^{Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.}

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of our beautiful nation.

God will guide us.
Prayers and thanks to God for President Donald J. Trump.

Handling Gold.

Well, not really gold. But a process that is even more critical than handling precious metals, but let’s start there. The other day Steve was explaining how registered mail is handled and why precious metals dealers used registered mail due to the strict processes that are followed. The USPS handbook DM-901 covers all the details. It’s a nice document. Covers all the procedures, chain of custody, proper storage, how to document if seals are broken, etc. It’s almost like they are serious about handling registered mail.

What is more important than gold?

How about true and accurate elections that put into power those who legislate whether you get to keep your gold or not? Seems important.

Chain of Custody.

A key feature of the process of handling things of great value is called the Chain of Custody. Whether it is registered mail, election materials (ballots, equipment), or even evidence to be used in prosecuting a criminal case, unimpeachable Chain of Custody is essential.

The National Voting Rights Task Force says:

According to experts, the only way to know if an electronic vote total has been hacked is for voters to have separately recorded their intended selections on paper and for jurisdictions to then use the paper in a manual audit or recount, the results of which can be compared to the electronic total.

But even manual audits or recounts can be “hacked” if the selections on the paper have been marked by a machine, rather than the voter’s own hand.  And no matter how that paper is marked, manual audits and recounts can be gamed if the chain of custody between election night and the audit or recount has been compromised.

There are many resources for elections. One resource, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent, bipartisan commission whose mission is to help election officials improve the administration of elections and help Americans participate in the voting process. Their guidance, “Best Practices: Chain of Custody,” gives recommendations to election officials. “The chain of custody of ballots, voting equipment, and associated data is essential to ensure the election system remains trustworthy. Documentation of the chain of custody also provides evidence that all voting procedures were followed. It is a best practice for chain of custody procedures to be clearly defined in advance of every election, well documented and followed consistently throughout the entire election lifecycle or process. The key to an effective chain of custody is to have a set of procedures which are followed in practice. The procedures should be in writing with all steps documented.”

It may be important to note that I have yet to find any federal laws with guidance on the specifics of election materials chain of custody. A search of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 for the term “custody” does not yield any results. An internet search of “election laws chain-of-custody” provides guidance from various organizations (a good example here) and some links to individual Secretary of State websites. If there are federal laws, they are not easily found. Time didn’t permit for me to survey each state for specific chain of custody laws related to elections. It appears that a good number of groups that have public-facing sites with material related to the need for and the development of good practices for managing chain-of-custody.

However, when you get into actual county-by-county execution of these procedures the failures are all to common and even shocking. When regular citizens, concerned about their own local county’s handling of election materials simply asked for a copy of the chain of custody procedures in use during a specific election, the response was far from uniform. As anyone in any type of mission-critical work effort would expect, there needs to a least be: (1) a dated, documented procedure that is signed off before it is to be followed for a specific election and (2) checklists with spaces for signing off for the handling of items requiring chain of custody.

Even when a county is required by their state government to provide these prior to an election, the local elections offices sometimes could not provide these procedures when asked. One particular county office provided a non dated, unsigned document and stated that they weren’t sure which election it was for. Either they didn’t know what they were doing, they didn’t have the right person fulfilling the request, or something else. It seems like this would be posted right on their county elections office website (along with all the other elections documents!). In a number of counties that I know of, the elections office claimed there were “no records responsive to the request.” In other words, they are saying that they didn’t have the state mandated chain of custody procedures. How did they get the election certified without it? How did their Secretary of State sign off on the election without it?

Asking for public records, usually referred to as a freedom of information act (FOIA) request can be done by anyone. More recently the number of people taking it upon themselves to get involved in “citizen oversight” has grown to the point that some public officials have started complaining that all these requests are a form of harassment. Really? Why not just publicly publish all of it?

