Another good week for engagement between readers with several articles exceeding 60 comments each. And quite a few new names have popped up in the mix. That’s what it’s all about, in our opinion.

It makes my job harder – I say that every week, but it’s true, and I like it.

A few mentions before we crown last week’s winner. Jewbacca (love that handle), Recognizing truth, greenmanpostal, Jay, Tony, J.Page, The Ornery Nurse, Ua Nemhnainn, Ian, Nitzakhon, NHNative, Steve Earle, DiverDuck, TombstoneGabby, Landigns Elf, QuillPig, DavidS, Skip (posting @GraniteGrok), Ken, the other Ken, the other Jay, Jeff, Mike, Cantdog, Dan McGuire, StillStanding, Truth Hurts The Weak, Doyle, Agent Liberty, Jefferson Voltaire, Publius, and many (many!) more.

We welcome you all and appreciate your engagement, but as we say (almost every week), there can be only one.

David S. Please email me at steve@granitegrok.com so I can get a mailing address.

David S (reformatted) [GOP Voters are Not Very Good at Voting]
I think the REAL problem stems from the GOP NOT having REAL PRINCIPLES that they both understand AND stick to. Say what you want about libertarian ideals, but they are consistent.

When I ran for office, I may not have known everything about every subject, but when asked about something I didn’t fully know, my response was always in favor of the individual over the collective, getting rid of the government role, increasing freedom, liberty, choice, and personal responsibility.

Sadly, I think that too many in the GOP suffer from the same “internal schizophrenia” (as I call it) that plagues those in the democrat party. They believe in economic freedom but can’t allow personal freedom (or visa versa for the democrats). They NEVER seem to understand that there is ONLY FREEDOM, not two different kinds that can be separated or treated separately.

If you have NO foundation upon which to build your platform or principles, you can easily be led astray by polls, hollow arguments, or simply raw cash.

The absence of well-rooted principles continues to be a problem, as does the speed with which those claiming to have them depart from that – at all levels of government.

Note 1: Several runners-up are worthy of additional attention, so I hope to find time to feature them in posts later this week.

Note 2: Jim Peschke (last week’s winner), please email me (or email me again) at steve@granitegrok.com. I still need your mailing address.

The post This Week’s Comment of the Week Winner Is … appeared first on Granite Grok.

Non-journalist Tucker Carlson, that’s what the REAL media is calling him (maybe he’s just a reporter?), got something none of them could. An interview with the sinister dark lord of the once-fading Soviet Empire, Vlad the Putin. Their jealousy is embarrassing to everyone but them, which is great for us.

We didn’t lie about the Steele Dossier, Hunter’s Laptop, Hillary’s Server, VP Biden’s illegal possession of classified Docs, COVID/the response/the vaccine, but here they are, begging for credibility on the question of someone who has been doing journalism professionally for decades getting someone else’s side on a list of issues from NATO expansion to bombing Russian pipelines, to that war in Ukraine thing.

An interview they wanted but did not get, at which they claim they’d ask hard questions, which we know they would not. The goal would be not to pry the truth from a former KGB agent and Russian President for Life but to control whatever message came out of the conversation.

You and I are too stupid to understand what it all means. It is far too complex for us to manage. Therefore, they are obligated to engage in censorship and message control to ensure our baby-bird brains receive only the information nutrients they deliver.

Musk’s X, Tucker’s TCN, Joe Rogan, and many others (including the ‘Grok, in its own way) keep jumping the speech barriers and side-stepping the censorship landmines to expose you to ideas they can’t control, what the presstitutes and their Big Tech allies call misinformation or disinformation -even malformation.

How’s that working out?

The total for all of these shows combined is just shy of 32 million. Remember, back in 1968, Walter Cronkite drew an average of 27 million viewers just for his broadcast. Compare that to Tucker’s numbers — as of 9:06 pm Saturday night (Eastern Standard Time), it has 186 million views. In other words, Tucker is attracting 6 times more viewers than ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC combined. And he is not spending one dime on advertising trying to attract viewers.

CNN’s numbers are really pathetic. Their “top” show only attracted 733,000 viewers. Tucker blew through that number in the first 30 minutes of his interview with Putin. When you stop to consider the hundreds of millions of dollars the media companies with so few viewers, you must wonder, “How long can this go on?”

How long, indeed. That same REAL media has followed Big Tech’s example and shed tens of thousands of jobs, which, ironically, is what they voted for. Instead of following the Trump economy example post-covid, he did what Democrats always do. He made it more expensive to do business while making it harder to attract business: inflation, energy prices, food prices. The Obama-Era economic new normal that Trump destroyed with record jobs and economic growth returned when Igor (Biden) and his keepers took possession of the Executive Branch.

