Democrats continue to insist that despite the risks (fraud, assault, injury, etc.), if a boy wants to play on the girl’s team (use their locker room, showers), that’s social justice, but New Hampshire has legislation that would protect girls by limiting sports participation to biology at birth, so – naturally – they have to object.

It takes many forms, but this clip of testimony in opposition from NH House Rep Hope Damon is … interesting. She very politely and calmly reminds us that losing builds character. Someone should have told that to the Hillary supporters after Trump won in 2016 or—for that matter—her entire party. They still can’t get over it, but I digress (just a wee bit).

Rep. Damon’s argument isn’t wrong exactly. Generally speaking, defeat properly repurposed builds character, but this oversimplification of the context ignores facts.

Losing builds character if it inspires you to improve toward some attainable goal, and most of these girls work hard to excel at a sport only to be faced with the potential of a fit male competitor (even if he lacks the skills to do well against other boys) who can outperform them on a girl’s team. If they are fit and have skills, we are telling girls to stop wasting their time with diet, exercise, and all that practice. You can’t win (maybe you should stay home and bake cookies).

If she takes testosterone to try and close the gap, she’s doping and can’t play with girls. If she plays with boys, she still loses if she survives. Where is this politically enforced systemic disadvantage building character? It won’t, but it will result in serious injury, anger, and possibly depression. Rep. Damon may have left that out.

And how about this?

Does it build character when a man wins a women’s sports scholarship? How about if that was her only real opportunity to attend a university? Lots of character building, especially when it’s this guy. Franz Lagardas plays both male and female volleyball, and he just got a sports scholarship to a women’s college. I’m sure the young lady he beat out enjoys all that character-building. She could, of course, take hormones as in the example above, but then they might not let her into the women’s college or on the women’s team.

Character building!

Clip – WMUR

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One more point. If losing builds character, I hope the citizens in Croydon introduce Rep. Damon to some come November. It sounds like she could use it.

The post Dem Rep Thinks Girls Losing to Boys (Pretending to be Girls) is Good for Them appeared first on Granite Grok.

Earlier this week, the Senate Education Committee heard testimony on HB1205, which would require schools to designate athletics by sex and prohibit biological males from participating in female athletics. This bill further creates various causes of action based on violations of its provisions.

There was a great deal of testimony from both sides of this issue, but one thing we can see is, this issue has become partisan. Democrats are standing against girls and women, and Republicans are standing with them. It’s as if Democrats forgot the history of the women’s movement.

WMUR covered the hearing here. You can see how Republicans, and myself, spoke to some of the concerns for girls who have been injured by the males who identify as females. Representative Hope Damon (D), at the end, says that we (women and girls) need to learn to lose. Who says that in 2024? Women are sick of being told to sit down and shut up.

Title IX was established to give girls some of the same opportunities as males, to compete and win scholarships and awards. All of that is under attack when biological males are allowed to compete in women’s sports.

You can see from this video how girls in one Massachusetts school were thrown to the ground by a trans athlete during a basketball game.

Senator Suzanne Prentiss (D) doesn’t seem to understand that the injuries these girls are sustaining are far worse when they come from a biological male.

Other states are moving to pass legislation that protects girls and women, and their sports.

This would be a good time to send an email to ALL of The New Hampshire Senators and ask them to protect women’s sports and their privacy in the locker room and restrooms. Senators New Hampshire <Senators@leg.state.nh.us>
You can also find your senator here.

It’s unfortunate that this has become partisan, with the Democrats standing against fairness and the rights of women and girls in New Hampshire. It’s up to us to remind them that they need to do the right thing.

 

 

The post NH Democrats Stand Firmly Against Women’s Rights appeared first on Granite Grok.

It was the best of lies; it was the worst of lies. 

Richburg and Poortown both have K-12 schools with 100 students, and school budgets of $2 million.  

Pat lives in Richburg. He decides to leave the local school to accept an Education Freedom Account (EFA) with $5,255 in it. 

