Saturday • January 18 • 2025
Vol.XVII • No.III
Manchester, N.H.
Apologies for the delay, but we’d like to thank everyone who helped with the February Fundraiser. It ran from Mid February to early March, and we reached our goal last week.
We are still waiting on a few promised checks that got us there, but we expect them in the next few days.
So … THANK YOU!
Your generous response is humbling, and we greatly appreciate your voluntary contributions. The next step is nailing down our webmistress to get some of the modifications you’ve helped fund implemented. We also need to nail down the retired guy who is working to elevate several other projects, but this is still a hobby for him as well, and life keeps getting in the way [Yes, that would be me, folks…sigh -Skip]
‘Grok App development was idled and will need to get rebooted. As a mobile platform, it should have a less pervasive ad experience (which I, like you, do not love). It will also allow us (I want ) to offer an ad-free experience for subscribers on phones and tablets (details and viability are still on the drawing board).
I also want an ad-free browser version for subscribers, but that is down the road a bit, and it may have to wait for the next site-wide renovation.
The improved search feature is in the debate stage – as in what we can do with the WordPress environment in which we live, but that will be sooner rather than later.
We are also working on all the numerous broken image links that frequently end at 404 not found errors – a situation we facilitated and need to rectify.
There is also some backend stuff that needs to be addressed and requires the paid services of tech professionals.
Your donations will help offset some of those costs, and (again) we appreciate the help, the support, and as always, thank you so much for reading GraniteGrok.com.
The post We Reached Our Fundraising Goal! – Thank You! appeared first on Granite Grok.
Governor DeSantis, I understand that you will visit Woke Hampshire on April 14th to headline the NHGOP’s premier fundraiser, the Amos Tuck Dinner. There are a few things about Woke Hampshire that you should know.
First, Woke Hampshire is neither a Red State nor a Purple State. It is a Blue State. The last time the GOP Presidential candidate got more than fifty percent of the vote was 1988. And since COVID it has gotten much bluer. Senator Hassan was elected in 2016 by barely more than 1,000 votes. In 2022 she was reelected by more than 55,000 votes.
Woke Hampshire has become much bluer recently for two reasons. One is that Governor Sununu was one of the more extreme COVID Governors. To borrow a phrase, he chose Fauciism over freedom. His lockdowns, mask-mandates, tacit encouragement of businesses to impose vaccine-mandates, among other things, drove Red voters to leave the State.
The other reason is that Sununu, since being elected Governor in 2016, has fully embraced and encouraged woke. In 2018, he signed a transgender bill into law, which his own Attorney General says requires schools to allow boys to compete in girls’ sports and use girls’ locker rooms. In 2021, he refused to sign a bill banning CRT until the legislature watered it down to the point that it is meaningless. His embrace of woke has made the State a magnet for Blue voters as the 2022 elections showed.
Second, you will repeatedly hear two terms, “local control” and “limited government,” used to describe Woke Hampshire’s supposedly true brand of conservatism. To paraphrase the Princess Bride, in Woke Hampshire these terms do not mean what you think they mean.
Local control is the justification given for State government turning a blind eye to the Diversity-Equity-Inclusion toxin that is pervasive in the State’s public schools. For example, just last session, the Republican-controlled House, at the behest of Governor Sununu, killed a parental rights bill. Local control is a myth. Public school districts in New Hampshire are actually run by unaccountable and woke bureaucracies that are, at best, indifferent to the remonstrations of parents at school board meetings. It appears that around two-thirds of every education dollar is spent outside the classroom to feed this bureaucracy.
Limited government is the justification given for State government doing nothing to protect people from big business pushing woke such as vaccine-mandates, CRT and DEI. Limited government is also a myth. In 2019, the Democrat-controlled legislature with the support of all but one Republican State Senator passed and the Republican Governor signed a bill codifying Obamacare into State law. Just this year every Republican State Senator voted to make Obamacare Medicaid Expansion permanent.
Woke Hampshire has no business leading off the GOP Presidential primaries because it is not a barometer of what matters to the GOP base or to Independents. Don’t let it tarnish your brand.
The post An Open Letter To Ron DeSantis … Some Things You Should Know About Woke Hampshire appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Tuesday Nor’Easter dumped some serious snow on Nothern New England, and while the meteorologists tried to get it right, they blew it again.
Areas projected to get the most snow got double the estimate (or nearly), while many places got disparate measurements in different parts of town. Merrimack, for example, has an “official” total of 12 inches, but late Tuesday afternoon, I had the dog in the backyard, and it was up to my knees.
I am not exactly tall, but there was at least 18 inches of new snow back there. My large 90-pound lab was groundhog and prairie dogging it (he loves snow); the stuff was so deep. Other parts of my yard had less but also had tree cover. Was the average across town 12 inches? Maybe, but I got more, and I bet many of you did as well.
So tell us? Did you measure? How much snow did you get? And tell us how that compared to the “official” measurements published by WMUR (and shared below).
We want to hear your snow stories and your downed tree stories, whatever you got!
Harrisville and Richmond tied for the highest reported (by the way) at 38 inches of snow. Hanover said they only received 1″ of snow.
New Hampshire Snow Totals Care of WMUR.
The post How Much Snow Did You REALLY Get This Week? appeared first on Granite Grok.
OK, I’ve got tons of stuff built up, and this is back from February when “Pothole Pete” (his nickname from his time as Mayor of South Bend, IN) finally deigned to visit E. Palestine where the train wreck (HIS area of expertise) disaster happened.
Of COURSE, people are asking, “what took so long?” but Petey Buttigieg’s “personal time” is a higher priority than lives and property being ruined.
This young reporter from Turning Point has it exactly right and with the right attitude toward someone who seems annoyed that he has to deal with this (I guess he’d rather be virtue-signaling pulling his bicycle out of his SUV to ride the last couple of blocks to work for fawning cameras):
WATCH: Sec. Pete Buttigieg's team FREAKS OUT when asked why it took him almost 3 weeks to come and speak to residents of East Palestine. His press secretary BEGS reporter to turn off the cameras.
