by Ashe in America | Mar 21, 2023 | Feature Story Bottom Left
On Wednesday, March 8, 2023, Senator Julie Gonzales (@SenadoraJulie) tweeted:
“Current POV: I am in the Senate State Affairs committee today, where we will be hearing three bills designed to prevent gun violence from harming our communities. It’ll be a long day, but I couldn’t be prouder.”
What a hero! Preventing gun violence in our communities is important.
We must fight to increase firearm education and access, reducing irrational fear and ensuring our armed society can function safely. We must eliminate the “gun-free” zones that make unprotected targets of our most vulnerable populations. We must prosecute criminals that commit gun violence to the fullest extent of the law.
Because the Second Amendment protects our right to self defense, let’s make our American armed society safe, Senator!
Now, let’s look at those bills.
SB23-170: EXTREME RISK PROTECTION ORDER PETITIONS
This bill expands red flag laws.
“The bill expands the list of who can petition for an extreme risk protection order to include licensed medical care providers, licensed mental health-care providers, licensed educators, and district attorneys.”
If SB23-170 passes, the government can declare you at extreme risk via the district attorney and separate you from your firearms. But wait, there’s more!
We’re paying for “a public education campaign regarding the availability of, and the process for requesting, an extreme risk protection order.” But we won’t educate people about firearms.
SB23-168: GUN VIOLENCE VICTIMS’ ACCESS TO JUDICIAL SYSTEM
This bill expands people’s ability to sue “firearm industry members” if their loved ones are killed by firearms. That worked so well with tobacco companies.
“Current law limits product liability actions against manufacturers of firearms and ammunition to situations in which there was a defect in the design or manufacture of a firearm or ammunition. The bill repeals that limitation.”
They declare that “firearm industry members” are those “engaged in the manufacture, distribution, importation, marketing, or wholesale or retail sale” of firearms.
SB23-169: INCREASING MINIMUM AGE TO PURCHASE FIREARMS
The final bill on the agenda for Gonzales’ hearing raises the age to purchase, possess, sell, or transfer a firearm from 18 to 21.
Think about that. My 18-year-old son can die for Ukraine, gun in hand, but he would be prohibited from defending himself or his family at home.
Inexplicably, they also reduce the penalties for selling firearms to minors, from a class 4 Felony to a class 2 Misdemeanor. This is like the formula for the war on drugs.
IS THIS ALL FOR SHOW?
HB23-1230: PROHIBIT ASSAULT WEAPONS IN COLORADO
From my view, these bills are a distraction from the one that makes it a crime to own a firearm.
No big deal. It’s for your safety. Also, the bill does not apply to the military, government, and peace officers because they need to — and totally will — protect you once they take your firearms away. Just look at history. That’s always what happens.
“The bill defines the term “assault weapon” and prohibits a person from manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of an assault weapon.”
The definition focuses on firearm features of both long guns and handguns.
“Assault weapons are uniquely lethal due to tactical features that are designed for the battlefield in order to injure or kill large numbers of people quickly and efficiently. These tactical features differentiate assault weapons from other firearms. These features include detachable magazines, barrel shrouds, pistol grips, forward grips, and telescoping stocks, which allow a shooter to either conceal the weapon or make it easier to fire a high volume of ammunition in a short period of time while maintaining accuracy.”
Why do we allow Gonzales and the Colorado Communists to openly infringe upon our inalienable rights?
Why do we tolerate the proud and public collapse of the oath in another unwinnable war?
These bills will likely pass through committee and may even become law. Obviously, then legal challenges will commence all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and ultimately, they will be ruled unconstitutional.
If that doesn’t happen, then the Constitution of the United States is no longer active. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Either way, the lawyers will make a fortune. They always do.
Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Feb 22, 2023 | Feature Story Bottom Left
Senate Bill 23-101, “Candidate Ballot Access For Primary Elections,” is currently making its way through the Colorado General Assembly. The bill is sponsored by Senate Minority Whip Barbara Kirkmeyer (R-SD23) and House Minority Caucus Chair Mary Bradfield (R-HD21).
During the midterms, Kirkmeyer made a run for the newly formed Congressional District 8. The first step in that process is the traditional caucus and assembly, but Kirkmeyer opted out and, instead, paid to gather signatures rather than face her party’s most active and engaged members. The 2022 Colorado Assembly was swept by America First candidates, and CD8 was no exception. Former Representative Lori Saine (R-HD63), the only Colorado legislator to hold a hearing on election integrity in 2020, won the top line on the primary ballot.
