Monday • December 4 • 2023
Vol.XV • No.XLIX
Manchester, N.H.
We have seen stories from all over the country where teachers as caretakers and educators of children assume “possession” of them as if they were their parents. And nothing says “possession” like telling the kiddos to lie to their real parents.
In this bit of news, we see two things in play here – lying to Parents (which seems to happen over and over again) and being taught to indoctrinate their students (I refuse to use the new moniker of “learners) in the Leftist idea that “gender” and “sex” are totally unconnected (hint they aren’t: “gender” was simply a more genteel way of talking about “sex” back from the Victorian Age). Instead, the push is to separate the two in that the biology is subordinate to that which is “socially constructed” (reformatted, emphasis mine):
Chicago Schools Tell Teachers Sex Is ‘Socially Constructed,’ Tell Them to Hide Students’ Gender Pronouns From Parents
A Chicago Public Schools training program tells teachers that sex is a “socially constructed” phenomenon and instructs them to hide students’ gender pronouns from their parents, Fox News reported. Chicago Public Schools told teachers that “gender and sex” are social constructs that have been “created and enforced” by society and threatened retaliatory measures if they didn’t use students’ preferred pronouns during a required teacher training program, Fox News reported.
It’s the NH School Board Association’s Policy JBAB (Transgender and Non-Conforming Students) gone national. It is the Educational-Industrial Complex deciding that ITS MORALITY will be in force – and Parents can go to Hades if they find out. The kids belong to the Teachers – and given that we haven’t heard of much pushback from teachers (all over the country), it seems that they are fine with it. Given that the Chicago Teachers Union is well known for being in the tank for Socialism, we should be surprised?
In Socialism, everything and everyone belongs to the State. And Teachers are the State.
A 104-slide PowerPoint titled “Supporting Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming Students” asserted that “everyone has multiple, overlapping identities” and that “gender & sex are socially constructed, meaning they’ve been created and enforced by the people in a society,” Fox News reported.
No mention of God. Violating, most likely, no small number of Parents beliefs – “Male and female He created them, and He blessed them” (Genesis 5:2). Just “Society”; not anyone in particular but painting, once again, that Society is “The Oppressor” and that Teachers (even if under the threat of retaliation) must “save” these children.
From their Parents.
At least one Teacher had the grit to let the cat out of the bag:
…That’s not the issue, though,” she reportedly said. “In this situation, my school district is teaching false information about gender and sex to its employees—literally teaching them that it is all a social construct. … What type of education are we providing when we are articulating lies to our students in the name of keeping them comfortable?”
No, it’s NOT making “them comfortable” – it’s indoctrinating them. It’s all about gaslighting kids that have no clue what is true and what isn’t. It’s indoctrinating kids that have no clue what is right and what is wrong.
IT IS TAKING KIDS FROM THEIR PARENTS.
And as we see from the Buena Vista teachers, laughing about it – until they get caught.
A never-ending story – they are making our kids political pawns. Have been for a long, long time. So no longer wonder when I say it is time to turn the tables on them.
Regular readers know that I have long advocated keeping small children from holding signs and chanting with adults at political rallies. Just me – keep their innocence intact for as long as possible as politics is an adult issue. However, when the other side is actively using your children for their ends, you may have to co-opt that purpose. Talk to your kids, ask them what the teachers are teaching in large ways and small. Find out what is being taught – and what isn’t.
Then let us know. We’ll know what to do from there.
(H/T: Daily Signal)
The post And You Think That Govt School Are Being Straight with Parents? Not If They Are Being Trained Not To. appeared first on Granite Grok.
COVID-19 Policy: For the safety of our patrons, artists, venue staff, and our community as a whole, we will be requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test from within 72 hours for admittance to all events until further notice.
In addition, masks are required to be worn at all times while at the venue, regardless of your vaccination status. You may pull your mask down when eating or drinking only.
Please bring a photo of your vaccination card or negative PCR test timestamped within the last 72 hours, along with a corresponding state or federal ID for entry.
The above is a direct cut and paste from the Colonial.org website for the theater in Keene.
Obviously, they are determining what is best for us, just like Comrade General Biden and his stud muffin, Anthony Fauci, versus allowing us to make our own decisions.
It is, however, so nice of them to allow us to pull our masks down when eating or drinking (only).
Otherwise, I suppose, it would make quite a mess on the floor of the new facilities.
I do think that they are missing the requirement to show your marriage or shack-up license if you are accompanied by a male or female (OMG, the pronouns) and a current dog license, should you have a pooch at home.
Just Get a Grip – Will you please?
The post Just Get a Grip – Will you Please? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Elizabeth Nickson: The Reason for the Police Violence in Ottawa is Not What You Think
The brutality in Ottawa is not a warning. It is a promise, a statement of the future. The working class will end their lives in moldering houses they can’t afford to fix, with minimal health care. They won’t even be able to RV to our National Parks.
Think I’m wrong? A gallon of gas where I live is $8.00. Remember how big Canada is.
Think I’m wrong? Friday the 18th, the Federal Fisheries Minister announced the death of the East Coast Fishery, a traditional occupation that has been the base of the Maritimes’ economy for 300 years. She declared that she “was going to leave as many fish in the water as possible, and to grow as much vegetation in the water as possible so that the Atlantic Ocean could absorb as much carbon as possible”.
In human history, every time a nation falls under control of a narrow elite that monopolizes economic opportunities and political power, that nation fails.
And when nations fail, a lot of people die.
Read the rest here.
“This changes everything”!
Don’t we just love those overused clichés? So here’s the big item from our go-along to get along Democrat Congressional Representatives.
Down in DC Chris Pappas and Ann Kuster down have come out with a bill that would forbid Congresspersons from “INSIDER TRADING”!
Bet everything you have this will be their big push during this year’s reelection runs. I can see and hear the TV ads now. Kuster and Pappas have stepped up and are showing the leadership – – blah- blah – blah. Really, it has to be insulting that these two regard NH people as being that stupid.
What has either of them done in all the years they sat in Congress in never voicing the slightest concern over domestic terrorism all across American cities by BLM/Antifa, cities run by their fellow Democrats?
I can run a long list of how they sat silent, voted exactly as they were told to vote by Nancy Pelosi, and not one of those votes did one thing to make the lives and safety of the NH people one iota better. But I don’t think I need to because NH people are not stupid. This past year has demonstrated to everyone not vested in the Democratic Party just how shallow and irresponsible their entire Party has become.
When I was young, Democrats were patriots and the word patriot was not a dirty word. Millions of Democrats fought in the wars of our nation right beside Republicans. Sang the National Anthem at ball games and saluted or flag passing in the parade. Where are they and who are these imposters?
Count on Pappas and Kuster to send out their mouthpieces to declare how brave they are and they, at least, they are trying to “do something.” Of course, they are!
They are trying desperately to save their cushy seats in DC. We all know, and they know too, that they couldn’t push such a bill through Congress if they had a bulldozer.