In Richburg, the State-Wide Education Property Tax (SWEPT) is sufficient to cover the state adequacy grants, so the $4,200 that would have been allocated to the ‘adequacy’ pocket gets allocated to the ‘general’ pocket instead.  (The money is collected by Richburg and never leaves Richburg.  What isn’t allocated to adequacy is used to offset additional taxes.)  The school budget doesn’t change — just as it wouldn’t if a kid moved in or out of town.  (Small changes in enrollment are already anticipated in the budget.)  School taxes don’t change.  The state gives Pat $5,255 from the state Education Trust Fund. 

Chris lives in Poortown.  He also decides to leave the local school system to accept an EFA.  In Poortown, SWEPT is insufficient to cover the state adequacy grants, so some of that money is taken from the state Education Trust Fund.  The $4,200 that the school system would have received from the trust fund for having Chris as a student is applied to his EFA, along with an extra $1,055.  Because the school budget doesn’t change, now property owners in Poortown have to make up that $4,200 with increased school taxes.

In the first case, total spending rises from $2,000,000 to $2,005,255.   In the second case, total spending rises from $2,000,000 to $2,005,225. 

However, proponents of EFAs claim that in each case, the taxpayers save money. The Josiah Bartlett Center recently shared an article about EFAs written by EdChoice. The title was EdChoice analysis finds EFAs save taxpayers nearly $9 million this year, $23 million annually from currently enrolled students. 

How do they figure? 

In each of our fictitious schools, the cost per student is $20,000 (i.e., the total budget divided by the number of students, or $2 million divided by 100).  According to the proponents, this means that when Pat and Chris leave their schools, each school can spend $20,000 less than it was spending before.  

But where would these spending cuts come from? No teachers, aides, or administrators are fired. No one takes a pay cut. No bus routes are changed. It costs the same amount to run the schools regardless of whether Pat and Chris are attending them. So when they leave, the old spending (for the schools) remains unchanged, and $5,225 in new spending (for each EFA) is added to that. 

Here is what the proponents of EFAs are hoping that you don’t understand:  The cost-per-student of running a school is not the cost of educating one student who attends that school.  If you ignore that crucial fact, you can be fooled into thinking that increased spending can magically result in decreased taxes.  

Do the Josiah Bartlett Center and EdChoice really believe that when a student leaves a school, the budget goes down by the per-student cost at that school? Whether they believe it or not, we should be skeptical of any other reports they publish. 

I am in favor of education alternatives. But I’m not willing to accept the party line for a program without understanding the details. 

The post A Tale of Two EFAs appeared first on Granite Grok.

The new website is nearing completion, and we could go live this weekend (or early next week). There are a few appearance changes, some layout tweaks, and a more intelligent sorting system. Content will be filtered into Silos to make it easier for readers to get to what they want to read.

The system is simple. The home page will continue to have scrolling content as always, but we are adding cards that feature articles in each of the silos (areas of interest).

Getting Around

From the top of the Home Page, you will see these silos as ‘Grok’ New Hampshire (Local stories), New England (regional news and both VT Grok and ME Grok), the Nation (National News), Or The World (Global news). We are also adding a podcast page for our own or shared podcast content.

Drafts – subject to tweaks/color, location

Content will be categorized appropriately to get you to what you want to see first. Here’s a mock up of the New England page header.

 

The Header to the New Hampshire page will look something like this.

You can always scroll the homepage and interact with the content, cards or other features.

Fewer Ads

We will be dumping our old ad vendors and switching to something else sometime in May—no more edge ads or mobile ad clutter. We are also doing away with Disqus, so that annoying out-of-our-control ad package (under every post) is gone with the update.

Comments, Etc.

We will be using the WordPress commenting system moving forward. Disqus comments will be archived and kept with past posts (I’m not clear on the logistics of this, but that’s the plan).

We are also making the site lighter and faster (so they tell me), and the mobile experience should be much improved.

VIP?

Once the site is up and deemed stable, and we’ve tweaked it a bit more to get it right where we want it, we will move forward with the Subscriber/VIP update. This feature will include premium content not included in the free version. The option of including an ad-free experience for VIPs will depend on how clean the new ad package is – it looks to be very unobtrusive, but we’ll see. I also still need to generate revenue for operating expenses, updates, and my living.