Source: Savanah Hernandez @ Frontlines Show pic.twitter.com/IKatLEunbs
— Cory Reynolds Republican Of Maine (@RepublicanCoryR) February 24, 2023
Lady, YOU’RE the Press Secretary! You are expected to take questions all the time, every time, and anywhere. I know that there are people who want to control the Narrative and the environment, which is EXACTLY what she was trying to do.
Big #FAIL as she has now invoked the Streisand Effect. So instead of trying to speak the Narrative on the down low, she blew it up. Her annoyed face was wonderful in expressing her ire.
And Chubbs (I can say that as being a former Chubb myself, but he’s got me beat by a couple of magnitudes) that butted in didn’t make it any better. Sorry, high elected officials ARE responsible to us. It’s really too bad that Petey made her take the heat as he just rushed by, also looking annoyed that he, Our Highness Who Checks a Few Diversity Boxes, that others wanted him to take the question instead.
So I’ll include this as I brought it up at the event I was at Wednesday night and chuckles all around to those that heard it:
Challenge: withOUT looking it up, how many can you name? I can only name two.
The post FUNNY! This Young Lady Warms the Cockles of My Heart; The More Mature (?) DOT Press Secretary, Not So Much appeared first on Granite Grok.
Chuck Todd’s tenure in Machine Media included genuflecting to the gods of progressive government every time he entered the press room. Offering sacrifice to the approved narratives.
Well, maybe not every time but most of the time. I’m not going to sift the jetsam of his love affair for the few times he’s committed acts of journalism. This guy will defend a security-risk drug addict with a prostitute baby mama ‘cuz his last name is Biden, so I’m not sure I’d find anything. He frequently commits (to quote Howie Carr) the journalistic equivalent of unprotected sex.
Then we’ve got this. Chuck implores you to get vaccinated. Get others vaccinated. And stop spreading misinformation.
It has aged about as well as milk.
Those of us peddling the so-called misinformation have turned out to be not just truth-tellers but scientific truth. And most of us are still around, while the vaccinated are getting sick and dropping dead because they listened to Chuck Todd.
Is Chuck planning to jump on the COVID apology tour? Maybe a do-over. Or will he find a way to blame the sudden deaths of young people on January 6th, climate change, Donald Trump, or parents objecting to porn at school board meetings?
It’s not like the truth ever stopped Chuck before.
The post A Quick Reminder from the Medical Experts at MSNBC … appeared first on Granite Grok.
Lisa Logan has connected the dots on the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in our local schools, and how it relates to the Social Credit System. SEL is part of the Multi-Tiered System of Support that has now been implemented in schools across the state.
MTSS-B is a mental health framework for schools to follow.
All of this came through the SAMHSA mental health grant so that our schools could be turned into mental health clinics. Keep watch because soon schools will become medical clinics too. It’s part of the CDC’s vision for public education.
This has become one big mess, considering that now we have schools sharing your child’s mental health data with Plymouth State, Antioch University and Keene State. The amount of money we are paying in order to just implement this mental health scheme in our schools could be better used to actually treat children who are in desperate need of mental health care. Some of these kids are waiting in emergency rooms and local hospitals because mental health treatment is not always available. Where there is the biggest need in New Hampshire, that need is not being met. Instead we are paying evaluators to tell us how wonderful the MTSS-B system is working in our schools.
I guess we are supposed to ignore the increasing violence teachers have reported in Nashua and Keene. While they shift focus away from real consequences for bad behavior, to positive behavior programs, it looks like some kids are just not responding. This is another example of a one-size-fits-all model handed down to us by the federal government.
On top of this colossal waste of taxpayer dollars, what does this really mean for your children?
Lisa Logan spells it all out in her article titled: SEL+ESG=Social Credit System. How the Emergence of ESGs & the Imperative to Teach, Score, and Track Social and Emotional Learning is Setting the Stage for a Future Social Credit System
SEL is included in Tier 1 of the Multi-Tiered System of Support. Like all government programs, they promise a lot but deliver little. Remember how well No Child Left Behind worked? Remember how poorly crafted our state Common Core Standards are working? Now they are going to address the mental health of our children in schools. The same people who shut down the public schools, and harmed the mental health of students, are tasked with treating your child’s mental health. What can go wrong?
In this scheme we’ve discovered that schools are not even following basic codes of ethics when it comes to sharing your child’s mental health data. School personnel are delivering your child’s mental health data to Keene State/BHII without parental knowledge or consent.
Lisa Logan writes about SEL:
…..most children learn those skills in their early years just from being a part of a family who has healthy, positive interactions that they observe and take part in on a daily basis. Granted, there are children that don’t grow up in a stable environment and SEL was originally brought into schools to deal with kids that needed specialized instruction in that area. That isn’t the case any longer. State School Boards (at the direction of the Department of Education) have decided that EVERY kid needs support in that area and they are teaching social emotional learning as a school-wide intervention. This has been spurred on by states having to report back to the federal government on non-academic factors (like the social and emotional health of their students) in order to receive federal money, like is required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
That’s why Keene State/ BHII needs this sensitive and private data on your children. They have to report back to the federal government.
You can see from the agreement Keene State has with area schools what kind of data they are collecting on your child and family here:
Why do they need to know your religious and political affiliation? Why do they need to know your child’s social security number? Keene State is supposed to be evaluating the MTSS-B program in our schools, and reporting back to the federal government. But even that is a scheme since there is no real independent or peer reviewed studies on how MTSS-B is working in our public schools. What Keene State prepared looks more like a marketing brochure than any critical analysis on the program.
Logan goes on to address the shift away from learning academics, to the focus on soft skills for the workforce:
Underlying all of this curricula and assessments are the 5 Core Competencies set by The Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). They rate and review all SEL programs and are seen as the standard-bearer for SEL, creating the definitions for and ideal targets of social and emotional learning. Currently, the focus is on cultivating soft skills that are ideal for what the workforce desires. CASEL has been establishing Collaborating States Initiatives to create a community of practicefor states across the nation whose shared goal is to “connect education and workforce policy through an SEL lens.” Essentially, State Boards of Education agree to align what social and emotional competencies students should be taught to what business/industry partners deem the “correct” ones. Accordingly, SEL instruction is integrated into K-12 programs, curricula, or related experiences to teach the competencies employers want the most, which are increasingly becoming less about academic skills and more about subjective, non-academic skills.