It’s a nonstarter designed to make them look good in a year where those seats are in real jeopardy of going, Republican. Besides, they wouldn’t dare try this without Speaker Pelosi’s permission; it’s a scam.
Of course, it is also good for a laugh.
The post “Bombshell” appeared first on Granite Grok.
Choosing a good online trading platform that meets your needs is an important decision before entering the financial world.
Each share dealing platform has its own set of costs, as well as a variety of investment possibilities, trading tools, educational opportunities, and market research support.
You’ll need to register an online trading account if you wish to trade or invest in stocks and shares in the United Kingdom or invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, or an investment trust.
Low costs, an extensive range of assets offering, user-friendly features, and excellent customer service are all aspects to consider in choosing the best trading platforms in the UK.
Before moving forward, first, understand what a trading platform actually means and how it works?
What is a Trading Platform?
Trading platform is a software that allows you to trade through a financial intermediary like an online broker.
Brokers typically provide online trading platforms for free or charge some fees in return for keeping a funded account and performing a certain number of trades per month.
These platforms can also be customized for specific markets, such as currencies, options, stocks, cryptocurrencies, and futures.
Trading platforms are classified into two types: Prop Trading Platforms and Commercial Trading Platforms.
Prop Trading Platforms:
These trading platform types are tailored platforms created by huge brokerage firms to meet their specialized needs and trading styles.
Commercial Trading Platforms:
As their name implies, commercial platforms cater to day traders and retail investors. They are distinguished by a variety of useful tools for research and investor education, such as news feeds and charts.
Which are the Best Online Trading Platforms in the UK?
If you’re finding the best online trading platforms in the UK, you have come to the right place. To assist you, we have assessed a few online brokerage platforms.
We conducted our search that prioritized low commissions and costs, best-in-class platform and technology, and highly responsive customer support.
Here are 5 Best Online Trading Platforms:
IronFX:
Founded in 1996, IronFX has proved itself as the Best Online Trading Platform in the UK market. To begin, this platform provides access to over 3,000 instruments, including a wide range of stock CFDs.
The broker offers CFD trading on over 350 assets, allowing you to choose from a large pool of options. In addition, ETFs, indexes, commodities, and Forex trading are also available with the broker.
With no commission and tight spreads, this UK trading broker is also incredibly affordable. Apart from CFDs, PrimeFin also offers Forex Trading, which means that you can trade on world currency too.
In addition, the broker also offers several payment methods for deposits and withdrawals, including Skrill, Neteller, Wirecard, MIR Limited, Orange pay, DELTA, SafeCharge, SSL, and Trustly.
IronFX is absolutely legit platform without any IronFX scandal.
Alvexo:
Alvexo is a legal online trading platform offering CFDs on Forex, commodities, cryptocurrency, stocks, indices, bonds, and CFDs.
It has over 650,000 registered customers worldwide with a trading volume of over 70 billion dollars. Founded in 2014, Alvexo offers a variety of accessible, real-time trading platforms that cover more than 450 different assets.
Alvexo is recognised for its educational and service-oriented approach to trading for all traders. It’s also an excellent Bitcoin Trading Platform because of the range of features and graphs.
The platform offers access to an extensive range of economic news and a trading university, as well as webinars and seminars, in addition to daily signals and market analysis.
Libertex:
Libertex is a popular CFD trading platform among UK traders looking for minimal fees and low commissions. The platform charges commission as low as 0.1 percent for every order.
The platform’s zero-spread offering is at the top. This indicates that there is no price difference between the purchase and sell prices, regardless of the asset you choose to trade.
As a result, you’ll be able to take advantage of industry-leading quotations. Furthermore, Libertex charges a fee on both sides of the trade.
Skilling:
Despite being a new trading platform, Skilling has emerged as one of the best online trading platforms in the UK in a short time. This is due to the platform’s ease of use, particularly when placing buys and sell orders.
Skilling is also excellent for trading education, with a site full of user-friendly instructions and explainers. The platform is specialized in CFD trading.
However, you can trade over 800 different financial assets, such as stocks, commodities, indices, and currencies. In accordance with FCA laws, Skilling provides leverage on all of these marketplaces.
Eightcap:
Eightcap is a relatively young online trading platform that has swiftly established itself as a preferred option for many traders.
The platform has a wide choice of assets to choose from, including CFDs on Forex, indices, stocks, and commodities.
Eightcap is quite popular for its exceptionally low fees. There are two types of accounts: raw and standard, and both offer very competitive prices.
Standard accounts have no commission and spread starting at one pip, whereas raw accounts have spreads starting at 0 pips and a small £3.5 commission.
Both accounts provide premium liquidity, quick execution, and total transparency, as well as direct market access and no price manipulation, allowing you to take advantage of these benefits.
Conclusion:
If you’re searching for the best online trading platform in the UK, there are several options to choose from, making it quite challenging, especially when you’re new.
If you put in all the effort and time to narrow down your options, you’ll indeed find one that meets all of your trading requirements.
*****
From time to time, GraniteGrok accepts content from third parties (posts, or additional links after initial publication) from which we may or may not receive compensation.
The post Online Trading Platforms – An Overview appeared first on Granite Grok.
During a recent White House Press Briefing, there was an exchange that I believe might pass under the radar. Jen Psaki was answering questions from FOX News White House Reporter Jacqui Heinrich when it became apparent that the line of questions flustered Psaki. Heinrich was asking when the President would change tactics on sanctions on Russia.
Psaki’s response was, why put the sanctions on if the attack will happen anyway. If it is evident that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was imminent, why are we not enacting sanctions to deter Putin? It is wiser to wait until Putin is in Ukraine. Heinrich pressed and said it is better to wait for the blood to be shed before penalties are levied? Psaki flipped her red hair and attacked.
First, we need to stipulate that Psaki despises whichever FOX reporter is in the room. Her attitude and answers both bristle regardless of the topic.
In this case, she had been upstaged by Miss Heinrich, and she needed to regain control. Heinrich was correct in her last question. The problem was she was right at Psaki’s expense. The Briefing Room is Jen Psaki’s room, and to play here, you submit to Psaki rules. Period.
Related: Biden Hands Russia Another Victory
Jen Psaki is symbolic of the administration she speaks for. She claims transparency but then serves up sarcasm and lies. Because of how weak Biden is in his job and how sheltered his team maintains him, Psaki is more than a Press Secretary. She is our filtered look into the Biden Presidency. She is no Tony Snow or Dana Perino. There is no warmth, connection, or feeling of truth in the room with Jen Psaki at the podium.
Our country’s two most influential people gave the two weakest speeches imaginable on Friday. Joe Biden referred to the potential assault by Russia as “that little thing in Europe” as he addressed the nation on the Ukraine situation.
