We know what Joe Biden is doing to us on the home front. We see it at the grocery store, the gas pumps, and our utility bills. We see it is on our credit card and home finance rates. We see it when we finance a car or check our 401K balance.

What is more difficult to comprehend is the damage Joe is doing on the international stage. The global impact is not so tangible, and you must look behind the curtains. When you do, you will not like what you see and why he has the lowest approval ratings of any modern-day President.

We see the endless money stream flowing to Ukraine like oil through a pipeline. We know much of that money is being skimmed, and some may even find its way into Biden LLC accounts. We know that China and Russia each pull the strings of the Biden puppet. You will never hear Biden call out China on human rights violations with the Uighurs or demand they stop manufacturing raw Fentanyl made into tablets in Mexico, killing our younger population in Small Towne America. But what is happening with Iran is very subtle, but the entire Administration is covering it up.

First, there is the $6 Billion that the Trump Administration had frozen. Biden unfroze the funds to sweeten the five-for-five prisoner swap in September. Biden and his staff swore the funds could only be used for humanitarian purposes, but Iran said it was their money and they would use it any way they wanted. There were reports yesterday that Biden finally refroze the funds. This action will be a sticking point when we begin negotiations to get our hostages back from Hamas.

Next was the sanctions placed on oil sales by Iran. Biden’s team swears they did not relax restrictions, but how do you explain 400,000 barrels produced in 2020 when we had sanctions and 4 million barrels per day now. Iran has used oil to enrich its balance sheet by over $50 billion. This could not have been accomplished with the sanctions in place and enforced. To say otherwise is a lie and insulting to the American people. Biden’s approach to Iran is very reminiscent of his approach to China. Truth and can never be pointed out for fear you offend a foe.

Whether Hamas out of Gaza or Hezbollah out of Lebanon, neither of these groups would have dared pull off this slap at America and the world without Iran’s blessing. The world is convinced that eliminating Hamas and Hezbollah without cutting off the head (Iran) is fruitless. The conflict is less than a week old, and protests against Israel are increasing globally. Criticism by the media about Israeli military tactics fills the airwaves, as are demands to turn on the water and electricity in Gaza. The world has gone soft and will not have the stomach to witness an urban battle necessary for Israel to satisfy its objective. There will be collateral damage, and that is unacceptable to many. It is a shame these same people were not so vocal when word of children beheaded or entire families left to burn alive in fiery buildings set ablaze by Hamas. War is ugly, and this will be no exception, but we must remind the critics that Hamas threw the first stone, and Israel deserves the right to throw the second. And let’s not forget the dead and captured Americans. Where are our actions to balance those actions?

The post What Does Iran Have On Joe appeared first on Granite Grok.

I met a lot of people at the Leadership Summit who were planning to come to Groktoberfest but had not yet purchased tickets. As we near the event date, I’d like to remind you that there’s no discount for waiting, and we’d like to know how much fun we can expect to have with readers, fans, friends, and family.

That’s a polite way of saying, if you can make it to this oversized GrokMeet, please buy your tickets this week. You can use the QR or the embedded form below – both of which are easier to navigate than the event page (Not a dig on the ticketing platform; it’s just a fact).

 

Support Independent Media – Please Scan the QR Code or Use the embedded form to get your tickets to Groktoberfest!

DonorboxEventWidget.embed({container: 'donorboxEmbed',embedFormSlug: 'https://donorbox.org/embed_event/504084'});

 

 

As a reminder, DonorBox might tell you this is a tax-deductible expense or donation, but that is not correct, and I have been unable to change that note. The ticket price pays for the event costs, and any remaining money supports GraniteGrok. Speakers and helpers are all volunteers. Our goal is to heighten awareness of our new circumstances. A paid staff member for whom we are raising a salary (that’s for me) and what we hope to accomplish with those dollars with a full-time dedicated Grokster. Taking GraniteGrok to the next, NEXT level.

We encourage you to get a ticket and come hang out with us for a few hours and then support us however you can. Read more, click more, visit our ad sponsors, donate online, or become a subscribing monthly donor. Or become a sponsor.

 

Free Speech Sponsor $100 VIP access* for a year for one email address when the service becomes available. Free Speech Guardian $500 VIP access*, and a Month of Promotional/ad space on Granite Grok. Free Speech  Champion $1000.00+ Free Speech Patron $5000.00+ Something larger in mind, reach out to us please.

