Beware of the trickery this Halloween

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 30, 2024

Tomorrow is Halloween, and I'm dressing up as a witch. (No shocker there for those who know me.) All across the country, kids will show up saying "trick or treat," even though they never expect the trick. People will enjoy scary movies and eat whatever candy remains. No one expects a trick. Some people are getting ready to pull on us.

I keep hearing that some politicians are planning to toss out votes. This is a friendly reminder that voters must prove who they are no matter who they vote for. Once this is done, the ballots they fill out are anonymous. 

I've voted in every election since I was 18. Before voting, I had to prove who I was and where I lived to ensure I was voting in the proper precinct. Once I did that, I was handed a blank ballot. No one knew who I voted for, and the ballot was put into a machine without personal information.

I had to do an absentee ballot a few times in my life. I had to prove who I was, and the ballot was sealed without any of my information on it.

The ballots go into the same piles as everyone else's. Voting for the person you want in charge of this country's future is not only a treat but a privilege. When they win, you know you were part of putting them in office. When they lose, most of us accept it, but some will not be able to. They want to claim a trick was played on them, which was the only way the person they wanted received fewer votes. 

Politicians will then play a massive trick on their emotions and say they want to toss out ballots. It may sound good until you remember how the process works.

If you believe they can find the ballot they want to toss out, it just means it is the one they don't like. Don't let them pull a trick on you, or it will get a lot more frightening the next time you want to use the power of your vote!

Would you vote to convict accused witches without evidence today?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 4, 2022

I am an Independent voter, just like the majority of people in this country, and have witnessed too much to remain silent. To me, being silent is the same thing as those who chose to remain silent while people were accused of witchcraft in Salem. Now I'm wondering if some of the people in this country would vote to convict people accused of witchcraft without evidence today.

"Over the course of the following decade, the residents of Salem had come to the realization that the witch trials had been a mistake and that innocent people may have been executed.
Although they still believed in witches and believed witches may have invaded Salem, they had doubts that so many people could have been guilty of the crime." Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, The Witchcraft Trial of Reverend George Burroughs

If you read the account of the trial of Burroughs, what you see, over and over again, is "I believed" when witnesses gave their testimony. What someone believes is not always what can be proven. Once someone was accused of witchcraft, the only way to prove their innocence was if their execution was successful or not. The theory was that real witches would survive, and then they would be killed.

22-year-old Elizabeth Johnson was not executed after being charged with witchcraft. She was the last to be vindicated this year, 329 years later because she did not have children and no one was fighting to prove her innocence and clear her name.

"We will never be able to change what happened to victims like Elizabeth but at the very least can set the record straight," DiZoglio said. NPR After 329 years, a woman accused of being a witch in Salem has been exonerated

These trials and wild accusations resulted in the Bill Of Rights the rest of us live with,

More than 300 years later, the Salem witch trials testify to the way fear can ruin lives of innocent people and the importance of due process in protecting individuals against false accusations. Some of those who insisted in 1787 that a Bill of Rights was necessary for the ratification of the Constitution undoubtedly knew about the treatment of the “Salem witches” and how they had been deprived of the rights to which they should have been entitled under English common law. With the Bill of Rights in place, interpretations of the First Amendment consistently ruled that slander and defamation were not protected by the Constitution. Salem Witch Trials By Elizabeth R. Purdy

Right now we see people running for office claiming the 2020 election was "stolen" because it is what they say they believe. They have no evidence such a thing happened. Courts presented claims, but courts demand evidence of a crime being committed, and what someone says they believe, is not enough to file charges against anyone. No one can prove what they say they believe actually happened.

Yet these same people are running for office. Many of them are already saying if they lose, then the election was stolen from them. It hasn't even happened yet, but, that doesn't matter to them at all. What does that say about other members of their own party that may be on the same ballot and actually win their votes?

