Showing posts with label US Capitol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Capitol. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Fox lies about election costs them hundreds of millions, but what about everything else?

Dominion-Fox News live updates: Settlement reached for $787.5 million

ABC News
By Aaron Katersky and Olivia Rubin
April 18, 2023
Dominion Voting Systems, in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit, accused Fox News of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories that the voting machine company rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden's favor, in what Dominion claims was an effort to combat concerns over declining ratings and viewer retention. Fox defended its coverage, dismissing the suit as a "political crusade in search of a financial windfall."

"Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion," Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos said outside the courthouse following the announcement of a settlement. It was not immediately clear where this admission took place, beyond Fox's statement that "We acknowledge the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false" -- or whether Fox News had agreed to a more formal acknowledgement in a public way.
read more here

That was the news on one of the biggest crimes in recent history. FOX was supposed to be a news station with journalists. At least that was what their viewers thought. They defended them, no matter what they said. It didn't matter if it cost them relationships with families and friends because they thought they we right. 

And now, FOX settled before the trial that would cause all the liars to admit what they did in court. At the last minute, FOX agreed to pay $787 million dollars for lying about Dominion. What about everything else?

What about the people who voted for President Biden? What did this do to the rightfully elected President, Joe Biden? What about the House and Senate members that refused to hold anyone accountable for anything that was done, not just to Biden, but to all the voters? What about the election workers that were threatened? What about all the people so filled with rage after being lied to, stormed the US Capitol, and ended up in jail, facing trial, or losing everything they had?

What about the House, Senate, and local government members, not just supporting the lies but doing all they can to remove the right of the people to vote the way they want to?

So fine, FOX has to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for lying when they knew what the truth was. The question is, what happens to them after all the harm they have done to everyone else?

Friday, January 6, 2023

Heroes of January 6, 2021 honored

To see what is happening in the US Capitol today, on this the second anniversary of when our democracy was being attacked, is sickening. That is true. At the same time, what else happened this day in Washington DC is hopeful because people who risked their lives to defend what so many simply take for granted were rightfully honored.

In the process of President Biden listing all the things they went through, he mentioned how #PTSD does not just happen to veterans. Members of the police force, members of the House and Senate, and workers serving the elected are battling PTSD because of what happened that horrible day. Along with them, election workers, simply doing the duty of counting and processing the votes were honored for the price they ended up having to pay because they were lied about and targeted by those who lost.

When you have PTSD, you know that terrors do not end because they come in many different events by many different people, but they do not have to defeat us because other events and other people do things to help us heal!


Among those honored was "Capitol Police Officer Howie Liebengood, who died by suicide after serving on the front lines during the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol" and his widow fought to have the unseen price paid as a price paid in the line of duty.

Widow of fallen Capitol Police officer wants his death classified as ‘in the line of duty’
“That’s not what this is about,” Wexton said of the loss of access to the benefits. “This is more about the principle of their understanding that PTSD and the tragedy that went along with the events of January 6 is real. And that the stigma that follows police officers around after this, and then the reluctance to seek help, is also real.” read more of this here

President Biden awards 12 Citizens Medals on Jan. 6 anniversary


War of Powers in Washington DC

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 6, 2023

While the American people are accustomed to the simple fact that all politicians have an ego, we should never be willing to accept them putting their own self-interests ahead of the people and the country they take an oath to serve. We have seen a war of powers being waged beyond comprehension for the last two years that has resulted in the chaos in Washington DC. 

Some of them use their claims of "faith" to justify lying and hating, seeking revenge against anyone seeking to hold them accountable for their actions. Others, also people of faith, hold to the truth and are willing to fight for what is right against those only claiming what they want people to believe they are.

To believe an entire body of those elected to serve as Republicans is all contemptible will surrender all hope for this nation. There has to be some among them still willing to do what is right for the sake of the country and put the country first. It is ever more apparent the majority of members of the GOP side of the house would rather have a divided party, as well as a divided House. As President Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Two years ago, we were warned about people claiming to be "loyal" to the country, while they were only loyal to those only loyal to themselves. Selfish people always existed, and sadly, always will. The thing is, the American people used to be able to discern which selfish people were able to at least serve the country with equal measure toward themselves. That became frighteningly apparent two years ago this day.