Competency Based Education is a dumbed down workforce training model that shifts focus away from literacy and academic excellence, to a focus on children learning workforce skills. This changes the focus of public education away from educating for literacy, to training for low-level jobs. When you see your school’s proficiency scores, or international testing comparisons, keep in mind that our education system is focused on mediocrity, and not excellence.
Logan goes on to explain how emotional intelligence is now a priority for employers. Public education is now all about what’s good for corporate America versus what is best for your child. All of this sensitive mental health data on your children is gathered and shared without your knowledge or consent. On top of that, SEL is moving into the realm of “transformative” SEL which will focus on race and equity:
How will emotional intelligence be measured? Through the social and emotional learning scores of future candidates, collected as data that follows them from preschool through age 20 in statewide longitudinal data systems along with their academic scores. That data is gleaned from SEL assessments built around curricula that’s aligned to CASEL’s 5-Core competencies.
Except CASEL’s definition of social and emotional learning and their 5-Core competencies made a seismic shift in 2020. Their new definition, Transformative Social and Emotional Learning, has SEL now centered around a racial and “equity” lens. CASEL leaders believe that “racialized oppression was foundational to the establishment of the United States” and have adopted the Marxist Critical Race Theorist view that the U.S. is systemically racist.
SEL is now going WOKE too.
As such, the new goal of SEL programs that align to CASEL’s standards is to groom students into thinking that the systems of society are intentionally built to be oppressive toward certain groups of people, and that they need to become agents of change (social justice activists) who want to overthrow those systems to make them more “equitable.”
SEL lessons, like those found in the program Second Step, manipulate the definitions of empathy and perspective-taking in their K-5 program to frame that being kind means you have to “do something,” which later becomes “choose a disruption strategy” by 8th grade. These disruption strategies encourage students to come up with concrete plans to advocate for causes related to race, gender and sexuality. Being that the assessments (like the surveys/screeners conducted by Panorama Education) also align to CASEL’s standards, they are measuring compliance to & students’ adoption of these Marxist values, attitudes, and beliefs, which will be scored and collected as data that reflects their “emotional intelligence.”
What does all of this mean for your child? We know that schools are sharing competencies with colleges, so when your child applies to a college, what SEL information will be shared? Logan goes on to share this disturbing scenario:
The ramifications of this are frightening. Forbes notes that hiring decisions that used to be made based on schools attended, grades, and the status of their last employment are shifting to more intangible qualities like “high EQ.”
What does all of this mean when your child leaves public education and begins looking for a job? Logan says:
What it means for companies to “hire an inclusive workforce” will require much more than just making sure their hiring practices reflect a racially diverse populace, but also that the employees they hire display the soft skills of “inclusivity.” How will they be held accountable? Environmental Social and Corporate Governance Scores (ESG).
Soft skills, that are now required through Competency Based Education, have moved away from workforce skills, to personal attitudes on race. Does that mean your child better be parroting the Critical Race Theory narrative in order to qualify for a job as an accountant?
There’s more:
Not to mention that organizations like the Gates-funded Data Quality Campaign and Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change are lobbying for linking student-level data between education and workforce agencies, via the statewide longitudinal data systems. They are asking Congress to lift the ban on a NATIONAL student database, creating a federal student unit record by passing the College Transparency Act.
At this point, I cannot advise any parent to allow their child to participate in the MTSS-B framework. I cannot advise your child working with any school counselors, or participate in Social and Emotional Learning at school. You can certainly try to avoid all of this as some parents have tried to opt out of SEL, but some of the SEL will be embedded in other subjects. The best thing to do is to look for a school that does not provide any of this in school.
From unethical practices to avoid informed consent to the data mining and sharing of your child’s mental health information, your child needs to be protected.
Your child’s mental health is extremely important. But there are good reasons why there are privacy laws in place, and ethical codes of conduct that cover consent. You now have to be concerned how they will weaponize your child’s attitudes on political issues against them when applying for a job. It’s not worth it.
Place your child in a school that does not dabble in pseudo-psychology. If your child needs extra help with their mental health, seek assistance from a licensed Child Psychologist Phd outside the school. Find a professional that follows the APA Code of Ethics. This way you know that they will be looking out for your child’s best interest.
Watch for more information on this in the near future. AS I continue to investigate the mental health clinics in our schools, the more disturbing this becomes.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.
The post SEL + ESG = Social Credit System In NH Schools: The Danger to Your Child appeared first on Granite Grok.
If you measured Saint Patrick by the typical American experience, you’d think (much like Cinco De Mayo) St. Parick was a gluttonous boozer. Leave it to America to turn something into gluttonous boozing. It’s Arbor day; let’s drink to the trees!
Cinco de Mayo commemorates the anniversary of Mexico’s 1862 victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla. In the US, it’s about drinking and eating. So are the months of November and December. The Fourth of July. Labor Day, Memorial Day, St. Patrick’s Day didn’t have a chance. But what about St. Patrick?
According to the autobiographical Confessio of Patrick, when he was about sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland, looking after animals; he lived there for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.
Ironically, at least according to this account, when the “holiday” was celebrated in earlier years, “pubs closed and observers went to church.”
From History.com.
In the centuries following Patrick’s death (believed to have been on March 17, 461), the mythology surrounding his life became ever more ingrained in the Irish culture: Perhaps the most well-known legend of St. Patrick is that he explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock.
These days pagans fill the pubs, and there is little or no mention of a church unless it is ” the church key,” which gets a lot of use on March 17.
Greeting card companies, decoration makers, brewers, and bottlers of ales and spirits are all beneficiaries of the American experience. The corned beef industry also enjoys an uptick in sales alongside the cabbage cart guy: food, beer, fun, and lots of advice about drinking responsibly and designated drivers.
Not at all a bad idea.
