They’ve got Tina.

When I heard someone say that, it was the first time I felt slight concern, though not enough, about a now 70 year old woman who was a Mesa County, Colorado county clerk.

County clerk. It’s a position that seems innocuous enough.* It is a job that includes preserving birth, death, marriage, and vital statistics records. These include deeds, liens, and judgments. Business licenses. Construction permits. Court documents. County clerks are responsible for entering data into computer systems and maintaining accurate records of all transactions and documents. And often the job includes overseeing the administration of local elections. And that responsibility includes maintaining votes from an election for 22 months following the election and 4 years following a contested election.

I’d heard a few things here and there, but didn’t pay close attention. However, Tina Peters’ name kept being mentioned.

As I understand it, some Mesa county citizens expressed their concern over votes being manipulated in the 2020 election and before that, as well. Tina didn’t take it very much to heart. After all, the system seemed to run smoothly enough and she trusted it. And then Dominion, the computer system relied on during elections asked to service their machine. Tina agreed, but out of an abundance of caution before they came to do so, she had an expert come in and, to simplify things in a way people like me can understand it, take a picture of the original vote results. After Dominion serviced the machine, Tina asked the same computer expert to take a picture again. It showed that data had been deleted and completely wiped off the server. Tina’s decision to so preserve those vote results provided proof of the felonious actions of removing critically important election-related data files (before it is legal to do so) under the guise of supposed “software update maintenance”.

Reports were made, accusations flew and now Tina is spending 9 years in prison. Her husband died in the midst of the trouble. Her home was raided including precious items of this Navy SEAL Gold Star Mother’s son. It seems like overkill for a county clerk, doesn’t it?

PBS called her a Republican election denier. The AP called her whistleblowing a voting data scheme. The judge called her a charlatan. (By the way, judges are the ones who determine which evidence is allowed and disallowed at trial.)

AP said “Peters was convicted of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.

She was found not guilty of identity theft, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and one count of criminal impersonation. Yet she persisted on social media to accuse Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems, which made her county’s election system, and others of stealing votes.”

Why would a 70 year old county clerk persist in a lie when faced with prison and nine years, at that? I’ve heard prison is harder on women than men. I don’t know if it is, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

All of us need to do some research. Then we need to think about the perspective of the sources we are using and their biases and ours. But we are obligated in this wide world to do more than sigh or watch someone else tell us what to think.

So I won’t tell you what to think, but I’ll tell you what I think. I think elections are important, and this case shouts that this election needed a specific result, something must be covered up, and someone must be silenced. And the reason that is usually done in nations the world over is that someone(s) is threatened by a loss of control.

We believe we are aware of the stakes in the 2020 election, but I don’t think any of us is to a full extent. No. Someone is very protective of their control. I have to ask why. The usual suspect is money. Maybe. Maybe it’s more than that. Yes, it’s more than that.

We do know that trafficking of children, women, and drugs is at an all-time high. We know that at least 300,000 children have been “lost” in the last 4 years upon crossing our border. That’s a lot of Amber Alerts. Drugs can be sold once. A child can be sold dozens of times a day.

A child-trafficking network of this degree needs corrupt officials. It needs DHS, Secretary of State, Presidential approval, Office of Refugee Resettlement, and HHS to give a means to step away from protections that at one time had been put in place. As of March 2021, for instance, background checks are no longer required of each resident for a child to be placed in a home. The network also involves NGO’s, many liberal Christian charity groups, which receive money with no bid contracts to facilitate some of the trafficking and help cartels make money, helping themselves to payouts in the process. Our federal government uses these organizations to launder money. Said another way, public private partnerships use tax dollars to fund the world’s largest child trafficking organization. Democrats put it in place. Republicans funded it by abdicating their power of the purse.

US taxes fund trafficking. Let me say it again. US taxes fund trafficking. Are we understanding the enormity of this yet?  Entities involved in trafficking as well as the by now cascading travesties compromising our very nation needed cover by people willing to be bribed or weak enough to be blackmailed. And the integrity of our elections figures into that. A woman named Tina stood her ground, told the truth, and sent that beast of a network into a frenzy.

