjects with severe lung impairment.

And: 

It is important to inform the public that the discomfort associated with mask use should not lead to unsubstantiated safety concerns as this may attenuate the application of a practice proven to improve public health. As growing evidence indicates that asymptomatic individuals can fuel the spread of COVID-19,12 universal mask use needs to be vigorously enforced in community settings, particularly now that we are facing a pandemic with minimal proven therapeutic interventions. We believe our data will help mitigate fears about the health risks of surgical mask use and improve public confidence for more widespread acceptance and use.

So that's settled, right?

But seriously Wendy. Why are you even questioning this?

Every time you do this, you're undermining the credibility of the science - thus putting the public health at risk.

Every time you do this, you're putting more people are at risk of getting very very sick. And some of those people may die.

Wendy Bell - The Angel of Death.

November 18, 2020

Some More Election Result Numbers (PA 2020 vs MI, PA, WI 2016)

In Pennsylvania, according to the AP:

Biden: 3,445,548 votes

Trump: 3,363,951 votes

That's a difference of 81,597 in Pennsylvania.

Last go around (2016) three states from the so-called "blue wall" (Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) voted for Trump over Clinton by these differences:

Michigan: 10,704 more votes for Trump

Pennsylvania: 44,292 more votes for Trump

Wisconsin: 22,748 more votes for Trump

That's a combined tally of 77,744.

So what do we have here?

So far Biden has won more votes in Pennsylvania, a must-get "pivot point" state, than Trump won in those three states combined.

This was not a close election, folks.

And it's time for Trump to concede.


November 17, 2020

Hasn't Sean Parnell Conceded Yet?

From the AP results (Google "Presidential Election Results" and use the pull down menus to get the election results for the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania):

Conor Lamb: 219,858

Sean Parnell: 211,272

Fifteen days after the election and Representative Lamb is still ahead by about 8600 votes. This late in the process, Sean, where are you going to find 8600 votes?

Sean, it's time for you to concede.

November 16, 2020

Follow-Up On Those Current Numbers From Last Week (Biden, Lamb, Trump, Parnell)

This is to update the numbers I posted last week

Covid deaths US: 244,810 (or about 74.59 per 100,000) 

Covid deaths Canada: 10,953 (or about 29.13 per 100,000)

Had the good ole US of A treated the virus as effectively as Canada, we'd be looking at about 95,604 Covid deaths here in The States instead of 244,810. Had we treated the virus as effectively as Canada, about 149,000 US Citizens would still be alive. We have to assume that all those 149,000 (or so) deaths were therefore preventable were it not for the incompetence and corruption of Donald Trump.

"It is what it is." said Trump.

Fuck Donald Trump. When will he be indicted for mass murder? Negligent homicide?

On to the election results. From the AP:

Current votes for Joe Biden: 77,170,769 

Current votes for Donald Trump:72,057,511

The AP is updating its numbers and they look even worse for Donald Trump. This was not a close election. No amount of stalling, denying or frivolous lawsuiting will change that.

Joe Biden is currently 5,637,779 votes ahead of Donald Trump.  (November 12, it was 5,113,258).

Fuck Donald Trump. It's time for him to concede.

Locally, the numbers are on a similar track in PA. From the AP:

Current votes for Joe Biden in PA: 3,423,976 (Nov 12 it was 3,386,380)

Current votes for Donald Trump in PA: 3,354,836 (Nov 12, it was 3,333,161)

Joe Biden is currently 69,140  votes ahead of Donald Trump (Nov 12, it was 53,219).

Fuck Donald Trump. It's time for him to concede.

And, if there is any justice in the world, Trump should be perp-walked out of DC immediately after Biden's inauguration. Perhaps to NYC to face tax-evasion charges. Perhaps to The Hague to be charged with crimes against humanity.

A side note, GOP candidate for PA-17 has yet to concede the Lamb-Parnell race. Here are the AP's numbers:

Conor Lamb: 221,112 (Nov 12, it was 218,185)

Sean Parnell: 211,256 (Nov 12, it was 208,074)

Conor Lamb is currently 13,038 votes ahead of Sean Parnell (Nov 12, it was 10,011).