Or just get a ticket and come hang out with us. Meet Corey Lewandowski, Dan Richards, Hal Shurtleff, Skip, and Myself, hang with some Groksters, local groups, and activists, but this is not a candidate event. No candidates are speaking, but they are welcome to attend and mingle, and you can talk about whatever you like. We won’t stop you.

Ian and Jody Underwood will be selling books, and we can listen to some music.

And we have a gun raffle (Ruger 10-22).

Note: at least a few folks said they could not make it but are buying a ticket anyway to support us. Thank you for that; we wish you could join us! And we’ll see everyone else on the 28th, 1-4 pm.

Location: The Londonderry Fish and Game Club
5 Lund St, Litchfield, NH 03052

 

+These levels of support are needed and welcome; we can’t reach our goal without them. If this is you, please contact us directly.

You can also support us by placing ads on the site—email steve@granitegrok.com for rates and options.

The post Reminder – Groktoberfest is Less than Two Weeks Away appeared first on Granite Grok.

Years ago, story after story would appear stemming from the developing  “outlook” of what Social Work Graduate Schools were demanding their graduates adopt. They kept throwing out students who were either Conservative, Christian, or both, or just not hewing to the Narrative of how the world was to be seen and dealt with by these newly minted graduates.

Some were within months or even weeks of graduating but were being told, “Sorry that you just wasted two years of your lives, but we aren’t going to let you be one of us.” I was agape that most of these folks’ grades were perfectly fine – just that their beliefs didn’t match up with the professors.

Imagine being told, in effect, to “throw away your Christianity” simply to get a diploma. To have to lie to get that sheet of paper? Isn’t the current mantra of “LeftSpeak” “be your authentic self”? But they didn’t have the right “disposition” to be authentic social workers, according to the Leftard Professors who believed, seemingly across the nation all at once, that only people like them could be trusted to “serve the people.”

These folks were being true to themselves – and were getting rejected. It’s been this way, however, for decades. “Inclusion” seems to have a NewSpeak definition that has the unspoken undertones of “but only if you are one of us – we get to inclusively exclude you if you aren’t.” And do so without penalty or accountability.

So why do I bring up these three specific words? Because something rubbed me the wrong way – seemingly a “new” disposition?

Part of my four-month “hiatus,” at least an extremely good part of two months, was taking thirteen classes offered by UNH that were designed for DCYF to educate both Foster Parents and Residential/Group Home staff members (newbies as well as ongoing). Some were “gut” courses, some were rather rote (even if on materials that I’ve never seen before but seemed to be common sense), and a couple near the end required a lot of time, thinking, and writing—sixty hours of classes.

At the end of every class was a questionnaire that wanted to know what I thought of the class – and I certainly told them what I thought. However, one question was always present and near the end of each of these end-of-class surveys.  While I failed to capture the survey pages (non-graded, so I didn’t bother), I should have. The question was (paraphrased) was:

Was this class taught in an inclusive, respectful, and equitable manner?

Huh? Say what? What is that question even trying to ask? Especially if most newly minting Foster Parents are just run-of-the-mill folks just wanting to open their homes to help kids in need and aren’t politically oriented like I am. I’m betting that they are wondering – huh? It’s only because much of my time is immersed in the viewpoints of the Left that I went, each and every time: WHY?

• Inclusive – well, everyone can take the class, right? Isn’t THAT inclusive?
• Respectful – well, almost everyone still recognizes what that means in the general sense, but the Left is slowly turning that definition around as well in that I (and you) are not to be respected.
• Equitable – OK, I have NO idea what or HOW that word even applies in this

So for each instance the above question was asked, I answered pretty much with this:

Why are “inclusive” and “equitable” even being used here?? Doesn’t “respectful” cover it all? Isn’t that the ONLY word that is necessary in your question?

Now realize that almost every class I took was self-paced. A number were supposed to take two weeks to do, a couple were three, and three were four weeks in length. I would generally do a class in a day with the four-week ones in a day and a half. So, I finished early and then went back to dealing, full time, with the Granddaughter, the school folks trying to work with her, DCYF, and now a host of “other party” folks being brought in to see what is ticking, kinda ticking, off-beat ticking, or not ticking within her. There is a consensus that is starting to build from all that, but that will be grist for a later post.

My point is that I rarely had to interact with an instructor unless I ran into problems (like dead links to external materials, outdated material, and things that didn’t make sense unless one was already an insider). I would have thought, after making it clear that TMEW & I were newbies to all this, that my question about the use of inclusive and equitable would have been taken seriously. After all, that WAS their role as “fixers” for such issues that I brought up. One would have thought perhaps ONE of these 11 instructors (two oversaw two of my classes each) would have taken my question seriously.

