You know how an ankle exam sometimes turns into a date?
Yeah, me neither.
A Pennsylvania doctor has been charged with indecent assault after an ankle exam went in a whole different direction.
According to local news station WQAD, the male victim told police he texted Dr. William Vollmar on March 14 about treating his injured ankle.
The physician agreed to meet the man at his Quarryville sports clinic in at 7:30 p.m.
After 5-10 minutes of examination, Vollmar asked the man if he wanted to be “worked on.” Assuming the doctor meant massage and chiropractic adjustments, which the doctor had performed on the victim before, he said yes.
Near the end of the massage, during which the patient was naked except for a towel over his mid-section, the doctor asked the man, “Do you trust me?”
The man said he did, and Vollmar then began to touch the victim’s genitals.
Stunned, the man told Vollmar to stop. According to the victim, the doctor then asked, “Do you want me to finish you?”
The victim declined and ended the “massage.”
The victim told police that he never consented to have his genitals touched.
When the police interviewed Vollmar, the doctor explained that the whole episode was a “huge misunderstanding, mostly on my part.”
The doctor told the authorities that, while doing chiropractic manipulation on the man’s hips, he thought the man showed interest in something more, so Vollmar touched the peen.
According to the police complaint, the doctor admitted the victim had not given permission to touch his genitals.
Another day, another wedding vendor refusing to serve same-sex couples.
This time, it’s Star Barn Village, located near Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.
Steven Dinnocenti, a retired educator who has attended Star Barn events in the past, recently shared on his social mediahis outrage upon discovering the venue has a ‘no same-gender weddings’ policy.
“Never again will I step on (their) grounds,” wrote the openly gay married man.
“What one does not know is the blatant discrimination they have towards the LGBTQ community and other individuals that they have written in their Core Values statement,” added Dinnocenti.
He also posted a link to Star Barn’s ‘Core Values’ statement which reads, in part, “We provide marriage-related services as ordained by God’s Word, the Holy Bible, that are consistent with the written truth that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.”
At this writing, Dinnocenti’s Facebook post has been shared over 360 times and garnered over 560 comments.
PennLive spoke with the owner of the venue, David Abel, who says he “does not tolerate discrimination against anyone, not in his business or in a public setting.”
“No persons will be discriminated against,” he insisted to PennLive. “However, we ask people to respect that we have core tenants in our faith and our beliefs and we cannot participate in any event that would be in contradiction to those core tenants – one of them being marriage, which has been biblically based for thousands of years as being between a man and a woman.”
He also asserts that religious freedoms are one of the principles under which the United States was founded. “It was also founded as one nation under God not over God,” he said.
(photo via Depositphotos)
But Dinnocenti told PennLive he flips that script. “The bottom line is go back to the Constitution,” he says. “The Bible should not be dictating the rule of the land.”
This highlights, yet again, the need for The Equality Act to be passed in Congress and signed into law. The federal legislation would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and erase any confusion about refusing services to people based only on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
For now, however, PennLive does point out that another wedding venue, Riverdale Manor and Thyme and Seasons Catering in nearby Lancaster, has seen its same-sex wedding business thrive since marriage equality became the law of the land in 2015.
Maureen Raezer, owner and president of the venue, told PennLive she subscribes to “the principles of inclusive economics.”
In fact, Raezer says she’s stopped doing business with vendors who don’t appreciate her inclusive wedding industry approach.
“I think they see it as they are somehow condoning gay marriage by participating in it,” Raezer said. “I‘m not sure how selling somebody a wedding cake does that. If I sold cookies to someone, why would I care what their sexual orientation was?”
She also believes that diversity is the future of economics. For her, a business model of excluding people “financially makes no sense.”
GOP candidate for governor in Pennsylvania Scott Wagner
And they say civility is dead. I guess ‘they’ would be right.
Republican governor candidate Scott Wagner recently dropped a campaign ad wherein he threatens to “stomp all over” Democratic incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf’s “face with golf spikes.”
“Well, Governor Wolf, let me tell you what, between now and Nov. 6, you better put a catcher’s mask on your face, because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes. Because I’m going to win this for the state of Pennsylvania. And we’re throwing you out of office. Because I’m sick and tired of your negative ads. Governor Wolf, I am bound and determined, I am going to vote you out of office.”
Watch below.
Full video of GOP candidate Scott Wagner threatening Gov. Tom Wolf: “You better put a catcher’s mask on your face because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes.” pic.twitter.com/Whh6TdsOXz
I mean, isn’t a Republican threatening to stomp someone with golf spikes a little on the nose
“I shall then have my valet thrash you soundly”— VeryHiddenGeniusHat (@Popehat) October 12, 2018
Golf spikes…really? The only thing more elitist would be to threaten democrats with a polo mallet.— Shaun Hurst 🚁👨🏿🔧👨🏿🏫 (@kokujin_2000) October 13, 2018
Josh Grace, a spokesman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, told USA Today that that the hotline has received over 300 new calls since the release of the report.
