When Doug and I started GraniteGrok, things were fine and dandy as we were blogging about State and National level issues (for the most part). Then we discovered that wasn’t holding water any more as we found, under the rubric of “What’s happening in our town is happening in yours”, we took a look backwards and saw that we were doing more Gilford politics than not. Figuring that folks might not like that emphasis, we started our first “MicroGrok” (even as we didn’t think of it in that fashion) in starting GilfordGrok. We now announce that it is growing up: LakesRegionGrok.

It worked for several years and was quite popular as we reported what we saw (and what a lot of the good ole boys wished we hadn’t). However, over time, Doug had left and I finished my 3rd (and last term) on the Budget Committee and it fell into disuse – and I deleted it (wished I hadn’t, in retrospect). Then “stuff” started back up and I recreated it.

But folks from other town surrounding our hamlet asked if they could put things up; politics and culture started to heat up.  Gunstock Mountain Resort, Gunstock Area Commission, Gilford Schools (Superintendent Kirk Beitler, Critical Race Theory, Policy JBAB), Laconia Schools (yes, Superintendent Steve Tucker, along with the same issues, add a sense of entitlement and a bad sense that he could met out retribution to employees that oppose him)…..things were expanding beyond Gilford.

So GilfordGrok, as of last week, is now LakesRegionGrok – all of that content has been moved over.  Now, we can service an expanded area, hopefully expanding coverages by interested folks, and if so moved, some new writers. If you live in the greater Lakes Region (or an interest in it) and are unhappy with how the Liberal (snicker) are treating you on the “inclusive” Facebook Community pages (under whatever name), we have a home for you.

For more information, email me at Skip@GraniteGrok.com!

Oh yeah, if someone wants to create a logo and suggest a tagline, I’m willing to look and listen!

The post Announcement: GilfordGrok is now LakesRegionGrok! appeared first on Granite Grok.

Supply chain issues are mounting, exacerbated by numerous policy choices going back years, but that’s too much detail. You can’t be expected to understand that. Besides, The Net-Zero Intelligence Left has chosen to blame climate change.

Salon wants you to understand the answer to a crucial question but it’s not the one you think. Here’s the answer.

 

 The product shortages are caused by the fact that most of our goods are transported across long distances to be used for manufacturing, sold or otherwise utilized. Imagine a giant spiderweb stretching all across the planet. Like a baseball smashing through each strand, unexpected problems can destroy key routes that allow our supply chains to operate.

That is why climate change in particular is expected to lead to many more product shortages. Dr. Thomas Goldsby, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee — Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business, tells Salon that volatile and unpredictable weather patterns will fundamentally change our economy.

 

The rest of the piece is rehashed AGW talking points, and that’s important because of the question (emphasis, mine).

 

As the economy continues to falter, the name of the game is product shortages. Supply chain disruptions have left grocery store shelves bare, forced gamers to suffer console and headset shortages and led to microchip shortages across the electronics industry. Higher prices for consumer goods are partly a result of such shortages. Now that Republicans are drawing attention to a baby food shortage, the question seems to have been politicized: Should the supply chain issues be blamed on the party which holds power?

 

Should the Supply chain issues be blamed on the party in power?

Nowhere after that point does Salon state the obvious (for Salon). Yes, if it’s republicans. If Republicans were in power, it would be entirely their fault, so everything that follows that question is a lie.

Your expert commentary and the spun-up or fake states from the climate echo chamber are all BS. If Republicans were in power, shortages would be their fault. High gas prices, Vlad, Ukraine, everything would be placed at the feet of “the party in power.

But Democrats are in power, and Global Supply Chain and Global Warming both have global in them. “Winner!”

It is then a simple leap to connect them and impress upon people that both are real and that Democrats can’t help it. But the truth is quite different. The Democrats invented global warming as an excuse to take over the economy. And this is what happens to an economy when they do.

It’s not the first time Democrat Socialists have wrecked an economy, but it might be the last unless we blame the party in power.

So, let’s make sure we do that because they earned it.

 

 

HT | RCS

The post Salon Blames Baby Formula Shortage on Climate Change To Avoid Telling the Truth appeared first on Granite Grok.

The New Hampshire School Board Association has bailed on its policy JBABA, the transgender guidance proposed to NH districts a few years back, leaving districts facing lawsuits in the lurch. That would be SAU16 (Exeter), SAU37 (Manchester), and SAU73 (Gilford).

Interesting.

Over and over again, I was told that Policy JBAB was a direct result of the passage of the Democrat-sponsored bill, SB263 (below), back in 2019 (and signed by Gov. Chris Sununu). It added gender identity to the “protected class” of people and  I’ll come back to that in a few minutes.

As you may know, I brought suit against the Gilford School Board over JBAB for two things: Coercive Speech (anyone on school grounds MUST use “preferred pronouns” contra the US and NH Constitutions, as well as demanding that their staff LIE to Parents about the transgender status of their child.

Well, fellow Grokster Ann Marie Banfield put in a Right To Know/RSA 91-A demand to the NH School Board Association (emphasis mine):

Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA, 91-1), I am requesting public access, within 5 business days, to the governmental records:

1) A copy of all correspondence from the New Hampshire School Boards Association to school administrators and/or board members in New Hampshire referencing board policy JBAB from September of 2021 until today. This would include emails, directives, policy recommendations, press releases or any other form of written communication.

Per RSA 91-A:4IV(C) If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, available for inspection along with a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the information withheld.

Please let me know when these records are available for inspection or you may email the records to me at Banfieldannmarie@gmail.com.

Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.

While NHSBA Exec. Dir. Barret Christina protested (but only a bit) that the NHSBA is a private entity, he did send some documents which Ann Marie shared with me.  One was labeled “NHSBA Spring 2022 Policy Updates” and had this in the Table of Contents which NATURALLY caught my eye:

Special Statement Concerning Former Sample JBAB ………………………………………………. 4

Let me give you, IMHO, the real short Executive Summary: Oh Crap! Captain, full Cover Our A$$e$ mode!  Emphasis mine

 

Special Statement Concerning Removal of Former Sample JBAB

In February 2022, NHSBA removed former optional sample policy JBAB – Transgender & Non-Conforming Students from its sample policy database. Sample JBAB was released in 2015 after NHSBA received requests for such a sample from multiple NHSBA member districts.

Since 2015, when NHSBA first made sample optional policy JBAB available in the NHSBA policy database, the legal protections based upon gender identify and the legal landscape relating to gender identity has changed in several important ways. The two most significant developments are:

1. In 2020, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Bostock v. Clayton County. That case concerned employee protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,. In its opinion the Court stated: “It is impossible to discriminate against a person for being … transgender without discriminating … based on sex.” Bostock v. Clayton Co., 500 U.S. ___ (2020). Although the Bostock decision specifically concerned Title VII, education attorneys and legal commentators throughout the country believe that the rationale in that case extends equally to Title IX of the Education Acts of 1972, which prohibits discrimination against any person “based on sex” relative to any “education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

This was about a gay man working for the Government who started to play in a gay softball league and was fired for being gay. It said NOTHING about preferred pronouns / Coerced Speech / Canceling Freedom of Speech and NOTHING about lying to Parents about the transgender status of their child. It had nothing to do with Gender Identity but, as you see above, transgender/legal activists decided to run with it as if it did.

2. In 2019, New Hampshire passed RSA 193:38, providing in part: “No person shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in public schools because of their … sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ….”

Although it appears clear from the Bostock decision and RSA 198:38 that discrimination of a student or employee based upon gender identity/status is unlawful, what those authorities mean, and what constitutes prohibited discrimination, are still open questions. There are a myriad of issues concerning transgender protections in public schools currently being litigated in New Hampshire and throughout the country. Disputed issues include athletic participation, directed pronoun usage, parent right to information, student privacy, and others.

Note the couching of the language that the NHSBA tries to foist off on School Boards: while Bostock was about sexual orientation, the NHSBA left “that arena” and immediately flipped and entered “the transgender arena” – with no intervening law.  It’s like what the Left has done – redefining “gender” (which historically was just a more genteel Victorian way of talking about “sex”) to be about “identity”.  Is being homosexual now a gender identity, in support of yet another political agenda item that the NHSBA is pushing, or a sexual attraction one?

Can’t have it both ways, can they?

