Sunday • May 19 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XX
Manchester, N.H.
We can do better, and we have to do better. We continue to put people into positions of authority or elect people to public office that are not qualified to perform their jobs. The Peter Principle is a concept in the business world where people are moved up the ranks and promoted to their highest level of incompetence.
We have all worked for people who are the product of this process. We have all had supervisors or colleagues who we questioned how they ever got to their station. The Peter Principle was the vehicle they rode. These misplaced people are cancer to an organization. They fester contempt and morale issues.
We see the Pater Principle rear its ugly head today in government at all levels and in critical areas like law enforcement, including the justice department. This leads to a common excuse for mishandling urgent situations as lacking leadership. Sadly, we only have to look at the recent mass shooting of twenty-one innocent souls.
There is still much to learn about the reaction to the shooter, but the initial consensus is that lives may have been lost unnecessarily that day because of a lack of leadership of the law enforcement teams. We are too good for this to happen.
We see examples of inadequate leadership at every level of government. Mayor Lightfoot of Chicago, Governors Cuomo of New York and Whitmer of Michigan, District Attorney Gascon of Los Angeles, and Washington DC is ripe with people holding high office with little or no qualifications.
We only need to look at the two top officers in our government, and their lack of leadership caused this country in just fifteen months. Joe Biden, in fifty years, and Kamala Harris have never been considered successful Senators in their careers. His party selected Joe Biden because it was believed he was the Anti-Trump.
Kamala Harris was chosen because she is a black woman, and that is what Joe Biden promised he would bring to the ticket. Neither is competent or possesses the leadership qualities needed in our Executive Branch. We look to the country’s state and the results of every decision they have made as proof of its deficiencies.
I mentioned what might have been the last team of true leaders in my Sunday Spotlight. When Reagan, Queen Elizabeth, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II teamed to break the Soviet Union, bring down the Berlin Wall, and hold off the spread of Socialism at the time, we may have witnessed the fruits of influential, qualified leaders. Those leaders may be among us, and we need to bring them forward.
Instead, we have candidates who people or groups choose with the financial might to overcome any competition. For years have seen big money, not high competence, win elections. Special interest people like George Soros may be satisfied but at the country’s expense. We deserve better. We deserve the best of the best to lead our country through increasingly complex challenges. We have incompetent individuals who, rather than lead, embark on their re-election the day they are sworn in.
We allowed this system to gain strength, but we have the strength to change the system. This is not a partisan issue as it has taken roots on both sides of the aisle. Indications are we looking at a correction election this November. As an optimist, I hope that is true. As a pragmatic person, I’ll delay my opinion until the day after Election Day.
This damaged system is hurting voters. Let’s hope to turn that hurt into a quest for people who can lead us back to stability and prosperity. This grand experiment called the United States cannot survive many more cycles of the same.
Ray Writes for GraniteGrok.com and the Liberty Loft
The post We Can No Longer be Satisfied with Failure of Leadership appeared first on Granite Grok.
If I’m not mistaken, standing with Ukraine has the distinction of inspiring the “I stand with the current thing” meme. And that’s more fitting than ever. It’s pride month, and why the hell would that matter? If you stand with Ukraine, you’re an anti-gay bigot.
Same-sex marriage is constitutionally banned in Ukraine.
Feel free to find your “liberal friends” online and share this “news” with them. And please, let us know how that goes.
The post If You “Stand with Ukraine” You’re an Anti-Gay Bigot! (Gay Marriage is Banned by their Constitution) appeared first on Granite Grok.
I am constantly surfing the ‘Net. FAR too much for me to put up and, I must admit, I spend too much time surfing. Yes, it is part of this hobby/obsession that I’d be on top of a LOT of things but it does take time. But it does payoff and I think this time, given we are now seeing the intensification of the political campaigns, it did. From a story at MSN (who was reporting what Fox News had first) (reformatted, emphasis mine): Green Beret PAC and an announcement concerning Don Bolduc.
Former Republican congressional candidate and Green Beret veteran Jason Bacon launched Green Beret PAC Monday, aiming to bolster several U.S. Army Special Forces veterans and other conservative veterans running for Congress in the 2022 midterm elections, aiming to avoid another “travesty” like the Afghanistan withdrawal.
“It is no coincidence that we are launching on Memorial Day, less than a year after we witnessed the Biden administration’s failed leadership contribute to the loss of American lives in Afghanistan. Bacon said in a news release. It is imperative that we elect real leaders to Congress with the knowledge and experience to prevent this kind of travesty.”
“Green Berets have spent years implementing U.S. Foreign Policy on the ground. They are warrior-diplomats, who have learned foreign languages, understand foreign cultures, and have lived among local populations. They have a breadth of experience that surpasses that of a typical Congressional candidate.”
Most of us are aware of the Green Berets. Fewer, however, are aware of what and how they do it. It’s a difficult selection process (as it is for any of the Special Ops folks like Rangers, SEALs, Marine Recon, and Air Force Rescue), and unlike what John Kerry once said…
if you make the most of it… You study hard. You do your homework and you make an effort to be smart… ah… you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.
…(as I had in the title of post that has that, Kerry IS loathsome for having said that for if he really could get over himself, these folks, like most SpecOps folks I’ve met, are really, REALLY knowledge folks that are practical, get the mission job, and take care of the details BECAUSE they have studied everything IN detail ahead of time. I’d take any one of them over Lurch any day. But, once again, I digress. Back to the MSN post:
“We are proud to support these outstanding candidates for Congress,” he concluded.
The PAC is endorsing Christian Castelli in North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District, Pat Harrigan in North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District, Derrick Anderson in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, Jay Collins in Florida’s 15th Congressional District, Tyler Allcorn in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, Joe Kent in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, Don Buldoc in New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate race, Mike Waltz in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, and Eli Crane in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.
Whether or not you ever served in the military, you should take note of that endorsement. Just being a Green Beret is a high achievement for anyone as very few get through the selection and training periods and then are assigned. When the best are, once again, selecting someone to be best for office, I’m paying attention. So should you.
Their mission statement is simple and to the point: Green Beret PAC serves to elect U.S. Army Green Berets and other veterans to Congress in 2022 and beyond
IT’S GOING TO TAKE GREEN BERETS TO TAKE THE HILL
Green Beret PAC is committed to supporting U.S. House and Senate candidates from the Special Forces community and their colleagues from other branches of Special Operations.
IT’S GOING TO TAKE GREEN BERETS TO TAKE THE HILL
Morality. Decency. Integrity.
Their write up of “The General”:
Don Bolduc
Green Beret
General Don Bolduc was born and raised in Laconia. He grew up working on the historic Bolduc farm in Gilford. His father, Armand Bolduc, was a Laconia City Councilor for 34 years and a widely respected statesman.
When Don was 18 years old, he was hired as a Police Officer in the town of Laconia. At the time, he was the youngest police officer in New Hampshire’s history. He graduated from the academy just a few days after his 18th birthday.
General Bolduc enlisted in the United States Army and after achieving the rank of Sergeant, he attended Salem State University and joined the ROTC program. He graduated as Distinguished Military Graduate and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army. This began what would be a heroic 33+ career in the Army Special Forces community.
During his time with the US Army, he commanded many of our nation’s most famous units during the Global War on Terror. He led one of the first groups in Afghanistan, riding in on horseback. He also led the 3rd Special Forces group in Operation Medusa, one of the most significant operations in the Afghanistan war. His unit was credited with the success of the operation, uprooting the Taliban’s tight grip in the Kandahar Province.
Bolduc also commanded the Combined Joint Special Operations component responsible for the Afghanistan Village Stability Operations, bringing training and development to key rural areas.
General Bolduc served on the Joint Staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Aide to the Secretary of the Army, routinely briefing high level government officials including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President of the United States.
His final post of his military career was as Special Forces Africa Commander. He oversaw more than 2000 operations, including the one focused on apprehending Joseph Kony and ending the dictatorial regime of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
By the end of his career, he received two awards for valor, five Bronze Star medals, and two Purple Hearts. He was also one of the few survivors of both a helicopter crash and a 2,000-pound bomb that inadvertently targeted on his position by friendly fire. He has been awarded the Defense Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device and numerous awards from our allies.
After returning home to New Hampshire, General Bolduc has been a tireless advocate to combat the stigma around and treatment of post-traumatic stress (PTS). He was one of the few senior military officers and the only active duty general officer on record at the time to discuss his own struggles with PTS.
General Bolduc lives in Stratham New Hampshire with his wife Sharon of 33 years. He has 3 sons and 3 grandchildren. He also has 2 dogs, Victor and Bara. Victor is a certified medical service dog, trained through the Guardian Angels foundation. Bara is a former US Army Explosives dog, with 3 tours in Afghanistan of her own.
The post Green Beret PAC – We Choose, among Others, One of Us – Don Bolduc appeared first on Granite Grok.
