Hate is a destructive emotion that can rob us of our compassion, our dignity, and even our common sense. For six years now, Democrats have been consumed with an overpowering hatred of the man who left public office nearly two years ago.

It’s the same man who gave our country energy independence, secure borders, and a strong economy with low inflation.

That aside, all those Trump-haters were granted a brief reprieve recently from the self-destructive rage that’s been eating away at them for so many years. In the aftermath of the FBI raid on Trump’s residence, they found a moment of elation. For just an instant, all that rage turned to jubilation as they joyfully bantered about the possible sentences Trump would receive after he’s convicted on whatever criminal charges that might arise from the raid. At long last, they would find true everlasting peace.

More objective observers saw something entirely different in the unprecedented raid at Mar-a-Lago. Considering the likewise unprecedented dual impeachment proceedings Democrats initiated against Trump, they saw this as another ruthless and desperate attempt to eliminate a popular figure from the political arena. They saw a breach of long-standing protocol and the introduction of third-world tactics by a politically biased Department of Justice. They saw a fishing expedition setting out to find something – anything that can be used to indict the former president. Democrats would see it, too, if they weren’t blinded by rage.

The search warrant makes it clear that, this time around, investigators are focused on the handling – or mishandling – of national defense and classified information. It authorizes the seizure of “any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2021,” essentially any and all documents created during Trumps’ Administration. It’s hard to interpret that as anything but a fishing expedition.

But there is a much larger issue than the wording on the search warrant. It’s the blatant inconsistencies by our DOJ and the excessive overreach in this case. Most would agree that a fair and objective system of justice is the lynchpin of all free societies. It’s what distinguishes democracies from totalitarian regimes. The unambiguous political bias of this DOJ is systematically destroying all trust in the American justice system, once the envy of the world.

Just a few years ago, Democrat Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was under intense scrutiny for mishandling highly classified information. It was essentially the same violation now alleged against Trump. Only Clinton’s malfeasance was abundantly clear. Her long-time ally, James Carville, thought her purpose in setting up a private email server was simply to avoid congressional oversight. He said, “I suspect she didn’t want Louie Gohmert rifling through her e-mails…” But anyone who’s ever worked for the U.S. Government knows that her use of a private, unsecure server was a breathtaking breach of government security regulations, and that the destruction of those subpoenaed emails was a clear violation of federal law.

In fact, after an FBI investigation, Director James Comey announced that the bureau found “evidence of potential violations of the statutes involving the handling of classified information.” He also admitted that “it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Clinton’s personal emails.” That FBI investigation seemed, at best, perfunctory. It certainly didn’t include any nine-hour raids. Yet Comey casually dismissed the whole issue with these words, “…no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”

Then there’s the Hunter Biden case, one potentially far more damaging to national security. When allegations of influence peddling at the highest level of government are made, we would expect all Americans to be concerned. When those allegations involve U.S. adversaries, like Russia and China, we would expect universal outcry for a thorough investigation.

Yet those were the allegations against the Biden family during the 2020 presidential campaign. And they were more than just accusations. There was a mountain of evidence, including Hunter’s unexplained wealth, witness testimony, emails, and the infamous laptop. There was also irrefutable evidence of weapons violations by Hunter and the real possibility of coercion or blackmail of a U.S. President because of his son’s nefarious indiscretions.

The FBI has been in possession of the incriminating laptop since December, 2019, but there’s no indication they have any interest in investigating the case. Officially, FBI representatives deflect any questions about the case using the “ongoing investigation” pretext. But several intrepid whistleblowers inside the organization have confirmed what most Americans instinctively know – the FBI has essentially deep-sixed the Hunter Biden case.

The eventual outcome of Garland’s fishing expedition is far from certain, but the immediate impact was clear. Garland has managed to galvanize Trump’s supporters and widen the division of an already deeply divided country. He’s also accelerated the growing distrust of a justice system already perceived as corrupt.

Like the fictional Captain Ahab, it’s clear that Merrick Garland is obsessed with one thing. But if he really wants to land a big one, he would find the fishing much better in the Washington swamp.

The post Garland Is Fishing in the Wrong Spot. appeared first on Granite Grok.

SAU 8, the Concord, New Hampshire School District, just posted a job opening on Indeed.com (today!) for a Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ). The job starts at $95,000.00 a year plus benefits. To do what?

Violate state law, most likely, but here is their job description.

 

The Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) is an integral member of the Concord School District leadership team and is responsible for guiding DEIJ efforts while also creating opportunities to define, assess, and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. The Director works with students and staff and is responsible for prioritizing and operationalizing DEIJ initiatives, particularly those dealing with curriculum and professional development, as well as the advancement of cultural competencies.This is a full time position with a comprehensive benefit package.

 

Those of you familiar with what DEIJ is really about will understand that the district is dumping a wad of cash on a director of grievance and progressive propaganda.

Pay that is almost $30,000 more per year than the average teacher statewide and $17K more than the average SAU 8 teacher’s salary.

So, while this is Concord (very progressive), parents may still want to get involved at the soonest opportunity to address this waste of resources. Most of what the DEIJ is supposed to promote runs precariously close to violating state law. The position or policies that spring from it will, very likely, result in a series of lawsuits the District will have to defend.

But if that’s how you want to spend your education tax dollars, it’s your money.

 

 

 

The post Danger: The Concord School District is Fishing for a Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice appeared first on Granite Grok.

Is this how Colebrook decides its vote? Recent ripples in social media over candidates who supposedly lobbed letters and tossed Tootsie Rolls at a parade surfaced some interesting commentary. The debate that reared among would-be voters revolved around candidate character.

People spoke their minds and shared their feelings, which seems a fine thing. We all know the heart of America’s democracy is driven by public participation: a good election is one where we connect with our preferred candidates and support their political positions.

Or is it?

Over a decade of research(1) shows consistently that people who consume multiple news media streams are more likely to be civically and politically involved. It turns out that messages in Facebook feeds are like a social contagion. If a friend posts a comment, you are going to believe it, like it, and share it. And so, connecting with our political candidates has become a bit of a superficial affair.

Our Founding Fathers printed flyers and wrote articles, then gathered in groups to educate, motivate, and inspire the people they were seeking to serve. Today’s political candidates must master a virtual arena of public opinion, where ill-informed onlookers are ready to pounce with outrage.

We want to thank Anonymous for this Op-Ed. Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

An incident is fed into the gladiatorial ring of social media friends and acquaintances. The ripping of character begins with a few words, then a frenzy of likes and shares. Your friends do not need to observe and confirm the real event. Instead, to show their bonds, they click a “like” button that says they stand with you against all the unlikeables out there. Before you realize it, your shared social media feed makes you part of a maliciously deliberate, coordinated, and sustained attack on someone’s personality, character, and integrity.

A recent political spat posted in Colebrook social media circles proves the point, with candidate Mike Ouellet using his daughter and grandkids as weapons of a word war. Posting on social media, Kami Ouellet champions her father to her friends and acquaintances, declaring moral indignation – “…approaching someone at a community event is socially inappropriate, it’s disgusting”. The friends rush to agree, it was a public parade and there were CHILDREN in the car! Hmm, but wait…

Dear friend Kami is worried about her children being exposed to political BS in public, and yet she has forgotten to take a deep look in the rearview mirror. Because her father Mike in his public pants may be sitting on a political stain or two.

