To speak of any kind of “paternalism” justly smacks of “parentalism,” of treating others like children, and that brings us to the third problem, the cultivation of self-command. 

Smith identifies the wide world of social experience as “the great school of self-command.” We learn through error, instances of self-disapproval, and social feedback. We learn to act like adults by being treated like adults, not children; we learn responsibility by having responsibility.

The point is not to say that we can do nothing to help individuals better themselves. It is to say that, at least from a Smithian perspective, we must carry on that conversation in terms other than those proposed by the new paternalists. We should talk in terms that recognise the problems that inhere in claims about regulating affairs that make people better off by their own standards.

-Erick Matson (Adam Smith and problems with the new Paternalism)

 

(H/T: Cafe Hayek)

The post Notable Quote – When Someone Treats You Like a Child appeared first on Granite Grok.

Using the latest available FBI crime data HomeSnacks.com has once again named New Hampshire the safest state. It’s not unfamiliar territory. The Granite State finds itself in the top three in most of these surveys, but something has changed.

New Hampshire

Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 152 (2nd safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,209 (2nd safest)

If you’re looking for the absolute safest state to live in America, then look no further than New Hampshire. In fact, most of the entire New England area north of New York State is actually a really safe place to be.

 

Maine came in second, also not unusual (they are often in the top three), with New Jersey popping in at number three [which I always find odd]. But Vermont?

 

Vermont

Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 2)
Violent Crimes Per 100k: 202 (4th safest)
Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,424 (8th safest)

…

It is the lowest in the country for violent crime this year, but took a slight tumble down the rankings due to an increase in its property crime ranking. In fact, there were only 10(!) murders in the entire state of Vermont for the entire year in the last reporting year.

 

Fourth is decent overall, but Vermont used to rub shoulders with and even surpass New Hampshire on these sorts of surveys, and I doubt we’ll be saying any more of that because of places like ultra-liberal Burlington.

The Green Mountain State’s largest city shows us that even in a state as safe as Vermont, Democrats can screw things up. In the heat of the BLM, protest summer it defunded its police force by 30%.

Property crime in Burlington is now more than double the state average and above the national average. And while this survey – using older FBI data from 2019 – suggests low violent crime – violent crime is now also twice the state average. Assaults have exceeded the national average, while rapes are more than twice the national per-capita rate and the locals are unhappy.

Burlington business leaders are airing frustrations about what they’ve described as a pattern of unsettling incidents this summer and fall in the downtown business district. Now, with the holiday season just around the corner, they’re calling on city leaders to help protect employees and customers.

That hardly sounds like scenic idyllic Vermont because it’s not. It’s incompetently run Burlington, though the city is not alone.

Brattleboro is trying to be worse. When it comes to property crime, it is four times that of the state and nearly three times the national average. Violent crime is two-and-one-half the state average but mostly from assaults. Rape in Brattleboro is only a fraction above the national average per capita.

In New Hampshire, only Manchester can compare, accounting for the majority of excess crime in an otherwise low-crime state, thanks to the failed “leadership” of Democrat Mayor Joyce Craig.

While New Hampshire has only four crimes per square mile statewide, Manchester boasts 96 (for comparison, Vermont has 5, Burlington 89).

Another crime-riddled liberal urban plantation in the making trapped under the careless eye of a leftwing mayor or council.

Despite this, New Hampshire continues to prosper in this department. However, it would do well to make a change there before matters get further out of hand and begin to spill over into the neighboring towns, and it no longer finds itself one of the safest states in the nation.

 

HT | Chris Maidment

The post 2021: New Hampshire Ranked Safest State in America Again, While Vermont Begins Liberal Slide… appeared first on Granite Grok.

Either that or Biden is claiming that he is the Fuehrer. You tell me.

“Mr. President, did you really receive more votes than Donald Trump?” pic.twitter.com/4NzaXvp8OV

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) October 16, 2021

The post An Angry Biden Admits Trump Won The Popular Vote appeared first on Granite Grok.

There are several misconceptions surrounding the opposition and protest of vaccine mandates. I use the word “misconceptions” in place of “lies” because I believe only a small number are actively spreading misinformation about the entire vaccine mandate issue.

I want to begin by stating that I myself am vaccinated. I’m not opposed to vaccines, but I know their purposes and functions. I am opposed to any mandate stripping away medical autonomy and privacy.

The COVID vaccine is NOT the same as the polio vaccine. It is akin to the Flu vaccine. There are many types of vaccines (live-virus, deactivated-virus, partial viral DNA identifiers in spike proteins, etc.). The polio vaccine actually creates permanent antibodies, and your body will fight and destroy Polio before you reach a viral load indicating infection. You will not contract or spread Polio if vaccinated.