Sadly, now. Now, TO BE SURE, unlike the poor social work students at the top of this post, none of my grades were dinged even if I started to let my “authentic self” out in my answers. I had one 89% grade – all the others have been 100% with the exception of my last course (along with TMEW’s) for the title of Emergency Care Foster Parent – it is yet to be graded (due by 10/22).

Sidenote: I make no claim to be the smartest guy in any room – I’ve said for years that I’m just an ordinary schlub from Central New Hampsha; no better and no worse than anyone else. However, the one thing I’ve learned to do during my 40-year career in the computer industry IS to learn. Two STEM degrees and a whole FLOCK of technical certifications as technology changed and the companies I worked for said “Prove to use you’ve learned what we told you to do”. So, I know how to take tests and answer questions – that’s my “superpower” if I have any at all. I’m still just an ordinary guy…

So to that point (not dinged), at least there is still some intellectual honesty in the process. But it concerns me, 10-15 years down the line, that the Left’s outlook is sneaking into this kind of education in a matter-of-fact process: “Hey, this is normal – why are you complaining? WE are the experts, right?”. It is assumed that one is Woke to be able to answer the mandatory question (yes, I tried to leave it blank – they made it a mandatory answer text field).

It’s the institutional capture we’ve been dealing with all these decades: you are expected to accept our language.

All I wish, however, that ONE, just ONE, would have answered my question and leveled with me HOW inclusive and equitable were to be seen.

The post Was This Class Taught in an Inclusive, Respectful, and Equitable Manner? appeared first on Granite Grok.

If White Guilt needed a poster Girl, there are many from whom to choose, but if you don’t feel like looking, Leah Stokes fits the bill. She is the senior author of a paper funded by pro-wind-energy concerns titled “Prevalence and predictors of wind energy opposition in North America.”

Put down any beverage before you read this.

 

In the United States, opposition was more likely and more intense in areas with a higher proportion of White people, and a lower proportion of Hispanic people; in Canada, the same pattern held for wealthier communities. The names in articles associated with US opposition were overwhelmingly likely to be White. This suggests an environmental justice challenge we term “energy privilege,” wherein the delay and cancellation of clean energy in wealthier, Whiter communities leads to continued pollution in poorer communities, and communities of color.

 

Leah needs ot have a sit down and chat with Greta ‘How Dare You’ Thunberg. Muppet Greta led a protest opposing a wind project development in indigenous areas earlier this year. Something she called Climate Colonialism. I quickly pointed out how green-energy privilege leveraged as liberal privilege to create energy privilege was already ruining the lives of “indigenous populations” and their local environments.

 

Nearly everything “green” has CCP fingerprints on it. China owns many of the mines in Africa and South East Asia, where local low-wage or slave-level laborers work in criminally unhealthy conditions with massive environmentally damaging footprints. Not the fake damage used to sell the agenda but real, generational harm with long-term impacts on human health, land, water, and wildlife.

Can we expect Thunberg to visit the Congo, Indonesia, or the Mother Ship in China? What about CCP climate ‘colonialism’ and human rights violations? Will Greta stand before the UN and say, “How Dare You” support an energy transition under these circumstances?

And what about the rest of it? I mean, all of it. Are all the groups milking the colonialism schtick going to shoot their narrative or climate cash cows because the NWO energy transition depends on climate change colonialism and the harmful offshoring of emissions to third-world nations for the benefit of wealthy globalists?

 

It is a fine thing for Leah to collect data on wind energy development. Still, perhaps she should consider “whose land” they might be burying the unrecyclable bits from decommissioned wind turbines. Or how the planned exponential increase in the cost of electricity makes everything, not just electricity, cost more, and how that harms the poor minority first and most often?

That expanding domestic fossil fuel development in the US lowered the cost of living and improved the quality of life for tens of millions when the economic recovery that followed created jobs and increased wages for women, blacks, Hispanics, and teens to record levels.

Finally, that allowed to proliferate the economic and environmental cost of the rapid deployment of wind or solar is a) emissions offshoring to mines in third-world countries while China builds most of the green tech with dirty coal power, b) detrimental to the economic and national security of the West – putting more vulnerable people at risk, and c) would shift a significant portion of the middle class, including all people, below the poverty line.

So what if, maybe, these white people get all that and are doing themselves and, by extension, poorer communities a favor you are ideologically incapable of seeing?

 

The post White Guilt Wind appeared first on Granite Grok.