If Kami Ouellet is concerned about what her children see and hear, she could start by telling their grandpa Mike that it is not appropriate to post demeaning memes of women political candidates. When people like Mike Ouellet use social media to repeatedly mock strong women with bold opinions, it makes the North Country look backward. He is pushing a belief that women should know their place in the kitchen – or laundromat, as Mike’s meme suggested, “when washer stops, remove all your clothes”. Is that a message Kami wants for her children?

Being a traditionally conservative is not grounds for shaming women or sharing racist diatribes – especially not as a public official. Yet it is not even clear if Mike Ouellet is a true conservative. In 2008 and 2010, Mike was a registered Democrat and voted Democrat in both elections, per the Republican National Committee (RNC) database. But it is better to veer away from further social scrutiny of Mike Ouellet’s public face and personal values before this article descends into the realm of character assassination.

Instead, let us look at the real issue at hand: how can the voters in Columbia, Colebrook, and Stewartstown ensure they are voting for the right candidate to represent them in Concord? If our friends’ social media feeds tend to be flawed, how can voters who truly care about their families and their communities make a better decision?

Politicians are meant to serve people. However, experts point out that politicians are motivated to come to power, to stay in power, and, to the extent that they can, to keep control over money(2). So how can the ordinary voter move beyond the potential follies of social media feeds as they get to know their political candidates?

First, ask the hard questions. How has the long-time politician stayed in power?

It is easy to observe the patterns of political control. The voter who cares will check whether a political candidate is surrounded by a core inner circle of power brokers, whose wants – and often greed – outweigh the needs of the common people.

Second, look for the political money trail. Are there hints or rumors of backs being scratched or self-interest? Of bullying tactics and political maneuvering in service delivery?

Notice any short-term political promises that will cost the taxpayer more dearly in the long term? Remember, money will always be an instrument of power. Self-serving politicians often hide behind hush-hush real estate deals and high property taxes.

Third, look at the politician’s results over their entire career. What has substantially changed for the better during their tenure?

Measure results that really matter. Like the shrinking food on your table, the smaller paycheck in your pocket, your promised sidewalks still in ruin, the dwindling jobs in your community, and fewer opportunities for local businesses to thrive.

If the political candidate is new to the campaign field, skip social media feeds and dig deeper. Do you see passion and zeal that point to them being a game-changer who will rattle Concord’s political cages? To be sure, here is a checklist:

• Do they have a vision for your community and for the Granite State?
• Have you heard them talk about action plans that will get better results?
• Does that talk match what they have achieved in their past?

Remember, visions and plans are great only if they are matched with the energy to serve the interests of the community.

Be curious about a new candidate’s proven track record, because you’re looking for someone who delivers. Past performance is a good predictor of future outcomes.

It takes more than a quick scroll and a casual comment to be an informed voter who cares.

Ultimately, the social media profiles and preferences of our friends are poor filters for politics. The likes and shares of our virtual connections are trivial and unreliable. In the wisdom of the Bible, we know that man’s tendency is to look at outward appearance, and not the heart. Even more so in a virtual world that is shallow and phony. If you care about your vote, make sure you free yourself from the limits of your friends’ social media feeds.

When the election rolls around in September, you have an opportunity to check a box. That box is an American symbol of hard-fought freedom and people’s rights. It should also be a framework for responsibility and results – everything you expect from the candidate who wins. It is the present and the future for your family, your community, your local businesses, and the Granite State.

Be more vigilant – show that you care about how you cast your vote.

(1) https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/social-media-influence-politics-participation-engagement-meta-analysis/
(2) Moynihan, Michael (September 24, 2011). “Book Review: Dictator’s Handbook“. The Wall Street Journal.

The post Your “Friends” May Be Dumbing Down Your Vote appeared first on Granite Grok.

Teachers in SAU21 will be forced to sit through a political training session in September. Seacoast Outright will be conducting the training, which everyone is being told, is not being done by a political organization. It’s almost comical at this point that anyone believes that Seacoast Outright is not a political organization.

Two leftist organizations (Seacoast Outright and Black Lives Matter) work in conjunction to push a political narrative. This time, teachers will be subjected to  all of this during their training.

But what do teachers really think of time spent on political matters? It’s hard to say because many will remain silent because they need their job. That is why I keep all information I receive from teachers confidential. I’m unable to share information brought to me by teachers. I do not want to put their livelihood in jeopardy. This is happening across the country.

In this video, you can read testimonials from teachers working in the Hamilton Southeastern School (HSE) District in Fishers, Indiana. HSE was an SEL (Social and Emotional Learning) pilot school in Indiana. Parents are now pulling their children out of HSE in droves.  The music is a little dramatic, but here is what teachers are afraid to say out loud. 

 



 

Teachers do need parents to push back and demand that their schools return to a focus on academics. While it’s true that the public schools are self-destructing while pushing this overt agenda in the classroom, you’re also paying for all of this.

These children deserve better, and they need you to show some courage and fight for them. The teachers are leaving in droves, if you want to retain good teachers, you have to step up and fight for them.

 

 

The post Teachers Need Parents to Speak UP: What Teachers are Afraid to Say Out Loud appeared first on Granite Grok.

Here’s how I figure the costs of owning electric vehicles (EVs) that they are pushing on us. The present cost of gasoline doesn’t even figure into the calculation.

COST: EVs are running about $50,000 or more, with comparable gas-powered vehicles running about $30,000. So, you are buying the equivalent of a $30,000 car for $50,000.

MILES BEFORE FUELING: An average SUV can go about 350 miles on an 18-gallon tank, but reports are that EVs can go only about 100 miles or so per charge.

REFUELING TIME: A gasoline-powered vehicle takes about five minutes to refill. EVs can take four hours or more to recharge. If you are waiting in line at a public recharging station, add an hour or more to the time.

COST OF REPLACEMENT: Gasoline vehicles can easily hit 250,000 miles without major repairs. EVs will need a $15,000 battery replacement at about 30,000 miles or less.

We want to thank Matt C for this Op-Ed. If you have an Op-Ed or LTE
you would like us to consider, please submit it to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

RECYCLING: Parts from gas vehicles can be recycled conventionally when they are scrapped. EV batteries have no known method of safely recycling.

TRADE-INS: Gas vehicles are given trade-in value according to industry standards, e.g., Kelly Blue Book. What trade-in allowance will be given for an EV with equivalent mileage but with a battery that needs replacement (my guess is that owners will likely trade in their low mileage EVs rather than replacing the costly batteries)? Will car owners be assessed a huge “disposition fee” because of the batteries involved?

ROUTINE COSTS: With gasoline prices now about double or more from January 2021, and electric rates rising dramatically this year, will there be any savings in routine costs of recharging EVs at home or a public station?

INSURANCE: Because of the fire danger for EVs and the difficulty in knocking down those fires, will insurance rates for EVs be much greater than gas vehicles?

Based on the above considerations, I will not be purchasing an EV any time soon. If and when technology evolves to make EVs both economical and practical (such as shorter charge times, greater battery capacity, a solution for recycling used batteries, etc.), I may consider one. Until then, I’ll keep my reliable, trusty gas machine.

(H/T: Matt)

The post My Reasons for Not Purchasing an Electric Vehicle appeared first on Granite Grok.

My friend is an English-born naturalized American citizen, and he is troubled. His brother, who lives in England, was stricken by severe abdominal pain, diagnosed with an acute gallbladder, and hospitalized for several weeks. They sent him home and as an outpatient, he had a tube placed in his gallbladder.

