Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Election 2020


Ugh... Election 2020.  This has been a tough year for politics.  It's never easy when you don't like either of the candidates for President.  I did, however, come to the conclusion that Trump again would be the best choice based on his policies.  I wrote this on FaceBook in October.  

October 1, 2020

What do you value? Which candidate’s policies support those values? That’s what it comes down to. We can make this choice about character (and find flaws in both candidates) or any other personal beliefs, but it will be the policies and laws that these candidates support/establish that impacts you. Here are some things I value that are “on the ballot” (under attack or at risk):

- The Constitution and Bill of Rights and all the freedoms and rights found therein

- Freedom of religion

- Freedom of speech

- Right to bear arms

- Right to assemble

- Right to vote and have your vote counted fairly

- Capitalism, economic freedom, deregulations on businesses

- Fair/flat taxes across all incomes

- Safety, law & order, peace (including strong national defense, border security, increased support for law enforcement)

- Rights for the life of the unborn

- Good education, ability to choose how to educate your kids (whether at home or through public schools of your choice)

- Keeping my kids safe from pornography and drugs

- No government run healthcare (or at least freedom to choose your own)


And then we had the election... we went to bed, seeing the large leads in the swing states and thought Trump had won.  He won FL, OH, and IA.  He was ahead by more than 110,000 votes in Wisconsin and more than 290,000 votes in Michigan. In Georgia, his lead was 356,945.  In PA, he had a nearly 700,000 lead.  Despite 88% reporting in on election night for PA, we watched 30% of the votes tabulated after election day, with a massive amount going to Biden.  Biden picked up 1,353,019 (68%) and Trump got 615,393 (31%).  Apparently, heavily populated democratic counties such as Philadelphia, Allegeny, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware still had 40-45% left to tabulate after Election Day.  In Philadelphia, Biden won by 81 to 18%.  

However, in these states, graphs showed large vote dumps or spikes in the early morning hours, more than is even physically possible to be tabulated in that time frame.  Witnesses also reported trucks showing up with more ballots in early morning hours.  Others witnessed batches of ballots being scanned more than once or several Biden only (with no down ballot votes) ballots, and others witnessed pristine unfolded ballots with "perfect bubbles" being scanned.  Many poll workers testified to not being able to observe or challenge the counting, even when they saw things that weren't right.  They were told to sit down and be quiet or escorted out, if they could even see what was going on.  Many were at such a distance away, they couldn't see properly to challenge any ballots.  Some workers had to get court orders to get back in to observe the count.  Others testified of Dominion employees inserting USB drives into the voting machines, making "updates", voting machines being connected to the internet, and missing USB drives (47 are apparently still missing in PA).  States also made changes to election rules without going through the proper procedure, circumventing the state legislatures, breaking their own state laws.      

Thousands of poll workers filed sworn affidavits of fraud; they testified in State Senate hearings.  I don't think they were heard in court cases.  Nearly all the big cases weren't even heard, as they were thrown around from court to court or dismissed on standing or something other than the merits.  No judge wanted to make a ruling that could overturn the election, so it seemed.  

Yet, the statistical evidence and witness testimony continued to pile up, with many issues left unresolved.  You could claim "no evidence" or "no widespread fraud", but I think you'd have to ignore everything out there.  Once you've seen it, you can't make those claims.  I'm going to lay a lot of it out here, what I've read about, aside from all the hearings.    

This is probably one of the most comprehensive lists of fraud, put together by Sharyl Attkisson:  

https://sharylattkisson.com/2020/12/what-youve-been-asking-for-a-fairly-complete-list-of-some-of-the-most-significant-claims-of-2020-election-miscounts-errors-or-fraud/

The Navarro Report also is a great overview of election irregularities:  https://bannonswarroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Immaculate-Deception-12.15.20-1.pdf


I followed closely and scoured alternate news sources for any information I could find.  Main stream news media (MSM) continued to push the "baseless claims of fraud" and "no evidence".  They didn't cover the election hardly at all.  If you didn't know about the state senate hearings, the Michigan audit report, the GA late night count from ballots pulled out from under a table, or several other claims, then you were probably watching MSM.  Even the normally conservative Fox News wasn't reporting much at all.  I noticed that MSM did make "fact checks" once another alternate source had reported on the fraud, but I remember several times searching for information and nothing was available on MSM.  Anyway, I was appalled by the evidence coming out, and I posted several times on FaceBook, usually with a lot of pushback, mocking, and criticism.  Here are some of those posts.  