Jesus came and sacrificed himself on the cross to save our souls. But God put us in charge of the earth. We need to clean up this mess. Christians, we are not called to escape. We are expected to reign. We are expected to call a spade a spade. We are expected to not turn the other way.

Can we start by at least getting on board to stand with Tina, the County Clerk, and FREE TINA PETERS?

*County clerk job description I found online states: Create, maintain, organize and file various documents. Capture data on spreadsheets and in various computer programs. Run errands, such as collecting documents and transporting documents to other offices. Handle correspondence for the County Clerk’s office. Receive relevant fees and balance a cash drawer. Perform election administration tasks and capture election data.

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Sources: https://gaballots.com/evidence/f/how-long-must-erecords-be-kept; https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/10/03/tina-peters-former-mesa-county-clerk-sentenced-to-9-years-in-prison-over-voting-systems-breach/; https://www.cpr.org/2024/10/03/tina-peters-former-mesa-county-clerk-prison/; https://www.kkco11news.com/2025/01/24/can-trump-pardon-tina-peters-heres-what-district-attorney-says/; https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/please-remember-gold-star-mom-tina-peters-who/; https://joehoft.com/tina-peters-exclusive-im-letting-you-know-that-if-i-die-here-it-wasnt-by-my-own-hand-im-not-depressed/; https://www.courthousenews.com/colorado-court-of-appeals-finds-insufficient-evidence-to-convict-tina-peters-of-contempt-for-recording-in-court/; https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/10/one-last-hurrah-tina-peters-releases-her-mesa/; https://www.westernslopenow.com/tina-peters-trial-live/; Juan O Savin SITREP on Rumble [MIRROR] OPERATION: AMBER ALERT<U.S. CHILD TRAFFICKING (2024); http://MiCasaKids.org; https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/01/exclusive-tina-peters-important-message-prison-regarding-supremacy/; https://www.streetinsider.com/PRNewswire/Cyber+Crisis+and+Systemic+Abuse+of+Power:+Saving+Tina+Peters/23488086.html

The house stood, as it had for 100 years, steady and proud among the other houses on the block; some nearly as old, but none older; and none that looked quite as dignified. It was empty now. Echoing. The walls held memories of weddings and post-funeral gatherings. They kept whispered secrets from one inhabitant to another, and remembered the incessant chatter of children growing up and shrieks and the sound of pattering feet. They had absorbed stories of missionaries from different lands and professors and a college dean and those who gave hours and days and years to churches. And graduations. And parties. They had heard weeping both loud and muffled. They had endured the sound of dogs and cats and chickens. And news of some wars. And prayers; prayers for help and healing, for a young man leaving for the military, for babies, for those whose faith wavered, and, of course, thanks in all of its variations from surprise to anticipated to relief-filled. Those walls had loved the sound of music. They had listened to piano lessons and music played and sung for the blessed sake of enjoyment. And for many many years it almost seemed the walls had joined in the lovely harmonies of Christmas carols sung at Christmas.

So on Christmas Eve, after a church service with candles and Silent Night, she drove down the dark streets to the old house and climbed its steps. Unlocking the door, she turned on the light, and walked to the center of the living room. And there she sang the old carols of long ago and not so long ago. She sang for the memories and for the beauty and precious gifts of music. She sang with hope for goodness in the tired world. And she sang for her Savior, Jesus, who held everything together. 2,000 years ago. 100 years ago. Today. And future days and years. And the walls heard. And they remembered.

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There are times in life when attention on the wrong thing makes us unaware of the good things: sunshine we ignore because the meteorologist said we needed rain, the laughter of children because we needed to concentrate on a project, the fresh smell of dirt because we wanted clean fingernails instead, or the sound of a church singing Amazing Grace because someone was off pitch. So many treasures line our path, but we miss them because our earbuds are in and our eyes, well, they might as well be closed.

And yet it is those very things – the precious things we miss because we are so used to them or because they have become so much a part of our lives that we take them for granted – that we should, we must, hasten to value before they are gone. For they will go as surely as the mist over a lake rises and disappears in the next minute.