Mobile App?

Once we are happy with the site update, an effort can be made to develop a ‘grok app specific to mobile to improve that experience further. We have funds to start it, but given the changes, I need to make sure we have the operating budget to keep everything else running before pulling the trigger on that one. I still want it, so we’ll get there.

It’s all been a long time coming, but it looks like we’re here. I will announce when we plan to take the new site live so you’ll be aware of the likelihood of disruption. These things never go as smoothly as you’d like, but this time next week, we might be up and running on Grok 4.0. I think it’s 4 – or maybe 5.0. As if that matters, right?

The post The Newest Version of GraniteGrok Will Go Live SOON – Changes And What to Expect! appeared first on Granite Grok.

This video is aimed at answering the question what is the "right" way for youth to navigate the criminal justice system? Jack Beckerman and I, Aanna Farhang, attempt to answer this question through interviews with experts including the Honorable Federal Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman, Professor Aliza Kaplan, Public Defender Matt Stevens, as well as the formerly incarcerated Trevor Walraven and Conrad Engweiler.

read more

I am writing this article with views from many angles. As a father, school bus driver, and observer of the news, there are so many things wrong with the campus protests/occupations, especially at Columbia University in New York City, and the reactions by the people who should be in charge of restoring order to these schools of higher education.

As a father, I think parenting children 35 to 40 years ago was easier than it is today. That time was before the social networking explosion, and no child was holding a smartphone in their hands all day. Children still had friends they interacted with face-to-face, and they were not bombarded with information on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, coaching them and telling them how they should look and behave in a fast-paced world. Their parents and teachers were usually in sync, and there was still a level of discipline and accountability.

Parents must compete with social media today, and with so much peer pressure to fit in, they do not stand a chance. Parents and teachers may not be in chorus, and parents usually compete to control their children’s upbringing. Parents often lean more toward being friends with their children than they do with being mom and dad. These coddled children know how to play the game, and the lack of boundaries starts early. These students occupying buildings at Columbia are not bright college students but immature children who see nothing wrong with what they are doing.

The schools that are experiencing the most prominent protests are private institutions, so the police are not able to enter these properties and quell these actions. Even though they are abusing Jewish classmates and professors, the police can only act by invitation. The school administration has to accept the brunt of the blame as these protests grow into civil disorder. Negotiating instead of shutting them down was the first issue, and when they continued to move the deadlines as they were broken, they showed a significant lack of leadership.

Their reasons for protest and their demands expose the issues with what they have been taught for 16 years. They are supporting and pledging allegiance to a terrorist group, Hamas, in their condemnation of Israel and their Jewish classmates. They are displaying their degree of entitlement with their demands of Columbia to sever ties with any entity with ties to Israel and the absolution of any punishment for what they have done for the last ten days.

These students and the activist groups that back them must be identified and punished. There has to be accountability. There have to be people who are spectators now: Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, Mayor Adams, Governor Hochul, Chuck Schumer, and President Biden, step up, condemn the action of these civil activists, and support the university with whatever punishment they hand down to these students. Finally, where are the parents? Did they send their children to Columbia to become political activists or terrorists or to get a first-class education? Right now, they are failing their children by allowing them to get caught up in the illegal movement. With each passing day, this situation will be more ugly and brutal to terminate. The police are poised and ready and should be called in to do their jobs and end this ugly chapter in history.

The post Coddled Children Become Entitled Student Protesters appeared first on Granite Grok.

Kiddies protesting the latest thing have gotten out of control on at least a few college campuses. We haven’t seen anything like that here, of which I’m aware, but yesterday, May Day, that glorious Communist Holiday, “protesters” gathered to avoid classes in support of Gaza and Palestine. Some went to jail.

It looks very much like His Excellency sent the stormtroopers (the protest was advertised on social media), but here’s the thing. The trigger for police ‘involvement’ does not appear to have been the protesting. It was because they tried to set up “occupy” like encampments.