  

Some of the things that happened in Georgia - November 18, 2020 FaceBook post:

"A recount of the fraudulent votes in Georgia is not sufficient. There must be a full audit of the ballots. This whole process has been much too sloppy - uncounted ballots found in 3 counties, pristine/unfolded ballots all for marked for Biden, other batches nearly 100% for Biden, “glitches” in the system software, and even the story of the burst pipe that shut down the vote counting for 4 hours. There wasn’t even a work order or repairs made for the “water main break that flooded a room with absentee ballots.” Not even close. It was a slow leak that was fixed quickly (in about an hour), possibly from a leaky toilet. Republican poll workers were sent home at 10:30pm, but other poll workers continued counting until 1:00am, even though Republican poll workers had left. Three Dominion technicians were sent on Election Day to fix an issue with the voting systems. They traveled to each precinct in the county to make a 2nd software update. The first update was uploaded the night before the Election and was claimed to be the was the cause of the “glitch” in the system on Election Day (as told to a supervisor by a Dominion representative). Dominion, of course, denied making any updates since October 31st. That also leaves no explanation for glitches in the vote tabulation that switched votes to Biden. Also, 17,877 early/absentee voters in GA had filed out-of-State move notices and voted in the election. They’re not matching signatures, and they’re obstructing the view of the counting.  The sad thing is you won’t hear these things on MSM, or if you do, it will be some sort of fact check. There is no integrity in journalism or in this election process."

Also:  “Thousands of people registered and voted in Georgia using addresses of postal facilities or businesses, but making it look like they were residential addresses, according to a former Trump campaign official whose team analyzed the states’ voter data.”

and December 4, 2020:  "video evidence of poll workers pulling out suitcases of ballots from under a table after everyone else was told the counting was done for the night. This was presented in the GA hearing."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&ab_channel=NTD&v=keANzinHWUA&fbclid=IwAR2THeo8SHdfAUHT3bRqU4mVBsHlSUjaS_MTlRB-khq6fiHPcaiCDmax2J0


More questions... how could the vote counts go DOWN??

 YouTube deleted evidence of the vote count going DOWN for Trump (Hammer and Scorecard live data feed .json analysis where they showed the count going down live on the feed to CNN.)

A similar post was on Rumble, where you can see the count doing down.  

https://rumble.com/vbu6xh-election-night-errors-how-did-that-happen.html?fbclid=IwAR17V0eDvAhzgbp23TxSD0_y6grzzodFZv0MrmwYOPln4KhL05nN0IDUg3c


In a Nevada court case that was actually heard and ruled on:  NV court case, in which was presented 86,800 illegal votes: 42,284 double votes, 8,111 fake addresses, 15,681 vacant or commercial addresses, 1,506 dead voters, and 19,218 non-NV voters. If the judge rules in favor, Trump would be up by 53,204 votes in NV.

They presented 86,800 illegal votes, discovered from all available public records (and already removing military and students from out of state votes).  The judge didn't rule favorably, saying they couldn't prove whether the illegal votes were for Trump or Biden.  However, they wouldn't allow access to the machines or ballots to verify the illegal votes. A clear example of the court not allowing them to verify the evidence, which would have most likely overturned the results in the state.  

Similar data was found in the other swing states, with obstruction of justice from governors, secretaries of state, or courts not even taking the cases (dismissing on standing or something other than the merits).  


December 6, 2020  FaceBook post

"I think regardless of whether the courts reject the testimony and evidence presented - if the burden of proof isn’t satisfied, it becomes the state legislatures and justice system’s burden to preserve election integrity. Many people are becoming disenfranchised and losing hope in the integrity of our systems. They must address the questions and issues that have come forth in this election. There are many questions that need to be answered or resolved. Here are some of them. (You may have others.)"