Grace added, “We’re answering every call and following up every lead.”
According to the grand jury report, which included claims of abuse stretching back 60 years, over 1,000 abuse victims were discouraged from reporting claims of abuse to prosecutors in an effort to shield hundreds of priests.
AG Shapiro tweeted recently that the investigation was “active and ongoing,” and would not end with the grand jury report.
Calls are surging to our special Clergy Abuse Hotline since the Grand Jury Report was released Tuesday.
We have trained, dedicated Agents on the line to listen to survivors and help.
The grand jury report, the result of a two year investigation, was presented to the press last Wednesday by AG Shapiro who deemed the report an “honest and comprehensive accounting of widespread sexual abuse.”
According to the report, the alleged abuses stretched across the Keystone state from the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. Those dioceses regularly minister to more than 1.7 million Catholics.
Despite the statute of limitations, two priests have now been charged with sexually abusing children. One of the priests admitted to misconduct with a 10-year-old boy more than 20 years ago.
The Vatican has since condemned the alleged abuses detailed in the report on as “criminal and morally reprehensible.”
“Those acts were betrayals of trust that robbed survivors of their dignity and faith,” said spokesman Greg Burke in a statement for the Vatican. “The church must learn hard lessons from its past, and there should be accountability for both abusers and those who permitted abuse to occur.”
Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission added sexual orientation and gender identity to its list of protected groups.
That action now allows people to file complaints to the State of Pennsylvania regarding incidents of LGBTQ discrimination. The commission investigates complaints of discrimination in areas of education, housing, employment and public accommodations.
Before the addition of sexual orientation and gender identity, if LGBTQ folks felt they had been discriminated against, their own recourse was to file a complaint with their local municipality IF the area they lived in barred such discrimination. According to Equality Pennsylvania, only 51 of the Keystone State’s 2,562 municipalities have laws that protect LGBTQ citizens.
What the change does not do, however, is add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s hate crime statute.
So, if LGBTQ folks face discrimination in a restaurant or hotel, you can file a complaint. But if you are assaulted for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, the perpetrator can be arrested but there will be no hate crime attached unless you are in one of the cities or local municipalities that have added sexual orientation or gender identity to their hate crime statute. Now, there wasn’t always the case.
Back in 2002, the Pennsylvania state legislature added LGBTQ folks to the hate crimes law. In doing so, Pennsylvania became the 5th state to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks.
But two years later, when anti-gay protesters were arrested at a gay-rights event for preaching via bullhorn, concerns were raised about misuse of the statute.
Eventually, in 2007, a Commonwealth court struck down the addition to the hate crimes law saying the legislature had surreptitiously used an unrelated agriculture bill to make the change. In 2008, the state Supreme Court upheld that ruling and LGBTQ folks were once again left without hate crime protections statewide.
Since then, lawmakers have tried to update the hate crime statute but to no avail.
PA State Representative Daryl Metcalfe got his undies bunched up in Facebook tantrum recently, where he called out and proud PA state Rep. Brian Sims a “lying homosexual” over a redistricting dispute.
Along the way, Metcalfe through in a few homophobic jabs including his belief that being gay is “immoral behavior.”
Another lying Philadelphia Liberal Democrat Legislator attacking me this week with the help of the media! Another Democrat playing the victim while he is actually the perpetrator! After a committee meeting last… https://t.co/WE3a93aJVb
The woofy Brian, however, wasn’t going to stand idly by as the homophobe ranted on his virtual anti-LGBT soapbox.
Referencing the movie Mean Girls, Sims called out Metcalfe for pulling out his “burn book.”
Brian made it clear: if you come at him, come right or don’t come at all.
My most infamously bigoted colleague, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe took to his “burn book” to attack my colleagues of color and myself call me a “lying homosexual.” I could use your help as I go up against this type of blatant homophobia and bigotry in the Capital. https://t.co/Oc7iLDN2qtpic.twitter.com/FVC4dBgbuY
For the record, he’s a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, bigot. All of those words have definitions. His behavior, his public statements, and his legislation over the years all clearly rise to the level of those definitions.
You’re a gaslighter who threatens people and then backs down and claims victimhood when you’re called out. It’s the ultimate sign of intellectual dishonesty. Grow up and at least have the courage of your broken convictions.
He also made sure the world met Metcalfe’s openly LGBTQ challenger, Dan Smith:
HAVE YOU MET DAN SMITH?!? With all the talk (again) about @RepMetcalfe’s bigotry and the power he wields in the State Capitol, I couldn’t me more excited to introduce you to his openly LGBTQ Democratic Challenger!#Smith4Pa#DumpDarylpic.twitter.com/OTmKIzfMxP
NBC News has declared Democrat Conor Lamb the apparent winner of Tuesday’s special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.
With 99% of the votes counted Lamb leads Republican Rick Saccone by 641 votes.
CNBC is reporting the only outstanding votes are the approximately 200 absentee votes in Greene County and the provisional ballots that the district will count within the next seven days. But those don’t add up to 641 votes.
