Mark 16: Commentary

 

Mark 16

The last chapter in the book ends with hope and mission for believers.

 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James go to the tomb to put spices on Jesus’ body. They arrive and notice a man with a robe sitting there. “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” (6-7)

 Is the man in a white robe an angel send from heaven to deliver the good news? Probably. That’s hardly the most important part of the story though. Jesus is alive and well! He conquered the grave and took the sting of death away for all time. It’s impossible to overstate the significance of that day.

He appeared first to Mary Magdalene and when she told the others they didn’t believe. I don’t think I would either. They had just witnessed a gruesome spectacle when Jesus was beaten and hung on the cross. They probably didn’t want to think about it anymore. But they had seen signs and wonders all while following Him, why did they have such trouble believing? Most of us are this way. We always fall back to natural thinking (doubt) without faith.

We have an assignment called the Great Commission, Jesus gives believers a job to do. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (15) It’s the last instruction that Jesus gives us. He lets us know what’s really important and tells us what to expect. “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly; it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”(17-18)

There is so much in there to tackle I’m not sure where to start. First, this is a clear explanation of why the gifts of the Spirit are operational today and that tongues are a large part of it. Large parts of the Church don’t believe in it today. But I think that’s because it’s easier not to. Speaking in an unknown tongue is a little weird for sure, but it’s supported in scripture and expected of us. We miss out when we don’t take full advantage of the gifts God gives us.

Second, this is a list of miraculous signs that are to follow ‘those who believe”. We don’t see it much today, as a result we don’t believe it. The reverse is also true. When we see miracles and wonders frequently we don’t have as much trouble believing them. This is along the lines of what Bill Johnson (Bethel) meant when he talked about miracles creating a record. The record multiplies and reaches far and wide.

Somehow we’ve convinced ourselves that science and religion don’t mix and never should. But the model for the future will be rooted in miracles, not only healing but also in lives turned from darkness to light. The old order that rejects God is passing away and it’s time for true believers to stand up and move with God. We’ve been too careful and cautious with those outside the faith.

What started out as a good faith effort to bring in the lost, has softened the gospel into mushy life coaching. We’ve ground down the sharp edges to make the savior more appealing. But it won’t hold up in a world that’s overrun with evil. Christ’s love is deeper than we can imagine. What better way to show that than through His death. But the task is up to Christians now to finish what He started. What better way to show that than through His resurrection.

We’re going to see a return to an authentic and useful faith in the near future. The Great Commission represents the way forward to a church that’s finding its way back to the Jesus path.

 

 

 

Long Gone Summer: Afghanistan and the Fall

School started this week for kids in my area.

No matter how long I’ve been out of high school I still relish thoughts of summers gone by. It’s not just the vacations and lack of school, it’s the easy pace and freedom and long days spent outdoors.

 The season is as short as I remember it even though I’m not in school anymore. It’s odd that even now my giddy, carefree feeling in June is replaced by morose resignation in mid-August.

I think America is going through such a time. Our summer of fun and freedom is giving way to serious reflection--maybe it's just me.

Since the end of World War II the liberal order has been governed by the allies that remade it in their image. It’s mostly been a positive for economics, trade, international law and scientific development. With peace comes prosperity; the world leaders recognized this and set up institutions (like coal unions in Germany and France) to alleviate some of the conflicts that led to wars.

 World War II (and even World War I) destroyed Europe so completely that no one wanted a whiff of conflict after that.

This was the founding theory of international cooperation for what it’s worth. The modern European Union, the Marshall Plan, NATO and countless trade deals are examples of this.

 Less than a week ago the US military beat a hasty retreat out of Afghanistan. What’s frustrating is how ill prepared the whole operation was. I know that Trump was going to do the same thing eventually. He left our allies, the Kurds, in Syria to fend for themselves after ISIS had been routed. I can’t imagine him leaving so many Americans stranded though, or handing over our weapons to the Taliban.

I watched Laura Logan on Tucker’s plaid shirt show. She’s convinced the US didn’t want to mess up our influence in Pakistan. So we let Afghanistan die on the vine by not grabbing Pakistan by the throat. Their intelligence (ISI) funds the Taliban after all. We could have at least made threats to bomb them if they kill civilians. Or cut off their funding. These groups are nothing without access to money.