That’s not how the COVID vaccine works. Viruses such as the Flu and COVID mutate frequently, and the vaccine prevents the most severe symptoms, but you can still achieve a viral load sufficient for infection, and you can still spread it. Getting Vaccinated protects YOU and no one else. Any thought that MY being vaccinated in any way protects YOU is fallacious and uneducated. If you want protection, YOU need the vaccine. It’s a personal choice weighing the risks and benefits you and no one else.

We want to thank NH State Rep. James Spillane 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.

The misconception that fighting against vaccine mandates is a unique anomaly led by misguided, uneducated fringe Libertarians who believe conspiracy theories in NH (and nowhere else) is absolutely false. If anything, the uneducated and misguided people are those who blindly think that the vaccine is required of ME to protect THEM. Go reread the previous paragraph.

This fight against overarching unconstitutional government mandates, including the pressuring of private companies to create mandates the government cannot legally impose, is not unique to NH. Police in Chicago, pilots at Southwest, and everyday people in retail and restaurants oppose the mandates.

All around the country, and even the world, people oppose the MANDATES, not the vaccine. These people come from ALL places in society – from Nurses and Doctors to Pilots and Police Officers to kitchen workers and waitstaff. There is no political party affiliation common across this vast range of people. What unites everyone is the overreach of government.

If you talk to any of these groups, you will not hear one person talk about 5G mind control or tentacled microorganisms. The vast majority will tell you they do not oppose the vaccine per se, and many like myself are already vaccinated BY CHOICE.

I heard a radio commercial this week stating that “You should go in and get your Flu shot AND COVID vaccine at the same time.” The thought of this is truly frightening because although the FDA stated that you could get the flu shot if you have had the COVID vaccine, they have NOT studied getting both shots at the same time.

There have been no studies, and there is NO data in the CDC regarding simultaneous Flu and COVID vaccinations across age ranges, body types, and varying comorbidities. Getting both vaccines simultaneously could trigger a cytokine storm overwhelming the immune system and causing organ damage. At a very minimum, you should wait for 3-days between vaccinations, and 2-weeks is better.

I will leave you with this: If you want to get the vaccine to ensure YOU have more protection, get it. But let it be your choice, not an action under duress by threats from others.

The post Vaccine Mandate Misconceptions appeared first on Granite Grok.

Dear New Hampshire Executive Council, Thank you for not allowing the governor to sell out OUR State. It doesn’t matter whether the federal government offered New Hampshire 30 pieces of silver or 27 million dollars.

The result still would have been the betrayal of the people of New Hampshire.

The principles, personal choices, and freedoms of individual Granite Staters should never be for sale.

Today, far too many of our political leaders are only concerned with their careers instead of the Constitution they swore to defend.

The governor should be ashamed of himself.

We want to thank Michael Petruzziello for this article. If you have an Op-Ed or LTE
you want us to consider, please submit it to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

Thank you so much for showing him what courage looks like and for standing up for the people.

May God Bless you all.

Sincerely,

Michael Petruzziello
Major, USMC (Ret)

The post Thank You for Not Allowing the Governor to Sell Out Our State appeared first on Granite Grok.

Hi folks! And especially to some of our Commenters – apologies.  It seems that DISQUS has been taking what *I* think are relatively benign comments and put them into “NEEDS MODERATION” or were labeled as “SPAM” for no good reason at all.  I’m just shaking my head – I’ve not seen this before since switching to DISQUS years ago. Sure, once in a while I’d come across a comment that made my eyebrow raise up because I couldn’t see WHAT was wrong with it – and approved it right away. I just put it down to “a very small percentage – nothing is perfect” category.

Not any more. After all, I just approved a comment that only had #”FJB” in it. You know, the more impertinent version of “Let’s Go Brandon!“.  WOW, this was FAST.  So why is DISQUS protecting President Asterisk like this? Right on their front page, they proudly display “Express Yourself“.

I also approved a number of other comments that weren’t quite so “benign” and changed some of the spelling so as to pass my Rule #1 – basically, Free Speech but making things kid friendly. Adult Themes but I have tried, since our inception, to keep this place family friendly.

Trolls are another thing – I take a dim view of them. They’ll get a warning, most of the time, but I ALWAYS reserve the right (and Steve as well), to boot anyone not playing by our limited Rules at any time.

Most of you that leave Comments here – please know that they are appreciated and we welcome them (even as it is taking more and more of my time to moderate them). I’ve always wondered why sites would stop allowing comments – they add to the original post and sometimes, create discourse that gets more interesting than the ,original post (like some of mine). I want them to continue.

So, if you are leaving comments and they are disappearing, LET US KNOW!!!  I can’t be watching them all, all of the time. If they are in DISQUS (and sometimes, they aren’t), and they seem fine to me, I’ll approved them as soon as I see your email.

Also, if you see REAL SPAM, flag the comment and I’ll go look at it as well. Ditto for TROLL comments (but make sure that they really are TROLLS as opposed to just disagreement on world view).  I’ve banned folks for being Trolls – will do so again but it has to be a pattern rather than just a single comment.