Supporters of former President Trump say they "believe" the election was stolen, but no evidence was ever given. People in Salem said they "believed" the accused were guilty, but again, no evidence was provided. No one can "prove" what someone says they believe is true or not and that is why evidence is required. It is ironic that he is claiming that all the court cases against him are a "witch hunt" and nothing more, but the courts required evidence to move forward and allow charges to be filed against him.

If they claim a crime was committed but don't have proof, do you really want to put them in charge of the laws for all of us? We may be accustomed to political commercials lying to us. (I usually yell liar at the TV) We may be accustomed to politicians lying to us. What none of us should ever be accustomed to is when they say what they "believe" to win their primary and then deny they said it when they want the votes from the rest of us. It's all on video! That's proof of what they said and proof of what they lie about now.

Don Bolduc is like the accusers. CNN has the video up on this.

“Guess what? We have furries and fuzzies in classrooms,” Bolduc told the crowd. “They lick themselves, they’re cats. When they don’t like something, they hiss – people walk down the hallway and jump out,” he said, as a hissing sound could be heard.

Bolduc claimed the 2022 election was stolen until he won the GOP primary.

Don Bolduc, the Republican Senate nominee in New Hampshire, changed his position as he faces a tough fall race, saying the 2020 presidential election “was not stolen.”

People like him were responsible for thousands of people attacking the Capitol, demanding the hanging of Vice President Pence and Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi, because they "believed" the election was stolen. False claims caused the deaths of innocent people in Salem. False claims now, because of people like Bolduc, can cause the death of our country by eliminating the only voice we have, OUR ABILITY TO VOTE FOR WHAT AND WHO AND WHAT WE BELIEVE IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR!

What moral values are you willing to sacrifice for the only one you fight for?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 30, 2022

This election is not just about who takes control of the House and the Senate. This election is about the moral character of the people. We have many decisions to make. If one of your decisions is voting to take away the decisions of others before you vote on that one issue, open your eyes as to what else you are voting to approve.

First, consider that when I was pregnant with twins and miscarried, I hemorrhaged. My doctor, my husband, and I didn't have to struggle with any other question than to decide if my life should be saved or if I would be left to bleed to death. Today, that decision is what too many are facing and it is wrong. I wanted the twins but my body had other ideas. Some called me a murderer. The thing is, I made peace with God because I believed God could have fixed the twins, or at least saved the other one, but the truth was, He couldn't.

If you call yourself pro-life, then you need to take an honest look at what will come with the price for voting for politicians that claim they will end the right for others to choose what is right for them, just like me.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. 

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Matthew 7:1-3

Scripture says that God is God of the living. Jesus gave instructions as to how we are to treat the living. Over and over again it is the premise of all that we do for each other instead of "to" one another. Your values are based on what you believe is a personal decision and protected under the laws of this nation. That same right is also protected and the majority of the people in this country respect that. If you believe all Christians are like-minded on anything, including the debate about the divinity of Jesus, then you do not fully understand, or appreciate the number of denominations that exist in every state, or value the same religious beliefs of other groups also devoted to their beliefs as they see fit to choose or any of the others not attending any house of worship other than their own, or those who simply do not believe at all. Each of us is free to choose for ourselves.

What do your values and scripture tell you about what else you will be approving of since the ones promising to end the right to choose are also planning for the rest of us?

Social Security and Medicare and you can read more of their plan to take away what we paid for, putting seniors out of the only income they have to pay their bills, pay their mortgages and rents, and feed themselves. We will not be able to afford medications or go to the doctor. We will not be able to have operations or receive any life-saving efforts. What about the lives of us that have lived all these years with the assurance that we would not become "freeloaders" as too many of them have called us? You can read more about who is pushing to take all that away and threaten our lives on this ABC news report. They also voted against reducing the costs we pay for medications.

Veterans Benefits, too many in the GOP call the benefits our veterans earned "entitlements" and fight against doing the right thing, just as they did with taking care of the veterans suffering from the results of burn pits. They would not have taken care of them if they were in charge at the time the Democrats put the bill up for a vote. They will also jeopardize the benefits of all other veterans because they have shown more loyalty to Trump than to the veterans that risked their lives serving this country.