Sean, it's time for you to concede. Where are you going to find those 13k votes? I'd DM this question to you via twitter but you've blocked me from your twitter feed. Why did you do that, by the way? You blocked me after I tweeted that question when you were "only" about 10,000 votes behind.

November 14, 2020

It's Friday, So Wendy Bell's Looking To Undermine PA's Election Credibility. (Spoilers: She's Wrong. Again.)

On her Facebook page Wendy Bell posted this:

In a February 2019 audit of Pennsylvania elections boards, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale found officials in 18 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties reported accepting gifts, meals or trips from firms competing to sell new voting machines to counties ahead of the 2020 election.
 
Later that year in December, DePasquale also released the results of a sweeping audit of Pennsylvania's registry of electors, examining the voter registrations of more than 8 million registered voters in the state.
 
The results were staggering.
 
DePasquale found:
-24,408 cases where the same driver’s license number was listed in more than one voter record
-13,913 potential duplicate birth certificates
-6,876 potential date of birth inaccuracies
-2,230 cases in which voters were born AFTER they registered to vote, and
-2,991 records of potentially deceased voters, including 1800 people over age 110.

Two issues here. The February 2019 reporting on those gifts and then the December 2019 report on the voter records.

Presumably, Wendy wants her audience to infer large-scale voter fraud going on and is using the above to prove it. Guess what? It doesn't.

But let's look at the gifts, first. From the Auditor General's statement:

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today said officials in 18 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties reported accepting gifts, meals or trips from firms competing to sell new voting machines to counties ahead of the 2020 election.

So far, so good. But which counties were they? And how did they vote in the 2020 election?

  • Berks County - Went to Trump by about 16,000 votes.
  • Bucks County - Went to Biden by about 16,000 votes.
  • Butler County - Went to Trump by about 33,000 votes.
  • Cambria County - Went to Trump by about 27,000 votes.
  • Cameron County - Went to Trump by about 1,100 votes.
  • Clearfield County - Went to Trump by about 29,000 votes.
  • Clinton County - Went to Trump by about 36,000 votes.
  • Delaware County - Went to Biden by about 88,000 votes.
  • Elk County - Went to Trump by about 8,000 votes.
  • Forest County - Went to Trump by about 1,100 votes.
  • Lycoming County - Went to Trump by about 25,000 votes.
  • Luzerne County - Went to Trump by about 22,000 votes.
  • Northumberland County - Went to Trump by about 16,000 votes.
  • Potter County - Went to Trump by about 1,500 votes.
  • Warren County - Went to Trump by about 8,000 votes.
  • Washington County - Went to Trump by about 27,000 votes.
  • Westmoreland County - Went to Trump by about 57,000 votes.
  • York County - Went to Trump by about 58,000 votes.

So is Wendy Bell really thinking that by pointing out the gifts made to the election officials in the above 18 counties (where 17 of them went overwhelmingly to Trump), she's effectively undermining the credibility of the Biden win?

That's just crazy. Right?

Then there's the December 2019 report.

For all of the details Wendy includes, she leaves one part out. I'll let Todd Defeo of the conservative news source, The Center Square summarize:

An audit of the state’s voter registration system uncovered “potentially bad data and sloppy record-keeping,” but stopped short of saying the results revealed any inappropriate voting. [Emphasis added.]

Huh. So both pieces of info that Wendy Bell supplied as evidence to question the credibility of President-Elect Biden's win over Donald Trump do nothing to actually support her conclusion.

Did she even bother to do the research on this?

Any comments, Wendy?

November 12, 2020

Current Numbers (Trump, Lamb, Parnell, and Covid-19)

Covid deaths US: 239,590 (or about 72.47 per 100,000) 

Covid deaths Canada: 10,685 (or about 28.2 per 100,000)

Had the US of A treated the virus as effectively as Canada, we'd be looking at about 93,200 Covid deaths here in The States. Had we treated the virus as effectively as Canada, 146,000 US Citizens would still be alive.