Lamb, a former Marine and federal prosecutor, declared victory shortly before 1AM as he was introduced at his election night party as “congressman-elect.”
Republicans are quietly wringing their hands in light of the fact that the deep red district (Trump won the 18th in 2016 by 20 point, Romney won in 2012 by 17) has swung 20 points to the Dems in less than two years.
On the day before the election, Republican Rick Saccone made an appearance with Donald Trump Jr. where he declared Democrats hate America and God.
Now, that doesn’t sound like an uplifting message, does it?
Trump backed Judge Roy Moore in Alabama in a special election for the U.S. Senate seat there and Moore lost to a Democrat. Trump backed Saccone in Pennsylvania, and Saccone lost.
See a pattern there?
Donald Trump has tweeted four times this morning. Nothing about the race in Pennsylvania.
#SilencedByTheLamb
BREAKING: All absentee ballots counted — Democrat Conor Lamb leads a Pennsylvania special House election by 627 votes. https://t.co/3ACB7WzUMm— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) March 14, 2018
WATCH: @ConorLambPA the apparent winner in last night’s special election in Pennsylvania, says he won because he “didn’t take a single vote for granted.” pic.twitter.com/qYOSEFk3Tq
The people of Pennsylvania’s 18th district showed up yesterday. They demonstrated that they want to be represented by someone who stands up for working people with actions, not just words. Who has heart. They found that in @ConorLambPA. He will represent them well.
In the final poll before tomorrow’s special election for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, the data looks promising for Democrat Conor Lamb over Republican Rick Saccone.
• If turnout mirrors recent special elections that have shown a Democratic surge, Lamb holds a 51% to 45% lead over Saccone.
• Using a historical midterm lower turnout model, Lamb also has a 2-point edge 49% to 47% margin.
• Using a higher turnout model, like those in a presidential election year Lamb leads with a 51% to 44% advantage.
• Lamb rates a 53% favorable and 33% unfavorable rating from likely voters in the district.
• Saccone has a lower favorable rating at 47% favorable and higher unfavorable at 43%.
• More self-identified Democrats (95%) support Lamb, while only 88% of self-identified Republicans support Saccone.
• Independents prefer Lamb by a 51% to 45% margin.
Super-smart statistician Nate Silver notes that a race this close is a very bad sign for Republicans since Donald Trump won this district by 20 points in 2016, and Mitt Romney won it by 17 points in 2012.
All of that being said – if you are in the 18th Congressional District get out and vote tomorrow!
Stating the hopefully-obvious, but the fact that PA-18 is competitive is a really bad sign for Republicans. It voted for Trump by 20 points and Romney by 17.
ABC News reports that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has issued a new congressional district map for the state’s 2018 elections.
The new map was approved in a 4-3 decision from the high court and rids the state of bizarrely contorted districts, including one labeled “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck.”
Dave Wasserman, the U.S. House editor for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report & a contributor to NBC News and FiveThirtyEight, broke down the new map thusly on Twitter:
Breaking: PA Supreme Court adopts new congressional map, and with few exceptions, it’s Democrats’ dream come true. GOP not going to like this at all.
Biggest changes to GOP seats: open Meehan seat becomes safe Dem, Costello/Rothfus seats get much more Dem, open Dent seat becomes a Clinton district, open 10th CD becomes a Dem opportunity.
Also, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R) seat in Bucks barely becomes a Clinton district. Overall, Dems have a good chance in up to 11 CDs & an outside chance at a 12th seat in Erie.
Last month, the Keystone state’s high court ruled the congressional district map put in place in 2011 by Republicans was a partisan gerrymander that “clearly, plainly and palpably” violated the state’s Constitution.
What new map wins: Democrats are on track to win at least a sixth of all the pick-ups they need to gain the House in Pennsylvania alone. https://t.co/TBpsbPSfP2— Taniel (@Taniel) February 19, 2018
NEW: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has issued a new congressional map after ruling the old map unconstitutional, a decision that could have major ramifications for the U.S. House of Representatives. https://t.co/MxoTQYw1zrpic.twitter.com/3mc92qNPvS— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 19, 2018
This map appears to give Democrats everything they could have hoped for in a politically fair Pennsylvania congressional map. This is a major win against gerrymandering. More analysis to come https://t.co/7uCoeVXppj— Stephen Wolf (@PoliticsWolf) February 19, 2018
Wait until you get a load of Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe.
Metcalfe, a Republican, felt the urge to confirm for everyone attending a meeting of the Penn State House Government Committee that he is indeed heterosexual.
During the meeting ranking Democrat Matt Bradford touched his arm to underscore a point he was making.
Metcalfe stopped all traffic to admonish Bradford saying, “I’m a heterosexual. I have a wife. I love my wife. I don’t like men as you might so stop touching me all the time. Keep your hands to yourself. If you want to touch somebody, you have people on your side of the aisle that might like it. I don’t.”