Anyways, this went long. Again, apologies to those that got their comments mashed by DISQUS’s meat grinder.

The post It seems that DISQUS is showing its Big Tech side to us all – Apologies to some Commenters appeared first on Granite Grok.

Kamala is absolutely correct that the European colonizers of America “ushered in a wave of devastation for tribal nations — perpetrating violence, stealing land and spreading disease”:

 

VICE PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES: “Those Explorers ushered in a wave of devastation for tribal nations — perpetrating violence, stealing land, and spreading disease. We must not shy away from this shameful past…” https://t.co/OPcgGPqvbO

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 14, 2021

But … so what? That’s the history of the world. More advanced or more aggressive civilizations have since time immemorial conquered less advanced and less aggressive civilizations.

For example, we do not know who the Celts conquered to make the British Isles their home, but they were not the original inhabitants. Many of these Celts were later conquered by the Roman Empire. And then when the Romans left in 410, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes moved in and conquered much of the land.

And they were in turn conquered, for a time, by the Vikings in the early 9th century. And then in 1066 William the Conqueror of Normandy crossed the channel … you know, that Battle of Hastings thing. Take a look at a map of Europe at the beginning of each century if you don’t believe that throughout history more advanced and more aggressive civilizations have been conquering less advanced and less aggressive civilizations.

This is also the case for the New World. The Aztec Empire that Spain conquered in the early 16th century was of relatively recent vintage. The Aztecs migrated to the area in the 13th century and reached empire status in the 15th century by conquering the peoples already living around Tenochtitlan. And you may have heard about this curious habit the Aztecs had of using these subjugated peoples for human sacrifice. And while Cortes was a bonafide bad-ass, he never would have been able to conquer the Aztecs if not for the support of many of the peoples the Aztecs had conquered.

And the Comanches brutally conquered the lands of the Pawnees, the Osages, the Blackfeet, the Kiowas, the Tonkawas, and the Apaches. The Comanches were so brutal to the Apaches that the Apaches begged the Spanish for protection.

I could go on and on and on and on and on … but I trust I have made my point. Kamala is either a historical ignoramus or she is cherry-picking history.

Either way, she should just STFU.

The post Kamala Thinks The World Would Be Better Off If America Had Never Existed appeared first on Granite Grok.

Readers send us stuff because, well, crowdsourcing is fantastic, and we can’t be everywhere or see everything. And this nugget is sweet, and not just because it makes a laughing stock of the left and their ‘Science’ narrative.

Someone took the time to compile headlines that follow the efficacy narrative of the COVID vaccines from 100% down to 20%, followed by the call for boosters, which are just more of the same.

Think about that before you watch this. Their science solution is Russian Roulette boosters forever, paid for by taxpayers and rising insurance rates lining the pockets of Big Pharma, and they can’t even “flatten the curve.”

 



 

HT | ZeroHedge

 

 

The post Watch COVID Vaccine Efficacy Decline Before Your Eyes appeared first on Granite Grok.

Within I pick three topics upon which to discourse, but not worth a full-length examination as a standalone piece on their own.  But first, reprising an older cartoon (for shameless self-promotion!):

 

And I am now regular link contributor to Gates of Vienna.  Here’s the latest link aggregate there.

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

Zeroeth, prepping-wise, two articles quick-hit style.  The idea is that you need to start thinking about this… and right quick.

40 Thrifty and Surprising Uses for BREAD TAGS

50 Survival Uses For Salt

That bad times are coming is not in doubt.  The only questions are:

1. When will it start?
2. How bad will it get?
3. How long will it last?
4. What will I have to do to survive it / get my family through it?
5. What will the aftermath look like?

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

As I observed in A Curious Incuriosity, there is an unspoken omerta against The Narrative (video, 13 minutes) on all things Covid.  Remember, they’re herd beasts.  But I want to build on this seeming inability to admit error, for errors happen.  I joke with my kids that if I only err three times a day I’m doing pretty well.  It’s when we refuse to acknowledge that we’ve erred that it becomes a mistake.  Admitting such takes humility, which – at least, per one movie – is why vanity is Satan’s favorite sin (video, 0:58).  (Yes, there is Satan in Judaism too.)

 

 

So I want to direct you to an excerpt from Surak’s recent post (bolding added):

A friend [named Nitzakhon ] sent me a link to a paper in a medical journal which examined the relationship between CoVID injection rates and new case rates in countries around the world. According to the prevailing narrative, high injection rates should result in low rates of new cases, implying what we call a negative association between the variables; in other words, the injection is preventing some new cases. The authors studied their data and announced that (sadly) there was no such relation; high injection rates did not result in lower new case rates.

I looked at their graph and their data and re-analyzed it myself. I discovered that not only was there not a negative association; indeed there was a strong, statistically significant positive association. In other words, higher CoVID injection rates were provably associated with higher new case rates. Wow.

What did your trusty data guy do? Quickly write up the results and send them to the principal author of the original paper, a professor at a well-known university. No answer.