 As awful as it looks in Kabul it’s the purposeful choice we made to leave in such a reckless manner.

I’m of two minds on the whole thing. We were never going to improve conditions in that country long term. Whether because of our lack of will (as Logan seems to think) or lack of their will (the Afghani’s indifference) it wasn’t going to happen. Twenty years of supporting them was like trying to get water from a rock.

But it’s always been a thornier problem then Logan makes it sound.

It isn’t as complicated as the think tanks in Washington would have you believe either.

 They need to justify their existence by writing lengthy papers and giving talks at Universities. I don’t begrudge them their opinions on what, where, when and how’s of war planning. But it’s amazing how quick problems get solved when the US really wants to. We stopped wanting to in Afghanistan. There was nothing more to gain or hope for. The best we could do was hold off the attacks as long as possible.

But even by putting pressure on Pakistan and their intelligence services, how long could this really go on? I do wonder when we finally concluded this whole charade was going to collapse. I guess the Pentagon figured messing up our relationships in Pakistan wasn’t worth it. But everything is about will and we just lost ours.

You think you know what happening in the world and it changes all at once. But did it really change or was everything we ‘knew’ about that country a lie? I’m guessing most of what we think we know about the world is a lie. The position of the United States and our currency and our influence is about to change. China is on the rise and although I doubt they can manage global affairs they’re certainly going to try.

Communist leaders are already looking to get into Afghanistan for mining purposes. They won’t fuss about women in school either. The Chinese are cold realists and they don’t care what international institutions think of them either. The Bretton Woods vision where the US and its allies get to set the rules for the liberal order is dead. It died because it got lazy. It became obsessed with climate change and multicultural nonsense. It thought it a good idea to import the world’s Muslim population to historically Christian cultures.

We turned our attention to critical race theory for toddlers and 'health care' for preteens who want to transition.

Maybe our summer lasted a little too long. We forgot that real threats like communism and authoritarianism presented a real problem to our way of life.

In America we stopped defending our own greatness; “American Exceptionalism” became a byword for racism and exploitation. No wonder we stopped paying attention in Afghanistan; how can anything done by the Americans be worthwhile?

Our giddy reckless feelings about the long summer are turning to regret for the good ol days. Our role now will be significantly reduced without a serious turn around. Whatever lies ahead for us this fall will be very different from the carefree summers of our youth.    

New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

 

The Taliban is on a path to recapture much of the country again. Which country you ask? The one we supposedly kicked them out of back in 2001, Afghanistan. I’ll try not to be too sarcastic about the whole war effort that over 2000 Americans have died in, but it’s been 20 years and it looks like nothing has changed. We’ve spent billions training up their security forces as well.

 I know, I know it’s crass to talk about money but 2 Trillion dollars is the estimate right now.

I’ll admit one thing right up front, I didn’t follow the news particular close after about 2010. Take my comments with an appropriate level of skepticism. There may be some great achievements in the country that I’ve overlooked. I know women were able to vote and go to school. That’s not nothing, but the reason we were there was to punish Al Qaeda and capture Bin Laden. I’m fine with the rebuilding efforts to prevent another Taliban-like group from coming in.

Sadly the next Taliban-like group was. . . the freaking Taliban!

With both the Iraq and Afghanistan our military made a generous attempt to remake the countries and shore up their democratic institutions. It seems like by nearly every measure it has been a failure, for Afghanistan at least. Supposedly Hamid Karzai, the first president since the war, was corrupt and incapable of managing the country. I don’t know anything about his successor Ashraf Ghani, who will probably be shot when the Taliban take Kabul.

 Every war effort is going to go bad at some point. It isn’t realistic to think every outreach, school and economic incentive is going pay off. How many federal programs in this country are overrun with grifters and thieves? Would a bent police captain in Kandahar be less of a fraudster? I’m not making a relativist point here, in a lot of the world bribery and graft are just how business gets done.

I never expected a smooth process but I did think (honestly I did) that the Afghanis would be better off long term--after we left. It’s easy to be cynical about the war. Americans were bombarded with comparisons to Vietnam and the “quagmire” since the first insurgent blew up a convoy in Helmand province.