The CD8 primary was vicious and, while Kirkmeyer was victorious, she faced allegations of election interference and debate rigging. Like all the other unlikeable Colorado establishment candidates who inexplicably won their primaries, Kirkmeyer lost her midterm election. Democrat Yadira Caraveo is now in Washington, D.C.
Mary Bradfield, on the other hand, did go through assembly. She lost to Karl Dent. She was off the ballot until a judge said that the HD21 assembly result be thrown out — due to a single delegate being improperly credentialed during the vote. Given the procedural and credentialing issues at assembly, as well as clicker malfunctions that led to multiple legal actions, this was highly unusual and shocked the state. When the vote was repeated, Bradfield made the primary ballot and, of course, “won” the primary.
After their humiliating losses in the party process, Kirkmeyer and Bradfield have come together on SB23-101: “Candidate Ballot Access For Primary Elections.”
What is the substance of the bill? To abolish caucus and assembly.
“Section 1 of the bill eliminates the option for a major political party candidate to access a primary election ballot by being nominated through the political party assembly process.” Section 16 does the same for minor parties.
Please understand what is happening here: The primary sponsor of the bill to abolish caucus and assembly did not go through caucus and assembly — likely because she wouldn’t have advanced if required to face actual voters. The co-sponsor of the bill failed at assembly and had to use the courts to subvert the people’s process.
It’s much easier to pay people to circulate petitions for you when you’re unlikeable and your policies are detached from the will of the voters. And that’s the point.
As I have been saying for years, the Colorado Republican party is content being the Minority Party in the state. They have no desire to change. In fact, they are so resistant to change they are attempting to harden the rules to prevent change.
But the people of Colorado want change, and SB23-101 being brought by Republicans should surprise the many voters who’ve only recently engaged with this party (which is now looking to shut them out).
During the 2022 election cycle, the Colorado Republican Party saw the highest levels of enthusiasm and engagement they’ve enjoyed since 2010. You’ll recall that 2010 was the year the GOP nearly became a minor party in Colorado due to voters rejecting them outright. Rather than realize that their party establishment was detached from their voting base, the party doubled down over the next decade to alienate even more Colorado voters and hemorrhage party members. The Democrat Party has also seen a steady decline year-over-year.
Colorado voters have lost faith in the parties. As of February 2, 2023, Colorado has 3,800,543 active and 416,340 inactive voters, for a total registered voting population of 4,216,883. 27% are Democrats, 24% are Republican, and 47% are unaffiliated. Unaffiliated registrations have consistently increased for 11 years, up 1% since last year.
The response of the Colorado Republican Party is to remove the people from the process. Access to the ballot, if Kirkmeyer and Bradfield get their way, will be a matter determined by the candidates and the Secretary of State.
This isn’t a meaningful legislative proposal. It’s the scorn of two unpopular establishmentarians who should have lost their contests.
“Candidate Ballot Access For Primary Elections” was introduced in January and, surprisingly, has not yet been killed in committee.
Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Jan 19, 2023 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
The U.S. House of Representatives of the 118th Congress made history and headlines by taking four days and 15 rounds of voting to elect the Speaker of the House.
The nation was captivated by the affair, which took place from January 2-8. C-SPAN averaged 1.2 million viewers, Fox News 1.4 million, MSNBC 950,000 and CNN 740,000. Washington Post’s livestream on YouTube has 1.2 million views and counting. PBS was close to 800,000.
ESPN finished second in overall ratings with 1.2 million viewers. A congressional proceeding had more viewers than sports.
In contrast, the livestream of the vote for the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 74th Colorado General Assembly had a little over 2,000 views. The proceeding took place on January 9, 2023.
For years, the Democrat Party in Colorado’s legislature has enjoyed a super majority, and this Assembly is no different. With a majority of 46 to 19, no matter how the Republicans vote, the Democrats will prevail. They have more than double the votes they need. The Republicans have no power and, with that margin, little influence.
They have only principle.
During the uniparty performance, Democrat Julie McCluskie (HD-13) and Republican Scott Bottoms (HD-15) were both nominated for the presiding position.
Republican Ken DeGraff (HD-22) nominated Bottoms, who is the Pastor of Briargate Church in Colorado Springs, a reserved and thoughtful community leader, a PhD, and a candidate behind which any Republican could symbolically align.
In his speech accepting the nomination, which he inexplicably had to “second” himself, Bottoms said:
“I believe that it is important that we stand on our principles, and we stand on our values. If the roles of this were reversed, and the super majority was Republican, I would expect a Democrat to nominate a Democrat and vote for a Democrat… My Republican voters sent me here to vote for Republicans, and that’s what we’re trying to put forward today: That we stand on principle, and we stand on Republican values.”