- How do you account for all of the statistical anomalies and improbabilities?

- Why do Dominion voting machines have a weighted feature?

- Why do we find votes with a decimal point (partial or fractional votes)?

- Why do ballots have receipt dates prior to being sent out?

- Why were Dominion employees on-site on Election Day in some places (prior to any technical problems)? Why did they re-set machines to 0? Why did Dominion insert jump drives into voting aggregation machines?

- Why did a technical “glitch” get blamed on an update by Dominion the night before election, but then they denied making the update?

- If it wasn’t an update, what caused the technical “glitches” and the machines to crash for several hours?

- Why were admin passwords posted openly on some machines?

- Why were there internet connections in the rooms with some of the tabulating machines?

- Why were Dominion machines connected to the internet?

- Why weren’t some voting machines sealed or locked as required and serial numbers didn’t match?

- Why didn’t Dominion show up to a hearing in PA?

- How did voting equipment process large spikes in the numbers in a time that’s physically impossible for the machines to tabulate?

- How did memory cards with thousands of uncounted ballots show up in the post-election audit?

- Why did a software update tabulate 6,000 Trump votes for Biden?

- Why did all the glitches favor Biden?

- Why did vote counts go DOWN at times for Trump?

- Why were votes cast by people who registered at commercial addresses?

- Why were workers directed to backdate 100,000 absentee ballots?

- Why did Wayne County certify results with massive discrepancies in approved voters and ballots cast?

- Why were 71% of Detroit’s absentee voter counting boards left unbalanced and voter ID files altered?

- Why did election workers enter fake birthdates on records of non-registered voters to allow their votes?

- Why did votes disappear on machines between logging off and logging in?

- Why are ballots from dead voters being counted?

- Why were 1.8 million absentee ballots mailed out in PA, but 2.5 million were counted?

- Why did 30% of the votes in PA get tabulated after Election Day when 88% were reported in on Election Night?

- Why did 165,412 Republicans request and return ballots in PA that didn’t get counted?

- Where are 47 missing USB cards in PA?

- Why did a trailer with about 288,000 ballots disappear (that had been transported from NY)?

- Why did PA’s state legislature and Supreme Court not follow its own state laws / abuse its power?

- Why did some Democratic precincts get to cure their ballots while Republican precincts did not?

- Why did election clerks fill in missing information on certification envelopes and forge signatures?

- Why did trucks show up in early morning hours or days after the election with ballots?

- Why was there no chain of custody for equipment in many locations?

- Why was there 1 Republican poll worker for an entire gym full of tabulators?

- Why is standing more than 6 ft away or sitting in chairs without view of ballots considered “sufficient access” to observing the ballots?

- Why did poll workers have to obtain a court order to get back in to observe ballots?

- Why were thousands of ballots allowed to be counted without dual party observation?

- Why were 8,000 ballots without valid addresses or dates allowed to be counted?

- Why was counting shut down for hours because of a leaky toilet (that was reported as a burst pipe)?

- Why were press and workers told to go home because counting was done for the night, and then a few people stayed and counted ballots that were pulled out from under a table (and without proper observation)?

- Why did poll challengers get yelled at or ignored for challenging ballots?

- Why did workers cheer every time another Republican worker got kicked out?

- Why aren’t witnesses’ testimonies carrying any weight in court? Why aren’t they credible? If they can’t use phones to record in most circumstances and don’t have access to the ballots or machines, how are they supposed to provide evidence that is beyond their personal observation?

- Why were 70% of signatures in NV rejected as a match, even on a low tolerance setting?

- Why were 100% of military ballots in Fulton County for Biden?

- Why weren’t signatures verified in various places (where it was required)?

- Why were poll workers instructed to allow people to vote who weren’t registered in the state, who weren’t on voter rolls, or had out-of-state driver’s licenses?

- Why did voting updates arrive for Biden in multiples of 4800 votes over and over again in GA?

- Why were there unfolded pristine ballots?