It was never a fair comparison. But it stuck, in part because Americans who remember it know how the public eventually turned on the war. During the first Gulf War, George Bush Sr. sent troops into Iraq to prevent Saddam Hussein from capturing oil fields in Kuwait. The battle was swift and Saddam’s Republican Guard collapsed within weeks. But we stopped after that. We didn’t go after Saddam. He continued to be a pest at the UN. He kicked out inspectors. He put down a rebellion in the North by the Kurds. We put in place a no fly zone to keep him from moving north. But we didn’t kill or capture him.

Was it the smart play at the time to leave him in power? Who knows. What kind of chaos might have ensued in the region had if we tried to kill him then? In war you’re always deciding between two bad choices. I’ll give the war planners a break. It’s easy to talk about how we shouldn’t be trying to rebuild countries with democracy and strong law enforcement. Just as a control group I’ll suggest Syria. Yes I know we’ve been at least partly helping anti-regime groups in Syria but it’s far from a full war. Russia’s been there too, helping Assad.

That country is a disaster with hardly any help from the West. Remember Obama’s “Red Line” comment to Assad in 2012 about using chemical weapons? Assad used them, we didn’t stop him. I don’t know if we should have or not. I think we make trade-offs when we go to war. We have one goal in mind and a few secondary ones.

Sometimes the first one is a failure, for a lot of reasons.

The worst part for the United States is our legacy of offering help and then leaving is firmly set. It’s unfair I know. I’ve worked with people who never take chances or step outside their comfort zone to help others. Those who do and fail get heaps of criticism.

What’s to be done? Our soldiers and marines took a lot the territory that’s now being handed back to same thugs that killed our men before. It’s maddening. But does anyone think another 5 years would matter to the readiness of the Afghan security forces? At some point they’ll have to manage their own country. Sadly I don’t think Americans care much anymore. That’s not a slight against them either.

I’m concerned that the lasting image of the war in Afghanistan will be another helicopter—hovering over the American embassy with the last marine climbing up the rope.

Bluetooth blues

 

I’ve been trying to get this speaker to connect to my phone through Bluetooth. It’s not working and I’m finally at the quitting stage. The speaker is a little Sony portable that boosts the sound of my regular phone speaker as much setting it in a coffee mug. The sound isn’t great but it's a little portable.

I don’t mean to sound unhappy with it, but I used to have a much nicer Harmon/Kardon that filled the room with sound. I kept it on my kitchen table for the best reach. My house is small (1000 square feet) so calling a table top speaker “room filling” isn’t probably the best description.

It’s an easy room to fill, unless you’re a Sony apparently. The Harmon/Kardon started dropping connections though. I thought it was a charging issue at first so I borrowed my brother’s cord to see if I could change my fortune. No such luck. There might be a way to fix it but I’ve already lost interest. I’ll just move on to something else as I don’t want to spend more time tinkering with the damn thing.

The Sony is a much bigger issue. Without sending a signal that my phone can pick up it’s table art. At least with the HK it started to lose connectivity. Fine. That happens. But with the Sony it’s never worked. Not with my new Iphone 11 at least. The first thing I did when the phone didn’t find the speaker through Bluetooth was reset both phone and speaker--nothing.

Then I deleted every other connection running off Bluetooth on the phone—nothing. I reset the internet connection to both devices and even did a hard restart of the modem—nothing. I’ve tried putting both of them right next to each other and using the “forget device” selection in settings. The only thing I haven’t done is delete the old connection from my old phone.

This is likely to work, but I can’t charge the old phone. It’s the whole reason I got a new one anyway. And by now I know what you’re thinking about my life. “How does he get up every day, put on a brave face and weather life’s unrelenting storms?” I often survive on only 7.5 hours of sleep but you won’t hear me complaining. That’s just not who I am.

This phone fiasco reminded me that I don’t have patience for tech stuff. Yes I know, I’m throwing a ridiculously wide net calling Bluetooth connectivity “tech stuff” but it needs a category so tech stuff it is. But it isn’t just that. This type of behavior is too much me. It fits the pattern of a lot of home problems that come up, uneven doors, clogged sinks, broken ice machines, dryers that don’t heat, washers that don’t wash.

 I see the issue but hope for the quick fix. When the quick fix doesn’t work I look for a way around it. If no way exists I try to live without it.