Some in the media are starting to openly admit that repealing or altering the Second Amendment is a necessary first step towards allowing the government to exert more control over who can keep and bear what arms in which venues.
But note that there are currently two Second Amendments.
The First Second Amendment is from the written Constitution, which is at this point merely a historical document, having no legal significance:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The Second Second Amendment is from the oral Constitution, which is the one accepted by pretty much everyone:
That part of the right to keep and bear arms that is implicit in the concept of ordered liberty shall not be infringed unless there is a compelling government interest in doing so.
In simpler language, the Second Second Amendment says that it’s up to the Supreme Court to tell you what you can own, what hoops you have to jump through to buy or sell it, whether you have to register it, how you have to store it, where you can carry it, and so on.
For example, the Court might decide that banning suppressors is an infringement, but taxing them isn’t. It might decide that forbidding you from keeping a loaded gun in your home is an infringement, but forbidding you from taking that gun outside of your home is not. It might decide that prohibiting the possession of three 10-round magazines is an infringement, but prohibiting the possession of two 15-round magazines is not. And so on.
Governments at all levels — federal, state, and local — just have to guess what the Supreme Court is thinking. And the only way to find out is to play an elaborate game of Battleship, by passing laws that might cross one of its imaginary lines, and seeing how the Court responds.
Anyway, now that the need for some kind of alteration is being acknowledged, I’m going to try to get the ball rolling by proposing wording for a Third Second Amendment, which addresses the stated concerns of both sides of the issue. On the left, that’s reducing gun-related crime. On the right, that’s maintaining the core purpose of the original amendment: self-defense, not just from criminals, but from our own government.
So here’s the proposed wording of the Third Second Amendment:
I. Any person of voting age who has not been convicted of a violent felony, or adjudicated by a panel of at least three judges in open court to be dangerous to members of the public, has a right to own any weapons that may suitable for self-defense against criminals or against his own government, and a right to carry them wherever he goes.
II. The exercise of these rights shall not be subject to bans or other limits, licenses or permits, taxes or fees, registration or other tracking requirements, background checks, storage or inspection requirements, or any other infringements, even if there would be a compelling government interest in enacting them, and even if those infringements are currently in force.
So there you go. I think this contains something for everyone! Highlights:
I’m sure there will be disagreements, but as I said, I’m just trying to get the ball rolling here.
The post The Third Second Amendment appeared first on Granite Grok.
I’ll be recording yet another “out of sequence” Skip’s Sauntering Snippets this afternoon. Silly me – thinking I could have some at the ready for when I had writer’s block. I’m finding out the hard way that events are too many and going along too fast. Part of it will be about that those citizens without “arms” are mere serfs that can be lead like sheep – and culled for slaughter just like sheep.
We are being herded in another way than in the Second Amendment domain – energy. When the Biden Administration upped the mileage requirements from the present 26 miles/gallon to 49 MPG in FOUR YEARS, you know we are being ruled (reformatted, emphasis mine):
Biden tightens fuel standards for new cars and trucks: 49 mpg by model-year 2026
The Biden administration announced on Friday new fuel economy standards requiring new vehicles to go farther on less fuel to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions . The “Corporate Average Fuel Economy” standards require manufacturers to achieve an average of 49 miles per gallon economy for passenger cars and light trucks beginning in model-year 2026. They also require average fuel efficiency to increase 8% annually for model-years 2024 and 2025 for the same vehicle types and 10% annually for model-year 2026.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s announcement framed the standards in light of high fuel prices and Biden’s climate change agenda, saying they will “strengthen U.S. energy independence and help reduce reliance on fossil fuels.” It also stressed that the standards would save drivers money, estimating that those purchasing model-year 2026 vehicles will enjoy 33% more miles per gallon relative to 2021 vehicles…”Today is a big step and just one part of an all-of-the-above strategy by the Biden-Harris administration to accelerate our path to clearer energy and electric vehicles,” Buttigieg said.
That last bit is the reason why our gas prices are so high. You’ve seen how the Biden Administration has been canceling new oil field leases and making other regulations more onerous and expensive to do the exploring, the trial drilling, and the actual pumping of crude oil. They’ve also caused a number of refineries to close in further tightening the supply of gas and diesel – deliberately creating the conditions to put the rest of us into misery every time we turned our engines over.
It is impossible for ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) to make that technological leap from 26 MPG today to 49 in just four years. They know all of this – they aren’t giving us, supposedly a free people, the freedom to choose for ourselves to either have ICE or EV (Electric Vehicle). In four years, it will be IMPOSSIBLE for we, in the middle class, to be able to use our “not obsolete” vehicles anymore. These DEMOCRAT Elites have crowed that all we have to do to save thousands of dollars is to buy an EV.
NO, it’s NOT. I’ve already paid off my vehicle well before the loan period. I own it free and clear. Are they going to share in my financial pain for the policies that they have created?
Reminder: how many of you believe that our electrical grid can even handle the huge increase of demand as this happens? That’s another deliberate crisis that’s been in the works – no gas for your car, no electricity for your EV or freezer, and no gas for your generator. It’s also the reason why Biden is depleting our strategic oil reserves that were meant to be used in an EMERGENCY – to get rid of it all.
Biden is simply trying to show Obama “You couldn’t get it done – hold ma beer!” with these moves.
But the Law of Unintended Consequences is ready to POUNCE – not on those that are keeping us from making our own decisions; they will not be affected. WE will, however. And enough of us are starting to let them know, a la Mike Tyson’s “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”, we are starting to punch back and the Biden Admin is starting to realize it. From Instapundit:
- Shot: Biden praises high gas prices as part of ‘incredible transition’ of the US economy away from fossil fuels.
—The New York Post, Monday.
- Chaser: White House Eyes Restarting Idle Refineries.
I’m betting that Democrats, who are facing a tornado in front of them with the coming mid-term elections, are starting to scream at the White House “WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???”. They understand that in America, WE the Citizens get the final say. For a number of years, Democrats will be pasted over this.
Sidenote: Hey Maggie “The Red Hassan” – stop lying about your “efforts” about trying to lower gas prices “against my own Party”. We know you’ve been going along with this for years. You ARE part of the problem – and should be dealt with appropriately this November.
So the Biden Admin is now running scared. The rest of that Instapundit post:
The Biden administration is reaching out to the oil industry to inquire about restarting shuttered refineries, as the White House scrambles to address record-high gasoline prices that are setting off political alarm bells ahead of the midterm elections. Members of the National Economic Council and other officials have inquired within the industry about factors that led some refining operations to be curtailed and if plans are underway to restart capacity, a person familiar with the matter said. The person, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record, added no direct ask to restart operations was made.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
I’m betting that if the mid-terms weren’t so close, the above actions wouldn’t be happen. Biden and the Obama retreads WANT this to happen and are probably upset that We The People get a say on how they can Govern and that we won’t be Ruled.
If Democrats are willing to Rule instead of Govern, to take away our choices in seeking our own Pursuit of Happiness, they need to be wiped out in November.
Not only that, we need to start electing people that will not only CAMPAIGN to made the Federal Government smaller but actually cut the funds to make it happen. Right now, nothing is getting done in Congress – and from my point of view, that’s a GOOD thing – and Congress is acting just like our Founders wanted in that if there isn’t large agreements, stuff shouldn’t get done.
But with such an expansive Federal Government, unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats can do anything they want without any immediate consequences.
And make no mistake, this IS the transformation of America that Obama promised – our freedom of travel, to get to work, to get our food, to heat our homes, to keep our lights on because we’ve decided not to go their version of “Green” are being taken away.
For as much as I rail against Republicans, we need a supermajority of them to put laws into place, by vetoing anything that Biden wants, to stop the bureaucrats from acting as the New Royalty.
The post We, Who the Biden Administration Are Trying to Shift from Being Citizens to Being Ruled, Are Starting to Make Our Ire Known appeared first on Granite Grok.
What if I told you there was a silver bullet to kill Wokeism? You’d say I was crazy, right? There couldn’t possibly be such a thing. It’s far too complicated, nebulous, and ingrained. But, nevertheless, that I what I’m telling you – and I’m telling you that I’ve forged it already.
The idea is simple enough. Wokeism is actually a religion. It is a denomination of Marxist origins and shares this religiosity with Communism. This is a well-founded assertion, I assure you. However, while the idea is simple enough, the actual text of the bill is anything but. For this, I apologize, but I do promise that it is no more complicated than it must be to accomplish the purpose.
What is the purpose?
The purpose is to designate, officially through legislation, Marxism (and Wokeism) to be religion, and therefore violative of first amendment prohibitions on the government on “Establishment of Religion.” You see, not only is Wokeism a religion, but since it’s also now the operating principle of our government it is a State-Church.
That’s a big Constitutional no-no.
By designating it as such the floodgates will open to lawsuits seeking to challenge all aspects of Wokeism – Diversity, Equity, Gender Theory, and so on – and, in theory, see them forcibly expelled from government, schools, and workplaces in total.