Kamala Harris is in Germany with our NATO allies and gave a recap speech in which she tried to use the word “Unity” as many times possible while rambling incoherently. If these addresses were to strike fear in Putin should he attack Ukraine, they failed miserably.
There is a commonality between the USA and Canada this week. Our leaders, Biden, Harris, and Trudeau, proved that we are not playing on the same field as Russia, China, North Korea, or Iran. These rogue regimes make us look weak and feckless as our leaders have no answer for their aggression.
Jen Psaki is the only person showing strength, but she does by verbally putting down journalists. These journalists are guilty of asking tough questions. How dare they do their job.
The world may connect the dots and realize that the USA, Germany, and other countries are complicit in Russia’s actions against Ukraine. Russia’s economy is in shambles and has been bolstered by selling its biggest export.
Russia is our third-largest supplier of crude oil and is supplying oil via pipeline to Germany. Our energy dollars are funding the Russian incursion into Ukraine. By changing our energy program at home, Biden has taken us from energy independent to buying crude from OPEC and Russia.
Related: Joe Biden’s America Is Buying Three Times as Much Oil from Russia and At Higher Prices
Our dependence on Russian oil and the personal connection Joe and Hunter Biden have with Russia is tying our hands. These factors are forcing us to be passive and watch the innocent people of Ukraine be invaded and killed. We did not think Biden could go lower than his performance in Afghanistan, but he is proving us wrong.
Ray Writes at The Liberty Loft.com
The post Biden’s Russian Collusion is a Problem for Ukraine appeared first on Granite Grok.
Democrat energy policy has already moved the US from energy independent to dependent. We are already buying three times as much oil from Russia and at higher prices, but that’s not bad enough. The Biden Administration wants more dependence.
Bidens Green Meanies want every natural gas pipeline project’s impact evaluated against the made-up concept of environmental justice. An excuse to advance an energy strategy that harms people struggling with rising energy prices until modern living is unaffordable.
Blocking needed capacity without any infrastructure to replace it.
There are not enough green pipeline projects (wind and solar) to meet existing demand, and it will take years to build enough of that – neither of which (ironically) is more environmentally just than natural gas – to play catch up. That’s before we add millions of electric cars and green home heating (more electric).
Not every Democrat is on board.
“Today’s reckless decision by FERC’s Democratic Commissioners puts the security of our nation at risk,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement. “The Commission went too far by prioritizing a political agenda over their main mission—ensuring our nation’s energy reliability and security.”
“The only thing they accomplished today was constructing additional roadblocks that further delay building out the energy infrastructure our country desperately needs,” he added.
The plan is to prevent the development of one of the cleanest burning fossil fuels, without which wind and solar cannot possibly operate to meet modern power demands.
Biden energy policy will make us more dependent on even more foreign sources of the same fuels we have here, but we can’t develop. Natural resources we would extract at a significantly lower overall carbon footprint (if that’s a concern) than most or all foreign suppliers on whom we will be dependent.
And we’ll be propping up tyrants like Russia, Venezuela, and terrorist-supporting states in the Middle East, as more US dollars go overseas.
And none of those dollars needs to go anywhere but into the pockets of Americans in America, developing US resources.
The post Joe Biden is (MAD) – Making America Dependent … appeared first on Granite Grok.
File this under "The Impossible Dream."
LifeNews.com: Chelsea Clinton Complains Her Grandmother Did Not Have Access to Planned Parenthood
As LifeNews reported at the time, Chelsea revealed that her much-admired maternal grandmother was the child of unwed teenage parents who “did not have access to services that are so crucial that Planned Parenthood helps provide.” If her grandmother had gone to Planned Parenthood for an abortion, Chelsea would not have been born.
In a new interview with Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen, Clinton re-upped the comment:
When I was on a panel recently with Cecile [Richards], I said how much I wish that my grandmother — my mom’s mom — had been able to go to a Planned Parenthood. She had unwed teenage parents who abandoned her multiple times throughout her life. She had to start working to support herself before her 14th birthday. She was aware that there was something deeply unjust about her situation, dealing with questions of menstruation and reproductive healthcare without somewhere to go.
Of course, when I shared this, the anti-choice movement translated it as saying I wished my grandmother had aborted my mother. Which is, of course, not what I said and not what I meant.
Read the rest here.
The so-called global West has been defined (roughly) since the end of World War II, as the group of countries composing NATO’s member states. This is led by the United Kingdom, the United States, and France.
Its champions are Spain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and others. Liberal democracy has been its rallying cry. These countries pride themselves on building societies based on human rights, freedom, liberty, and the power of the individual.
Yet, in the past two years since the beginning of the coronavirus project, we have witnessed a decisive turn in policy from governments that champion democracy to those that seek to prevent it. These governments are all led by people claiming to be democratic, however, when their ideas are put into practice as policy, they are tyrants.
How is this so?
One plausible explanation that I will give to you here is that of the Chinese model. These countries have for a long time decried China as a human rights abuser and an authoritarian “communist” government led by one party. In the past few decades, China has seen three pivotal transformations.
First, Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule by the British after it had been held as a prize following 19th-century military-economic conflict.
Second, the city of Shanghai has been constructed at a breathtaking pace, transforming swampland into one of the world’s largest financial centers – with the tallest skyscrapers.
Finally, the Chinese economy has risen to great prominence to by some measures become the largest on the planet, largely on the back of the Belt and Road Initiative, whereby Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure construction projects all over the planet and effectively shackled most of the countries of the world in its debt.
Politicians in the West, especially those of the liberal bearing, whose radical wings have for years claimed communism is the best way to go, look at these Chinese successes and loudly advocate following in its footsteps.
In the late 2010s, the people of Hong Kong took to the streets, as people in democratic societies tend to do when displeased, to protest Beijing’s premature moves to destroy Hong Kong’s democracy and assimilate its Qing-era society to modern-style Chinese culture. Several laws were enacted in the territory that allowed Beijing to use incredibly invasive surveillance technology in order to locate and arrest dissidents.
Beijing officials were concerned with any discussion of Hong Kong becoming independent and sovereign. Several young democratically-elected legislators in their 20s were imprisoned for exercising freedom of speech. Anti-Beijing newspapers were shattered and their owners jailed. Protests were violently disrupted through the use of excessive police force.
Western liberals looked at and found the Chinese model to be effective. In their eyes it meant enacting communist and socialist policies, redistributing wealth, and using any means necessary to quell any political opposition.
These are the tactics so-called liberal democracy-supporting officials have implemented in France, Belgium, Canada, the USA, the UK, and other so-called “Western” countries.
What these officials have completely missed is that China’s rise to power was not based on the implementation of any of these policies.
China’s rise to power is largely unique, and it should not be used as a model in any other country on the planet, ever.
China is a massive country with a history spanning millennia of imperial rule. It is one of the oldest cultures on the planet, predating all of those in Europe and America.