No problem! I just sent this in as a two-page “short communication” to the journal that published the original paper. My discovery does not invalidate the original paper; in some ways it reinforces and strengthens their conclusion.

The journal just replied and said they will not publish it. They couldn’t find anything wrong mathematically, but – they just didn’t think it was all that important.

It isn’t important that higher injection rates are strongly associated with higher rates of new cases? Are you kidding? Or do they want to hide this fact? There are other journals in the world, and I hope someone else will take this.

I’ve made some (minor) discoveries in my career.  I have patents and many insights and successes too.  And while I’ve never specifically screamed, a la Archimedes, Eureka!, I have occasionally been quite pleased with myself at making connections and seeing things nobody else saw.  (E.g., at one employer I stumbled on a massive cost savings simply by attending a show-and-tell by a supplier and seeing their wares.  Without details, they had this new lab-experiment product but “We have no idea what it could be used for”.  “Oh, I know where I want to try it…” which resulted in over $250K in annual cost savings.  Justified my salary for the year.)

But I’ve also gone down many wrong paths, been corrected many times, and often had thoughts offered that led to new insights and even course-corrections.  So, many times, I’ve said what should be a very common phrase, right after eureka:

I didn’t think of that – thanks for giving me the idea!

It was this humility and gratitude in accepting others’ thoughts, and this willingness to say “Maybe I’m wrong” to myself, and to observe dissonances in what I believed versus what I observed, that was – I believe – the single key element of my move from Left to Right.  E.g., my switch from rabid anti-gunner to staunch Second Amendment proponent; from my very early essay The Leftist Sense of Self (bolding and links in original):

I was living in the Midwest when my police officer neighbor remarked that I should get a gun for self-defense. Having been raised, all my life, to believe that civilian gun ownership was wrong, it shocked me to my core that – of all people – a cop was telling me this.

Unlike most Leftists – and have no doubt that I still was one – I didn’t dismiss this as a flier data point stated by a knuckledraggingslopedforeheadredneck, but rather it made me think those great two words that often stand at the threshold of a new insight: That’s weird…

I started to pay more attention to the ads being put forth by the gun control lobby; data that, hitherto for, I had accepted at face value because they matched what I already thought (i.e., confirmation bias). I wrote to the NRA and what was then Handgun Control Inc. I would follow up with requests for more information on specific topics; e.g., I’d get something from one side, so I’d write the other side for their data on the same topic. I wrote to the researchers whose works were being cited to ask follow-up questions based on their works (most responded!). And I’d cross-check, compare, and lo and behold, I realized something very fundamental – something that, of course, the Rightward side already knows: In virtually every instance, the NRA was far more accurate and complete in its picture.

One egregious example was this famous ad by gun controllers (multiple versions exist). Utterly convincing on its gut-reaction face, upon considered reflection I realized it did not normalize for the population size. Just that fact alone made me suspicious; years later I heard the phrase “Local instability means global instability” as related to my career – the same holds true for propaganda: once a side is shown to be not just biased (after all, every side puts forth information sympathetic to its argument!), but outright deceptive, all credibility falls away. I, like most people, have a strong aversion to being intentionally lied to.

As a result of this revelation, not only did I switch from being a ban-them-all gun controller, but it was one of the defining moments in my move away from the Left and towards the Right.

Humility: the ability to admit one might be wrong and, thus, learn

Gratitude: the ability to happily accept other thoughts and information

Resilience: understanding that being wrong on something does not mean you are a bad person

Ultimately, though the road will be fraught with dire trials, I truly believe the lack of these traits on the Left will be part of our eventual, albeit hard-won, victory over them.

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

Presented without (much) comment, aside from trying to not throw up.

soldiers with gay and trans flags

 

I was never in the military though, looking back, I regret that.  I was recruited pretty hard for the nuclear navy, and always have had a soft spot for squids in general:

 

 

But… I’d walk away and cheerfully accept a dishonorable discharge before I carried a rainbow or transgender flag.  Because I know where my honor comes from, and it’s not some parade general or Fraud-in-Chief Potato-for-President telling me I have to be “diverse” to be a good soldier.

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

I am not alone in saying that there is a Covid Cult – I’m mentioned several times how people we know have a whole-family-set of T-shirts from one of the pharma companies saying “Science will win”.  But it’s become not just a science, but a faith.  Remember, our national motto has been IN G-D WE TRUST for years (though IMHO there’s nothing wrong with E Pluribus Unum).  Still, as John Adams said:

(Link to AZQUOTES per their policy.)

 

So I’m at the local whole wallet (Whole Foods) and here’s an older man with a mask – not this one but the same message:

 

 

The Covidians have now elevated “science” to replace Hashem.  Just look at this T-shirt for sale:

 

Talk about idolatry!  In parallel, in another discussion, someone said “Well, the CDC says…” at which point, already being hot under the collar, I let rip with “F*CK the CDC”!  The horror on their face said it all.  I had blasphemed their Golden Calf.

