Thursday • April 25 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XVII
Manchester, N.H.
I have crunched the numbers – i.e., the voting records of 2023 – to determine objectively which ‘Republican” members of the New Hampshire House are RINOs – Republicans In Name Only.
We want to thank Spec Bowers for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
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I looked at every vote where Republicans voted opposite Democrats. More specifically, I looked at all votes where a super-majority (two-thirds) of Republicans voted opposite a majority of Democrats. I ignored votes where both sides voted the same. A RINO vote is when a Republican votes with Democrats against a super-majority of Republicans.
Almost every Rep at one time or another casts a vote the same as the Democrats. One example is when a Republican votes against the budget because it is too large, while the Democrats vote against it because they think it is too small. Thankfully, such votes are not common.
Most Republicans rarely vote with Democrats against other Republicans.
There were 28 Reps that scored a perfect 0%. Not a RINO among them. Looking at all Republicans, the median score was 1.5%, meaning that, on average, they voted with the Democrats only 1.5% of the time.
80% of Republicans voted with Democrats (against Republicans) 4% of the time; 90% scored less than 8%.
There were 15 Republicans who voted more than 10% of the time against fellow Republicans. Clearly, they are out of mainstream Republicanism.
Even more outside of the mainstream were 5 Republicans who voted more than 20% of the time with Democrats against Republicans. The worst, as usual, was Dan Wolf.
| Wolf, Dan | 65.3% |
| Bordes, Mike | 32.8% |
| Bickford, David | 31.2% |
| Guthrie, Joseph | 29.5% |
| Ankarberg, Aidan | 24.5% |
| Wolf, Dan | 65.3% |
| Bordes, Mike | 32.8% |
| Bickford, David | 31.2% |
| Guthrie, Joseph | 29.5% |
| Ankarberg, Aidan | 24.5% |
| Hynes, Dan | 15.5% |
| Thackston, Dick | 15.5% |
| Nagel, David | 13.9% |
| Trottier, Douglas | 13.7% |
| MacDonald, John | 11.7% |
| O’Hara, Travis | 11.1% |
| Boyd, Bill | 10.7% |
| Phinney, Brandon | 10.6% |
| Mason, James | 10.3% |
| Proulx, Mark | 10.3% |
| Sytek, John | 9.5% |
| Pearson, Mark | 8.4% |
| Pratt, Kevin | 8.0% |
| Donnelly, Tanya | 7.3% |
| Pearson, Stephen | 7.3% |
| Yokela, Josh | 7.3% |
| Bogert, Steven | 6.8% |
| Cahill, Tim | 6.3% |
| Brown, Carroll | 6.0% |
| Stapleton, Walter | 6.0% |
| Davis, Arnold | 5.7% |
| Crawford, Karel | 5.5% |
| Harb, Robert | 5.4% |
| Cordelli, Glenn | 5.2% |
| Fedolfi, Jim | 4.7% |
| Kuttab, Katelyn | 4.7% |
| Ladd, Rick | 4.7% |
| McDonnell, Valerie | 4.7% |
| Rhodes, Jennifer | 4.7% |
| Vandecasteele, Susan | 4.1% |
| Walsh, Lilli | 4.1% |
| Drye, Margaret | 4.0% |
| Renzullo, Andrew | 4.0% |
| Harley, Tina | 3.8% |
| Beaudoin, Richard | 3.7% |
| Plett, Fred | 3.6% |
| Alexander, Joe | 3.4% |
| Gerhard, Jason | 3.4% |
| Abare, Kimberly | 3.3% |
| Griffin, Gerald | 3.3% |
| Tierney, James | 3.3% |
| Khan, Aboul | 3.0% |
| Milz, David | 3.0% |
| Nelson, Jodi | 2.9% |
| Granger, Michael | 2.8% |
| Merner, Troy | 2.8% |
| Prudhomme-O’Brien, Katherine | 2.8% |
| Seaworth, Brian | 2.8% |
| Bailey, Glenn | 2.7% |
| Creighton, Jim | 2.7% |
| Ford, Oliver | 2.7% |
| Harvey-Bolia, Juliet | 2.7% |
| Healey, Robert | 2.7% |
| Horgan, James | 2.7% |
| Katsakiores, Phyllis | 2.7% |
| King, Bill | 2.7% |
| Lekas, Alicia | 2.7% |
| Lekas, Tony | 2.7% |
| Mannion, Dennis | 2.7% |
| Popovici-Muller, Daniel | 2.7% |
| Porcelli, Susan | 2.7% |
| Santonastaso, Matthew | 2.7% |
| Foote, Charles | 2.6% |
| Cole, Brian | 2.5% |
| Lewicke, John | 2.4% |
| Prout, Andrew | 2.4% |
| Harrington, Michael | 2.3% |
| McCarter, Nikki | 2.3% |
| McMahon, Charles | 2.3% |
| Edwards, Jess | 2.2% |
| Gould, Linda | 2.2% |
| Pitre, Joseph | 2.2% |
| Gorski, Ted | 2.1% |
| Hoell, J.R. | 2.1% |
| Ouellet, Mike | 2.1% |
| Roy, Terry | 2.1% |
| Sanborn, Laurie | 2.1% |
| Tripp, Richard | 2.1% |
| Aron, Judy | 2.0% |
| Berezhny, Lex | 2.0% |
| Kofalt, Jim | 2.0% |
| McGuire, Carol | 2.0% |
| Melvin, Charles | 2.0% |
| Moffett, Michael | 2.0% |
| Nutting, Zachary | 2.0% |
| Osborne, Jason | 2.0% |
| Pauer, Diane | 2.0% |
| Thomas, Douglas | 2.0% |
| Vose, Michael | 2.0% |
| Connor, James | 1.9% |
| MacDonald, Wayne | 1.7% |
| Emerick, Tracy | 1.6% |
| Lundgren, David | 1.6% |
| Varney, Peter | 1.6% |
| Potenza, Kelley | 1.5% |
| Berry, Ross | 1.4% |
| Brown, Richard | 1.4% |
| Corcoran, Travis | 1.4% |
| Dolan, Tom | 1.4% |