We were warned about giving those selfish people power with no limits would cause great harm to this nation they claimed to love. We saw that on display over and over again leading up to the inability of GOP members of the House to elect a Speaker of the House, third in line to the President. They put their self-serving interests ahead of the good of the country. The fringe wants to have everything their way and McCarthy is willing to give them whatever they want so he can have the power he craves. Nothing else matters to Kevin McCarthy more than Kevin McCarthy. It doesn't matter what the country will pay in the end as long as he gets what he wants, and the rest of them are following the same goals based on their own self-interest.

McCarthy fights to lock down a deal in longest speaker contest in 164 years

CNN

Kevin McCarthy is locked in a fight for his political future as the California Republican attempts to win the votes he needs to become speaker of the US House of Representatives in what has now become the longest contest in 164 years.

McCarthy suffered a string of defeats on Thursday as the House took round after round of failed votes. The longer the fight drags on, the more dire it becomes for McCarthy as it risks further defections and a loss of confidence in the GOP leader. House Republicans are scheduled to hold a conference call Friday morning, a source familiar told CNN, and the House is set to reconvene at noon ET.
read more here
Read the article on NPR as a reminder

And this is why those who sided with evil, should not be in charge of the House they were willing to allow to fall for the sake of what they wanted for themselves. The question is, who among them is willing to put the country first and serve her, instead of themselves in that party? Who among them is willing to renounce the R after their name and declare independence from them to caucus with the Democrats when they can agree on Bills and Laws instead of serving vindictiveness and hatred? 


This is Kevin McCarthy on video addressing what happened two years ago today.


If you are wondering what this has to do with #PTSD then you haven't been paying attention since many of those serving in the House on that day, have been fighting it ever since. The only way we know to begin to heal when someone harmed us is for them to be held accountable.

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Michael Fanone and veterans uge House to condemn violence

Letters delivered by veterans urge House Republicans to condemn political violence

Los Angeles Times
BY GARY FIELDS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAN. 4, 2023

WASHINGTON — Dozens of military veterans on Wednesday hand-delivered letters to top Republicans in the U.S. House, calling on them to publicly condemn political violence as the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol approaches.
Former Washington Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone leaves Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s office at the Capitol on Wednesday after delivering a letter urging the Georgia Republican to publicly condemn political violence.(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)
Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone wrote the letter, which was signed by more than 1,000 military veterans, active duty members, law enforcement officers and military families. Fanone, who was beaten and shocked with stun guns during the attack on the Capitol, delivered a copy to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s office. While the GOP leadership remains unsettled, the groups behind the effort consider the Georgia representative one of the de facto leaders of the new Republican majority in the House.

Veterans also delivered letters to GOP Reps. James Comer of Kentucky, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Elise Stefanik of New York and Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, who is trying to become House speaker.

read more here
video from NBC

Friday, October 14, 2022

What Trump's feeble fable cost supporters, and the rest of us

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 14, 2022

While the hearing is explained on NPR it left a lot of questions for me.
An audio recording of former President Donald Trump talking to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is played during the ninth House Select Committee hearing to Investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Trump already decided he was going to declare he won before the election,
Trump had long planned to declare victory, no matter the results. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said Brad Parscale, Trump's former campaign manager, told the panel he understood that Trump planned as early as July to insist he won the November election, no matter the results.
Doesn't that mean everyone else in his circle knew he was lying and then turned around to dupe their supporters?
In a different clip, Stone said: "F*** the voting, let's get right to the violence. We'll have to start smashing pumpkins if you know what I mean."
Trump and his circle used the people long before the election was even held. Doesn't that mean they didn't care about setting up all those people to commit crimes and dupe them out of their money on top of it?
Despite publicly declaring he won, Trump privately admitted he lost the election. Testimony from former White House officials demonstrate that while the president was publicly forging a campaign to overturn the election, he privately was acknowledging his loss.
In an audio clip, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that while in the Oval Office, Trump said something to the effect of "We lost, we need to let that issue go to the next guy."
Trump knew everything he was saying was a lie, yet to this day, he still repeats his lies. Doesn't that also mean he is using his supporters and taking advantage of all of them, including the ones that already ended up being convicted?
Secret Service had tips about expected violence on Jan. 6. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on Dec. 26, a Secret Service field office shared a tip that had been received by the FBI. The source said the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, planned to march into D.C. with weapons.
Trump wanted to use the Insurrection Act to call in the National Guards and law enforcement to put down the mob he sent to the Capitol. Doesn't that mean he made them a target of the National Guard and law enforcement officers?