If your plans include excess, please bring someone who will remain sober so you can get home alive. You wouldn’t want to shuffle off your mortal coil and meet St. Patrick accidentally.
Or worse, send someone else in your place.
Have fun. Be safe—and Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
The post Who The Heck is This St. Patrick Person, Anyway? appeared first on Granite Grok.
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!
Still swamped with a work crunch so please forgive the just-meme-dumping. Enjoy, and TGIF! And the last meme post:
MONDAY MEMES – Granite Grok
Hoping to be able to come up for air and resume my normal schedule in a week or so. But I HAVE to get this done…
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Just one special comment here.
Understand, the vast majority of “normies” truly believe they are smarter, more educated, let alone just plain more moral and ethical and better people than we “deplorables” and “foil hat nutjobs”. For them to recognize that we – the people they look down on and disdain – were RIGHT?
Unthinkable.
It would shake their selves and self-image to the core.
Whether on The Jab, or Covid being a lab leak, or “climate change”, or the stability of the financial system, or the Potato being the best President Resident evah, for them to admit being wrong when their being right is central to their self image is impossible. It’s why talking with them – even with evidence – goes nowhere. Very few people have the self-introspection and humility to admit error on this scale.
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Pick of the post:
The post Friday Meme Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.
I don’t spend much time on Twitter, but when I do, there is usually something of value waiting to be found. Millions of opportunities exist daily, so the odds are almost always in favor of that happening. Like this picture of Joe Biden. A moment in time captured…
As Jason Howerton wonders, what’s all this then?
Can someone explain what actually happened here? pic.twitter.com/giQJmcV87Y
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) March 17, 2023
What indeed!
While we wait for the memes, I’d like to encourage y’all to caption this bad boy. If you are not able to comment because you refuse to give DISQUS your details, you can email it to me with the subject line: “Biden Caption contest” to steve@granitegrok.com.
I’ll share the good ones in a few days.
The post Caption This Photo of Joe Biden Doing … What Is He Doing! appeared first on Granite Grok.
“Those radical MAGA Republicans are putting the economy on the precipice of collapse. Because they want tax cuts for the rich, they are holding the debt ceiling hostage.”
That is the battle cry of a failing President who can only prop himself up by tearing down Trump and all Republicans. I wrote this week about the truth that we are more than halfway through Biden’s term as President, and he is not ready to accept the responsibility of the job. It is embarrassing that Biden can go before the American people, in effect, the people of the world, outline a problem that he did not foresee, has no plan to correct, but blames the former President, and then walk away without answering questions. Blaming Trump is this President’s mic drop.
President Biden has a proposal to forgive student loans for anyone with an active loan and pass that expense onto the backs of every American. These loan credits will go to people who spent $50 Plus Thousands per year and now may have six-figure salaries. How is that not a tax cut for the rich? Of course, it is at the expense of the middle class, which has no option or skin in this game.
On Monday, before the Markets opened after the weekend collapse of two of America’s banks, Biden went to the microphone to offer the richest of Americans in Silicon Valley a handout. The FDIC insures all deposits in American banks up to $250,000. Biden went a step further to guarantee every penny of every account, with the cost passed onto all banks as a special assessment. Biden claimed that none of this cost would be the burden of taxpayers. That lie shows total ignorance of business practices and the real world.
The money to make all depositors whole may not come from government funds or paid directly with tax dollars, but he is naive if he thinks banks will absorb this cost. The banks will spread that burden to their customers through increased interest rates or fees. I wish that Biden had been as fast to help the victims of East Palestine as he was to promise aid to the richest zip code in the country. Maybe it has something to do with East Palestine being 70% Republican and Silicon Valley 70% Democrat.
The Fed was sleeping on SVB, as there have been signs of failure for two years. Had they done their job as regulators and intervened in the bad financial decisions of SVB rather than waiting for collapse, we could have avoided the need for a bailout.
They could have seen the writing on the wall when the board comprised of Clinton backers ignorant of the banking industry. Maybe the $73 Million given to Black Lives Matter in 2020, during the height of civil unrest, was a sign. Perhaps the $5 Billion invested in Climate sensitive companies and those pledging wokeness over profits could have raised an eyebrow. Not in this reactive administration.
Biden can blast Trump and stomp on MAGA Republicans, but anyone who listens and watches the actions and not the words can see right through this President. His handling of this crisis is indicative of his Presidency and why he will be a one-term President. When he should have been with his team dealing with this crisis, he was in California signing an executive order gutting the second amendment. That is the topic for tomorrow.
The post Biden Bails Out the Rich, Then Blames Trump appeared first on Granite Grok.
We learned that it was a good day for gun rights and cannabis legalization but not a good day for liberal green energy policies.
We learned that HB76, imposing a 3-day waiting period between purchase and delivery of a firearm, died after the Ought To Pass recommendation failed 168-193. There were “exceptions” “graciously bestowed” in the bill language. Supporters of this bill, like Rep. David Meuse (D-Portsmouth) believe a woman should ask “for permission” from law enforcement for immediate delivery if she is being stalked or harassed by her ex. There was a roll call vote so you can see who supports your gun rights.
We learned that the House still thinks it is OK – as it has been for forever – to pack a firearm while you go to vote. HB444 was ITL’d with a 202-167 roll call vote. The House rightly voted that you shouldn’t have to give up one right in order to exercise another.
We learned that legalizing LSD (HB328) for persons 21 or older died 290-76. Legalizing cannabis for persons 21 years of age or older passed on a voice vote after the ITL was overturned with a 210-160 vote. There’s no state taxes, no state sales, you can grow your own, and possession and use would be totally legal. Now that goes off to the Senate. I’ll bet they smoke it.
We learned that Democrats wanted to “make a statement” with HB596 and codify prohibition of racial profiling by law enforcement despite the fact that it is already illegal in federal law (Section 242 of Title 18) and NH officers are trained in proper conduct, have policies with regard to racial profiling and protecting civil rights. HB596 passed 186-185. Those 185 that voted NO did not do so because they think racial profiling is OK… they voted that way because they don’t believe in using state statute “to make statements” and because we already have practices and laws in place to make sure our law enforcement officers are doing their job properly.