| Hobson, Deb | 1.4% |
| Janvrin, Jason | 1.4% |
| Panek, Sandra | 1.4% |
| Sellers, John | 1.4% |
| Spilsbury, Walter | 1.4% |
| Testerman, Dave | 1.4% |
| Ulery, Jordan | 1.4% |
| Andrus, Louise | 1.3% |
| Ball, Lorie | 1.3% |
| Burnham, Claudine | 1.3% |
| Cambrils, Jose | 1.3% |
| Colcombe, Riché | 1.3% |
| Costable, Michael | 1.3% |
| Cushman, Leah | 1.3% |
| DeSimone, Debra | 1.3% |
| Drago, Mike | 1.3% |
| Greeson, Jeffrey | 1.3% |
| Lascelles, Richard | 1.3% |
| Leavitt, John | 1.3% |
| Lynn, Bob | 1.3% |
| Mannion, Tom | 1.3% |
| McGuire, Dan | 1.3% |
| Notter, Jeanine | 1.3% |
| Perez, Kristine | 1.3% |
| Phillips, Emily | 1.3% |
| Potucek, John | 1.3% |
| Qualey, James | 1.3% |
| Quaratiello, Arlene | 1.3% |
| Seidel, Sheila | 1.3% |
| Sweeney, Joe | 1.3% |
| Verville, Kevin | 1.1% |
| Janigian, John | 0.9% |
| Summers, James | 0.9% |
| Dumais, Russell | 0.8% |
| Hunt, John | 0.8% |
| McLean, Mark | 0.8% |
| Mooney, Maureen | 0.8% |
| Newton, Clifford | 0.8% |
| Ammon, Keith | 0.7% |
| Aylward, Deborah | 0.7% |
| Coulon, Matthew | 0.7% |
| Doucette, Fred | 0.7% |
| Dunn, Ron | 0.7% |
| Gagne, Larry | 0.7% |
| Kennedy, Stephen | 0.7% |
| Kenny, Catherine | 0.7% |
| King, Seth | 0.7% |
| Love, David | 0.7% |
| McConkey, Mark | 0.7% |
| McGough, Tim | 0.7% |
| Noble, Kristin | 0.7% |
| Peternel, Katy | 0.7% |
| Polozov, Yury | 0.7% |
| Post, Lisa | 0.7% |
| Rollins, Skip | 0.7% |
| See, Alvin | 0.7% |
| Sheehan, Vanessa | 0.7% |
| Simon, Matthew | 0.7% |
| Smith, Jonathan | 0.7% |
| Stone, Jonathan | 0.7% |
| Tenczar, Jeffrey | 0.7% |
| Terry, Paul | 0.7% |
| Tudor, Paul | 0.7% |
| Wallace, Scott | 0.7% |
| Weyler, Kenneth | 0.7% |
| Wherry, Robert | 0.7% |
| Wood, Clayton | 0.7% |
| Aures, Cyril | 0.0% |
| Avellani, Lino | 0.0% |
| Bean, Harry | 0.0% |
| Belcher, Mike | 0.0% |
| Bernardy, JD | 0.0% |
| Boehm, Ralph | 0.0% |
| Boyd, Stephen | 0.0% |
| Brouillard, Jacob | 0.0% |
| Comtois, Barbara | 0.0% |
| Erf, Keith | 0.0% |
| Hill, Gregory | 0.0% |
| Infantine, William | 0.0% |
| Kaczynski, Thomas | 0.0% |
| Kelley, Diane | 0.0% |
| Layon, Erica | 0.0% |
| Mazur, Lisa | 0.0% |
| Piemonte, Tony | 0.0% |
| Ploszaj, Tom | 0.0% |
| Reid, Karen | 0.0% |
| Rochefort, David | 0.0% |
| Sirois, Shane | 0.0% |
| Smart, Lisa | 0.0% |
| Smith, Steven | 0.0% |
| Soti, Julius | 0.0% |
| Spillane, James | 0.0% |
| True, Chris | 0.0% |
| Turcotte, Len | 0.0% |
| Walsh, Thomas | 0.0% |
Three Reps were omitted because they cast too few votes to calculate a score.
The post The 2023 RINO Report Card appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Ministry of the Perpetual State of Fear, still doing business as The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wants you to know that XBB1.16 (COVID variant code name Arcturus) has migrated from India to the US.
We reported on the rise of Arcturus back in April.
Just in time for summer flu season, remember when we didn’t have those – It’s Arcturus. Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 is “causing havoc” across India, with a small number of cases appearing in other counties. OMG! Lets … do nothing, please.
How dare you, the wing-nut Karens might say. What about the community?
There is a moderate amount of propaganda media coverage on the recent immigration of Arcturus to our shores, but none of it seems to include this nugget.
If you read far enough down in either or any article that attempts to inform the public about BB.1.5 or 1.16, you will learn that “We haven’t seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations,” or that “hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths have not yet risen due to the variant.”
According to the Ministry of the Perpetual State of Fear (MPSF), Arcturus now accounts for 20% of all new “COVID” cases, as if that means anything.
In response, the Ministry’s hunchbacked mutant assistant (stooped over from carrying all those bags of Pfizer “ad” cash) from the soon-to-be-renamed FDA (The Food as Drugs Administration) has,
“…directed vaccine manufacturers to update their vaccines to target XBB.1.5.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, FDA has advised manufacturers who will be updating their COVID-19 vaccines, that they should develop vaccines with a monovalent XBB.1.5 composition,” the agency said in a statement.”
This now means XBB.1.16, which is why you misspelled “Quick, change the insert and marketing material on the same useless crap you’ve been pushing” because “by ‘variant,’ you mean another revenue silo at Pfizer as people get wise to their sh!tty “cure.'”