World-renowned expert on Marxian Critical Theories, and coauthor of nationwide anti-CRT bills, and Trump’s Executive Order to the same effect, called this Resolution “… epic and accurate.”
I make the following text of the draft resolution available for use to all and ask that you take it to your legislators nationwide and demand a vote. I would ask that, should any attribution be made, it be made to myself, though none is necessary.
I also hope to have the opportunity to introduce it myself here in NH, and I am running for the NH House of Representatives for Carroll County district 4: Wakefield, Brookfield, Freedom, Eaton, and Effingham.
You can find information on my campaign here, www.MikeBelcher4NH.com
You can find the latest draft of this resolution here.
A Resolution to Declare Marxism Religion
Whereas,
“Religion” may be defined as a faith system or worldview with accompanying metaphysical claims about ultimate truths, presuppositions about the fundamental nature of existence, reality, the human experience, human consciousness, and ethical claims as to the nature of good and evil, and
Whereas,
the “Dialectic” may be defined as two apparently contradictory or oppositional notions from which a synthethis theoretically emerges leading to a higher order understanding of the thing moving society towards a more perfected state, and
Whereas,
Marxism may be defined as any of the varied ideologies within the broader genus of Dialectical Hermeticism, including but not limited to Communism (dialectical material determinism), Wokeism (dialectical postmodern structural determinism), neo-Marxism (dialectical social constructivism), Intersectionality (bridging neo-Marxism with Wokeism), Fascism (dialectical [ethno]nationalism), and
Whereas,
Marxism presents fundamental metaphysical claims about the nature of reality and the human experience as being some or all of the following: that of the oppressor-oppressed dialectic, social, critical and/or material constructivism limiting human agency, radical subjectivism and unfalsifiability, collectivism, structural determinism, alchemically inspired “magic spells” of speaking language into being, pathologized hierarchies of tyranny, struggle sessions of purifying the faithful, the “ruthless criticism of all that exists,” and the comparing of reality and the human condition against a utopian ideal, Historicism as a spirit deterministically driving History to a prophesied outcome, an immanent eschaton of a utopian nature known as “Liberation,” or stage six (6) of History (Communism), a deity in the Absolute Spirit of Hegel’s Phenomenology, Marx’s “Social Man,” or generally the deification of man through perfection of the state or society, the “aufheben,” sublation, or negation while upleveling of “contradiction” through dialectical synthesis, ethics attributing wrongs, malice and punishments to those other than individuals who committed wrongs along collectivist lines, and
Whereas,
Modern Marxism actively and forcibly seeks “Equity” in the dismantling or inverting of all theorized dialectical oppressor-oppressed hierarchies, “Diversity” of intersectional group avatars voicing only the “authentic” structurally determined statements of faith and politics, “Inclusion” in society and government of only those persons voicing “authentic” structurally determined ideology and politics in agreement with Marxist theory, “Justice” in achieving the immanentization of the eschaton wherein government spontaneously dissolves as unnecessary in a utopian society, and forcible flattening of all hierarchies through inflicting reparatory injury to theoretical “oppressor” groups (i.e. Kulaks), and
Whereas,
America, as per founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights was founded on metaphysical presuppositions about the fundamental nature reality and the human experience as that of free will, individual natural rights, inherent dignity, and personal liberty, a shared objective reality, free markets, competence-based and natural hierarchies, a doctrine that none shall be made to stand trial or face punishment for the crimes of another, an aversion to manmade utopian pursuits, and a dedication to the non-establishment of any State-Church, therefore
It is resolved that,
Marxism represents a religion, and complete faith system, with doctrine, dogma, spirits, magic, ritual, and an eschatology, that this doctrine is in direct opposition and mutually exclusive to American founding ideology, as per the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, that while citizens personally holding these views may be protected by first amendment freedom of religion rights, this religious doctrine runs totally and disastrously afoul of the establishment of religion clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and represents an established State-Church insofar as the aforementioned religious practices, doctrines, dogma, statements of faith, rituals, and eschatology have been implemented in or by government and is violative of individuals freedoms of religion, conscience, association and speech insofar as this has been mandated by any entity in America
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They know no boundaries or limitations on what they believe they can do to our young ones. We’ve taught our kids to respect, sometimes revere, their teachers – and these sexual militants know it and are taking advantage of it. Once caught, they don’t take the blame for what they’ve done, they explode with anger and fury that WE say “no more”. It’s what I’ve been saying (heck, LOTS of Parents have been) – as always, reformatted and emphasis mine:
IT’S NOT YOUR JOB TO TEACH SEXUALITY IN SCHOOL. STOP IT!!
But they won’t – School Boards are providing them cover (unless they get caught and, sometimes, not even then). They know they spend more time with our kids than we do and they know exactly what they are doing and how to do it:
‘We don’t say a penis belongs to a man’: Kindergarten teacher reportedly says he exposes kids to the terms transgender and gender-queer
The Washington Post reported that a kindergarten teacher in Massachusetts said that he exposes children to the terms transgender and gender-queer, though he does not provide complete definitions since that would be too much for kids in kindergarten. The outlet reported that the educator wished to remain anonymous since his district had not cleared him to talk publicly.
Too much, he says? Sorry, ANY discussion of this at the kindergarten level is WAY too much. How DARE you decide, on your own, to violate the innocence of our children. It’s clear that you don’t care and believe anything is game, but it’s still not your role – that’s OURS. And when we Parents hear about this, you wonder why we are so riled up?
This is OUR domain – not yours. And you wonder why Parents are, more and more, turning to homeschooling and charter schools in which we have more say and control over what they are exposed to because WE know better than YOU??
The teacher discusses anatomy but does not categorize parts as being specifically male or female, according to the Post. “We don’t say a penis belongs to a man,” the teacher remarked — it goes with a human, he noted. The kindergarten educator teaches that if a physician declares a baby to be a boy when he is born, that child is not necessarily a boy. “Someone who was born a boy may not feel they are a boy.”
And that is sexuality evangelizing. Should a Normal teacher be talking about such things in K-3? Certainly not! Heck, I don’t want them doing such detailed anatomy at that level either. Sure – I remember back in 6th grade when all the boys were sent out to play kickball and all the girls were kept inside for….something. But that was for straight biology – not how to use those lady bits.
The Post also reported that biology teacher Sam Long of Denver South High School, who is transgender, said that “LGBTQ identities are a naturally occurring facet of human variation, and that is why we need to learn about them in the context of biology and human anatomy.”
And we wonder why the incidence of the younger generation is turning trans or gay?
Like too many other things, schools have strayed from their lanes that we remember (some of us remembering from a longer distance than others). Being part of that latter group, I’ve now been yanked hard back into the current reality with the Grandson.
Times and change and I’m not liking it at all. These kids will be fully set to play doctor and nurse with any moral boundaries knocked down by these kinds of teachers but they can’t read, do math, or handle a debate logically.
(H/T: The Blaze)
The post Yes, They (Transgender Militants/Evangelists) Are Grooming Our Kids in Kindergarten appeared first on Granite Grok.
Yes, I’m going backwards – that’s what happens, as I’m finding out, that when you record a number of stream-of-consciousness thoughts because you had WAY too much time in the car, sometimes current events overrun your planning. Like it did with the Baby Formula – which is now back in the news as the FDA, under heavy criticism with the real story coming out that THEY are the bad guys in shutting down Abbott’s single factory that makes 48% of all baby formula in the US – and then effectively walking away. Abbott also makes most of the specialty baby formulas for those infants with special needs. So my thoughts (and again, recorded a couple weeks ago)…
…And I get to throw in a post-WWII Berlin Air Lift reference, too! Not even Biden is going to blame the babies, is he? Supply Chain issues? Parents “selfishly” putting their babies ahead of others (er, no)? How about Government – at many levels? Could it actually be?
We found that out when we brought the Grandson home from the hospital. Premie (3 lbs, 15 oz), he’d only take a few milliliters at a time and it was quite a long time before he got to “normal baby” amounts (which normal babies had already started in on solid foods). I still have the charts we kept as the docs / support people didn’t believe us at first. So I know what it’s like, to a degree, for all those parents rushing around trying to find what their loved one needs.
And for all its stupidity and trouble in creating yet ANOTHER Crisis (as Rahm Emmanual cooked up) not to waste, the FDA is now being investigated. Great! Except, however, why did it take this long? From The Blaze:
An Inspector General is going to investigate the Biden administration’s response to the baby formula shortage
An Inspector General from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will investigate the Biden administration’s response to the nationwide shortage of baby formula.
The ongoing formula shortage finds its roots in an Abbott Nutrition facility in Sturgis, Michigan. Last fall, the Food and Drug Administration zeroed in on the Michigan Abbott facility while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula manufactured by the company. The four cases being tracked by the FDA occurred between September 2021 and January 2022. Two of the infants being tracked died, and the others were hospitalized.