Fuck Donald Trump.

From the AP:

Current votes for Joe Biden: 77,170,769 

Current votes for Donald Trump:72,057,511

Joe Biden is currently 5,113,258 votes ahead of Donald Trump. This was not a close election.

Fuck Donald Trump.

From the AP:

Current votes for Joe Biden in PA: 3,386,380

Current votes for Donald Trump in PA: 3,333,161

Joe Biden is currently 53,219 votes ahead of Donald Trump. This was not a close election in PA. And even if he were to win his lawsuits in PA, he would still not win Pennsylvania

Fuck Donald Trump.

A side note, GOP candidate for PA-17 has yet to concede that race. Here's the AP's numbers:

Conor Lamb: 218,185

Sean Parnell: 208,074

Conor Lamb is currently 10,011 votes ahead of Sean Parnell.

It's time for Donald Trump and Sean Parnell to concede their respective races. 

PS - When I say "Fuck Donald Trump" I do not mean that literally (unless you're looking for that sweet sweet Stormy Daniels payoff). It's not a command or even a suggestion for you to actually have sex with Donald Trump. I just wanted to make that clear.

November 11, 2020

Of Course, Wendy's Lying.

On her Facebook page yesterday, Wendy Bell posted:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former presidential candidate Evan McMullin tweeted that a list should be made to target those who back President Trump's call for investigating the election. Now, Jake Tapper of CNN suggested that Trump staffers who support the president in his legal and electoral fight should be blacklisted from further employment in politics. 
 
With this kind of rhetoric do you feel the democratic party and Joe Biden will be able to "bring the country together"?
 
Is there anything that could be done to "heal" the nation or are we fractured right now?

This is a lie. Here's what Representative Ocasio-Cortez actually tweeted:

The "list" isn't actually a thing, as you can see. Ocasio-Cortez is looking to hold to account those current Trump supporters who in the future will try to deny their complicity and not, as Wendy is falsely asserting, those who simply "
back President Trump's call for investigating the election."
 
The same can be said for what Representative McMullin tweeted:

Those who "assist Trump's frivolous and dangerous attacks on the election" is not the same as "investigate", Wendy. You get the difference, right?

Then there's Jake Tapper. This is what he tweeted:

Wow. How did Wendy go from that to "blacklist(ing) from further employment in politics" anyone who "
support(s) the president in his legal and electoral fight"??
 
There are those who still support Trump's (now lost) bid for re-election. Then there are those who are actively undermining the democratic principles upon which this republic was founded - the rule of law, fair elections with peaceful transfer of power afterwards - by demanding the election be scrapped simply because they say (without evidence) that it's not being fair to their losing candidate.

Those are the folks we're talking about, Wendy.
 
You're still defending the guy who bragged about being a pussy grabber, right?
You're still defending the guy who ordered the tear gassing of peaceful protestors for a church front photo-op, right?
You're still defending the guy who threatened to jail his political opponents, right?
You're still defending the guy who's been lying to the nation for years, right?
 
Just want to make sure we're both on the same page.

November 9, 2020

Wendy Bell Turns The Conspiracy Theory Volume Up To 11.

But before we can point out Wendy's latest departure from reality, we need to talk about Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney.

Who is Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney?

You can read his bio here though missing there are some very important parts missing from the official Air Force bio.

Let's go one by one.

In 2010 a Lt Col in the Army, one Terry Lakin, was court-martialed and later found guilty on four counts of disobeying orders. The reason he disobeyed?

He didn't think that President Barack Obama was born in the US and so therefore couldn't be President and Commander-in-Chief. As such Larkin didn't have to follow his orders. Hence the court-martial as they don't take kindly to officers refusing orders.