Election deniers are running for office all over the country. They are 60% of the people trying to be put in charge of your vote. Did they know what Trump was up to and didn't care about earning your vote because they are prepared to just claim they won and repeat what Trump did to the people of this country? If they didn't know he was lying, how incompetent are they? How many courts had to deny every claim Trump and his circle made with absolutely no evidence provided to support such a feeble fable?

With all the members of the House and Senate wanting to put in charge to change the rules to suit what Trump tried to do, doesn't that mean they are trying to dupe you too? Just claim they won and take the office no matter who has to pay for it?

They have already shown they don't care what people want or need because they think they're set up to take the office no matter what or who has to pay for it. Will the voters finally open their eyes and defend this country to make sure these people do not get the power to remove the only voice we have?

Saturday, July 23, 2022

If you have PTSD, Annie Kuster along with others, are on your side

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 23, 2022

When you have PTSD and discover others have it too, while you may be sorry they are a member of this club because of the price they paid to join it, it is helpful to know they understand you. The causes may be different but what it does strikes about a third of survivors. This is why peer support matters. That is what members of the House and Senate discovered after the Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021.

Annie Kuster, along with other members, has been trying to do something about making life better for those with PTSD. She understands it and has not been ashamed to talk about what she survived. She has also been very vocal about how important getting help and support is.

She has been speaking out on PTSD for a long time.
U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster kept silent about the sexual assaults she had endured as a young woman for nearly 40 years. Concord Monitor On Tuesday night, the 59-year-old congresswoman from Hopkinton broke her silence to her husband, family and the world. Her hands clasped on the lectern on the House floor, Kuster launched into a speech detailing one of her most painful memories.

Kuster, along with other members of Congress, are talking about their struggles as well.
ABC 9 News
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long after most other lawmakers had been rushed to safety, they were on the hard marble floor, ducking for cover.

Trapped in the gallery of the House, occupying balcony seats off-limits to the public because of COVID-19, roughly three dozen House Democrats were the last ones to leave the chamber on Jan. 6, bearing witness as the certification of a presidential election gave way to a violent insurrection.

As danger neared, and as the rioters were trying to break down the doors, they called their families. They scrambled for makeshift weapons and mentally prepared themselves to fight. Many thought they might die.
“When I looked up, I had this realization that we were trapped,” said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a former Army Ranger who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. “They had evacuated the House floor first. And they forgot about us.”
Bound together by circumstance, sharing a trauma uniquely their own, the lawmakers were both the witnesses and the victims of an unprecedented assault on American democracy. Along with a small number of staffers and members of the media, they remained in the chamber as Capitol Police strained to hold back the surging, shouting mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
Kuster, D-N.H., was one of the first to be let out of the gallery on Jan. 6, escaping through the doors along with three other members just before the remaining lawmakers were locked inside. When Kuster’s group reached the hallway, a group of rioters was rushing toward them.

“We ducked into the elevator,” Kuster said. “And I said to this incredible policeman — I said, oh, my God, what if the elevator doors open, and they kill us? And I will never forget this moment ... he said, ‘Ma’am, I am here to protect you.’ And he was there to protect our democracy.”
NH Congresswoman reacts to January 6 primetime hearing
Jul 22, 2022
Rep. Annie Kuster says she believes the select committee hearings are changing the minds of many Americans

While some people may think this is not a big deal, the truth is, it is a huge one. So many lawmakers have been dealing with PTSD in their own lives and they understand all of us now. Maybe, just maybe, they'll push legislation through to address the help all of us need to heal. I know from where I sit, that it is hopeful to know, that people with the power to make our lives better know exactly what we're going through and what got them through their own battles.