If the numbers are right, about 90% or more of the people who are losing their jobs in Big Tech, Media, and Entertainment chose that over prosperity and mean tweets.

Elections do have consequences, as does letting a political party steal them, which Democrats do to each other, so let’s not pretend they won’t do it to Republicans. And maybe they realize it, but likley not. The bubble in which they live is thick, like their skulls.

Carlson got what they wanted, and he’s embarrassing them with its appeal as fewer people tune in exclusively to their fits and rants about silencing any “journalism” whose product they cannot control.

If you are in our audience, you’ve likely seen it and decided for yourself, but if not, we’d never stand between you and you making up your own mind. Unlike the left and the Machine Media, we understand that everyone makes mistakes, and only through open debate do we find some agreement on the truth (and maybe just end up agreeing to disagree).

Here’s Tucker and Vlad having a chat.

Ep. 73 The Vladimir Putin Interview pic.twitter.com/67YuZRkfLL

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 8, 2024

The post Tucker Is Attracting 6 Times More Viewers Than ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC Combined appeared first on Granite Grok.

Americans have been very lax with their Blessings. In a country that offers so much, how is it that we take it all for granted without caring to ensure its operational integrity? No wonder that today, we are on the precipice of joining the rest of the third-world inhabitants!

Logic and common sense tell us that our freedoms all come with limitations. Think about safety on the highways; posted along with the speed is the word “limit.”
It’s required and even practical since men and women usually require controls. So, on this point, while certain acts have received freedom’s legal pass, explain the actual speech involved when burning our National flag or the value of “privacy” after becoming pregnant?

These queries are citizen-related; what about those that the citizens elect for representation? This two-sided coin meshes and thus increases the election of buffoons or worse. Once again, freedom only works properly when a responsible, alert, and informed citizenry is its guide.

For some time, those graduating with law degrees never once opened up or studied the law of our land, our Constitution. The majority of representatives have law degrees. Although otherwise upstanding, why is this law degree such an attraction for holding office to both the candidate and the voter?

This leads to two obvious injustices which have remained either unnoticed or, more likely, unknown. Over time, both have sewn a terrible web of intrigue and criminality.

The first is this weighty weapon of issuing an “Executive Order.” Its frequent defense is that George Washington issued them! Yes, he did, but what is not mentioned is that he used them sparingly and within the proper legal framework. As its title infers, they were strictly for issuing corrective measures to problems within his “Executive” branch. Today’s version of EO usage is similar to transforming a young and innocent lady into a common streetwalker!

Still, it’s a problem solver. Can’t get it through Congress? “Don’t worry about that old fuddy-duddy document from 1787 or the system of governing which has worked so well, we’ll just pass an EO!” The subsequent results from these illegal actions are the proof! And now, with the American people experiencing this abuse for so long, it’s considered routine!

The second Constitutional crime came with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. The basic purpose of its writing was to ensure equal rights to those who were freed. So, it would seem that this needn’t be an Amendment but rather a legal directive with an expiration date. However, even the legal ratification of the Fourteenth seems questionable given the late Congressman Lawrence P. McDonald’s book, We Hold These Truths.

To quote, “Three-fourths of the states did not ratify the proposed amendment, as required by the Constitution; but…Congress had the Secretary of State proclaim it ratified anyway –on July 20, 1868.” He further states, “…the Fourteenth would have foredoomed freedom under constitutional law because it conflicts so sharply with the rest of the Constitution.” Back then, it was an accepted fact that ratification by the rebellious states was a precondition to being re-admitted into the Union.

More affecting and more understandable is this asinine judicial interpretation that once an illegal enters American soil, her forthcoming baby will be granted citizenship! This interpretation directly challenges the purpose of America’s immigration process and requirements if all an immigrant has to do is to sneak in through the southern border so that her child would be automatically rewarded!

Another knock on the Fourteenth is the redundancy. It repeats the “due process clause” of the Fifth Amendment and the “equal protection clause” of its previous Thirteenth Amendment. Still, its judicial referencing continues.

Today’s Courts depend too much on this particular amendment. It has gotten to the point that it is a catch-all for so many assorted rulings. It seems that the late Congressman may have been correct when theorizing “…would have foredoomed freedom…”

Quelling any reader curiosity, Rep. McDonald is a relative unknown today since he was among those aboard the #007 flight of the Korean Airlines, which received scant media notice, simply due to the fact that it was downed by none other than our Russian trading partners.