At some point, Lt. Gen. McInerney filed an affidavit supporting Larkin's position saying, in part:

[I]t is my opinion that LTC Lakin’s request for discovery relating to the President’s birth records in Hawaii is absolutely essential to determining not merely his guilt or innocence but to reassuring all military personnel once and for all for this President whether his service as Commander in Chief is Constitutionally proper.

Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney is a birther. 

If that weren't enough, in one interview on Fox, he supported the use of torture (which is a war crime) and smeared the record of Sen. John McCain as a collaborator:

A former Fox News military analyst falsely claimed Thursday that U.S. Senator John McCain was nicknamed "Songbird John" while he was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. The salacious claim alluded to McCain giving up information to the Viet Cong against his country and fellow service members.

Retired vice chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force turned media pundit Tom McInerney challenged McCain's decision not to vote for CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, stating the enhanced interrogation techniques, or torture, worked on the Arizona Republican and "are effective" overall.

By the way, neither is true. Torture is not effective and McCain was not a collaborator

For that last part (about McCain), McInerney was banned from Fox News. Banned. From Fox News.

Why did I compose such an extensive prelude to my point?

This morning, Wendy Bell posted this on her Facebook Page:

According to information provided by retired US Air Force Lt. General Thomas McInerny and Michael Flynn attorney Sidney Powell, the 2020 Presidential election should be investigated for vote fraud.
 
McInerny alleges the DNC used a highly sophisticated intelligence program called Hammer (developed by the CIA after 9/11 to surveil Islamic terrorists) and a software program named Scorecard (adapted by the CIA under the Obama Administration to spy on American citizens, McInerny alleges) to change as many as 3% of mail-in votes in highly contested voting districts.
 
Further, McInerny claims the DNC used Scorecard in the primary election earlier this year to enable Joe Biden to defeat Bernie Sanders and secure the Democrat nomination.
 
If these allegations prove to be true (the FBI is now investigating), do you believe Americans can have faith in the election results claiming a Joe Biden victory?

Birther, torture-supporter, and smearer of John McCain, Tom McInerney was the source of the story that made Wendy Bell breathless.

And what does Christopher Krebs, the Trump-appointed director of the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have to say about this?

Take a look:

Wendy, it's nonsense. Trump's own director of cybersecurity says so. Did you ever bother to check? Shouldn't you have? There has to be some fragment of journalist left in you, right?

But wait! There's more. Where did this "Hammer" and "Scorecard" come from?

The Daily Beast has the story:

The election fraud claims center on Dennis Montgomery, a former intelligence contractor and self-proclaimed whistleblower who claims to have created the “Hammer” supercomputer and the “Scorecard” software some Trump fans believe was used to change the votes.

And:

What Trump allies tend to leave out, however, is that Montgomery has a long history of making outlandish claims that fail to come true. As an intelligence contractor at the height of the War on Terror, Montgomery was behind what’s been called “one of the most elaborate and dangerous hoaxes in American history,” churning out allegedly fictitious data that once prompted the Bush administration to consider shooting down airplanes.

And more:

In Dec. 2003, according to a Playboy report, Montgomery claimed he had discovered information in a TV broadcast proving that al Qaeda hijackers were set to hijack planes flying to the United States from Europe and Mexico. 

President Bush himself blocked the flights, ordering them to turn around or stay on the ground. The administration even considered shooting down the planes based on Montgomery’s information, according to the Times.

But according to reports and former employees, Montgomery’s supposed technology was all a hoax. One employee quoted in the Playboy report claimed Montgomery had ordered him to fake a test for U.S. military officials, tricking the officials into believing Montgomery’s software could detect weapons in drone footage.

French intelligence officials, furious that Montgomery’s data had been used to ground French planes, debunked the “technology” and reportedly convinced CIA officials to drop Montgomery, according to the Times.

“We got played,” an ex-intelligence official told the Times in 2011.

Even as he rose in intelligence circles, Montgomery reportedly developed a mammoth blackjack habit, losing $442,000 in one day at casinos, according to Playboy.

There's your story, Wendy. Not only is the source of your story (McInerney) a liar but his source (Montgomery) is a conman and a degenerate gambler.