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Wandrea "Shaye" Moss could have been you

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 22, 2022


 The January 6th committee has provided this country with a wake-up call to the truth.


The entire series thus far has proven that Donald Trump knew he lost the election. They proved he was told over and over again what he was doing was illegal. As for what legal punishment he and his coconspirators will receive, the question believers in the lie need to be asking themselves is, "Can we be forgiven?"

They didn't just protest in the streets. They marched armed to the homes of election officials. They marched to the homes of average people like Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, an election worker, along with the home of her Mother and Grandmother.

This is from CNN

The single most compelling witness of the January 6 committee hearings so far
Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, had been working in relative anonymity in Fulton County until, without warning, Giuliani and Trump fixated on the notion that they had somehow committed actions that were proof positive of votes being stolen for Democrats in the 2020 election. Trump called Freeman a "professional vote scammer" and a "hustler." Giuliani said that Moss and Freeman had been passing around USB ports like "vials of cocaine or heroin." (Moss said at Tuesday's hearing that her mother had been handing her a "ginger mint," not a USB drive.) In the wake of those false and racist allegations, Moss detailed how people had tried to barge into her grandmother's home and how Trump supporters had villainized her and her mother. (Her mother, who was known as "Lady Ruby," said she no longer liked being called that.) Moss said of the threats she had received: "A lot of them were racist. A lot of them were just hateful." "I haven't been anywhere at all," she said through tears.

How many of us watched Moss testify, listened to what happened to her, fully aware that it could have been any one of us, standing up for the truth only to end up threatened by liars?

Most of us had friends we cared about and thought they cared about us until they turned against us for simply telling them the truth and refusing to allow their lies to go on unchallenged. I lost more than I can count and most of them, I helped through very difficult times. None of that mattered, because the lies they wanted to share, mattered more.



Arizona Speaker of the House, Russell Bowers had the same thing happen to him.



Within state after state, anger and rage took over as the lie was pushed. People honoring the rule of law, loyalty to the country, and to the truth, were accused of being liars. because they dared to not only speak the truth, they dared to fight for it, despite threats from those trying to force their will onto everyone else.

How many of us watched the videos of the day these people were unleashed to invade the US Capitol ranting and raving about how everyone else was betraying our country when they in fact had been the only ones committing the crimes against what this country stood for?

I don't know about you, but if one of my ex-friends had a "come to Jesus moment" and apologized, I'd forgive them, but the damage is already done to the trust friends are supposed to have. The relationship we had would be over and a new one would have to begin. Trust would have to be earned back and not just handed over to them.

The other thing we all have to acknowledge is the lives of all the people. like Moss and her family, will never be the same again. What does justice look like for them? Who can pay them back for the lost months and endless nightmare caused by those who inflicted it as well as those who incited it?

If you want to see what the cause of PTSD looks like, you have been seeing it unfold during these hearings and the basis of these was brought on by pure evil!


2 Thessalonians 2
2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Monday, June 13, 2022

Jan. 6th Committee proved Trump lied, but veterans paid the price

While Trump was saying he knew he won, the truth is, he lied because everyone around him told him he lost. Learning the truth now, it is too late for far too many veterans who had to pay the price for his lies!

NBC News WASHINGTON — A former U.S. Marine who also worked as a police officer in Florida pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a charge of unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted building in connection with the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack.
Nicholes Lentz, who was previously employed as an officer in North Miami Beach, was charged a year ago.
The FBI has arrested more than 740 people in Jan. 6-related cases, and more than 200 have pleaded guilty. There are hundreds more cases in the pipeline. More than 2,500 people either entered the Capitol building or engaged in chargeable unlawful conduct outside the building.
Earlier on Tuesday, a judge said that Capitol defendant Jeffrey Alexander Smith should spend 90 days in prison. The government had argued for Smith to be sentenced to five months incarceration. Smith helped re-open the east side doors to the Capitol, allowing the mob to flood into the building.