Again, see SB263 below – tell me, upon a plain reading of the actual words, do you see “preferred pronouns”?  Or “we can now lie to parents”?  So, let me give you a better translation of the bolded words above. After all, they sound so innocuous, don’t they?

• “Directed Pronoun usage” – We, a mere School Board and a lowly subdivision of the State, have the Power to crush your Freedom of Speech. We have the Power to tell you to say what your lying eyes tells you is impossible.
• “Student Privacy” – along with the next item, We, a mere subdivision of the State, have the Power to totally turn the relationship of a Parent and Child totally upside down in which the Child is in charge of the family and not the Parents. This should tell you what they REALLY think of you as Parents.
• “Parent Right to Information” – this is quite the laugh; you would think from a casual reading “of COURSE I have the Right to information about my child.  Silly person –  you have none when it comes to your child.  You have no such Right anymore as We, a mere subdivision of the State, are forcing our staff to lie through their teeth to not tell you what the transgender status of your child is.  Just ask Gilford Elementary School Principal Danielle Bolduc what she had to say about my legal son when I asked “Danielle, what is the transgender status of my son?” at the last School Board Meeting…

…Right after Jeanine Onos, Chair of the Board, made it clear that if you have any questions or concerns, we are to ask the school Administrators. OK, you set the New Rules, I just followed it to the letter.

NHSBA sample policy AC includes the prohibition against discrimination based upon gender identity. However, that policy does not in and of itself provide guidance to school staff or students about how that prohibition is achieved. Former JBAB included a multitude of provisions local districts could consider in the effort to protect against unlawful discrimination based upon gender identity. However, NHSBA believes that the unsettled in this area of law, indicates that local boards should seek advice from private counsel to determine the best course of action in their respective districts to meet the legal requirements and minimize litigation exposure. This suggestion extends to Districts which have previously adopted sample JBAB or other policies addressing protection against discrimination based upon gender identity.

They realize that they’ve now been Mike Tyson’d: “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

The problem is that they lined up several School Districts to get the punch in the mouth instead of themselves.  Now they are running away from what they’ve done knowing Tyson is coming for them?

The above is just GREAT!  Notice how carefully they just shoved the legal responsibility from themselves onto the School Districts.  They wrote it, they have attorneys on staff to vet what they wrote, they publicized the Policy, they have given advice about it to multiple Districts and NOW they are effectively telling Districts:

Sayonara – You’re on your own with this!  Good luck!

They are to rely on their own (mostly, IMHO) scumbag Ed lawyers on this?  They know that the legal mud is flying toward the automated air recycling device on the ceiling and they are now running away as fast as they can.

My counsel to my school board would be to sue the NHSBA. Tackle them, be those Lilliputians that tie down “NHSBA Gulliver,” and have your way with them.

 

 

 

SB263:

SB 263 – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

 

03/28/2019   1141s

03/28/2019   1290s

8May2019… 1690h

 

2019 SESSION

19-0995

08/05

 

SENATE BILL 263

 

AN ACT relative to anti-discrimination protection for students in public schools.

 

SPONSORS: Sen. Sherman, Dist 24; Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 21; Sen. Hennessey, Dist 5; Sen. Levesque, Dist 12; Sen. Rosenwald, Dist 13; Sen. D’Allesandro, Dist 20; Sen. Watters, Dist 4; Rep. Cannon, Straf. 18; Rep. M. Smith, Straf. 6; Rep. Altschiller, Rock. 19; Rep. Janvrin, Rock. 37; Rep. Ley, Ches. 9

 

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

 

—————————————————————–

 

AMENDED ANALYSIS

 

This bill creates a cause of action for persons injured by discrimination in public schools.

 

This bill also creates a cause of action for the attorney general in cases of discrimination in public schools.

 

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

 

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

03/28/2019   1141s

03/28/2019   1290s

8May2019… 1690h 19-0995

08/05

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nineteen

 

AN ACT relative to anti-discrimination protection for students in public schools.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  New Subdivision; Discrimination in Public Schools.  Amend RSA 193 by inserting after section 37 the following new subdivision:

Discrimination in Public Schools

193:38  Discrimination in Public Schools.  No person shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in public schools because of their age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, or national origin, all as defined in RSA 354-A.  Any person claiming to be aggrieved by a discriminatory practice prohibited under this section, including the attorney general, may initiate a civil action against a school or school district in superior court for legal or equitable relief, or with the New Hampshire commission for human rights, as provided in RSA 354-A:27-28.

193:39  Discrimination Prevention Policy Required.  Each school district and chartered public school shall develop a policy that guides the development and implementation of a coordinated plan to prevent, assess the presence of, intervene in, and respond to incidents of discrimination on the basis of age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other classes protected under RSA 354-A.

2  New Subdivision; Opportunity for Public Education Without Discrimination a Civil Right.  Amend RSA 354-A by inserting after section 26 the following new subdivision:

Opportunity for Public Education Without Discrimination a Civil Right

354-A:27  Opportunity for Public Education Without Discrimination a Civil Right.  No person shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in public schools because of their age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, marital status, familial status, disability, religion or national origin, all as defined in this chapter.

354-A:28  Procedure on Public School Complaints.

I.  Any person claiming to be aggrieved by a discriminatory practice prohibited under RSA 354-A:27 may initiate a civil action in superior court against a school or school district for legal or equitable relief, or file a complaint with the commission as provided in RSA 354-A:21.  The attorney general may also initiate such a civil action in superior court or by complaint with the commission.

II.  Any complaint filed with the commission pursuant to paragraph I shall comply with and be subject to the procedures outlined in this chapter, with the exception that such complaints may be removed to superior court at any time in compliance with RSA 508:4

3  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

The post School Board Assoc. “Bails” on Transgender Policy – Abandons Districts Facing Lawsuits from Parents appeared first on Granite Grok.

I don’t know how many “takes” it took but this ‘mom’ looks like a natural as she gives us a spot-on street reporter news update “Live from outside her son’s bedroom,” on an “Incident at the Olive Garden.”

It sounds to me like she could do this for a living. It’s funny while still looking exactly like you’d expect.

 

 

 

HT | iFunny.co

The post Mom “Reporter” Live Outside Her 2-Year Olds Bedroom appeared first on Granite Grok.

I am not a fan of outgoing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. She was condescending and arrogant. She lacked credibility for someone who claimed to represent the most transparent administration in history, and her comments were often rebuked. She often gave the impression that she was not the spokesperson but was calling the shots. To circle back, I will not miss our daily dose of Jen Psaki, and she has found an appropriate landing spot at MSNBC.

Enter Karine Jean-Pierre. JP moves up from the assistant role to take the podium on the main stage. She has been there as a fill-in and, in my opinion, has not earned her promotion. She does not have command of the position of the President across the spectrum of issues, and “circle-back” will be her best move.

The Biden team is not a good administration to be the front person. The approval ratings are abysmal, and many of the President’s positions are not aligned with public sentiment. The one thing Karine will have in her favor is a soft media group that continues to cheerlead for the President. This advantage may be short-lived as the mainstream media appears to be stepping up their game as continuing their blind support for a failing President is not a successful or profitable position.

I found it offensive, but in line with this administration’s MO, when Jean-Pierre was introduced as the new Press Secretary, there was no mention of her credentials or fitness for the job. Instead, there was an emphasis on the number of boxes Karine checked. Black, check. Female, check. Gay, double-check!. Diversity, not excellence, is key to Biden and the country loses again.

One of the biggest lies continually pushed by Psaki was how accessible Biden is to the media. Her claim that Biden speaks openly once, if not twice, per day is not valid. Biden has fewer press conferences than any of his predecessors, and when he does speak, it usually requires staff to clean up quickly. Biden’s performance dispels any thought that this administration is transparent.

So, where do we stand now? We have a failing President and now an incompetent Press Secretary. We have continued to claim that America deserves better, but at this point, we have to lower our expectations. That is something we should never have to do when talking about the President of the United States, but it has become necessary. Whether it is Mayor Pete, AG Garland, Mayorkas, or any of the cabinet speaking to the press or before Congress, their credibility is always called into question. Three Pinocchios is a typical score for Team Biden. Harris is not exempt. When Joe lets her out, she is a quarantined embarrassment and fodder for FOX News. If there is one consistency we can expect from our Executive Branch, it is incompetence which explains how we have lost all traction gained under Trump in just fifteen months. The unanswered question is how low Biden can drag us.