- Why were there thousands of “perfect bubble” ballots for Biden with no down ballot selected?

- Why was GA pushing to quickly wipe or re-set voting machines?

- What ties does Dominion have to China? Did they receive $400 million from China?

- Was Dominion accessed by China and Iran to monitor or manipulate the election?

- How did Biden win despite losing so many seats in the House?

These questions (and more) must be addressed to preserve election integrity!


December 9, 2020 post:  "GA Governor called for a signature audit. The GA GOP caucus in the senate called for an audit. Why won’t the Secretary of State allow the audit? Seems like a better way to go about it than the Supreme Court’s potential ruling to declare their election void. All the states in question should do the full hand audit and signature verification, so we all know the true results. We don’t want the Supreme Court to decide the election. We don’t want votes thrown out; we want to know the truth. That’s all we want."

December 14, 2020 post:  "Boom! There it is, the forensic audit. And it’s not good... 68% rejection rate for ballots, sent to adjudication, where workers can manually select choices and then leave no audit trail. The allowable election error rate is 0.0008%. The 6000 vote “glitch” in Antrim County was a “machine error built into the voting software designed to create error.”  Everywhere these machines were used must be audited!"  https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20423772-antrim-county-forensics-report?fbclid=IwAR0XMYfJbWFrxc4xTYwwmvxmpFHdvDqSulyPNl6Y93qmcmcccUkpqNPl6GY

A comment I made on adjudication:  "The forensic audit showed that the system was designed to create errors in the reading of the ballots, sending 68% of them to adjudication! That means it kicked a massive amount of ballots out to be determined by an individual and manually “fixed” before adding to the count. The allowable error for these systems is 0.0008%. So, yes, it’s both a programmed system algorithm AND fraudulent adjudication. There are videos showing how easy it is to change whatever you want during adjudication - the ballot scan gets sent to a person who can change whatever they want before submitting it. They also could do these adjudications without proper dual party observance." 

And come to find out, they redacted the information that revealed the actual 6,000 vote switch, not to mention they blocked the Antrim County, MI audit report from coming out until the day the votes were being certified.  

December 19, 2020 post:  https://m.theepochtimes.com/redacted-information-in...

"How convenient they redacted the audit information that revealed the switch... with the justification that they “...didn’t want to allow the release of potentially propriety information.”

So it’s okay to protect a potentially fraudulent voting system, but not release information that could potentially change the outcome of a national election?" 


December 15, 2020 post:  "I think it’s important for people realize that cases have not been dismissed on merit or lack of evidence. In many cases, judges have used “standing” and “laches” to dismiss and not make a ruling on the substance. Take a look at some of Sidney Powell’s cases, if you care to read through them. If you go under the tab SCOTUS, you can look at 4 cases. I noticed the one in GA that sought to be tried in Federal Court, they just dismissed it because they said it should be in state court. Other states have been following suit, without ever addressing the substance or evidence in the case. Will any judge address the issues?"

https://www.defendingtherepublic.org/?fbclid=IwAR18cJ_Edx-ndX-IkQAgGy45QWAtP2oPg9TxA3DaFTO0vfH3Wzk7o9Izap8


December 18, 2020 post:  "Let’s just set the record straight a little bit on an often quoted statement from CISA about this being the “most secure election in American history”. While I would also disagree with that statement, I think this is an important point, which was made by Chris Krebs, former director of CISA, at the Senate Hearing on Election Security this week.

Senator Rob Portman: “By the way, Senator Paul earlier talked about the fact that there has been some lack of understanding between what you testified to and what you stated as to the election being secure from cyber-attacks and this notion that there were not instances of irregularity and fraud in this election, which of course there have been in every election in the history of our country and there were in this election, and we have heard about some of those today.

“Is Senator Paul correct, and I guess I would slightly amend what he said. He said that your focus was just on foreign adversaries. My sense is your focus is not just on foreign adversaries, although you feel fairly confident that that did not happen this time, and obviously based on what happened in 2016 with the Russians, this is good news but also with regard to domestic cyber-attacks is that what your report was about? Is he accurate in saying that?”