Few Americans or Europeans are aware that China’s existence as a republic only began in the mid-20th century during World War I and II. These events in Chinese history mark the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and the establishment of a constitutional republic. Although China is criticized for being a state dominated by one party, it is still a republic. There is no monarchy.
Furthermore, China’s rise to economic and financial primacy was not because of communism or socialism. Not at all. In fact, China initially tried the communist model under Mao Zedong, and those decisions led to national famine and starvation.
National socialism never works because the complexities of markets involving free enterprise and entrepreneurship can never be successfully and sustainably managed by government bureaucrats. It was one of the worst economic decisions by any country in recent history.
Only when the United Nations and various global groups of business leaders and financiers stepped in to provide guidance did China orient on to a more prosperous path.
As Beijing adopted capitalist techniques and practices, nurtured small and medium-sized companies, built a stock market, and listed some of its state-run corporations, did it begin to see real economic growth.
China was purposefully linked economically and financially to the United States, as the two countries developed a very intricate relationship involving treasuries, trade flows across multiple industries, and civilian exchange programs involving work and study.
Chinese culture flourished as the country adopted Western-style social media platforms but heavy censorship prevents the Chinese from accessing certain information, especially from certain Western countries. This has promoted Chinese sovereignty but prevented cultural diffusion and interaction.
Chinese society is two-tiered with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members as extremely wealthy oligarchs and everyone else veritable peasants. This is not a societal model about which to boast.
Yet, American and European liberal and progressive politicians look at China and think that they should follow the communist-style example. These leaders have their own idea of what communism means. They think it involves massive government expenditures, the violent suppression of political opposition, and the cultivation of a two-tiered society with elite oligarchs overseeing a peasantry.
These people have mostly never been to China besides business or tourism trips. They do not speak the language, know little of the history of China and Asia in general, and know nothing of economics. Most liberals specialize in English, sociology, philosophy, law, and identity politics.
They also do not understand the trajectory of China in a broader historical arc. China under the dynastic rule of the Qing was a backward and horrifying place, where sexism and racism were rampant. They still are today, but it was much more acute in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Most American and European politicians do not understand the drastic difference between monarchial rule and democracy. Socialism and communism are a step backward from democracy towards monarchial rule, not a step forward. Socialism and communism as advocated by modern liberal progressives mean more government intervention in society and markets.
That has never worked anywhere.
These liberal progressives and their Western countries, who have for decades claimed to be bastions of democracy, have an opportunity to define what democracy means in a way that is different than the authoritarian style of the CCP.
Rather than enact socialist and communist-style programs that typically destroy small businesses, Western governments could champion capitalism— the economic model that built modern China.
Rather than a violent crackdown on protests in front of state and federal legislatures, these officials could welcome people into the legislative complexes to participate in national-level political dialogue. That is democracy.
China is a great country, and now a world leader. There is no doubt about this. But one-party rule and socialism did not get China where it is today. China has succeeded because of coordinated global efforts to build it back from 20th-century global wars, and because it embraced capitalism.
Capitalism and democratization are the paths to growth and prosperity, and they always will be. The role of government is to allow democracy (not suppress it) and to protect people from abusive capitalism. Modern Western liberals need a wake-up call to this effect.
Let China repress and suppress its people. The West should continue to practice democracy— it is a beautiful and flourishing form of governance that makes the world a massively better place.
The post One-Party Rule and Socialism Did Not Get China Where It Is Today appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Eco-Socialists are getting upset as more Conservatives offer alternatives to and criticism of the “Government is GREAT!” fallacy they all share. The ad hominem attacks are increasing.
This signals that they both have no argument in rebuttal, have not much for rebuttal skills to boot and can be made to be frustrated as they see their Narratives collapse in on themselves. Telling us, effectively to “just go away.”
And they are ticked that their former “Safe Space” now has folks like me asking them serious questions about their “faith.”
And good Governance.
Remember, these folks are Socialists – they LOVE Government because Government can be Totalitarian and can force we infidels to do what they demand.
Sidenote: Doubt me? Just look at how fast the “Nice Canadians” are being treated by Little Justin Trudeau simply because he has no actual answer to all those truckers. He is fearful and now is walking down the path to turn Government against those that disagree with his policies. After all, freezing your bank account, taking your money, taking your DOGS is rather like Xi of China, right? That’s “good” governance”? But he was in favor of Antifa…
So over at TH was yet another post that castigates the West for having modern lifestyles (e.g., we’re using….wait for it…energy!); emphasis mine:
Western Nations Are Climate Hypocrites, Emitting More Carbon in a Week Than Many Countries Do in a Year
So should we complain when others want to rise out of energy poverty?The world has two energy problems: one for the rich who burn too much and one for the poor who have too little. Euan Ritchie, a policy analyst at the Center for Global Development Europe, put it more bluntly and accused the U.S. and Britain of climate hypocrisy for emitting tons of carbon per capita but complaining about energy projects in countries where most people live in energy poverty.
“Underpinning this discussion should be an acknowledgment that there is vast inequality in energy use, and CO2 emissions, between richer and poorer countries. Just a few days of life in the U.S. produces more emissions than people in many low-income countries produce in the entire year.”
Inequality? Sure is. Is it a matter of apologies and prostrating while wearing sackcloth and throwing ashes into the air?
Nope. But the intent is to guilt the West (again) in thinking it is “taking away stuff” from others. Simply, on that resource-rich continent, the problem isn’t resources but Governance. Or to plainly put it, the lack thereof, and I’ll leave the wonderings for another time. The brunt of the post is that we eliminate our use of fossil fuels and then send money to them. A grift, plain and simple. Vindalo Bugaboo pithily sums up this entire hash with:
What’s the “very very hard choices” to which you allude? Democracy, freedom and retention of modern Western society vs. draconian imposition of reduced living standards on par with DRC austerity? There’s no choice to make if that’s the argument.
And as I keep saying, it is that latter choice that the eco-socialists want to force upon us. While the word “equitable” only appears once in the post, it is clear that the old school Marm’s admonition of “if you didn’t bring enough candy for everyone, you can’t have it either” holds true here. They even have a chart trying to enforce that:
Just the way the chart is constructed is biased – “CO2 emissions are too high” is a clear tip off.
But is it about energy? Is it about calling out the West’s selfishness by proxy (e.g., the writer is Canadian)? Or is it about Governance?
I posit the latter because if you look at the two bubbles, those that are “high” in emissions are ALSO those with better Governance. It is that which has allowed the US to become richer (respecting Private Property, the Rule of Law, et al) as well as having a much more modern lifestyle which, by definition, requires better Governance. Just look at those at the bottom / left – NO one in their right mind thinks that their Governments are all that good for their citizens.
But as in true Communism, everyone has to be completely equal in outcome. We can’t have that stick of gum unless EVERYONE has one too. Not more light switches that actually work unless the least serf in North Korea has one too!