This article was first published on The Liberty Loft thelibertyloft.com

The post New Post-Psaki Era is Not Good News appeared first on Granite Grok.

Not too long ago I was sitting in a regular meeting of a regional Republican committee, listening to (mostly older) people talk about how schools have changed over the years — since they were in school, and since their kids were in school. One guy said that when his kids wanted to play baseball or football, he had to pay for their uniforms, help pay for travel, and so on.  Someone asked him:

“What if you couldn’t afford it?”

“Then they didn’t play.  You know, that was just tough sh!t.  It’s just life.  I knew that, and they knew that.”

I then half-jokingly suggested that perhaps someone should introduce a ‘Tough Sh!t Act’ in the next legislative session, to remind everyone that just because you can’t afford something that you think would be nice, that doesn’t justify forcing other people to buy it for you.  It’s just part of life and always has been.

It’s interesting to think about how such a statute would be phrased.  I guess this is where Legislative Services would come in handy.  But it might look something like

AN ACT relative to the improper use of taxes.  

ANALYSIS

This bill prohibits the use of taxes to pay for non-essential goods and services.

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Three

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

Recognizing that it is a normal condition of life for people to want things they can’t afford, and that a desire does not constitute a need, no RSA may authorize the use of money raised by taxes to pay for non-essential goods and services, including but not limited to non-academic school programs, post-secondary education, recreational facilities, and elective medical procedures or prescriptions; and any RSA that makes or relies on such authorization is hereby repealed.

Effective Date.  This act shall take effect 1 minute after its passage.

I wouldn’t expect this to pass — and if it did pass, I wouldn’t expect it to survive the judiciary, which would declare that high school football is an ‘academic program’, that braces and birth control are not ‘elective’, and so on.

But wouldn’t it be fun to question the people who would show up to oppose it, and see what kinds of ‘arguments’ they would come up with?

 

 

The post The Tough Sh!t Act appeared first on Granite Grok.

Each Sunday, I want to 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 Tulsi Gabbard.

Gabbard is a former Congresswoman from Hawaii and an Iraq War Veteran. She is the first female war veteran to run for President of the United States. Tulsi had many disadvantages in 2020. She was from Hawaii, which made her little known in a very crowded field of Democrats. She was overshadowed by Mazie Hirono, a far-left Senator from the island state. She was the only moderate Democrat in a field of Progressives pushing each other to the left. She had a calm, measured voice of reason.

She struck fear in the Democrat Party, prompting Hillary Clinton to attack her, claiming the Russians were grooming Gabbard as an asset. The claim was absurd but enough to destroy the candidacy of the young upstart Gabbard. Gabbard sued Clinton for defamation but later dropped the suit. She stood out in the debates as someone with strong opinions from the middle of the road.

Gabbard forfeited her seat in Congress to concentrate on her Presidential run and now has more questions than answers about her political future, if there is one. She has been a complicated person to pigeonhole into a particular philosophy, and suffice to say, she was one of the most independent members of Congress.

Tulsi may be out of politics now, but she is not silent. She is a Democrat though her party and media wing hold her at bay. She is not today’s Democrat, and I have thought for some time that she aligns more to the center/right than the left. She is a frequent contributor on FOX News and appears with Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. Her conversations with these two are always congenial and meaningful. Not to say that is unusual for a Democrat, but she comes to the air with facts and not emotion, which is unusual. It is also refreshing.

Miss Gabbard can give a multifaceted opinion on various topics. As a woman, veteran, and former member of Congress, she examines the many sides of an issue. She recently spoke of her concern about Russia resorting to nuclear weapons out of frustration in not being able to overthrow Ukraine quickly. She believes the conflict could have been avoided if the Biden administration had acted preemptively instead of taking its typical proactive approach.

She has a problem with the formation of a Disinformation Board and calls the Biden administration authoritarian and overbearing. She also refers to Biden as a dictatorship that is not looking to resolve the Ukraine conflict but to destroy Putin and Russia.

Tulsi Gabbard’s political future is unclear. She is too liberal for Republicans and too conservative for Democrats. That sounds like the type of person we need in public office. We do not need more divisiveness in our country but more of a movement towards the center by both sides. Should that ever happen, both parties will find Tulsi already there, waiting to get this country back on track. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing more from this patriot on FOX News, where she has found a platform that welcomes her views.

 

 

Ray Writes for GraniteGrok.com and the Liberty Loft

.

The post Sunday Spotlight: Tulsi Gabbard appeared first on Granite Grok.

My recent post about the latest Ukraine grift, the House passing … over the “no” votes of ONLY 57 Republicans … $40 billion MORE to go into that Black Hole known as aid-to-Ukraine, has generated some interest.

Since I drafted that post, Senator Rand Paul procedurally blocked the quickie vote sought by Schumer and McConnell:

My oath of office is to the U.S. Constitution, not to any foreign nation. Congress is trying yet again to ram through a spending bill – one that I doubt anyone has actually read – and there’s no oversight included into how the money is being spent.

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 13, 2022

The vote, I believe, is scheduled for next week.

If … IF … Chuck Morse and Kevin Smith were America-First Republicans, they would be opposing this bill and hammering Hassan for supporting it.

Ukraine does not need another penny in military aid. Ukraine already … thanks to the billions worth of state-of-the-art weaponry already provided by the United States and NATO …undeniably has achieved military superiority over Russia … a country whose military, as I have previously noted, is obsolescent and hollow.

This latest bill is gratuitous overkill:

Putting the 43 billion for Ukraine into context pic.twitter.com/dK9oW2pS8V

— Darren J. Beattie (@DarrenJBeattie) May 13, 2022

And it is obscene, given that our country is experiencing a baby formula shortage.

But crickets … CRICKETS … from Chuck and Kevin.

Evidently, they agree with Senator Hassan and the UNI-PARTY that we need regime change in Russia … no matter what the cost in Ukrainian and Russian lives, and no matter the economic cost to the American people … so the globalists can swoop in and exploit its and Ukraine’s natural resources.

 

The post Chuck and Kevin Are Giving Hassan a Free Pass on the Ukraine Grift 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:

1. The proper mentality: first and foremost in survival is having a flexible mentality and cultivating the ability to adapt.
2. Having a meatspace network of people that are likeminded: start cultivating your community ties and building alliances with neighbors (note: don’t babble about the Jab or globalists or depopulation, or start pointing political fingers when doing this)… and remember, the first rule of PREP CLUB is that there is no prep club.

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.

 

Note: I’d wanted to be at the Grok meetup, but one of my kids is sick with the flu. For the past few days, walking around in stores, etc., it seemed like every third kid or so was coughing, sneezing, etc.  Guess it landed in our household. Not worth my salt as a dad if I left home.  I do intend to be at the next one, whenever & wherever it is…

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

I was rereading my essay Rome, er, America and saw that I had this quote at the top.  True.

“The worst thing about living in the declining era of a great civilization is knowing that you are.”

– Robert Heinlein

Related:

I wish the resemblance weren’t so close…

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

New Feature – main URLs of various prepper sites, to grow as I find new ones.  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

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

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:

1. When does it start?
2. How bad will it get?
3. How long will it last?
4. What will the aftermath look like?

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

As I watch open calls from the Left to become violent – whether over abortion or other things – let me remind them:

 

 

I can think of a few people for my “Personal Accountability List”…

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Top of the fold:

Victory Day in the Motherland – The Burning Platform

Countdown to WWIII

Pushing-pushing-pushing Russia into a corner.

A U.S. Policy Of ‘Bleeding Russia’ In Ukraine Is Reckless In The Extreme (thefederalist.com)

Get ready.  In my mind related:

UKRAINE Shuts Off Europe’s Gas

This will not, I don’t think, damage Russia who has other potential customers.  It will damage Europe.  And lastly:

The Polish Prime Minister called for the eradication of the “Russian world” as a “cancer”

Demolition of monument to Soldiers of the Soviet Army allowed – AzeriTimes

Russia calls on Bulgaria to ensure the protection of the monuments to Soviet soldiers – Russia – Daily News (txtreport.com)

Why Washington Wants WWIII

All these things will put the vast majority of Russians even more on the defensive and hostile to everyone else.  Setting one people against another.  Divide and conquer while the Globalists position themselves.  Well… that and to eliminate the chance that their Covid fraud would become broadly understood.