Smith, echoing the words of many other Trump supporters, told Judge Reggie B. Walton on Tuesday that he "just got caught up in the moment" on Jan. 6. “I don’t consider myself a patriot at that moment at all, I consider myself a fool,” Smith told the judge.
The thing is, there were a lot of veterans Trump lied to and ended up paying the price.
NBC News WASHINGTON — A military veteran from Georgia who attacked police officers at the U.S. Capitol as part of a pro-Trump mob trying to overturn the 2020 election results was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison Monday. Kevin Creek, 47, a former Marine, was sentenced to 27 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich for assaulting officers on Jan. 6.
This veteran,
McKellop served more than 20 years in the Army, including nine years with Special Forces and served with Fort Bragg's 3rd Special Forces Group, his military records show.
(CNN)One of the veterans charged in the Capitol insurrection worked in the Marine Corps unit responsible for transporting the president and operating his helicopter, Marine One, according to Pentagon records.

Military records obtained by CNN show that John Andries served in the Marine Corps from 2004 to 2009 and was assigned to the Marine Helicopter Squadron One, the unit responsible for transporting the president, also known as HMX-1. Andries was not a pilot, but his records indicate he was a Helicopter Crew Chief.
You can find more on your own, beause there are a lot more to find. Keep this in mind,


Disproportionate number of current and former military personnel arrested in Capitol attack, CNN analysis shows
By Sara Sidner, Anna-Maja Rappard and Marshall Cohen, CNN
February 4, 2021

Ormond Beach, Florida (CNN)Active military personnel and veterans are over-represented among the first 150 people to be arrested and have records released for federal offenses in the violence and insurrection at the US Capitol.

Analysis by CNN of Pentagon records and court proceedings show 21 of the 150, or 14%, are current or former members of the US military. That is more than double the proportion of servicemen and women and veterans in the adult US population, calculated from Census Bureau and Department of Defense statistics. In 2018, there were 1.3 million active-duty members of the services and 18 million veterans. Together, they comprised just 5.9% of the overall 327 million US population at the end of 2018.

Two of the people arrested are in the Army Reserve, and one is an Army National Guardsman. Of the 19 veterans, seven are former Army, eight are former Marines, two served in the Navy, one was in the Air Force, and one served in the Army National Guard. Their service records show at least one served in Vietnam; others were deployed in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. At least one earned a Purple Heart. They were discharged with a variety of ranks and included officers -- a captain and a lieutenant colonel.

Watch this video and then wonder how the veterans above feel about being lied to all along and the price they are paying for Trump lying to them all along when he knew he lost the election. Did he put them through all this to just raise money off them afterwards?

And you can read about today's hearing here.

Friday, April 15, 2022

They drove "a stake in the heart of the federal republic"

Now we know why only a few Republicans wanted to learn the truth about January 6th and hold people accountable. This is our country. This is our future. We're sadly accustomed to politicans lying to get our votes. We're not now, nor should we ever become accustomed them trying to nullify our votes because they didn't like the way we used our right to vote. 

Everything that has happened in our lives since then has been tied to them participating in it and blocking any attempt fix what we need done. Taking down the party that actually won is more important than taking care of us. They believe we have short memories and attention spans. They want us to forget what they did to us, and worse, what they tried to do to us. It is time to hold them all accountable and for truth to matter.  

CNN Exclusive: 'We need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend.' What the Meadows texts reveal about how two Trump congressional allies lobbied the White House to overturn the election.

CNN
By Ryan Nobles, Annie Grayer, Zachary Cohen and Jamie Gangel
April 15, 2022

"We're driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic," Roy texted Meadows on January 1.

Washington (CNN) In the weeks between the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, almost 100 text messages from two staunch GOP allies of then-President Donald Trump reveal an aggressive attempt to lobby, encourage and eventually warn the White House over its efforts to overturn the election, according to messages obtained by the House select committee and reviewed by CNN.
In a January 3 text to Meadows, Lee argued that Trump's effort to have states send alternate slates of electors to Congress was not legitimate.

"I only know that this will end badly for the President unless we have the Constitution on our side," Lee texted in a note to Meadows. "And unless these states submit new slates of Trump electors pursuant to state law, we do not," Lee wrote to Meadows.