UNH

UNH Police Chief Paul Dean estimated 10-20 protesters were arrested after a rally led to demonstrators attempting to set up an encampment at the state’s flagship university, drawing local and New Hampshire State Police. Some demonstrators shouted at police, calling them “cowards” and chanting “free Palestine.”The scene mirrored demonstrations on campuses across the United States in solidarity with Palestinians in the wake of Israel’s military response to a deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

One of our readers sent a video of some of the action.



The peaceful event lasted until around 6:30 p.m. Then, Dean said, protesters rushed in to form an encampment and attempted to barricade their tents. Arrested protesters were taken to the Strafford County jail in Dover, according to Dean, who said he was not immediately aware of any injuries Wednesday night.

“When they went to set up the tents, it was clear to me that the majority of people were not affiliated with the university,” Dean said.

Arresting out-of-staters (unless they come here to vote) is the New Hampshire way.

Dartmouth

It’s the same story, just north a few hours.

The Dartmouth encampment Wednesday evening followed a planned “Labor for Liberation Celebration” earlier in the day, coordinated by a mix of campus and community activists to highlight what they called “the interconnected liberation struggles of Palestinians and workers around the world, Including those right here at Dartmouth and in the Upper Valley.” Shortly after that event wrapped up, a group of protesters started setting up tents on the main college lawn, in the center of Hanover. Some gave speeches, waved Palestinian flags and chanted “Divest Not Arrest.” A group of students also encircled the encampment, mirroring a move seen on other campuses meant to make it more difficult for police to reach the protesters in tents inside.

Ahead of Wednesday’s demonstration, Dartmouth officials warned that student protesters could face sanctions or arrest. In a message sent to the campus community Wednesday afternoon, Provost David F. Kotz said school policies “specifically prohibit the use of tents and encampments on the Green and other areas of campus.”

The ACLU had to issue a statement.

“Use of police force against protestors should never be a first resort,” the organization said. “Freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate are foundational principles of democracy and core constitutional rights. We urge university and government leaders to create environments that safeguard constitutionally protected speech.”

I agree, except that pending details to the contrary, the “individuals” were protected and not arrested during their protest. The police presence would have, I presume, prevented any violent interference with any polite gathering of like-minded persons. What they were removed for was setting up tents. If that turns out not to be the case, than we’re with you. I’d also like to know what promoted State Police to make themselves available (other than His Excellencies say so). Is there a prevailing opinion about the May Day Organizers and their intentions? They appear peaceful but Marxist movements don’t stay that way for long.

One of the sponsors is the Democratic Socialists of America, and another (don’t drink anything while you read this) is the Student Worker’s Collective at Dartmouth -at an Ivy League school.

Come out to the Dartmouth green @ 5PM this May Day (May 1st) to support and learn about the interconnected liberation struggles of Palestinians and workers around the world, Including those right here at Dartmouth and in the Upper Valley. None of us are free until all of us are free!!

But they never operate peacefully in power, so I find this statement amusing. Are the organizers liars (also required for Marxist movements), or are they ignorant like most of the college kids their activities tend to attract?

The post Allegedly Pro-Palestine “Protesters,” at UNH, Dartmouth Arrested appeared first on Granite Grok.

Congrats to pfrcav717, this week’s comment of the week winner.

Each day, I select a comment, and at the end of the week, we publish all seven and ask readers to vote on the one they like best. The winner can receive some Grok swag as part of their victory, but they need to contact me to get that. Not everyone does.

You can read all seven of last week’s finalist comments here.

pfrcav717, please reach out to me at steve@granitegrok.com so we can arrange to send you your prize!

Here is the winning comment!

Last Chance to Save the Soul of the Nation Commenter: pfrcav717

Just a couple of things I would like to add to this excellent article is that no matter how many people come out and vote against Commie Joe Biden, The Democrat fraud machine will be able to halt the vote counting in key areas and bring in the ballots they need. Thanks to mail in voting the Democrats have been able to devise and test a system that all but guarantees victory in every single election. 2020 was the test.