In one state it seems that a number of counties have hired the same particular law firm as “County Counsel” to advise on the handling of election matters. Unfortunately that liberal law firm seems to have been assisting counties to stone-wall access to public records. And in some cases the guidance given to the county board of supervisors was in fact unlawful. I’m not giving examples to prove my point, I’m just offering information that might be helpful to know if someone reading here is considering looking into how their elections are being handled where they live and vote.

In 2016 Bev Harris explained at her site, BlackBoxVoting.org:

Elections chain of custody refers to physical and electronic evidence controls for:

– who can vote
– who did vote
– actual ballots as marked by each voter, and
– evidence transfer and storage

:

Legitimate elections require public “right to know” (freedom of information) to allow the public and the media to authenticate truth of results. Proper chain of custody safeguards are part of the larger concept of political legitimacy.

:

Incurable uncertainty

Handling election records and data must be scrupulously careful in order to demonstrate to the public that there has been no tampering or contamination.

In court cases, chain of custody violations can result in refusal to admit evidence or even throwing a case out. In elections, chain of custody violations can result in “incurable uncertainty” and court orders to redo elections.

Bev Harris discovered election theft in 2002, wrote a book on it (download it here), advocated for change, and now others have carried on her work. The problems are not new, and they have probably grown worse. But now is the time for us to make our own local governments-that oversee the execution of elections–take note that we are asking questions, seeing problems and expecting better oversight. And for those who have been running elections, just knowing that more people are looking into their work appears to have led to some unexpected early retirements. I can’t say that is an indication of guilt, but it does seem significant.

We can’t leave this to others. We can at least try and get informed on what has been found, what has been done, and what more needs to be done. What do you know about elections and chain of custody. Please post your thoughts in the comments. Thanks

We can make a difference.
And we must make a difference.

If not us, who? If not now, when?
There has never been a better time.

Twitterati.

General Mike Flynn (@GEnFlynn) has been talking about citizen oversight for as long as I’ve been paying attention.

Gail and PAVACA are going to love this one (link):

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

^{Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.}

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

We got our miracle.
America is back.

Let us dedicate ourselves to seeking our place in the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of this beautiful, resource-rich nation. God will guide us.

Prayers and thanks to God for our 47th President, Donald J. Trump.

Remembering.

With gratitude to our own kind Wolf for reminding us of DePat’s recommended prayers for times of spiritual warfare, let us consider praying this one today.

Litany of Humility

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being extolled,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honored,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being praised,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of suffering rebukes,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being forgotten,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being wronged,
Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected,
Deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be praised and I go unnoticed,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

Author: Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val y Zulueta

Charity

Charity is patient, is kind; charity does not envy, is not pretentious, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, is not self-seeking, is not provoked; thinks no evil, does not rejoice over wickedness, but rejoices with the truth, bears with all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

To have Charity is to love God above all things for Himself and be ready to renounce all created things rather than offend Him by serious sin. (Matt. 22:36-40)

Twitterati.

Our J6 P.O.W.s are always in our hearts with the fervent desire that all wrongs would be undone and each target and their families be made stronger and more whole than ever.

Trisha Hope has been providing important updates. And this story…

She asks lot of good questions.

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

^{Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.}

The Scouring of the Shire.

Reading and reflecting on Tolkien’s final chapter in The Lord of the Rings might help us place ourselves at this time. Fandom tells us: “Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin arrive in the Shire to find that things are not as they once were when they left. The Shire is now run by Sharkey based at Bag End, who with Lotho‘s help had taken over with his band of Ruffian Men. The four hobbits collect as many allies as they can and defeat his army of Ruffians at the Battle of Bywater. The Hobbits then confront “Sharkey” and the lowly Gríma Wormtongue at Bag End, who both meet their demise.”

So, while the noble hobbits had been off saving all of Middle Earth, the “commies” had set up shop in their homeland and caused great harm that will require bravery, wisdom, and a lot of work to undo. It appears that we are somewhere around the beginning of the Battle of Bywater now.