Do you still think this story's true, Wendy? How is that possible?

Wendy? Don't you find it absolutely exhausting to put so much effort into propping up all these rickety right-wing conspiracy theories with even more rickety conspiracy theories?

V Is For Victory, Elections Have Consequences, The Will Of The People And Son...

People should not be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of their people.

This happened this weekend:


And this: 


And this: And:

November 6, 2020

Wendy Bell - A Necessary Facebook Fact-check. ANOTHER ONE

Case in point. Today on her Facebook page, paranoid Wendy posted:

A midnight ballot dump in Michigan. 200,000 votes... all for Joe Biden.
 
Postal workers in Erie, PA, ordered to postmark all late ballots for November 3 and give them to “supervisors.” 
 
A poll watcher kicked out of the hall where votes were being counted after finding evidence (and capturing photo evidence) of dead people voting.
 
(**AND BEFORE FACEBOOK CENSORS THIS POST... there is PROOF OF THESE ALLEGATIONS! Fact check THAT!)
 
Should President Trump demand a recount in all battleground states?

Yes, I am sure there's "proof" of all these allegations, Wendy. I am sure.

I also noticed you didn't post any. 

Huh.

Ok. Let's go see, shall we?

Point one - the "midnight ballot dump" - fact-checked already:

A data input error that briefly showed an unusually large uptick in votes for Joe Biden in Michigan prompted suspicions online and an unfounded claim of voter fraud. The error came down to a typo by a county’s reporting that was quickly corrected.

The story you probably read was from the right-wing conspiracy-theory "news" source The Gateway Pundit

This would be the same Gateway Pundit that the conservative Washington Times reported that:

The Gateway Pundit, a right-wing website that touted President Trump during his 2016 campaign, ran an unsubstantiated report alleging voter fraud during the race fueled by Russian agitprop referenced in a federal indictment unsealed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office Friday.

Back to this dump of yours. Did you know that the GOP consultant that (the once impeached, now disgraced) Trump retweeted on this story has since corrected himself?

A typo, Wendy. A typo.

Point two - the postmarked ballots in Erie - sourced to Project Veritas.

Wendy, given James O'Keefe's horrendous track record regarding "veritas" do you really think anything on that website can be considered "proof"? I mean hasn't O'Keefe himself been accused of trying to elicit voter fraud? (Spoilers: Yes, he has).

Point three - the ejected poll watcher - this is another Gateway Pundit story.

This "dead people voting in Michigan" story's been replayed numerous times (had you researched this, you'd know). Like here:

The videos purport to show voters who are over 100 years old casting a ballot in Michigan, but they are misleading.

Logically, a company monitoring misinformation, reported that the people shown in the videos “most likely are relatives of the people born in the early 1900s and inherited relatives' names.” Logically also matched the names of the people who are over 100 years old — featured in the videos — to their likely living descendants.

And there's a statement from the Michigan Secretary of State at Buzzfeed as well: 

Ballots of voters who have died are rejected in Michigan, even if the voter cast an absentee ballot and then died before Election Day. On rare occasions, a ballot received for a living voter may be recorded in a way that makes it appear as if the voter is dead. This can be because of voters with similar names, where the ballot is accidentally recorded as voted by John Smith Sr when it was actually voted by John Smith Jr; or because of inaccurately recorded birth dates in the qualified voter file; for example, someone born in 1990 accidentally recorded as born in 1890. In such scenarios, no one ineligible has actually voted, and there is no impact on the outcome of the election. Local clerks can correct the issue when it is brought to their attention.

Wendy, so your "proof" is one already debunked Gateway Pundit story, a story from the seriously discredited Project Veritas and...another questionable Gateway Pundit story that lacks context?

I'll ask it again, Wendy. You were once a respected journalist. In reality, would these three sources ever merit serious consideration for any story? Ever?

And yes, I'd expect Facebook to fact-check you in this page as well.