But as I said, more Conservatives are infiltrating TH and are bringing that discussion of Governance to the fore instead of the constant bellyaching about emissions and equity. And one brings up THE problem that is now one of paramount importance that I’ve been writing about for years. Which, if not abated, will send us back down to that bottom left bubble above. All emphasis is mine, slight reformatting:
david russell: We don’t have much of a democracy in the US. Most govt that affect citizens are unelected agencies immune from legislative oversight.
Yep, the Administrative State which is getting more and more powerful as Legislatures, Federal and State, give up more of their Powers to the Executive Branch. “Here’s a vague outline of a Law – you bureaucrats in the Executive Branch, fill in the regulations and make it ‘work'”. So we aren’t a Constitutional Republic if you look at the Laws on the book versus the red tape that is created afterwards. And one person, a conservative when measured against TH standards, disagreed:
Randy Wester: I think your government mostly works as it’s meant to. Agencies are created by legislation, and outside of that, must work within the rule of law.
These agencies may not do what elected politicians of the day, or even what the majority of the people would like them to, at every particular point in time, but that’s exactly the point of writing legislation. Consistency and order trump perfection and redressing every grievance [sic] of the past. The Canadian government is actively and busily forgetting that.
It’s that “must work within the rule of law” bit that got both me and David Russell a bit wound up:
david russell: Not from where I sit, but it’s always good to hear from those with a different perspective.
I’m thinking of the FBI which stone-walled the intelligence committee for over a year in requests for documents.
I’m also thinking of NSA whose sins were revealed by Snowden and the head of which lied to Congress (with no consequence). I won’t bore you with countless other examples. Perhaps things are worse elsewhere, which is perhaps your point.
And then I piled in with a couple more examples of agencies NOT following the law:
GraniteGrok to Randy Wester: And they think here at TH that Government is their friend. Pfft!
I think your government mostly works as it’s meant to. Agencies are created by legislation, and outside of that, must work within the rule of law.
Like the CDC eviction moratorium that SCOTUS squashed TWICE for NOT following the Rule of Law?
Or OSHA’s Jab mandate that was also ruled out of bounds by several levels of the Judiciary?
Or how about schools that have decided to do things that are clearly outside their enumerated authorizing legislation (I know – I’m suing my School Board on several Powers they are claiming they have but can’t / refuse to tell me what State statutes give them the power in this Dillon’s Rule State).
Or one of our “regional planning commissions” that decided it was no longer limited to trying to coordinate the building of roads between towns to becoming a Purchasing Agency (because no one was building any new roads and like all bureaucracies, had to justify its existence)?
Randy seemed astonished – just like I was when I started to become more politically aware and realized that the Government processes I learned in school weren’t really the norm:
It appears from what you say that some of the checks and balances are working. And some aren’t. How did you ever lose control of your school boards? Seriously, how?
And your public administration and civil service has obviously become bloated beyond recognition.
And more than a million illegally entered the country? You’d better hope they just want to make some money and a better life, because if they’re intent on trouble, that’s a lot of it, right there.
Good observations. And we are back to one of my most favorite questions: What IS the Proper Role of Government? For if it isn’t recognized and enforced, we’re all going to end up like all those “Energy Poverty by bad Governance” in the above chart:
Two thing at play and mostly due to the fact that we almost have two societies when it comes to the Proper Role of Government.
One, from the late 1800s decided that our US Constitution was outdated given the new idea that Societies could be “engineered” by the Smart People as if they were mere replaceable cogs and need their Guiding Hand to be successful (See Bill’s unsupported supposition above that the US, with 330M people, NEEDS that heavy hand). It is these folks that have inserted themselves into the bowels of Govt and have almost 180’d our Founders vision from being being one where Govt was supposed to protect Individual Liberties to one where Govt makes most of the important decisions (in contradiction to that vision)
The rest, myself include until a few years ago, placed our emphasis in family, friends, and careers thinking that Govt would just continue to work as we had learned in school.
And we have learned that this premise has been wrong for far too long. That’s how we “lost control” – most forgot the admonition that our government was only for a moral and involved people.
I’m afraid that too many became too complacent so we are where we are.
But I am labeled as an extremist for going against that now openly Socialist Narrative while I only hold onto the values embedded in the US (and New Hampshire) Constitutions – and fight for those values to be restored. Which requires a return to a limited Govt that stays within its “lanes”.
And to which Bill (and other THers) scoff at.
OK, a bit long but only half the length of my previous DISQUS Doodlings. The fact that the Mods haven’t deleted any of my writings for a while, which they used to do on a regular basis, is a hope that I’m starting to make some headway. Having other supporters of Freedom and Liberty, even if it is just two, three, or four, helps a lot. ALL of them know their principles and philosophy and say things and ask questions of the Socialists there – and often get little in response.
And that’s what we need in the real world, too. More of us need to stand up and take on the Democrat / Socialist / Progressive / Communists because if there aren’t more of us on that wall keeping them out, we’re doomed. They’ve already breached Congress and the White House.
And are trying hard here in NH.
Screw DC, save NH.
The post Eco-Socialists vs Conservatives vs Constitutional Republic vs the Administrative State appeared first on Granite Grok.
Yesterday we shared some ‘funny’ from Dave Chappelle. He asked what would happen to women’s basketball if LeBron James changed his gender. He would exponentially dominate the sport. That brings us back to this.
A few days ago,
[Lia Thomas’] time in the freestyle for WOMEN was 4 minutes, 37:32 seconds, which is the fastest ever recorded in the women’s event at Harvard University’s Blodgett Pool, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
But he’s a man stealing the title that belongs to actual women. For a man, which is what he is, the NCAA record is 4:08.19. It’s easy to see why he’s doing what he’s doing as he ruins women’s swimming as a competitive sport.
Lia Thomas is a B team biological male swimmer with man parts who admits he is attracted to (biological) women and identifies as a woman. The only women who can beat him are those using hormones to transition to “male” or another man claiming to be a woman who is a better swimmer than Thomas.
Does this all sound a bit mixed up to you?
If women who want to be women are to benefit from the pursuit of “school” athletics for any reason, hobby, health, scholarships, profession, the Left’s worldview – whether malfeasance or misfeasance – will require them to be men to compete in their own sports.
Note: Featured image is a random woman in a pool, courtesy of Unsplash
And ICYMI – a bit more context form Southpark
The post Man Sets New Ivy League Collegiate Women’s Swimming Record in Harvard Pool appeared first on Granite Grok.
I am not quite ready to come out of my hiatus hole with essays, but I had a cartoon concept that was so hard-hitting, with IMHO so much gut-punch impact, I have to get it out for viewing and – hopefully – dissemination.
Here it is and please find all my other Covid-related cartoons.
Please let me know if I got the gut-punch emotional wringer right. The artist was very enthusiastic about this concept.
>>>>>=====<<<<<
>>>>>=====<<<<<
And a grim prediction on which I hope I am catastrophically wrong.
