Will GOP crash debt ceiling on our heads?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 17, 2023

So, once again the folks that were elected, don't seem to remember the people that voted for them. If they did, if they really cared, they wouldn't be focusing on everything we don't want and threatening what we need.

They are ready to crash the country because they are acting as if they have no obligation to us at all! Do you know what happens if they play games and refuse to pay the bills they already committed to? Well, if you don't, I remember it and it was torture. Veterans were not being able to get into the VA for appointments and worried about their disability checks not coming, along with medicine. Seniors were worried about everything!

This happened before.

The government also shut down for four days in January 2018, and the US experienced the longest-ever shutdown of 35 days between December 22nd, 2018 to January 25th, 2019. This came as a result of an impasse over President Donald Trump’s proposed spending package for the US-Mexico border wall. Forbes

I don't know who you voted for or why. What I do know is that the GOP members of the House don't seem to remember all the things they promised you they would focus on. You know, the things you need as they reminded you of how terrible your life was. I don't recall them warning you they were willing to make it a lot worse. If they cannot come up with a bill to raise the debt ceiling to cover the money they already spent, your life and mine are going to suck big time!

It isn't bad enough they've already said they plan on cutting social security and medicare. They forgot that we paid for the benefits we are getting but they want to play games, not just with the money they owe us, but with our lives.

Read this from CBS News

What is the debt limit?

The debt limit, which is set by Congress, represents the maximum amount the federal government is allowed to borrow to pay its debts.

If the amount of government debt reaches that threshold and doesn't lift the ceiling, the U.S. would be unable to pay what it owes and could default.

It's important to note that when Congress raises or suspends the debt ceiling, it isn't greenlighting new spending. Instead, it is giving the go-ahead for the Treasury to pay for spending that has already been approved.

Has the debt limit been raised before?

Yes. Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 times to raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit, according to Treasury.

Of those, the debt limit was tweaked 49 times under Republican presidents and 29 times under Democratic administrations, Treasury said.

The last time the debt ceiling was lifted was in December 2021, when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.

Are you willing to let them keep playing games with us? Are you willing to let them get away with treating all of us as if we don't matter now they have the power their voters gave them? Are you willing to suffer for their sake? This is what their plans are.

What can you do about it? Let them know exactly what you think. Call your GOP member and let them know that you are holding them accountable for what they refuse to do. If you are in a swing district and you have a level-headed congressman, tell them you'd support them becoming an Independent until the rest of their party comes to their senses. That way, McCarthy and his henchmen won't be able to get away with what they are trying to pull off. They won't have the majority anymore because they proved they don't deserve to have it. They owe us, not the other way around.

When is a PTSD book not?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 16, 2023

When is a #PTSD not a PTSD book? When it isn't what you expect or have been led to believe.

"In The Scribe of Salem: Ministers of the Mystery, the first book in the Ministers of the Mystery series, Kathie Costos takes readers on a wild fictional journey that has one foot in reality. Filled with suspense, historical intrigue, magic and scripture, get ready for an edge-of-your-seat novel that’ll leave you wanting more."

The Scribe Of Salem

For 4 decades, I've been saying the same thing but the suffering that didn't need to happen kept happening. What I was saying was not, and is not, wrong. The problem is, this site didn't get through to enough people. The videos didn't get through to enough people. The non-fiction books I wrote didn't get through enough and the fiction ones didn't work. 

I had to find a new way of telling what needs to be known and leave it up to the reader to take away what they need from this work.

The Ministers Of The Mystery Series is about everyone struggling to heal after surviving. There are veterans in it from different decades. A retired police officer struggling to heal after PULSE. Survivors of domestic violence and child abuse. A retired pastor struggling to heal from what taking care of his congregation did to him. And the one they all joined forces to save, a newspaper reporter.

There is a review coming out on Wednesday, January 18th. I couldn't believe how much the reviewer got out of it. Yet, not once did she mention the term PTSD.

I figured, who knows horror more than people that survived the cause of their PTSD?

"Readers will also appreciate the tragic characters that Kathie Costos crafted. Each character has a backstory, a darkness that surrounds them. They try to get rid of that lingering shadow, yes, but it’s always there. This, paired with the author’s atmospheric writing, turns The Scribe of Salem into an almost modern-gothic novel that is in the same vein as Edgar Allan Poe’s works."

I can't wait until you can read the rest but for now, I hope you see that just because a lot of people are doing a lot of things to help others with PTSD, it is because we all matter!

Troops on food stamps new news to CNN?

CNN just figured out miliatry families are facing food insecurity

A quarter of US service members have been food insecure, new report finds

That was the headline. And then there was this, Washington

CNN

Just over a quarter of US service members have experienced food insecurity in recent years, according to a new report from the RAND Corporation. The report, released this week, said that 25.8% of Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel were food insecure. More than half of that percentage – 15.4% – were active duty troops. "" “We were surprised at the estimate. … I mean that’s a lot of people,” Dr. Beth Asch, a senior economist at RAND and the lead author of the report, told CNN.

You can read the rest of the report here.

In 2008, I did a huge report on this along with everything else we don't want to know is really happening to them as long as some get to satisfy themselves with slogans, like "suppor the troops" or use the neglect as something the leaders of the "other" parties allow to happen. Read Armed Forces Day on Food Stamps.