We learned that the House tabled HB104 with a vote of 345-28. That bill would have required that multi stall bathrooms and locker rooms in our public schools be same sex facilities. That way biological males could not use bathrooms for biological females and vice versa. Local accommodations can be made for transgender students, like designating single stall facilities for anyone to use. The bathroom debate still rages on, meanwhile testimony shows that students “hold it in” all day because they do not wish to encounter someone of the opposite biological sex in their bathroom space. Any wonder why parents turn to private school and homeschool?
We learned that another important bill was tabled with a roll call vote of 200-175 (including 15 Republicans voting to table). That was HB514, relative to the dissemination of obscene material in schools. I only wish someone had read into the record some of the obscene filth that our elementary school kids are being subjected to. Despite what the Democrats are whining about, this is not about banning books… it is about what is age appropriate educational material and what is not. Again I posit.. any wonder why parents turn to private school and homeschool?
We learned that HB170 passed 199-174. That bill requires the teaching of cursive writing and memorization of multiplication tables to our kids by the end of 5th grade. This way, kids will be able to learn eye hand co-ordination and read old documents. Additionally, memorizing times tables could reverse the abysmal mathematics proficiency we are currently witnessing. Old school… it worked for millions.
We learned that HB231 passed 225-147. This bill will prohibit the veterinary procedure of declawing cats. Despite the fact that hardly any veterinarian in NH does this procedure anymore, it was determined that it should be statutorily banned and vets who are caught doing this for non medical reasons should be punished with a civil violation (yeah, go ahead and prove that a vet did this without a medical reason). This will of course open the flood gates for many other veterinarian procedures to be banned in NH in the Live Free or Die State. Only 2 other states (NY and MD) have banned cat declawing, along with a host of other vet procedures. Veterinarians in NH currently counsel their clients on many behavior modification techniques and cat declawing is the very last resort for a problem cat. Certainly if someone wants their cat declawed they can still go out of state to do it. Anyway, this cat fight moves onto the Senate.
We learned that HB125 was ITL’d after the Ought To Pass motion failed 195-175. The “My bedtime, My Choice” bill would have put limits on the times kids aged 16-17 can work while school is in session. It would have created more restrictive work curfew times. Some people just want to manage every aspect of these kids lives and leave no room for individual circumstances or arrangements.
We learned that HB208 was ITL’d 192-181 after a roll call vote where the OTP vote died 183-187. This bill would have required NH to “join the other New England States” in setting medium and long range greenhouse gas reduction goals… mostly in order to get federal funding for green pet projects. Of course those same people, plus a few more, didn’t care about saving the trees when they voted 214-159 to print the remarks of the debate.
We learned that some other green energy bills died today. HB 263 would have increased the cost of energy by requiring the NH Dept of Energy to notify companies and individuals generating renewable energy that have not claimed Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) that if they don’t use their RECs that the energy company can “sweep them up” and use them. When energy companies do this, it lowers their ratepaying customer costs. Many people don’t apply for their RECs, just like you might not use a coupon at the grocery store. The value of these unclaimed RECs is estimated to be $3 million. Anyway, this bill requiring notification died 187-180.
We learned that another net metering bill, HB523 died 189-182. This would have changed the net metering cap from 1 megawatt to 5 megawatts. Increases in net metering shifts costs to other customers because electricity utilities are forced to buy from these private electric energy generators at an above market price, thereby making the cost higher for the rest of the utility ratepayers/customers.
We learned that HB 605 died when the OTP motion failed 188 (NO)-181(YES). This bill would have changed the renewable portfolio standard to increase the amount of solar power designated in the RPS. Aside from the fact that this would cost upwards to $46 million, the new amount would require that 15 thousand more acres in NH to be used to create solar power in order to meet the new goal stipulated in the bill by 2050. I wonder what state forest the Democrats want to mow down in order to do that?
We learned that another Convention of States bill (HCR4) died 224-145. Looks like Mr. Ken Quinn, an out-of-state lobbyist who works for Term Limits USA, didn’t entice enough people to vote for this bill even after giving them a free lunch at Tandy’s.
We learned that HB222, requiring the use of seat belts during the operation of a motor vehicle, died on a roll call ITL vote of 206(Yes)-162(No). No need for this law… your car will tell you to fasten your seat belts anyway.
We learned that Rep. Tim Horrigan (D-Durham) had a medical episode that caused our EMT House members and House Sergeant-at-Arms to spring into action. Apparently, he choked on something while in his seat. He was taken to the hospital, and we all hope he is fine and recovers soon.
We learned that Rep. Moffett (R-Loudon) and Rep. Maggiore (D-North Hampton) should go on the road as a comedy team. They had some great banter back and forth, poking light-hearted political jabs at one another while promoting the upcoming Legislative Golf Classic on June 26th to benefit veterans and Liberty House. Watch here (7:16:25 to 7:21:20)
Finally, we learned that Rep. Ellen Read (D-Newmarket) was sorry for her uncivil outburst a few weeks ago – when she yelled out “F*** You” to the House Speaker when he called a recess after the Democrats gained a majority and started pulling things off the table and passing them. So she made an “apology” to the House at the end of the day. She said she was sorry for being so uncivil and using foul language…. But the rest of us are really to blame because House members play political games, and we need to learn to work together more and not be so polarized. Sorry Rep. Read, but the rest of us did not cause you to blurt out expletives to the Speaker that day, so don’t pin it on us. Watch here. 7:29:16 to 7:33:11
See you all next week when we have a doubleheader.
The post So Kids, What Did We Learn From This Week’s House Session (03/16/23)? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Skips Sauntering Snippets Trust (or lack thereof) and Politicians Special Edition We used to be a high Trust (and honesty) Society. Woe to us as we are rapidly moving to a low Trust one and more to an “Us vs Them” (especially as in “Politicians are their own Special Interest Group”). Doubt me?