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Frozen: How Canada’s Banks Betrayed their Customers During the Emergencies Act | C2C Journal

A good friend of mine asked their bank whether they would, if ordered to by fedgov, freeze their account.  The answer was YES, not surprisingly.  Thus they are withdrawing massive amounts of their money.  Remember, a Canadian single mother had her accounts frozen over a $50 donation; Single Mother’s Bank Account Frozen Over $50 Donation to Freedom Truckers ⋆ Things have gone sideways in Canada. ⋆ Flag And Cross.

I, too, anticipate a painful conversation with my accountant.  When I put out a feeler about cashing out my entire investment portfolio, he said that my cashing out on my investments would result in the severing of our decades-long relationship.  Understand that this man was my parents’ accountant before mine, and he has been a solid resource and good person in my life.  But his absolute, IMHO willful, blindness to anything outside his normalcy window means that were I to accede to his directives and leave my money in the system, it would mean it could be frozen too if President Potato issues directives to target the finances of his political enemies no matter how small.  Or just outright seized as some Globalist decided I have too much beyond my “fair share”…

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Presented, quick hit style, are some links.  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!):

10 Firearm Lessons Learned from an Animal Attack – The Organic Prepper

How To Preserve Foods In Honey – Ask a Prepper

50 Prepping Items You Can Buy From The Thrift Shop – Ask a Prepper

What Do You Do If A Venomous Snake Bites You? – The Organic Prepper

Grow Your Own Mushrooms – Mother Earth News

 

=+=+=

Deep State / Coming Tyranny / WEF / Globalists:

Joe Biden Is Threatening Our Freedom of Movement | RealClearEnergy

If you cannot move freely you can be herded.

 

=+=+=

Shortages (broadly):

 

and

—

Another reason for the supply chain crunch: daft personnel policies

More on supply chain:

Motorists beware: a diesel shortage may lead to a gasoline shortage, too

ANOTHER CRISIS IS LOOMING: Major Trucking Firms Prepare for “Imminent Diesel Shortage in Eastern Half of US” – Blame Emergency on Joe Biden (thegatewaypundit.com)

No diesel for trucks means no deliveries to retail stores.  Gasoline.  Food.  No heating oil or propane deliveries.  And so on.

—

It’s Probably Nothing

Shortages of cooking oil and flour in Europe reported.  Canada too:

FOOD CRISIS: Canada Faces Cooking Oil Shortage

Buy it now.  Could be a good trade item for later, assuming things don’t descend into true Mad Max territory.

—

Orban: Shortages of Ukrainian and Russian Grain Means ‘Famine in Many Parts of the World’, More Migration Pressure

More fuel for a borderless world and the Great Replacement.

 

=+=+=

Inflation (broadly):

 

 

—

Italy: Food Prices Set to Rise 12.7% April-May

Report: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware Gas Prices Hit ‘All Time Highs’

Inflation Rises, Not Falls In April As Predicted…

How about them gas prices?

With Gas Prices at All-Time Highs, Biden Decides to Cancel Oil and Gas Lease Sales in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico

UK: Inflation Crisis: People Facing ‘Real Food Poverty for the First Time in a Generation’ — Supermarket Boss

BREAKING: US Producer Price Index – A Measurement of Inflation – Reaches 11% in April

Heating Oil Costs Are Rippling across My Life and Family – Granite Grok

—

 

 

=+=+=

The Grid & Energy In General:

BLACKOUTS COMING SOON?

Without diesel fuel, coal trains won’t move.  That’s 10% of America’s electric generation.  So add increased demand from AC and electric vehicles with reduced supply.  Cue up the Supply & Demand curve.  And then watch your wallet…

 

=+=+=

US Social Stability (broad catch-all):

REPORT: JUSTICE ALITO AND HIS FAMILY FORCED TO MOVE TO A SECURE LOCATION

Regardless of which side of the abortion debate you’re on, IMHO this is unacceptable.  Related:

 

 

Related to the crumbling of the foundations of society:

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/sunglasses-theft.mp4

 

As I understand it, in multiple cities across the country chain stores are pulling out as they suffer losses that are economically unsustainable.  Related:

California smash and grab burglars use sledgehammers in Beverly Hills jewelry theft (nypost.com)

And now consider this:

 

 

I am sure that stuff like this happened for decades.  Disgusting, but not unheard of.  No, what’s indicative of a breakdown of morality in our general society is that the man videoed it.  Also remember that people videoing themselves during commissions of crimes, even brutal crimes, is now commonplace.  We used to have people who did bad things but now we have people who do bad things and have no problems recording themselves, or even posting those deeds publicly.

—

Pennies, pounds, and politicians

A society that cannot fix small things cannot fix large things.

—

If We Cannot Secure Voting, We Will Perish – American Thinker

TINVOWOOT.  More:

Borepatch: What happens when tens of millions of Americans become convinced that elections are shams?

What happens?  Nothing good.  Related:

BEYOND FISHY – 2000 MULES

DESPICABLE: ‘2000 Mules’ Reveals 200+ Mules In Maricopa County, Possible 207,435 ILLEGAL Votes Trafficked In Arizona – RINO AG Mark Brnovich Does NOTHING

—

It’s going to be bad

The patterns are there.  People are pointing them out.

We’re in a bubble that is about to burst.

Now is the time to clear your plate of debt and batten down the hatches.

Meanwhile, to keep my Covidian wife happy and distracted, I’m taking out a loan to redo the kitchen.  I find the irony painful: she grew up in the USSR.  She lived through its break-up.  And yet she – to a near-pathological panicked denial – will not see what’s happening.  I don’t want to do this, but this will keep her thinking about the project, not French-kissing her Covidian BFF’s ass and thinking about Jabbing the kids.

 

=+=+=

World Stability (broad catch-all):

Sweden Would Strengthen The NATO Alliance

Remember what I’ve been saying again and again and again?  Every nation taking every “logical” next step until the every nation is bound up – whether internally or externally – by commitments that make the shooting inevitable?

—

Germany’s Top Banking Chief Warns of Bankruptcy Tsunami Amid Stagflation Threats

So many potential failure points around the world.  Related:

Cyberattack knocks out Russian video platform Rutube – Insider Paper

And going the other way:

 

 

Maybe real.  Maybe false flag.  But regardless, it’s cranking up.

 

=+=+=

Gardening, animals, etc.:

 

 

—

Home Dairy Cow: My Newbie Experience Buying a Milk Cow (survivalblog.com)

I do not have nearly enough room to do this.  Alas.

—

Planning Your Garden? Read This First. – The Organic Prepper

—

 

 

=+=+=

Tech security:

Biden Disinformation Czar Demands Power to Edit Other People’s Tweets

Seven Hairy Hells.  On the new internet Fascism:

Only Internet Fascism Can Save Democracy – Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish articles

 

=+=+=

Self-defense:

Court slaps down California ban on selling semiautomatic rifles to young adults – TheBlaze

A sliver of good news.

 

=+=+=

Catch-all miscellaneous:

 

 

Some well-done work.  Having said that, some of these look far more intense than the average Joe-sixpack work.  And a fly in the ointment – there is a company in NH, and doubtless others elsewhere, that make man-portable equipment that can scan home walls for concealed compartments, firearms, etc.  Now, this presupposes that there is sufficient manpower and their having time to do such an extended search of homes.

Additionally, I remember applying for a job here years ago, and was told they have van-based scanners that can scan pedestrians without their knowledge, consent, or a warrant.  I remember asking “How is that legal”? and being assured it was.  How?  I mean, it’s one thing to have event or location security where people know they’ll be searched, but just being able to scan people walking on the street???  I would not doubt they have man-portable scanners for homes as well.

 

=+=+=

Wrap-up commentary if I am moved to do so:

 

 

I am becoming more and more terrified.  Not at any of the above; that’s “baked in” to my mentality already.  Anything I read now is just minor tweaking of where I’m at mentally.