The Republicans didn’t plan to nominate anyone. The status quo dictated that they just vote for the Democrat and move on. These two freshmen Representatives put the uniparty in the spotlight and, better, they did it with a recorded vote.
When the vote took place, 11 out of 19 Republicans voted for Representative, now Speaker, Julie McCluskie. Republican Minority Leader Mike Lynch (HD-65) even seconded her nomination.
For over a decade, our state’s Republican Party has hemorrhaged support. It used to be that the party establishment and elected officials would pretend to hold Republican values. Or any values.
Instead of voting for the Republican in a strong show of unity to their constituents, and the opposition, Republicans once again split the vote.
During the 2022 election season, the Republican Party pretended to support conservative values. They claimed to be principled leaders. They feigned belief in the party platform.
Worse, they gaslit right-leaning voters to come together and align behind the Republican candidates — no matter what. Uniparty Republicans admonished America First, grassroots conservatives that they must “unite and heal the Republican party,” and that “a bad Republican is better than a good Democrat.” Don’t split the vote!
Grassroots Republicans running for office were eviscerated just for running, for not bending the knee, for not supporting whoever’s turn the party decided it was. They were eviscerated for entering the arena during a time of peak government corruption and mistrust.
This vote was these Republicans’ first official action, after all that gaslighting got them “elected.” In that first action, 11 Republicans voted for the Democrat. No matter how these Republicans vote, the Democrat will win, so this vote is purely symbolic.
Symbolically, 11 Republicans cast votes to reject traditional Republican principles; that is, conservative principles.
In other words, a Christian Conservative Pastor is a non-starter for Colorado Republicans, even in a purely symbolic, unity vote.
Symbolic or material, this vote was revealing for right-leaning voters.
Bottoms concluded with, “We’re not going to have any power this session… But we do have principles, and that’s what we’re going to be standing upon.”
The principle of the matter is Colorado Republican legislators are only “Republican” when they’re campaigning.
Is it any wonder they keep losing?
Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Dec 16, 2022 | Feature Story Bottom Left
OPINION
I published in February 2022 that the Executive Branch of the Colorado Government monitors the social media of journalists and citizen activists. It sounded far-fetched and was quickly dismissed.
However, now the Twitter Files and various legal discoveries are exposing coordinated censorship between technology companies and federal, state, and local governments. The Executive Branch of the Colorado Government, led in this by Secretary of State Jena Griswold, has some explaining to do.
I am one of those citizens and journalists that was surveilled. In February of 2022, I learned that Secretary of State Jena Griswold submitted a Telegram post as evidence in an official election order against Douglas County Clerk Merlin Klotz. The forwarded post was about Clerk Klotz preserving election records in my county.
At the time, I had around 300 Telegram followers. I was confounded at how an uninvolved party sharing someone else’s post on Telegram rose to meet any official standard of evidence. I didn’t write the post; my only involvement was writing about the substance of the post. Why was the State Department monitoring a 300-follower Telegram channel?
Months prior, Secretary Griswold implemented rules that reshaped electoral oversight — despite historic public opposition. At that time, I rejoined Twitter to voice my opposition to the rules. I tagged her several times. My account lasted approximately two weeks before it was suspended with no reason or explanation.
Now we know, and I want an explanation.
As I write this, the Twitter Files are being released, a steady and explosive flow of internal documents, Slack threads, and emails from inside Twitter’s operation to “combat misinformation.” These recent disclosures implicate not only the embattled social publisher and its key executives, but multiple federal agencies and the offices of state and local elected officials.
In terms of federal involvement, we now know that Twitter’s “safety” chief was meeting weekly with the Director of National Intelligence, Department of Homeland Security, and Federal Bureau of Investigation to address what they claim was “election misinformation” — before the 2020 election.
For state and local, thanks to documents discovered in Missouri v. Biden, we now know that Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and her team were working with their Twitter contacts, as well as pseudo governmental entities, to manipulate public opinion and silence opposition, elections in which Hobbs was both in charge of the process and on the ballot.
“Congratulations to my friend @katiehobbs and to the State of Arizona!” Griswold tweeted on November 14, almost a week after the midterms. The two globalist Secretaries often appear together and are championed for their roles in battling “election deniers.”
Griswold and Hobbs share and compare notes.
In a document obtained through an open record request dated July 15, 2021, Colorado State Department CIO Trevor Timmons instructs County Clerks that their most important role in combatting misinformation is to be, “The Trusted Source.”
The document directs them to prioritize securing their blue check marks on Twitter, and State offers to help. There is coordination between Griswold/State and Twitter.