Our nation’s politics are leading the way given the explosion of the Social Justice movement, Critical Race Theory, and Trans-Authoritarianism coming out of our “Higher Levels of Indoctrination” formerly called colleges and universities. Each leg of this Cultural Marxism stool’s main purpose (with LOTS of subsidiary goals underneath that). Here’s an image for you – a stately moose, out in the forest, keeling over is a death fall from all of the ticks and other parasites that have leeched on and literally sucked the life out of as at the same time injecting all kinds of diseases into it. For another example, just look at all I’ve been writing about Belknap County here in NH. And certainly tribalism, the desired end result of all this has its shining star in Congress with the hyperpartisanship within its aisles and chambers.
To what point? E Pluribus Unum is THE target – a divided country, as we have learned from history, rarely stand for long. Make no mistake – the reduction of Trust (and how often have I put up how Trust in our institutions is spiraling downward?
Here’s another VERY important marker: I was at an informal event Wednesday night (AFTER I made this video) where the purpose was to have a small number of folks gather just to talk to each other. Which, I tried to do more than most other times (it takes a bit of effort for me to so with people I’ve never met before “inept” could be apt at this juncture). Charter schools, energy, government schools, DIE (or for you morons that believe in it, DEI) and how it is affecting corporations…
Sidenote: We did note and chuckle MORE than a little that in private companies that had too much money available and wishing to out-virtue signal their competition, their DIE organizations are actually doing it. When times get tough, the most non-productive workers get the boot first. I’ll have to find it again but Twitter (YAY!) got rid of all of their such staff in TRULY Right sizing the operations
Sidenote to the Sidenote: Musk has reduced its staffing from over 7500 to about 2500 (perhaps even less) yet Twitter keeps tweeting along after the early and dire prophicies that it would die two weeks after he took control. See, bloatware can manifest itself in other fashions…
… and a bunch of other topics. But I digress from my main topic: Trust (or lack thereof).
Someone who I really hold in high esteem said something that night that we all need to pay attention. Many of we politically active have seen this writ small for years but he noted that the incidence of this growing larger and larger (and I’m paraphrasing here):
Do you still believe that Justice here in America is still held in high regard? I don’t think so and the general population is starting to notice. It is getting worse and worse that some special groups get far better treatment than the rest of us. The speaker said that a breaking point will be reached when any Trust in the Judiciary will have collapsed. When that happens, People will take the pursuit of Justice into their own hands – history shows this. And when that happens, bad things will start happening “Everything, everywhere, all at once” (playing off the Oscar major wins by the movie of that name).
Indeed. It will be Tribalism at its worst – and we can blame the Left for most of it. It’s a Preference Cascade process: People feel alone until they learn that others are thinking the same thoughts (re: Glenn Beck’s famous line of “You are not alone”). When that happens, it’s a movement in action. Famously, think back to the genesis of the TEA Party movement.
One person, Rick Santelli on CNBC, stood up and said hell no to Obama’s idea that ALL of us should help those that are underwater with their mortgages. We all said “NO!” as we knew people who acted badly by cashing in on rapidly rising house prices and refinanced multiple times simply to take expensive vacations and buying expensive toys in thinking that the good financial times would never end.
Until they did and their money is gone. Off a cliff.
Trust is just like that – VERY slowly eroding until that Preference Cascade, that financial cliff is reached – and then the bottom falls out.
I posit that Trust is FAR more valuable and ephemeral than money. Once gone, REALLY bad things happen.
The post Skips Sauntering Snippets Trust (or lack thereof) and Politicians Special Edition appeared first on Granite Grok.
If you have time this Friday, (03/17/23), please provide in-person support at the trial of Frank Staples. Frank is one of the nine Americans who were arrested at the October 17, 2021 Executive Council meeting for no apparent reason while sitting quietly in his seat. You can read about this disturbing abuse of power in this article, and the three other articles that are embedded within it.
Related: IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE? NH Governor SECRETLY Pressured State Reps to IGNORE ARRESTS of Nine Americans UNDER HIS WATCH!
Seven of the nine people were respectfully sitting quietly in their seats and were arrested for no apparent cause. The other two were arrested after they questioned why the first two people had been arrested.
I was at the meeting, and it felt like I was experiencing a flashback to Nazi Germany in the 1930’s. It sounds dramatic and exaggerated – but if you watch the embedded videos in the article linked above, you will get a sense of the injustice that took place. Read the story and watch the videos in each of the articles. Governor Sununu’s actions – as well as ordering over 80 State Troopers to the meeting with only 150 attendees is disturbing.
With this type of abuse mirroring what the FBI has done on multiple occasions recently – it is important that our NH courts and Governor know that we, the people have the right to peaceably assemble – and that the arrest of citizens exercising their God-given Constitutional Rights will not be accepted.
Please come to the courthouse in Concord to make a peaceful statement. If you have the time but choose to not attend – and instead sit idly by regarding the unjustified arrests of innocent people, then you are complicit in normalizing this abuse of power.
We are all busy, but freedom is not free.
Get involved. Show up!
DATE: 03/17/23
Time: 12:45PM
Location: Courthouse, 32 Clinton Street, Concord, NH
The post A Small Cost For Freedom appeared first on Granite Grok.
Being a bemused cynic has its benefits. For example, when I saw this article about a new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, my first thought was, is this why they wanted COVID?
The medical industry, and Big Pharma in particular, appear to be in the business of doing more business no matter what the human cost. I have zero trust in the so-called experts in public health. Nothing they say or do arrive at my ear without the suggestion of other motives. So what if the lab leak was meant to release the actual virus – not SARS CoV2 but the mRNA platform (which became a cash cow ) so the public health industrial complex could sell more cures for what that did?
And on and on.
And if a few million people die and millions more are infertile, go, team depopulation!
It’s not a conspiracy theory because it already happened, not that this would stop the partisan social media fact-checkers from adding context (they blame it all on white colonialists named Trump).
Moderna recently announced a new treatment for folks with heart problems, a common side effect of the mRNA vaccine in young men (and yeah, “the vaccines” are doing that). It, too, is an mRNA vaccine.
And now we’ve got Pfizer talking up that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine we mentioned in the opening.