 

(Credit)

This is not a fact war.  It is not a science war.  It is not a logic or history war.  Just like the war against the Left itself, this is a religious war.  And IMHO it stems from our irreligious, nihilistic society.  We are hard-wired for faith in something greater than ourselves.  He made us so, but having absented Him from our hearts societally, we’ve echoed that famous saying:

If you believe in nothing, you’ll fall for anything.

Indeed, we have fallen, and our nihilistic society’s Hubris is calling Nemesis on the hot line.

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

LET’S GO BRANDON!

 

The post Quick Takes – Hat Trick appeared first on Granite Grok.

See the rest of them at PowerLine.

Governor Sununu, who wrote dozens of emergency executive orders imposing government force on private businesses, now says he can’t or won’t support protecting citizens from the will of private businesses concerning COVID19 policy, specifically vaccine mandates.

He won’t use the State to protect employees from mandatory pharmaceutical interventions. And yes, he’s pissed he didn’t get the 27 million in strings-attached Fed dollars to use the State to push vaccines on people. Actual Republicans stepped in to stop that.

But what if New Hampshire doctors, hospitals (or even insurers), refused service to the unvaccinated?

The Cleveland Clinic will no longer perform organ transplants unless both donor and recipient are Vaccinated for COVID19.

That’s the first step in a dangerous direction, especially when this all began as an exercise in protecting public health. COVID vaccines started that way and escalated to mandates that harm the public health machinery (and therefore public health) to the silence of Democrats and a few Republicans like Sununu.

Nurses and doctors who refuse the Jab are getting fired. They’ve gone from Frontline Health Care Hero to back of the line zero. One political narrative overtakes another, undermining the very thing it claimed to advance all along.

Related: ‘Public Health Trumps Everything’ Is ‘Cancel Culture’ in Disguise

We never believed it, especially when his excellency said, “public health trumps everything.” The optics/politics is what trumps everything, eh, Governor Sununu? Oh, and big checks from the feds no matter what the risk.

So, I expect others to follow the Cleveland Clinic example and for the latter to expand on that prohibition. Just how far that is allowed to go depends on whether the government protects its citizens from this discrimination.

So we put you to the question. Gov. Sununu, how much “public health” are you willing to let private businesses (hospitals) restrict to the vaccinated? Organ transplants, cancer treatments, cardiovascular surgery, emergency care? Where’s the Sununu redline?

And to NH Hospitals. Are you considering restricting any procedure based on COVID vaccination status? Is anyone in administration talking about this?

And while I’m on the subject, should we be concerned about Insurers refusing to cover procedures or to cover the cost or other drugs if you are unvaccinated?

Some on the left closer to you on this issue than most Republicans have suggested blanket prohibitions on shopping so, how about stopping electric or internet service? Are there any limits? Once you’ve abandoned individual liberty and bodily integrity the sky’s the limit?

Is any of that discrimination a bridge too far, Governor?

Before you answer, remember that a majority of Black Americans are vaccine-hesitant. You are already unwilling to protect their jobs, careers, livelihood, but how about their lives? How about anyone’s life? Does the State have any interest in that sort of discrimination?

Does your State or your Governor?

 

 

The post Question for The Gov. – Will You Allow Hospitals to Refuse to Treat the Unvaccinated? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Joe Biden — The Hollowed Out Shell of a Once Mediocre Man

Someone needs to make a video like this classic, replacing “All Your Base Are Belong to Us” with “Let’s Go, Brandon!”

Bitter laughter we’ve had aplenty, every time Joe “President” Biden forgets his lines, or where he is, or with whom he is talking. Then we cackle with a deep, vindictive glee. You wanted the toughest job on earth, now gag on it, Grandpa Simpson, we say to ourselves. No ice cream for you today. 

The Hollowed Out Shell of a Once Mediocre Man

Now, that vents some resentment about this imposter squatting in the White House—this hollowed-out shell of a once mediocre hireling, washed up there by a tsunami of illegal, unchecked ballots, at our oligarchy’s behest. Now they’re stuck with him, and all the crazy promises they made, and the virus panic they unleashed.

When their plans blow up in his face, we snicker. Every time the Bidenist Occupational Government blunders, and another “domestic terrorist” gets exposed as a Fed infiltrator, we flash a smile of steel. We see on Brian Stelter’s colicky baby face the frustrated tantrums that must afflict The Secret Committee Formerly Known As Joe Biden (TSCFAJB, Tuss-KUFF-ka-jab). All those deep state  hacks who think they’re a “brain trust,” bungling this goat rodeo, month after month after month. And they know we are laughing at them. 

Read the rest here.

To develop one’s judgment properly, one first needs the freedom to make decisions for oneself, because judgment, like other skills, must be practiced to develop. But one must also be held responsible for one’s decisions, because it is through feedback – negative or positive, as the case may be – that one learns to correct, hone, and develop one’s judgment.