I’m not even a big music guy. I might not listen to any music for weeks at a time, an unheard of stretch for some of my friends. My workaround is the phone itself. I just sit it on the table and open the Amazon Music app. The sound isn’t great but it’s better than trying to fix the problem. Why?

Failure maybe? Laziness? I’d rather be doing almost anything else?

It’s not just laziness but avoidance. There’s a discomfort in trying to solve problems and it isn’t just because it means a delay in whatever I was about to do. It’s not a walking around in wet swim trunks discomfort. It’s closer to eating dinner at a 5 star restaurant in those same wet trunks and no shirt, while everyone else is wearing a tie. It’s a constant reminder that you really don’t belong here, doing this--it’s embarrassing.

 Problem solving is the way we prove to ourselves that we’re capable. This can’t be overstated. I do wonder if this is primarily an issue for men. Only in this way, I think men place greater importance on fixing and solving and putting order where none exists. Fair or not, it’s a trait tied to masculinity and leadership. Some guys are great at it. They can build a safe-room out back after fixing their boat motor and still have time to set up a home theatre system. 

They’re a success and I’m a failure. That’s what it feels like.  

It makes me feel better to assume this guy who can do it all likes to torture animals, or maybe steals money from the church offering plate. It's not much but it helps me process.

I’ve gotten better at this. My reactions to problems used to be visceral. I’m slightly more circumspect now. I don’t throw my hammer randomly at the garage wall or kick the work bench and crack the leg in turn. I start with deep breaths.

 I wrote an article a couple weeks ago that summed up my feelings on a successful website upload. You’ll understand my excitement better after reading this. And yes, there is joy in problem solving through perseverance.

 

'Trivial' Pursuits

 

I’ve been thinking about value lately. I tend to overlook things that I should value. It creates an endless cycle of striving instead of appreciation for where I’ve been.

I joined the Army when I was 19. The purpose was two-fold: pay for college the old fashioned way and grow up a little. Is that the old fashioned way? I don’t know. I didn’t want any student debt (which I did have later) and from a purely objective point of view it was a great deal.

 Tuition for classes and monthly installments for expenses, just give a few years to Uncle Sam. A quid pro quo that still makes sense.

I adapted slow but finished strong. My Gunnery Sergeant awarded me the ARCOM before I left. I was proud of that. I think there was a small squad ceremony but I don’t remember it. I wrapped the award in newspaper and tossed in a drawer after that. I didn’t value it the way I should have. The certificate claims “exemplary performance” and I treated it like a stack of coupons to Chuck E Cheese.

School was my next ‘trivial’ pursuit.

 Education was a tougher climb for me for the first year. Coming from a regimented schedule where housing and food is taken care of, I suddenly had to set it up myself at college. It wasn’t overwhelming but staying on top of classes, housing and food was more than I had to do before. I did make headway growing up, my stated goal from the Army days. The 24 year old me was more mature than the 19 year old me. Still a ways from adulthood, but I was ready for the rigors of a 4 year college at least.

 If the Army provided responsibility and accountability, education filled the gaps with knowledge and critical thinking. When it was time to graduate I did. But I didn’t walk in the ceremony. It seemed like a silly thing to do. I’d have to buy the cap and gown, shuffle back to the folding chairs with the rolled up certificate and wait for the speaker to blather on. I really didn’t care. The school mailed the certificate and I stuffed it inside some accordion folder next to my old tax receipts. I didn’t value it.

 It’s an odd thing to think that after at least a couple of difficult classes I thought the ceremony a frivolous expense. But I did.

I moved to Oklahoma in 2008 to get a Master’s in International Studies. This time I had a job so I attended school at nights or when I could sneak in an afternoon class. Classes went on for around 3 years before I graduated again. Another missed ceremony, this time the IS coordinator begged me to join my classmates on a Saturday to walk. She even agreed to pay for my cap and gown. I couldn’t be bothered. I was on to the next thing. What’s the use in the dog and pony show? I figured. It’s the degree and experience that counts.

Besides, I did value the learning. I’m not big on ceremony. The Army probably had something to do with this but it never occurred to me until later.

Ceremony isn’t the point though and maybe I’m finally seeing that. Graduations are like little reminders of how far you’ve come and how much you’ve grown. They aren’t about bragging rights or celebrations of impossible struggles. They establish a track of accomplishment. They remind us that momentary difficulties have an end. They mark time.