Mr. Krebs: “Yes, sir, so you know when you come in a federal office, you pledge the oath to uphold and defend the Constitution from threats foreign and domestic, and that is what we did. The focus of the statement, the joint statement, was security. It was secure, I think terms have been conflated here, you know, alleging that we were speaking to the fraud aspect. We absolutely were not. We were talking about security, hacking, manipulation of these machines. That was the thrust of the statement.”

This statement was on SECURITY, not FRAUD. So you can’t use the “most secure in American history” to say there was no evidence of fraud in the election."


Despite requests for full audits in the counties in question, they never did them, leaving so many issues unresolved.  There was statistical evidence, forensic evidence, and thousands of affidavits from poll workers who witnessed fraud - this could have been verified through audits and access to the machines and ballots.  Dominion continued to lie about their machines being connected to the internet, when in real time it was shown they were able to hack into the voting systems during the Georgia Senate run-offs.    https://www.theepochtimes.com/georgia-senate-subcommittee-requests-forensic-audit-of-fulton-county-absentee-ballots_3638568.html?fbclid=IwAR0Fw1onaZDDjmlk2QjKYGDnm8LLLcHquCvLVtOPBf4DFl23W02qnRBWK2I


The Senate run-offs are suspect to interference as well, with similar signs:  a long stretch of time with no reporting from DeKalb county, followed by glitches in the machines, followed by at least a 12,000 vote gain between 1-3am, with the Democrat candidates getting 95-98% of the votes to put them in the lead.  (The overall county had 83%, yet 95-98% in the early morning hours went to Biden?).  I don't know of anywhere in the country that had that percentage of the votes going to the Democrats.  It could have happened legally, but it's very suspect for fraud.  Even in Philadelphia, 81% of the votes went to Biden.   In probably the most heavily democratic DC, Biden got 93%.  Prince George County, MD: 90%.  Bronx County, NY: 83%.  Marin County, CA:  82%.  King County, WA: 75%. 

On the other side, Republican votes in King County, TX (most red in the nation):  95% to Trump.  Cimarron County, OK:  92%.  Crook County, WY:  88%.  Piute County, UT:  88%.  Bear Lake County, ID: 87%.      

Determining absentee ballot percentages would take some additional studying, but the 95-98% would have to make DeKalb county probably the bluest in the nation for those kinds of numbers.     

January 6, 2021 post:  "It was very moving to see the objection to count this morning, although largely symbolic. Maybe we’ll still get 10 days to do an audit, but probably not. I’m proud to see Senators and Representatives who are still working for transparency, integrity, and upholding and defending the Constitution. Millions of Americans support these courageous men and women. We also know who didn’t stand for truth. I don’t think we’ll easily forget the ones who didn’t want to listen to the millions of us who feel we weren’t fairly represented."


And then a small group of people (out of probably 1.5 million) stormed the Capitol and they blamed it on Trump for inciting violence.  He said, I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”  

The timeline doesn’t match up for the people listening to Trump’s speech either. They would have still been walking over while the storming of the Capitol was already occurring. "...The first wave of protestors arrived at the Capitol about 12:40pm. President Trump's speech didn't conclude until 1:11pm, and with at least a 45-minute walk between the two locations with crowd-related delays, that would put the first people from Trump's speech at Capitol Hill no earlier than 1:56pm - a full hour and sixteen minutes after troublemakers arrived. In fact, rioters who breached the perimter would have had to leave before Trump's speech even began (at 12pm precisely) to make it in time for the events as they are detailed by authorities." https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/ex-capitol-police-chief-says-pelosi-mcconnells-sergeants-at-arms-refused-security-measures-while-new-timeline-proves-trump-incitement-claims-bogus/?fbclid=IwAR1NxmsyTxg0b0arNGrLGfyEVdJ5JE_16EPTJquPq0U6qWBwkKGVUeANX-M

And he didn’t call on them to storm the Capitol or any kind of violence. He said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” He wanted the presence of these thousands of people to cheer on Congress to do the right thing. It is not his fault that an angry group decided to storm the Capitol. The hypocrisy of calling out the violence is astounding too, considering all the violence that happened this past year in cities.  