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

We got our miracle.
America is back.
Now what?

Let us dedicate ourselves to seeking our place in the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of this beautiful, resource-rich nation. God will guide us.

Thanks be to God for our 47th President, Donald J. Trump.

The Role of County Government in Elections.

Take a good look at that 2024 Election Map. See the outline of each county?

How Does This Work?

Let’s take a look at what the National Association of Counties (NACO) has to say…

When trying to understand how to get traction locally in turning the tide for liberty, it seems to come down to the governance at the county level. And from what is being turned up with the groups I’m following, it looks a lot like there is state level and national level collusion to influence or control the governments of those 3,069 counties that are responsible for overseeing our elections. I’ll get into those details in another post.

Reading that overview from NACO, they start out by stating:

Elections in the United States are administered in a highly decentralized process through which each state shapes its own election laws

Well, mostly. The states shape their own election laws, but, as with anything else, federal laws also impose requirements on state and local governments. Maryland’s State Board of Elections gives a helpful overview of these major federal election laws here. The most recent election-related law passed by Congress is known as HAVA.

• Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002
  This law was the U.S. Congress’ response to the 2000 Presidential election and the first time that the federal government authorized federal funds for election administration. It created the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and set minimum standards for voting systems. It also required each state to adopt uniform standards on what constitutes a vote, implement provisional voting, post certain information at polling places, maintain a statewide voter registration database, and required certain individuals to show identification before voting.

Sounds good right?

Except. There are county elections officials are not following the laws, and yet are still taking the federal money to buy their electronic voting machines. If they didn’t follow the federal laws, then taking that money anyway would be fraud, right?

Thankfully, there are Americans that have stood up and gotten to work discovering and working to address the failures of our elections officials across the nation. I’d like to highlight one citizen oversight group that has done much with an all-volunteer organization.

We want valid elections that are run in full compliance with the law.

I strongly encourage you to watch this short video of a presentation by Marley Hornik of United Sovereign Americans. She goes over the legal framework for election integrity, starting with the constitution and provides the statute citations that must be enforced if we are to have free and fair elections. She also covers what they found when they audited the voter rolls of just 20 states prior to the 2024 election. They found over 29 MILLION apparently ineligible voter registrations, 10 million votes cast by those ineligible voters, 2 million more votes cast than voters that voted, and an average 13% vote error rate. Every invalid registration is potentially a felony level violation. Their organization is litigating with states over their failure to clean up the rolls and unlawful certification of non-compliant elections. They have a good strategy for which states to sue in order to potentially cause a circuit split which could get this heard at the Supreme Court without having to sue all 50 states. Or better yet, maybe the Department of Justice will just do their job.

Presentation by Marley Hornik of United Sovereign Americans
On the Status of our Nation’s Elections (for video click here)

The United Sovereign Americans Action Plan includes (1) informing everyone of election validity law, (2) turning findings into evidence, and (3) forcing election officials to obey the law.

Unfortunately, election officials across America have displayed apathy, disdain, and disregard for the law, and the civil rights of the people they are hired to serve. This has resulted in the certification of elections that varied from the law. Some of these elections were grossly inaccurate. Whether it was incompetence or malfeasance, those who broke the law must be held accountable.

Thank God for their work. May many more Americans join them in their efforts.

Twitterati.

Follow Scott Pressler for inspirational feet-on-the-ground reports and calls to action. He is showing us how it’s done. Also, check out Scott Presler’s Early Vote Action twitter account.

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

^{Welcome.
Please visit this January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.}

Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

These are the kind of powerful words that motivated America’s founding fathers to create the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

It is going to require a decision on our part to “stand firm” and “not submit again” before we are going to begin to take this seriously. But we have the help of God and the intensely determined support of our President, his team, and untold numbers of our fellow citizens.

We got our miracle.
America is back.
Now what?

Let us dedicate ourselves to seeking our place in the cleansing, healing, and rebuilding of this beautiful, resource-rich nation. Are we to pray? Of course. Are we to vote? Absolutely.