As CNN has previously reported, the plan to replace authentic electors with fake ones in a handful of swing states was orchestrated by allies of the former President and overseen by his then-attorney Giuliani.
read more here

Monday, February 14, 2022

Level headed Republicans do exist

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 14, 2022

Happy Valentine's Day! Today is the day when most people think about the people the love. So do I, but I am also thinking about the people I once loved because I thought they truly love God and the truth. They replaced both with Trump and lies. Sure they think they are telling the truth and everyone else is lying because they believed the liar was telling them the truth. Fascinating when you know the truth is all over the place, but they won't even look for it. Safe to assume they heard what they wanted to and didn't need to know more. 

I tried to tell them the truth, but they wouldn't listen. They turned around, attacked me and called me stuff like "libtard." They forgot I have been a registered Independent for twenty years. Like most Americans, neither party represented everything I thought. I miss my Republican friends. Not the way they became, but they way they always were before Trump.

Some of them were actually happy he was tied to Putin and Russia. No matter how many times he lied, they not only approved of the lie, they spread it. I could no longer tolerate having them in my life after decades when they supported the attack on the Capitol because their choice didn't win re-election.

Now, I am happy that level headed Republicans do still exist and have the strength and courage to tell the truth against what their own party is doing. 

 
The Republican Accountability Project
179K subscribers


In the days after January 6, Republicans Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Mike Gallagher all knew Trump was responsible. A year later, don’t let them forget what they said.

This ad will run nationally and in target cities across cable networks on January 6, including Fox and Friends, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Sean Hannity, CNN, The Rachel Maddow Show, All In With Chris Hayes, and Morning Joe.


It is no secret I love God and this country. That love requires me to not just tell the truth, but to speak boldly about it. The number of those still supporting the lies are far less than than the rest of the country. 

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1)
If you believe in God and His Son, then that sickening feeling you've been having is Them trying to tell you that you are infecting the soul within you. Open your eyes to what the truth actually is, and ask for forgiveness. It is time for this country to go back to the usual disagreements we have and end this war between what are lies and what are truths.

Besides, I miss my Republican friends who used to call me friend instead of attacking me for speaking the truth.

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Reporters talk about PTSD year after attack on Capitol

One year later, reporters are still processing what happened on Jan. 6

CNN Business
By Ramishah Maruf
January 2, 2022
Some journalists have been candid about post traumatic stress disorder following the insurrection. Walker said one hallmark of PTSD is to have eerily clear flashbacks -- something he has experienced when reflecting on Jan. 6.
One of the defining stories of this year was the Jan. 6 insurrection, and its significance is only growing from here, CNN's chief media correspondent Brian Stelter said on "Reliable Sources" Sunday.

Approaching the one year anniversary, journalists are continuing to report on the attack and its aftermath, and many are still reeling from their own experiences covering the insurrection on the ground.

"We're all kind of feeling the same thing right now, this sort of disbelief that already a year has gone by and here we are," Grace Segers, a staff writer at the New Republic, said.

Hunter Walker, author of the newsletter "The Uprising" and a contributor to Rolling Stone, said that many Americans are still not truly aware of the extent of what happened that day, and not just due to active attempts to deny the seriousness of the event. Many journalists were working from home due to Covid, and jammed cell signals delayed the release of videos from the Capitol.

"There's a bit of an informal network of reporters who've been through it that day, and are still coping with that, who are leaning on each other and talking to each other," Walker said.
read more here

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Will some please explain this?

How does someone decide to serve this nation, risking their lives for a noble cause, turn around and attack it for a lie?

Will someone please explain this to me. These are just a few of the headlines that have me very confused.