RSV is a leading cause of pneumonia, and the mRNA COVID vaccine is a leading cause of the depressed immune system that can turn any flu infection into RSV. Not to worry, Pfizers got this idea.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to approve both vaccines for people aged 60 and above by May, while an FDA decision on the use of Pfizer’s vaccine for pregnant women is due in August. …
Annaliesa Anderson, Pfizer head of vaccines research & development, told the same briefing that the company anticipates a population of about 4 million pregnant women annually in the United States who could eventually receive its RSV vaccine, though the market will take time to shape.
She later told Reuters that the so-called “tripledemic” that hit the northern hemisphere this winter may have at least temporarily raised awareness of RSV, which despite its dangers for the very old and very young is not well known by the public.
“In the U.S. (this winter), the pediatric hospitals were full of babies all with RSV…, it certainly hit the news and people were much more aware,” she said.
I wonder how many of those moms – fortunate to have avoided the mass-miscarriage phase of the safe-and-effective mRNA vaccine push – were still injected and passed the mRNA on to the babies who got RSV?
Babies that to big pharma look like a lifelong customer line item on their budget, if they live at all.
HT | PJ Media
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Now, I don’t have any dog in this fight but the Daily Sun doesn’t go after most elected officials (the Gunstock Incident excepted and they did kinda pick sides). I read the article and I have no insight or expertise on Human Resource so I’m not going to comment on the thrust of what reporter Jon Decker covered on so many Belknap County Sheriff Department employees have left. Just not my deal.
That said, this did catch my eye as I’ve been covering the Belknap County Delegation in detail lately – mostly because it seems that Leadership doesn’t care about Following the Law or what the Public should know with respect to their meetings and yes, I have more Right To Know to post – and write (reformatted, emphasis mine):
…Grenier and Roberts said they were both dismissed from their positions within a week of Wright’s re-election.
“One of the things most sheriff’s departments strive to do is make it feel like the deputies do not feel like they are a political organization,” said Roberts, who initially supported Wright during his 2020 bid. “If there’s an overtone to this, it is that in the last two years since the new sheriff, this is a political organization at every step.”
…“One of the things most sheriff’s departments strive to do is make it feel like the deputies do not feel like they are a political organization,” said Roberts, who initially supported Wright during his 2020 bid. “If there’s an overtone to this, it is that in the last two years since the new sheriff, this is a political organization at every step.”
“We serve at the will of the sheriff. He doesn’t have to explain anything to us. We got discharge letters served to us by a deputy, which I guess is required, but he didn’t even speak to us,” Grenier said. Grenier also categorized the hiring of three of Wright’s political supporters, Rich Mann, Jim McIntyre and Rep. Doug Trottier (R-Belmont), as a political “quid pro-quo.”
Recently, McIntyre was promoted to chief deputy, and Trottier to sergeant. As a state representative, Trottier sits on the Belknap County Delegation, and recently brought HB 357, which would double the term of office for Belknap County attorney, register of deeds, treasurer and sheriff. Rep. Travis O’Hara (R-Belmont) recently applied for a position as a dispatcher, but did not get the job.
Belknap County Sheriff Bill Wright is here. And as far as going political – if someone is seeking a political office, then it has, by definition, political overtones and atmosphere.. However, those whom you surround yourself with matters (like with the new BCRC folks who seemingly had the Democrat PAC, Citizens for Belknap, lurking in the background).
There is absolutely NO need for Belknap County elected officials to be “special” with respect to having a length of term moved from two years to four years. Yes, Rockingham County politics got that “gimme” last session; IMHO, they shouldn’t have. They aren’t that special to be placed “above” everyone else. We have no recall mechanism here in NH and the response, when folks try to get it passed, is that folks everywhere only serve for two years – the “recall” is a quick turnaround.
Hmmm. I decided who else signed onto HB357 which was to ; I was not surprised (repeat the CoB reference from above):
The first four were endorsed by the Democrat Political Action Committee Citizens for Belknap. So was Wright (running as both a Republican and a Democrat). The only connection between Pearl and Trottier / Bordes is that their campaigns received thousands of dollars from Brodie Deshaies’ Common Sense PAC which in turn, was almost totally funded by Union Money. Three peas in Union pod.
I have been told that Trottier also worked on Wright’s re-election campaign as well as Harvey-Bolia.
Really Bad Political Optics.
Quid Quo Pro.
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Victor Davis Hanson has a wholly depressing piece in American Greatness (that’s your trigger warning) about how not-so-great America has become.
If you are prone to depression, skip it. Otherwise, it can be difficult to read but valuable in other ways, and nothing here has not been covered on our pages, just not as clearly (though some may challenge that) and aligned in one piece.
American society is facing three existential crises not unlike those that overcame the late Roman, and a millennium later, terminal Byzantine, empires.
He then explains the problems, their visible symptoms, and their cause – if one can be named. It is not uplifting, but if you are looking for a concentrated distillation of what ails us to ruminate on or share with others, I think you’ll find it here.
So public defecation, urination, fornication, and injection continue unabated. Progressive urban pedestrians pass by holding their noses, averting their gazes, and accelerating the pace of their walking. The greenest generation in history allows its sidewalks to become pre-civilizational sewers. In a very brief time, we all but have destroyed the downtowns of our major cities—which will increasingly become vacant in a manner like the 6th-century A.D. Roman forum.
…
Postmodernism in our age is deadlier even than premodernism. Sexually explicit drag shows that allow the attendance of children 20 years ago would have been outlawed—by liberals worried over the trauma of the young watching performance-art simulated sex.
Now the children come last and the performers first—as ratified by the same liberals.
…
Need we say anything about the lack of efficacy or morality of the Department of Justice, FBI, or CIA?
Or rather is there anything the FBI will not do?
Doctor court evidence? Hire Twitter to suppress the news? Monitor parents at school board meetings? Allow directors to lie under oath or “misremember” before Congress?
Swiping clean subpoenaed phones? Hiring fakers to compile dirt on a presidential candidate—and then using that known smear to hoodwink a judge to allow spying on Americans?
Suppressing evidence on a laptop to warp an election? Raiding an ex-president’s home with a SWAT-like team? Spying on Catholics in mass? Storming a home full of children of a man accused of a politically incorrect misdemeanor?
