The Manchester Free Press

Wednesday • April 30 • 2025

Vol.XVII • No.XVIII

Manchester, N.H.

Transgender Pronouns for Kindergarten Students Part 2

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 16:30 +0000

I reported here that Lauren Doukas made a PUBLIC statement before the Goffstown School Board on September 11th (39:00) where she mentioned she worked as a paraprofessional at an elementary school in Manchester.

In her statement, she mentioned that in the school where she works, kindergarten students were learning about transgender pronouns and different families and structures.

At the next Goffstown school board meeting on October 4th, several weeks after the September 11th meeting, Doukas followed up with additional comments you can listen to here. (1:55:40)

Doukas claimed that she was targeted after the September 11th meeting through an OpEd, and that it included untruths and disinformation.  However, I included the video from the September 11th meeting so everyone could listen to what she said during public comments. (39:00)

I reported that she was a resident of Goffstown who brought up her professional role as a paraprofessional at the school where she worked in Manchester. She then went on to inform everyone at the September PUBLIC school board meeting that the kindergarten students were learning about pronouns, and about different families and structures. Based on her presentation, she appeared to be quite proud of what they were teaching to young children.

Is she under the impression that when you attend a PUBLIC school board meeting, where you make a PUBLIC statement, that this information will not be shared? Doukas made a public statement that we can all respect. However, one can respect her opinion, and offer a difference of opinion, too. Teaching kindergarten children about transgender pronouns or different sexual lifestyles, may not be what all parents believe is appropriate for their children.

Other residents who attended the September Goffstown School Board meeting cited state law RSA 186:11 -IX-c when directing the administration to remove the bulletin board. Parents have the right to opt their children out of controversial materials, and state law also requires notification. You can hear one resident cite those state laws at (35:00).  Goffstown appeared to be violating state law by not giving parents notice, which would allow parents to opt out of this kind of material.

In the second presentation (1:55:40) before the Goffstown School Board, Doukas attempts to clarify her presentation to the board as if the information I reported on was somehow distorted. Once again, all people have to do is go to the Sept. 11 Goffstown school board meeting (39:00) to hear exactly what she presented. Mills Fall Charter School lists Doukas as a paraprofessional on their website. All of this information is factual and public.

At the September Goffstown School Board meeting, Doukas stated in her PUBLIC comment, “I speak to you as a paraprofessional in an elementary Manchester school.”  Doukas stated her name at the beginning of the school board meeting as everyone must do. She very clearly stated she was speaking in her role as a paraprofessional at an elementary Manchester school. Public meetings are recorded which is why I included the link so readers could hear the testimony directly from the person speaking. Nothing was distorted as it was originally reported.

Doukas then publicized that the Mill Falls Charter School had taken complaints against her from the Department of Education.  At the board meeting in September, she could hear the other residents reference state laws that govern schools when presenting the kind of content posted on the bulletin board. Knowing that this kind of controversial content must be presented to parents to review so they can opt their children out, Doukas chose to make a public statement that her school in Manchester  (Mill Falls) was providing similar content to kindergarten students. Instead of boasting about all of this, administrators at Mills Fall would have been better served if Doukas came back to them to discuss the possibility of Mill Falls violating state statutes too.

Where is the tolerance?

Everyone knows that gender and sexual identity, as it is presented to children in a public school, will be a controversial topic. That is why the law is in place. To show respect to parents who have a different viewpoint. Some parents may share the same viewpoint on sexuality, but maybe they want the topic introduced when their child is more mature.  There are many different reasons for making sure parents are informed, and have the ability to opt their children out of this content.

Doukas never mentioned anything about respecting different viewpoints parents may have when it comes to these topics. She made it clear that parents better get used to it. That’s not how public education works. Public schools are subjected to regulations per state statute. No one gets to push a sexual narrative on children in New Hampshire. Parents must be informed, and then parents have the right to opt their child out of that content.

Doukas called this a targeted attack on a large group of people, and she now feels the Goffstown School Board is in the crosshairs. She appears to be ignoring the laws that are in place that require action by district personnel. No one presenting to the board can push their narrative on students.  She does not speak for all in the LGBTQ community, either. Parents of LGBTQ students may also wish to be informed on what their children will be learning in school. This law respects all parents. Parents get to decide what is appropriate for their children.

With the mass exodus we are seeing in public education, these kinds of laws show respect for the parents and students. Families are less likely to remove their child from public school if their viewpoint is respected.

There was no targeted attack on anyone.  Doukas shared information at a PUBLIC school board meeting that the Charter School she worked in may be violating state law. In addition, her statement to the Goffstown school board appeared to support Goffstown’s violating state law because she supports the political and sexual narrative presented on the bulletin board.

Why not raise your four children the way you want, and show some respect for parents who want to raise their children the way they want to? That’s mutual respect between people who have different viewpoints.

To unify this community, this would be a good time to find some common ground. That can be done by following the law, and focusing on academics. Instead of pushing any political narrative on children, simply teach them to be kind and show others dignity and respect. This is something all parents can support.

Parents have reported that Doukas has herself targeted conservative elected local and state officials online for years. Maybe this is a good time for her to reevaluate how she has treated people with different viewpoints, and then model the behavior she expects from others.

 

The post Transgender Pronouns for Kindergarten Students Part 2 appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

When The Lack of an Emergency is The Emergency

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 15:00 +0000

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has had an interesting couple of years. They demeaned a licensed, safe, and effective drug so they could issue emergency authorization for one that was not.

Ivermectin had to be destroyed, or at least knee-capped, or the magic voodoo juice would have never come out of warp speed and into the arms of hundreds of millions of Americans, where it did not stay. They put the rule-making in the hands of drug makers while Pfederal regulators acted as employees of pharmaceutical companies with a generous bonus plan. The approval process was reduced to the level of a show trial.

The public Health ramifications have been immeasurably bad, and it could be decades before the bill comes completely due, but none of that has dissuaded the “regulators” from continuing along the path they set.

You’ll have heard of Novavax. It’s the other, other, other COVID-19 Vaccine. Approved for emergency use in an attempt to get the vaccine-hesitant (people who didn’t want to risk a heart condition or death) to lift their sleeves and take one for the team. Novovax was not the hit they hoped for, but it was still available, but not “legally” after the public health emergency ended.

Related:  We Know Why The Public Health Industrial Complex Had to Discredit Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin

No emergency, no emergency use authorizations, but why let that stop you? After all, considering to whom you owe your allegiance, Big Pharma, the lack of an emergency is an emergency.

 

[Tuesday], amidst the frenzy over the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, the Food and Drug Administration amended the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Novavax COVID-19 “vaccine” despite the Public Health Emergency officially ending almost five months earlier on May 11, 2023, according to the CDC.  So how is the FDA seemingly able to approve an Emergency Use Authorization when, according to the CDC, there is no longer an emergency?

 

The sky isn’t falling, which is a “sky is falling” event. It isn’t falling, but it could, so we need to frame the state of fear in a new and meaningful way. Think car insurance ads. Flo, Jake, or the Emu in the Aviators. That’s what the FDA needs—a spokesperson. Maybe they can borrow Mayhem. He’s funny in a chaotic lifestyle-changing sort of way—the perfect pitchman. Put this crap in your arm as insurance. And when you need us, we won’t be there. We may even try to hide you, undermine your care, or deny your concerns.