It’s also evidence of why flu vaccines are a waste of time and money, and sometimes lives – the virus mutates far too quickly for even the best guess to be of much use as anything but a revenue stream. They are effectively selling you the Brooklyn Bridge. You can pay for it, but it doesn’t mean anything.
It is also not as popular as once it was, the fear or the jabs, as millions of experimental vaccine enthusiasts have embraced hesitancy as the number of necessary injections increases.
No reason not to try because, as the old saying goes, a needle in the arm is a pocket full of cash. It’s increasingly useless cash, printed to line the pockets of the mandates to pharma to Democrat campaigns triad. But they’ve got so much of it that the inflation it causes (an actual state of emergency) will ensure they all get good seats to watch the end of America and Western Civilization.
For those wondering if there’s a cure for that, it is clean elections.
Let me know if you spot one. They are about as common as Unicorns.
The post We Interrupt Your Peace and Prosperity™ For a Message from The Ministry of the Perpetual State of Fear appeared first on Granite Grok.
As of Sunday, July 2, 2023 (approximately 10 am), which is when I am typing this, the West is still being told that France is dealing with riots. It has been reported that 45,000 police have been deployed across the country in response to the “rioting.”
Following the latest night of violence, France’s Interior Ministry announced there were 719 arrests around the country on Saturday night, where a total of 45,000 police fanned out in a so-far unsuccessful bid to quell violence.
It sounds more like an “insurrection” than a riot … especially when you say the part out loud that you are not supposed to say out loud:
Allahu Akbar: France's Child Soldiers…
At just 8 years old, this child soldier is already prepped to wage Jihad on the French police, bred to harbor a deep hatred for France. Are these the hopeful faces of France's future? Islamic groups view children as potential 'soldiers'… pic.twitter.com/nCQStUX7Op
— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) July 2, 2023
Perhaps France will be successful in quelling this insurrection … oops, I mean “riot,” but how long until the next one?
And how long until all the “migrants” the Biden regime, with the full support of the Uni-Party-Republicans, is flooding America decide to “riot.”
The post Dien Bien Phu … Take Two? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Attorney General Merrick Garland was right when he said that an attack on the Department of Justice is an attack on the people charged with ensuring that the legal system is administered fairly for all Americans. When we refer to the weaponizing of the Justice Department, we are not pointing our fingers at those on the front line. We are pointing them at you, Merrick Garland, the most corrupt Attorney General in modern times.
You are the person who targeted parents concerned with the curriculum at their children’s schools as domestic terrorists. You are the person who allowed protestors to torment the homes of our Supreme Court justices. You are the person who let a deranged individual attempt the assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
You are the evil we want to eradicate. Not the men and women honoring their pledge to their assigned jobs. We want to remove you from the position of power that you have perverted to enhance your own agenda. Your job was to protect the American people. You created a position to protect the President and yourself. You have to go.
Your performance is very similar to what we have seen from the FBI. From Comey to McCabe and Wray, the leadership of our FBI has embarrassed the FBI and our Country. You all have worked diligently to ensure the Democrat control of our Country and to thwart any attempt by Republicans to change course.
You have deceived and taken advantage of the American people. Americans always understood the lack of credibility in the executive branch, where every decision is based on politics and polling. You corrupted the neutrality of the Justice and Investigative departments of our government. You wanted us to fail, but the times have changed, and we are making headway on the cards we were dealt.
This arrangement cannot continue. The press is rearing up out of a feeling of self-preservation. Why have we been waiting five years for the investigation into Hunter Biden to continue and bear fruit, only to be deceived and stonewalled? Why, after all that time, does the American media still turn their backs and do the bidding of these corrupt politicians who only have themselves to serve?
It actually would behoove us to shut down these two factions of our Government, come to a common ground for those across the political aisle, and replace the entire upper level of management. These were once admirable groups that operated without a Right or Left-leaning. Things changed, and those in charge sought power over protection. Those in charge picked a horse in the race, and if it was Republican, they rode it home with pride. If that horse chose to veer Right, the Left found a reason to override and get us all facing the same description.
We do not need a supermajority. We can get by with a simple vote count, and the Democrats will ensure that count never happens. We, the people, need to make sure it does.
The post No Mr. Garland, It Is You We Impugn appeared first on Granite Grok.
I’m back doing my darndest to fill in for Nitzakhon and his incredibly popular meme posts. Our readers love them, and while he is away on a “special assignment,” I’ll do what I can to keep the meme alive.
Your memes are served hot and fresh with a few not-meme-inspired images (because the world is an amazing place) and some general a-political tomfoolery. I mixed them in this time.
And, as always, when viewing, consider the possibility that some material may not be age-appropriate. Feel free to decide what age or how appropriate for yourselves.
The post Monday Memes appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Associated Press reports 34% of us support his handling of the economy. Voters’ assessment of the economy is dismal. Yet, Biden continues to say and do the same things. An NBC poll says 74% of us think America is on the wrong track. So, what’s going on?
The strategy is familiar. Biden is using rhetoric as a substitute for performance; it is the Leftist way. If voters dislike what you are selling, don’t change the product. Market it differently. Call it Bidenomics and the battle of the “trickle-down” straw man.
His economic message isn’t new. His arguments have been around for years. The words have no effect. You see, the cleverest slogan doesn’t disguise reality. Mr. Biden’s claim is: Wages have been growing at a rapid clip on my watch. That is true but completely wrong… Here’s why.
Mr. Biden is presiding over a decline in real average hourly earnings. What that means is, yes, wages are going up. The problem is inflation is up more. The result is: His policies are responsible for the loss of purchasing power. He made us all poorer. We can buy less with our higher wages; 3.6% less on his watch.
The worst inflation in 40 years came from gross overspending. It is compounded by Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act which flooded a recovering economy with $2 trillion of additional stimulus. It came in addition to trillions spent the previous year. The spending splurge, combined with ending energy independence plus restrictive trade policies, generated inflation.