No, I’m becoming more and more terrified of conversations that I have with people who say MEH to everything.  MEH to the ever-clearer dangers of the Jab, MEH to inflation and/or recession, MEH to the possibility of WWIII, MEH to the clear and present threat of a nascent “Ministry of Truth”, MEH to the possibility of food shortages, MEH to the threat of an EMP or calamitous cyber-attack on power and other infrastructure, MEH to the WEF / WHO takeover of America (or any other country), MEH to the implications of open borders with the flood of illegals coming in, and broadly MEH to anything that might disturb their view that the world is calm.  Brings to mind this guy:

 

 

But that’s not the point.  Reality is about dealing with what IS.  Survival is about recognizing dangers, and then taking action: working to ameliorate those dangers or at least have plans in place for if those dangers materialize.  That the vast majority of people are intentionally and willfully blind to this is pathological level DENIAL.  When reality hits they will not just be unprepared physically, but fragile mentally… and will snap.  And in snapping will lash out at, and snitch on, anyone who has been more aware and putting things away and prepping – for they will be furious.  Not, of course, furious at the situation or those who deliberately engineered it.  Furious at you for your having had more foresight, more insight… white-hot fusion-level furious at having to admit that you were right and they were wrong – for having to consciously admit this will drive them to question what else you were right about, and they wrong.  Assuming the ability (electricity & internet) still exist, they will look, and will not like what they find… and they will be even more furious at you for having seen what they did not on so many things.

 

 

Because of that fury at said revelation, they will take that fury out on you.  They will also be furious at you for possibly rebuffing their “I’ll just come to your house” mentality when they do, as though they are entitled to partake in what you have simply because they present themselves.  What did I say in a prior Survival Sunday?

So I’ve spent countless thousands of dollars buying food and myriad other things, putting an enormous amount of thought into what I need for myself and my family to get us through what I think are dire times just ahead… and you think you can just drive up to my house and say “TA DA I’m here, feed me and my fam”? And I’ll just do it? And when the second family shows up, and the third, and the fourth? All expecting that I’ll just open the locks and provide from my own preps?

Let alone put my life on the line to protect them?  For I know several people who have said “I’ll just come to your house” and when I ask if they’ll pick up a gun and defend the house, it’s “Oh, no, I could never shoot another person”.  That IMHO is the definition of Useless Eater.

Ultimately, if “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” then IMHO “Right behind a woman scorned is one whose smug sense of mental, emotional, educational, and cognitive superiority has been shattered by the realization that someone they disdained & ridiculed was more insightful than they”.

 

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

LET’S GO BRANDON!

The post Survival Sunday appeared first on Granite Grok.

If Don Trump Jr were getting checks from pharmaceutical reps to pimp Ivermectin, that’d be big news. You’d have a hard time not knowing about it. Public interest, and all that. So, where is the 24/7/365, wall-to-wall, “breaking news” coverage of this?

 

Last year, the National Institutes of Health – Anthony Fauci’s employer – doled out $30 billion in government grants to roughly 56,000 recipients. That largess of taxpayer money buys a lot of favor and clout within the scientific, research, and healthcare industries.

However, in our breaking investigation, we found hundreds of millions of dollars in payments also flow the other way. These are royalty payments from third-party payers (think pharmaceutical companies) back to the NIH and individual NIH scientists.

We estimate that between fiscal years 2010 and 2020, more than $350 million in royalties were paid by third-parties to the agency and NIH scientists – who are credited as co-inventors.

 

It’s not news to people in the news business because, in their minds, that’s how the business they want done gets done. Ethics, efficacy, integrity, and even public health and safety take a back seat. Give them room to destroy, to borrow a line from former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. It’s Manny being Manny.

When in Rome! Growing grass. Drying paint. Too many idioms? It does not mean what you think it means. It means what they think it means.

Nothing to see here. Just move along.

In other words, no one inside that laundromat will look sideways at this unless it might blowback on them, and this applies to their advertising agencies (dba: the corporate media).

If they didn’t make space, it’s not a thing. But it is a thing. Fauci and many others are trading your money for personal wealth. That’s DC, but it gets murkier in the shadow of COVID.

They did not want us to know that they knew their “cure” was neither safe nor effective, but we found out.

They do not want us to know that their treatment protocol is responsible for more deaths than actual covid (death by hospital), but that’s becoming clear too.

Add to this Fauci lying about funding the gain of function research in Wuhan that resulted in COVID.

That “the government” owns the patents for the virus, the test kits, and the “cure” that doesn’t work.

They do not have any financial interest in the things they tried to prohibit or ban that are proven effective in early treatment, like Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

And they shut down your business, your job, your life, your booming economy, and even your president to keep all the parts in the scheme moving and hidden.

Follow the science but not the bought and paid for science. The science of kickbacks and backroom deals focused on profit and power at the expense of people.

Does anyone recall Democrats pretending to oppose that sort of thing?

Now they are fighting hard to keep these truths hidden. There is more, and they do not want to part with it. It has to be pried from them (and ignored by the corporate media). And it is damning or they’d just let it out into the sunshine.

And if they can find a way to stop the prying they will and we should see that as a reason try to pry twice as much.

 

 

| Epoch Times

 

The post What if We Follow the “Science” of ‘Big Pharma’ Kickbacks to NIH “Scientists” appeared first on Granite Grok.

In this short clip from Dr. Gary Thompson, he explains the severe damage caused to children when they are blamed and shamed. That can happen when Critical Race Theory apologists push that radicalized hate-filled political agenda in the classroom.

It’s vital that parents speak up and stop this sort of pseudo-psychology plaguing many districts throughout this country.

You will see how damaging this kind of teaching can be to children, no matter the topic or intentions.

 

“No matter what your school board does, you need to make sure it does nothing to increase your child’s anxiety or their level of depression”

 

 

The post Is Your Public School Pushing Your Child Toward Suicide? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Credit where credit is due, okay? President Biden is following through on Candidate Biden’s pledge to unify the country. His regime-change, proxy war against Russia has unified most of Congress.

As I previously posted, only 57 Republicans opposed the latest tranche of funding for Biden’s America-Last war in Ukraine.

Mitch McConnell thinks the war … not the Great Replacement via our wide-open Southern border, not ruinous inflation, not the shortage of baby formula … is “the most important thing going on in the world right now”.

And, if you disagree with funding a proxy war for the purpose of generating “regime-change” in nuclear-armed Russia, then Dan McCrenshaw will call you Putin’s puppet:

Still going after that slot on Russia Today huh? https://t.co/WFtgrvTS6m

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) May 11, 2022

Red wave? No thank you, if it means more Mitch McConnells and Dan McCrenshaws.

 

The post Biden Makes Progress On His Pledge To Unify America … appeared first on Granite Grok.

I mentioned this email by GAC Commish Kiedaisch complaining about GraniteGrok during the last segment of GrokTALK! (YAY! We’re BACK!) that we recorded last Monday (with special guest Rob Russell of 2A Tactical who is also suffering from similar political action in Barrington).

Just wow – but not unexpected from GAC Commish Gary Kiedaisch from my standpoint. Now that the unredacted legal invoices from Devine-Millimet have been published (here) and that his “shove it down their throats” Code of Ethics  (think: not about Ethics but a Muzzle) was ruled to be out of bounds (can’t just make stuff up in this Dillon’s Rule, he has to change the political subject.

It has become clear that the walls are closing in and his Power base within the GAC has evaporated as the Belknap County Delegation Reps, for the most part, have turned more Red (Conservative). His only hope in continuing his GAC political career lies with a vote in the NH House on the totally shredded HB1397. Instead of simply extending the term of office of Rockingham elected officials from 2 years to 4, it completely rewrites RSA 399, the 1959 law that created the GAC, how it was to be an appointed board, how Commissioners were appointed by the Belknap County NH State Reps with a public vetting process. And this rewrite is brought to all of us via its Prime Stooges Sponsors NH State Senator Bob Guida and NH State Rep Tim Lang. As “election” of Commissioners then becomes countywide races, he gets to use all his money for such campaigns and reduces the chances of Joe and Jane Sixpack, no matter their experience as skiers goes, to nil. Only the rich, like Kiedaisch, Rusty McLear, and Hayden McLaughlin, can have a decent chance at winning such an office.

So, he decided to pick on moi, yours truly. Smooth move?  From my part, SURE!  He gets to experience the Streisand Effect (of which he is most likely ignorant of).  So he decided to use former Chair Brian Gallagher as a “victim” (even though he refused to resign once he sold his home in the County) or as a proxy and decided to complain about GraniteGrok.  And yes, this seems to be making some rounds as this is from a source via “friend of a friend” type of deal.  NOTHING is ever secure!