But what do you call them?

Jab?

Our COVID vaccine mascot needs a name.

Karen?

Let me know what you think. And you’ve got time. The fearmongering isn’t working as well, but they are still trying as evidenced by the hijinks at the FDA. The lack of an emergency is the emergency. Code Red. DefCon 1. Watch for a readiness alert on your phones.

Nobody is afraid, and that’s the problem.

 

HT | Gateway Pundit

The post When The Lack of an Emergency is The Emergency appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Thar She Blows!

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 13:30 +0000

Before we figured out how to replace whale oil with cheaper, more efficient petroleum, we killed a lot of whales throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in order to light our homes and lubricate our industries, driving most species to the brink of extinction.

And just like that, we’re back to killing whales to light our homes.

And now that we are choosing to move away from petroleum to so-called “renewables,” it looks like we’re back to killing whales for our energy. Not directly this time, but indirectly, which is perhaps even more tragic.

A new documentary, Thrown to the Wind, details how the underwater sound pollution and increased boat traffic related to the construction of off shore wind turbines is contributing to a massive spike in whale deaths off the coast of New England, New York, and New Jersey.  Longer term, the filmmakers worry that there is a danger that the wave effect created by the spinning blades will kill off plankton, the primary food source for the whales, including humpback and the endangered North Atlantic right whale, of which there are only a little more than three hundred left on the planet.

The high-decibel sonar mapping that is currently taking place can disorient the whales causing mothers and calves to separate. Young calves can’t survive long without access to their mother’s milk. In addition to the stress separation causes the animals, the confusion and panic is in some cases driving the whales to wander into boat traffic or poorer feeding grounds.

But what, you ask, does this have to do with us in Vermont way up here in the mountains and so far from the seashore? Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act and resulting Climate Action Plan are forcing us to electrify all sectors of our economy including home heating and transportation with so-called “clean” energy – that is if you consider a bunch of seventy-ton rotting corpses on the beach “clean”. To meet these goals, we need a lot more “renewable” electricity than anybody currently produces. And to that end, Vermont lawmakers were counting on importing a big chunk of that offshore wind electricity when it comes online. So, Vermont’s motto is “kill the whales to save the planet!”

But there is some good news for the whales of late, though it’s not an awakening of compassion for endangered species in the hearts of our so-called environmentalists. It just turns out that offshore wind power sucks.

According to an NBC Boston story on October 3, “With legal deadlines looming on the path to more clean energy, Massachusetts has now lost three-quarters of the offshore wind capacity once in its pipeline after regulators on Friday allowed another developer to back out of contracts for a major installation.” Developers of offshore wind in New Jersey and Maryland are running into similar issues. Across the Pond, the British government apparently got zero bids to build their latest round of offshore wind projects.

The reason for these companies backing out is costs. Planting these massive turbines in the middle of the ocean is a lot more expensive than anyone dared think. A big part of that expense is the inflationary policies of the Biden Administration, which led the developers to declare these projects are “no longer financially viable,” at the price they originally agreed to.

Whales aren’t the only beneficiaries of the dropped offshore wind contracts. Electric rate payers will enjoy a windfall (I think there’s a pun in there somewhere). In breaking their contracts, “SouthCoast Wind [developer] will pay $32.4 million to Eversource [electricity supplier], $27.3 million to National Grid and $591,000 to Unitil under the termination agreements, and the utilities plan to credit payments to ratepayers through contract adjustments.”

This relief may be short term, as the projects will now go out to bid again – but this time at even higher costs to ratepayers/taxpayers. If these wind factories do eventually get built and go online, the cost of the electricity they produce will be astronomical. Looking at the trends, “In June, the International Energy Agency reported that the cost of large-scale solar and wind power jumped by about 20% last year…. LevelTen Energy recently found that the agreed price on power purchase agreements for wind and solar projects more than doubled between 2020 and the second quarter of 2023.” (Robert Bryce, 10/4/23)

All this points to the coming train wreck our lawmakers are setting us up for – shortages of electricity supply because the kind of generation they are willing to allow can’t be built, and sky-high prices because the kind of generation they are willing to allow is crazy expensive (and will be scarce, driving up costs even more).

The lessons here are that wind power is not environmentally friendly, and it is not cost effective. And even if it were, its intermittent, weather-dependent generation isn’t particularly practical. It’s certainly not worth risking the extinction of several species to produce.

Hopefully the continued failure of offshore wind projects is enough to save the whales from the self-proclaimed environmentalists. But I still worry for the five species of endangered bats we have here in Vermont helping to organically control the insect population and pollenate our landscape. It will be harder to keep our politicians from killing them off with ridgeline wind towers in our own back yard. It’s definitely a bizarre way to “save the planet.”

 

Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience in Vermont politics, including three years of service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free-market think tank. He is also a regular contributor to VermontGrok.

 

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

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

The post Thar She Blows! appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

On Day One: Acting US House Speaker Kicks Nancy Pelosi Out of Special ‘Second Office’

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 12:00 +0000

If you were wondering what might happen in the wake of Kevin McCarthy’s departure from the House Speakership, here’s something trivial and amusing to start your day. The Speaker pro tempore has booted Nancy Pelosi from her “extra” office.

“Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” an email sent to Pelosi’s office viewed by Politico stated. The email added that the room will be used “for speaker office use.”

Pelosi is currently using a hideaway office, which only a handful of members receive. Given that she is speaker emerita, McCarthy allowed Pelosi to occupy the space. McHenry, who is a McCarthy ally, is clearly less keen on it.

 

Tomorrow was last Wednesday, but Pelosi isn’t out yet.

 

“Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time,” said Pelosi, who missed Tuesday’s vote in which McCarthy was ousted.

 

Wait, it gets better.

 

She slammed the move, calling it “a sharp departure from tradition.”

 

Isn’t the entire Democrat agenda a departure from tradition?

 

The post On Day One: Acting US House Speaker Kicks Nancy Pelosi Out of Special ‘Second Office’ appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

CGMD Miner Launches Contract Trading: Unlocking Profits for All Investors in the Cryptocurrency Market.

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 11:00 +0000

CGMD Miner Emerges As The Premier Choice For Hassle-Free Crypto Cloud Mining

CGMD Miner Takes the Lead: Making Crypto Cloud Mining Simple and Seamless

CGMD Miner: Pioneering Simplicity in Cloud Mining

CGMD Miner Redefines Cloud Mining in the Simplest Way

Conventional cryptocurrency mining methods have become unsustainable due to high electricity and hardware management costs. Amid this scenario, CGMD Miner positions itself as a leading cloud mining platform that stands out as a beacon of opportunity for users seeking a seamless entry into the mining arena.

The cutting-edge platform is designed with a mission to make acquiring cryptocurrencies easy and fast for everyone. With CGMD Miner, users can step into the world of crypto mining without the need to purchase and maintain expensive hardware devices or possess technical expertise.

CGMD Miner Unlocks the Power of Cloud Mining

Cloud mining, the cornerstone of CGMD Miner, is a revolutionary mechanism that harnesses rented cloud computing power to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It enables individuals to participate in cryptocurrency mining remotely, eliminating the need for complex hardware installations and ongoing maintenance. This approach democratizes mining, making it accessible to every individual worldwide, regardless of their technical knowledge or financial resources.