Mr. Biden claims American billionaires are not paying their fair share. To be clear, he does not describe what share exactly is a fair share. So let’s ask a couple of questions: Would that mean we all pay the same amount? Isn’t that what equity demands; equality of outcome? Would it mean we pay the same percentage? Does the responsibility to pay depend only on the ability to pay? If that’s true, where does it lead?
The average billionaire’s tax rate is 8%, according to Mr. Biden. How would he have acquired that information? Do you want your tax return information shared with your neighbors? Mr. Biden says no billionaire should pay a lower rate than a school teacher, fireman or policeman. Why are all his examples, public employees?
The implication of Mr. Biden’s statement is the average American is paying far more than 8%. But is that true? No, no, it is not.
According to IRS data the top 1% of taxpayers pay an average effective income tax rate of 25%. Those people earning more than $60 million/year pay an average tax rate of about 22.9% in federal taxes. Again that’s according to the IRS. You can check the numbers at Politifact.
Now looking at teachers, firemen, and police, let’s assume this is a proxy for those making less than $100 thousand/year. There, we find those people pay an effective federal tax rate between zero and 15%. Mr. Biden is simply wrong in his claim, and he’s hoping he can lie and you will not have done your homework.
Mr. Biden cherry-picks positive data points to brag about instead of recognizing policy failure and changing policy. There are some positive indicators; there always are. For example, the unemployment rate stands at 3.7%. Also, there is an uptick in factory construction. The flip side of the coin is: Government subsidy is almost 100% responsible for that activity. It is not actual innate growth from the demand in the private sector.
He just keeps hoping the Federal Reserve will fix inflation. He seems like a deer in the headlights. He’s frozen in place as oblivion hurtles toward America.
Mr. Biden also speaks about the deficit. He says the deficit went up every year under Trump, and it has gone down under him. Again Mr. Biden is correct but completely wrong. Here’s why. America has not balanced its budget in more than 20 years, since 2001, actually. During the pandemic, we did some big-time bipartisan spending. Since the Plandemic years, we have spent too much but less successively.
We are still engaging in a serious and unnecessary amount of deficit spending. The difference in the rate of deficit spending is what Mr. Biden would claim credit for. The CBO has released a report saying the deficit reduction claims are not material. Over the next 25 year, our national debt is going to climb from 91% of GDP to 181% of GDP.
Bloomberg News reports such high and rising debt will slow economic growth, push up interest rates and payments to foreign debt holders, and pose significant economic risks to the fiscal and economic outlook of America.
Nobody in the District of Columbia should get credit for much of anything except irresponsible behavior. We are nationally behaving like Hunter Biden. A lot must go right for Bidenomics to succeed. The Fed must avoid the long-predicted recession. Higher interest rates might continue to trigger bank failures. The Fed’s track record is not encouraging. Inflation has been persistent.
Assuming economic success, other issues will step forward. Biden’s fitness for office is in doubt. There are reasonable concerns over the 80-year-old president’s physical and mental capacity. People his age only move in only one direction.
If you worry about Biden’s health and capacity, then you are likely terrified at the prospect of Kamala Harris. She inherits the office of president should something happen to Biden. She’s the most unpopular vice president in history. Nothing makes people feel good about Harris.
Then there’s the issue of corruption. IRS whistleblowers have revealed the schemes of the Biden family. There are Hunter’s escapades. There is Joe’s entanglement in Hunter’s scandals. There is the House of Representatives seeking to uncover the details of the Biden family operations.
The precariousness of Biden’s political position comes from the decline in the American standard of living. It is not helped by his obvious health and diminished capacity issues. It is magnified by the inept and obvious corruption. The once generally accepted genial grandpa issuing reassuring platitudes from his Delaware basement is gone. That myth has been replaced by the cranky demented octogenarian with a troubled relationship with the truth.
The nation is on autopilot. We are moving toward a general election. Will the result again be determined by narrow outcomes in three or four states? The election may depend on the MAGA/anti-MAGA struggle. How are the parties approaching the election? Which side are you on?
The post Mr. Biden Knows He’s Vulnerable appeared first on Granite Grok.
Recap: I had put in a Right To Know to DCYF Specialist Amy Fortin for their Investigative Manual that is supposed to outline how DCYF Field Workers are to handle their cases. She at first blew me off by not responding within the first five business days after receipt of the Right To Know that demanding a copy for inspection.
When I reminded her that she was overdue, she responded that her lawyer’s advice to was to tell me it was a public document and that it could be found on the Internet.
In other words, go pound sand. Silly person. I responded with, “RSA 91-A has Clauses 7 & 8 has penalties – would you like to find out how?” and that’s when DHHS Chief Legal John Martin showed up and delivered the Responsive Record demanded of Fortin.
But that got me thinking – what was that path from me to her through to him? So I put in a Right To Know to find out (as you can tell, an RTK is the most powerful tool a citizen can employ in keeping our Government in check and to account) to him as he had said, in effect, “ask me anything.” I made it clear that I was NOT asking to see any “privileged client/lawyer communications” as outlined in the Right To Know law as I knew and specified in my RTK that such were unwanted and are exempt from RTKs. Just the communication pathway. What I received from him didn’t make the grade (reformatted, emphasis mine):
—— Original Message ——
From “Martin, John” <John.B.Martin@dhhs.nh.gov>
To “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
Date 6/30/2023 1:31:08 PM
Subject RSA 91-A Right to Know RequestGood afternoon Mr. Murphy. I am responding to your Right to Know request pursuant to which you requested any internal e-mails relative to your initial Right to know request seeking a DCYF protocol. At this point I have reviewed all of the e-mails beginning with your initial request for the protocol leading up to my e-mail to you on June 9, 2023, when I provided you with two DCYF protocols.
Every internal E-Mail was either sent to a State attorney or by a State attorney for the purposes of legal consultation. As a consequence, these e-mails fall under the attorney/client privilege and are exempt from disclosure under RSA 91-A:5,IV. For this reason, there are no public records that are responsive to your request. That being said, I hope you have a good weekend and a nice 4 th of July.