On Sunday, May 8, 2022, 11:04:43 AM EDT, Gary Kiedaisch <garykinusa@gmail.com> wrote:
Peter,

I call your attention to an unfortunate current posting on the granitegrok that attacks former Commissioner Gallagher and the GAC.

I’d like to have this posting discussed at the next GAC meeting and put on the agenda.

Meanwhile, I’d encourage you to refer to and be familiar with the November 18, 2020 approved GAC meeting minutes on page 4 under; Miscellaneous.

Thank you,

Gary Kiedaisch

For context, Peter is Peter Ness, the GAC Commissioner that both Kiedasch and Gallagher were trying to throw off the GAC.  So, Kiedasich is “reduced” to appealing to the Chair that is his political enemy to “rid me of this meddlesome priest”; that would be me and GraniteGrok (the quote is attributed to King Henry II about Thomas Becket; I like the “pestilent” version better as in “who will rid me of this pestilent priest?”).  Yeah, there was a response to that and I nearly laughed myself sick.

At least he got the spelling as one word right.  Pretty much, that’s about ALL he gets right.  I write stuff and I write about stuff that I really enjoy or that is really irritating because of “politicians” deciding to make “something” their own “political toybox”.  Guess which one I’m talking about here!  So without him specifically quantifying WHICH post, I’ll pick three of my own AND what might be the teeny-tiny pebble up his butt. And remember that “attacks former Commissioner Gallagher and the GAC” bit as well – I will return to that.

1)    5/3: Gunstock Commish Kiedaisch: My ByLaws Trump State Statutes. Gilford School Board: Brava!

I pretty much just quote his own words and then picked this out of actual GAC Meeting minutes:

When G. Kiedaisch kept referencing the GAC ByLaws, D. Strang (a relatively new Commissioner and former State Rep) stated “Bylaws don’t trump RSAs,” to which G. Kiedaisch replied, “yes, they do”.

Pointing out his own words is “attacking” the GAC?

2)  5/6: Gunstock Area Commission – Non-Public Meeting, Released Billings, a Released Report, and a GAC approved Resolution AGAINST Guida/Lang/Kiedaisch spawned HB1397

I write about HB1397 rewriting RSA 399 and blaming Kiedaisch, Guida, and Lang for doing so – and doing it for political animus and retribution. Again. And this also has the unredacted invoices from Devine-Millimet from which I can only contend is that Kiedaisch (and to a lesser degree, Gallagher) using that firm as a way to wage lawfare against anyone he sees as a political opponent.

Point out his own actions is “attacking” the GAC? And Gallagher?

3)  5/7: Gunstock Area Commission – So Let’s See How Transparent Gary Kiedaisch Will Be about His Emails, Shall We?

While the top part of this post is a reminder of what has been going on with emphasis on the just released document, it’s also a rehash of what a Dillon’s Rule State is and that too few New Hampshire residents are cognizant of it – especially Kiedaisch (really, a GAC ByLaw trumps State Law?  The IGNORANCE of that! He’s just all over himself with such a statement!). But this is probably what Kiedaisch thinks is an “attack” on Gallagher:

Sidenote: or maybe Brian did in finally realizing that his gig was up as he had turned into another “GAC seat squatter” like Rusty McLear when he sold his Belknap County home and didn’t resign immediate as he no longer fit the Commissioner requirement of being a “resident property owner in Belknap County”.

And Kiedaisch, unnecessarily, spent $600 of GMR money in what appears to a be a whining effort of “well, I HAVE to keep Brian on the GAC – I’m losing my Power Base!”

The upshot of the above is that Kiedaisch AND Gallagher knew that the latter was no longer fit the requirements of being a GAC Commish: he no longer lived in the County.  Kiedaisch knew (see above) and did not do the right thing. Gallagher CERTAINLY knew and did not do the right thing.

Pointing out their actions is attack[ing] former Commissioner Gallagher and the GAC“???  NO, none of this is or was. I didn’t write about the GAC: I didn’t mention Jade Wood. I didn’t mention Doug Lambert. I didn’t mention Dr. Dave Strang. And only Kiedasch mentions Peter Ness.

Nope.  I only mentioned two names: Kiedaisch primarily with Gallagher only in a minor support role.  Nope, my “current postings” are really only about him.  But he’s trying to blow smoke to make it about me (the pestilent priest), a relative nobody in the grand scheme of GAC things, and deflect from his own actions.

Reminder from Kiedaisch’s email: “I’d like to have this posting discussed at the next GAC meeting and put on the agenda”. Good luck with that (even though Kiedaisch has in the past, if you read the GAC Meeting minutes, of reading Op-Eds into the record).

Just remember, that if he wants to discuss this, I’ll be quite happy to oblige him with handouts (and most likely, highly amused) and speak during the Public Comment session.

Chair Ness, much to Kiedaisch’s dismay in trying to make this something other than about himself, applied QUITE the slapdown (I did not know that he was ever in the WWE!).  Emphasis mine:

From: Mr Peter Ness
Sent: Sunday, May 8, 2022 10:42 PM
To: ‘david strang’ ; Jade Wood; ‘Douglas Lambert’ ; Gary Kiedaisch <garykinusa@gmail.com>
Cc: ‘Tom Day’ <tday@gunstock.com>; ‘Karen & Brian Gallagher’ <ibelieve121@gmail.com>; ‘Rusty McLear’ <rusty@meredithbaycorp.com>; ‘Rep. Russell Dumais’ <sundeedumais@metrocast.net>
Subject: Re: GAC meeting agenda

Mr. Kiedaisch,

In response to your email of this morning, I glanced at an article posted in the Granite Grok dated May 7, 2022 regarding some question about your emails.  It referenced (a) the report from legal counsel and (b) the Devine Millimet invoices (respectively, the “Report” and the “Invoices”) made public at the special GAC meeting on Friday May 6, 2022.  My recollection is that you voted to release and publish the Invoices.  The GAC by majority vote reached a decision to  publish  the Report and Invoices “to the public“.  I was the sole “no” vote on releasing the Invoices if you also recall.

I released the Report to GAC members at 4:48 p.m. on May 6, 2022.  I also requested that Dr. Strang release the Invoices at 5:17 pm on May 6, 2022.

I have no knowledge of who received the Invoices or the Report after those actions on May 6, 2022.  It would appear that the Granite Grok people received those public records by May 7, 2022.    If someone is now using part or all of that information which you voted to make public and you don’t care for their words, your dispute is with the Granite Grok.

Likewise, should Mr. Gallagher or any other former commissioner have some issues with third parties, they too should speak with those parties.

I do not find discussing a commissioner’s discontent with third party speech at a GAC meeting a productive use of the commission’s time.  Accordingly, I will not add your agenda item to the agenda for the upcoming meeting.

I am copying your original distribution list as a courtesy.  I find it peculiar that you are cc’ing former commissioners about agenda items which are not germane to the GAC’s business for an upcoming meetings.

Cordially,

Peter G. Ness, Esq.

Heh!

While Acting Chair, Kiedaisch had the ability to control the meeting agenda and engage in such political histrionics. It seems that a much sober-minded Chair is now in charge.

 

 

 

 

The post Did Gunstock Area Commissioner Gary Kiedaisch Really Believe That Chair Peter Ness Would Do as He Demanded about GraniteGrok? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Other than Letters of Marque in the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 11: To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water”), I can’t remember the IRS putting out such a notice that if you take an enemy’s stuff off the battlefield, you don’t have to report it.

If you have followed some of the more amusing bits of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, you’ve heard the stories of Russians abandoning their military equipment even to the point of disabling that gear themselves, breaking down or running out of fuel because of just rotten logistics, and the like.  Like the image above!

I’ve held onto this for a while and finally remembered I had it:

Ukraine’s National Agency for the Protection against Corruption (NAPC) has declared that captured Russian tanks and other equipment are not subject to declaration.

“Have you captured a Russian tank or armored personnel carrier and are worried about how to declare it? Keep calm and continue to defend the Motherland! There is no need to declare the captured Russian tanks and other equipment, because the cost of this … does not exceed 100 living wages (UAH 248,100),” NAPC’s press service said.

Also, there is no need in this case to submit reports of significant changes in property status within 10 days.

In other words – have at it – and keep it! Chutzpah, that’s for sure!