The FDA was scheduled to begin a series of inspections of the Sturgis-based facility, but according to Abbott, the investigation was postponed due to an outbreak of COVID-19 among the company’s employees.
…In response to the Biden administration’s delayed reaction to the crisis, having not responded to the shortage until several months after it first became aware of it, HHS is going to investigate whether the FDA appropriately handled a baby formula recall from Abbott that has left shelves empty….
Yeah, it took a couple of months but something like this you can’t hide for long – not when it comes to babies.
Yeah, “I’m from the Government and I’m here to help you” – fine words for those starving babies, eh? And as it turns out, even as they drop anvils on the private sector when things happen, as they did to Abbott EVEN THOUGH they know that the bacterial strains that killed those two babies were NOT found at the factory so there’s no traceability back to Abbott, they seemingly didn’t care that they didn’t even follow their own Rulebook for their own actions:
Axios reported that in a prepared statement the HHS’s Office of the Inspector General said, “We will determine whether the FDA followed the inspections and recall process for infant formula in accordance with Federal requirements.”
…Reportedly, the investigation will specifically look at whether the FDA’s actions preceding the February recall of potentially tainted formula from the Abbott facility in Michigan followed the correct policies and procedures when conducting inspections at the manufacturing facility in question.
And for all their bluster of “restoring America in the world”, now we look like a Third World country having to import, not only oil again, but food. Basic staples. What’s worse is that the Biden Administration is doing it all intentionally (although I’m not discounting simple stupidity wedged in there as well).
So, a Government induced Crisis. There seems to be WAY too many of these in the last few months that have been perpetrated on the American public. Well, mid-term elections are coming up and I have only two things to say:
The post Skip’s Sauntering Snippet #9-Whose Fault Is the Great Baby Formula Shortage (Hint: It Ain’t Putin)? Plus, FDA to Be Investigated! appeared first on Granite Grok.
This idea has been percolating in the back of my mind for a while, and then I read Skip’s post about Sarah Gibson and NHPR. In it, Skip notes that the “journalist” tried to contact people named in the story but not Skip.
He also notes that Sarah (or her editor) could not bring themself to name the blog site she references when describing who he is. That’s common.
From time to time, the media is forced to notice us, but only as some deformed red-headed step-child who escaped the basement prison and popped up unexpectedly at the “party.”
Oh, my, it’s Ruprecht, the Monkey boy!
This institutional discrimination amongst “journalists,” paid scribes, reporters even, is a source of endless amusement. It’s the “we don’t want to name them because it might give them some credibility” schtick, or it might drive traffic to their website.
I can see why they wouldn’t want to do the latter. We consistently get more online traffic than they do—all of them. Every print media site pretending to do journalism in NH gets less online traffic than GraniteGrok.com.
In other words, as far as Google, Moz, or Alexa are concerned, linking to us gives them credibility, but they can’t bring themselves to do it. We are the website that shall not be named.
As I said, I’m amused.
And it’s been mulling about in my brain matter for a while.
How have we managed, with no payroll, to be of more value, to more people, than these franchises of million-dollar media companies?
Credibility, indeed.
The post You Don’t Want to Give Who, Credibility? appeared first on Granite Grok.
First, remember I am merely an “enlightened amateur” as far as anything survival goes. Please vet & check on your own. Consider these to be priming the pump for your own investigations.
Second, the hour is late and I fear bad times are imminent, but even a month of food, water, etc., puts you well ahead of most of the sheeple. IMHO, set your minimum sights on a three-month period.
Third, two things will be critical for having the best chance of making it through:
Fourth, as you read here, note that I present an aggregation of articles that I think are interesting, but I do not have time to vet them. Caveat emptor.
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“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”
– Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787
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Prepper Site URLS:
Most have daily articles. Please recommend others in the comments.
Ask a Prepper, how to prepare, survive and thrive, latest news
Mother Earth News
The Organic Prepper Home – The Organic Prepper
SurvivalBlog.com – The Daily Web Log for Prepared Individuals Living in Uncertain Times.
SHTF Blog – Modern Survival
And two aggregate sites listing their top favorite sites:
TOP 50 SURVIVAL & PREPPER BLOGS
The 50 Best Survival Blogs
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Short of years of preparation and untold wealth, you cannot possibly be fully prepared for everything. But even some preparations, ideally at least 90 days of food, water / water purification, etc., puts you head and shoulders in front of the vast majority of the sheeple who will be in jaw-gaping astonishment when the SHTF. The only relevant questions are:
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As I keep saying over and over, the scary thing for me is not that they’re pushing this. Tyrants will tyrant. The scary thing for me is how many sheeple will eat this up wholesale as a good and necessary thing.
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Top of the fold:
Insanity: California State Senate Passes Bill that Ends Mandatory Reporting of Threats Made by Students (thegatewaypundit.com)
So, basically, they’re letting mentally unstable students slide, and then using the crisis of the school shootings they didn’t prevent to justify more gun control. That’s the only way this makes sense. And it’s becoming a pattern: “Subject was known to the police / FBI”. Just look at the Florida shooting – the FBI was called, and did nothing.
Remember, to a Socialist, individuals don’t matter in the service of advancing The State.
—
9 Scary FEMA Camp Facts You Must Know – Ask a Prepper
There’s a whole lot more than that; but those are some with the most far-reaching potential effect in a time of crisis.
Related:
America, Meet Your New Dictator-In-Chief: The President’s Secret, Unchecked Powers
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Dem lawmaker explodes when faced with push back on gun control: ‘Spare me the bulls*** about constitutional rights’ – TheBlaze
What Democrats actually think about the Constitution.
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If China doesn’t make their move now/soon, I’d be surprised.
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Presented, quick hit style, are some links to specific-topic prepper articles I think are particularly noteworthy. Print them out and start a binder – if the SHTF badly enough you won’t be able to retrieve these off the net or, possibly, even off your computer (I remember one Y2K event I went to – someone was selling survival info on CDs… yeah, useful when the power’s out!):
The Government Plans to Survive the Apocalypse…Without Us – (theorganicprepper.com)
Yes, they do. Never mind Covid / the Jabs / lockdowns, etc., as Surak observes, they really do want you dead. Only in that context does this possibly make sense:
Overdoses Up 700% After Oregon Decriminalizes Hard Street Drugs. Officials Mystified.
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Long-Lasting Great Depression Casserole – Ask a Prepper
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12 Potentially Life-Threatening Errors You’re Making in Food Preparedness and Survival Strategies – Ask a Prepper
Some of these are easy things; some of these are very hard to fix unless you have a LOT of time and a LOT of money.
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Deep State / Coming Tyranny / WEF / Globalists (broad):
A Global ESG System Is Almost Here. We Should Be Worried – Watts Up With That?
Although specifically about masks and Jabs, the implication is broader:
Video: Fauci Openly Admits Biden Mask Mandate Is About Preserving “Authority” – Summit News
COVID Restrictions Are Coming Back – Summit News
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BREAKING, The FBI Maintains a Workspace, Including Computer Portal, Inside the Law Firm of Perkins Coie – The Ramifications are Significant – The Last Refuge (theconservativetreehouse.com)
A partisan law firm with an FBI office integrated in? RTWT. More on this:
If this isn’t a living definition of political corruption and malfeasance, it’ll do until a better one comes along
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TOO FAR: Norway wants to track citizens food purchases (substack.com)
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Shortages (broadly):
Our Economic Misery Isn’t an Accident, It’s the Plan | FrontpageMag
Brings to mind this:
(Link to AZQUOTES per their policy.)
—
Related:
The impending fall f*ckening
In the United States of America, we will experience a food crisis that was purposeful created by our government.
That is utterly Soviet in nature and it happened here to support green energy initiatives.
It’s going to get bad.
Related:
ENGINEERED FAMINE: California diverting water flows into the ocean, depriving rice farmers of necessary irrigation to grow food – DC Clothesline
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Minnesota fire at commercial egg farm likely leaves thousands of chickens dead | Fox News
How… convenient, especially after how many millions of chickens have been killed because of “bird flu”?
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Fuel Rationing May be Coming to Europe
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Hormel CEO Warns “Large Supply Gaps” For Jennie-O Turkey Brand
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Inflation (broadly):
Expect Energy Bills To Reach More New Records, Crippling Highs This Summer
Biden Confirms High Gas Prices Are Part of Plan
Everything happening has been planned.
Stagflation Fears Rising, With 77% of Investors Forecasting Economic Storm
And yet, all I hear on the financial shows is to “wait it out” and so on.
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Hundreds of UK Grocery Items More Than 20% Pricier Over Last Two Years: Study
Not surprised.
—
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When Did Venezuelans Realize They Were Facing Hyperinflation? (theorganicprepper.com)
For far too many, only when it was upon them:
When I told other people what I thought was coming, and why they should prep, the mockery made me quickly avoid the subject, even if someone else brought it up within conversation.