With the tube finally removed, he now waits months, on a National Healthcare list, to have his gallbladder removed. A walking time bomb [In America it would have been out the first week]. My friend’s experience with his brother brought back memories of his aged father in a hospital ward crying on the phone because he had to wait to be changed – he was left by indifferent nurses, in his own excrement, a man who fought at Alamein and Normandy, and on the Rhine, was finally broken, not by the Nazis but by the callousness of the English National Health Service.

My friend’s aunt, who at 80 needed a hip replacement, waited 11 months in pain. She died four years later after suffering 20% of her last five years. And his cousin bragged about free Canadian Health Care until he had a back problem requiring surgery. The wait was two years, and this politically liberal Canadian Health Care braggart happily took his company’s offer to go to a private clinic and be taken care of.

My friend was so thankful to live in America where these horrors didn’t happen, but as the progressive schemes to socialize American healthcare gained strength, he wondered if it was only a matter of time.

There is no doubt Americans are becoming more dependent on government subsidies and government-run healthcare plans.

We want to thank Jim Betti for this Op-Ed. If you have an Op-Ed or LTE
you would like us to consider, please submit it to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

Combining Medicaid {welfare for the poor}, Children’s Health Insurance Program {welfare for children}, Medicare {Government healthcare for seniors}, Obamacare exchanges (subsidies), Tri-Care {Veterans insurance} and the Veteran’s Administration Hospitals {VA} approximately 161 million {Total American Population around 330 million} Americans have their healthcare paid for directly or subsidized by the government.

What each of these healthcare-providing entities (except the VA} has in common is none pay healthcare providers (physicians) and healthcare facilities (hospitals) rates that allow sufficient profit to stay in business. Private insurance, mostly provided by employers and partially paid for by the employees, makes up the difference. This is referred to as cost shifting. By paying 3 to 4 times more than the Government supported programs for the same service, working Americans subsidize the entire healthcare system.

The Public Option

If President Biden is able to open the door to Americans buying into Medicare {The Public Option} a catastrophic series of events will occur. In a brief time, a critical mass of Americans will shift to the cheaper government-run program, which does not pay enough to sustain the system. The pressure on the private insurance industry to increase prices to support the new cost-shifting would not be sustainable and private healthcare insurance would collapse. Ushering in Government controlled, socialized medicine.

What’s happening to Medicare Physician Payment is ominous. The government’s decision to have another decade of no appreciable physician reimbursement increases will drive change. In the previous decade, physicians accepted no Medicare reimbursement increases because losses due to inflation were minimal and could be matched with increased revenue from private insurance, but with the new progressive 8 to 10% inflation/year, this is no longer a viable option. In plain English, a Medicare patient is not going to be worth seeing, and the lines will start to lengthen.

The Canary in the Coal Mine

All across America in places with a high percentage of Medicare patients, Concierge Medicine is starting to take root. Individuals pay a set yearly fee to join an entity (kind of like a health club) that provides health care. The club consists of a variety of providers with physicians making up the backbone. Other services, including laboratories, x-ray, and cardiology capability, might be on campus. The Healthcare Club guarantees efficient service with same-day doctor appointments. Often the Club’s doctors will follow a hospitalized patient and make sure the care given is top-notch. The price tag ranges {depending on services} from $1200/year up to $20,000 per annum.

A quick calculation {based on a real-life Florida example} demonstrates the point. If a group of 4 top quality physicians was able to each obtain 200 patients paying $5000 a year {Club fee} the total revenue to the practice would be $4 million. In general, 50% of practice revenue goes to overhead costs, leaving each physician $500,000 a year in compensation. This does not include what they would collect from Medicare billing and all other ancillary services.

The usual primary care doctor has a panel of around 1000 patients and is paid approximately $200,000/ year. In this case, the entire group would have 800 patients and be able to give more time and quality service to their patients. Top physicians would soon tire of being forced by managed care and large healthcare corporations to see a patient every 15 minutes and be paid much less. The migration to concierge medicine is in its infancy, but unless things change, it is the future. This future will be defined by the” haves” {club members} receiving top-quality physician services and the “have nots” waiting powerlessly in line. Praying, a spot opens up to see a Nurse practitioner or a Physician Assistant.

What has set America’s health care system apart is the vast majority of Americans who have access {only 8% don’t} to healthcare (especially Medicare), regardless of race, gender, age, or social-economic status, are treated expeditiously and fairly. People with means don’t have a problem if quality care is readily available, and the less fortunate around them also have access.

The rub occurs when wealthy people no longer perceive quality care as readily available. They will then find private options {Think Concierge Medicine}. Once this happens, they will no longer have a stake in the average American’s healthcare pool and will not care about the system’s quality. The natural evolution to a two-tier system will occur with people of means enjoying the present level of service through a private option, while the masses have healthcare rationing. It’s not hypothetical, it’s happened across the pond and north of our border (think about my English American friend’s family) and it’s starting to happen here.

We have seen what unchecked Progressive elected officials have done with 20 months of power.

Dividing our nation with the discrimination of equity, energy prices sky high, millions of illegals crossing our open borders with sex traffickers, and youth killing Fentanyl coming across daily. Inflation is ravaging people’s retirement, destroying their futures. The world is on fire and our great cities have been turned into crime-ridden cesspools. The DOJ and FBI have been corrupted {think Russiagate and the raid on Trump’s home} as our Military is weakened {think Afghanistan withdrawal} and Armed Service Recruitment is falling short because of “wokeness” in the ranks.

Washington DC progressive elected officials are back in their States and districts lying about their culpability in tearing America apart. Make no mistake, if left in power, they will come for the progressive “Holy Grail” of nationalized healthcare, and just like the unfortunate brother of my English friend, it will be you or your loved one waiting in line for essential health care. Ticking time bombs, ready to go off, while the Progressive elites enjoy unlimited access to a private healthcare alternative.

2022 is here

Vote

The post Beware! The UK Nationalized Healthcare Disservice is Heading for Progressive America appeared first on Granite Grok.

NH House District Carroll 3 (Moultonborough, Tamworth, Madison) has a 3-for-2 Republican primary election. Two candidates are newcomers; the third is terrible.

Karel Crawford has bounced back and forth between terrible and mediocre. In her first term, 2013-14, she voted with Democrats against Republicans 130 times, which placed her 10th worst RINO of all Republicans. In her second term, she improved all the way to mediocre, with “just” 84 bad votes. That term there were so many other even worse RINOs, that she was only 46th worst.

In the last six years, 2017-22, Crawford had two more terrible terms near the top 10 (9th and 12th) worst RINOs. Between those two, she had a mediocre term where she was still worse than 60% of Republicans.

We want to thank Spec Bowers for this Op-Ed. Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

Here are some highlights (lowlights?) of her all-too-long career.