The Ukrainians have set up a “redeployment” shop in which such equipment, if turned in, is either fixed up for re-use by the Ukrainians or scavanged for parts and other useful purposes.

Sweet!

(H/T: RedState)

The post Quick Thought: So, Ukrainians Don’t Have to Pay Taxes on Captured Russian Tanks or Such? appeared first on Granite Grok.

If everything is Vladimir Putin’s fault, we might want to consider why he has so much influence over America but only since Joe Biden became president? Any takers? Okay, let’s try something a bit easier.

Biden Inc. just canceled what CBS News calls “one of the most high-profile oil and gas lease opportunities pending before the Interior Department.”

 

In a statement shared first with CBS News, the Department of the Interior cited a “lack of industry interest in leasing in the area” for the decision to “not move forward” with the Cook Inlet lease sale.

 

Alaska Senator Murkowski, who might help you move but move a body, knows what butters her bread, and it’s not Green New Deal Voodoo.

 

“I can say with full certainty, based on conversations as recently as last night, that Alaska’s industry does have interest in lease sales in Cook Inlet. To claim otherwise is simply false, not to mention stunningly short-sighted. The Biden administration needs to recognize how this decision is going to hurt Alaskans, reverse it immediately, and get the federal oil and gas program back on track now.”

 

So, Biden inc, which can’t tell the truth, has been put on notice by Murkowski, who can be convinced not to tell it. She says there is an interest. He says there is not.

What do we know?

Joe flipped a switch on day one and closed the Trump Admin’s open door to oil and gas development; replaced it with foreign sources.

Their policy is that foreign oil (more expensive, less accessible, or reliable) is better for the environment and national security.

We bought from our enemies instead of ourselves, including from Putin’s Russia. They then used Vlad’s Invasion as an excuse to cut off another source of supply.

The Democrats have tried to whitewash the meaning of star-chamber hearings from 2021 into early 2022, pressuring oil and gas executives to increasingly lower output annually. The goal was to cut production.

They have canceled “one of the most high-profile oil and gas lease opportunities pending before the Interior Department.”

Claiming there is a lack of industry interest makes no sense. Making “people” do things is the Democrat motto. “Government Knows Best” is stitched on every pillow. They are the self-proclaimed arbiters of all, Hirito before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The word and hand of God.

You can make interest happen. Throw billions at it, do it by force, or (hey, how about) through favorable lease rates and tax incentives; more than one way to skin that donkey.

But someone has to want to do that, and most of those people are out here with you and me, not in there with them, knowing better. So, at some point, the Administration will have lean on an old saw to dismiss yet another act demonstrating that their goal is to shift us away from fossil fuels no matter the damage to Americans or the nation.

So, how did Vladimir Putin manage to get the Biden Administration to cancel one of the most high-profile oil and gas lease opportunities pending before the Interior Department.”

And why does that, alongside any of the other things Putin has only been “able to do” to the Biden Administration, justify putting up with another minute with them or their party in charge of anything?

 

 

 

The post How Did Putin Get Biden to Shut Down America’s Largest Domestic Oil and Gas Lease Sale Last Week? appeared first on Granite Grok.

I was recently reminded that I was attacked at a candidates’ event several years ago for telling the truth about the so-called “gender gap.” You can’t just divide the total number of women working by their salary and compare that to the total number of men working divided by theirs.

You have to compare within job types and adjust for work experience.

I dug my hole deeper by saying studies show women on the whole prefer jobs with less travel and more regular hours. Worst of all, I said, women tend to take time off after having a baby and still are mostly the ones to stay home when a child is sick or school closes unexpectedly. Not all do, I added, I was self-employed when I had my daughter and had to work, but it didn’t matter. My words were twisted and I became a sexist who thought “women didn’t work hard,” “women shouldn’t work at all”—and that was the polite stuff.

More studies have since backed up what I said that day.

We want to thank Frances Erlebacher for this Op-Ed. If you have an Op-Ed or LTE
you would like us to consider, please submit it to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

Indeed, companies don’t just pay women and men basically the same for the same job/experience, the reality is women on the whole cost companies more, especially for larger companies that now offer generous benefits such as family leave (companies have to pay an employee on leave plus a replacement), child care, flexible schedules, and more.

With the recent rebranding of “maternity” leave as “parental” leave, employers sometimes pay for two people not to work for three months or more, even if neither “birthed” anything (our current Transportation Secretary and his hubcap come to mind). Also, some moms want to extend their leave and/or have a reduced work schedule when they return. And we all know women who stay home beyond their paid leave because they don’t want to “miss a moment” of the baby’s first year. Fair enough—but I’ve never heard a man say that.

Small wonder then that large companies are now trying to attract employees who don’t want children by offering a new benefit: paid travel to a neighboring state to abort babies (“Abortion Tourism”).

Five thousand dollars is nothing compared to the costs of parental leave and snow days—employers could pay for both parents and still save a bundle. Anyone who thinks I’m wearing my tinfoil hat should listen to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a formerly respected economist, who just this week testified that abortions are good for the economy and restricting them will limit women’s career opportunities. She probably thinks abortions are a killer solution for inflation.

So in just a few years, employers went from over-compensating for any remnants of the gender gap to encouraging “birthing people” to take advantage of a funded junket to an abortion hotspot. A win for corporate bottom lines but a big loss for the country—and for the voiceless babies who will never be born.

 

 

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Absent the three Ps of property, prices, and profit and loss, individuals will be devoid of the incentives and information required to continually innovate and coordinate their plans to realize the gains from trade and the gains from innovation.

-Peter Boettke (What Should Classical Liberal Political Economists Do?)

The Left (Socialists, Communists, Collectivists) all consider ANYTHING that an Individual does is “Greed” or “Greedy”. Yet, they themselves conduct themselves accordingly in their own self-interest.  They never want to admit that anyone acting in commerce is acting for themselves – it is always and only for the “collective good”. Thus, they demonize self-interest as Greed.

In believing that the Collective should direct all activities, especially those in the economic sphere, PROFIT is just as bad and have demonized it as “stealing”.  PRICES should only be set to recover actual costs (and often, only those of Labor, heeding back to Marx) with never a thought that without Profit, there can be no making a product better – or even bringing new products to the market (e.g., Bernie Sanders telling us that we don’t “need” 53 different kinds of underarm deoderant even as the Market (that would be us) says “Yes, we want it”.

Oh yeah, these same people are just DYING (or having us die) to limit us to what we NEED versus what we WANT.  Control to the max, baby!

And nothing bothers these Collectivist more than Private Property. Which, I have said before, is the foundation of Freedom (along with the Right to Free Speech and Conscionce).

Prof. Don Boudreau adds this (emphasis mine):

This point cannot be repeated too often – the reason being that this point is too often never learned, or it is forgotten or ignored. And those persons who are among the most prone to overlook this point are proponents of industrial policy.

Industrial policy, by its very nature, attenuates property rights, overrides market prices, and distorts signals of profits and losses. With industrial policy, owners of inputs are not allowed to sell their inputs as they choose; owners of production facilities are not allowed to operate their facilities as they choose or in ways guided by market prices and the willingness of investors to invest, or not, their own funds. Income earners are not allowed to spend their own money as they choose.

The particular producers who are somehow (we are never told how) divined by industrial-policy officials to be ‘vital’ are protected from losses, or even have their profits topped off with funds taken from taxpayers. One result is that producers who are deemed not ‘vital’ confront artificial barriers in seeking profits or avoiding losses. After all, resources transferred to ‘vital’ firms must come from somewhere; these resources are drawn away from other, less-favored producers.

Note – didn’t we just live through two years of hell with Government deciding who or what was “Essential” and who or what as not?  Again, from their standpoint, just a cog in their machine to do with as they like without any thought of what they were doing to those that were judged to be “valueless”.

And of course industrial-policy officials spend other people’s money. These officials have no claim on whatever residual sums are left to enterprises after the enterprises pay their out-of-pocket expenses. Genuinely plausible efforts to improve efficiency – and also to innovate – are thus muted.

And the most salient point of all: NO personal skin in the game in the case it all goes up in smoke.  All risk is someone else’s problem and they just shrug their shoulders and move on to their next victim.

Nor do these officials personally suffer monetary loses if the enterprises they favor fail to perform up to these officials’ expectations. Genuinely wasteful ‘innovation’ – or, depending on the officials’ demeanor, genuinely wasteful stasis – is thus encouraged.