They talk about the crime rates yet never mention they were responsible for not just the rise in crimes because of the guns they refuse to limit but protect the criminals that perpetrate most of what the rest of us have to deal with. Mass murders with weapons designed for war being legally purchased by the ones slaughtering children in school and in all other places, are protected by the same people while they claim the laws do not have to be changed to protect the rest of us. As a fact pointed out over and over again, the states with the highest per capita rates are controlled by Republicans.

But that's not all. If you watched any of the January 6th Committee hearings, it was clear that those same people lied to you about what Trump and his people claimed about the results of the election. They did not care about you or the truth. As a person of moral values, the truth should matter. Did you seek it? Did you open your eyes to what the truth is if you claim to be a "Christian" then why are you supporting the father of lies instead of the One you claim to love and vote on that one "moral" issue while ignoring all others when it comes to the living bodies with the soul God breathed into all of us?

It is up to all of us to keep them from trying to steal further elections!

Kathie Costos

July 25, 2021

When we listen to reporters talking about the election they don't seem to get it. How could they miss the biggest part of all these allegations over the right for people to vote in this country? This was a stolen election! Not the one from 2020 because Trump lost that one over and over again, as you'll read below, but this was the beginning of stealing elections to come.

Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they push barricades to storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C on Jan. 6, 2021. Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote certification. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images) SOURCE: ROBERTO SCHMIDT (KMBC News)

We watched in horror as the US Capitol was attacked by fellow Americans screaming about "stopping the steal" when they were in fact attempting to do exactly that. They didn't like the results, so they tried to stop it from being accepted by Congress.

Trump set the stage for all of this by claiming if he lost, it meant the election was stolen. That was all he had to do to set things in motion.

Fact Check took a look at the claims made by the previous president. Point by point, they showed how the claims were false. 

Courts rejected the claims of a stolen election.

Fact check: Courts have dismissed multiple lawsuits of alleged electoral fraud presented by Trump campaign

In the early morning of Jan. 7, hours after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, the U.S. Congress certified enough Electoral College votes for President Biden to declare him winner of the election ( here ).  

As reported by Reuters here , state and federal judges - some appointed by Trump - dismissed more than 50 lawsuits brought by Trump or his allies alleging election fraud and other irregularities.

So many claims were made about absentee ballots it was impossible to keep track of. What was missed, among many, was they were also claiming military votes were stolen because Trump couldn't believe so many members of the military were not supporting him. Facts proved he was wrong, no matter what his ego would not allow him to even contemplate.

Members of the military rely on absentee voting

According to the Federal Voting Assistance Program's 2018 post-election report to Congress, the Defense Department sent 655,409 absentee ballots to personnel serving abroad, and more than half, or 344,392, were returned, a rate comparable to the overall percentage of Americans who voted in the midterm elections.

Georgia military votes were not stolen but over and over again, he and his supporters, pushed that rumor with no evidence to prove anything they claimed. Over and over again, in each state, they attacked mail in ballots during a pandemic setting the stage for all other elections to be jeopardized.

There are members of the Senate who refused to see that Republicans Senators will never support voter integrity legislation to protect the rights of voters when they can easily take over the results. 

There was a time when people wanted their votes to be earned by politicians. After all, the funds they spend come from what taxpayers pay for. Now they want to use our tax dollars to prevent us from using our voice to vote for who we believe will do the best job for us.

Now in state after state, they are passing laws that will take away our voice by vote, using rumors started by Trump and his supporters to cover up for what they wanted to do all along. It doesn't matter how many citizens served in the military to protect and defend the Constitution, including the right to vote, as long as they win. 