Bad votes by Crawford, Karel (R, Moultonborough)

Parental Control

• voted AGAINST giving parents more information about students‘ assessments ( 2021 HB194 )
• voted FOR restricting parental choice ( 2021 HB251 )

Education

• voted AGAINST education choice ( 2018 SB193, 2021 HB609, 2021 HB278 )
• voted AGAINST repealing the un-Constitutional unfunded mandate that schools provide menstrual products ( 2021 HB458 )
• voted AGAINST requiring students to pass a civics test ( 2021 HB320, 2021 HB319 )

Cost of Living

• voted AGAINST lower energy rates ( 2018 HB592 )
• voted AGAINST reducing business taxes ( 2013 HB434 )
• voted AGAINST reducing tobacco taxes ( 2013 HB335 )
• voted FOR an income tax ( 2018 HB628, 2018 HB628 )
• voted FOR higher electric rates for most users ( 2019 SB165 )

Constitutional Rights

• voted AGAINST prohibiting the suspension of civil liberties even during an emergency ( 2021 HB440 )
• voted AGAINST property rights ( 2022 HB414 )
• voted AGAINST repealing a never-used and unconstitutional infringement on free speech ( 2016 HB1570, 2019 HB124 )
• voted AGAINST rights of conscience ( 2021 HB63 )
• voted AGAINST the right to keep and bear arms ( 2016 HB582, 2016 SB336, 2015 SB116, 2013 HB451 )
• voted FOR restricting property rights ( 2021 HB177, 2021 HB177 )

Right to Life

• voted AGAINST collecting abortion statistics ( 2018 HB471 )
• voted AGAINST making it a crime to kill a wanted fetus ( 2015 HB560, 2015 SB40 )
• voted AGAINST punishing fetal homicide ( 2017 SB66 )

Other

• voted AGAINST prohibiting sex change surgery for minors ( 2018 HB1532

On all of these votes at least 80% – in most cases more than 90% – of Republicans voted the other way.

The post RINO Report: Karel Crawford appeared first on Granite Grok.

First Street Foundation has been releasing cataclysmic climate reports on par with the many failed predictions of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). I wondered whether UCS had passed the sputtering torch of failed climate cataclysm to a “new player.”

Not entirely. UCS is still mucking about, making predictions doomed to fail. First Street is just another pile of Lefty money adding more noise that Marxists at the Portland Press Herald have gotten fond of sharing.

 

The First Street Foundation’s sixth National Risk Assessment: Hazardous Heat study said that because of climate change Androscoggin County will have almost two dozen 90-degree days in an average year by 2053 — the most of any county in the state. Kennebec and York counties follow with 21 90-degree days by 2053.

 

It’s their sixth study, so, not new, but still new enough. The UCS has been getting it wrong for almost 50 years, and we doubt First Street will do any better.

The formula is the same. It’s bad, it’s your fault, but you have to wait thirty years to see if we’re right. Until then, here’s a bunch of government interventions you’ll have to pay for to prevent it. It’ll be expensive, but we promise that a) we’re right and b) with enough of your hard-earned wages and a “small” sacrifice in personal liberties, the government can fix it.

And?

It’s not broken, and even if it were, the government can’t fix anything. Just look at the history of the Democrat party agenda for proof of that. Unless we haggle over the intended meaning of “fix.” Most if not all of the planned “improvements” fix something, just not the thing advertised.

And their record on predictions is abysmal. But you already knew that because you are a regular reader of these pages. From politicians to pundits, pseudo-scientists, to actual scientists on the Cult payroll, we’ve shared dozens of cataclysmic prophecies, none of which has come to pass or whose effects have anything to do with CO2 or warming. And that’s important.

The climate does change. In New England, from day to day. No one denies that. But we are happy to refute the nonsense groups like UCS and First Street peddle for their Marxist paymasters. The cabal of elites that use scary weather predictions to advance socialist economic policy.

This business about Maine is no different. As is the likelihood that these predictions will fail because getting it right isn’t even the point.

Reaching escape velocity is. Rags like the Portsmouth Press Herald are forever seeking eyeball-gathering disaster predictions to make their medium appear relevant. But if you went back 162 years to its beginnings, how many of these headlines and climate predictions that include statements by experts would turn out to be true?

Few to none.

The climate fraud game is as old as time. Leverage fear to centralize command and control infrastructure at great expense. First Street Foundation is just another mule releasing “reports” based on “research” calculated with models that can’t predict much even a few days out, let alone thirty years from now. The earth’s climate system is too complex, and their goal is so much more mundane.

Pump out garbage to scare people into giving up their western lifestyle and use the press to legitimize it.

And we’re happy to point that out.

 

 

The post Has First Street Foundation Stepped up to take the Place of the UCS as Chief Climate Prediction Buffoon? appeared first on Granite Grok.

If a NHGOP-Establishment candidate wins a primary, the mantra will be “UNITY.” For example, if Mowers wins the CD-1 primary we will be told over-and-over-and-over again … by the same voices who refused to support Trump in 2016 and 2020 … that all that matters now is defeating Chris Pappas, that Mowers may not have been your first choice but we have to focus on what UNTES us not what divides us, UNITY, UNITY, UNITY.

EMPTY WORDS … because Sun-King Sununu and his cronies have no intention of supporting Don Bolduc if he is the nominee. Indeed, Sununu’s left-brain, Paul Collins, said as much, without directly saying so, when asked by NH-NeverTrump Journal, if Sununu would support Bolduc:

Granite State Republican insiders tell NHJournal the governor’s brutal attacks on Bolduc mean it is all but certain he will endorse in the race. “How can you say the front-runner isn’t acceptable and then sit on the sidelines and watch him win?” one NHGOP insider said.

So, would Sununu back Bolduc if he becomes the party’s nominee to take on Sen. Maggie Hassan, another target of the governor’s attacks?

“As he always has, the Governor plans to support the republican ticket in November,” said Sununu senior advisor Paul Collins.

Collins could have said YES. He didn’t. Collins could have said that Sun-King will support the nominee. He didn’t. “Support[ing] the Republican ticket in November” is Establishment-speak for Sununu and his cronies have NO intention of supporting Bolduc. They just can’t say so directly because that would make it difficult to preach UNITY if their candidates win in CD-1 and CD-2.

By the way, this is NOT an endorsement of Bolduc. I haven’t decided if or how I’ll vote, but if I were to vote right now it would likely be for Fenton. And, to be clear, this is NOT an endorsement of Fenton either.

The post If Sun-King Sununu Doesn’t Have To Support The Nominees … Why Should You? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Tim Baxter is running for NH’s Congressional District 1, and he participated in the Government Integrity Project’s (GIP) debate for that office this past weekend (link here, debate begins at 51:40).

That was followed up with an interview last night with the GIP’s Ken Eyring and Tom Murray.

Eyring and Murray found Baxter to be a confident, thoughtful, personable, and well-spoken individual who says what he means and means what he says… something that is sorely missing in Congress.

“Increasingly, the vote for Speaker is not only the first vote, the most important… but it’s almost the only vote that matters. And that’s because the Speakership in Congress, which is suppose to be the people’s branch – it’s really run like a dictatorship unfortunately. There’s no amendments, there’s no Bills that are voted on unless the Speaker of the House consents to it.

“The vote for Speaker is not just about getting a conservative, but about getting someone who isn’t corrupt in office, and that’s why I am so strongly against Kevin McCarthy for Speaker.”

Related: Now I Know Why Matt Mowers is Hiding in His Basement Like Joe Biden

When Baxter was asked how he would cast his vote for Speaker, he said Chip Roy or Andy Biggs, and added he keeps hearing the name Andy Biggs from the people who are steadfast on voting against McCarthy.

Later on in the interview, he said,

“The GIP debate was really important for me because it allowed me to distinguish myself from [Karoline] Leavitt.”

“If you are someone who considers yourself a fighter or a Constitutionalist… most of those people are probably deciding between us two.”

“That was really important that I could distinguish myself. We’re running an ad with it now. It’s been on national television that exchange multiple times so, that debate might be more important than the WMUR for me.”