-James Otteson (Seven Deadly Economic Sins)

Decisions have to be made about everything and at all times (ok, only mostly if you get a touch of procrastination, like me, from time to time). The real question isn’t if you put them off but if you get to make them in the first place?  Here in the Land of the Free, we are seeing decisions made for us by others who generally don’t know who you are in the first place. There is no sense of whether the decision is right or wrong – or even if it applies to you in the first place. It is, however, made for you by some bureaucrat or some legislator that believes they are doing this “for the common good”.

Freedom removed. Decision taken away.  Once again I ask you: in how many aspects of your life is government making life “easier” to not have to think what to do? I defy you to tell me in what area Government has not decided that you are incapable to make such decisions?

No, not everything, not yet anyways. But with millions of bureaucrats and thousands of legislators, do you really think they are going to stop doing stuff “for you”?

Are you a wolf or a dog?  Dogs are cuddly, they give you unconditional love, and all they ask is to go outside, get fed, and get patted once in while. But notice that few, once highly attached, make a lot of decisions for themselves.  By becoming domesticated, they have given up some of their heritage nature and behaviors. Mine are always looking backward at me when walking “keep going this direction? Am I doing the right thing?  This one or that one? Can I please have…”; you get the idea – they’ve become pets. sure, working dogs don’t act the same but they’ve been trained for certain activities.

A wolf that has become “human accustomed” (perhaps raised from birth) is more of a partner – willing to work with but not submissive like a dog would be. They don’t wait on every word or action to figure out what THEY should be doing next.

So question: with the massive pieces of legislation coming out of both Concord and especially Washington, what will you be? What will you be allowed to do? Will you be in a box of their own design or start your own Irish Democracy?

 

(H/T: Cafe Hayek)

The post Notable Quote – Who Decides? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The following article was provided by Mike Gleason, a Director with Money Metals Exchange.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A big week for precious metals markets as inflation pressures push consumer prices to painful new heights.

On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that inflation at the wholesale level is up 8.6% from a year ago. That’s the steepest annual advance since the data started being reported.

Of course, Americans who have shopped at a grocery store recently or tried to rent or buy a car don’t need to read a government report to discover that prices are surging. In many respects, inflation is even worse than reported officially.

The economy was supposed to get back to normal this year. But instead, supply disruptions are spreading and driving shortages of various consumer products from office furniture to computer chips.

News Report #1: Massive supply chain disruptions, empty shelves in stores all across the country and rising prices for what's in stock.

News Report #2: The supply shortages and the consequent shortage of goods delivered everywhere has caused prices to spike up.

News Report #3: Annual inflation now at a 13-year high. Prices for beef and bacon, used cars, gas, even furniture, all up double digits.

News Report #4: This year has seen record-breaking price jumps for children's shoes, up nearly 12% furniture, up more than 11%.

News Report #5: All these things are going up too: car rentals, they're up already almost 43%, if you can even find one. Gas, that's true. Gas up 42%. Steak is up 22%. Lodging is up almost 20%.

Bloomberg Commentor: Unless you embrace the analytically meaningless phase of persistently transitory, which I've heard, persistently transitory, this inflation round is not transitory.

Things will likely get even worse for Americans struggling with costs of living heading into the winter. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects households will see a jump of over 50% on their heating bills compared to last winter.

Those who use propane, heating oil, or natural gas to keep their homes warm will likely see the sharpest increases. Prices for energy commodities have been rising relentlessly over the past few months.

Precious metals markets may now be ready to play catch-up, although they are taking a breather here on Friday.

This week gold is up 1.0% to bring spot prices to $1,780 per ounce, despite it pulling back a good bit here today. Silver shows a weekly gain of 3.1% trade at $23.46 an ounce. Platinum prices are pushing higher by 2.9% to check in at $1,069. And finally, palladium is essentially unchanged now since last Friday’s close to command $2,113 an ounce.

Metals markets reacted positively to minutes released Wednesday from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. Officials signaled they may begin tapering back their $120 billion in monthly bond purchases as soon as November.

They will have to start making at least some gestures toward reducing monetary stimulus if they want to retain whatever credibility they have left when it comes to inflation.

Although some investors fear Fed tapering will crash the markets, the early stages of a Fed tightening campaign tend to be favorable. Metals markets in particular often rally as the Fed begins hiking rates – contrary to what many expect to be the case.

Of course, right now central bankers are merely contemplating pulling back on bond purchases. Rate hikes aren’t even on the table yet.

The time for metals investors to be fearful of the Fed is when it may be getting ready to push interest rates above the inflation rate. If that ever occurred, rates would turn positive in real terms.

Dollar-denominated debt instruments would be viable, at least theoretically, as a place to preserve wealth. Hard assets as alternative stores of value would be vulnerable to being dumped by investors who could get compensated for holding paper instead.