Here, from the horse’s you-know-what, about the *cough cough* inevitable catastrophic cyberattack:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/cyber-attacks-next.mp4
A catastrophe on which Candace Owens weighs in – recalling Event 201, a discussion about an “inevitable” pandemic that oddly happened just a few months before Covid made its world debut:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/candace-owens-on-inevitable-cyberattack.mp4
Countless millions will die from a global power loss. Don’t forget my two essays on depopulation:
The 7.3 Billion Dollar, er, Person Question
Proverbs 16:18… and What’s Coming?
Nor should you discount the possibility of an EMP attack as a part of this.
Ask a Prepper EMP pages
Remember Bill Whittle’s warning about the electrical grid’s vulnerability:
In closing, a quote from Robert Heinlein:
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances that permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck.”
I fear we’re in for some very bad luck. Alas, America and Western Civilization: Rome, er, America.
>>>>>=====<<<<<
I expect to put up a Monday Memes… likely a linkfest with comments on Tuesday… but trying to keep a lower profile at least a little while longer.
The post CARTOON: We Trusted the Science appeared first on Granite Grok.
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE legislature has a proud tradition that every bill introduced receives a public hearing and gets an up or down vote by the full House.
Every member elected has the right to file any legislation they believe may benefit our state, whether it is on behalf of a constituent, an idea of their own, or legislation they have seen work elsewhere.
However, with that tradition comes a trade-off. The state elects 400 House members, and not every idea submitted benefits Granite Staters or our state. I think I can speak for both parties when I say that members on each side are guilty of submitting unorthodox ideas that don’t have a chance at passing. There seems to be a significant difference between the two, though: Republicans know when to say, “this goes too far” and are willing to break with others in their party for the good of the state. The other side sees these fringe ideas that may be detrimental to the state but says, “we command you to support the party.”
Seventy-one percent of Granite Staters support Education Freedom Accounts. We can expect to see the Democratic members line up in support of the entire slate of bills aimed to chip away at this wildly successful program. House Republicans are proud of the fact we were able to get that cornerstone piece of legislation signed into law this past summer. EFAs are meant to provide students with the best education that fits their needs.
The fear-mongering that we have heard from the other side claims that these EFAs will raise property taxes. That is false. The average cost of a student in New Hampshire is about $19,500, and an Education Freedom Account is about $4,000. This program would actually cost taxpayers less. I would think we should all agree that the real goal is having each child in our state succeed in their studies, regardless of how or where they are educated, and that is not measured by how much taxpayer dollars you can throw into a bottomless pit.
House Democrats would like to strip you of your Second Amendment rights. That is nothing new. What is new is that this year’s scheme is taking away one right at the expense of another. Rep. David Meuse in particular wants to prohibit the display of a deadly weapon at parades, funerals, picket lines, marches, rallies or any demonstration. He claims he is protecting your right to free speech. I ask, what makes one right more important than the next?
Yes, the right to free speech should absolutely be protected, but all rights should be protected. No citizen of the United States should ever have to decide which of their freedoms is more important to them. I’m sure once that bill hits the House floor, all House Democrats will vote to pass it.
While House Democrats are busy this year attempting to strip you of your basic rights, or parents’ rights over how to raise their children, they will also be busy trying to extend the rights of people who are in our country, and state, illegally. Rep. George Sykes has multiple bills this year to permit non-resident aliens living in New Hampshire to obtain driver’s licenses. Even if they are in our state on a temporary basis, there would be an extensive list of documentation they could provide to obtain a license, including allowing an expired alien registration card as valid documentation. Another bill would prohibit the information from being shared with federal immigration enforcement, the consequences of which could be dire.
By the way, do you really think this group of people who obtain shiny new drivers’ licenses, or REAL IDs, won’t use it to illegally vote in our elections? There would be nothing to stop them as these documents wouldn’t look any different than a legal resident’s.
In a Jan. 30 op-ed that ran in the Union Leader, Democrat shill Kathy Sullivan said, while referring to Republicans, that “disloyalty to our country is kind of a big deal.” I agree, but I would urge Sullivan to look at her own party before throwing around such an inflammatory accusation. I view suppressing the rights of residents while expanding those of non-citizens as monumentally disloyal to our country.
In the 2021 session, Republican lawmakers knew when to stick together, and it was to deliver real results for Granite Staters. We passed a balanced budget that cut taxes for all New Hampshire residents. We lowered business taxes, lowered property taxes, sent more than $100 million back to cities and towns, all while funding state government.
Our friends on the other side of the aisle would have had you believe the sky was falling, but in reality, this year, House Democratic leaders are sponsoring bills to dismantle the New Hampshire Advantage.
We worked hard over the last year putting our state back on the right track, and House Republicans are looking ahead to advance our accomplishments and allow Granite Staters to truly live free… without seceding from the United States.
*******************
Republican Rep. Jason Osborne ismajority leader of the N.H. House of Representatives. He represents Rockingham District 4, which includes the towns of Chester, Sandown and Auburn, where he lives.
(Cross-posted from the Union Leader)
The post Democrats in Lock Step on Their Extremist Agenda appeared first on Granite Grok.
Since Roe vs Wade, the Left continues to force its morality upon the rest of us by declaring that a baby isn’t a baby until it is actually born.
Thus, at any point along the way and even after the baby has been birthed, Democrats hold that it can be killed.
Abortion and infanticide are just two words for the same thing and the Democrat’s morality is that killing a human being is less of a crime than violating “Body Autonomy.”
It used to be that almost everyone was against killing another human being. But there is hope!
Emphasis mine (reformatted):
Texas abortion rates plummet 60% in first month following new state law
Abortions in Texas fell by nearly 60% in the first four weeks following the implementation of the state’s new heartbeat law, AP News reported on Thursday. The state enacted a law banning the majority of abortive procedures once a health care provider can detect a fetal heartbeat — usually around six weeks’ gestation.
…The new law, widely believed to be the most restrictive abortion law in the country in decades,
I would have reframed that as the most protective of new life, which it is.
is said to be responsible for reducing abortions in the state by approximately 60%.
The outlet reported that there had been more than 5,400 abortions carried out across the state in August, while just 2,200 over the course of September. According to the state’s department of health, abortions in the state peaked in March at more than 5,600 when the law was first introduced.
A law that is doing EXACTLY what it is supposed to do! In this case, both make baby killers’ heads explode and save the life of a baby in need of nurturing. It would be nice to have that law passed here. It has passed TWICE by the US Supreme Court – thus, it is legal. Just “copy and paste” – presto!
(H/T: The Blaze, The Dallas Morning News)
The post Good News – “Texas Abortion Rates Plummet 60% In First Month Following New State Law” appeared first on Granite Grok.
Update from the Republic of Trudeauistan (doing business as Canada). The Cops asked the media to stay back while they brutalized peaceful protesters.
There is not much they can do about people live-streaming on cell phones, so we know they are being despotic thugs. But maybe it didn’t need to come to this.