Here is that exchange:

My RINO opponent @kleavittnh is LYING to the people of New Hampshire. She endorsed @GOPLeader and he still wouldn't endorse her. SAD! pic.twitter.com/QvymYZo9BS

— Tim Baxter (@TimBaxterNH) August 17, 2022

Tim Baxter has the receipts regarding how he would represent NH,

“My record as a State Representative has been fighting for the Constitution. I have 100% with the HRA which is NH’s constitutional group. You swore an oath when you become a member of Congress, you swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the swamp.”

The fact that Baxter has a proven voting record is meaningful. Voters have an opportunity to review how he has represented NH in the statehouse – which is an excellent indicator of how he would represent NH in Washington.”

Here is Tim’s interview with the GIP co-founders:

There will be at least three more CD-1 debates before the September 13th GOP Primary: Jack Heath (Radio) this coming Tuesday, WMUR a week before the election, followed two days later by Chris Ryan on the radio.

There are good candidates running for the GOP CD-1 nomination. Baxter is clearly one of them.

 

The post CD-1 Candidate Tim Baxter: Why the Vote for Speaker of the House is “Almost the Only Vote That Matters” appeared first on Granite Grok.

The political Left has been obsessed with population control since before Hitler. From contraception to wage and job antics to actual castration preventing lesser persons from procreating is a hallmark of the progressive pursuit of Utopia. Gender-affirming surgery looks to me to be more of the same.

This strange cult has one major sponsor—the ideological descendants of the progressive social engineers. And what better way to hollow out the gene pool than by creating a cultural concept (Gender spectrum), a legal protection framework (gender rights), and a clinical process (gender-affirming surgery) that is defended as if it were a hill on which to die (as long as it is someone else doing the dying).

The machine uses its monopoly on education to effectively mind-f*** other people’s kids into thinking they are the opposite sex and then insists it is a natural right to allow the same machine to mutilate and disfigure them with chemicals or surgery.

Culture and peer pressure create an army of parents with Munchehasuen by proxy who just go along with it. Others are undermined by a system intent on separating future generations from their parents for strictly political reasons.

Anyone who objects is a hater, a bigot, guilty of discrimination, and pilloried in public for objecting to the propagandizing and mutilation of children.

Millions of lives could be affected. A culling of the masses and at least a few others, all of whom are simply proving themselves unworthy by how easily they are convinced by people who will genealogically inherit the earth.

Many, perhaps a majority of those modified, we’ll eventually commit suicide resulting in a body count that may one day make genocidal authoritarians like Hilter, Mao, and Stalin look like pikers.

 

 

The post Social Engineering: “Gender Affirming Surgery” is Just The Left Legalizing Castration appeared first on Granite Grok.

We love to use euphonism in this country. These terms are carefully crafted to hide the true intention of a more horrific act. Reproductive Rights is one of my favorites. It sounds like the protection of a mother to conceive and deliver a newborn. But, no, Reproductive Rights give a pregnant woman the authority to end her pregnancy by killing her unborn fetus.

A new euphonism to surface is Gender-Affirming Care sounds so innocent. You would think this is giving support to children who may be questioning their sexual identity. But, no, Gender-Affirming Care is the sexual mutilation of children to facilitate their conversion to their opposite gender.

Boston Children’s Hospital is well respected worldwide medical center, but to hear they had performed 65 double mastectomies on teenagers between 2017-2020. They did not hide this service but promoted Hysterectomy and Phalloplasty procedures for children who wanted to transition. When criticism appeared on Twitter and TicToc, the hospital denied the services were offered and called their detractors guilty of Stochastic Terrorism.

Billboard Chris is the father of two teenage girls and has made it his mission to bring attention to the sexual mutilation procedures in America. He is also bringing attention to the use of puberty blockers on children at age ten and surgery at seventeen. Chris walks in front of hospitals that offer these services wearing sandwich-board signs with anti-Gender-Affirming Care messages. He is doing this to protect his daughters and everyone else’s children from these medical monsters.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is not afraid to take a stand and can take the heat. She has presented a bill called the Protect Children’s Innocence Act. This bill would charge anyone performing a physical changing procedure to transition a minor to a Class C Felony. You would think this is a slam-dunk, especially with all Republicans, but Taylor Greene has only managed to secure five co-sponsors. This apprehension makes no sense and may be evidence of the pressure on politicians from the medical industry. These elected representatives have to understand the purpose of their office. Representing our children’s safety is paramount, and nothing is more pressing today than the assault on the born gender of our youth. As she says, we must protect kids from the monsters lurking under their beds.

This Gender-Affirming Care is an extension of the indoctrination of our children by the Department of Education. This is not a gray area, but it is black and white. Educators must teach, and medical professionals must keep our children healthy and whole. The assault on our children has to stop. Our reps must have their feet held to the fire until they own up to their responsibilities. If they have no concern for the young, they deserve to be removed from their office. We cannot procrastinate as a generation, and our future is in jeopardy.

 

 

 

 

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Salem has a 13 for 9 primary, the second largest (after Derry) of all towns. Sadly not a single one of the candidates has an excellent voting record. Four have records that are average, neither bad nor good. One has a mediocre-poor record, and one has a terrible record.

Doucette, Janigian, Sweeney, and Vandecasteele are midstream Republicans – their scores are right around the middle of the pack. John Sytek’s record has been mediocre to poor. 80% of Republicans have scored better. But his record is not nearly as bad as Betty Gay’s.

We want to thank Spec Bowers for this Op-Ed. Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

In the 2019-2020 biennium, Gay voted with Democrats against Republicans 88 times, which ranked her 2nd (behind only Dan Wolf) as the worst Republican of the term. In 2017-18, she voted wrong 76 times, which was worse than 92% of all Republicans. Her 2021-22 term was better but still worse than 87% of Republicans.

Here are some highlights (lowlights?) of her career.

Bad votes by Gay, Betty (R, Salem) Parental Control     voted FOR restricting parental choice ( 2021 HB251 ) Cost of Living     voted AGAINST lower energy rates ( 2018 HB592 )     voted AGAINST reducing electric rates ( 2019 HB477 )     voted FOR an income tax ( 2018 HB628, 2018 HB628 )     voted FOR higher rooms tax ( 2018 HB1609 ) Constitutional Rights     voted AGAINST repealing a never-used and unconstitutional infringement on free speech ( 2019 HB124 )     voted AGAINST right to keep and bear arms ( 2021 SB141, 2021 SB141 )     voted FOR confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens without any due process ( 2019 HB696, 2019 HB696 )     voted FOR restricting property rights ( 2021 HB177, 2021 HB177 ) Other     voted AGAINST allowing schools to display the national and state mottos ( 2021 HB69 )     voted AGAINST prohibiting sex change surgery for minors ( 2018 HB1532 )     voted FOR banning plastic straws ( 2020 HB1472 )     voted FOR banning styrofoam cups ( 2020 HB1564 On all of these votes at least 80% – in most cases more than 90% – of Republicans voted the other way.

The post RINO Report: Betty Gay appeared first on Granite Grok.

In 2006, I ran in the Republican primary for US House of Reps, against Charlie Bass. Charlie won, but then he lost to the Democrat, Paul Hodes. In 2008, Jennifer Horn ran against Paul Hodes and lost, and then, in 2010, she ran against Charlie Bass and lost in the primary.

Eventually Horn became chair of the NH Republican State Committee.