Beginning your journey as a crypto miner through cloud mining on CGMD Miner is quicker and can be done swiftly in the simplest steps with zero complexities and delay.

 

  1. Choose CGMD Miner as Your Cloud Mining Provider

CGMD Miner sets the gold standard in cloud mining. The platform boasts an advanced deployment technology that provides 5% -13% of global cloud mining computing power. They uphold a user-friendly platform that opens the doors to cryptocurrency mining for everyone. By joining CGMD Miner, you become part of a trusted community that empowers you to earn burgeoning income without any strings attached.

CGMD Miner not only streamlines your mining process but also provides a seamless opportunity to generate passive income. It offers a free Bitcoin mining program, allowing you to earn BTC passively. Once you’ve mined 12 USDT worth of bitcoins, you can transfer them to your account for trading. Any profit you generate is entirely yours, available for withdrawal to your personal wallet.

Advantages of Using CGMD Miner

  • $10 Bonus: On signing up on CGMD Miner, you gain a bonus of $10.
  • High Profitability: Enjoy high profitability levels and receive your daily payouts with no delay to your wallet.
  • No Service Fees: CGMD Miner cuts the hassle and charges no service or administrative fees for all its users.
  • Diversified Income: You can earn burgeoning income from mining more than six different cryptocurrencies on the platform.
  • Lucrative Affiliate Program: By inviting positive referrals to the platform, you could receive one-time fixed bonuses of up to $3,000.
  • Top-notch Security: The platform provides enhanced security with McAfee Security Protection and Cloudflare Security Protection.
  • 24/7 Technical Support: You can rest assured knowing that CGMD Miner offers 24/7 technical support and a 100% uptime guarantee.
  1. Register and Sign Up for an Account

Signing up and completing your registration on CGMD Miner is quicker than you think. All you need to do is simply provide your email address and create an account. Once registered, you can immediately begin your cryptocurrency mining journey.

  1. Purchase a Mining Contract

CGMD Miner offers a range of mining contract options, each with its unique ROI and contract period. As another option for passive income, you can earn income the day after your purchase, and when your earnings reach $100, you can choose to withdraw to your encrypted wallet or reinvest in additional contracts.

In an era defined by digital intricacies that often deter newcomers from entering into crypto mining, CGMD Miner emerges as a true game-changer. It’s not just a platform, it’s your gateway to effortless cloud mining and generating passive income. Make the smart choice today and become a part of the CGMD Miner community, where cryptocurrency mining is no longer limited to tech experts with expensive hardware. With CGMD Miner, the future of mining is simplified, profitable, and accessible to all.

About CGMD Miner

CGMD Miner is a groundbreaking cloud mining company that has won the trust of over 385000 users worldwide. Our mission is to provide everyone with access to cloud mining, providing access to cutting-edge technologies and large industrial data centers from any device, anywhere. As a leading cloud mining platform, it contributes 5%-13% of the world’s cloud mining computing power.

With a team of seasoned professionals, including experts from top dotcom companies, there’s a strong focus on R&D and extensive technological expertise. The vision is to expand the business across the entire cryptocurrency industry chain, delivering technological innovations and exceptional services worldwide.

Website: http://www.365miner.com

CGMD miner can enter “CGMD” in the Google App Store or Apple Store to download the application.

 

The post CGMD Miner Launches Contract Trading: Unlocking Profits for All Investors in the Cryptocurrency Market. appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Stop Financing It Or At Least Rename It

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 10:30 +0000

Planned Parenthood has such a positive ring. It sounds like an incredible organization for women and families that supports the place of Parenthood in the American culture. You could not be more wrong.

You would be equally incorrect if you thought reproductive rights had anything to do with helping women through their pregnancy and the birth of their child.

Planned Parenthood is a deadly destructive organization that prides itself on supporting abortion rights and providing abortion and pregnancy prevention services. Created initially as a network of inner-city abortion clinics aimed at controlling the growing Black population, Planned Parenthood is now recognized as the go-to spot in city or suburb alike to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Along the way, they have become politically active, supporting Pro-Choice candidates and causes with our money. Planned Parenthood receives money directly through Medicaid reimbursements and Health and Human Services grants. They are double-dipping as they work tirelessly to shrink our population through birth control and abortion, helped by $50 Million in taxpayer dollars annually.

If being complicit in killing over 300,000 unwanted fetuses a year is not bad enough, Planned Parenthood has found a new income stream tragically dangerous to young women nationally. Planned Parenthood now offers hormone treatments and counseling to young people who want to transition their gender.

These are statements from the Planned Parenthood Website:

  • Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy with Informed Consent
  •        Join our Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy (GAHT) Patient Advisory Council
  •        We’re looking for any patients receiving estrogen or testosterone therapy at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts to join our quarterly patient advisory council with other trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive patients. We want to hear your feedback to help our program improve and grow! Participants will be compensated $200 for their time and will have their meal costs covered during the session.
  •       We provide surgical support letters for gender-affirmation surgery!
  •       Planned Parenthood now provides surgical support letters to established patients seeking gender affirmation surgery. 

Planned Parenthood is now a one-stop resource for counseling, treatment regimens, and approvals for life-altering surgery. Planned Parenthood is not new to this industry. They have offered “transgender care” since at least 2017. However, it’s notable that since the ruling on Roe V. Wade, they have expanded their offerings as the services become more popular, particularly amongst young people, and the income from Abortion services declined.

Not just a source for treatment for patients over 18, in several states, including California, Oregon, and Washington, minors as young as 12 or 13 can receive “mental health treatment,” including “gender identity affirmation,” without parental consent or disclosing information to parents. 

Sadly, Planned Parenthood began receiving federal funds in the 70s when Republican Richard Nixon started it. Like any other program in Washington, the money flow becomes perpetual once funded. Planned Parenthood has never been anything but a political money-making machine. The problem for me is I do not want to see a dime of my tax dollars funding abortion or gender transitioning. That perpetual funding needs to stop. This would be a great organization to break tradition and lose Government funds.

 

The post Stop Financing It Or At Least Rename It appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Campaign Kickoff Invitation

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 03:00 +0000

Thirty-four New Hampshire Republican State Reps. have endorsed me in the NHCD2 race. Please check out who they are. They are great people, and I am very grateful for their trust at this early stage while my campaign is kicking into higher gear.

Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication – Publication is not an endorsement.

I would like to invite you to join us for my campaign kickoff event on Oct. 13 Friday, from 4 pm to 7 pm at Hackleboro Orchard, 61 Orchard Rd, Canterbury, NH. Please come to meet my father, younger brother, and sister-in-law as they visit me in NH. Enjoy some home-style Chinese Spring Rolls and other good food that they will be helping to make.

By the way, if you want to know where my fighting spirit comes from, please read this op-ed I published two years ago about my father: My Hero: A Father’s Day Tribute – Union Leader.

A $50 donation per person is suggested for this first fundraiser. The event flyer is attached here below. Please let me know if you can make it – RSVP to my team lead: Matt@lilytangwilliams.com.