Although I – and, with greater clarity, others – have said so repeatedly, industrial policy will work as promised only if and when officials charged with carrying out industrial policy come to have both the mind and motivation of gods. This fact is why all arguments in support of industrial policy are, at root and through and through, religious arguments.

GOvernment should stay in its own lane and leave the rest of us alone.

(H/T: Cafe Hayek)

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Dear Rep. Long: I have been an active parental rights advocate in New Hampshire for about 20 years now. During this time, I have never received a dime in compensation. I advocate on behalf of parents in New Hampshire because it’s the right thing to do.

My focus is on academic excellence in education, and supporting parental rights. 

I have helped parents navigate the paid lobbyists and attorneys that line up against them when their children have been assaulted. I’ve given a voice to the good parents who were begging and pleading with the administrators to reopen the schools because their children were suffering academically and emotionally. There are too many examples to provide in this letter, but know that there are many reasons good parents are fighting for what’s best for their children.

Your op-ed condemning parents who want to affirm their rights through legislation is a similar attack on good parents we saw coming through the U.S. Attorney General’s office a short time ago. Your attempt to paint these parents as extremists does not extend any sort of due process they should be receiving from their elected officials.

Not once has a parent contacted me that wasn’t looking out for the best interest of their children. These are not parents who are neglectful or abusive. In fact, they are the parents you want fighting for children.

Parents generally want three things from their local public schools;
1) Academic excellence
2) Safe learning environment
3) Respect for their fundamental rights as parents

When any of those factors are missing, you can expect parents will remove their children from the public school, or attempt to make a change at their local public school. The nerve of their elected official to paint them as extremists, not worthy of recognition or affirmation, is an assault on all good parents residing in your district.

Did you know that in the federal law, Every Student Succeeds Act signed by President Obama, includes a provision on parent engagement? That means that each district should have developed a parent engagement plan. Does Manchester have this plan developed and in place? Did you think to ask them since you represent the parents in this city?

Federal legislators have acknowledged the importance of engaging parents because they know that good parents can help their communities, and public schools thrive.

When their representatives beat back parents, as you are attempting to do, it can cause good parents to remain silent. Or was that your point all along–to silence good parents?

You failed to point to language in the parental rights bill that stood out that put a child in harm’s way, because it doesn’t exist.  No one in their right mind would support that. In fact, your charges are false.

During the Senate hearing, that argument was made, but thankfully Mike Donnelly, an attorney from the Home School Legal Defense Association, debunked those claims.

I encourage parents to read the actual legislation that has been proposed. This legislation supports parents if they want to examine the curriculum within the school. Does that sound extreme? The charges put forth by Rep. Long are false and absurd. I’m not sure what happened to the democrat party in New Hampshire, but this is something we should be unified on.

You should also know that when I receive calls from parents, oftentimes those parents work in your school district. The teachers and administrators are parents too. They are not extremists, but loving and concerned parents. Just because they cannot publicly share their experiences, doesn’t mean that those working inside the public schools share your anti-parent views.

I suspect this is more about silencing good parents instead of looking for ways to serve all families. Schools serve a diverse population, and if you are going to preach about an appreciation for diversity and inclusion, then start showing it.

 

 

| UL

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May 5, 2022 was the Senate hearing on HB1431 – a Parental Bill of Rights

I asked both NH State Reps Paul Terry and Jeffrey Gleeson for comment. Paul Terry sent this commentary in with this link:

Lo and behold, in the article covering Sen. Kahn’s announced retirement from the Senate we have him taking out after our New Hampshire House and Senate passed (different versions, to date) Parents’ Bill of Rights.  And what does he say in opposition to our efforts to secure historic natural rights of parents in their children’s educations?  That HB 1431 “resembles the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in Florida.” He appears here to have (intentionally?) joined those who have attempted to cleverly mischaracterize the Florida “bill” (uh, Sen. Kahn, I realize you have been very busy but it’s not a bill, it’s Florida law), and then associated it with our HB 1431, in opponents’ efforts to gin up more misinformed opposition to a not yet identical language and acted upon “final” version of our Parents’ Bill of Rights.

I realize we are in the “messy” world of politics, but how low will elected public officials go to destroy legislation necessitated by numerous and widespread abuses committed by those who have been entrusted by parents with their children’s educations?  As low, if not even lower than Sen. Kahn’s attack, was the letter (May 11) informing House Members of the Portsmouth City School Board’s “unanimous” opposition to HB 1431. Why? Allegedly and remarkably because of the all the dreadful things it “will” (not “may,” but actually “will”—yet without ANY claimed evidence!) do to children and school personnel, if passed.

I see news accounts almost every week that report on conflicts between reasonable parents and resistant school officials or employees. Who among us is not aware that parents “awoke” all across Virginia, and last November stunningly elected a candidate for Governor of the Commonwealth who promised he would stand with and for parents in their fights for educational transparency and accountability? Add to this countless other examples of parents in New Hampshire and elsewhere uniting to confront school officials (elected and otherwise) who are treating them dismissively and with arrogance, hostility and disdain.  There have been (and always will) be disagreements between parents and school personnel, but when we survey the national landscape I believe what we are witnessing is an unmistakable emergence of a pattern of disturbing “concern” (to be measured in my choice of word) that is unprecedented in my lifetime.

By all means let’s keep our heads and wits about us, but it’s high time we acted. HB 1431 is sensible and needed.  We want to see it on the May 26 House Calendar with a recommendation to approve it.  Let’s get this done. Call and email Speaker Sherm Packard, Majority Leader Jason Osborne and Children and Family Law Committee Chair, Kimberly Rice (contact information available at https://gencourt.state.nh.us/ ), and let them know YOU want this Parents’ Bill of Rights (HB 1431) for all of us!

A Parental Bill of Rights – what a concept!  After all, Parents DO need protection from predatory School Boards, like the Gilford School Board, who give themselves the Power to lie to Parents about their children AND force Staff to go along with those lies.

I know, I was lied to (by omission): “So How Did It Feel, Gilford School Board, to Watch Your Principal Lie to Me in Public Because of Your Policy JBAB?”

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At the most recent meeting of the Croydon school board, I was talking to a well-educated journalist — at least, given who she works for, I assume she’s well-educated — who seemed to be unable to grasp the difference between taking something from someone and not giving something to someone.

Suppose every year, Pat turns up at Chris’s house and demands at gunpoint that Chris fork over $1500 to pay for Pat’s kids (and other kids in town) to go to school.  Then one year, Chris answers the door with a gun of his own, and declines to give Pat more than $150.

Question:  Is Chris taking money away from Pat?  Or is Chris not giving money to Pat?

It’s not an academic distinction.  If you are a journalist, and you write stories in which you report that Chris (and people like him) are trying to take education away from the children of Pat (and people like him), you’ve identified Chris as a bad person.

And in the current political climate, the only thing that many people feel they need to know in order to make their decisions is:  Who are the bad guys here, and who are the good guys?

So you’re effectively saying to people:  You don’t have to listen to anything Chris might have to say about why schools shouldn’t cost so much, or why lower-cost alternatives could actually be better for kids, or why certified teachers (who have produced our current 40% proficiency rate) might not be as important as people claim they are, and so on.

That’s all irrelevant.  Chris is a bad guy, and that’s all you need to know about him.  So if you want to call him names, slander him, or harass his family, instead of addressing the points he’s trying to make, or answering the questions he’s trying to raise, that’s to be encouraged.

After all, as Terry Gross of NPR once pointed out, we don’t have to listen to bad guys.  Because we know they’re bad.  So anything they might have to say will also be bad.

The main function of journalism has turned into letting us know:  Who are the bad guys here, and who are the good guys?  Further analysis is not required.

In fact, further analysis is actively discouraged.  Because once you know who the bad guys are, they must be defeated at any cost.  And if things like civility and rationality and free speech and the rule of law must be tossed aside to secure victory, then as Nancy Pelosi said:  ‘If there is some collateral damage for those who don’t share our views, well, so be it‘.

If you’re trying to explain what just happened in Croydon, that’s it, right there.  The ‘discussion’ as moderated by journalists was conducted with roughly the same subtlety and depth of analysis as a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  And as a result, half the town is now collateral damage.

So be it, right?

 

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