The post Doubtful At Best appeared first on Granite Grok.

Let me first say that this statement is about the incompetent finance committee chair and my former opponent, Alderman Dowd, and not me.  I want to get that disclaimer on record before I get accused of being a sore loser. Last November, I lost to him 830-1003 with 182 undervotes.

I want to share a quick refresher of what kind of big-spending swamp rat he is, though I have a correction to offer; he’s even swampier because I mistakenly said he’s been in office since 2013.  He’s actually been in office since 2011.  Click here.

And if that didn’t wake up your memory, click here for a summary of his record as his condo association chair.

So here he is, a few months into his 7th term, which makes him even swampier than Annie Kuster, in this 4-minute video montage involving Tuesday’s BoA meeting where more money is being requested:

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Yes, elections do have consequences, but the City doesn’t seem to take that matter seriously enough!  If the worst property tax assault doesn’t get people off the couch to go vote for a new mayor(Mike Soucy), then what will?  I’m aware that not everyone likes me, but what do all these Dowd supporters like?  I ask because Dowd previously had some respectable and qualified opponents, as I noted in my first piece here.

With filing time for the next city election, assuming we’re still having elections, being a little over 18 months from now, it’s not too early to think about recruiting an opponent that can take him out.  He’s got a lot in common with D’Allesandro, just not the “Senator Manchin-like” attributes.

Dowd is a decaying old man who’s NOT going to retire.  His political career is in desperate need of euthanasia.  Ward 2 voters need to do it for ALL of Nashua.

The post Night Cap: Voter’s Regrets? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Democrat Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) has proposed legislation to address the issue of non-governmental paramilitary operations or militias (my words, not his). Our previous coverage got a lot of traction and input from readers.

Here’s one example.

10 U.S. Code § 246 – Militia: composition and classes

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are—

(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

The militia is a state military force, and the National Guard is a sub-military force of the militia…per the above, it’s known as the organized militia.

Those individuals between 17-44 not part of the organized militia…per the above are known as the unorganized militia.

So, federal law recognizes and specifies the individuals comprising the unorganized militia. This causes a problem when trying to impose bans.

In addition, in the Constitution, there is a clause for arming a state militia when called into the actual service of the US by an act of Congress. If you read the debates in the Constitutional Convention on this clause, they said it would give Congress 3 options…it could choose…1-by the federal government…2-by their individual state governments…or…wait for it…3-BY THE INDIVIDUAL MILITIA MEMBERS. This was before the 2nd Amendment. So, there was a right to own a firearm, and since this arming clause has never been changed, it remains. This also means these individuals have the right to purchase one. In fact, because of this, it could be argued they are required to have one. If so-called assault weapons are military-grade weapons, then they could never, by general law, prevent or ban members of the unorganized militia from owning one.

Also, last time I checked, every State has a similar militia break down as the above. This opens up another argument.

You can wade through the debate and comments under my original post here. This time around, I’m sharing something else someone sent me. An article in The Cowboy Daily out of Wyoming had some interesting insight into the contradictions and consequences of Markey’s bill as currently written.

The Preventing Private Paramilitary Act of 2024 could potentially be used to ban just about any gun-related activity, Cody firearms instructor Bill Tallen told Cowboy State Daily.

Tallen cites several issues, including

• “By strict definition, a militia is “maintained and raised by the state, and must answer to the governor,” Tallen said. So, impromptu groups don’t qualify as actual militias.”
• Markey’s bill is vague and wide open to abuse, he said. For example, it would prohibit any group to “publicly patrol, drill or engage in techniques capable of causing bodily injury or death.” – “That could apply to pressing the trigger on any firearm ever invented,” Tallen said.
• It would allow people to take “civil actions” against those they consider to be armed extremists. “If anybody observes you doing anything that they could construe as a violation of this act, they could file a civil action against you,” he said. 
• The bill also would make it unlawful to “interfere with, interrupt or attempt to interfere with or interrupt government operations or a government proceeding.” … “Interrupting” government operations or proceedings is also far too vague, and could be used to trample First Amendment rights, he added.”

He also suggests that tactical training, civilian live fire drills, and perhaps even school skeet shooting programs could become illegal under the legislation as written.

Given how badly this bill is put together, I’m beginning to wonder whether the Feds have some op in place that will result in a timely “militia-like” action (say along the southern border) that is meant to make opponents look bad or catalyze some amended form of Markey’s Bill to advance.

It’s not like that’s never happened before – Project Gun Runner is but one example.

The post Some More Thoughts on Ed Markey’s Anti-Militia Bill … From Here to Wyoming appeared first on Granite Grok.