Lots of things are broken, and we would like to fix them if we can get past the idea that they are beyond fixing.
Donald Trump did some excellent work in the few years he had, and perhaps that is why the left has gone all out in his wake to undermine further the foundations such that perhaps they will be beyond repair.
I don’t think this is as bad off as we’ve ever been as a nation. The 60s were pretty nasty. Who can argue that the Civil War was not perhaps the darkest time? But that was a civil war and a different time, and like then, there is much work ahead to prevent another shooting war if one can be prevented.
The Middle Class let the elites rob them of their comfort the way you remove a toy from the arms of a sleeping child, but lately, it has been more a clumsy well-dressed oaf yanking a tablecloth out from under a fully set and served dining table. It’s all gone everywhere, there’s not much left that’s edible, and the catalyst has a sh!t-eating grin as they call you out as bad parents or racists (even if you’re not white).
Oh, and they’ve invited 20 million third-world foreigners for dessert, so you’d better get to work to pay for that.
The post Victor Davis Hanson – Life Among the Ruins appeared first on Granite Grok.
CHRISTIAN TOTO: Is Paramount Feuding with William Shatner? “The exclusion of James T. Kirk in modern ‘Star Trek’ marketing is yet another example of efforts to diminish Shatner’s contribution and to emasculate strong male characters on television and at the movies.”
Look, his ego is indeed as big as the outdoors (er, the solar system? or Milky Way?), and he can rub the people who count the wrong way. The product coming out of Hollywood lately does give rise to that bolded part. I don’t watch many movies and not a lot of TV programs on my own (I do sit on the couch and blog whilst TMEW is watching her shows), but for those I see, there aren’t many really strong standalone male characters in those shows.
Yet, our culture has been touting females since back in the late 60s, and back then, needful. I will go out on a limb, however, that it’s time to swing that pendulum back from portraying men as the bumbling fool husbands| Dads| boyfriends | et al in commercials and stories.
Boys, we see now, are expected to be like girls in pants (when they aren’t boys in dresses). I’ve watched the Remote Learning sessions and have walked away with the valid impression that female teachers treat girls better than boys. Women now are the largest percentage of college students and earn more degrees than men. Don’t get me started on the “pay gap” or housework” either.
No, all we seem to get is the “toxic masculinity” thrown at us. Like this:
Image CBC.CA
What she said to me as I was carrying her to dry ground was “the last time I was carried like this was on my wedding night.” And if you’ve seen the other photos with the huge smile, that is where it came from.
(Image H/T: CBC.CA)
(H/T: Instapundit)
The post Blogline of the Day – Is There a Bit of “Anti-Patriarchy” Going On as Hollywood Seemingly Wants Strong Female Leads Instead?? appeared first on Granite Grok.
The issue of the state legislatures holding an Article V convention to propose amendments has divided people that typically agree on many issues into two completely different camps. One totally favors it, and the other is adamantly opposed.
We want to thank Kenn Quinn for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.
You may find yourself in one of these camps, or perhaps you are still researching the issue before deciding whether or not to support an Article V convention.
My purpose in writing this series is to do a deep dive into this hotly debated topic and, by doing so, demonstrate that the opponent’s claims against the Article V convention are entirely unfounded and cannot hold up to constitutional scrutiny, history, or our political reality.
In most cases, these attacks against the Framers and our amending provision are designed to paralyze legislators with fear to prevent them from using their constitutional authority to propose needed reforms at the federal level. These conspiratorial opponents are harming our country by blocking the States from introducing such reforms, which only protects The Establishment in Washington, D.C., while silencing the voice of the American people.
On a personal note, initially, I was a victim of this fear campaign. As a result, I opposed any Article V convention because of the misleading information I received from The John Birch Society (JBS). However, once I examined their claims by reading Madison’s notes at the 1787 Federal Convention, letters of correspondence between the Framers during the period 1786-1790, the Federalist Papers, the debates in the 1st Congress on amendments, Virginia’s Article V application for a bill of rights, and discussions in the state ratifying conventions, I quickly realized that everything JBS was peddling was a lie, so I decided to embrace the Article V convention and began working on having one called. For more information on the hypocrisy of The John Birch Society, check out my YouTube Channel, All Things Article V. I have documented the effort by JBS to call an Article V convention for The Liberty Amendment, along with exposing their conspiratorial foundation and history.
During my research, I stumbled across this great quote by George Washington describing the tactics used by the Anti-federalists to oppose the ratification of the Constitution.
“The opponents, I expected, (for it has ever been, that the adversaries to a measure are more active than its friends)would endeavour to give it an unfavourable complexion, with a view to biass the public mind. This, evidently, is the case with the writers in opposition; for their objections are better calculated to alarm the fears, than to convince the judgment of their readers. They build them upon principles which do not exist in the Constitution—which the known & litteral sense of it, does not support them in; and this too, after being flatly told that they are treading on untenable ground and after an appeal has been made to the letter, & spirit thereof, for proof: and then, as if the doctrine was uncontrovertable, draw such consequences as are necessary to rouse the apprehensions of the ignorant, & unthinking. It is not the interest of the major part of these characters to be convinced;” George Washington to Bushrod Washington, 9 November 1787.
There is nothing new under the sun, and the opponents employ the same deceitful tactics today to prevent state legislatures from proposing needed amendments. Recently, I testified in support of HCR1, an Article V convention application limited to amendments for term limits, fiscal restraints, and jurisdictional limitations on the federal government. In my testimony, I expose the tactics of these opponents.
VIDEO TESTIMONY: Kenn Quinn Exposes the Opponents of the Article V Convention
The Framers of our Constitution understood human nature and the need to have checks and balances for our government to function properly. The convention mode gives the state legislatures the ultimate check against a runaway federal government.
I plan to unpack my defense of the convention for proposing amendments slowly and methodically by laying out the true history of the 1787 Federal Convention and the original intent of the convention mode under Article V.
I hope you will join me.
Kenn Quinn is the North Regional Director for U.S. Term Limits
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