But at the moment low-yielding debt instruments are more like certificates of confiscation. They are virtually guaranteed to take away purchasing power from holders when measured against current inflation realities.

Inflation risks and other risks face holders of deposit accounts at banks. For one. the IRS is pushing a sweeping plan to track all funds over $600 flowing into and out of bank accounts.

The agency’s supposed objective is to identify wealthy tax cheats. But IRS snooping at this level could lead to harassment of millions of Americans who have committed no tax fraud.

That’s just the beginning of the Biden administration’s plans for a “Great Reset” of the banking system. President Joe Biden’s nomination to the head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Saule Omarova, wants to “end banking as we know it.”

She advocates a form of socialized banking in which private bank deposits would be brought under the direct control of the central bank.

She calls her radical new banking regime “the People’s Ledger.”

Also dubbed “FedAccounts,” they would presumably be denominated in "FedCoin" – the central bank digital currency being developed behind the scenes at the Federal Reserve to enable greater tracking of and control over citizens’ financial transactions.

Although socialized banking may seem like a remote possibility in the United States of America, a financial crisis could quickly turn a central planner’s pipe dream into reality.

For example, a cascading series of bank failures that threatens to bankrupt the FDIC and wipe out millions of depositors could give the Fed all the impetus it needs to take over the entire banking system.

Holding hard assets outside the banking system may be the best form of insurance against risks within the banking system. And precious metals, being tangible forms of money, are at the foundation of any strategy to protect against risks inherent in the fiat currency regime.

Long before the Federal Reserve System came into being in 1913, gold and silver backed the U.S. dollar. And if at some point the Fed and its unlimited supplies of unbacked dollars lose all credibility with the public, precious metals will again provide people with ledgers of real value.

Well, that will do it for this week. Be sure to check back next Friday for our next Weekly Market Wrap Podcast. Until then this has been Mike Gleason with Money Metals Exchange, thanks for listening and have a weekend everybody.

 

Mike Gleason is a Director with Money Metals Exchange, a precious metals dealer recently named "Best in the USA" by an independent global ratings group. Gleason is a hard money advocate and a strong proponent of personal liberty, limited government and the Austrian School of Economics. A graduate of the University of Florida, Gleason has extensive experience in management, sales and logistics as well as precious metals investing. He also puts his longtime broadcasting background to good use, hosting a weekly precious metals podcast since 2011, a program listened to by tens of thousands each week.

The Southern border is not wide open because the Biden regime is incompetent. The Biden regime wants the Southern border wide open … in order to replace Americans with the wrong skin color, i.e., WHITE, who vote the wrong way, i.e., GOP, with people with the preferred skin colors who will vote the correct way.

Our “supply chains” are not hopelessly backed up because the Biden regime is incompetent. The Biden regime wants to finish the job started with COVID … the crushing of small and medium businesses, so only the big boys like Amazon, Walmart, etc, … which are de facto part of the Deep State … are left.

Nor is inflation the result of incompetence. It too is intentional … to reduce the middle and working class to the status of modern day serfs, thoroughly dependent on the federal government for EVERYTHING:

They are intentionally fueling inflation to harm poor people to expand the need for government assistance.

Why can't more people figure this out? It's plain as day.https://t.co/3WaqPsvZ9g

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 14, 2021

WAKE UP, bitter clingers. WAKE UP.

The post The Inflation (and Everything Else) is NOT Incompetence …. It’s Intentional … WAKE UP appeared first on Granite Grok.

HUGE NEWS! NH Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut will deliver the Opening Address at the Government Integrity Project’s (GIP) Empowering Parents & Taxpayers FREE event THIS SUNDAY (10/17/21), from 2p – 5p at 122 North Lowell Road, Windham, NH 03087 (Crossing Life Church).

Commissioner Edelblut’s goal is to help parents understand the educational system so they can successfully help their students achieve their best possible outcomes for their bright future.

Commissioner Edelblut’s presence expands the impressive field of speakers that includes NH Senator Bob Giuda, NH House Education Committee Chair Rick Ladd, NH House Education Committee Vice-Chair Glenn Cordelli and NH Representative Norm Silber (and Practicing Attorney).

Don’t pass up this RARE OPPORTUNITY to meet some of NH’s most influential education leaders, to ask questions and receive answers!

You can sign up for the FREE EVENT here: https://gip-empowerparents.eventbrite.com.

The GIP is working to provide FREE childcare services during the event. If you would like to take advantage of these services, please email: gip@intrinetsystems.com by 12p on Saturday, October 16th. Please include your name, contact information and the number of children and their ages so that we can properly plan ahead.

Event details below:

 

The post MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! NH Commissioner of Education to Speak at GIP’s Empowering Parents Event! appeared first on Granite Grok.