If you can donate now, please do so to help me out because my quarterly filing is coming up at the end of this month. Every dollar you contribute helps my campaign show strong grassroots support from the people. I can’t be stopped from telling my story of the American Dream and defending it with all of my energy.

 

Reminder: Content about candidates or by candidates is not an endorsement by GraniteGrok.com or its authors.

The post Campaign Kickoff Invitation appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

There’s Only One Way To Tame The Runaway Federal Debt

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 01:30 +0000

Balancing the budget is like getting to heaven—most folks know what to do to get there. It’s just that they don’t want to do it. That’s probably unfair to the faithfully upright who actually walk the walk, but the analogy is a perfect fit for Washington politicians who put the federal budget over the family budget.

Over the last few years, we have been witness to the greatest fiscal blowout in our nation’s history, much of it due to an orgy of ‘emergency’ pandemic relief spending. When we accumulated large amounts of debt during WWII, we cut the budget and paid off the war bonds in a peacetime recovery.

Today, the spending is virtually baked-in.

The administration’s post-COVID 2024 budget of $6.9 trillion includes everything from Ukraine funding to student debt forgiveness to the expansion of Medicaid and Obamacare, covering 700,000 undocumented ‘dreamers.’ (RELATED: REP. ANDY BIGGS: Congress Can’t Continue The Budget Insanity. We’re Standing Against A Continuing Resolution)

Its record deficit, however, isn’t for lack of revenue. Federal receipts are now $5 trillion dollars annually, up from $3.3 trillion just five years ago. Put another way, had spending stayed even close to what it was when I served on the House Budget Committee in 2018, we’d have a massive surplus.

As it stands, Biden’s deficit this year (including the taxpayer bailout of student debt) is approaching $2 trillion. At $33 trillion, our gross national debt is quickly outpacing our ability to service it. Interest payments on government borrowing are up 30% and heading towards a trillion dollars per year as ten-year treasury rates shoot upward.

Fitch has downgraded U.S. credit ratings.

Predictably, the very same people who had no trouble shutting down the entire economy are the ones hyperventilating about a temporary, non-essential (many federal employees are still working remotely) government shutdown that leaves entitlements untouched.

It’s a broken budget process that leaves us with these all-or-nothing propositions—either keep bankrupting the country and our children or shut down part of the government.

It happens every fall.

Naturally, it plays right into the big spender’s strategy as they load as many ornaments as they can on the Christmas Tree until it has something everyone likes—and everyone will vote for. These are called omnibus bills, the usual result of the failure to pass the 12 annual appropriations bills.

But ‘regular order’ is no panacea either. The reason the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) has held up ‘separate single-subject’ spending bills (that they say they want) is that out-of-control appropriators continue to run amok over authorizing committees and toothless budget resolutions.

Big spenders in control of a uniparty demanding an “open-ended commitment” to Ukraine are just as responsible for ‘shutting down’ the government as the hardliners getting the blame. It is they who want a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep Biden-era levels of discretionary spending totaling $1.6 trillion on autopilot for 2024.

Yet, HFC holdouts from safe Red districts have deluded themselves into thinking fiscal restraint is plausible even within their own party under a Mitch McConnell Senate and a Don Bacon ‘Problem Solvers’ Caucus—let alone a Biden White House.

Perhaps because they know a ‘shutdown’ won’t hurt them like it will the rest of the Republican caucus in tougher districts when the media start blaming it for a ‘shutdown’ that only an endless series of CRs can prevent.

That’s the hand Speaker Kevin McCarthy was dealt when he negotiated this year’s debt ceiling bill. The Fiscal Responsibility Act reduced baseline spending by $2.1 trillion over six years and, more importantly, reinstated sequester-lite cuts over the next two should Congress fail to pass the 12 appropriations bills by the end of January.

That’s exactly what Republicans should let happen because sequesters work.

Recall the 2011 Budget Control Act forced automatic cuts in discretionary spending should it exceed the limits set forth in the agreement, absent a broader deficit reduction package. The trillion dollar ‘sequester’ came about as deficits approached a whopping 10% of GDP following the Bush-Obama-era of reckless ‘stimulus’ spending.

The results were as predictable as they were astounding. Real spending declined, deficits shrank, and the economy grew under a modicum of fiscal restraint that was still “one of the rare success stories for smaller government in living memory.”

Do I have to tell you what came next?

Both sides of the aisle quickly got together and passed deals that broke the caps while pretending to extend sequestration in name only. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 was one such scheme to bust discretionary spending limits for FY2018 and FY2019.

I voted against it.

But, as I detail in Party Animal, the Truth About President Trump, Power Politics & the Partisan Press:

A gleeful Sen. Schumer celebrated throwing out the “pointless and arbitrary sequester caps to the ash heaps of history” in the 2018 Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA). Oh, and the BBA also increased spending by $400 billion over the next two years. Soon, Schumer & Co. were demanding a massive, $130 billion hike in social spending as the price for ‘plussing-up’ the Department of Defense.

Of course, the only thing “pointless and arbitrary” about the spending caps is that they could be suspended so easily. And both parties and all their factions are to blame. (RELATED: PAUL MUELLER: Uncle Sam Has A Credit Card Problem)

Democrats are simply willing to forsake the country for vote buying. And GOP budget hawks are no match for the party’s defense hawks—including HFC holdouts Matt Gaetz and Chip Roy, who voted for a budget-busting $826 billion Pentagon bill.

For reference, when I was in Congress just a few years ago, the DOD was allocated $547 billion under BCA-enforced levels.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act was never going to tame a woke Pentagon budget that Schumer so easily leveraged for more social spending. But it did reestablish some restraint in non-defense discretionary outlays. Unfortunately, the $246 billion in automatic spending cuts for FY2024 and FY2025 fall on just a small fraction of a gargantuan federal budget.

We know what we need to see the Pearly Gates of debt reduction—a real budget sequester that’s free from bipartisan exemptions and includes mandatory spending, the DOD, and the rest of the federal Leviathan.

Don’t hold your breath.

 

Former Congressman Jason Lewis is the author of “Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics and the Partisan Press.” He also writes at jasonlewis.substack.com.

This article was originally published on the author’s Substack page, which can be viewed here.

 

Jason Lewis | Daily Caller News Service

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline, and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

 

The post There’s Only One Way To Tame The Runaway Federal Debt appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Should Rep Murray Have to Wear a Lobbyist Badge Everytime She Sets Foot in the State House?

Granite Grok - Sat, 2023-10-07 00:00 +0000

The Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire (RFFNH) is paying Manchester Democrat Rep Alissandra Murray a salary to serve in the New Hampshire House, but she’s not, Rep Murry (D- RFFNH)?

And we’ve no clue where the money truly comes from – RFFNH has no filed 990s I can find, nor do we know how much they are paying Murray. Shouldn’t that be public information?

I’m going to assume it’s dark money, laundered downstream to a state-level franchise of some national special interest that has yet to file its own paperwork or has, and it hasn’t filtered through the system to become publicly available.

We don’t know.

And to be precise (as vodka), there is nothing wrong with downstreaming money to yet another so-called non-profit special interest. It’s all legal. The issue here is whether a State House Democrat can accept a salary from a lobbyist for the sole purpose of being able to (afford to) serve in the legislature (and vote the way they ask).