I made this comment:   "And a call for a march on Washington isn’t a call to violence or insurrection. There have been MANY calls to march in protest on Washington. Probably one of the most prominent was Martin Luther King Jr, and that definitely wasn’t a call for violence. And just maybe everyone should step back and ask WHY these people were there in the first place. They’re ANGRY and frustrated that no one would address the claims of election fraud, refusing audits, obstructing justice, removing all confidence in fair elections and our legal system. We didn’t have to be in that situation, if leaders would have done the right thing and verified the allegations and all the sworn testimony of fraud. Trump isn’t to blame here. In his entire presidency I’ve never heard a call for violence."  

I also made this comment: "People are responsible for their own actions though, and Trump didn’t call on them to storm the Capitol or any kind of violence. He said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” And remember, Trump was expecting Pence to send the dual electors back to the states. He was expecting a very different outcome that day; probably of cheers and celebration when Pence was hearing the voices of all the people in America who wanted the claims of fraud to be audited and investigated. He wanted the presence of these thousands of people to cheer on Congress to do the right thing. And it’s not his fault that a few of the people expressed their anger by storming into the Capitol. Those people are idiots and they should be punished. I do, however, completely understand their anger. So many people are to blame for the divisiveness in our country. Even Kamala Harris, during all the rioting and protesting the past year, said that people should continue to fight. Was she encouraging the violence to continue? No, I don’t think so, but some people probably did take that literally. But just because she used the word “fight” doesn’t mean she was calling for violence. You also had people tearing down statues and holding up bloody Trump heads and guillotines. I don’t think that’s in any way an appropriate way to express anger. And media was allowing these images to be posted. Where was the censorship for these violent gestures against the President?" 

Trump was banned on Twitter and FaceBook for telling people to go home.  This censorship of Trump and many other conservative voices is wrong, and it was the last straw for me on staying on FaceBook right now.  I am currently about to deactivate my account, because it's too hard to continue to use and support a platform whose policies I don't agree with.  

But here we are, with Biden to be inaugurated tomorrow.  I posted some final thoughts.  

January 7, 2021 post:  "Posting this is a bit of closure for me, but I had to get some more thoughts out there, and I think many of you feel the same way. It’s been a tough year and a tough couple of months. I’m very frustrated and angry with the results of the election. I will continue to believe it was fraudulent until all the claims of fraud and statistical evidence are addressed. I wish the courts had addressed the evidence, but I also understand they weren’t willing to make rulings that the state legislatures should have dealt with. There are many unresolved issues, and I wish our leaders had the integrity to address them. We didn’t have to get to the point we were in yesterday with objections to the Electoral College count and protesting at the Capitol. If audits had been done in the counties in question and access to ballots and machines allowed, we could have put many concerns to rest before the votes got to Congress. I’m grateful for the representatives who listened to us, spoke on our behalf about our concerns over election integrity, and objected to the votes. It takes courage to stand in the minority and even when many in your party are shaming you. It’s never too late to seek truth and justice and defend the Constitution. Nevertheless, here we are, with Joe Biden as President-Elect. Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and dead voters have spoken... 😜  But seriously, here we are, facing the consequences of others choices, just as with every election.  Half the country is disappointed and living with the consequences of choices someone else made.  That's life.  It's unfair and it's hard.  We still have the power to choose though.  How will we respond?  We can stay angry and let it consume us and determine our actions.  Or we can make the best of it, pray for our leaders, and try to build bridges of understanding with those who have different ways of solving our country's problems.  We don't have to unite with ideas and platforms that are against our values.  You better believe we'll fight with everything we have to preserve our freedoms.  However, with the 2016 election, we saw a level of anger and hatred that was never overcome by many people.  We can't let that happen; we have to rise above the feelings of anger and injustice.  We can still be the positive changes we want to see in our country.  So get up, get to work, and don't let the darkness prevail!  (I'm going to try to take my own advice...)  I've been praying that truth and justice will prevail.  It will - just maybe not when we want it to.  Goodness, truth, justice, and light always prevails in the end.  If it's not here now, then it's not the end.