Could it be much worse than if foreign our enemies has take over DC (instead of just our “domestic” ones? If they get to call us Terrorists, isn’t it CLEAR that they are the ones harming America?). Course, I’ve been sick the last three days (not WuFlu) so whattdoIknow?  I did learn it’s time for a new mattress.  I figure that, with Biden’s New and Improved Supply Chain program, if I order now I might have it in a year…

So, once again my friends, let it rip!  This is, after all, for you!

The post Friday Open Thread – Are you sick over what’s being done to America? appeared first on Granite Grok.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The year was 1775 and a ragtag militia picked up arms and stood before overwhelming odds. Why? Why would farmers leave their fields knowing they most certainly would be defeated? To understand why read those words again from our Declaration of Independence.

The colonists wanted something that was not known in the world. The idea that man held the power to govern himself. And that was, and still is, worth fighting for.

Today we are watching the fabric of America unravel and we question if there is any hope.  Let the words of Patrick Henry answer that question. On March 23, 1775, standing before fellow Virginians, Henry stirred patriots to action with these words,

“Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.”

We want to thank Donna Chick 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.

Our founding fathers were arguably the most inspired assembly of intellectuals ever united and they drafted a supremely unique and timeless document to govern our land.

Do not allow those pushing the radical agenda in this country to tell you differently.  America is exceptional.  When our forefathers wrote our constitution, the world was watching.  Here was a country that was instituting a government that would not be controlled by a monarch.  Was that even possible? The establishment of a government in which people ruled themselves, would, in decades to follow, set off a string of revolutions throughout Europe. At that time people wanted what we had and 244 years later, they still do.

In the fall of 1787, our Constitution was presented to the states for ratification. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to sign the document with New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania following. Other states, predominantly Massachusetts, would not sign until the constitution enumerated specific individual rights guaranteed to the people.

With the guarantee that a Bill of Rights would be added, the Constitution was again presented to the states. A 2/3 majority was needed for the constitution to become law and on June 21, 1788 our great state of New Hampshire became the ninth state to sign and thus we had our governing document.  From that moment, the United States of America stood unique among nations.

On December 10, 1791, the Bill of Rights was added and became the first ten amendments to the US Constitution.

From that moment, the United States of America stood unique among nations.

Almost two and half centuries later, we have sadly drifted from a government of limited powers to a government of overreaching power.

How have we strayed so far?

When did we become so complacent?  How do we save our country?

Most of us can paraphrase the first and second amendments of the Bill of Rights but have little idea what the 10th says, yet it is this amendment that may save the day.  It reads:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

Currently, our federal government is doing everything it can to circumvent states’ authority. Some governors are standing on their 10th amendment rights and fighting back. Other states, including our beloved Live Free or Die state, see their governors working hand and hand with the federal government, willing to sell their state’s sovereignty.

On July 19, 2014, Ted Cruz at the Western Conservative Summit, was asked what we as citizens can do to take back what is reserved to us in the 10th Amendment. His answer was simple, first, he said, “Speak out,” second, “Work to elect constitutional conservatives that will honor the constitution.” Unfortunately, Governor Sununu is no friend to the hard-working people of New Hampshire and is willing to take federal funds that give the federal government control over what is best for our state.

Over time, we, the American people, became apathetic. If we remain indifferent, shame on us. This is not the America our founding fathers envisioned, and it certainly is not the America our veterans fought and died for.  Get up, get involved.  Start with your local and state governments. Log onto their websites and see what is going on and go to local meetings including school board meetings and hold our elected officials accountable!

Restrain their governing powers.

Join conservative groups online and verify everything you hear and read. Whenever you feel defeated, read the follow quote from Patrick Henry’s Give Me Liberty of Give Me Death speech.

“They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.”

As we the people were sleeping, the federal government was overreaching and shifting power to themselves.  We are left with a challenge that appears insurmountable. It is not. But it will take all of us if we are to pass freedom on to the next generation.

 

 

 

The post We Are Watching the Fabric of America Unravel and We Question If There Is Any Hope appeared first on Granite Grok.

Our apologies for the downtime. We’ve had a surge of traffic today focused on a handful of new articles, and the volume pulled us off a cliff. We’re back and going to have to add some bandwidth, and all I have to say is, Thank You!

From about 2:15 to 3:15, GraniteGrok.com was offline or barely online due to all the new traffic.

We are talking to our hosting service about increasing resources to prevent that in the future. That will, of course, cost a bit more monthly, but that’s fine. Our readers have also been generous enough to donate to help us offset these costs as we’ve increased our traffic.

I feel confident that will continue to be the case.

Traffic has been up about 20-30% in recent months with some very nice spikes each week. That volume looks like our new normal, so we’ll need to be built for that and more.

As a reminder, to date, no one gets paid to do any of what we do. We are a volunteer army, and most of us have regular day jobs or are retired. And we are humbled and very much appreciate you taking some of your time to spend with us.

We hope we can continue to earn your time and attention.

The post WOW! – Traffic Surge Took Us Down But We’re Back! appeared first on Granite Grok.