Less than a year ago, Canada was very concerned about similar crackdowns by China on protesters in Taiwan.
“Canada expresses grave concerns over the targeting of ten of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists for participation in a peaceful assembly.
“The stifling of peaceful political expression continues to encroach on fundamental rights and freedoms in Hong Kong. Democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are enshrined in the Basic Law, and are part of Beijing’s obligations to the people of Hong Kong under the UN-registered Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
I suspect that Canada has something similar that it ignores to justify what has happened. To that point, you can buy flags and stickers of the Taiwan flag for short money on Amazon or wherever. Just imagine streamed smartphone video of jackbooted thugs taking out people waving the flag of Taiwan?
I know a lot of Taiwanese waved American Flags, but I doubt that will work in Canada.
As a backup, homemade signs supporting BLM or Black Lives are also a nice touch, especially when the Royal Mounted Canadian Stasi are captured hauling you away with it or your truck with the banner tied to it.
It is just a thought and a reminder; It is not the idea of protest with which they disagree. It is a protest that does not in some way advance its totalitarian goals. This fact informs three sets of circumstances.
The first is that BLM’s priorities are the same as despotic statism and the minimization of individual liberty. The second is that Freedom Convoy and the Taiwain protest are both the opposite.
Third, BLM, China, and Canada appear to have the same political agenda.
The post As Canada Jackboots the Freedom Truckers, A Few Suggestions … appeared first on Granite Grok.
Lawful purpose? Lawful mission? Not when the Social Justice Left gets ahold of it! From my previous post in which I pointed out a couple of examples where the Proper Role of Government is being distorted.
Emphasis mine, reformatted:
…I think your government mostly works as it’s meant to. Agencies are created by legislation, and outside of that, must work within the rule of law.
Like the CDC eviction moratorium that SCOTUS squashed TWICE for NOT following the Rule of Law? Or OSHA’s Jab mandate that was also ruled out of bounds by several levels of the Judiciary?
Or how about schools that have decided to do things that are clearly outside their enumerated authorizing legislation (I know – I’m suing my School Board on several Powers they are claiming they have but can’t / refuse to tell me what State statutes give them the power in this Dillon’s Rule State).
Or one of our “regional planning commissions” that decided it was no longer limited to trying to coordinate the building of roads between towns to becoming a Purchasing Agency (because no one was building any new roads and like all bureaucracies, had to justify its existence)?
So here is another Agency deciding to change its mission statement – with the nuance of putting OTHER things before the Rule of Law:
SHOT (old): Note that we had to go to the Wayback Machine to get it!
Mission Statement
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.
CHASER (new): US Citizenship and Immigration Service
Mission Statement
USCIS upholds America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve.
Note that the old one specifically mentions the Rule of Law and only does what it is supposed to – “administer the nation’s lawful “. This is a rigid standard –
Biden SJW driven one is all about “fairness” – and NOT spcifically upholding the Law. And from the reports we’ve seen since Biden took office, how does “turning the other way” live up to the standards set by Law?
The former protects we citizens, the latter illegal immigrants that are viewed through lens of “victimhood” (like the Soros money elected District Attorneys who unilaterally decided what laws will be enforced or not and protect criminals more than the actual crime victims) and given a free ride (literally, on buses and planes).
So when Government ignores what it is mandated to do, what do WE do? How can we NOT end up like Canada that went from free to totalitarian in 3 weeks? The Legislative Branch ignores the Constitution (as has been done in both the NH House and Senate), and then the Executive Branch ignores the Laws they pass and sign into law?
The UCIS is just another example of a large bureaucracy doing what it wants. There’s little that we can do about it at our level.
We CAN do something about it here in NH. Elections are coming up – starting asking candidates for the NH House and Senate about where they stand on the LEGISLATURE making the Law and not just tossing bills over the transom for the Executive Branch to make the “Rules-in-lieu-of-Law” that seem to be the real Law after a rubber stamp by the JLCAR Committee. And remember how NH Gov Chris Sununu, at his first opportunity and aided by his Attorney General, blithely dismissed the NH Constitution and its separation of Powers.
As far as the US CIS is concerned, it doesn’t help that the Socialist Democrats want to eliminate it AND the Border Patrol completely.
The post Another Example of the Administrative State Agencies Changing Their Mission Outside the Rule of Law appeared first on Granite Grok.
I keep dipping into this well, but it’s entirely appropriate—the ObamaCare-Era mantra of the medical socialists. The government will not come between you and your doctors. It was bullish!t then, and it is indefensible now.
Circa 2009-2010 and beyond the suggestion was conspiracy theory but as with all such proclamations from the media and their political homonculi (or do I have that reversed), what is branded as a conspiracy is increasingly fact.
It’s a red flag, and there’s more of them waving around these days than at a parade in China – which is also a suitable authoritarian parallel. States find the need to write laws to pry the government out from between patients and doctors.
PIERRE, South Dakota (LifeSiteNews) – South Dakota lawmakers advanced a bill this week affirming that doctors can legally prescribe ivermectin, as Republican-led states across the country move to expand access to the increasingly popular COVID-19 treatment.
The South Dakota House passed HB 1267 in a 40-28 vote on Monday. The bill states a physician may “prescribe ivermectin to a person” in accordance with medical standards.
The fact that states even need to go this route is a sad statement on liberty and freedom in America. Ivermectin is a safe, decades-old drug made for people that have proven to be useful in preventing severe covid complications needs a special law so doctors can prescribe it and pharmacists can fill it – without fear of government intimidation.
Related: My Interview with Leah Cushman Prime Sponsor of HB1022 – Making Ivermectin Available Without a Prescription
New Hampshire House Bill 1022 (HB1022) tries is like the original South Dakota bill. It would allow for the use of standing orders allowing for purchase without a prescription. It is one of several health-freedom bills in the legislature, each the product of the response to the government’s response to COVID19. A disastrous failure at socializing public health in the hands of a few so-called experts whose solutions caused more problems.
Problems that will manifest over years, probably beyond the political shelf-life of those responsible.
Legislatures have responded, well – some have, with measures to protect citizens from these abuses moving forward. Moves that Democrats and many Republicans are labeling as dangerous.
Freedom was always dangerous but much less so than the sort of government that wants to force you to allow them to inject you and your children with experimental drugs.
Yes, they are still experimental. If they were approved, recipients could sue the crap out of every in the demand and supply chain and even they know what that would look like.
As for our part, we need to support medical and health freedom, even if you wanted the jab or approved of the political interventions. This is not the sort of power you give to a small group of people in your government. Ever. But that’s what they want and quite often what’s been done.
Kudos to South Dakota and New Hampshire for trying to erect protections until such time as they have the numbers to claw that power back.
The post Quick Shot: The Fact That State’s Need to Pass Laws Like This At All… appeared first on Granite Grok.
OK, I said Friday for the results. It’s now Saturday but let’s just leave it that migrating to the new server has had a few more bumps in the road. YES, we can create new posts and they will get published at the time we choose.