Ever seen the owner of the company with a dollar bill framed on the office wall? Everyone recognizes this as the first dollar he/she made in their new business. Sure it’s only a dollar, but it has an outsize level of value.

When I look at a textbook from school or look at an old picture, I’m reminded of some of the tough times that God brought me through. The details come rushing back but the emotions are different. I’m stronger on the other side because I had grace to keep going. When tokens of achievement aren’t enough, remember the promise from Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”   

I guess I worried that if I became content with awards I’d stop trying to go forward and keep growing. It’s a ridiculous thought now. Those pursuits are neither trivial nor monumental, but we lose what we don’t value. The first step for me in this new value laden life is to start framing certificates and awards. I’ll start with the Army commendation medal (ARCOM).

 

Life Below Zero: My Comfort Show

 

I’ve been watching Life Below Zero again.

 Netflix had it a few years ago so I binged watched the first 5 or 6 seasons. Disney + has it now. I keep coming back to this show even when I get tired of it. For all the danger of the wilderness, the weather and the wildlife, I get the feeling personal injury is the most common disaster. A broken arm or leg could be the end of you in a cold year. Most are too secluded to be rescued in a pinch.

 Here is something we all know, Alaska is a wilderness that’s only available for the heartiest of souls. It’s vast, cold, remote and full of dangerous wildlife. Those that live exclusively off the grid practice a strict form of self-reliance. Naturally there are cities in Alaska where rugged individualism isn’t necessary. It’s not like everyone eats moose venison and makes boots from beaver pelts. But the tundra dwellers and dog mushers and lonely cabin in the woods types live off the land in every way. They fish, hunt and trap for sustenance and chop down trees to make firewood. The Inuit family (Hailstones) along the western coast has multiple ways to fish and hunt. They use nearly everything from animals they kill and built shelters, boats and various traps.

Why do I like the show so much? I think it's the comfort I feel in knowing the characters and their positions, livelihoods and attitudes. The show profiles different people spread out around the state. Their only connection to each other is their dependence the land. Not all have allowed cameras into their homes for the entire show. Some started and stopped and then came back again, like Andy Bassich who raises dogs for racing just off the Eagle river near Canada’s Northwest Territories.

 Each yearly cycle is only vaguely different from the previous one. We see the seasons come and go and watch them cope with the cold winter, the melting ice, the short summer and the nonexistent fall. They repeat stock phrases like “If you ain’t ready to rely on yourself don’t bother coming up here”. These get repeated an awful lot by all the people in the show. It’s almost like the producers keep reminding them of what’s clear to the viewer already, this is a tough life.

I’m sure everyone who watches these shows asks themselves, “Would I do that? Live off the grid and hold up in a cabin cut off from all human life?” No and hell no. But I can appreciate that some people live for it and allow us in for a little while.

There isn’t any great genius in the show or curious revelation about the wilderness. But there is a comfort in watching a new episode with a familiar cast, struggling with similar issues every year. A lot of shows we watch are like this. Think of your favorite sitcom from years ago. Did the characters have a well-established personality? Did they get into tight spots and find a resolution just before the show ended? How many times did Kramer from Seinfeld resolve a quirky issue? How about George? Was there an obvious beginning, middle and end to each episode that built on the characters’ particular oddities?

Most stories work that way, problem--crisis--resolution. It’s a necessary arc for telling a story even in reality shows. Their lives aren’t that interesting, but put together enough footage with an artificial deadline and you have a show. I’m not being unfair. I keep coming back the same way I did for countless TV shows as a kid. My biggest excuse for watching a couple episodes per night is the comfort factor. I’m tired and I don’t want to try anything new.

Let’s find out if Glen sees a grizzly bear today.

I’ve watched enough animals being skinned that I could do it from memory, which is a skill I'm not sure what to do with. I almost wish that a wolverine or a lynx would prowl my street so I could set traps. I imagine hanging a caribou from my clothes line post and peeling the fur off while the neighbors watch, horrified. Actually the front yard would be better, right between the chiminea and the rose bush. I’d wave at them, hands covered in blood, in a friendly way as they walked their poodles around the block. Skinning game animals is not unusual for hunters (no I’m not) but looks really out of place in the city.