John B. Martin, Deputy Chief Legal Counsel
Department of Health and Human ServicesOffice of Legal and Regulatory Services
Bureau of General Counsel
129 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
His response specifically leaned in on what I specifically DIDN’T want to see, attorney/client privilege, as the reason not to send me anything. I decided to correct his logic because, from my standpoint, he was pulling a curtain I had already rent across to shield those Responsive Records for whatever purpose):
—— Original Message ——
From “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
To “Martin, John” <John.B.Martin@dhhs.nh.gov>
Date 6/30/2023 3:04:21 PM
Subject Re: RSA 91-A Right to Know RequestSo far it has been! Hope yours has been as enjoyable as mine has been thus far!
Relative to the attorney/client privilege, I wasn’t asking WHAT was said, only who was involved. Redacting any and all email bodies of such Responsive Records, would be fine – that erases any client/privilege communications that are subject to RSA 91-A:5, XII.
Providing names/email addresses and those connections, however, is not explicitly enumerated in that clause of the statute. The resulting digraph, which is of interest to me and the reason for the RTK, would be void of ANY such prohibited privileged legal advice. Therefore, those records should be released and available for my inspection.
And yes, good wishes are returned back to you as we celebrate what our Founding Fathers, in their political genius, bequeathed to us – a governance model that first and foremost that was the first one that put citizens first and over a Government that should be totally and wholly responsive to them…
…And not the other way around. It is unfortunate that their aspirations have not yet been met in many ways.
-Skip
Let’s see what happens
The post Still Digging in: Which DCYF Personnel Were Included In On My Initially Botched RTK? appeared first on Granite Grok.
There’s a saying in software that the only numbers you should be seeing in code are zero, one, and infinity. If you’re seeing other specific numbers (e.g., there can only be 140 characters in a message, or 255 characters in a filename, or a finite number of elements in a list), then someone is being lazy.
It occurs to me that the same is true when considering the ‘interpretation’ of constitutions by courts. Just recently, SCOTUS decided that POTUS didn’t have the authority to forgive student loan debt without action by SCOTUS.
Justice Kagan’s response? That this is terrible because ‘some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides’.
So, 40 million Americans would be let off the hook for up to $20,000 each. According to Justice Kagan, that’s sufficient reason to leave the program in place.
But what if the numbers were 4 million and $2000? Or 400 and $20? Should those numbers make any difference at all? They should not. As a rule, if you’re basing an argument on numbers, it means you’ve lost your connection to the underlying principles involved.
Note that the same is true about arguments over gun control, education, all flavors of welfare, voting, censorship, and so on. If you think that
RKBA works differently if the number of people killed with guns each year is 30,000 or 300;
a tax on income or assets is justified if it’s ‘small enough’;
a war on drugs is justified if the number of deaths from overdose is ‘large enough’;
shutting down entire economies and cultures and stripping people of the rights you’re supposed to be protecting becomes necessary when an infection rate is ‘high enough’;
and so on, then you have completely misunderstood the concepts of individual rights, delegated powers, and government by consent, and you shouldn’t be allowed to officiate at a little league game, let alone on the nation’s highest court.
The post Numbers aren’t Principles appeared first on Granite Grok.
The videos say it all. Just as Ray Epps somehow, someway has escaped prosecution for instigating … some would say leading … the “insurrection,” the person cutting down the security fence WHILE TRUMP IS STILL SPEAKING somehow, someway did not even get picked up by the FBI’s J6-radar. Amazing … isn’t it? But remember the real threat to America is NOT Merrick Garland or Chris Wray … it’s PUTIN; its PUTIN, PUTIN, PUTIN, PUTIN, PUTIN.
Two videos in one.
Watch what happened on SW lawn of Capitol grounds as Trump finished his speech at Ellipse around 1:10pm on January 6.https://t.co/WKb78SxpTQ
— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) July 1, 2023
The post Nothing To See Here … Just The FBI Cutting Down The Fence Around The Capitol WHILE Trump Is Still Speaking appeared first on Granite Grok.
At some point, I think I would enjoy sitting down with DHHS Deputy Chief Legal Counsel John Martin for a chat “about stuff.” I have to admit; he’s probably the most responsive guy in State Government I’ve had to do business with. That said…
I had put in my “missive” concerning how it appeared that DCYF had doxxed TMEW and myself to people we don’t know (The Daughter-in-Law’s family and ex-spouses; a couple of the latter are also “abusers”) such that those people could then reach out to The Granddaughter to say “Hi!” et al.
Emphasis mine, reformatted:
My Daughter-in-law, Mother of my Granddaughter [that we are caring for], just called me to let me know that DCYF has released my personal information…While she did not catch/remember the name that called, she was told that DCYF was contacting her family members and friends to let them know where my Granddaughter can be found to contact her and she remembered some of the family names enumerated over the phone.
HOW DARE YOU release my information to people that I do not know!
Subsequent to that, I was told that some of the “ex-husbands” of that family member set are “abusers” of one type or another. A family friend that works dispatch for first responders was agog over this. I told that friend that I demanded to have the complete list because of the above, and that would explain that at some 3 am time of the morning, they’d be hearing from me in no uncertain terms.
But that’s not the purpose of this post. My email to DCYF on this went out at 12:57 PM yesterday. At 1:30 pm, I got my response from Mr. Martin:
—— Original Message ——
From “Martin, John” <John.B.Martin@dhhs.nh.gov>
To “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
Date 6/30/2023 1:30:55 PM
Subject RE: Has DCYF now breached my PERSONAL information?I will see that this gets to the right people for response.
We have a saying here at GraniteGrok (one of our informal mottoes): Spank’em when they’re wrong but Thank’em when they’re right. I would be morally hypocritical not to take a moment and say thanks for the quick response on this. Thirty minutes, in the area of RTKs, is almost instantaneous. I’m thinking that part of it was the data breach (and now I have thoughts of MORE Right to Knows to create!) and part of it was the danger aspect. No matter which or both, it is appreciated.