But we know there is much to do and not all is certain. We might find ourselves asking, “What am I to do in these amazing days of transformation?” God will guide us.

Priorities.

The Trump-Vance Administration Priorities page @ WhiteHouse.gov provides us with the eagle’s eye view of where we are going. Notice the order of these priorities. Safety of the people first! May the Lord grant us wisdom, strength, and good success.

MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN

• President Trump will take bold action to secure our border and protect American communities.
• This includes ending Biden’s catch-and-release policies, reinstating Remain in Mexico, building the wall, ending asylum for illegal border crossers, cracking down on criminal sanctuaries, and enhancing vetting and screening of aliens.
• President Trump’s deportation operation will address the record border crossings of criminal aliens under the prior administration.
• The President is suspending refugee resettlement, after communities were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources.
• The Armed Forces, including the National Guard, will engage in border security, which is national security, and will be deployed to the border to assist existing law enforcement personnel.
• President Trump will begin the process of designating cartels, including the dangerous Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations and use the Alien Enemies Act to remove them.
• The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty as the appropriate punishment for heinous crimes against humanity, including those who kill law enforcement officers and illegal migrants who maim and murder Americans.

MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AND ENERGY DOMINANT AGAIN

• The President will unleash American energy by ending Biden’s policies of climate extremism, streamlining permitting, and reviewing for rescission all regulations that impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals.
• President Trump’s energy actions empower consumer choice in vehicles, showerheads, toilets, washing machines, lightbulbs and dishwashers.
• President Trump will declare an energy emergency and use all necessary resources to build critical infrastructure.
• President Trump’s energy policies will end leasing to massive wind farms that degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers.
• President Trump will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.
• All agencies will take emergency measures to reduce the cost of living.
• President Trump will announce the America First Trade Policy.
• America will no longer be beholden to foreign organizations for our national tax policy, which punishes American businesses.

DRAIN THE SWAMP

• The President will usher a Golden Age for America by reforming and improving the government bureaucracy to work for the American people. He will freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the federal workforce. He will pause burdensome and radical regulations not yet in effect that Biden announced.
• President Trump is announcing an unprecedented slate of executive orders for rescission.
• President Trump is planning for improved accountability of government bureaucrats. The American people deserve the highest-quality service from people who love our country. The President will also return federal workers to work, as only 6% of employees currently work in person.
• President Trump is taking swift action to end the weaponization of government against political rivals and ordering all document retention as required by law. President Trump is also ending the unconstitutional censorship by the federal government. No longer will government employees pick and require the erasure of entirely true speech.
• On the President’s direction, the State Department will have an America-First foreign policy.

BRING BACK AMERICAN VALUES

• The President will establish male and female as biological reality and protect women from radical gender ideology.
• American landmarks will be named to appropriately honor our Nation’s history.

Trying to Keep Up.

This page @ WhiteHouse.gov/news is a great place to follow along as everything begins to unfold. Every executive order shows up instantly and they just keep coming.

So much there: Articles. Briefings & Statements. Fact Sheets. Presidential Actions. Remarks.

A big Thank You to all the team serving in this administration!
And an even bigger Thank You to our 47th President, Donald J. Trump.

Twitterati.

Very recently I finally began to read in the X.com space. The platform is suspicious of me and therefore I do not have an account. Probably due to the basic efforts I’ve made to retain some level of privacy. Oh well.

The kind people here have shown me the way to view people’s feeds by using the Nitter.Poast.org site. It’s opened up a whole new world of information. Very helpful.

I have a new favorite follow. And I recommend her to you. Nicole Shanahan. She was RFK Jr’s running mate. She’s as informed, active and feisty as they come. Nicole Shanahan‘s feed is following the Senate confirmations and a LOT more.

For fresh news on our J6 people and a lot more, Julie Kelly might be the place to visit.

Prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.