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Midwest Farmers Squeezed by Soaring Fertilizer Prices – Average Farmer Sees Fertilizer Bill Up $175,000 Over Last Year
Cue higher prices and shortages. More:
As if we needed more reminders . . .
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Germany Inflation Rate Jumps to 7.9% in May
I have a 50 million DM from the Weimar era framed. A Zimbabwe note too. And a few other hyperinflationary bills awaiting the disposable income to frame them as well. Assuming I live through it I expect to add a US dollar to the collection. Related:
Poland: Inflation Breaks Records After Soaring to 13.9%, Economists Warn of Further Increases
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(HT DailyTimeWaster)
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High Gas Prices are Caused by Governments, Not Companies – Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish articles
“Incredible Transition” Update: Gas Prices Hit New Record; Analysts Wonder When We Break $5 a Gallon
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The Grid & Energy In General:
Power the Future
Useful map there too. From what I hear, here and there, this will not just be a US problem.
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US Social Stability (broad catch-all):
US Parents Travel to Tijuana to Purchase Baby Formula as Biden Baby Formula Crisis Worsens – Out-of-Stock Rate Hits 70% (VIDEO)
Wait until kids actually die because of this shortage. More:
How Biden Is Directly Responsible For Baby Formula Shortages (thefederalist.com)
—
School Librarian Promotes Prostitution to 11-Year-Olds
I can just see high school career day! Which is why we need:
A Parent’s Bill of Rights – What Every Parent is Entitled To | Forloveofgodandcountry’s Blog
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Poll: Majority of Democrats ‘Strengthened Their Convictions Of Widespread Fraud’ In 2020 Election After Watching 2000 Mules (thegatewaypundit.com)
“HERE WE GO AGAIN!” MI Resident Receives FOUR Unsolicited Voter ID Cards In Mail…One For Voter Who’s Been Dead For 15 Yrs…Another For Man Who NEVER Lived At Address!
Hand Count Of Votes Reveals Machines Were Off By Thousands And Gave Race To A Democrat..
2020 was off the scale stolen. If, in 2022, it’s not an utter route – and who the living F are these 30-something percent people who approve of President Potato – then we know we’re at the final box.
—
Where are all the men? – American Thinker
Society is declining when men no longer protect the weak. And more broadly:
Dystopian Viral Videos Stream Out of Decaying New York City – PJ Media
I’ve seen videos of literal swarms of rats in city parks in Paris. The wheels are slowly fading, and the civilizational campfire is going out.
—
The inevitable result of “Defund The Police” – coming soon to a city near you?
Remember, they WANT chaos and panic and starvation and uncertainty. Related:
Fred Reed calls it
I’ve spoken often enough about the need to prepare for what’s coming. If you haven’t done so yet, you’d better crack the whip, because you don’t have much time left, and the supply chain crunch may mean you’ll find it difficult to acquire all you need in the short term. I won’t be surprised if the meltdown commences before the end of this year.
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World Stability (broad catch-all):
Pay Attention | NC Renegades
What do I keep saying? Every country taking what seems to be the “next perfectly logical step”… until the whole thing lights off. Related:
Related:
Why does Biden keep on poking the Russian bear?
NATO’s Mission Imperative: Break Russia Even If Millions Worldwide Perish | ZeroHedge
—
Cyber agency: Voting software vulnerable in some states | AP News
Say it ain’t so!
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Gardening, animals, etc.:
Sour Crop in Chickens: What is it And How to Treat it (thehappychickencoop.com)
Chickens ain’t easy from what I read.
—
Before You Plant Sunchokes, You Need to Read This Post (commonsensehome.com)
The advantage to sunchokes is that not many will recognize them. Planted in a garden as “floral decoration” you have a food supply without a huge fear they’ll be recognized. As the article (and others) point out, though, it self-propagates, which can be good and useful unless it becomes an invasive nuisance.
—
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/gardening.mp4
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Comment: I save my eggshells and when I get a full bag in the freezer, carefully boil them after smashing them up (warning: they can stick and burn on the bottom), then drying them and into a zip bag they go. When I mix dirt for planting I mix in some of the crushed egg shells. Also, particularly for potatoes, which I’ve hit on in the last couple of posts, I have started saving the potassium rich banana peels to blend into the soil as well (note that this could attract pests so I’m only doing it for buckets the pests can’t get to).
Speaking of potatoes, I’ve planted two 5 gallon buckets and will do two more this weekend. A little later than I wanted, but… we do what we can. If it works and, Hashem willing, we’re still here next year I plant to do more buckets than the ones I have.
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Tech security:
‘Privacy’ Search Engine DuckDuckGo Smoked Over Hidden Tracking Agreement With Microsoft
There’s a LOT of money in data. Related:
Online privacy generally isn’t
OK, I’ll look at Brave. I know Surak uses it.
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Tim Hortons app tracked movement in violation privacy laws -Canadian regulator | Reuters
If it weren’t for maps (only then do I turn location on; imperfect, I know), the wife who insists it be an ankle monitor, Duolingo (over 850 day streak!), and a couple of communications apps, I’d go back to a dumb phone. And the occasional on-the-road 911 call.
—
Watch what you feel: China now using “emotion recognition” technology to arrest people – DC Clothesline
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Self-defense:
Why do you need to carry with spare magazines and lots of ammo in them.
Because predators attack in packs.
Related:
Why “no compromise” on guns isn’t a bad thing – Bearing Arms
Rights aren’t decided by polls – Bearing Arms
—
West Virginia: Legally-Armed Woman Saves Lives By Shooting Would-be Mass Shooter
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Chinese KNIFE CONTROL – and the Left in America Joneses at the idea. Note that I have a video that, for some reason, is not uploading and displaying correctly. But per this video, there’s knife control too.
Related:
WATCH: Justin Trudeau As He Announces Canada’s Proposed Legislation to Ban Handguns
So You Want To Repeal The Second Amendment | The Zelman Partisans
Not sure if the video will load… so here’s the link, and a pull quote:
Biden just spoke about the need to disarm the population
Tucker: What are we looking at here? Well, today a guy on Twitter called Spike Cohen summed it up pretty nicely. Here’s what he wrote, “The U.S. government has been arming Ukraine because their allies. The U.S. government has been seeking to disarm Russia because they’re opponents. In totally unrelated news, the U.S. government seeks to disarm you.”
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There’s No Bipartisan Gun ‘Deal’ In The Works, Just GOP Capitulation (thefederalist.com)
More interested in their paychecks and their invites to the “beautiful people” cocktail parties than upholding their oaths to protect the Constitution.
—
Uvalde — the new face of policing – American Thinker
How… HOW… does a police officer not rush in to protect kids? I’d dive in front of a flamethrower if it meant protecting my kids. (The other day my youngest was at a neighbor’s house on a cross-street, as was our immediate-neighbor’s youngest. I walked them both home at dusk – dinner time! And made sure their kid was acknowledged as being home by a parent before I went into mine. More effort for me? Yes. Worth it? Yes.)
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Catch-all miscellaneous:
Online Edible Plants – Soil Improvers (greenharvest.com.au)
OZ, but still useful to peruse. What’s the best part about planting edibles that most people don’t recognize? That they won’t recognize them.
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Co-op becomes first UK retailer to reject gene-edited food – FarmingUK News
It will eat the Frankenfood and will take the Jab regularly. It will give up consumerism and prosperity. It and its children will eat bugs. And it will be happy.
—
Moonbat Wants to Marry Toy Airplane
On the plus side, hopefully, that’s the end to their genetic line that permits this level of stupidity.
—
BBC censored alleged rape victim’s testimony to avoid “misgendering” the perpetrator (reclaimthenet.org)
Control the information flow, control what people believe.
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Wrap-up commentary if I am moved to do so:
Had a conversation over Memorial Day with a parent just hap-hap-happy and eager to Jab their kid once they turn five. Mentioned quite a number of statistics, casually. No curiosity. Not. One. Shred. Recall my essay A Curious Incuriosity.
Triage people at this point. Yes, some might wake up, but most will die happy in their ignorance.
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For fun:
Leave out the lobster, IMHO, maybe even pull the shrimp in favor of more clams and mussels, but MAN there are times I regret trying to keep kosher:
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LET’S GO BRANDON!
The post Survival Sunday appeared first on Granite Grok.
Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) took to the House floor this week and delivered one of the most powerful rebukes Americans have heard when it comes to the illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral efforts on the part of Democrats to remove individuals’ ability to defend themselves.
The speech, perhaps her best ever, raises every critical hypocrisy about this fake effort to keep America safe. In reality, the gun grab is just a totalitarian ploy to make sure the population is docile and defenseless.