NOW, when will I hear back? Probably not until next week due to the long holiday with the Fourth Of July falling on a Tuesday and many folks “filling in vacation days” to have the week off. I am hoping that someone there has the thought “what would happen if someone in that family has a grudge against DCYF and now knows where to go to “send a message” and will bounce it up and down faster to find someone that can get things done quickly.
And as I type this, I’m feeling that I ought to let our local constabulary know of this as well….
The post Is This The Most Responsive Guy in NH State Government? appeared first on Granite Grok.
If you’re an old-school Cop Block supporter, you surely remember Cell 411. It was a killer app that allowed the user to send GPS-based emergency alerts out to friends and family and also allowed for live streaming video from the scene, among other useful features for police accountability activists.
For instance, a Cop Blocker could be getting pulled over, send an alert to a “cell” including other Cop Blockers in the area, and then others would know the sender’s location and what was happening, and could mobilize to the scene to provide support. Meanwhile, the Cop Blocker who sent the alert could also stream live video from the pullover that his cohorts could watch while they were en route.
The app also had alerts for other categories such as fire, medical emergency, breakdown, and others. The idea being that when something bad is happening in your life, it’s better to have friends respond instead of armed psychopaths who might shoot you, your family, or your dog. In case you’re not already familiar with Cell 411, here’s a video that Cop Block’s co-founder Pete Eyre made showing the app’s various features several years ago:
Unfortunately, after years of useful service, Cell 411 fell into disrepair due to its founder falling on hard times due to some family difficulties. He reached out to me and the Shire Free Church took over the project in 2020, but by that time the software was essentially broken.
The first thing I wanted to do was open source Cell 411’s programming, which we have done. The project’s new head programmer, “Nobody”, is an old-school Cop Blocker and has spent the last few years – minus six months in jail when he was targeted by the feds for selling bitcoin – trying to refactor and improve the code. However, he needs help. It’s more than a one-man project and he’s getting burned out and needs some people with programming experience for Android and iOS who are willing to help make Cell 411 great again.
If you don’t know how to program, you can still help us test the app.
If you’re willing to help, please join our Matrix or Telegram support chats to get connected, and introduce yourself. You can also find our code at our Gitlab here.
Please share this story if you value Cell 411. Thank you.
And if you think that it isn’t, why is almost every decision it is making (especially “Administrative Rules” that have the force of Law) mean GOVERNMENT makes the decisions and not you and I? Are you really that dim-witted that you believe “but it’s for your own Good?”
Nope, you’d probably would have been considered a Tory or a Loyalist come Tuesday back 247 years ago.
Competition in a private property system is expected to guide resources to those uses that maximize the value of production secured from them. This value is measured by what consumers are willing to pay, making due allowance for the implicit value of leisure and other goods consumed outside the formal market arena. The profit criterion stops uses of resources that would result in more cost than benefit as these are measured by the money votes of consumers.
-Harold Demsetz (Economic, Legal, and Political Dimensions of Competition)
Competition can only happen when there is Freedom to compete. Sounds simple, sounds trite, but it is true. When Government believes it knows better than the millions of decentralized people making billions of decisions on their own for their own self-interest, the result is always better than Government control. We have had hundreds of years of examples of Socialism, fascism, and Corporatism that show my assertion to be true.
Each of those government/economic models is defined as “planning from the top” – centralized decision-making by a relatively paltry few who have the hubris to believe they can efficiently control economies that have billions of decisions – every hour. Each individual one focused on one person’s needs and desires but which, in the aggregate, form the “Invisible Hand” discussed by F.A. Hayek. Efficient (perhaps not always the highest optimal, but “efficient enough” for each) in which their capital is put to the highest good.
Planners, as in Critical Race Theory adherents, only see groups and not the individual needs. And they can only approximately guess their needs, wants, and cost ranges. Because of that, they are insufficient when it comes to “Complete Knowledge” and, thus, end up with sub-optimal decisions because the limited information they have is already out-of-date by the time they receive it; the People have already moved on.
And planners are never concerned with the People’s concern with Time which is one of the most important issues of that decision-making – time to work vs. time for leisure.
Freedom to decide – that’s what our Founding Fathers gave us. Big and Bigger Government, run by bureaucrats and stupid elected officials, forget that was one of the driving forces for Independence.
IMHO, it is being taken from us – what are you actively doing to take it back?
Or are you that lump sitting on the couch?
(H/T: Cafe Hayek)
The post Notable Quote – With The Biden Administration Hurtling Into Corporatism and Fascism… appeared first on Granite Grok.
SCOTUS ruling on independent state legislature theory, imposing judicial review on powers seemingly given exclusively to State Legislatures; if Trump’s nominations to SCOTUS have disappointed, is that partially the fault of the Federalist Society? The IRS whistleblowers vs DOJ; is the left trying to dump Biden for 2024? How much accuracy is there to the polls showing Trump so far ahead of Desantis? Should Desantis attack Trump’s failures more and will that help to connect to voters more?
The post The Conservatarian Exchange Podcast #160 appeared first on The Liberty Block.
Apologies for the late update, as my DCYF saga continues. In Part 1, I put in a Right To Know requesting the volume and locations of DCYF abuse and neglect reports being made. The RTK payload (w/out the boilerplate) was rather simple.
For the Division of Children,Youth and Families (“DCYF”) and the time frame starting January 1, 2018 to today, June 17, 2023 (inclusive):
- Initial incident reports of neglect of a child/children, all sources
- Initial incident reports of abuse of a child/children, all sources
- Initial incident reports of neglect and abuse of a child/children, all sources
Only three data elements for each governmental record are demanded:
- Date of complaint filed with DCYF
- Complaint/incident type [neglect | abuse | neglect and abuse]
- Originating Town | City from where the complaint was filed
No other identifying or personal identifying data elements are requested or desired.
