As the contested Pennsylvania Senate race barrels towards a $1 million recount, Democratic officials in a few blue counties are openly admitting to counting disqualified ballots in defiance of state law and court orders. The Associated Press has called the race for Republican Sen.-elect Dave McCormick, who currently holds a 26,000 vote lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. But Casey has refused to concede and insisted that every vote be counted. The close margin – within one percentage point – triggered an automatic recount under Pennsylvania law. Yet the critical question is which votes should be counted? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled before the election that mail ballots lacking formally required signatures or dates should not be included in official results. However, Democratic officials in Philadelphia and surrounding Bucks, Centre and Montgomery counties are ignoring that court order. "I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country," Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, said Thursday as she and other Democrats voted to reject a GOP-led challenge to ballots that should be disqualified. "People violate laws anytime they want. So, for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes." In Montgomery County, for example, officials deliberated for 30 minutes over whether about 180 provisional ballots without secrecy envelopes should be counted. The Inquirer reported that several of these votes came from the same precincts, suggesting an error made by poll workers. Democratic board chair Neil Makhija voted to accept the ballots so that voters would not be disenfranchised. But other members of the board, including one Democrat and a Republican, voted to reject the ballots on the advice of county attorneys who determined the law clearly states they should not be counted. Separately, there is ongoing litigation over undated mail ballots or those submitted with an incorrect date on the outer envelope. Several local Democratic officials have said an incorrect date should not be grounds to disqualify a person's vote. Lower courts have agreed with that reasoning, but Pennsylvania's high court has determined the law requires correct dates for mail ballots to be counted. "Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: Democrats in Pennsylvania are brazenly trying to break the law by attempting to count illegal ballots. They are doing this because they want to steal a senate seat," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley wrote on X. "This is the exact kind of left-wing election interference that undermines voter confidence," Whatley said. Outgoing President Joe Biden is expected to conclude what will likely be his final major international trip as president this week, leaving Latin America following a series of embarrassing episodes including his bizarre departure into the Amazon Rainforest and G20 organizers omitting him from a group photo of world leaders on Monday. The APEC summit brings together Pacific Ocean countries and the summit featured both Southeast Asian and South American nations. As is customary with presidential-level summits, the attendees took a “family photo” that made headlines because the president of the United States, typically front and center in such affairs, was relegated to the back row. Video of the leaders taking the photo appeared to show the others smiling and ready, waiting for a late Biden. In America’s absense, Xi took the center position in the photo alongside President Dina Boluarte of host country Peru and Chilean President Gabriel Boric. At the G20 in Brazil, which brings together some of the world’s largest economies, photographers did not wait for Biden. Attending leaders took a photo together to inaugurate a new initiative, the “Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty,” but did not wait for Biden. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were also late and excluded from the photo. The three later took a separate photo together. Again, Xi Jinping took the center position in the photo. Outside of the summits, the most memorable image of Biden from his visit to Latin America is his strange disappearance into the Amazon Rainforest during a stop in Manaus, a Brazilian Amazonian city. Biden visited Manaus to announce that America under his presidency has spent $11 billion a year in America taxpayers’ dollars on “international climate financing,”... The G20 summit, in which Xi is also participating, will conclude today. President-elect Donald Trump urged Republican senators to remain in Washington to limit Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) ability to process President Joe Biden’s judicial confirmations. His comments, made on Truth Social, followed Senate Democrats confirming a controversial judge Monday night in a close vote, as well as a handful of other Biden picks. Several Republican senators were absent from the vote. “The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door,” he said. “Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!” A paper shredding truck was spotted on Tuesday outside the Justice Department, according to a photo from the Oversight Project. The truck’s appearance suggests the agency is destroying sensitive paperwork before the Trump administration takes power. President-elect Donald Trump announced that he had selected Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator. In a press release from the Trump-Vance Transition team, Trump praised Oz as being an “eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator,” and added that Oz would be working closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump had selected to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Pennsylvania Democrats openly admit to counting illegal ballots in McCormick-Casey race:
Sidelined, Ignored, Forgotten: Joe Biden Irrelevant at His Last Major Global Summits:
Following his remarks in Manaus, Biden turned his back to reporters, not taking questions, and appeared to wander into the Amazon alone, providing ample fodder for late-night comedy hosts.
Socialist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had for months previewed his priorities at the summit to be global climate financing, calls for global internet censorship, and a global tax on “ultra-high-net-worth individuals,” all goals that the Trump administration will likely enthusiastically oppose.
Trump Urges Republican Senators to Block Biden’s Judicial Nominees: ‘Show Up and Hold the Line’:
Paper Shredding Truck Appears Outside DOJ After Gaetz Nomination:
Trump Selects Dr. Oz to Lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: