You do the best you can with what you’ve got until you can do better. But will they? I’m referring to the new slimmest of slim Republican majorities in the US House of Representatives. It’s all there is, but we’ve been here before with better numbers and been disappointed.

Investigating the Biden’s will be made to look like revenge-porn for all the hell Dems rained on Trump. Democrats will have better messaging (owning the media helps). And then there are the much anticipated “obstructionist narratives” the Left will wield.

None of that comes up in this interview, but Jim Banks (R – IN) has some thoughts about Biden’s war on hard-working American’s and his priorities for their money.

It is worth listening to and maybe even allowing ourselves a fanciful moment of joy at the intentions. But just a moment. It will take a lot of work to make any effort to block the Democrat’s priorities a reality.

 

 

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Holidays are essential days to spend somewhere productively, but most people fail to spend that time productively. Don’t worry, if you are a travelling lover, this article is for you.

Today we will discuss the prominent city of Canada which is admired by its visitors and tell their friends about the features of CalgaryChinese which surely delight the people and they ask questions online, in this article, you will get to know some important features and reasons that why you should visit Calgary at once to explore something new. Let’s get straight into this.

Reasons why you should visit Calgary: Best cycling spot:

As you have got holidays to spend somewhere worthwhile so if you are a cycling lover, then Calgary offers you a great opportunity of huge cycling paths you can easily enjoy and refresh your mood while keeping yourself healthy. Calgary has the largest walkways throughout the city that allows you to enjoy cycling to your will. The fans of cycling will be able to admire the city’s beauty because no one will ask you any questions about where you are going. If you are passionate about cycling, you can reduce your travelling expenses for the days you will spend there. There are a bunch of walkways and stunning gardens all around the city. Share this idea with your friends or family to support you in making the plan for Calgary.

Mountains or remarkable hills:

Calgary is an ideal spot to visit if you are a nature lover and enthusiast of hiking on mountains or even watching them from a distance. These mountains are a great location for climbing to enjoy nature and purity to the next level. Resultantly, hiking and mountain lover should not miss this location and the chance to visit this holiday.

Enchanting parks and gardens:

There are a lot of glorious parks and gardens around the city although everywhere you will find a mini garden or park to exercise or do some picnic. There are also a few picnic points over there where you could go with your family member and friends and if you have kids that will be an awesome family moment for you. You gather the food and mats along with you and go to the park to spend quality time with the family being close to nature which let you feel lighter.

Feasible accommodation:

Calgary is primarily a home for some unbelievable extravagance dwelling choices to carry on with an existence of extravagance. There are a few stages where you might save a room at any of such lodgings ahead of time, so you can pick the one you wish to live at permanently or temporarily which totally depends on you. Such accommodations additionally offer their clients a few incredible deals. Subsequent to getting offers from such sites, you could set aside money and book a room at the top extravagant lodgings. Numerous people commit the mistake of not reserving a room prior to arrival, which brings them some inconvenience such as getting lodgings over far distances. It is important to reserve the room for a definite period before you arrive which will help you in making the trip possibly more enjoyable.

Delicious cuisine:

If you are a food lover, this place is for you as everyone should adequately eat the delicious dishes everywhere within the country or outside the country. The primary thing is food, and people consist of groups who go to different restaurants in Calgary to experience their cuisine. Check out Calgarychinese for more information regarding restaurants. Some vacation locations have magnificent food that individuals miss significantly, yet Calgary isn’t one of them. Wherever you stroll around here, you’ll track down a wonderful, sweeping menu with delightful food. This makes it the best objective for culinary fans. Assuming you’re among the various individuals who simply go to new regions to eat new food sources, you should likewise investigate Calgary. In this way, everybody ought to go to Calgary since they can eat extraordinary feasts there.

Climate difference:

Calgary is a delightful city to call home because of its superb environment. The greater part of the time is radiant and agreeable, which makes it ideal for going on agricultural journeys. Although you see winters there, they don’t last long as the summer and are not quite as extreme as those in different parts of Canada. Furthermore, you’ll have the option to totally partake in each of the four seasons since you will not need to face the extreme climate. Calgary is an exceptionally perfect city for travelling. There are many green spaces to find, as well as the air is unadulterated. In this manner, if you’re searching for a spot that has everything, Calgary is the point in fact perfect for you.

Education system:

Calgary’s extraordinary school system is one of its distinctive highlights. A few prestigious schools and foundations, although the most renowned and best schools in Canada are based in Calgary. If you’re searching for a spot to bring up your children, Calgary will clearly be a phenomenal choice to think of it. Because of the city’s flourishing economy, qualified individuals have different open positions there. Calgary is a city that is continuously developing and creating more opportunities for its citizens and travellers.

Healthcare system:

Calgary has absolutely the best clinical facilities in the country. You’ll always get treated by safe and qualified hands. Various medical centres and emergency clinics are accessible, and most are arranged directly in the city’s core. In this manner, you’ll not be excessively to cover the far distance from different locations whether you need to see a medical expert or want to take your kid to the specialist. You can easily do that. Furthermore, one of Calgary’s most cheap commodities is medical care. You can find centres which acknowledge only the sum you can spend on an instalment plan. What’s more, for individuals who need monetary help for medical services and therapies, there are various govt-based options to opt for instantly.

 

 

The post Why Should We Visit Calgary at Once? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Jahar Tsarnaev, the so-called Boston Bomber — trust me, he didn’t do it — had his death sentence commuted to life. In March 2022, however, the US Supreme Court reinstated it. I have written a song to the tune of Charlie on the MTA, and am looking for a band to record it.

Later in this article, I show the insights that were had by Joachim Hagopian, while the courtroom was awaiting Jahar’s sentencing in 2015. The bombing occurred in 2013, nearly a decade ago.

JAHAR ON THE MTA

Music by Henry Work, 1865; Lyrics by Mary Maxwell, 2022.
(Sung to tune of “Charlie on the MTA,” as in this version by Isto:

 



 

1. Massachusetts better LISTEN
   to the story of Tsar-NA-ev
   On that TRAGic and fateful morn.
   There was NO way he could know,
   That he and his Bro,
   Would get BLAMED for a “Marathon bomb”!

O will he ever return, will he ever return?
What ACTUALLY occurred is unlearned.
It took masterful collusion,
To arrive at “execution,”
A SENTENCE that he DID NOT earn. [Poor Ja-HAR]

2. As a sophomore, he had CLASSmates
   down at U-Mass, Dartmouth
   Who could give him an ALIBI,
   They got rounded up real fast
   And others were harassed.
   So they COULD NOT TEST-I-FY.

Will the prisoner return? Will he ever return?
Some SAY that his chances are slim.
All it TAKES is one “OK,”
It could happen any day,
For his MURder to ‘LEGALLY’ begin. [Poor America!]

3. Brother Tam was NOT ‘run over,’
   and NObody shot him,
   On LAURel Street, in WATERtown.
   We saw TAM on CNN
   (With a cop escorting him)
   As NAKED as the day he was born.

Will TAMERLAN return? No, HE’LL never return.
His TWENTY-SIX YEARS are through. [Poor Tam!]
Could he BE a boxing star?
The family figured he’d go far,
And for TODashev, the same is true. [Poor Ib-ra-gim!]

[Guitar interlude]

4. “We’ve caught the bomber SLEEPing,
   in a backyard boat.”
   The Boston GLOBE didn’t FIND that odd!
   Campbell said “They KNIFED his neck,”
   and by a miracle on deck,
   Ja-har WROTE his confession, to God! [Poor God!]

Will he ever return? Will Maret’s nephew return?
His FATE is all-but-sealed,
Unless heaps of good PEOPLE
Stop acting like SHEEPLE,
And demand that the truth be revealed!  [Poor Tsar-na-evs!]

6. Deval PATRICK went to town,
   with his mini-martial law,
   He sent Humvees to MAKE us obey.
   See, when BIGwigs who do crime
   Don’t get indicted, or serve some time,
   It’s ‘CURTAINS’ for the American way. [Poor Ortiz!]

Will happy times return? Of COURSE they’ll return,
(As Sean COLLIER’S case gets solved one day!) [Poor Sean!]
May you live to shake the hand,
of the Chechen who was damned,
And see him RIDE the M-T-A.

Jahar on the M-T-A.
Jahar smiling, on the M-T-A.

[Note: I need to find a band that is willing to record this song professionally. If you wish to sing it or play it, please contact me at MaxwellMaryLLB@gmail.com]

Hagopian’s Insights

I have only recently read an article that was printed on 12 April 2015, after the conviction, but before the sentencing, of Jahar Tsarnaev in US district court in Boston. It’s by Joachim Hagopian, who wrote it for Globalresearch.ca. He is a former Army officer and West Point graduate, now living in Bali.

The article is long, so I’ve reduced it. I was surprised to see how a disinterested observer was able to notice so many faults of the government’s presentation, virtually on the spot. Note: the headings for these sections were inserted by me, but otherwise I haven’t tampered with Hagopian’s prose in any way:

Dun Meng and Professor James Fox

Much of the testimony and so called evidence was based on the FBI and local law enforcement’s dishonest versions of events that were based near exclusively on the government’s one star witness’s faulty, changeable, non-credible accounting of events. The identity of this sole witness that even through the trial was never revealed, testified in court by his fake name “Danny.”

Later it was learned that Danny’s real name was Dun Meng. A Chinese national finishing his masters at Northeastern University in engineering, during his alleged carjacking, Meng claimed that the deceased brother Tamerlan confessed that he and his younger brother were responsible for both the Marathon bombings as well as the murder of the MIT campus policeman.

Throughout his trial testimony, the key witness maintained constant eye contact with what seemed almost like his handler, Northeastern University criminology professor James Fox. Fox clearly acted as Meng’s coach and gatekeeper.

Professor Fox was merely playing his part. And that part also included state propagandist. Samplings from articles he wrote for the Boston Globe, starting with his response to the difficulty of finding a cemetery that would accept Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body. Fox wrote:

“I appreciate why many folks want nothing to do with the corpse of a man who apparently hated America and our way of life… If and when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were scheduled to die, his name and image would be plastered all over the news, further increasing his undeserved celebrity…”

When the strength of the state’s evidence to convict and execute a man relies solely on one incognito witness whose tightly controlled testimony repeatedly kept changing depending on whom he talked to, how can a guilty verdict be considered legitimate or fair? [Meng] he kept changing his story on numerous occasions.

Was Jahar Tsarnaev Really Bleeding When in the Boat?

Dzhokhar was supposedly laying there nearly bleeding to death from the alleged gunshot exchange with police a few hours earlier. Yet on video footage the young man is seen emerging unassisted from the boat appearing bloodless and uninjured only to be admitted to the emergency hospital room in critical condition suffering from a deeply sliced neck wound that prevented him from speaking for weeks.

How did that happen while in police custody? And that came after a swarm of police shot a slew of bullet holes into the boat while Tsarnaev supposedly lay there gravely injured…. That barrage of gunfire into that boat by FBI and/or local police was also intended to kill the only suspect.

Backpacks and Judy Clarke’s “Admission” of Jahar’s Guilt

A number of paid mercenaries from Craft International, a paramilitary private security contractor out of Texas were also spotted in photos wearing those same black colored government-issued-like backpacks. The question of whether any of them laid their backpack and its contents on the ground never quite came up in the trial.

In Boston the unmistakable heavy presence of the military and special ops personnel assembled en-masse instantly on the scene after the marathon explosions is yet another giveaway indicating that the feds had something if not everything to do with this tragedy.

Photos of the shredded backpacks allegedly containing the bombs never matched the backpacks of the Tsarnaev brothers. But the fact that they did match a number of Kraft International private security contractors photographed at the scene meant nothing.

Tsarnaev has now been found guilty of all 30 counts after the jury’s 11-hour deliberation earlier this week. Despite his pleading not guilty to the 30 counts (17 carrying the death penalty), he was charged within a week after the April 15th bombing.

His lead defense attorney Judy Clark several days ago conceded to the jury that her client was guilty in her closing argument.

Tamerlan Died in Custody, Witnesses Were Removed

A series of photos of a naked and handcuffed Tamerlan were taken as the police placed him into custody and inside a patrol car. Both CNN and the Boston Globe reported that Tamerlan was alive in police custody. Yet the feds’ official line was that after the brothers robbed a 7-Eleven, Tamerlan was killed in the Watertown shootout with the police while Dzhokhar backed the car over him as he made his temporary getaway.

It can only be one or the other. The photos don’t lie. Cops do. For nearly two years all the potential defense witnesses were constantly harassed, deported, jailed, and even killed, thus, virtually silencing any chance of a fair defense for Dzhokhar.

Clearly it was a training exercise alright, Bostonians was used as a guinea-pig litmus test for assessing how a large US urban population of over a million people would react to a first practice, simulation dry-run of martial law in America, conveniently prepping us for what’s to come.

The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act upheld by the US Supreme Court a year ago now permits the US military to invade our homes without warrant, arrest us without charges, and imprison us indefinitely without trial, legal representation or due process.

The FBI’s Involvement

WhoWhatWhy has asserted that older brother Tamerlan was most likely an FBI informant. Through court motions last year Dzhokhar’s defense team submitted evidence that the FBI had approached the older Tsarnaev brother in an effort to recruit him to spy on his fellow Boston Chechen and Muslim community.

The US intel community has a verifiably long history both here and around the globe of seeking out troubled youth and young people like the Tsarnaevs as informants in its worldwide clandestine operations.

The FBI and CIA’s common misuse of paying informants to entrap others globally into joining plots of terrorism was well documented in researcher-author Trevor Aaronson’s book The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism.

Between 9/11 and 2011 he confirmed that 508 defendants were recruited by informants paid up to $100,000 in multiple sting operations. In fact, in all but only three high profile cases were the FBI and their informants not involved. …

Bomb-making “Evidence”

Of all the receipts for typical everyday items purchased, the only receipts found in Tamerlan’s pockets were receipts for his self-incriminating bomb-making materials.

That’s almost like finding the unblemished passport belonging to the lead 9/11 box-cutter a couple blocks from the towers’ ashes the day after, or the Hebdo gunman’s wallet with ID left carelessly on purpose in the cab so those terrorists could instantly be identified. …

The traces of bomb materials in Tamerlan’s apartment underwent the same flip floppy logic as a transparent prosecution ploy used to convict the younger brother. Three times the feds changed their tune on traces of the bomb material being found in the apartment and whether the brothers had outside help or not.

These discrepancies consistently went unchallenged by the defense during the trial as if pre-scripted to let the shady government off the hook in its back and forth rendition of “truth.”

More bogus, planted propaganda against the brothers shortly after they were identified as the prime suspects was the FBI claim linking them to the triple murder case in Waltham, Massachusetts that took place on September 11th, 2011. Only during the trial did it come out that there existed absolutely no evidence that Tamerlan was involved. …

Tamerlan’s Trip to Russia in 2012

The Tsarnaev brothers were supposedly on a no fly list acting as more evidence supporting prior contact with intelligence agencies, yet Tamerlan was permitted to fly to known terrorist hotbed Chechnya and neighboring Dagestan from January 21, 2012 to July 17, 2012.

His family members insist he spent his entire time with family, among them a distant cousin who heads a non-violent organization critical of Western policies toward Islam. Yet his visit was used by prosecution as so called evidence that the older brother was “radicalized” there and came home an inspired terrorist seeking revenge on America.

A New York Times article dated April 20, 2013 suggests that Tamerlan was first approached by the FBI in January 2011 after a return trip from Russia. Russian intelligence services that monitored phone calls in Chechnya warned the FBI in March 2011 that Tamerlan was becoming a potential threat.

Yet the FBI allowed him to travel yet again to Russia despite being on a no fly list and less than nine months after his return from that final trip abroad, the Boston Marathon bombings occurred. This damning piece of government evidence makes the feds minimally guilty of criminal gross negligence if not actually a criminal accomplice.

Killing Todashev

Yet another despicable chapter to this tragic saga is the FBI’s murder of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s friend in Florida. Within weeks after the Boston bombings, an unarmed Ibragim Todashev was shot by an FBI agent previously reprimanded for excessive force as an Oakland police officer. Initially the FBI lied about the circumstances, falsely claiming Todashev wielded a knife. …

The Justice Department (overseeing the FBI) and a Florida prosecutor cleared the murdering FBI agent of any wrongdoing.

The official government’s response that in effect supports such egregious acts of violence toward innocent civilians strongly indicates that the victim knew too much and the crime syndicate’s answer for people aware of the feds’ evildoing is to systematically assassinate those who might incriminate the federal government. Neutralizing perceived threats is standard operating procedure….

— end of excerpts from Joachim Hagopian’s article

 

Note: It surprised me to see how Hagopian, in 2015, picked out almost the same items that I used when writing the MTA song for Jahar a couple of weeks ago. Granted, my song does not mention Dun Meng and his carjacking. I did originally write a stanza about that, but it made my song have six verses. When I realized that Isto’s singing of the “Charlie on the MTA” song had only five verses, I chopped Danny out, so we could use Isto’s music for a karaoke, so to speak. Please try it out! Here is the YouTube video by Isto:

 



 

The post A Song for Jahar Tsarnaev, and Hagopian’s Early Comments on the 2015 Trial appeared first on Granite Grok.

There are several “schools of thought” on the vaccine as bioweapon theory. One suggests that the elites never got the real thing – they got a placebo. Another says that unless you got the fresh stuff adequately stored and delivered, the risk decreases exponentially, and maybe they got that.

The latter also plays well with the idea that some folks have a severe reaction and even die, while others have varying degrees of distress over time and still more experience few or no side effects.

We can’t expect that everyone handled the drug correctly, but we know that there has been a significant rise in sudden death alongside the exponential increase in lives lost resulting from denying people observational care or ongoing treatment of severe ailments.

All tolled it is a historical genocide that continues to claim some of the beautiful people. The useful idiots, if you like. Those who may think they’re part of the master race the elites want left to run the earth properly but are not.

Virologist Dr. Almyra Oveta Fuller appears to have been marked for the latter. She just died suddenly.

 

Watch: Prominent Virologist Dr. A. Oveta Fuller, who advocated for emergency use authorization of three Covid vaccines, has died suddenly from a brief unknown illness. pic.twitter.com/ovq1ltNCcS

— The Canadian Independent (@canindependent) November 21, 2022

 

She was instrumental in the approval, and now she has died suddenly. And it might not be The Jab that did her in, but then it may. With so many people dying, it’s starting to get that “let God sort them out” feel.

Oh, and an American Airlines pilot died suddenly while the plane was in the air last week. The Captain landed the plane. The deceased was Captain in training, Patrick Ford, and very likely vaccinated for COVID-19, which, ironically and tragically, he can no longer get.

 

 

 

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There is a term that Democrats have used profusely during the Midterms to describe most Republican candidates, especially those supported by Donald Trump. This label was an unfair character assassination.

Some Republicans still question the outcome of the 2020 Election. With all the irregularities uncovered and proven in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia, examining the results is not beyond reason. We may be election cynics, but denier is a gross stretch.

The hypocritical nature of these claims is that Hillary Clinton has written a book and made a career of speaking engagements since 2016. Nobody has a problem with Clinton claiming the Election was stolen by President Donald Trump. She has been playing the victim for six years. Stacey Abrams has refused to concede the Election won by Governor Kemp in Georgia. These two women define denier, but nobody calls them out for their actions. Somebody saying there is no way that Joe Biden got 80+ million votes is a Right-Wing Radical Extremist not deserving of holding office. There is no consistency, but the plan worked, and the voters bought the message.

There is no logical reason that the midterms turned out as they did. With the state of the country and the dismal performance of Joe Biden, the Republicans should have produced better results. They should have won a clear-cut majority in the House and possibly turned the Senate. The messaging and not the performance generates results, and the Democrats are superior in their messaging. It also helps to have the media and money on your side.

In politics, like life, the fish stinks from the head down. The messaging for the Democrats started with Joe Biden. The use of the term Mega MAGA obviously was not a Biden original. But that is to be expected of the Plagiarist in Chief. Whenever Biden found a microphone this fall, he worked the moniker into his remarks. He demeaned half the country by calling all Republicans election deniers and linking them to January 6. It got old quickly, but the repetition certainly impacted the electorate.

We all remember Biden’s famous “Dark Red” speech flanked by two Marines in their dress blues. It was insulting to the Right but worked magic with the Left. The address was a new low for the President, but the results were exactly what he intended. The media and every Democrat candidate jumped on the Mega MAGA bandwagon. Election deniers and negativity became the Party’s keynotes, and it successfully minimized the Midterm changes to Congress. The Democrats held the Senate and barely lost the House. What was to be Red Tsunami became a Red Trickle.

Elections have been ugly for many cycles, but the 2022 Midterms set the bar very low for the future. Money flowed from state to state depending on the most recent polling numbers. Democrat money was spent on their candidates and the Republican candidate the Dems thought would be the weakest opponent. It is a new “legal” form of election tampering. It all worked, which is sad for the future, especially if these tactics become the new norm.

Elections and politics have always been a bloodsport, and it creates a high level of anxiety to follow them closely, but it is necessary that we get our side of the story out. The messaging of the Right will have to be a grassroots effort. The media will never cooperate with the Republicans. They will turn on Biden, but that is self-preservation and necessary to make room for Gavin Newsome, the new hope and golden boy. But they will always carry the water for the Left. We need to formulate our messaging and delivery; the urgency could not be more significant.

The post Election Denier is Their Cover appeared first on Granite Grok.

If taxation is theft (it is), then what’s this? “[A] forthcoming new law that would permit the government to take away one’s property or goods prior to being charged with a crime.”

Civil and criminal asset forfeiture is not new. In both cases, your property is charged with a crime separate from your own. I you are found innocent, your property may still be guilty. It’s i theft by the state for its own enrichment. The new Ruling Democrats in (The) British (are coming!) Columbia has proposed a law allowing the Government to take your stuff without charging you with a crime.

The details are sketchy because formal legislation has not yet been presented, but the shadows of the penumbras that justify the theft are as follows.

 

“By seizing this property from high-level, predatory criminal organizations and individuals, the province can take away this incentive and send a clear message to organized crime,” the government added.

 

What if the Government is a high-level criminal organization? Given that it also controls elections (and the courts), how are citizens expected to send a clear message to that organized crime?

The answer to that slippery slope is nothing short of a gang war where the Government is an armed gang, and the citizens (This is Canada) are not so much. And while it’s nice to see Civil Liberties Organizations suggest there is nothing civil about the proposal, where exactly do they expect to find redress?

“The BCCLA (British Columbia Civil Liberties Association) believes that UWOs are an unnecessary expansion of government power,” the organization said in a statement, adding that such measures are “an unacceptable infringement of Canadians’ rights to the presumption of innocence, due process and privacy.”

 

The Canadian courts may be worse than those in the US, and Canadians have significantly fewer rights, and those are quickly taken away if the COVID response is any indication.

I wish them the best of luck, and I’d like to thank British Columbia’s New Democratic Party for the warning. Gavin Newsom will be looking to impose something like this in California, and as California goes, so does Vermont, New York, Illinois…you get the picture. Or have we done that already?

 

 

The post Canadian Province: We Can Stop Crime By Being The Criminals appeared first on Granite Grok.

It is three minutes to midnight on complete, irreversible change to what it means to be human and free. The time has once again come to ask yourselves if you really want to be free, or if you just like how the word ‘freedom’ rolls off the tongue with the self-righteousness and emotional dissipation of a four-lettered word.

The time has come to prepare for municipal elections, and for these elections to hold their needed weight, we, the people, need to reorganize.

First, get input from the people in your community; determine local agendas locally. Bottom to top, in to out, local to general.

Second, “leaders” need to be questioned by the people, not only the foxes guarding the hen house.

Third, those we choose to represent us, our leaders, must be available mentally and emotionally, as well as physically.

Fourth, there needs to be an allowance for theoretical thinking outside the box, because hammering a screw isn’t working.

Fifth, localities should employ different approaches that work in their communities rather than finding the new cookie-cutter pattern.

Sixth, local communities should be educating local citizens on the institutions and avenues that exist and how to use them properly. For example, how to petition a warrant article.

Seventh, there needs to be local concerned citizen leadership groups that are outside the party structures and outside government office who can make themselves available to educate and empower fellow citizens regardless of their partisan interests.

These seven points will again encourage local citizens to know their local political power and feel less inclined to believe that transnational corporations, alien ideologies, and distant government agencies know what is best for them. We will return to our founding ideology of individual rights, local sovereignty, and continued unity and independence through municipal elections.

 

The post It Is Three Minutes to Midnight on Complete, Irreversible Change to What It Means To Be Human and Free appeared first on Granite Grok.

Thank you all for your support and your votes! I won my election to Merrimack District 27, so you are officially my constituents (well, I won’t get sworn in until December 7, but no harm in a little anticipation.) My running mate, JR Hoell, also won in district 27; my husband Dan won in Epsom.

The winners in Dunbarton/Hooksett are Stephen Boyd, John Leavitt, Yury Polozov, and Tom Walsh; Alan Turcotte won in Allenstown. Keith Murphy won Senate District 16, which includes Hooksett; Howard Pearl won district 17, which includes Allenstown and Epsom; Ruth Ward won district 8, which includes Dunbarton.

I’ve been working on the recounts, which is always an interesting process. Most of the differences between election night and the recount are due to human error; if it was a hand count, you get transposed digits and some math errors. Misplacing a batch of ballots (either by hand or machine) is always possible: that’s probably what happened in the Manchester ward 6 recount (a stack of 25 ballots marked for both Republicans seems not to have been counted last week.). Machine versus hand count differences is largely caused by voters not following directions: by attempting to cross out a vote or making weird marks. One district I was recounting had an independent on the ballot, who got a lot of support from both sides – but many of them first voted for their party’s candidates, then tried to fix their ballot to vote for the independent. The machines couldn’t pick that up, but it was pretty easy for humans.

The House is currently at 201 Republicans, 198 Democrats, and one tie. One election from each side is being appealed to the Ballot Law Commission, and the tie will be decided by the House on December 7. We can accept one candidate or the other, toss a coin, or call a special election – probably plus other options I don’t know about! Regardless of the outcome of these three cases, it’s clear the next session is going to be critically dependent on attendance. Extreme legislation, from either side, is unlikely to pass.

This year, I’ve submitted ten bill requests and will cosponsor more, as I’m asked. Most of these were requests by agencies I deal with on my various committees.

1. 1. rulemaking and public notice requirements for remote or hybrid meetings. This doesn’t have the criteria or authority for holding these meetings, just what you would need to do to ensure the public’s right to know if you do hold one. It is a request of the rulemaking staff.
   2. Last year’s bill on cannabis legalization and home grow. I’m willing to cut the home grow section if that will help get it passed.
   3. Updating the scope of practice for occupational therapists – a request of their professional organization.
   4. Ratifying the latest amendments to the state building code, as recommended by the building code review board.
   5. Minor updates to the rulemaking process, as requested by the staff.
   6. Criteria for service retirement from state service. This was a constituent request, but I’m still working on the language: my initial draft had too many unintended
   consequences. I may not be able to make it work this year.
   7. Exempting the national guard from some rulemaking requirements, at their request.
   8. Allowing the department of revenue to consider the equalization handbook (for property assessments) as independent of them, even though the assessing standards board is administratively attached to the department. This relaxes some rulemaking requirements and was a request of both the DRA and the rulemaking staff…
   9. A major rewrite of the statutes governing the office of professional licensure and certification, cleaning up duties and responsibilities. This was a request of the committee on OPLC operations.
   10. Cleanup of the sexual harassment training requirements for legislators, as requested by the staff and the ethics committee.

Mostly minutia, I’m afraid, but as long as we have laws about these things, I believe they should be accurate, up to date, and not interfere with efficient operations. I’d like to repeal some but don’t think it’s feasible this year.

Organization Day, December 7, the House will meet to elect the Speaker, the House Clerk, the Secretary of State, and the Treasurer. This time, we will also judge the qualifications of the member whose election is tied. After that meeting, everything is backstage, working on committee assignments and finalizing the bills. I’m going to take a trip since with Dan most likely on Finance, we’ll be busy until the end of June.

Representative Carol McGuire
carol@mcguire4house.com

The post NH State Rep Carol McGuire – Your State House 09/23/22: Elections, Recounts, and Bills appeared first on Granite Grok.

In trying to find a couple of Thanksgiving posts from the past that I wanted to post up, I stumbled upon this and thought that I’d share it again. After all, who knew that I and TMEW would have to be re-living my own admonitions below in raising the Grandson (a “GrandFamily”)?  An abstract from 2014: Thanksgiving – a re-acquainting and a reality check

…But while I say goodbye on one hand, I am still having the opportunity of my life in becoming re-acquainted with the Youngest.  My time with him as a “full-of-himself” teenager and early-twenties was no fun at all and there were a lot of times I wondered what the heck I was raising.  These last two weeks, however, have revealed a more laid-back son, more willing to smile and showing the signs of our relationship moving from Dad-the-Father to Dad-the-Advisor.  Now out of the Army, he has a bewildering number of options as he deals with some after effects of his hitch and service.  Before it used to be “leave me alone – *I* can figure it out!”; now it is more often than not ‘Hey Dad, what do you think about…”.  It was also fun as he kept TMEW and I in stitches with some stories from his service during our Thanksgiving dinner.  Dunno why they came out today, but mirthful doesn’t even come close.

It’s unreal how smart I got in 4 years.  It’s also humbling that some things that I wanted to pass on (“You will always be a parent.”) actually seem to have taken root.  For that,  I am thankful to God for giving me the patience in dealing with is “idiosyncrasies”.  The reality check, THE reality check, for those that still have young or middling kids at home…

…is this one:it is scary to now realize how closely my kids watched me as they grew up – what I said, what I did, how I acted, and how I treated others.  They now tell me “Dad, you always said to…” and “Dad, remember when you did this for…” why I ask them “Why did you do it that way?”.  And sometimes, they don’t even say a thing – but I can see the lessons that have been passed on from my Mom through me to them.  Teachings.  They matter.

Traditions.  They matter, no matter what folks say is the “new normal”.  And the family is the best way to pass down what works.  No, not everyone has the best family situations (for me, my parents split when I was young and my Dad passed away before I hit Jr. High) but all in all, it works.  And that, again, is the reality check for me this Thanksgiving.  Life matters, family matters – and the way you live your life in front of your family (especially when you think they aren’t paying attention) matters even more.

Life teaches lessons if you only would pay attention.

This is Thanksgiving. And make no mistake, I watch the Grandson watching us just the Eldest and Youngest did all that time ago.

And for that, I am thankful.

The post Thanksgiving – a Quick Rememberence that Family Matters and Advice to Young Parents appeared first on Granite Grok.

Bumped from 11/27/2014 Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to Him for benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased Him in his abundant mercy not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of His common providence, but also smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defense and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties … :

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the 18th day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise; that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor;  and that together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor, and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may please Him graciously to afford His blessings on the governments of these states respectively, and prosper the public council of the whole; to inspire our commanders both by land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States the greatest of all blessings, independence and peace; that it may please Him to prosper the trade and manufactures of the people and the labor of the husbandman, that our land may yield its increase; to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety, under His nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

(H/T: The Blaze)

The post Thanksgiving Proclamation: Continental Congress – November 1, 1777 appeared first on Granite Grok.

Minus the beer, however.  But I’d be ready…and waiting…eyes twinkling in anticipation.

Anyone willing to lay odds on how it would turn out?

Heh!

(HT: Matt)

The post Humor – Yes, If I Had a Nephew That Old, I’d Be That Conservative Uncle appeared first on Granite Grok.

Wait for it….wait for it…it’s all about the flavor!

A little laugh for you Tweatons ahead of the holiday. #EverybodyLovesRaymond #Thanksgiving #DebraBarone pic.twitter.com/3PUcSaz0H3

— Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) November 23, 2022

There! We all need a bit of a laugh on Thanksgiving Day!

The post And Be Thankful For Your Sense of Patience As you will need it for this Thanksgiving tweet appeared first on Granite Grok.

Nothing says “environmentalism” like an energy policy that encourages deforestation. With oil and gas prices rising or in short supply, folks are turning to firewood to keep warm. It’s been trending in Germany, and now Maine is wrestling with increased demand and insufficient supply.

 

While wood has remained the cheaper option for many to stay warm this winter, it’s seen an increase as well. It’s being blamed on the higher fuel costs that seem to be impacting the entire wood supply chain, from the loggers to the transporters and the sellers.

“Right now, we’ve been trying to hold the price down a little bit,” Dyer said. “But diesel fuel is killing us. That, labor, parts, everything has gone through the roof. Even the price of wood for me to buy it.” …

“There’s plenty of demand, there’s just not enough wood out there,” Dyer said.

 

There’s plenty of wood, but it’s not cut and dried and available for people to buy. And while this is Maine, there’s a fair share of folks who don’t have the timber, time, or ability to cut and split their own. But plenty of folks might try, especially with prices for firewood rising as demand outstrips supply. A problem created by energy policy at the Federal level on which the Biden Admin appears ready to double down, complete with the consequences (reformatted).

 

The higher demand is also impacting organizations like the Cumberland Wood Bank which, like a food bank, offers free wood to those in need. The organization can only help those in its surrounding communities, but has seen people reach out from across the state in recent weeks.

“We were flooded with requests that we just wouldn’t be able to fill,” volunteer John Hankinson said.

 

Democrat energy policy is directly impacting “the most vulnerable,” who may be unable to get even firewood to keep warm. Democrats will pretend that’s an unexpected and unfortunate side-effect of necessary policy, but that’s a lie. The Left may spend like drunken sailors, but they know what they are doing. At some point, that gravy train derails itself, and even the money that wasn’t ever there eventually disappears.

Everyone who ended up dependent as a result of Progressive policy – and as far as the Dems are concerned, more is better – will be on their own, and many of those folks won’t make it. Given what we know about the Left’s goals, that seems deliberate.

They are, after all, obsessed with depopulating the planet.

 

 

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A bunch of people had trouble getting tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming concert tour, and the United States Senate has decided that it has to spring into action to address the cause of the problem:  a lack of competition.

It’s amusing to read statements like the one made by Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar:

Ticketmaster’s power in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services.

Klobuchar and other Democratic senators are alarmed that Ticketmaster has a market share of around 60%, which they see as evidence that the company needs to be broken up.

But while we’re on the subject of breaking up harmful monopolies, here are some questions worth considering:

• What’s the market share of the public school system?
• What kinds of competitive pressures are faced by the public school system, and how have those pressures resulted in innovation and improvement?
• How do the ‘significant service failures’ suffered by consumers at the hands of Ticketmaster compare, in  scope and importance, to the failures suffered by students, parents, and taxpayers at the hands of the public school system?

This seems like a perfect opportunity for some Republican senators to join in the call to break up harmful monopolies… beginning with the public school system, and getting around to companies like Ticketmaster only after that’s been dealt with.

 

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If your child learned this in school, please add a comment below and thank their teacher.

On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation designating “the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving.” Lincoln’s announcement marked the culmination of a multi-decade campaign by Sarah Josepha Hale to make Thanksgiving into a national holiday. Although Lincoln wrote the vast majority of his state papers, the Thanksgiving Proclamation was in fact drafted by Seward.

Washington DC, October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward, Secretary of State

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/abraham-lincolns-proclamation-thanksgiving

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(Image H/T: Rush Limbaugh)

I thought that I had used his recounting of the First Thanksgiving. Instead, in trying to find his Thanksgiving post on communal vs private property rights, I found this one instead. It’s a good one all on its own and I urge you to read it.  However, it was Rush I was looking for and I did.  From the Limbaugh transcript from Nov 17, 2019:

Whatever happens, whatever’s going on with you, we hope it’s a great one. Do you realize next year will be the 400th anniversary of Thanksgiving? Four hundred years since the Pilgrims arrived without guaranteed reservations at Plymouth Rock.

Greetings, my friends. Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of Rush Limbaugh program. We are going to do what we always do. We will recite to you the real story of Thanksgiving as first written about by me in my best-seller, See, I Told You So, Chapter 6: “Dead White Guys, or What the History Books Never Told You. The True Story of Thanksgiving.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Look at this, folks. I went to the computer during the break just to check and see if anything had happened, and I got a message. I got a message from the guy that used to mow my lawn when I lived in Kansas City. When I lived in that shack and worked for the Royals, I couldn’t pay anybody to mow the lawn, but I was able to get him Royals tickets. His name is Dan. So I got a message from Dan. He says, “I wish you could see this. Maria and I are driving out to Colorado Springs.”

They live in Kansas City still. They’re driving out to Colorado Springs for a wedding over Thanksgiving. “I’m in the backseat of the minivan because I’m rehabbing from a hip replacement. Anyway, five minutes ago, I hear this cheer. Maria cheers like the Chiefs have won the Super Bowl. But of course the Chiefs haven’t won the Super Bowl. No, it was because you are on live today. No guest host! Our minivan is cheering that you’re there. So bless you. Have a great Thanksgiving.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Happy Thanksgiving to one and all from all of us. And, of course, this begins the — here, anyway, the official beginning of the holiday season, which is a great time of year. But you know what suffers during the holiday season is normalcy. You’ve got less action happening than normally does, business is slowed down in a sense. I mean, sales pick up, hopefully. But conflicting times, but we hope it’s joyous for all of you, as joyous as it can be.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We’re here on Thanksgiving eve as we start the holiday season. It’s an annual tradition. It’s actually not quite 30 years now we’ve been reading from my second book, See, I Told You So, Chapter 6: “Dead White Guys, or What the History Books Never Told You: The True Story of Thanksgiving.” I also have George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, the very first one, and also the truth of how the Indians screwed the Pilgrims out of Manhattan. Everybody thinks that we screwed the Indians and gave ’em a bunch of garbage for Manhattan.

It’s the other way around, actually — and it’s something I look forward to every year. And you know what? Despite doing it every year, with millions and millions and millions of people having heard it, there’s still a bunch of caca out there about Thanksgiving. I mentioned earlier that the College Fix website has a headline: “Students say it’s NOT okay to celebrate Thanksgiving,” that it’s “‘based off of the genocide of indigenous people.’”

What’s being done to young skulls full of mush via the education system in our country and cumulatively over decades is nothing less than obscene. Yesterday at the College Fix website, they posted a video where their correspondent, Kyle Hooten, interviewed students at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, and asked them about Thanksgiving, and here’s about 45 seconds of it…

WOMAN #1: I think that, like, Thanksgiving has been misconstrued a lot, especially in textbooks, and it’s kind of just based off of the genocide of indigenous people. And I don’t really any that we actually give thanks on Thanksgiving. We just eat a bunch of food and a bunch of capitalist bulls(bleep)t.

HOOTEN: Is it okay to celebrate Thanksgiving?

MAN #1: Nnnno. It’s probably not as bad as Christmas or Easter but, like, I don’t know.

HOOTEN: So what do you think the real Thanksgiving story is?

MAN #2: I don’t know what it is (snickers) ’cause I wasn’t there and ’cause I don’t have the — all the historical information.

WOMAN #2: I mean, the public school education — ugh! — tells you that this Thanksgiving was this great meeting where, you know, the Native Americans showed the Pilgrims how to, you know, grow corn — and obviously that’s not true. But what legitimately happened on Thanksgiving? I have no idea.

RUSH: If you have no idea, then what the hell was the answer, “Well, you know, what’s being taught is we gave thanks to the Indians gave thanks, the Indians teaching how to grow corn, maize, popcorn, and all that”? It is amazing when you stop and think about it. I don’t know what you were taught about Thanksgiving, but I was taught a version that goes like this: The Pilgrims showed up, and they were incompetents. They were well-intentioned good-hearted people but incompetent, and they didn’t know how to do anything. They were stumbling and bumbling around in a foreign place, had no idea even where they were.

And as they’re on the verge of starvation, the Indians stumbled upon ’em — across them — and showed them how to basically live, gave them everything, showed them how to grow crops and kill turkey and build tepees and stuff, and so the Pilgrims survived, and we were giving thanks, that Thanksgiving is to acknowledge the Indians’ role in saving the first Pilgrims. Now, it’s a quaint story, and it has attached itself to a number of people, but it is nothing to do…

Well, I can’t say that it’s nothing to do, but it is very far removed from what the first Thanksgiving is really about. Thanksgiving. George Washington first proclaimed it, Thanksgiving. Well, who was thanking who for what? That’s the root of the error. The root of it is that the Pilgrims must have been giving thanks to the Indians for saving them. That’s not what the Pilgrims were thankful for, as you will soon hear.

“The story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century (that’s the 1600s for those of you in Rio Linda, California). The Church of England under King James I was persecuting anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority.” The first Pilgrims were Christian rebels, folks. “Those who challenged [King James’] ecclesiastical authority and those who believed strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for their beliefs” in England in the 1600s.

“A group of separatists,” Christians who didn’t want to buy into the Church of England or live under the rule of King James, “first fled to Holland and established a community” of themselves there. “After eleven years, about forty of them” having heard about this New World Christopher Columbus had discovered, decided to go. Forty of them “agreed to make a perilous journey to the New World, where [they knew] they would certainly face hardships, but” the reason they did it was so they “could live and worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences” and beliefs.

“On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims,” now known as Pilgrims, “led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established” how they would live once they got there. The contract set forth “just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs,” or political beliefs. “Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible.

The Pilgrims were a “devoutly religious people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work.” They believed in God. They believed they were in the hands of God. As you know, “this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey” to the New World on the tiny, by today’s standards, sailing ship. It was long, it was arduous.

There was sickness, there was seasickness, it was wet. It was the opposite of anything you think of today as a cruise today on the open ocean. When they “landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford’s detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves.” There was nothing.

“[T]he sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims — including Bradford’s own wife — died of either starvation, sickness or exposure.” They endured that first winter. “When spring finally came,” they had, by that time, met the indigenous people, the Indians, and indeed the “Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers” and other animals “for coats.” But there wasn’t any prosperity. “[T]hey did not yet prosper!” They were still dependent. They were still confused. They were still in a new place, essentially alone among likeminded people.

“This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than what it really was. That happened, don’t misunderstand. That all happened, but that’s not — according to William Bradford’s journal — what they ultimately gave thanks for. “Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract” that they made on the Mayflower as they were traveling to the New World…

They actually had to enter into that contract “with their merchant-sponsors in London,” because they had no money on their own. The needed sponsor. They found merchants in London to sponsor them. The merchants in London were making an investment, and as such, the Pilgrims agreed that “everything they produced to go into a common store,” or bank, common account, “and each member of the community was entitled to one common share” in this bank. Out of this, the merchants would be repaid until they were paid off.