And we know what we know; knowledge is power and gives us freedom, even if others don't accept what you know or things don't work out like you thought they should.  There are many experiences and things we know that others won't accept or recognize as true.  That doesn't make what you know any less valid.  It just means you had a different experience, perspective, or sources of information.  Keep seeking for truth and knowledge, in worldly matters, but also most importantly from God.  We have been counseled that we won't be able to survive without the guiding influence of God.  Make things right in your own life and find peace, and you'll be able to conquer whatever darkness comes."       


January 17, 2021 post:  "Well, I'm about to finish up on here. I think I've about got what I want; it's hard to go through 13 years worth of stuff. It was 2007 when I first got on FaceBook!
I'm deactivating my account, at least for a while. Just to clarify, it's mostly a statement to FB that I don't agree with their policies. The censoring is wrong. These platforms have too much power, yet we never hold them accountable for what they're doing. They've also created a dependence on them - many of you probably wouldn't even think about getting off here at this point, with so many memories and connections. However, somehow we need to send a statement to these platforms that we don't agree with their policies. I've had some internal struggle with staying on here to fight or just walking away. Right now, I think I'll have some peace by walking away. I'll miss all the pleasant things that most of you share.
I need a break from the political stuff too. I realize it was my own fault for all the political posts and the opposing views that came with those posts. However, those that spoke up against me aren't the reason I'm deactivating. In fact, I pretty much let everyone share and comment whatever they wanted on my posts. I only deleted a couple of comments when they resorted to name calling. So I'm not afraid to speak up or to push back on what I believe is true, and I still respect those that didn't see things the way I did.
I feel like we're coming to a point when we're really going to have to fight for our freedoms. And when I say "fight", it has nothing to do with violence. We're going to have to figure out how to make our voices heard in peaceful ways. There's a quote that says, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." (Edmund Burke) What are you going to do about freedom of speech? Walking away from platforms that are suppressing freedom of speech might be one of those ways. This past year, we've really seen freedom of speech attacked, with not only certain political voices being censored, but also doctors who tried to share information regarding covid. It's dangerous when you have platforms or small groups of people who are deciding what messages are important or harmful. If they are able to start doing that, how long will it be before other information, like religious messages, will also be deemed as harmful? Who gets to decide what messages are harmful and what aren't?
We've also seen how governors have abused their authority or decided what things are essential and what aren't, and then they also didn't follow their own mandates. Religious gatherings were deemed as nonessential. Many schools are still shut down. Small businesses, like restaurants (who were even adapting to the outdoor service), were shut down. Abortion clinics, liquor stores, and marijuana shops were essential though. We also saw governors make changes in election laws without going through the proper procedure. We had mass mail out of ballots (without cleaning up voter rolls or not having people request them), deadlines extended, signature verification or ID's eliminated, or curing of ballots in some places but not others. FaceBook poured in millions of dollars into the cities like Atlanta and Detroit and into the Democratic campaign to help Biden win.
There wasn't any transparency or assurance of a fair election as governors and secretaries of state wouldn't allow audits or investigations into the counties in question. If we can't even have confidence in a fair election, then how can we hope to vote out leaders who aren't representing our values?
What can we do? What are you going to do to preserve our freedoms? I'm not sure, but we still have choices besides doing nothing. If I owned a business, was retired, or in a position to do so, I would consider moving from these cities or states where I didn't feel represented. If they don't represent you, move away from their representation. I'm well aware that's not something everyone can do, but if you had the choice, then it's worth considering. We also have the choice not to support these platforms or companies involved in taking away freedom of speech.
I don't know if legislation will come from Washington, if that's what you're waiting for. If you believe in prophets, we've been told that we would get to a point where the Constitution is hanging by a thread and it wouldn't be saved in Washington. We may not be there yet, but are you going to wait until it is to do anything about it? We still have many choices, and not doing anything is a choice. Ponder about what you're going to do to fight in non-violent ways to preserve our Constitution and our freedoms."


And that concludes my election saga.  Heaven help us during these next 4 years!  





 

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