You don’t need to tell someone what you think, but it’s nice to have the choice, isn’t it? You don’t need to carry a gun or even want one, but it might be a valuable option when you come face to face with someone who’d as soon kill you as look at you. You don’t need to go to church, but . . . I’ll stop there. I think everyone benefits from being part of a church who reveres God and loves Jesus. But God is better than I. He doesn’t force anyone to do anything. Free will is one of His best things. And freedom is a treasure.

All I know is some people think its unfashionable to love their one nation under God. Every once in awhile someone argues themselves into not voting or maybe not caring. Maybe they think their action and effort doesn’t matter. Or perhaps they feel too important to do such a common man thing as voting. Maybe a passionate professor or friend convinced them the old fashioned ways of our country need an upgrade. I can’t say because I don’t know. But whatever prevents someone from doing even a small thing to fight for his country – well I’m glad it didn’t prevent David from picking up some small stones when he saw Goliath. Dear friend, there could come a day – maybe very very soon – when those treasures you didn’t know you had will disappear because of your apathy or arrogance. And then. Then. You will long for something you had, but failed to treasure.

https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2024/07/03/it-was-the-best-of-times-it-was-the/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2024/05/21/the-why/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2024/03/27/the-company-of-the-impossible/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2024/03/11/our-lives-our-fortunes-our-sacred-honor/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2023/08/14/the-power-of-old-words/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2023/08/01/the-heirloom/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2023/07/03/relearning-something-old/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2023/05/18/to-tell-the-truth/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2023/03/08/seeing-things/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2022/11/22/november-4-2020/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2022/11/07/the-precipice/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2022/05/22/the-importance-of-a-good-boat/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2022/03/14/weve-met-the-enemy-and-he-is-us/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2021/07/01/brave-words-by-brave-men/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2021/05/26/oh-i-remember-now/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2021/01/22/in-the-middle-of-the-muddle/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2020/12/30/the-strip-search-of-2020/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2020/11/06/stand/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2020/10/30/appeal-to-heaven/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2020/10/07/if-you-can-keep-it/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2020/08/18/great-must-be-good/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2020/05/06/guilty/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2020/04/29/were-not-gonna-take-it/ https://www.myfiresidechat.com/2020/03/14/time-for-a-speech/

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I had a 7th grade English teacher who was a favorite of everyone – well, most everyone. In addition to delivering some pretty solid teaching, she liked to have fun with the kids. One day she brought caramels (those individually wrapped Kraft caramel squares) to class so we could all enjoy one or two. One of the boys in the class had gotten braces the day before and it was her joke on him. In those days, most people enjoyed jokes, even if they were on them. He thought it was funny, she thought it was funny, we all laughed.

Sometimes people talk to the elderly like they’re small children. I suppose they get used to it, considering it’s probably a well-meaning effort to be kind. I hope no one ever talks to me that way.

People who are abusive can be downright mean in their comments. But they can also be silky smooth and convincing. It depends on what type of abuser they are.

In a war, opposing sides are not likely to be polite to each other. Each side is defending something or someone. Are demoralizing comments appropriate? What about name-calling? What about harsh answers that don’t turn away wrath? Is war a time to point out bad things about the opponent?

Most of us favor easy-listening speech. We cringe a bit at words that we don’t typically use, ourselves, although I’ve noticed that human nature sometimes prefers to ignore or even agree with ad hominem attacks rather than discussing the matter of argument. We’d rather repeat that attack than actually argue a valid point. Some people are suggesting yesterday’s assassination attempt could be the fault of the one who offends some folks with some pretty tough words. I thought of some crusty prophets who offended kings and I thought of Jesus who garnered the hate of plenty of people. Still does.

But it’s our responsibility to examine what situation someone’s words are used in. I don’t suppose a dentist has a bowl of caramels in the waiting room. And if you don’t understand that our nation (and world) is and has been in a war for a long time, a war to save a whole lot of people who are sold and sacrificed, a war to defend our nation’s freedoms, and a war of influence in which some folks are doing whatever they can to keep things from going kinetic, you might criticize words and phrases used more in war than, for instance, typical political speech. You would be wrong.