She is on the payroll. Is that a problem?

The easiest way to answer the question is to say, “Would it be a problem if she were a Republican?” The answer to that is most certainly yes. Would it be a problem if she never disclosed it (which she has not)? The answer is yes. Will the legislature do anything about that? Probably not, though they could try to convince her to admit it and clarify that she should disclose it. But if you have spent any time here, you’ll know that getting the House Ethics Committee to rein people in is hit or miss and mostly miss, but I have a suggestion.

I think she should be made to wear one of those big bright Lobbyist stickers (and maybe not just her) whenever she’s in Concord doing the RFFNH’s business under the cover of Rep from Manchester. I also think it should be required that she indicate on all campaign materials that she is only running becasue a third party is paying her so she can represent … Them.

The legislators and other lobbyists and the people she claims to represent would know.

If they are all good with it, then as you were. If not? Maybe nothing. We’ll have to wait and see.

 

HT | NH Journal

 

The post Should Rep Murray Have to Wear a Lobbyist Badge Everytime She Sets Foot in the State House? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Trust

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 22:30 +0000

Institutions and the “Elites” within shattered the trust of ordinary citizens when, instead of staying with the Servant/Leader model in which they were subservient to the people, they decided to abrogate that relationship.

Emphasis mine (reformatted).

 

Overall, a clear pattern emerges: a marked and fairly widespread decline of public confidence in science since the pandemic. While, historically, Americans’ confidence in science has remained high relative to confidence in other institutions, this gap now appears to be narrowing.

The pandemic surely played a role, especially controversial policies such as school closures and masking young children. There’s little doubt the conduct of scientific, political and media elites contributed as well — from policy mistakes like the botched rollout of diagnostic tests to mixed and misleading messaging on masking to the dishonesty of politicians who failed to follow their own rules to efforts within government, the media and the scientific community to suppress dissent.

The English sociologist Anthony Giddens once observed that modern societies are uniquely dependent on trust, particularly trust in what he termed “abstract systems.” Members of smaller traditional societies are embedded in face-to-face relationships with neighbors, friends and family members. By contrast, we are dependent on a vast array of interconnected social institutions, especially expert institutions, which involve “faceless commitments” to those we do not (and usually cannot) know personally.

It is characteristic of these abstract systems that we cannot opt out, at least not entirely. Sustaining trust in them therefore becomes a basic requirement for the functioning of modern societies. Essential to this process is what Mr. Giddens calls “access points”: interactions between lay citizens and individual members (or representatives) of abstract systems; think of experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci or even your family physician.

Such interactions provide opportunities for experts vested with authority not only to exemplify the requisite skills but also to exhibit the character traits — rectitude, professionalism, disinterestedness — needed to generate and sustain the trust of those lay individuals who depend on them. If your doctors lie to you or put their financial interests ahead of yours, you will probably stop trusting them. If their behavior appears egregious enough, it might shake your confidence in the entire medical establishment. Access points are where trust is established and sustained or broken and lost; they are vulnerabilities in abstract systems.

The Covid-19 crisis simultaneously laid bare our dependence on abstract systems and shook many Americans’ confidence in them. From this point of view, expert institutions lost the public’s trust not only because of unpopular policies but also because prominent representatives of these institutions either were or were perceived as being self-interested rather than disinterested, politically motivated rather than dispassionate.

 

Instead of serving, they demanded. Instead of “being of service,” they expected to be served. Instead of “obeying” normal social norms, they decided they could create new ones and expect the rest of us, on command, to hew to them.

They believed themselves to be indispensable to “the unwashed masses.” They, and whatever “mission” they had and followed, believed that we didn’t matter. Do as we tell you to, peon!

These same people act astonished at how little we really care about what they do and what they think. They failed to read poll after poll on how we perceived them. They failed to think “Er, wrong move? Wrong way? Too condescending?”

And in the world of politics, too maniacal about what they can get away with?

We SAW what they did in the past. We SEE what they are doing now. Unlike what they believe about our “incapabilities,” we can extrapolate what they want to do with us in the future. WEF: “You will own nothing and be happy about it.” The Democrat Party: “Have less, do less, be less.”  And the Republicans, “What, you’re surprised we won’t fight for what YOU think is important – But please still send us money and your votes.”

These institutions have gained power at our expense. Our lack of trust has not reached its deepest depth, but when it does, there will be a reckoning they will never see coming.

Certainly, the now-former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, thought he’d survive this skirmish of the disaffected. “So what if I made promises to get your votes – you’ll never hold me responsible!”

Like him or not, Gaetz made it clear that it is up to us to hold those who should be accountable ACCOUNTABLE. Decisions have consequences, but we haven’t laid into delivering those consequences for FAR too long.

We need to start NOW – and there are LOTS of targets to choose from. Go ahead, pick even a small one and both how fun it can be and the results that stem from it afterward. It may be HARD, and it may be FRUSTRATING – and require lots of patience and persistence and a sense of “Pest Mode,” but trust me, you will have a sense of accomplishment almost unobtainable by any other fashion.

 

HT | Instapundit

 

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

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

The post Trust appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

The Republican State Committee Voted to Close the NH Republican Primary, So Why Isn’t It Closed?

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 21:00 +0000

In January, the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, at its annual meeting, passed a resolution by majority vote to close the Republican primary. Only registered Republicans would be able to pick their nominees. So why, then, is it not closed?

The pat answer, the one you’ll get from leadership, is that the wording in the resolution violated state law, but after reading an exchange between an inquisitive voter and the New Hampshire Secretary of State, that answer is, at best misleading, and, at worst, a bald-faced lie. While ‘The Party” claims that a resolution is non-binding and that a By-Law change is required, the secretary of State – unless I misunderstand the plain language he uses – need only receive a letter from the party Chairman (in writing) to close the primary.

 

10/4/2023

Hi xxxxxxx,

By statute the party chair is to notify the Secretary of State in writing if there is a change regarding which voters can participate in a party primary. I have not received any written communication in that regard.

 

[AND, in a follow up response, to  question by the same curious voter regarding the deadline for notification]

 

…a political party can notify me in writing up until close of business next Tuesday.

Dave

By “next Tuesday,” Secretary of State Scanlan means October tenth.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the State does not appear to care what the mechanism of rule change is, only that the Party tells him in writing what it requires by October tenth, end of day.

So, does the language conflict with state statute? Before the response above, the curious voter asked for the Statute, which SoS Scanlan promptly provided.

 

Voting Procedure

Section 659:14

    659:14 Special Provisions for State and Presidential Primary Elections. –
I. A person desiring to vote at a state or presidential primary election shall, at the time of announcing the person’s name, also announce the name of the party to which the person belongs or whether the person is registered as an undeclared voter. If the person’s party membership has been registered before, the person shall be given only the ballot of the party with which the person is registered, unless the person desires to vote the ballot of a party not having official existence at the time the person’s party membership was previously registered, in which case the person may vote the ballot of such a party in the state primary election immediately following the political organization’s official existence as a party, and not in any subsequent state primary election. A person may also vote the ballot of such a party in the presidential primary election only if the presidential primary election precedes the state primary election to be held in that same year. If the rules of a party permit a person who is registered as an undeclared voter to vote in the party’s primary, any person desiring to vote in that party’s primary shall also announce the name of that party at the time of announcing the person’s name. No person shall be permitted to vote in any more than one party primary during any primary election.
II. The secretary of State shall include on the voter instruction cards required by RSA 658:28 whether a party rule has been adopted which permits a person who is registered as an undeclared voter to vote in the party’s primary. The party chairman shall notify the secretary of State in writing prior to the filing period for state offices whether the party has adopted such a rule. This rule shall not be changed or rescinded by a party until the results of the primary have been announced, and any change or rescission shall be mailed to the secretary of State by the party chairman.