Colorado Citizens Want Answers
The recent disclosures are not isolated incidents of corporations and government serendipitously and heroically aligning to fight a common threat — no matter what The Narrative claims.
Based on what we now know, this surveillance appears systemic and nationwide. The Colorado Executive Branch needs to answer some questions:
Who else is Secretary Griswold surveilling? Her political opponents? Critical journalists?
Our digital lives are an extension of ourselves. Is Secretary Griswold directing technology companies to use digital force against the targets of her surveillance?
Does Secretary Griswold engage with federal intelligence and/or law enforcement as part of her citizen surveillance activities? Does she take direction from them?
Are Timmons’ efforts to combat “misinformation” and “disinformation” a (shallow) cover for surveilling and censoring criticism from Griswold’s political opposition? From her constituents?
In the words of one Twitter executive, the coordinated suppression of free Americans’ ideas and information is, “what this was all designed for and a huge positive for the platform.”
It was designed to work this way. It is being exposed. Will the Colorado Executive Branch engage in further cover-up?
The cover-up is always worse than the crime.
Happy New Year!
All references are available at asheinamerica.com.
Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Nov 17, 2022 | Feature Story Bottom Left
The 2022 midterm results defy logic and critical thinking. Despite the absolute state of the union this midterm was, by the numbers, “The Night of the Incumbent.”
In October, the NY Times was publicly stunned by their Siena College poll, revealing that most voters are most worried about government corruption: That the government is not working on behalf of the people.
They were stunned because the concern was paramount for 68% of voters and it was an open-ended question. To accept the 2022 midterm results, you must accept that those most concerned about government corruption voted to keep the government in place.
As I write this, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is leading her race for Congressional District 3. It is unclear why the alleged “Gold Standard of Elections” cannot efficiently count votes on election night, especially since the holdup in this contest appears to be Pueblo County where Secretary of State Jena Griswold appointed an Election Supervisor. Per last month’s ruling against Elbert County Clerk & Recorder Dallas Schroeder, the Election Supervisor appointment puts Secretary Griswold in charge of the county’s elections. And so we wait for Secretary Griswold to give us the “results.”
In a pre-midterm press conference, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of counting delays that, “This is how this is supposed to work.”
You would think that such White House confidence combined with Colorado State Department’s oversight would ensure smooth elections. Things aren’t going smoothly, and we’re being gaslit about it (again).
From the local NBC affiliate four days after election day, “‘Why is it taking so long to count the ballots?’ As Gilbert ‘Bo’ Ortiz, the Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder, said, ‘It could be because we’re American and we want instant gratification.’”
“This is how this is supposed to work.” Don’t question it, denier.
Keep in mind that the people telling us the delays, glitches, issues, and ambiguity are expected, are the same people that sold Americans electronic voting equipment in the name of efficiency and transparency. These are the same people that sold us mass mail-in voting with the single security control of signature verification which is, according to all honest experts, a Potemkin Village.
As I write this, there is still no official statement released from Secretary Griswold on the issues with CD3. Is it weird that the Colorado midterm’s only known issues happen to be in the race with the state’s sole MAGA candidate?
The political establishment, on both sides, want you to believe they are securing our elections; in reality, they innovated security out of U.S. elections a long time ago.
As the dust settles, establishment Republicans — both those known as establishment and those who are currently making their allegiance known — are taking a victory lap and claiming that the red wave’s failure to materialize is a “referendum on Trumpism” and “we need to move on from MAGA.”
This is silly, of course. The Colorado GOP manipulated or, at the very least influenced, the candidate selection, both at the assembly and during the primary. Party leadership openly mocks the politically active portion of their base while alienating the unaffiliated middle (46%) through authoritarian policy priorities that are irredeemably out of touch with the Colorado electorate.
With the current geo- and socio-political environment, Republicans should have been competitive in Colorado’s Governor and Senate races, even with electronic voting equipment. Unfortunately, Burton Brown picked up the playbook — unpopular candidates with no fight or fire — of her predecessor Ken Buck (CD4), and the party’s high-profile candidates lost by double digits and conceded immediately.
Intentional or incompetence, the Colorado Republican Party is terrible at winning elections.
I posit that this is because they are corrupt, unlikeable, and without political capital or credibility; but whatever the reason, they need to reflect on their failed 2022 midterm strategy, both the theory and the execution.
There is no “moving on from MAGA.” The people want America to be great again which means shaking up the power dynamics obstructing our desired change.
If the GOP hopes for a comeback in the Centennial State, Republicans must find a way to reconnect with voters and rebuild trust.
I’m not holding my breath. They seem quite content in the minority.
Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.