“All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well.” Everything belonged to everybody and everybody had one share in it. They were going to distribute it equally.” That was considered to be the epitome of fairness, sharing the hardship burdens and everything like that. “Nobody owned anything. It was a commune, folks. It was the forerunner to the communes we saw in the ’60s and ’70s out in California,” and other parts of the country, “and it was complete with organic vegetables, by the way.

“Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that” it wasn’t working. It “was as costly and destructive…” His own journals chronicle the reasons it didn’t work. “Bradford assigned a plot of land” to fix this “to each family to work and manage,” as their own. He got rid of the whole commune structure and “assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage,” and whatever they made, however much they made, was theirs. They could sell it, they could share it, they could keep it, whatever they wanted to do.

What really happened is they “turned loose” the power of a free market after enduring months and months of hardship — first on the Mayflower and then getting settled and then the failure of the common account from which everybody got the same share. There was no incentive for anybody to do anything. And as is human nature, some of the Pilgrims were a bunch of lazy twerps, and others busted their rear ends. But it didn’t matter because even the people that weren’t very industrious got the same as everyone else. Bradford wrote about how this just wasn’t working.

“What Bradford and his community found,” and I’m going to use basically his own words, “was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else… [W]hile most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years — trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it — the Pilgrims decided early on,” William Bradford decided, “to scrap it permanently,” because it brought out the worst in human nature, it emphasized laziness, it created resentment.

Because in every group of people you’ve got your self-starters you’ve got your hard workers and your industrious people, and you’ve got your lazy twerps and so forth, and there was no difference at the end of the day. The resentment sprang up on both sides. So Bradford wrote about this. “‘For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort.

“For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense,’” without any payment, “‘that was thought injustice.’ Why should you work for other people when you can’t work for yourself? What’s the point? … The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive.

“So what did Bradford’s community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result? ‘This had very good success,’ wrote Bradford, ‘for it made all hands [everybody] industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.’ …

“Is it possible that supply-side economics could have existed before the 1980s. … In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves. Now, this is where it gets really good, folks, if you’re laboring under the misconception that I was, as I was taught in school. So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London.

“And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the ‘Great Puritan Migration.’” The word of the success of the free enterprise Plymouth Colony spread like wildfire and that began the great migration. Everybody wanted a part of it. There was no mass slaughtering of the Indians. There was no wiping out of the indigenous people, and eventually — in William Bradford’s own journal — unleashing the industriousness of all hands ended up producing more than they could ever need themselves.

So trading post began selling and exchanging things with the Indians — and the Indians, by the way, were very helpful. Puritan kids had relationships with the children of the Native Americans that they found. This killing the indigenous people stuff, they’re talking about much, much, much, much later. It has nothing to do with the first thanksgiving.

The first Thanksgiving was William Bradford and Plymouth Colony thanking God for their blessings. That’s the first Thanksgiving. Nothing wrong with being grateful to the Indians; don’t misunderstand. But the true meaning of Thanksgiving — and this is what George Washington recognized in his first Thanksgiving proclamation.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Thank you for being with us today, folks. Have a great rest of the Thanksgiving weekend. And know without doubt how truly thankful for you I personally am and all of us are. Never forget it. Can’t say it enough that we love you. See you back here on Monday. We will be here.

The post The Story of Thanksgiving – Only As Rush Limbaugh Could Tell it. appeared first on Granite Grok.

If you are looking for a Thanksgiving tradition you’d like to forget, we’ve got some, and yes, we’re here (like every year) to remind you. The Left has released its annual cheat sheet, and this year it comes from the White House, and it’s nothing but gaslighting.

And yes, they lead off with “tackling inflation and lowering costs.”

 

Sitting next to your Uncle at Thanksgiving? Need a cheat sheet on the President’s accomplishments? We got you covered. pic.twitter.com/ElXuLEJbmu

— Herbie Ziskend (@HerbieZiskend46) November 23, 2022

Took on Big Pharma .. a fully funded department of the US Government, perhaps. The rest is no better. But the wingnuts might come to dinner so armed, so be prepared … to laugh in their face.

Don’t say anything. Just laugh. Chortle. Snicker. And make sure you smile and shake your head a bit. And make sure someone knows CPR. The odds are good the Prog will choke on their food. The only tragedy on Thanksgiving should be the death of their talking points.

 

Nostalgia: A roundup of my take on Lib talking points from previous years.

2021: It’s Thanksgiving so Let’s Talk About – COVID19!

2021: Decolonizing Thanksgiving: A Toolkit for Combatting Racism in Schools.”

2017 Democrat Thanksgiving Talking Points

2014: Instead of the DCCC Annual Let’s Ruin Thanksgiving Flyer…

2013: Organizing For Acorn Squash Takes Over Democrat’s “Ruining Thanksgiving Tradition”

2013: Scratch That! The DCCC Is Still Going To Do Its Part To Ruin Thanksgiving

2011: DCCC Annual “Ruin Thanksgiving” Cheat Sheet

2010: DCCC Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet

We seem to have missed a few years, or, more likely, I could not find them because of our crappy search engine (yes, it’s on the list of things to update).

 

Here are a few more that go the other way (and a lot more of those here).

Did You Decolonize Your Thanksgiving? (How about Decolonizing THIS, Instead?)

Pilgrims, Indigenous Peoples, And Progressive Reprogramming on Thanksgiving

By the way – Thanksgiving isn’t Racist Oppression. It Isn’t Even Cultural Appropriation

Where A Privileged Dartmouth Student Hates On Thanksgiving

 

The post Democrats Want You to Ruin Thanksgiving with Biden’s Accomplishments appeared first on Granite Grok.

Updates below.

I like reading John Stossel as often he proclaims a down to earth message with common sense appeal.  In addition, what he talks about is grounded in results rather then an ideological background.  When I saw his column, so apropo for today, it does need to be reviewed.

Why?  Allow me to inject a bit of what some might consider politics on a day given over for other-than-politics.  The lesson learned by the Pilgrims is one that we should be paying close attention to, as we are looking to select a new leader, just as the Pilgrims selected Bradford as their new leader. I see the Democratic candidates all running to socialistic tendancies more and more – think “it takes a village” on steroids.  Yet, given history’s results on “the common good” and the hatred that seems to be simmering on the Left for capitalism, sometimes we do need to pay attention to what history tells us of certain choices and actions, lest we repeat them over and over….

Every year around this time, schoolchildren are taught about that wonderful day when Pilgrims and Native Americans shared the fruits of the harvest. “Isn’t sharing wonderful?” say the teachers.

They miss the point.

Because of sharing, the first Thanksgiving in 1623 almost didn’t happen.

The failure of Soviet communism is only the latest demonstration that freedom and property rights, not sharing, are essential to prosperity. The earliest European settlers in America had a dramatic demonstration of that lesson, but few people today know it.

When the Pilgrims first settled the Plymouth Colony, they organized their farm economy along communal lines. The goal was to share everything equally, work and produce.

They nearly all starved.

Why?

When people can get the same return with a small amount of effort as with a large amount, most people will make little effort. Plymouth settlers faked illness rather than working the common property. Some even stole, despite their Puritan convictions. Total production was too meager to support the population, and famine resulted. Some ate rats, dogs, horses and cats. This went on for two years.

“So as it well appeared that famine must still ensue the next year also, if not some way prevented,” wrote Gov. William Bradford in his diary. The colonists, he said, “began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length after much debate of things, [I] (with the advice of the chiefest among them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves. … And so assigned to every family a parcel of land.”