 

As you can see, nothing there appears to conflict with anything other than the lack of notification by the Party to the Secretary of State, as observed in the response from the curious voter.

 

Thank you for providing me the RSA relative to party primary rules.  I am not finding anything where the resolution that was voted on and passed by the state committee members present at the January meeting violates any provision of that RSA.  Are you able to help me understand the rationale here? 

 

You have already read the Secretary of State’s response. “…the party chair is to notify the Secretary of State in writing if there is a change regarding which voters can participate in a party primary. I have not received any written communication in that regard.”

 

Why has that not then happened?

 

There is more.

The original sponsor of the change, Karen Testerman, just sent a letter to NHGOP Chairman Chris Ager, seeking to address these contradictions.

 

As you know, at the 2023 annual meeting of the NHGOP held on January 28, 2023, the attached resolution closing the primaries to all but registered Republicans was formally adopted by the body consisting of the required quorum of members of the NHGOP state committee.

As you must also know, there is absolutely no distinction between a “Resolution” and a “By-Law” provision contained in the governing documents of the NHGOP.

Thus, it was your duty under the provisions of NH RSA 669:14-II to give written notice to the NH Secretary of State of the adoption of this resolution, but it is understood that you have not done so.

Additionally, the Bylaw Committee contacted me via phone stating that the amendment submitted should be a resolution. Further they requested that I withdraw the bylaw amendment. Now in your correspondence with others you are stating that this resolution should be a bylaw. I am confused as to which process is correct.

Further, it is my understanding that there has not been any “rule” adopted by the NHGOP that would permit “a person who is registered as an undeclared voter to vote in the party’s primary” as described in RSA 669:14-II.

Thus, this is a formal demand that you comply with your duties a chairman of the NHGOP and send formal written notice to the NH Secretary of State of the adoption of the attached resolution by which the party primaries of the NHGOP must be closed and reaffirm that the NHGOP has never adopted any rule that would permit a person who is registered as an undeclared voter to vote in the party’s primary.

Very truly yours,

 

If there is no legal issue in the Secretary of State’s mind, what are we waiting for?

The deadline for submitting the change in writing fast approaches, and the only thing that appears to be standing between New Hampshire Republicans and a closed primary – for which its state committee voted – is a brief written message, making it so.

What, exactly, is the problem?

 

The post The Republican State Committee Voted to Close the NH Republican Primary, So Why Isn’t It Closed? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

The “End Point” of DIE Meets Critical Race Theory in Progressive Politics

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 19:30 +0000

California Gov Gavin “Hair Gel” Newsom (with that winsome smile and those You can trust me, I’m not like the others” eyes) just did this after the passing of Dianne “I’d take all the guns if I had the votes” Feinstein.

I am still trying to get back into a blogging rhythm, so my apologies if things are not “smooth” just yet; please bear with me.

When Gavin Newsom chose Laphonza Butler to replace the Diane Feinstein as Senator for California he may have selected less as a person than a set of intersecting categories.”

Social Justice, Critical Race Theory, Childism, Eco-Socialism, Socialism, Communism, and Marxism (which encompasses ALL of the previous categories). They truly believe that you are only a Group – not an Individual. You are only as good as your Group and your Group is only as good as the current jumbling of all of the other competing Groups on the Progressive political Totem Pole.

Think I’m kidding?

Ask white, middle-aged gays who used to be at the top of the totem pole (right, Ray Buckley, head of the NH Democrat Party?) about the latest manifestation of the sub-sub-sub-species of Transgender micro-groupettes.

Related: Gov Nuisance Chooses ‘Non-Resident’ to Fill Empty US Senate Seat … Snubs Millions of Illegals!

Did Newsom pick someone of a high level of Merit? Is she known for outstanding service to others of all ages? Does she at least live in the State that she is supposed to represent?

  • Lesbian
  • Black
  • Union Organizer (the Communist-leaning SEIU)
  • President of Emily’s List that raised money to kill unborn babies (and Planned Parenthood profited from – talk about “Profits over People,” eh?

Right race, right sexual orientation, a unionista, a baby killer. Check, check, check, and check. Oh, living in California upon appointment? Oopsies – Maryland. What, California didn’t have enough or the “right” people to check those boxes? Heh – Newsome really believes that Californians are the best, right (snicker)?

Checking the boxes means completing the required Venn diagram density – and Laphonza Butler checked them all. Well, almost – can she self-fund?  Doesn’t matter, I guess. Want to find out more about her – The Atlantic (a VERY progressive site) has more details.

OK, she has merit. But would a white older guy with the same credentials have been tapped?

Really, you have to ask me that question?

Oh, as an aside, the picture of her is from her US Senate Page: https://www.butler.senate.gov/:

…appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate on October 1, 2023, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dianne Feinstein; took the oath of office on October 3, 2023

That was rather quick, wasn’t it?

 

HT | Instapundit

The post The “End Point” of DIE Meets Critical Race Theory in Progressive Politics appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

This Will Make You Laugh … It Should Make You Cry

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 18:00 +0000

It is NOT hyperbole to say that our government is corrupt … perhaps irremediably corrupt. And that goes for the State government in New Hampshire, too. For example, Sun-King Sununu made one of his minions the Insurance Commissioner despite that minion having no qualifications for the job.

And that goes for the local government, as well. Who voted to have “diversity” directors, officers, etc., running public schools?

But just keep shouting “New Hampshire Advantage,” the “Constitution is the solution,” blah, blah, blah …

 

 

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

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

The post This Will Make You Laugh … It Should Make You Cry appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Friday Meme Overflow-Overflow

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 16:30 +0000

To all those who are sending in memes, thank you!  Keep them coming please, as it helps me gather weaponry to fight the Left.  Please do share this post, and if you share an individual meme, consider mentioning you saw it on the Grok!

Speaking of, from this week, Monday Edition and Wednesday Edition.

 

*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Which is why they cannot take everything away from you.  Because then you have nothing to lose – and are very likely to go looking for the people that took it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That famous Truman quote comes to mind…

 

 

 

I remember this and the utter panic that ensued.  Funny how the actual truth never got much play.

 

 

 

 

 

What a coincidence.

 

 

 

 

Men going to war travel alone.  Men fleeing war bring their families.  Remember this quote (embedded in my essay here):

IN 1974, FORMER ALGERIAN PRESIDENT HOUARI BOUMEDIENE SAID IN A SPEECH AT THE UN:

“ONE DAY MILLIONS OF MEN WILL LEAVE THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE TO GO TO THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE. AND THEY WILL NOT GO THERE AS FRIENDS. BECAUSE THEY WILL GO THERE TO CONQUER IT WITH THEIR SONS. THE WOMBS OF OUR WOMEN WILL GIVE THE VICTORY.”