Watch as Boebert perfectly captures the words, tone, mood, and energy in these critical times:
Holy Sh*t pic.twitter.com/4T6KMVkGlH
— AG (@Yolo304741) June 2, 2022
“I want to begin this evening by thanking my Democrat colleagues for their outstanding work in encouraging millions of Americans to celebrate their second-amendment rights by purchasing their first, second, or even one-hundredth firearm.
When the left’s riots in cities across America to Biden’s threat to strip away our basic constitutional rights. Democrats are single handedly responsible for the sale of tens of millions of firearms. Bravo. Well done.
And, I hear that the interest has begun to peak when it comes to the sale of [AR-15s]. Now, I have some questions for these freedom haters. When are you going to call on the Chief Executive, the basement dweller, to hold his own son accountable for his gun crimes?
Hunter Biden lied on a federal firearms application, which is punishable by up to ten years and a $250,000 fine, of which ten percent will not be going to the Big Guy.
Rules for thee, but not for my crackhead, parmesan- smoking, gun criminal son.
What about the disposal of Hunter Biden’s gun in a back alley dumpster and why was the secret service involved in locating this firearm?
Can you just imagine for half a second if Donald Trump, Jr. was involved in firearms crimes and his dad ordered the secret service to cover it up? That’s just the start of the hyporisy.
Biden will call widely-purchased firearms weapons of war, but then he’ll tell you you need an F15 or nuke to keep the federal government in check.
He will target so-called merchants of death, but celebrate the 600 abotion clinics across America.
This regime will encourage riots, defund the police, and try to take away Americans’ right to self-defense.”
It’s jaw-dropping stuff. In the span of two minutes, Boebert was able to capture what tens of millions of Americans think and feel right now. We hear Democrats push for limitless abortion and then pretend to care that kids were gunned down? Each is a tragedy, but the scales are not even comparable; nineteen kids to 60 million?
And we’re supposed to take them seriously?
Then of course there is the Hunter Biden angle, which is so obviously corrupt that it cements the idea we live in a two-tiered society. There are the self-styled elites and the rest of us. Nothing better points this out than the comparison to Donald Trump, Jr. They entirely lied about Russian collusion for four years and look how big of a story THAT was. It is safe to say the same scenario, applied to Trump rather than Biden, would result in utter insanity.
The New York Post notes that Boebert has a long history of advocating for gun rights and calling out the political hacks who argue against it.
“Boebert has made a name for herself as a proponent of gun rights.
The congresswoman…called Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke a “jerk” for interrupting a press conference by Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials Wednesday to demand action on gun control.
“Beto acted like a total jerk and tried to use the deaths of these children as a prop to advance his political candidacy,” she said.
The Republican — who before wining her office founded a firearm-themed restaurant in Rifle, Colorado — has vowed to show up to work armed and tussled with Capitol Police early last year after setting off a metal detector set up in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.”
Haley Sanibel Write at The Blue State Conservative
The post Lauren Boebert TORCHES Dems Over Gun Control, Delivers Best Speech Of Entire Career appeared first on Granite Grok.
After Parkland, New Hampshire created a School Safety Taskforce. Its job was to meet, discuss, and make recommendations on improving safety or reducing the chance of an active shooter event. They came up with 59 suggestions but left out the one they needed.
The problem informs the solution. You can’t account for every nutjob. No matter how many programs the “government” or community funds or creates, you will miss something. Parkland – the inspiration for this task force – was a perfect example. That shooter was on the radar for years. Almost everyone who needed to know about the risk knew his name, talked to him, and he still managed to get firearms and shoot up the school because of the government.
In the aftermath, the Parkland Commission came up with many ideas, but one of them was to arm teachers and staff.
Not in New Hampshire.To be fair, some of the suggestions from the NH task force are reasonable, but many of them are left-wing Edu-industrial-complex crap. And even more of them are budget-busting excess. All of which brings me to the solution informed by the problem.
The problem is that schools are soft-targets and everyone, including the so-called mental-health problem child, knows it. Schools with locked doors you can only open from inside or with a key or ID are also not without flaws, and Uvalde is proof of that. So, the solution is to make them hard targets.
Nowhere among the fifty-nine recommendations could I find the words arm and train staff.
Add or increase armed security and then tell everyone about it.
Everyone.
You don’t need armies of counselors or social-emotional learning. Yes, you need emergency response plans with contingencies for different sorts of emergencies. That makes sense, especially in today’s climate with institutions like public schools brain-raping grade-schoolers with their political and gender BS.
The progressive culture has destroyed families, pilloried fathers, and left kids in listless and unstable situations at home.
And little if anything about modern public education seems to help kids find a focus in academics. Some direction.
Girls used to be able to find an outlet in sports (thanks to Title IX) but now boys can be girls leaving biological girls in an increasingly awkward and perilously uncomfortable situation from which there is no escape.
Boys’ sports are equally upturned as heterosexuals are expected to feel comfortable in a shower with guys who are gay. It’s not bigoted for that to feel strange any more than it would be for the vaginas to be concerned about the penis in the girl’s shower or vice versa. Human nature is not a sin, while refusing to admit it exists might be.
So, we’ve got schools’ wrecking kids’ heads, creating a monster from whom they will then protect us with a list of things, none of which includes making the school the worst possible place to be an active shooter.
One recommendation did suggest having local police on-site more often. There to do paperwork and chat with kids at lunch. And that’s not a bad idea, but wouldn’t it be better if they checked in with whoever was in charge of ongoing training and development of armed concealed-carry staff? Make sure the paperwork is up to date. Range practice days and safety and proficiency courses completed.
Most cops would benefit from that themselves, so maybe you also get officers who are better prepared as well. You know, the sort that charges toward the sound of gunfire, intent on ending the incident as quickly as possible. The opposite of that happened at Parkland and Uvalde.
And who among us thinks that an unarmed teacher who would put their body between a shooter and students is a better deterrent than one that is armed and trained to dispatch the threat before they even get near her students. You’d have to be an idiot to think that the former is better than the latter.
So, no lessons learned and fifty-nine recommendations that, with few exceptions, look a lot like what continues to fail.
Thanks for nothing. Sorry, that is not true. These suggestions will cost taxpayers a lot for next to nothing, so that’s something.
One final note: The task force claims that with only 90-days to come up with recommendations, several (like arming staff?) were determined to be too contentious due to differences in opinion among those chosen to craft the suggestions. Not enough time to debate them, or maybe no point? Governor Sununu created this committee. It seems to me that would then be his fault, given that he’s supposed to be a pro-gun governor.
The post NH’s School Safety Task Force Came Up With 59 Recommendations Just Not the One That Works appeared first on Granite Grok.
Each Sunday, I take a step away from daily politics and focus on someone who has done extraordinary things or who we may need to know a little better. This week’s focus is on Queen Elizabeth.
I need to take a moment to be transparent. I have not been a fan of the royalty arrangement. I think the royal family is the most significant welfare situation in England. They are compensated dearly, for life, with no actual power or authority in the governmental doings of the state. But, the more I have read and seen about the Queen, the more I am enamored with who and what she is. The Queen has changed my mind.
The Queen is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this week. England shows this woman how much she has meant to the Empire for the last 70 years. They are doing it with the pomp and circumstance we expect from London and England. Elizabeth has been on the throne since 1952. Dwight Eisenhower was elected to his first term that same year. She has reigned through twelve United States Presidencies. She has been a constant through seven decades of change. That quality is her value to her country. That is why she puts God and her country ahead of her family. The Queen has been the rock that her people can look to regardless of the situation and know that there is the other side of the matter. That puts infinite value on her and her station.
A specific timeframe and global event may have defined Queen Elizabeth value to the world. In the eighties, Ronald Reagan was facing down the Evil Empire, Russia. A group of powerful leaders brought down the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall without firing a shot. It was a perfect alignment of the stars that Reagan had Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, Pope John Paul II, and the Queen in his corner.
The last few years have not been good for Her Majesty. She lost her husband, and Harry and Andrew have done their best to tarnish the family. She has quietly managed the defiant members of her family and mourned her loss with the visible strength that she is known. The reality of her fragility and mortality is her inability to participate in the Jubilee celebration. Her people and the world know that she would be present if her body would allow it. It has not.
Unfortunately, I believe that Elizabeth is more important to the world than the concept of the Royal Family. The heir to the throne, Charles has assumed some of the roles previously held by his mother, The Queen. It is a pragmatic sign of the transition that the world wishes would not arrive. At 94, the Queen certainly has more yesterdays than tomorrows, and she should be celebrated while she is with us.
Charles will not hold the same place in his people’s heart. The two most popular people in England are Dianna and the Queen. Though England may accept Camilla, she is not Dianna and will always be in her shadow. There are difficult times ahead for the Empire as Scotland and Ireland are hinting at claiming their independence. These will not be comfortable negotiations for a newly crowned King. Charles will have a significant hill to climb to create his image as he follows an icon of the last seventy-plus years.