The people of Plymouth moved from socialism to private farming. The results were dramatic.

“This had very good success,” Bradford wrote, “for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been. … By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many. … ”

Because of the change, the first Thanksgiving could be held in November 1623.

What Plymouth suffered under communalism was what economists today call the tragedy of the commons. But the problem has been known since ancient Greece. As Aristotle noted, “That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it.”

When action is divorced from consequences, no one is happy with the ultimate outcome. If individuals can take from a common pot regardless of how much they put in it, each person has an incentive to be a free rider, to do as little as possible and take as much as possible because what one fails to take will be taken by someone else. Soon, the pot is empty and will not be refilled — a bad situation even for the earlier takers.

What private property does — as the Pilgrims discovered — is connect effort to reward, creating an incentive for people to produce far more. Then, if there’s a free market, people will trade their surpluses to others for the things they lack. Mutual exchange for mutual benefit makes the community richer.

Secure property rights are the key. When producers know that their future products are safe from confiscation, they will take risks and invest. But when they fear they will be deprived of the fruits of their labor, they will do as little as possible.

That’s the lost lesson of Thanksgiving.

And yet with this history lesson, Santayana’s aphorism still holds true – it is to our Country’s demise that many have not heeded the object lesson above concerning human nature as once again they feel that they are The Ones to successfully implement Socialism where none have ever succeeded before them.

(reposted from 11/22/07, 11/22/2009, 11/22/2012, 11/28/2013, 11/17/2014, 11/23/17, 11/28/18, – as we drift further towards the Obama / Progressive Collective, the more we need to know that it didn’t work for the Pilgrims, it didn’t work in all of the Communist / Fascist countries last century, and it isn’t working this century (e.g., Venezuela).   While many on the Right are looking for the next Reagan (without realizing they must be their own Reagan), the Left is constantly looking for the “right people” to implement socialism correctly – and DO keep looking at themselves).

Update: And now post-Obama, we have the Donald Trump era.  While he’s been at the helm for only 10 months, it is clear that he is moving us from the Obama Statist / Socialist path back to our origins – and the economy is responding.  Will it continue?  Dunno – only time will tell.  What is happening is that he and his Administration are working to move the Government from driving the economy to one more where WE determine our economy.  Let’s see if I think the same thing next year.

Update: And now, we’ve had a couple of years of the Trump era now and yes, the economy has responded to the lifting of regulations and taxes from it.  We’ve got more Americans back at work than ever before and we have an economy that is the envy of the world.  Is everything alright?  Certainly not – but let’s take this day to give thanks for what the Good Lord has given us.  It’s been a rough year here at Chez Murphy but along with the downs, there’s been the up’s as well. A roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs – the necessities of life have been provided.  TMEW and I have the Grandson legally and what a blessing he has been this past year! For all of the adversity we’ve faced, that spotlight, that beacon of ours, continues to shine brightly every time he smiles and giggles at us.

Update: And the gauzy white promises of this Democrat Presidential Campaign (2019/2020) that Government can give you EVERYTHING as long as you let it be in control of your life, the promises will be just as workable as the socialism that the Pilgrims started with – just with the disaster at a scale those folks could never imagine. As they try to “out Left” each other to the brink of full Socialism, they refuse to see its failure even here in America.  Time to gird our loins and support those that would have nothing to do with this!

While we do complain a lot here at the ‘Grok at how the culture degrades along with our politicians, I am thankful for what we have been given.  May we all be thankful to God for all of His blessings.

Update: two years into President Asterisk’s Administration (that would be Biden and his Socialist Obama retreads), there is little to be thankful for. After two years of the Progressive Dems Trifecta (US House, Senate, and Oval Office), inflation is high, Afghanistan ended badly (and WE are paying the TALIBAN tribute to still get our folks out of there), COVID Kings (like NH Gov Sununu) trampled on State and US Constitutions), and the expected move by Biden for Govt in supplying more and more “free stuff” is picking up speed. And, oh yeah, they believe they have subjects to micromanage their lives instead of citizens that happen to have a govt. National debt just hit $31 Trillion.

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I think we are cynical people by nature. We believe in the worst because we are constantly bombarded by bad news. The old adage “if it bleeds, it leads” has never had more meaning.

Cynical is not a healthy state of mind, and we need to pull away from that which feeds it. That is why I developed my Sunday Spotlight. It is my way of shutting out the negatives for a day and giving thanks to someone who positively impacts the world.

We definitely have many challenges in our lives, and some days it feels like the world is spinning out of control. Sometimes it seems like God is seeing just how much we can take before the final straw. But we persevere and find a way through, and usually, we are ready the next day to repeat the process. It is the start of that next day that I find so important.

Sunrise has always been my favorite time of the day. But last year was the first that we spent at our cabin in Maine. We had not realized how fortunate we are that the cabin faces the east Every morning, we are blessed with an incredible sunrise while still lying in our bed. Some mornings I will get up at three while it is still pitch dark. I’ll enjoy the quiet broken only by the calls of the loons, and I will write with one eye watching the east. I am often rewarded with the most extraordinary spectacle as Mother Nature begins her work, the eastern sky her palette, and she paints a magnificent sunrise to awaken us to a new day, a new beginning. I always find myself in awe of her work, but I also take this time to say thanks for all the good things and blessings we enjoy. I realize at this moment that we far too often overlook all the good in our lives.

Today may be our official day to give thanks, but for me, every day is Thanksgiving. From the first breath of the day, we enjoy life, which is enough to be thankful. There is no guarantee that we will make it through the next trip around the sun or even the next time the moon circles our earth. We will experience loss and new life as that is our circle of life. We have no control over the size of the circle, but we do over how we fill it.

I have so much to be thankful for in my life. My health, a loving, beautiful, generous partner, and our two dogs, who bring smiles to our lives, are just the start. Our wonderful family, friends, and the kids I pick up and deliver to school each day on my big yellow bus. And especially our pond buddies. These are the folks who make the Pond the magical place we love. Every day we may meet them on our morning coffee ride on the pontoon or at night for cocktails and dinner. We seem to end up at a different camp at the end of the day, and we all bring something for dinner. It is like our own little Thanksgiving meal each day. We light a fire and sit, talk, and enjoy the company. And we celebrate the end of a wondrous day.

As the fire burns, I look to the east and hope and pray that Mother Nature is already working on her next masterpiece. It is a beautiful life; everyone has their version if you take the time to find it. I hope that this Thanksgiving, you will find your reasons to give thanks.

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Progressives – always the buzz-killers. All the time we hear from comedians that Progressives are killing comedy especially if they tell a joke or a story that goes against a Woke Narrative.  Say the wrong thing and get canceled.  Get hounded out of your life. Tossed to the curb to lay in the gutter.

So, I have steeled myself, I’ve manned up, girded my loins, inventoried the armory, and have readied myself for any incoming from the Transgender activists…

Check engine light – perfect!

If you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, you’ll know what came for me.

What am I saying? If they identify as girls, they hit like girls, right?

There you go, Skip – get the Feminists after yourself as well.  Good going, dude.

Hey, just chill – just trying my best to bring a bit of comedy back to Society. How am I doing?

Heh!

BONUS:

(H/T: Powerline)

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