DOJ recommends four-month jail term for Air Force veteran who joined Jan. 6 riot

Politico
Kyle Cheney
09/24/2021
In the case of Jancart and Rau, however, prosecutors say they came to Washington prepared for potential violence — Jancart brought a gas mask and Rau brought kevlar-lined gloves — and were among the first to breach the building, emboldening others to follow suit. They delved deeper into the building, stepping past broken glass, and ignoring alarms and tear gas. In addition, after the riot, the pair celebrated their actions on social media.
Prosecutors are recommending a four-month jail term for the first military veteran set to be sentenced for participating in the Capitol riot, citing his service as a factor warranting stiffer punishment.
In this image taken from Capitol building security camera footage and released in a criminal complaint by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Derek Jancart, circled in red by the source, joins other rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. | U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia via AP

Derek Jancart, an Air Force veteran, breached the Capitol in the early wave of the riot and meandered for 40 minutes — alongside friend and fellow defendant Erik Rau — to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. Jancart remained outside while Rau, also facing a four-month sentence, briefly stepped into Pelosi's suite. The pair is due to be sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to misdemeanor offenses.
read more here 

Marine veteran, an Oath Keepers member, pleads guilty in Jan. 6 riot

Assocciated Press
Alanna Durkin Richer
September 16, 2021
Marine veteran Jason Dolan, front left center, is seen holding a phone above his head inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors say Dolan was one of 16 members of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington D.C. by rental car in order to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election. (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida via cbs12.com)
A member of the Oath Keepers militia group that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 has pleaded guilty and will cooperate with investigators against his fellow militia members, marking another win for the Justice Department in its major conspiracy case stemming from the attack.

Jason Dolan, 45, is the fourth person associated with the group that recruits current and former military, police and first responders to plead guilty to conspiracy charges for their roles in Capitol riot. The former Marine from Wellington, Florida has also agreed to cooperate and testify for the government before any grand juries and trials.
read more here

Yesterday Trump continued to lie saying the audit in Arizona proved he won, when it proved he not only lost Arizona, but lost by more votes. The crowd cheered as if they were not able to discover facts. 

At Georgia Rally, Trump Falsely Claims Arizona Audit Found He Won in Maricopa County

Newsweek
Christina Zhao
9/25/21

Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed during a rally in Georgia on Saturday night that the results of the Arizona election "forensic audit" concluded that President Joe Biden lost in Maricopa County, despite the report stating that Biden won with 1,040,873 votes—99 more votes than shown in the certified ballots.

"We won at the Arizona forensic audit yesterday at a level that you wouldn't believe," Trump told the crowd in Perry, Georgia. "They had headlines that Biden wins in Arizona, when they know it's not true. He didn't win in Arizona. He lost in Arizona based on the forensic audit."
read more here

Questions


Is it because some veterans want to belong to a group and feel they must surrender common sense to remain one of their members? 

Is it because they want to believe what they are told? 

Some people say that they are just so filled with hatred, that is all that matters to them. Yet none of them can explain how people serve in the military among all others with different political beliefs, but remain loyal to all those they serve with, yet cannot tolerate different beliefs as veterans. How does this happen?

Why would they break the law and risk everything for a man who continued to lie to them even after he caused everything that happened on January 6th?

Why would they believe a single word he and his supports say even after the evidence shows his campaign knew it was all a lie?

Read this and then consider if they are not getting the facts, who are they getting their information from?

Trump campaign knew soon after election that voting machine claims were false: report

The Hill
Monique Beals
09/21/21
Court documents released Monday show that by the time a campaign news conference on the issue took place, an internal memo had already been circulated confirming that the claims about Dominion Voting Systems and software company Smartmatic were false, according to The New York Times.

At the Nov. 19 news conference, the team of the former president's attorneys claimed Dominion was in cahoots with financier George Soros and Venezuela in an effort to steal the election from Trump.
read more here

Friday, June 4, 2021

"And I could hear them,"

subject:Capitol Crimes


If a man walks naked down a city street, do police officers just let him go because he said he believed he had clothes on? No, they arrest him for committing a crime.

If someone comes to your house and demands you leave, because they said they believe they own your house, do you pack up and go? No, they get arrested for committing a crime.

Just because a President could not admit he lost the election, the US Capitol was attacked. All it took was for him to say he believed and he was believed. No proof, no facts, the courts and recounts proved the count to be valid and he did lose, but no matter what, all his supporters needed to hear was what he said he believed.

It does not matter what the criminals believed they were doing when they committed crimes against this country. It matters they did it because a man said he believed he was still the president. When the majority of the Senators voted for an investigation into what happened and who did it, but the minority said they didn't care, it says more about them, than the criminals who did it.
 