 

Hijra – conquest by migration and demographics – is a real thing.

You searched for hijra – Political Islam

 

 

 

 

And please understand that I’m not advocating or recommending anything here.  But people like the above need to remember the (adapted) adage that no matter how powerful the financier, a 400 yard “attitude adjustment” will seriously cramp his style.  See my note about people who have had everything taken from them.

 

 

 

 

It was not just the inconvenient fact of the pore sizes that I encountered on my journey into skepticism.  It was the rapid pivot from “Wear a mask to protect yourself” to “Wear a mask to protect others”.  I.e., empathy got weaponized. something that made me very suspicious.  Same for The Jab.  It was all about “Protect grandma”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent find / observation.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh please please please please please.  I certainly would read his obituary with great pleasure (channeling the Mark Twain quote).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve seen pictures and videos of people discussing the essentially-completely redacted contracts.  From multiple countries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a very uncomfortable truth, I think.

 

 

Think that through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Pick of the Post:

 

 

I keep seeing tyranny / one world government being predicted with varying forms of “Whether you want it or not”.  My reply:

 

 

 

On the plus side, that hair would make a nice ID point through a scope.  See my comment, above, about 400 yard attitude adjustments.

Again, let me be 100% clear.  I am not advocating such.  I don’t want to see such actions happening.  But at some point men (and women) who just wanted to be left alone will be left with little option:

 

 

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

 

Palate Cleansers:

 

 

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

 

And don’t forget… come back Monday for another edition.  Same Meme Time.  Same Meme channel.

 

The post Friday Meme Overflow-Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

The ACLU Just Helped the 6th Circuit Wreck The Trans-Narrative

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 15:00 +0000

The ACLU just did something extraordinary. In an eye toward overturning laws in Kentucky and Tennessee that prohibited gender drugs or surgery for children, they grabbed the LGBT narrative by its meaningless genitals and twisted.

But the Court didn’t scream the way they expected.

You can wander the “ruling” weeds here if that’s your thing, and more is divulged here, but I’d like to focus on two critical points that cut the hairy legs out from under the noise machine of the transgender agenda.

The gender spectrum is not just a spectrum. It is a moving target. Chapter and verse profess to us that anyone can be anywhere on that spectrum at any time. Gender is not fixed. This argument undermines the previous cornerstone of gender hijinks: I was born that way. The latter confirms that sex parts matter – you are, after all, born that way, while the former affirms that everything else is in your head space – a mental health issue.

In defending the right of parents to mutilate children or give them dangerous drugs that could kill them, the ACLU insisted that Transgender status is immutable, like skin color. The Court said, wait just one damn minute.

Citations removed.

To establish a new classification, plaintiffs must show that transgender individuals “exhibit obvious, immutable, or distinguishing characteristics that define them as a discrete group.” It is difficult to see, at least at this stage of the case, how transgender identity fits that description. Unlike existing suspect classes, transgender identity is not “definitively ascertainable at the moment of birth.” It is not necessarily immutable, as the stories of “detransitioners” indicate and as plaintiffs do not dispute. Instead of defining a “discrete group,”  “transgender” can describe “a huge variety of gender identities and expressions.”

 


The only thing special about it is how it cannot be classified as immutable.

The second of those things I wanted to point out related to parental rights. You may have heard. Parents don’t have any. Ask a school board, Teacher’s Union Boss, one of their dues-paying flunkies, or the United States Attorney General. Efforts to define rights are hills to die on for Gender Cultists and their abettors in the Democrat party. Thou shalt not legislate parental rights.

The ACUL, in arguing against the laws in Tennessee and Kentucky passed to protect children from their parents – the same thing the Gender cult says we need – insisted the opposite.

 

[T]he Sixth Circuit wasn’t done. They also ripped apart the familiar argument that parents should be allowed to do whatever they want with their kids,” he said. “As the Sixth Circuit pointed out, that’s completely illogical. You have to look specifically at what parents are doing to their children. Being a parent doesn’t give you the right to mutilate your child.”

 

The ACLU and the Gender Cult want you to believe that parents have no rights unless you mean mutilating children. Not just any mutilation. A very specific, politically driven one. There is no right to have fingers removed, or perhaps an ear, but breasts or penis? As for drugs, no parent may encourage the prescribing or use of drugs ill-suited to children, but hormone blockers, which are unapproved and have dangerous side effects, including death, should be protected.

To say yes to either argument would be to legalize Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, which, as I observed back in 2019, meant that,

 

That these parents got the added benefit of defending their child from the discrimination they’d never have faced were it not for the parent. It’s like a Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy double-tap. You not only created a condition in your child to feed off them like a psychological lamprey, but you get the added bonus of ranting about how unfair the world is to the child re-gendered.

 

A US Circuit court has determined that the ACLU’s arguments are contradictory and, in doing so, undermined a cornerstone of the gender cults foundation, not that they could ever have one. I mean, what is a cornerstone anyway? And what if it doesn’t want to identify as a stone or a corner?

Jeesh.

 

HT | Daily Wire

Scan the QR Code or Use the embedded form to get your tickets to Groktoberfest!

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

The post The ACLU Just Helped the 6th Circuit Wreck The Trans-Narrative appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Can the “Snatch-Defeat-From-Victory Party” Keep From Screwing This Up?

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 13:30 +0000

Why was the thought “like bringing a Michelin star level 10-course tasting meal to a 6-year-old” rolling through my head when I saw this?

 

 

(click to embiggen)

 

Given the national fiasco that was the 2022 “Red Tide to a Red Eyedropper”mid-terms, (and – I’ll be kinder than I should here, “less than stellar” NHGOP midterm performance and in every special election since) WHY would I think that the electorate is going to vote how they speak?

Look at those results since Biden took office. As Powerline says, “It finds that Democrats’ standing with voters has declined significantly since 2020, while Republicans have gained.” For each column, left to right:

 

  • D (-4) / R (+5)
  • D (-3) / R (+5)
  • D (-3) / R (+7)
  • D (-1) / R (+5)
  • D (-3) / R+7)

 

But polling, even while favorable here, doesn’t get people to the polls. Only GREAT Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts do. For years, I have asked the Republican organization here to do just that – REALLY organize for a long time using lots of strategies and nailing down every grunt-level activity perfectly.

Yeah, a prophet in my own mind.

The table is being set, not by the Republicans but by the Democrats trying to rip the tablecloth out from underneath us all but calling it goodness. People are seeing that it’s not, and given that the Dems are continuing their headlong rush, who knows?

As in these other stories, like, “Democrats increasingly embrace censorship from the government and Big Tech: Poll.”

Their decades-long rush through our institutions and denigrating the precepts of the Constitution and the Rights it is supposed to protect are coming to fruition.

 

HT | Powerline

The post Can the “Snatch-Defeat-From-Victory Party” Keep From Screwing This Up? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

There Ain't No Rock 'n Roll

Libertarian Leanings - Fri, 2023-10-06 13:21 +0000
"Ain't No Rock and Roll" by Five Times August is OUT NOW from @basterecords wherever digital music is sold/stream! Get it today: https://t.co/3CPdPlIJW4 ???? pic.twitter.com/qJcSdEMgDa — Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) October 6, 2023 Tom Bowler
Categories: Blogs, United States

Chicago Has a Zombie Problem

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 12:00 +0000

The internet applauded when the citizens of Chicago, or whoever stuffs the ballot boxes in that corrupt city, kicked incumbent mayor Lori Lightfoot to the political curb. Her replacement, however, hasn’t received much in the way of applause since taking office.