That was the main indicator that the GO LIVE worked – can we do the main mission of the application? Indeed, it does so.
But it also exposed a whole raft of other things that have ended up on a punch list that we are working on AND still trying to drive this ship. And I’ll admit, moving over the email server is one of them so if you have been emailing me, it’s not that I’m ignoring you, I just can’t get to my emails. Not even by Webmail instead of my normal email app.
But, the results!
So as you can see, we do have some folks that don’t like them as they cover up content either from the bottom or on the left side. Several of you (before Thursday afternoon’s migration start) sent me screenshots. They do – but not by a lot.
So, the ads will stay – for now.
That said, we are going to ask UnderDog Media to see if they can make the left side ads a bit skinnier and ask our webmistress if she can push the middle/content area over to the right a bit. From the ads that I have received, that just might be enough of a tweak to keep content from being covered up.
And Moe did suggest, in the comments, that we put them on the right side. Well, we already have stuff there that we didn’t want covered (Daily Grok, GrokGear, et al). And we have some other plans for that area coming up.
Several of you discussed doing what a lot of sites are doing – a Freemium type of deal where all the content is free but you get the ads or a nominal amount / month ($2) to be free of them. I’d rather say that if you are supporting GraniteGrok already (or in the future), we’d try to find a way to eliminate them (can’t get rid of the DISQUS ads as that’s the “price” of having the comment system for free).
And knowing that the only people who have a monopoly on good ideas are those that actually have good ideas, we’re open to suggestions. Like one that if a few more people became monthly donors, we could get rid of them. But I don’t want to be in NPR / NHPR / PBS territory. We’d rather EARN the money instead of begging for it (we much prefer to be “makers” rather than “takers / moochers”).
As Thomas Sowell says, EVERYTHING is a tradeoff in life. Sometimes, they are easy decisions. Otherwise (and mostly), they aren’t.
The post We Asked for You Thoughts on the New “Edge” Ads … – And You Shared Them! (Poll Results) appeared first on Granite Grok.
Last weekend we alerted you to a new scam in the Green Mountain State. In the effort to shift everyone from fossil fuel heat, they would put lots of retailers out of business and leave tens of thousands out in the cold. That’s brilliant but not as great as what just saved them.
And I save saved in a temporary stay of climate execution sort of way. Vermont still wants to burnish its climate cred to the bluer states. That was why they wanted to use a carbon credit scheme to launder money away from productive purposes and toward their grifty little fantasies.
The proposed Clean Heat Standard would “make it difficult or impossible for most providers to operate. With the flick of a switch, they say they’ll be out of business, and thousands of customers that rely on them for oil, gas, propane, or Kerosene will be left out in the cold.” The small business owners told them as much. But that’s not what undid the deal.
The experts aren’t that smart.
The problem — either overlooked or intentionally ignored by the Climate Council — is that most Vermont fuel dealers don’t buy their fuel from wholesalers based in Vermont. They get their products from wholesalers in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire or Canada. And, minor detail, Vermont has no authority to make wholesalers in those states buy Vermont’s clean heat credits. Attempting to do so would violate what is referred to as dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. Oops.
It’s logistically cumbersome. Vermont was thinking about interfacing with a few wholesalers, not scores of suppliers who don’t have a gown to wear to that dance. Arrangements that would pile additional compliance costs on top of the hikes in energy prices.
The result should be the collapse of another left-wing carbon credit scheme, but the desire to launder money is strong with Climate Cultists. Their passion for either control or to mess with everything will drive them to find some alternative means of separating you from your hard-earned dollars in the name of whatever.
In this case, the idea is that the same sort of people who came up with this destructive but ultimately impossible-to-implement scheme can do things that will “save the planet.”
Government can’t do anything well, and after their COVID response, even believers should have doubts. And Democrats destroy everything they touch.
The post Vermont’s Climate ‘Experts’ Harpooned Their Own Carbon Credit Scheme appeared first on Granite Grok.
Most of us think that is it a “higher-order” of living and recognizing what is around us with both a set of rules, both written and unwritten, that have been crafted (or dumped on us) over the centuries.
Most of us think or believe that civilization is a “higher-order” of living and recognize that as a set of rules, both written and unwritten, that have been crafted (or dumped on us) over the centuries.
When civilisation gives up on moral principle and decides to try out ‘moral outcomes’ it leads the government to view individuals as subservient to the collective.
-Alexandra Marshall (“The greater good – or a grander evil?“)
But “moral principle”? “Moral Outcomes”? We know what morals are as well as Morality as well. It is the self-governing aspect of each person that decides that “this is good” and “that is evil” as well as the “I’m not sure” grey area (like the obvious “I will lie to the house invader about the 5 yr old child hiding in the closet”). Which is, especially that example, the greater Goodness.
All that said, for centuries, we did have a set of moral principles that were shared among the populace (whether they were actually followed is another thing; at least they were recognized to be extant). Nowadays?
We are in a shift from Individuals holding those shared values. In fact, when I look at the Left which has both radicalized itself to a new set of values and trying hard to force it up on the rest of us, that is the forcing of “moral outcomes”. The problem is that in doing so, we see a double standard developing.
Antifa riots were “mostly peaceful” in nature even as we saw the fires, the violence, and the destruction of personal property. Protests by the Right, like Jan 6, are automatically labeled as insurrections. Killing babies in the womb is merely “body autonomy”; arguing for the life of that new Life makes you a Hater. So does speaking out against all that used to be sexual deviancy in our culture – and now, simply being straight males and females has you being accused of heteronormative (as if being in the majority of 90%+ of people is wrong?). Holding to the Rule of Law is “Whiteness”.
The list goes on and on.
It is the Left, not our entire civilization, that is having the Moral Certainty that they have a lock on what the rest of us SHOULD believe and are working to enact laws to codify them. THEY can do so even as they castigate us for “forcing our beliefs on them” even as they are actually doing so.
And Marshall is right – codifying what used to be personal into Law assist the process of doing so in defining the Collective as the only lawful morality.
Either you go along or bad things will happen.
Just like we are seeing in Canada with the Freedom Convoy. Premier Justin Trudeau, an avowed Socialist who has praised China’s totalitarianism in the past, is using the Emergency Act to do just that – protest against the Collective (his government) will result in you losing everything: you money, your personal property, your pets (if you bring your dog to a “protest roundup”, your credit scores. All without an appearance in court, a court hearing, or a court defense.
You have violated the Collective Morality – suffer the instant punishment.
This, in what used to be a “liberal” democracy turned into a totalitarian country in three weeks.
So when the Democrats say that we are “violating” our Democracy, they really mean THEIR Democracy and let it be clear, if they had the Powers that Trudeau has, we would be subservient to their Collective.
HT | Cafe Hayek
The post When Civilization Gives up on Moral Principle … appeared first on Granite Grok.