It was appalling to hear people were pleased the Capitol was attacked. It is appalling to hear the lies about what we saw with our own eyes. It is repulsive to know so many of our elected officials are standing in the way of holding people accountable for all of this. If they stand in the way, we need to wonder if it is because they were part of all of this and do not want their participation proven. The innocent would want the evidence to come out to prove they were wrongly accused. The guilty want to prevent evidence from proving their guilt!

It is time for members of the Senate to remove the obstacle of the filibuster and defend the rights so many generations of American fought for.

Editorial: Senate Republicans won’t even consider voting rights. The filibuster must go

"...Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that Democrats were aiming to “tilt every election in America permanently in their favor.” That was an unfair, even outrageous, characterization of the Democrats’ proposal, the ambitious For the People Act, not to mention an exercise in projection.

The For the People Act in its Senate and House versions was arguably too large and complicated a piece of legislation, stitching together a multitude of proposals including disclosure requirement for political contributions, public financing of congressional elections and even an ethics code for the Supreme Court."

The 19th Amendment was hard fought for to allow women the right to vote. This was when elected officials fought to expand voting rights, not prevent them! Notice how many "Red" States were among the first to do it?

Between 1910 and 1918, the Alaska Territory, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington extended voting rights to women.

Also during this time, through the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women (later, the Women’s Political Union), Stanton’s daughter Harriot Stanton Blatch introduced parades, pickets and marches as means of calling attention to the cause. These tactics succeeded in raising awareness and led to unrest in Washington, D.C.

Did you know? Wyoming, the first state to grant voting rights to women, was also the first state to elect a female governor. Nellie Tayloe Ross (1876-1977) was elected governor of the Equality State—Wyoming's official nickname—in 1924. And from 1933 to 1953, she served as the first woman director of the U.S. Mint.

The article goes on to point out how long this was fought for.

In 1918, President Wilson switched his stand on women’s voting rights from objection to support through the influence of Catt, who had a less-combative style than Paul. Wilson also tied the proposed suffrage amendment to America’s involvement in World War I and the increased role women had played in the war efforts.

When the amendment came up for vote, Wilson addressed the Senate in favor of suffrage. As reported in The New York Times on October 1, 1918, Wilson said, “I regard the extension of suffrage to women as vitally essential to the successful prosecution of the great war of humanity in which we are engaged.”

The Bill failed in the Senate by 2 votes.

Rep. James Mann brought it up again. This time, it passed.

On May 21, 1919, U.S. Representative James R. Mann, a Republican from Illinois and chairman of the Suffrage Committee, proposed the House resolution to approve the Susan Anthony Amendment granting women the right to vote. The measure passed the House 304 to 89—a full 42 votes above the required two-thirds majority.

Two weeks later, on June 4, 1919, the U.S. Senate passed the 19th Amendment by two votes over its two-thirds required majority, 56-25. The amendment was then sent to the states for ratification.

How could we have gone from elected officials fighting for the rights of citizens to vote, into what we have now when so many of them are fighting to take away the right to vote? It is up to all of us to keep them from trying to steal further elections!

Who won the mid-term election?

Who Won the 2018 Election?

While it is too early to determine how many people voted in this election, as it is, this election shows that the winner is America! 

People stood in line for hours to have their voice heard. 

And for some, they got pizza!

“Americans are hungry for democracy and are turning out in record numbers to vote,” reads the group’s website. “But that means long lines and sometimes empty stomachs, which might discourage these brave patriots from performing their civic duty.” 

As of Tuesday morning, the organization has sent 1,344 pizzas to 99 polling places around the country, according to its website. It’s raised about $65,000 this year to pay for the pies.

They volunteered for candidates they believed in.

Some voters voted even though the electricity was out in Tennessee.

 'A High Water Mark for Midterm Turnout.' 2018 Could Be a Historic Election for Voter Participation Early voting

As of early Tuesday morning, at least 33 million people have voted early nationwide, according to data collected by Catalist, a data company that works with Democrats and others, to compile counts of ballots cast before Election Day, either early in-person or by mail.