That hill is symbolic of the bar set by this woman who has been England for her entire life. Her family lives a good life because of the Royal label, but the Queen has given her life for that label. That is something there is not enough gratitude for but certainly is deserving of our respect and admiration.
Ray Writes for GraniteGrok.com and the Liberty Loft
The post Sunday Spotlight: God Save the Queen appeared first on Granite Grok.
Remarks on Ronald Coase (The Problem of Social Cost) application (emphasis mine):
The missed step that caused what I believe to be a calamitous misstep was identified more than 60 years ago by an economist who was, in 1991, awarded a Nobel Prize largely for his pioneering analysis of externalities: the late Ronald Coase. Coase was no obscure scholar, and his most famous paper on this topic is no obscure publication: “The Problem of Social Cost,” first published in 1960 in the Journal of Law & Economics, is one of the most cited economics papers ever published.
And yet in the hysteria over COVID, Coase was ignored.
What did Coase say that’s so important yet that was missed? To put Coase in popular parlance, what most policymakers, pundits, and economists missed is the fact that it takes two to tango; that is, it takes two, or at least two, to externality. More dryly, all externalities are “bilateral.”
As in the folks over at TreeHugger who keep saying that my CO2 emissions, an “externality”, harms them because it adds to “global warming / climate chaos” or something. Yet, when I have confronted them to specifically enumerate and assign a $$ value to MY created emission and not just some aggregated average by some study, the go silent (or deflect). They CAN’T provide how much “harm” I have caused them, especially those living in other places in my State, or they live in other States, or even other Countries.
I guess I had internalized Coarse’s thoughts without knowing them:
Smith cannot harm Jones unless Jones is in a position to be harmed by Smith. The neighborhood residents who are harmed by soot emitted from a nearby factory smokestack would not be so harmed if they lived further away. People who live near an airport would not suffer the disturbance of airplane noise if they lived elsewhere….
-Prof Don Boudreaux (Remarks delivered at the AIER COVID Policy Conference)
I recently found this out when my lawsuit against the Gilford School Board was dismissed for lack of standing; at the time of the suit, the judge decided that neither I nor the Grandson had been harmed YET by the GSB’s Policy JBAB that chill our Free Speech nor had I caught the Gilford School District at that point lying to me about the transgender status of my legal son (the Grandson).
Boudreaux expands on this (again, emphasis mine):
As stated, this reality sounds trivial. And indeed it is trivial. Yet it’s a reality with three key implications that are frequently overlooked in discussions of externalities.
The first key implication is that, because the harm wouldn’t occur if one or the other of the parties had chosen at some point to act differently, each of the two parties to the harm can be said, in a purely physical sense, to “cause” the harm, which implies that neither of the parties alone “causes” the harm.
Second, it follows that the harm can be reduced or eliminated by actions taken by one or the other (or by both) of the parties. Just because the factory’s smokestack emits soot that falls on nearby homes doesn’t necessarily mean that responsibility for mitigating the harm should fall on the factory owner. Maybe it should, but maybe it shouldn’t. The conclusion that the factory should be held responsible doesn’t follow as a matter of logic from the situation. An alternative means of avoiding the harm is for the residents to take steps to protect themselves from the factory’s soot, which brings us to the third implication:
Whether and the extent to which one or both of the parties to the externality should be responsible for reducing the harm depends upon the relative costs of doing so. In Coasean language, legal liability, and, I submit, also ethical responsibility for reducing the harm of any externality should be on the parties who can mitigate the harm at lowest cost
The reason the example of a factory’s emitting soot onto nearby households seems so easy is that our instincts scream, probably correctly, that the lowest-cost avoider of this harm is the factory. From the limited details of this hypothetical, it’s almost certainly the case that putting a scrubber on the smokestack, or switching to a cleaner source of power, is less costly than having each of the homeowners suffer the soot or attempt individually in their own ways to protect themselves from the soot.
But suppose the factory had been in its current location for decades, surrounded by no one for miles, with its soot falling harmlessly to the ground, affecting no third party. Now along comes Jones who wants to build a home on land close to the factory.
You overhear Jones’s wife point out the existence of the factory and its soot emissions, and then ask her husband, “Why not build our new home just a few miles away, in a location nearly as convenient as this one, but that is clear of the soot? Choosing that other location is easy and will cost us no additional funds.”
Then Jones responds: “Nah. We’re going to build here and then sue to have the factory stop emitting soot.”
The assessment of the case is now not so simple. It’s now at least plausible to identify as the party who legally causes the harm, not the factory owner, but the homeowner, Jones. If Jones can build a home just as nice and in a location nearly as lovely and as convenient as is the location near the factory, isn’t it at least plausible that the low-cost avoider of this harm are the Joneses? And would it then be economically or ethically appropriate to compel the factory to eliminate the externality at a cost higher than Jones would have incurred by building in a different location?
I think not.
Examples such as this one reveal that our moral sense of who “causes” an externality depends on our economic sense of which of the two parties to an externality is the lower-cost avoider. And so the lowest-cost avoider of a dangerous respiratory virus is not necessarily each of us as breathing human beings going about ordinary affairs of life.
Perhaps, instead, the lowest-cost avoiders are the vulnerable.
In fact, I think that there’s no “perhaps” about it. Because COVID overwhelmingly reserves its dangers for the very old and the seriously ill, it’s relatively easy to identify the vulnerable and to focus protection on them, while letting the rest of humanity go about life unmolested.
(H/T: Cafe Hayek)
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In some states, you still have to wait several days to pick up a firearm after you’ve bought it from a dealer. The idea is that you might need a ‘cooling-off period’, if you were considering using the firearm in some illegal way — to commit a robbery, to confront an ex-spouse, and so on.
Basically, if you were thinking about doing something stupid, you get a little time to reconsider. Ten days, say. Time to let reason catch up with emotion.
These waiting periods are pretty pointless when buying guns. Most people who buy a gun already have at least one. And according to ATF, the average purchase-to-crime interval is around nine years.
The waiting periods are also dangerous to people who need the guns immediately for self-defense — to protect themselves from stalkers or domestic abusers, for example.
But waiting periods would be appropriate when considering new laws or regulations.
That is, whenever some legislature is thinking of enacting some legislation (or some regulatory agency is thinking of issuing some regulation) in response to that we have to do something feeling that so often follows a tragic event, it should have to go through a cooling-off period first.
Basically, if it’s thinking about doing something stupid — whether unconstitutional, or unlikely to have the intended effect, or untethered from reality — it should get a little time to reconsider. Six months, say. (Or until after the next election.) Time to let reason catch up with emotion.
For example, New York is about to enact a law increasing, from 18 to 21, the age at which someone can buy an AR-15 rifle. But just a couple of weeks ago, the same kind of law in California was ruled unconstitutional by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
By the time New York’s law is also declared unconstitutional, in addition to whatever lives it’s ruined, it will end up having wasted a lot of time and energy that could have been spent looking at what might be done to identify and help protect us from dangerous people, instead of obsessing over scary guns. That is, the state is taking what could be an opportunity, and replacing it with an opportunity cost.
Short-circuiting the rush to just do something is one of the main reasons to have a constitution — to take certain kinds of ‘solutions’ off the table before they can even be considered. In that sense, a constitution embodies the ultimate cooling-off period.
That is, if you’d like to infringe the right to keep and bear arms, or abridge freedom of speech, or further encroach on the right to refuse searches, you first need to get 2/3 of both houses of Congress, and 3/4 of the state legislatures on board with a constitutional amendment to let you do that. That takes time — the kind of time that serious measures deserve, but do not get, when politicians and bureaucrats leap before they look.
You know how when feel yourself getting angry, you can tell yourself to count to ten before saying or doing anything? This is sort of like that. But first, you count to 290 (representatives), then you count to 67 (senators), and then you count to 38 (states). And then, if you still want to pass that law, or issue that regulation, you can.
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Rising gas prices are good, as is low weekly job creation. The President thinks that both indicators are favorable signs that his economic policies are working to recover the economy. He is either delirious, ignorant of Economics 101, or was a classmate of AOC. By his sinking approval numbers, not many are buying what Biden is dishing out. The only state in the country where Biden is above water is Hawaii. Not even California, New York, or his home state of Delaware are in his corner.
The President still claims that he is a unifier while at the same time calling Republicans unconscionably or the MAGA Crowd. Those are not terms of endearment or labels that will draw us together. Joe Biden is making Donald Trump look like a rank amateur at dividing this country. If you dig deeper into his approval numbers, with 75% of Americans thinking the country is headed in the wrong direction, maybe he is unifying us against him.
Biden claims that he is doing all he can to bring relief to American families every day. He does this as we wake daily to a new record high gas prices, historic inflation numbers, and empty shelves that used to store infant formula. He has put a massive dent in our fossil fuel industry but will go to the Middle East next week to beg the Saudis to increase their drilling and production and is also talking to Venezuela to do the same. We were exporting oil and gas just fifteen months ago, and now we are begging adversaries to sell their oil to us. Nobody believes his message because they do believe the checking accounts and 401K.