'I thought I was going to lose my life': Capitol Police officers share their harrowing January 6 stories for the first time


By Whitney Wild and Jeremy Herb, CNN
June 3, 2021

Washington (CNN)US Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell was beaten with a flagpole. His hand was sliced open. He was hit with so much chemical spray that the liquid soaked through to his skin. During intense hand-to-hand combat with rioters on the west front of the US Capitol on January 6, there were moments where Gonell thought he might die.

"They called us traitors. They beat us. They dragged us," Gonell told CNN, in his first interview about the violence he experienced and witnessed on January 6. "And I could hear them, 'We're going to shoot you. We're going to kill you. You're choosing your paycheck over the country. You're a disgrace. You're a traitor.'"

Several hundred feet away that same day, US Capitol Police Officer Byron Evans was inside the locked Senate chamber with 100 senators and Vice President Mike Pence, hand on his weapon and mentally preparing for a life-or-death situation to come through the doors. read more here

The Capitol Police Officers still do their jobs for the same people who supported the criminals more than those who defended them with their own lives. They heard the criminal voices and saw what they did to the Capitol. They still hear their voices echoed in their nightmares and in the halls with their flashbacks. This goes far beyond what was done. The wounds are being cut deeper because some members of the House and Senate are defending criminals and the man who said he believed he won what he lost.

They have no idea when it will happen again. They are only sure it can happen because a fraction of the people still believe the criminals lying to them. The only way to provide any kind of justice is to investigate the facts. Finding every criminal trying to take over the country that horrible day is the only way to heal this nation.

There are members of the military and veterans who are being arrested and charged for participating in this. Some cannot understand how they could do such a thing after serving this country. The fact is, some of them should have never been allowed into the military. We tend to see all of them as honorable and joining for the right reasons. The truth is, a small number of them join to kill and blow things up. It is easier to understand how "Protecting and Defending the Constitution" had nothing to do with their service, when we look at the facts and hear what they say they believe.


1 in 10 defendants from US Capitol insurrection have military ties


(CNN) One in 10 people charged in the US Capitol insurrection are veterans or current servicemembers, according to a CNN review of court documents and Pentagon records.

At least 45 of the approximately 450 overall defendants have ties to the US military, according to the CNN review. The bulk of these 45 defendants are veterans, but a handful are still serving, including an active duty Marine Corps officer from Virginia who was arrested earlier this month.

A quarter of the defendants with military ties are also connected to right-wing extremist groups, like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. These groups had a big presence at the January 6 riot, and they've attracted significant attention from federal prosecutors investigating the attack and from Pentagon officials who are coming to grips with the problem of extremism in the military.

What does all of this say to the good members of the service who joined for the right reasons? What kind of message are they getting from their leaders?

What does this say to any veteran or current member of the military with PTSD? When so many members of the House and Senate want to give all the perpetrators protection leaving the other members of the House and Senate vulnerable to it happening again? When do they get to feel safe doing the jobs they were elected to do? When do the Capitol Police Officers get to feel as if their service and risking their lives actually matter to those they protect?

Those questions will only be answered when there is accountability and everyone involved are held accountable. Otherwise just saying you believe something is true makes everyone else suffer for the delusion.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Veterans "Continue To Serve" clean up after Washington Riot

DC veteran group works to clean up city after attack on Capitol, denounces insurrection
WUSA 9 News
Jess Arnold
January 9, 2021

Navy vet David Smith founded Continue to Serve after watching federal forces tear gas peaceful protesters. Now, his group is helping to clean after the Capitol riot.

WASHINGTON — Days after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, a group of veterans is working to clean the hate out of their beloved city.

Navy veteran David Smith is still grappling with the horrific images from Wednesday's insurrection.

“It almost brings you to tears," he said. "It’s terrible.”

He said it was especially disconcerting to hear some rioters claiming to be veterans as they broke into the citadel of democracy.

“They’re yelling 'I served!' as if somehow that gives them impunity and they can just storm the Capitol, which is not right," Smith said. "To support and defend the Constitution. That’s what we’re supposed to do, not a man, not a president, but the constitution.”