On December 17, 2020, Ms. Horn announced that she was leaving the Republican Party. She said: “Today’s Republican Party cannot co-exist with the ideal that we know America can be.”  Her video on YouTube that day got a wide range of comments. For example, this one from a lady in Oklahoma:

We want to thank Mary Maxwell for this Op-Ed. Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

“I have four dogs that I love and they love me back. Whenever I catch them doing something wrong, all I have to do is ask who did it and the guilty one will react with what appears to be remorse and or shame, something Trump or the GOP seem incapable of doing.”

I will comment on that below, but first, here’s an odd remark made yesterday by The Lincoln Project. (I’m not sure it’s the same organization that Jennifer Horn co-founded.)

“Tonight [August 16, 2022], the nation marks the end of the Republican Party. What remains shares the name and branding of the traditional GOP, but is in fact an authoritarian nationalist cult dedicated only to Donald Trump. Liz Cheney stood up to the lawless, reckless attack on our nation led by Donald Trump … and risked and lost her political career as a Republican.

“The Wyoming GOP, supported by millions of corporate dollars from Kevin McCarthy, nominated a reality-denying conspiracy theorist who promotes the “Big Lie.” [Liz Cheney] remains an essential leader of the pro-democracy forces in the United States ….”

Needless to say, I disagree that the Jan 6 Invasion was “led by” Donald Trump. (Anybody can see who really staged it.) And I disagree that The Big Lie is a conspiracy theory — all elections can be software’d if someone has enough drive to do it.

As for the Lincoln Project’s remark that Liz Cheney “is a leader of the pro-democracy forces,” well, please, it should not be dignified with a rebuttal.

Now to the Oklahoma dog owner. Her dogs have enough — whatever — to sense when they are wrong. Clearly, Donald Trump doesn’t have even a gram of that “whatever.” I am not too worried about this lack; his personality is easy to interpret — Trump has to be the Biggest and Best at all times.

But I take seriously the (dog-related) claim about the GOP’s inability to apologize when wrong. That behavior is a normal function of in-group loyalty. It is a problem for every group. Loyalty is an indispensable virtue for our success as a group (nation, club, family, profession, etc.). We praise a loyal person for his moral character, right?

But wait a minute! If loyalty makes one say that a policy of one’s Party, or profession, was good when it’s widely known to have been lousy, that’s clearly not helpful to the Party or the profession. Furthermore, the Enemy (you know whom I mean) will get an extra advantage by mocking the ill-placed loyalty.

I see this all the time. No one wants to be the first to say a negative word, as one will get a very dirty look for being disloyal.

Perhaps Republicans could hold a secret meeting in a sort of Faraday cage, where the chairman will ask members to “go over” some Republican mantras. Anyone who acts “stupidly loyal” will get a rap on the knuckles.

All in the family, all away from reporters.

Honest, I’m not saying the GOP line is in trouble. I think it’s great and am famously committed to it. But these are new times, and something brilliant could emerge if loyalty to the past could stop being the overarching criterion.

Isn’t that how history is made?

 

 

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You’re not ready to hear what I have to say. You’re not ready, we now live under a Communist regime– and I need you to get ready yesterday. The America that you grew up in is gone. The Republic is lost – there is no keeping it. There is only restoring it.

Don’t believe me? You elected a leader with, albeit very real flaws, a heart genuinely oriented towards the traditional American. Look what they’re doing to him. Look what they already did to him:

1. Two impeachments based on manufactured narratives requiring the cooperation of the nation’s vast intelligence apparatus (FBI, CIA, NSA, etc) interfacing directly with the Democrat party, and the many, many NGO’s that exist, effectively, as a fourth branch of government – all to neuter his ability to affect the changes you elected him to make.
2. His military officers – from colonels up to the joint chiefs – affected multiple military coups against him (and the nation) by separating him from his lawful role as commander in chief of the armed forces, repeatedly refusing lawful orders (such as to put down the deadly, Marxist BLM riots of 2020, and refusing to withdraw from mid-east conflict), coordinated directly with the enemy state of China to ensure he had effectively no control over the nuclear arsenal in his last weeks as POTUS. Milley even wrote a resignation letter of the “fall-on-the-sword” type in protest of his administration, but instead of submitting it he, per his own words, chose to remain in the position to resist official policy.

Now, he has been targeted for multiple criminal investigations, the most recent of which resulted in the armed raid of his own, which, properly viewed, represented yet another coup – this time against a possible future administration – over allegations that he is, legally, immunized from in his status as a former President: the espionage act simply does not apply.

Even if this weren’t a fishing expedition surrounding an unconstitutional “general warrant,” which it most certainly was, he cannot be tried per the Constitution – but that won’t stop them from trying, nor, likely, from convicting and imprisoning.

We want to thank Michael Belcher for this Op-Ed. Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

However, Trump is not alone, nor is he unique. It was leaked within the last few weeks that DeSantis – the other likely 2024 GOP presidential contender – is under criminal investigation by the Department of (Social) Justice.

Neither Trump nor DeSantis is unique here. Even I, myself, had the FBI pay me an official visit requesting to interview me over an article I wrote last year. I am not unique, either. The FBI announced some time ago the intent to increase these “knock and talk” visits for the express purpose of chilling dissident speech.

Ladies and gentlemen, you are not ready to hear it even now, but you must get ready: we now live under a Communist regime.

That is what is meant by “equity,” don’t you know? Equity is not equality. It means the forced redistribution and synthesis of special Marxian properties (Capital, Whiteness, Normativity, Heterosexuality, Privilege). “Equity” is equivalent to Marx’s stage 5 of History (Socialism), which immediately precedes the arrival of the prophesied Communist heaven, Stage 6, or “Communism.” Of course, Communism has never been achieved because it’s impossible – stage 5 “Socialism” (Equity) is when they stack bodies into the millions trying. Stage 5 is where we are now in America.

You’re not ready, but I need you to be.

Your federal government, the leviathan, has been overthrown, its levers of power captured, and they will now be used against you. Why else do you think they need to assign over 80,000 more people, 5,000 more firearms, and 5,000,000 bullets to the IRS? Why else do they censor us across media while manufacturing blatantly false narratives about us? Why is a prosecutorial capacity being built out under the federal legislative branch under the immune-from-scrutiny Capitol Police agency? The answer is that they intend to target their political opposition with every official keystroke, signature, and trigger pull from here on out.

This is not a matter that can or will be resolved by a federal “red wave.” The rot is far, far too deep, too metastasized, and too symbiotic internationally to be undone by a traditionalist executive who will be thwarted at every attempt by the bureaucratic state and woke upper echelon of the officer corps. Nor will a weak legislature that has delegated its authorities to that same deep executive or a mostly politicized and in any way unarmed judiciary ride in to save us.

The Marxists are no longer revolutionaries. They won their revolution. They hold the castle. It is us who now must be counter-revolutionaries and lay siege to the captured institutions.

Mothers and fathers, they are stealing away your children. They are stealing them away ideologically through indoctrination, psychological manipulation under the scientized name of Social Emotional Learning, perverting them with falsehoods of gender and queer theories, racialist theories, and “critical” (Marxist) theories of all sorts in a modern incarnation of Mao’s child-led cultural revolution. These curricula, programs, and perversions are mandated by the federal government using their funding to hold our state hostage.