He inherited a vast criminal enterprise in a city plagued by crime. Small businesses always had difficulty prospering, but since the Summer of Love, those who were not burned out are leaving or have just gone out of business. They can’t afford to operate thanks to the aforementioned crime exacerbated by Inflation, employment issues, regulation, and did I mention crime?

Those are old problems, systemic – as the Left likes to say. This is Chicago, and these are not things another Democrat mayor will address in any meaningful way. Their predecessors broke the system for the benefit of a few and left a lot of people behind. But now they’ve got another problem. It is new to freshman Mayor Brandon Johnson but pre-exists his reign.

Thousands of illegal aliens have blown into the Windy City since the elevation of Stumblin’ Joe and Fumblin’ Kamala. The same Democrats who helped them, and Chicago’s Brandon, into positions of power have discovered that thing about being a sanctuary city they don’t like. The illegal aliens. They are invading their city like a horde of zombies seeking sanctuary.

Both were fooled. Chicago Democrats didn’t want these zombies and lacked the brains to feed them.

I honestly have no idea if the invaders are aware of the irony or if they even care, but the Democrat zombies who voted for this are confused. Their virtue signal has been scrambled by the smell wafting from the stench of the huddled masses (with iPhones, wearing Adidas) yearning to be freeloaders. We didn’t ask for this, they shout. And don’t these politicians work for us?

 

 

It is amusing to watch Democrats yelling at Democrats over the impact of Democrat policy not long before the Democrat Presidential Convention arrives in Chicago to anoint the next ‘Brandon.’ But are disgruntled voters of Chicago capable of grasping how they got here from there? Do they understand the change they need?

I don’t think they are clever enough to work it out.

My state borders Massachusetts. It is full of corrupt Dems who set fire to the cradle of liberty before stomping on its ashes and tossing them into a deep hole. They call it a commonwealth, but the only thing they have in common is generational ignorance. They vote Democrat because that’s what their parents and grandparents did. Their neighbors, co-workers, random crooks, and near-do-wells pull the lever for the D-Team like brainless zombies. And like Chicago, they need a twelve-step program.

They need to admit that they have a political addiction, which has made their lives unmanageable. That there is a power greater than the government and the Democrat Party. That they need to take a fearless moral inventory of the Democrat Party’s failures. In the case of Chicago, that greater power is the people in the Constitutional Republic they have for generations been working to undermine.

And that is what is so amusing. These Democrats are working for you, and this is what that looks like. If it is a different outcome you seek, only you can make that possible, but you’ll have to stop electing Democrats, and I don’t think you know how.

 

The post Chicago Has a Zombie Problem appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

He May Have Brought This Upon Himself but Did He Lead Others To Believe as He Did?

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 10:30 +0000

I’m sorry to hear that Josh Kruger died, but when he chose to ignore reality, and that reality then bit his backside (and bit it hard), a comment on the relationship between these two things is perfectly allowable.

As always, emphasis mine reformatted.

A left-wing Philadelphia journalist who mocked concern over rising crime in Democrat-run cities was shot to death in his home. Josh Kruger was shot seven times after someone entered his home, shot him at the base of his stairs, and then fled. Kruger ran outside seeking help from his neighbors and collapsed, where police found them after responding to call just before 1:30 a.m. on the 2300 block of Watkins Street.  Kruger, 39, was rushed to the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died just before 2:15 a.m.

Kruger frequently mocked conservatives on X, ironically calling Dilbert creator Scott Adams “Nostradamus” on Saturday for predicting that people would be dead “within the year” of Biden’s election…Kruger also mocked conservatives concerned over the city’s shootings, which he said were “dropping to levels not seen in years.”

And:

 

There is an old semi-joke on the Right that a NeoCon is a former liberal who got mugged. You know, an epiphany on the road to a figurative Damascus. I’m betting that this liberal never got the chance to recant his belief in Leftwing policies that then aerated him before he hit the floor.

My problem is NOT that he may have brought this upon himself but that he may have led others to believe as he did. That crime post-George-Floyd was not a big deal. It wasn’t happening (go to the link for more), but if it is … the fault lies with the Right.

Until it didn’t.

In that split second before lack of oxygen kicked in, did he berate himself for getting it all wrong? And would he have been a hypocrite if he had been a Second Amendment dude who could have defended himself FIRST?

That would have been cognitive dissonance, wouldn’t it?

 

HT | ZeroHedge

The post He May Have Brought This Upon Himself but Did He Lead Others To Believe as He Did? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

The Advantages of Selling Your Luxury Car Online

Granite Grok - Fri, 2023-10-06 09:00 +0000

When the time comes to sell your luxury vehicle, you are presented with a number of options. You could go to a traditional dealership and see what they have to offer you, opt for a self-led sale, or investigate the process of selling it through an online platform.

This post focuses on the online selling option and all of the advantages that brings to the table.

No False Starts

When you decide to sell a luxury vehicle, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. The number one boon tends to be the number of potential buyers that are either running a scam or just showing up to mess you around and waste your time. The only way to avoid this happening is to move through a reliable online channel where there will be no false starts and absolutely zero scams to speak of. This means your vehicle is safe, and so is your precious time.

Direct Quotes

Whether you have a sale price in mind, or you are completely in the dark, there will be fairly instant access to a quote for your car. This means you can make a quick decision as to the viability of the offer, and either accept or reject it to move things forward. If you don’t like the price from one place, try another to get a sense of a general value.

No Fuss

By opting for a sale with a reputable company like We Buy Exotics, your car is in safe hands. The price quoted is what you will receive for the sale, and all of the administration around the exchange will be handled for you. Companies like this even arrange for the collection of the vehicle as well, which is exactly what you need. If you were to opt for an alternative path, there would be a lot of admin to sift through, which is incredibly time consuming.

Avoid Delays

The biggest problem when trying to sell a luxury vehicle is that there are few buyers out there who want or need this type of car. The fact is, exotic automobiles are for a niche portion of car owners and this is not the climate for this type of sale. Economically speaking, car sales are in decline on a global scale and the luxury market has suffered as a result. Trying to sell a used exotic car is difficult, and you just don’t know how long it will take if you do it without professional input. However, if you choose a reliable online outlet to finalize a sales agreement with, there will be no delays at all and these types of companies take a range of vehicles in a variety of conditions. You will need to prove that you are the owner and be prepared to list in detail the state and status of the vehicle.

Selling your luxury car online is the preferred option for all of the reasons discussed above. It is a difficult economy to move this kind of asset in, so it makes sense to lean on professionally proven methods instead.

 

The post The Advantages of Selling Your Luxury Car Online appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

The Manchester Free Press aims to bring together in one place everything that you need to know about what’s happening in the Free State of New Hampshire.

As of August 2021, we are currently in the process of removing dead links and feeds, and updating the site with newer ones.

Articles

Media

Blogs

Our friends & allies

New Hampshire

United States