Women elected to office

At least 98 women will be elected to the House of Representatives -- 84 Democrats, 14 Republicans -- and 12 will join the Senate -- 10 Democrats, two Republicans -- according to the latest projections by ABC News.

There will be a lot of disappointed people this morning, but that happens with every election. Some win and some lose. When we do not use our right to vote, the country loses. 

 

But no matter who were the declared winners in the races we paid attention to, America is the winner because of all the people who voted! 

Election is over BOHICA

The election is over! Congratulations to Republican Voters because now the Republicans will have control over the House and the Senate. Not that they didn't before since the Senate requires a Supermajority to get anything done. They basically controlled it for the last 4 years.

So BOHICA and everything they failed to do before will carry on for 2 more years, at least.

They didn't fix the Department of Defense Budget to make up for what sequestration caused including the fact too many military folks ended up in the unemployment line and military families had to live off food stamps.

They didn't fix the VA so that veterans would get the care they already paid for when they decided to risk their lives for this nation.

The list of things they could have fixed is a long one but hey, why wonder why they did nothing about any of them? They won before but voters did what they always did. They complained about how bad things were then put the same people back in office. Democrats, well, they did the same thing before when they "won" but so far, none of them actually deserve the jobs.

Iraq vet accused of election fraud in Pa.

Iraq vet accused of election fraud in Pa.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — A disabled Iraq war veteran and his wife are charged with forging dozens of names on nominating petitions in a bid for a seat in the Pennsylvania legislature.

Lycoming County detectives say Christopher Bain and his wife Misty faked 61 signatures on petitions he filed seeking a spot in April's 83rd district Republican primary.
read more here

Of 119,000 absentee ballots sent to troops, only 57,000 were counted last year

About 119,000 absentee ballots for overseas military were requested in 2006, about 10 percent of overseas military. Of those 119,000 ballots, only about 57,000 were actually cast and counted, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Government officials are unable to explain that discrepancy.

In war zone, voting is not the top priority
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, August 25, 2008

(Second in a three-part series)

The voting assistance officers assigned to help their comrades vote sometimes face challenges in convincing a deployed soldier that casting a ballot should be a priority.

Add the breakneck tempo of military life as two wars are waged and the difficulty assigning and keeping voting assistance officers, and helping troops vote is further complicated.

go here for more

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56969

Wounded not worth counting their vote?

When the Patriots decided their futures were worth fighting for to remove the foreign rule from their lives, they were looking at serving the nation that would come. America has a rich history of people willing to lay down their lives for this nation. Imagine being wounded doing it and then being told you just lost your right to vote because you were wounded serving your nation. You are in a hospital bed, probably missing limbs you will have to learn to live without for the rest of your life and then know, that wound just cost you your right to voice your wishes for the direction the nation would take by placing a vote for those who will lead it. This is wrong! The VA should be moving heaven and earth to provide all of them the means possible to vote since they were wounded serving this nation!

Veterans Affairs refuses to provide voter registration for wounded vetsJohn Byrne
Published: Thursday April 10, 2008


VA suggests voter registration not held because it's partisan

At a quiet 1999 ceremony in MaComb County, Michigan, a plainspoken former Texas governor delivered a patriotic speech to commemorate Veterans' Day.

But none of the eight veterans interviewed by The New York Times after the ceremony promised George W. Bush their vote.

A new report Thursday reveals that Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake told two Democratic senators his department will not help injured veterans register to vote before the 2008 election.

"VA remains opposed to becoming a voter registration agency pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act, as this designation would divert substantial resources from our primary mission," Peake said in an April 8th letter to Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) acquired by Steven Rosenfeld at Alternet.

Peake refers to a 1993 law that allows government departments to engage in voter registration efforts, Rosenfeld says.

What this means is that many injured veterans still in VA hospitals who can't find means to register outside of their facilities will effectively lose their right to vote. Wounded veterans who have moved must re-register at their "new addresses" or file for absentee ballots in order to participate in the presidential and other elections.
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