The train of abuses is long and varied. From the attempted estrangement of our personhood through violation of bodily autonomy, mandated medical experimentation, and restrictions on working, buying, and selling that stole away our ability to provide for our families, and undermined our dignity as made in the image of our creator through the State attempting to put itself as God, through perverting our children to separate them from their natural bonds of affection for family to theft by such excess taxation and debasement of our currency as to threaten us with hyperinflation, to zealously cultish agricultural policies that threaten a future famine, this beast has declared its intentions on you: destruction.

Ladies and gentlemen, this federal leviathan is an abject and total tyranny bringing you, your family, your neighbors, and your state under absolute arbitrary control.

This fact has grave and serious ramifications for how our state must interact with this higher-order political entity: it must take a fundamentally oppositional stance towards it. This state, and the several states broadly, must begin to enact necessary nullification and interposition on behalf of its citizens to protect them from the usurpers above. The State of New Hampshire, as a second sovereign – fully equal to the federal government in authority – must act to prevent the tyrannizing of New Hampshire citizens. It must act not only through permission, or self-determination, but through duty. If it fails in this duty, it fails the citizens of New Hampshire, and if it does fail them at this dangerous moment, as the Federal Republic has been rendered illegitimate, and as an enemy, it will leave it to the citizens themselves to enact self-defense. New Hampshire must not fail to act; it must not leave only terrible options to its citizens.

 

 

The post You’re Not Ready to Hear What I Have to Say … appeared first on Granite Grok.

 For a long time, the Union Leader has taken the side of the GOP Elitist wing of the Republican Party. A number of editorials have extolled the virtues of the “Moderate Republican” candidates. Many working-class voters have voted for these moderates, often times holding their noses while they full well knew the elitist political class was thumbing their noses at the Peasants.

We’ve long heard these very same politicians talk about their Democratic friends they work with in “bipartisan form,” getting screwed with each trade deal, each tax increase, and each new restriction on our freedoms.

When we talk about the “political establishment” or the “deep state,” we are poo-pooed with derision as far right or extreme right, spinning conspiracy theories and tinfoil hattery… Much of which comes from within the Grand Old Party.

Donald Trump brought clarity to what was happening in our politics. And it angered the establishment machine on both sides. They are all content to go to DC and become Millionaires and to hell with the rest of us.

If you notice one common thread, Trump’s campaign was clumsy at times, sloppy, and so was the management of his administration. Unlike administrations past, Trump did not have the machinery in place as the establishment candidates do. Everything we were supposedly happy about with prior administrations was mere Kabuki theater…a Potemkin Village if you will.  Non-political candidates don’t have the fortunes or connections to put on the establishment deep fake. 

There is nothing more galling or angering than the Political class losing its grip on the Republic. That is what we are seeing here.  When you saw the Union Leader endorse Joe Biden, that endorsement was a confirmatory act…Confirming for we the unwashed what we always suspected.

Don Bolduc has a commanding lead in the polls over the other political comers. Why is that if what the media says is true? Without big budgets and TV ads, Don somehow is making headway. I know Don Bolduc. Don Bolduc is able and capable. I am voting for Don Bolduc. 

Remember, Republicans hold office…Democrats hold power. When Trump was first elected, his own party did absolutely nothing. They did nothing under the leadership of Paul Ryan. They passed up volumes of opportunities for no other reason than to punish us for voting for that interloper Trump who stole their White House.

Donald Trump received 70 plus million votes in the last election. To these creatures, we are all stupid and gullible. What is lost on them is that our fortunes and successes are tied to the government creating an environment in which the working class can thrive. The Political Class and Pink-nosed snobs are not the least bit interested or concerned about the American Electorate. We are just a mere backdrop to their personal pursuits.

This is not about what is good for America. This is a Brendan McQuaid temper tantrum because he is not getting his own way. Look at the way things are right now and ask yourself: “If I support a candidate from the establishment class, are things going to change?”

While the patronage press and the faux conservative Union Leader call us all stupid, just keep one fact at the forefront: Given the state of our nation at present, The Union Leader did indeed endorse Joe Biden. There is no getting around that.

Don Bolduc is a threat to Maggie Hassan. She knows it. Her TV ads are lies. She gets all her money from outside of New Hampshire, and she votes with Joe Biden.  Remember that when you vote. And remember that the UL endorsed Joe Biden.

 

 

The post Biden-Endorsing Union Leader takes Shots At Don Bolduc appeared first on Granite Grok.

There is an idea that many people — but especially constitutional law students, who then go on to be public officials — have not been exposed to, which is that there is a proper order to the questions that should be asked when formulating public policy.

Normally those are the standard journalism questions: Who, what, where and when, why, and how?

But that list doesn’t contain the most important question of all, the one that always needs to be asked first: Whether?

That is, the idea of a constitution is to recognize that certain kinds of solutions to certain kinds of problems should simply never be considered. They should be taken off the table before the discussion of how to solve a problem even begins.

Sometimes that’s a question of rights:  Whatever you do, you can’t make people shut up or leave them defenseless.  Sometimes it’s a question of structure:  One branch of government can’t abdicate its responsibilities to another branch or usurp the power of another branch.

When you ignore that initial question — whether you have the power to do what you’re contemplating — you place the public in a peculiar position. They see that the Constitution forbids certain kinds of laws but also see that such laws are in effect.

How does this happen? There are lots of reasons, but the most basic one is that courts have given themselves the power to ignore the simple meanings of words like all and not and even and. This, in fact, makes it impossible to write a law that simply means what it says and that a citizen can understand simply by reading it.

For example, suppose the people decide to express, as a constitutional guarantee, the idea that anyone should be able to say absolutely anything without fear of punishment.  They might say something like Congress, and the states, shall pass no laws abridging freedom of speech.

The First and Fourteenth Amendments already say exactly this.  Clearly, it hasn’t been effective.

Here’s how Justice Hugo Black would have phrased it: Without deviation, without exception, without any ifs, buts, or wherases, the government shall not do something to people either for the views they have or the views they express or the words they speak or write.

But does anyone seriously believe that the courts wouldn’t find a way to ‘interpret’ this to mean whatever they want?

Contrast Black’s view with the view expressed by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes:  We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.

That is, the courts have taken what used to be a comical passage in children’s literature,

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

and turned it in to a fundamental principle of jurisprudence.

Legislatures, emboldened by the approach of the courts, take advantage of it to treat the constitutional limits placed upon them as mere suggestions to the courts. Their approach becomes: Let’s pass whatever laws we want, and if the court doesn’t like them, it will strike them down, or just rewrite them.

This changes the very idea of public policy in a fundamental way.  What starts out as the idea that law is a way to organize society with the consent of those being organized, ends up as the idea that law is a way for whatever group happens to be in control of the machinery of government to impose its own preferences on everyone else.

And that means the policy of the public with respect to the law is to see law, not as something to be obeyed because it’s just, but as something to be ignored whenever possible because it’s unjust.

That the law is something to work around — an obstacle, instead of a guide — is normally the attitude that we associate with outlaws. The current approach to the regulation of things like guns, speech, education, gambling, recreational drug use, and so on has effectively turned everyone into an outlaw.

That is, by focusing on redefining words instead of rewriting sentences, both the federal and the state governments have undermined respect, not just for laws about guns, speech, drugs, and so on, but for all laws. For the very idea of law.

With respect to the 2nd Amendment in particular, this shift in public opinion regarding the law highlights the wisdom of forbidding government from ever having a monopoly on force.