But nothing changed other than to get worse because it was hitting more and more families.

This is from 2012, but it wasn't just about having to take food stamps to the commerceary, they had to use food pantries.

At Fort Hood, the military's busiest deployment hub to Iraq over the past decade and home to as many as 50,000 soldiers, an on-post food pantry has served nearly 5,000 military families since 2008. Food stamp usage at on-post commissaries has ballooned from about $285,000 in 2001 to $1.4 million last year, according to the Defense Commissary Agency . Those numbers include soldiers, family members, reservists and retirees.

And it kept happening. This is from 2014

More troops and military families redeemed food stamps at military commissaries last year than ever before, according to statistics from the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) — but is it really the dire situation it seems? About five percent more shoppers used food stamps at commissaries in 2013 than used them in 2012. But the increase is actually a sign that use is leveling off instead of quickly increasing as it had been before. Between 2011 and 2012 it went up 13 percent. And back between 2008 and 2009 it went up 70 percent, according to figures from DeCA.

A later study had this stunning piece of information,

Commissary shoppers used $130.6 million in food stamps, officially known as the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), in fiscal 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the Defense Department. About $29 million in WIC benefits were redeemed that same year.Commissary shoppers used $130.6 million in food stamps, officially known as the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), in fiscal 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the Defense Department. About $29 million in WIC benefits were redeemed that same year.

In 2016 they weren't sure how many military families had to use food stamps. I can keep going on this but, you get the idea. Here's just one more to show that none of this is new even though CNN thinks they can act as if it was something they just learned.

Celebrities and veterans are not the only ones with #PTSD

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 10, 2023

This morning my inbox was filled with news that Prince Harry, Hailey Bieber, and veterans are suffering from PTSD. (I had to look up who Hailey Bieber was. How is it that there were at least 50 alerts on her?)

What I didn't see were alerts on what happens to survivors as humans living through something that could cause PTSD. Sometimes I feel as if I am the only one trying to get reporters to pay attention to all of us, since there are more average people of all ages struggling to heal and trying to get some hope they can do it.

Sorry but, that's all I can write on this right now. It's too frustrating to deal with today.

PTSD Demons On Film

Wounded Times

Kathie Costos

January 8, 2023

If you have PTSD, then you know how to spot the demon someone else is struggling to get rid of. We can all see that all-too-familiar sadness in the eyes of someone else. Once our own eyes were opened by those that came before us, we begin to notice how it has been inflicting people since the beginning of time. You may wonder, as I do, why others never understand what is right in front of them.

If you look up famous movies about PTSD, you won't find the one playing in your dreams every night or in the flashbacks that come without warning. Sadly, if you look online for a list of movies with characters struggling with it, you won't find as many as there have been because the list makers do not seem to understand that is part of the script even if not overtly so.

Most of the lists I found were the same and I picked this one from Ranker to give you an idea.

"This list answers the questions, "What are the best post-traumatic stress disorder movies?" and "What is the greatest post-traumatic stress disorder movie of all time?"

1, The Deer Hunter

2, American Sniper

3, Fearless

4, Jacobs Ladder

5, Brothers

6, Perks Of Being A Wallflower

7, Ordinary People

8, Taxi Driver

9, The War At Home

10, First Blood

11, The Edge Of Love

12, Grand Toreno

13, Jackknife

14, Red Dragon

15, The Fisher King

My eyebrows are hurting because I kept waiting to see the ones we know. They aren't there. They do not call it PTSD when they show flashbacks, nightmares, mood swings, or emotional turmoil by characters unable to leave the past in the past. Yet, once you read this list, if you come across a movie you have seen, you'll never think of the movie the same way again when you go back and watch it.

The Best Years Of Our Lives

The Robe

The Messenger

Season Of The Witch

It's A Wonderful Life

Jimmy Stewart brought his demon with him into the role after WWII.

EXCLUSIVE: How Jimmy Stewart's agony in It's a Wonderful Life came from extreme PTSD he suffered after he lost 130 of his men as a fighter pilot in WWII

Actor Jimmy Stewart was haunted by his memories from his time in the Air Force and suffered from PTSD when he returned from World War II

Stewart wrestled with the guilt of killing civilians in bomb raids over France and Germany and felt responsible for the death of his comrades

Stewart never talked about his struggles and bottled up his emotions

But they came out when acting parts he chose when he returned to Hollywood

He tapped into his emotional distress during the filming of It's a Wonderful Life, where his character George Bailey unravels in front of his family

Stewart's anguish is laid bare for the first time in Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the fight for Europe by author Robert Matzen (read more here)

I bet there are even more you may be thinking about right now. Any movie with nightmares of things that have been or flashbacks will have a reason for that being in the script. Use your inner PTSD couch critic and let other people you know see what you see, so they will be able to recognize the demons in the eyes of others. Then maybe we can all decide that there is no reason to hide the battles we fight since they are all watching these movies as entertainment.

If you are involved with church people, then read the Psalms with fresh eyes and you'll find it there too!

Kathie Costos Author of Ministers Of The Mystery The Scribe Of Salem