That was sent on 6/19/2023 1:13:02 PM. I got a response the next day that it was received and was being sent to the data folks for the response. There was a concern from DHHS Deputy Chief John Martin concerning the ability to narrow into individuals as the targets of those incidents (emphasis mine right now):
…My only concern is that we do not release data at so low a level of granularity when there is the possibility of constructive identification. If a report of abuse or neglect is made in a town with a very small population and we provide the specific date the report was made, it is possible that the identity of the alleged victim and/or alleged perpetrator could be derived using other sources of information, such as police reports or news accounts. Therefore, it may be necessary for us to withhold certain information in accordance with RSA 91-A:5,IV. For example, it may be necessary in some instances to withhold the name of the town if its population is very small, or it may be necessary to provide the month and year of the report, but not the specific day.
DCYF anticipates that it will take up to 30 days to pull the data. I will provide the data to you as soon as I receive it and make any necessary redactions.
Valid points. I get it, but my response was this:
…My only concern is that we do not release data at so low a level of granularity when there is the possibility of constructive identification.
Which is why I asked for only 3 data items per incident. With such a paucity of data, there is no way to be able to tie it back to any particular family.
…we provide the specific date the report was made… it may be necessary to provide the month and year of the report, but not the specific day.
Point made. While part of my research was to see what days of a week or month turned out to be “least” and “maximal”, I am willing to amend my RTK to be MM/YYY. Would you want me to re-submit or can we do a “Gentleman’s Agreement” based on this email?
Or, formally state that I will forgo any attempts to use other sources in “pinpointing” within a town (that which you are worried about)? I’m not looking for specific people with this RTK.
And all of my answers are absolute truth – I’m not looking to identify anyone – the construction of my RTK strictly marks that down (see above, Date, Complaint type, and town). And if DCYF does its job correctly, the Police do THEIR jobs correctly (which, in this case, is the protection of the Privacy of all involved) nowhere would there be “leakage” as to a family or individual.
So 30 days to receive the dataset. When I receive it, it will be interesting to see what the first takeaways will be.
The post Part 2: Update on RTK for DCYF Abuse and Neglect Incident Reports appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Global Warming Cult is just full of great ideas. Electric cars run on coal. Batteries made from metals extracted out of huge open pit mines. Wind machines that kill birds and bats. They are also thinking about how to block the sun.
It is an idea popular with Bill Gates, The Biden Admin, Harvard Professors, and other usual suspects, and now the European Union.
Brussels plans to launch massive ‘geoengineering’ interventions to deal with global warming, according to the news agency.
The European Union is looking into technologies involving large-scale interventions into natural phenomena like sun rays or the atmosphere, as part of its new strategy for tackling climate change, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing a draft document that might be made public later this week.
The first question a skeptic might ask is, what about all those solar panels you’ve been going on about for decades? We are supposed to blanket the landscapes and rooftops from sea to rising sea with the damn things, and now you want to block out the sun.
And why doesn’t that get you all spun up about stormwater runoff from hard surfaces? Wait, I know. You can tax them for that too.
Make them subsidize it, then punish them for it with unreliable electricity when you need it most and a few extra fees. And now the plan is to make them even less efficient?
We need solar one minute, and we need to block out the sun the next.
It is not an idea limited to EU countries, but those citizens may want to send a message to their so-called representatives. While not making sense is typical, this is taking things to a new level. And no, not France-level messaging. They seem to have had a few things bottled up that they felt the need to vent, and the nation is on fire.
We were thinking an email or a phone call might be a better place to start. Mention something about the impact on renewable energy targets and diminishing solar radiation. Keep it simple, or they won’t understand. Maybe a crayon picture of solar panels crying because they can’t see the sun.
The post Solar Panel Addicts Suggest Blocking Out the Sun appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Sun-King responded to the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that discriminating based on race in college admissions is unconstitutional by claiming that the Supreme Court was following “our lead.” What a modest guy:
DEI … Diversity, Equity, Inclusion … is simply another name for “affirmative action,” which is just another name for discriminating on the basis of race. “Higher education” in New Hampshire simply renamed affirmative action “DEI.” Don’t believe me.
From the UNH website:
And if UNH is NOT considering race, sex, sexual orientation, etc., etc., etc., in admissions, then explain how UNH knows how many “underrepresented” students apply and how many attend. And also, explain to me how basing your admissions policy on increasing the number of “underrepresented” students is different from discriminating against “overrepresented” … i.e., white students.
The post No … New Hampshire Did NOT End “Affirmative Action” In “Higher Education” “Years Ago” appeared first on Granite Grok.
Over the past few years, people have become increasingly concerned with the proliferation of adults encouraging susceptible children to engage in inappropriate behavior. It is easy to understand that a person with more life experience, power, or intellect should not influence or coerce weaker individuals to do their bidding, especially if such acts could cause permanent harm to the subjects.
The post These Groomers Must Be Stopped! appeared first on The Liberty Block.
The State of New Hampshire never had a case, but they clung (bitterly?) to the media opportunities created by a false insurrection narrative right here in the Granite State. By “they,” I mean the Republican Governor, his AG, and the Department of Injustice.
The October 2021 Executive Council meeting WAS disrupted … by the actions of the Governor and the State Police. Twenty months later, the lack of a case (and one subpoena) and the remaining defendants have had their charges dropped. Not even a series of show trials.
I believe the subpoena issued to Governor Chris Sununu, while quashed by that judge, would not be the only one. His Excellency could expect others in all the remaining cases. He was a material witness. At some point, he’d have to testify and lie under oath or tell the truth. Neither, from where I’m sitting, looks good for Chris Sununu.
This is old (made new), and it doesn’t look good either.
Norm Silber (disclosure: he writes for GraniteGrok and has written “lawyerly letters and emails” for us in the past) shared some details in a comment under this article from yesterday.