The only position that allows the law to command the respect that it deserves is: If you want to regulate something, amend the Constitution to delegate that power to Congress, and then we can talk. Until then, any policy that infringes on the right to keep and bear arms should be off the table; and by placing it on the table anyway, you are destroying respect for the law, and ironically demonstrating why gun control laws, even if passed, should be ignored.

It’s easy to be distracted by discussions of things like statistics, public safety, and so on. Government officials who want to abridge rights spend a lot of time and effort pointing at individual trees. It’s the job of the people to keep looking at the forest by always coming back to the fundamental question of whether the government has been delegated the authority to carry out whatever proposal it’s considering.

And when considering that question, it’s a good idea to remember this important point:  You can’t delegate a power that you don’t have.  If you couldn’t do something yourself, or hire someone to do it, you can’t elect someone to do it, either.

So we’ve reached the point where it’s up to the outlaws to rein in the lawmakers.  How ironic is that?

 

The post A Nation of Outlaws appeared first on Granite Grok.

Here we are, about ten days removed from a couple of weeks of the “hottest temps ever” in NH, and proof positive of global warming. Except they weren’t, and aren’t, and now here on my back deck, the temp is 58 degrees on 8-18. It’s still August, so where is that global warming now?

If you ask me this is proof positive global warming is a hoax, then those buying into it are pretty darn dumb. It’s called weather!

Now, these are the same class of folks that buy into Maggie Hassan’s “I’m fighting to lower gas costs for the people of NH”, or “I’m an economics hawk bucking my own Party.” Some hawk, voting 98% of the time for Biden’s failures and disasters?

Want a U.S. Senator that will buck Biden and the Left? That man is Gen. Don Bolduc, who is from right here in Laconia, NH, and rose from Army private to Brigadier General and was wounded twice in combat in service to you and our nation. Now released from active military duty due to wounds suffered in combat, he now seeks only to serve us again as our next Senator from NH. Bolduc’s proven work ethic stands in stark contrast with the go-along-to-get-along Hassan, who has done nothing in all her years in DC to benefit people here in NH. People, Maggie Hassan, is for Maggie Hassan.

Now for all those people who were touting how Socialism is so fair, so much better than Capitalism, how do you like it now? Not even two full years of it, and we have seen failure after failure, disaster after disaster, with massive billions wasted, rampant inflation with no ends in sight, and corruption in nearly every federal government department and agency. Is this what you, the people, were promised or expected? If it is, you are in a small minority, and I think you know it.

The American people want change and want it at all levels of the Government: Federal, State, and local.

Another candidate I support is Lily Tang Williams, who is running for Congress in District 2 here in NH. Born in communist China, suffering the hardships of that totalitarian dictatorship, Ms. Williams escaped to America at the age of 24, speaking no English, rose to become a Law Professor, educator, professional speaker, entrepreneur, mother, and proud American.  Can anyone doubt her history and credentials are so far above her opponent,  Annie Küster, who is another do-nothing seat warmer, as to be laughable? Just surviving Mao’s cultural revolution was a miracle in itself. Her slogan, “I fear the country I love is becoming the country I left.” says it all.

I support and urge all readers to join me in supporting the two strongest candidates I can ever remember running for office here in NH. Don Bolduc and Lily Tang Williams both rose, by incredibly hard work and dedication, into the kind of fearless leaders that we need in this time of desperate need. Join me if you love America that the Left is trying to take from us and support and vote for these two great candidates.

 

 

The post A Personal Endorsement: Don Bolduc and Lily Tang Williams appeared first on Granite Grok.

Parents have been questioning Assistant Superintendent David Hobbs over a decision to hire a leftist political organization to train teachers. Seacoast Outright says that they are there to serve, support, and advocate for LGBTQ+ youth in the seacoast and beyond.

As a far-leftist political organization, they have teamed up with another Marxist political organization, Black Lives Matter. On their website it says, “Seacoast Outright stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.”  Under the leadership of Superintendent Meredith Nadeau, the district is going full steam ahead with training led by Seacoast Outright.

As someone who has been involved in the political process for many years, I fully respect political organizations that advocate for their cause. That’s the beauty of this country, we all have a voice at the table. We may disagree on some of our political views, but I will always support and respect those who advocate for their cause.

When it comes to public schools, there is a common belief that this is a place where neutrality is needed. Public schools serve a diverse community with families who have different religious and political views. So when David Hobbs, Assistant Superintendent for SAU21, decided to team up with Seacoast Outright to provide training to teachers, several parents in the community objected. Since I live in the district and pay taxes for these schools, I also lent my voice in opposition.

The political organization could be advocating for any political issue, and I would object. Our schools, children, and teachers should not to be used by any political organization to spread propaganda. But that’s exactly what is happening in September when the training takes place.

It doesn’t matter if it’s LGBTQ, BLM, or a Pro-Choice political organization, none of them should be training public school teachers. If district administrators are going to bring in political organizations, why are they not providing any alternative viewpoints? That’s not inclusion, that’s a political indoctrination.

What happens to a community when partisan politics becomes the focus? The community is then divided.

We saw this after some parents decided to protest this training at Winnacunnet High School. Factions gathered at the school to express their support or opposition. When school administrators take their eyes off of the important task of educating children, and step into the political arena, that’s almost a guarantee that the community will become divided.

How is it inclusive to ignore some of your families when pushing a political agenda on teachers and students?

Is that what we want from the leadership in this school district? To shift focus away from academic excellence to playing partisan politics with our tax dollars? How does that improve the quality of education for children in the school?

There is more to this problem that has erupted in this school district, but one thing we can all see from this decision is, this community is now divided.  Parents aren’t looking for WOKE indoctrination for their children, they are looking for someone to address the 57% of Winnacunnet high school students who DID NOT score proficient in mathematics.

Whether it’s LGBTQ+ , black, brown, Muslim or Christian students, they all deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. Bullying against any child should be handled swiftly. We can all agree that providing a safe environment where there is mutual respect, must be a priority. I stand with all of the children in our district.

Individuals could have been brought in who are not tied to political organizations. Offering teachers information on legal boundaries, medical professionals to discuss medical situations, or mental health providers who can address the need to support students and their families, would have been better received.

Parents of LGBTQ+ children have diverse views on how they want school personnel treating their children. One parent said she didn’t want any part of this because her lesbian daughter did not want to discuss her sexuality with teachers or anyone else in the school. Political organizations do not speak for all of those in that group, and other parents have also made it clear that they don’t want their teachers in the middle of a political battle that has erupted.

When enrollment declines, and parents demand school choice options for their children, don’t be surprised. A divided community that leaves some parents wanting a better quality education for their children, will take their children, remove them from the public schools and become allies in the school choice movement.  That movement is in full force throughout New Hampshire because of the politicization taking place in some of these school districts.

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The post SAU21 (North Hampton, Seabrook, Winnacunnet, etc) Now a Community Divided appeared first on Granite Grok.

Youngster Brodie Deshaies has assembled a horrible voting/legislative record in his first term in the NH House – and I know of at least TWO groups are eyeballing him very closely. They also want to make sure his constituents cast their eyes on him as well. From the Mary Cheswell PAC.  They just received this today and I thought that I’d add a helping hand:

Front Side:

Back side:

(H/T: loyal reader Max)

The post Oh, Rino Brodie Deshaies (Rino-Wolfeboro)? You Might Wish to Ensure Your Rear View Mirror Is Focused appeared first on Granite Grok.