Biden’s focus this week has been gun control and how he can ban “assault” weapons, though he cannot define them. He also seems to be going after anything with a magazine. Biden wants to tear apart the Second Amendment, and his minions like Rep Jones (D-NY) are seizing on the opportunity. In one sentence, he declared that the Filibuster is fair game and packing the court is an option. This tirade by Democrats is not about gun reform but about using a horrific incident as a reason to transform America. Biden is cheering them on.
With three out of four Americans saying they are not pleased with the country’s direction and Biden is at the wheel. So if he claims to be the President of all Americans, when will he correct course. The Biden message and Presidency are failing so badly that even the mainstream media can no longer carry his baggage. They have to preserve what little credibility they have by telling the truth. This spells even a more dire situation for Democrats in November.
So is it bad messaging, policies, and facts inconsistent between the President and his clean-up staff, or is it his new Press Secretary who reads every answer and has the nervous Kamala giggle? It is a train wreck, so the President left for Delaware today for a long weekend. That is one thing that Biden is doing better than any of his predecessors. He is number one in projected days off. Maybe that is the best place for him as people like Mayor Pete and Kamala Harris are MIA. Joe says people are urging him to do something. He has no clue what to do.
Ray Writes for GraniteGrok.com and the Liberty Loft
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You may recall that the reason given by Sun-King Sununu (a/k/a Governor Groomer) for his veto of a bill prohibiting school mask-mandates was “local control”:
In vetoing House Bill 1131, Sununu cited respect for local control.
“Just because we may not like a local decision, does not mean we should remove their authority,” he wrote in his veto message. “One of the state’s foremost responsibilities is to know the limits of its power.” He continued: “Big government is never the solution, and neither is a one-size-fits-all approach. The state must remain steadfast in protecting local control as decisions like this are best left to authorities closest to parents and families, where they can work with their neighbors to decide what is right for their children.”
Yet when it comes to so-called “workforce housing” (a lovely euphemism for apartment projects), a “local decision” that “we may not like” is not “local control” it is “local overregulation”:
To be fair and to be clear, the JB Center opposed local governmental mask-mandates (albeit … because the JB Center supports corporatism, not the free market … also opposing any governmental prohibition of business imposing masking and/or vaccine-mandates on their employees and customers). That is, it is Sun-King Sununu who is being the hypocrite.
More specifically, when it comes to whether to don a mask … which is a quintessentially personal decision … the Sun-King treats “local control” as sacrosanct. But when it comes to whether some slum-lord developer can destroy the character of a neighborhood by building scores of seedy apartment buildings … which affects the entire community, not just one individual … then we don’t hear a peep from the Sun-King about local control.
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Both Representative Chris Pappas (NH Congressional District 01) and Representative Annie Kuster (NH Congressional District 02) are up for re-election this year. Both have also signed onto similar gun ban legislation as Senator Maggie Hassan, that bans common semi-automatic rifles, pistols, shotguns AND limits the number of rounds you can have in a magazine to ten.
Their legislation also creates the new term ‘semiautomatic assault weapon.’ Of course, there is no such thing, but that doesn’t stop gun controllers from making things up to convince dumbed- down Americans that common semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns are ‘scary.’
Also, their ban only applies to common proletariats like you, it doesn’t apply to anyone in law enforcement or who is retired from law enforcement, including law enforcement on college campuses. Those people can still protect THEIR families how they see fit.
And of course, the government can still own and purchase all of the firearms Pappas and Kuster seek to ban from their constituents.
Both Pappas and Kuster are also for Red Flag Laws that allow governments to confiscate firearms without due process. Red Flag laws allow people to make accusations against an individual (without the individual knowing) that claim the individual might commit a crime in the future. They are the ‘Thought Police’ laws of Minority Report come to life.
Neither Pappas nor Kuster ever ran on banning firearms in their previous elections. They haven’t talked much about it now, but Granite Staters deserve to know the truth.
New Hampshire is consistently one of the safest states in the country, with a very large 2nd Amendment Community. Neither Pappas nor Kuster represent their districts.
The post Pappas and Kuster Want to BAN Common Semi-Automatic Rifles, Pistols, and LIMIT Rounds in Magazines appeared first on Granite Grok.
I just can’t get it out of my head, the sound of President* Biden saying
A 22 caliber bullet will lodge in a lung, and we can probably get it out, may be able to get it, and save a life. A 9mm bullet blows the lung out of the body.
And the reason I can’t get it out of my head is that this guy is the Commander in Chief of the United States Military.
Think about that for a moment. Our military forces are under the control of a guy who thinks that a ‘high caliber’ 9mm bullet fired from a handgun can ‘blow the lung out of the body’.
Seriously? It’s like having the Amish in charge of the DMV.
Anyway, it made me wonder: What percentage of major gun control legislation has been signed into law by presidents who never served in the military, who probably knew less than nothing¹ about weapons in general, and firearms in particular, and who were therefore particularly susceptible to the kind of dreamy misinformation that is routinely spouted during policy debates involving guns?
It turns out that the answer is 100 percent: The National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Federal Firearms Act of 1938 were signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt; the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and the Gun Control Act of 1968 were signed into law by Richard Nixon; the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 were signed into law by Bill Clinton.
It would be interesting to do a similar analysis on what percentage of military operations have been launched by presidents who never served in the military.
While I’ve long understand the importance of having a civilian in charge of the military, I’m only now starting to appreciate the value of that civilian having some kind of military experience. Even if we can’t require it, perhaps we should start demanding it.
Along the same lines, we should probably stop asking political candidates to debate each other, which just encourages them to propose ‘solutions’ that they don’t understand, to ‘problems’ that may not even be problems.
We would do better, I think, to ask them basic questions like: How does a semi-automatic firearm work? What causes inflation? How can you tell if a scientific study is valid? What is the difference between a man and a woman? Of the enumerated powers in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, which authorizes the creation of Social Security? And so on.
As they say, ignorance is bliss. But it’s a terrible basis for formulating public policy.
¹ As Mark Twain said: ‘What gets us into trouble isn’t what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.’
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Yep, after what seems to be a “forever hiatus”, Jan Schmidt is back. However, it’s only one role as she lost her race to continue being a Nashua Alderman. However, she continues to say inane stuff that keeps attracting attention. At an NH Journal post that announced that NH State Rep (and “Progressive Leader”) Manny Espitia was not going to seek re-election, the entire “the Left eats the Left because of skin color/ethnicity” shows up – and rightfully so. If the Democrats want to “live” by the Democrat Identity Group Politics Totem Pole, you get to die with it as well.
I have to admit, I snickered more than a few times. It is what the Collective does as it can only think in terms of groups instead of what we on the Right see – Individuals. We look at what they say, what they believe, and what they do. NOT what group they belong to and if they match up to their “Group’s” Narrative. It’s great fun as they throw shade at each other that normally they throw at Conservatives like me. Hahahahahaha!
But back to Jan Schmidt (emphasis mine):
State Rep. Jan Schmidt (D-Nashua) blamed the $100 a year salary paid to New Hampshire lawmakers.
“If we could actually pay legislators a decent wage we could keep amazing people like you, Manny,” Schmidt wrote on Facebook.
Now, this has NOTHING about the Democrat Totem Pole. However, it highlights the difference between Conservatives and Progressives on this matter.
We love the idea of the Citizen-Legislator, the Citizen-Politician. Volunteering is a public good that we cherish – and they do not. I’ve blogged about this issue before in one of my Tales from the BudComm series when the Supervisor the Checklist, a volunteer position, came to the BudComm demanding that she and her crew get paid for their time spent serving the Town. And all of us spent WAY more time than they did for free. She got hammered by us all.
People who run for election at the NH House know it well – it’s $100/yr + per diem/mileage. You KNOW that going in – and you have to either have to:
The idea of a professional politician was anathema to our Founding Fathers. The idea was that the typical citizen (a farmer) would be elected, go to the Legislature, serves his time, and then goes back to the fields, pick up his tools, and continues on. I look around at other States and see a lot of these folks mooching off the taxpayers yet putting in laws that go counter to a lot of their constituents. Yes, I know – popular vote and all, but I look at how hyper-partisan so many States have become such that they become effectively One Party Rule. See California, for example.
Being a volunteer ensures, that for the most part, there is turnover among those that serve. Fresh faces and hopefully fresh ideas should be valued as long as they further roll back the idea that Government should be in charge and that they are there to protect our liberties.
With that said, I’m glad that Legislators-dependent-on-Government-largesse isn’t a “thing” here in NH. Once it does, however, it becomes yet another nail in the ethos of “Live Free or Die” due to complacency.
No, Jan, you SHOULDN’T be allowed a Legislator paycheck > $100/year. EVAH!
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