One of the more memorable shows had Sue Aikens, who manages the remote Kavik camp, field dress a caribou in the middle of winter. She followed a herd on her snowmobile and dropped one after missing with at least a dozen shots. She rushed back to camp to grab her sled for the carcass and began cutting organs out. The temperature was near 30 below zero, she couldn’t feel her fingers and the body was almost too cold to cut up. Her race against the clock was very real. She was at risk of getting frostbite and losing the light. She hurriedly tossed organs into the sled while covered in a bloody white snowsuit she used to camouflage herself on the tundra. I was seriously impressed.

In a show that’s mostly slow on excitement here was a real thrill. I’ll keep watching until I find another show with a familiar pattern. I’m sure I’ll come back again.

 

Patriots Out West

 

I’ve been following the drips and drabs of the election interference and the subsequent audits over the last few months. Arizona started it. Thank God for the patriots of that state.

They wore out their legislators with letters and phone calls, trying to get them to approve an audit. I’m not sure which branch of government is responsible for conducting it. The Senate is running the audit in Arizona with full legal authority to do so. Are they authorized by the governor to do so? I’m not sure. Who decides when, where and how the process goes forward?

 Governments have specific channels for how bills move from committee to a full vote and they also have rules for challenging elections. A lot of this is new territory and it’s been a slog to just get to this point.

An audit is a very thorough process requiring machine data, physical ballots, voter rolls and countless other checks. Requests from the Senate for the mail in ballot verifications was denied. Maricopa County (Phoenix) is withholding evidence of how they ‘verified’ the ballots and the auditors can’t move forward without it. Cyber Ninjas, the group doing the audit, says they county has passwords for the vote machines. The county hasn’t turned them over; they say they don’t have them. Also there were 74,000 votes cast from people who never got a ballot in the mail—suspicious much? Not to me.

Georgia is doing a slightly different type of audit that only affects Fulton County. We know that double counting happened, they falsified the tally sheets in favor of Biden and stacks of mail in ballots had no fold marks. Why is that last one important? A ballot needs to be folded to be mailed in. It’s about as close as you get to blatant fraud. It suggests a lot of them were just printed off en masse, or filled out by paid workers. A ballot worker tipped off Tucker Carlson to the lack of folds. He included that bit in his nightly show on July 15. 

There were enough irregularities exposed before the election was certified but state electors certified it anyways. They knew it was a fraudulent election because they knew Fulton County was a hotbed of corruption. They looked the other way and tried to make Trump look like a kook for asking the state to reevaluate their count--Looking at you Raffensperger.

Other states have shown interest in doing an Arizona style audit. Pennsylvania’s State Senator Doug Mastriano is openly campaigning for one. There is an audit underway of the biggest 3 counties, of which Philadelphia (known cesspool of graft) is one. Others like Wisconsin and in the early stages of gathering evidence to push for a full audit. A lot of this hangs on what turns up in Arizona I suspect. If clear, large scale fraud is shown, which I’m sure it will be, audits become the next logical step for battleground states. The evidence for grand irregularities, non-updated voter rolls, witness testimony across states and mail in ballot shenanigans made this a suspect election from the start.

How many states shut down counting in the early morning hours, only to have Biden get a surge in votes immediately after? This screams dishonest and I believe most  Americans think so as well. It’s always been a matter of applying enough pressure to elected officials to do the right thing. Arizona went first; this was a citizen led effort by patriots out West.

I can’t predict how these audits will go. I’m sure of the fraud and I’m sure each state will find enough to overturn the election for Biden. He got 80 million votes, REALLY?

What happens once a verified audit proves the obvious? Do states call new elections? Does the Justice Department move to shut down the audits? Do the American people just accept Joe and throw their hands up and say, like Chicago Bears fans, “We’ll get ‘em next time.” There is no legal precedent for this, not on this scale anyway. I’ve always thought the mail in ballots would prove the most obvious place for fraud. There is likely plenty with the voting machines as well but this year was guaranteed to see a spike in them because of Covid. It always represented an easy chance to inflate the Biden vote.

I’m not for chaos in the streets but I won’t vote again in a national election if I can’t trust the process. I’m sure a lot of my fellow Americans believe exactly that.