It regards a Right to Know request he sent to the New Hampshire State Police in October 2021.
On October 15, 2021, I sent the following email to the NH State Police:
“Pursuant to the provisions of New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated Chapter 91-A, please provide or forward to the undersigned copies of all of the following:
Any and all emails, text messages, or any other form of communication from Governor Sununu, or any other person or persons purporting to be acting on his behalf, requesting, directing, or instructing officers of the NH State Police to remove any members of the public from the public meeting of the New Hampshire Executive Council held on October 13, 2021, and to arrest any of them, and any and all responses thereto from anyone acting or purporting to be acting on behalf of the New Hampshire State Police.”
On October 20, 2021, I received the following email response from David M. Hilts, Senior Staff Counsel, Office of the Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Safety:
“I’m writing to acknowledge your request below. We have no records responsive to your request. This request is considered to be closed.”
This brings to mind the old saying- What are you going to believe- what I tell you or your lying eyes?!!
If you watch the video, it looks like Governor Sununu Tippity tapped a message on his phone, after which the looming and excessive presence of State Troopers was set in motion.
No records responsive to your request.
Right.
The State may be done with this, but I don’t think the people of New Hampshire are yet satisfied. The governor had nine people, clearly targeted in advance, arrested and removed from a public meeting on charges that could not be prosecuted.
They didn’t do anything wrong, and they were arrested anyway.
What happened was an irresponsible, deliberate, and petty abuse of power. Something Revolutionary War Hero General John Stark might refer to as one of those evils worse than death.
The post The Revenge of the NH9? appeared first on Granite Grok.
There is nothing … NOTHING … more fwee market than FORCING people who use fossil fuels to SUBSIDIZE people using SOLAR. Nothing. And if you say otherwise, you are Putin’s puppet.
Indeed, if you say otherwise, you are probably too benighted to understand that codifying Obamacare into State law was TOTALLY fwee market. And that extending Obamacare Medicaid for another seven years … as the “bipartisan” budget did … was ESSENTIAL to protect us from Socialism.
In case you’re confused, I’ll explain it. When people with Rs after their names … like Jeb Bradley … do Socialism, we are supposed to pretend that it’s NOT Socialism. Understand? Anything Rs do … no matter how much it walks, talks, and acts like Socialism … is, simply because the Rs did it, NOT Socialism. I hope this helps.
The post The New Hampshire UniParty Keeps Winning appeared first on Granite Grok.
Dear Mr. Biden,
The Islamic Republic President, Ebrahim Raisi, and the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, are known supporters of worldwide terrorism. Not only do they remain a clear and viable threat to the existence of Israel with their nonstop call for the nuclear annihilation of that sovereign nation, but their brutal regime has thoroughly dehumanized the Iranian people, who, for many years now, have yearned to be liberated from these tyrannical and bloodthirsty Islamists who rule over their lives.
Iranians will never forget a massive anti-regime movement in 2009 by millions after the fraudulent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran and your administration’s reaction. The regime’s response to those protesting was a set of dastardly measures typical of dictatorships. People were severely beaten, huge numbers were arrested and herded like cattle into makeshift prisons. Some were shot in the streets as they marched; others were raped and killed in Iran’s prisons. And the world watched.
The Obama Administration failed to voice its support for the brave people of Iran, and he also implied that what was happening in Iran was a kind of family squabble best left to be settled by Iranians themselves. A family feud indeed. One side of the “family” with legions of savages armed to the teeth, the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and their hired thugs, and the other side of the “family” defenseless civilians using their voices to plead their case. The Islamic rulers spared no heinous means in mercilessly silencing the voices of the people.
Former US President Obama has recently admitted that he made “a mistake” by not supporting the Iranian people’s 2009 Green Movement against the Islamic Republic. On July 14, 2015, during the Obama presidency, Iran and six world powers known as the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) signed a disastrous agreement: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as ‘Iran Nuclear Deal’ to marginalize Iran’s nuclear program and monitor it in exchange for relief from nuclear sanctions.
This deal benefited the Islamic Republic and left the door open for the regime to continue with its nuclear ambitions secretly. In other words, it was a terrible deal.
Compounding by complacency and denial, rationalization can be deadly, particularly when adversaries have different realities. The world leaders must realize that the delusional Mullahs are in this deadly game to the very end. They believe they can win by either bringing the non-Islamic world to its knees and ruling the world or setting up the conflagration that supposedly will prompt their hidden Imam to appear and establish his kingdom. Not even the all-out nuclear exchange can be ruled out. Islam is a religion centered on death, with the eyes of the faithful fixed on the afterlife and its promised eternal pleasures.
In 2022, the Iranian people once again protested against the murderous regime of the ayatollahs. Iranian Women were leading this Revolution. The bravery of these young girls captured the hearts and souls of all people worldwide. Yet, as usual, the Western world leaders’ reactions were indifferent. Regretfully, just like the Obama administration, your administration is repeating the same insanity by engaging with the conniving Mullahs and making another failed deal instead of helping the Iranian people.
For years, I have warned the world that sitting and watching this eventual catastrophic event is a fatal miscalculation. It is little more than an exercise in denial to believe that nothing wrong will happen and that the inept Mullahs will likely shoot themselves in the foot instead of wreaking havoc on the world’s free world leaders.
Sadly, no country provided moral support for the Iranian people, while the savage mullahs and their thugs consolidated their rule of terror with impunity. The same scenario is recurring, and the world’s silence is deafening while they are engaged in the frivolous Ukraine conflict.
The civilized world must accept that brave Iranian women and men are not stopping. They are taking to the streets to cut their hair and burn their hijabs, indicating to the Islamic government that they will no longer stand for this totalitarian regime. Iranian people don’t want help from the outside world. All they are asking is to stop making deals with their killers.
Sincerely Yours,
Amil Imani
©2023. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.
The post Open Letter to Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. RE: Islamic Republic of Iran appeared first on Granite Grok.