November 3, 2020

Wendy Bell Is On The Case! She's Got The SCOOP On PA Voter Fraud!! OMG!!

Except that she isn't and she doesn't.

Today, on her Facebook page, Wendy posted this: 

According to an internal document provided to me by an anonymous whistleblower, the following is a new directive of the PA Department of State regarding ballots mailed in WITHOUT a postmark.
 
"Ballots that lack a postmark or other proof of mailing, or for which the postmark or other proof of mailing is illegible, are PRESUMED (emphasis added) to have been mailed by Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and are valid and must be counted, unless A PREPONDERANCE OF THE EVIDENCE DEMONSTRATES THAT THE BALLOT WAS MAILED AFTER NOVEMBER 3. (Added emphasis again.)
 
1. What in THE HELL does that even mean? And,
 
2. If PA voters have three days after today to get their ballots in, why would the Department of State need to create a provision mandating that ballots WITHOUT postmarks be considered valid? Isn't creating rules to override other rules a form of vote tampering?

Wow! An "internal document" from a whistle blower who wishes to remain anonymous!

This must be sooo super secret, right? 

I mean it's internal and sourced anonymously, right??

It must be something the Wolf administration doesn't want you to see, right???

(You know where this is going, right????)

You can see the document right here. Take a look at page 4 (of the 4 page super-secret document that anyone can find online). There, you can read this:

Ballots that lack a postmark or other proof of mailing, or for which the postmark or other proof of mailing is illegible, are presumed to have been mailed by Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and are valid and must be counted, unless a preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that the ballot was mailed after November 3, 2020.

Look familiar, Wendy? Took me about 10 seconds to find.

Anyway, look at Wendy's #2 paragraph. She's saying (or at least implying) that the voting boards will be treating as valid anything mailed three days after today, asking "isn't this vote tampering?"

Except that when you look at the beginning of this super secret document that anyone can find online, you'll see this:

On October 28, 2020, the Department of State issued guidance related to the segregation of mail-in and civilian absentee ballots received by mail after 8:00 P.M. on Tuesday November 3, 2020 and before 5:00 P.M. on Friday, November 6, 2020.

Ah, Wendy didn't tell you that they're only looking at stuff arriving before Friday at 5. Indeed the document even says that the voting board will not be opening:

Ballots (whenever postmarked) received by mail after 5:00 P.M. on Friday, November 6, 2020.
So, Wendy how many ballots mailed on Friday would arrive by Friday? And what sort of chance is there that something dropped in a mailbox on Thursday arrives by Friday at 5? Or dropped in a mailbox on Wednesday?

Anyway, this is also in that super-secret document:

One authorized representative of each candidate in an election and one representative from each political party shall be permitted to remain in the room in which the ballots are canvassed.

And:

County boards of elections are instructed to maintain separate counts for each of the following categories of ballots: (i) ballots with a postmark on or before November 3, 2020 which are counted; (ii) ballots without a postmark (or with an illegible postmark) which are presumed to have been mailed prior to Election Day and which are counted; and (iii) ballots without a postmark (or with an illegible postmark) which are determined by a preponderance of the evidence to have been mailed after Election Day and which are not counted.

So all the candidates and both parties will know how many of your non/badly-postmarked ballots there are. 

This is Wendy Bell's conspiracy theory today - that the election will be thrown by those many many Pennsylvanians who'll watch tonight's returns, be disappointed with the result, and then fill out their mail-in ballots and rush them out to the Post-Office tomorrow (or maybe Thursday, possibly Friday) hoping they arrive by Friday at 5 with illegible or absent post-marks. And that without Wendy's dogged pursuit of this story, and stunning devotion to delivering the truth to the public, no one would ever have known.

Wendy, you do see how crazie this is, don't you?

November 2, 2020

P-G Editorial Rebuttal/Fact-check

As we all know by now, yesterday the Post-Gazette posted an abhorrent endorsement of Donald Trump.

You can read it here.

Today, The Pittsburgh Current published a rebuke/fact-check of the P-G abhorrence.

I wrote it.