The Republicans at the federal and state levels turned a blind eye; the courts lacked the courage and the integrity to address the issue which was clear cut. And our federal and state law enforcement agencies found themselves inept at even starting an investigation into voter fraud. But, then again, B Hussein Obama initiated that change in federal law enforcement as well as the federal judiciary, again, with full Republican support. We can even look at the Supreme Court and see the lack of courage and integrity due to politics.

The country we knew and loved, and many of us fought for, is in dire straits right now. And I don’t see anyone on the federal or state level that is willing or able to take on this level of corruption.

One last thing: Even if Donald Trump is elected, will he be able to do anything? As one commenter already said, he had the White House and both the House and Senate, and his own party fought him. The swamp is deep, deeper than any of us could possibly have imagined.

We will have to see what happens, but I fear what must happen to correct this destruction of America.

The post Commenter ‘pfrcav717’ Wins Comment of the Week appeared first on Granite Grok.

In apparent response to my post, The Rancid Company That Matt Wilhelm Keeps, Matty has “pinned” the post in question to the top of his X. Let’s talk about why.

First and foremost, Matty knows that Jason Osborne, Joe Sweeney, Ross Berry, etc. are just CONTROLLED OPPOSITION. Osborne and his ilk do NOT actually represent GOP-voters … rather, they view actual GOP-voters just as contemptuously as their “colleague” Matty Wilhelm does.

Additionally, Matty knows he will never actually be held accountable by the “press” in New Hampshire for associating with and legitimizing MSNBC anti-semitic Ayman. WMUR’s, NHPR’s, etc.s’ mission is not to report news … it is to elect Democrats (more accurately, Woke-Communists).

Matty’s response shows how arrogant and powerful the Woke-Communists are in New Hampshire … and how correspondingly irrelevant and impotent the NHGOP are. Matty Wilhelm is EVIL. But rather than fighting, or even calling out that evil, the NHGOP are instead waging a jihad against single-family zoning and for legalizing marijuana.

The post Matt Wilhelm Doubles Down On Anti-Semitism appeared first on Granite Grok.

Noem’s shooting-her-dog story; is this just another ghost-written book and it doesn’t matter what the book says; who should Trump pick for VP? Noem has no backbone after capitulating to the NCAA on women’s sports; for what reason did Trump meet with Desantis? Did he think he needs help from Desantis? Should Trump select his son, Don, for VP? Tulsi Gabbard? The protest on college campus supporting Hamas; is it all funded ultimately by the CCP? Is it unusual to have this chaos when a republican is in office?

The post The Conservatarian Exchange Podcast #204 appeared first on The Liberty Block.

Americans awakening to the Orwellian Rule of Joe Biden and his crew of thieves have noticed that the perpetual lying is designed to inculcate pliancy through fear.  When the COVID-19 hysteria began to wane, Big Brother Biden switched gears to the Ukraine crisis.

Intriguingly, both crises have been caused by the government Biden heads — COVID-19 was crafted in Wuhan, and the Obama administration set the scene for making Ukraine America’s pawn in the current conflict.  Conning Americans with one fear-lie to eclipse the previous, the biggest lie is yet to come.  It is called Build Back Better, and it will unleash a greater terror than any virus or war: nationwide famine.

This dire warning is constructed not on fantasy but on fact.  As many watchful Americans have noticed during COVID-19, the nation’s grocery stores are not guaranteed to be chock-full forever.  The threats to Americans’ industrial food supplies are numerous and growing, compounded exponentially by escalating inflation.  And whether Biden blames food scarcity on COVID-19, Putin, or Donald Trump, the grumbling bellies of children will be indifferent.

Wise agricultural voices, unheeded by the zealotry of AOC, have warned for decades that industrial agriculture is unsustainable, but most Americans conflate that term with the push for organics or GMO-free labeling.  The two are related, but the threats to food safety and security are far greater than those issues suggest: America is rapidly moving toward the collapse of its entire food production system, now aggravated by uncontrolled inflation.  And since the conflict in Ukraine has very little to do with the underlying causes of U.S. inflation, if it ended tomorrow, American grocery bills would still rise steadily.

Decades of increasing centralization of food production have created an unprecedented threat to Americans and humanity: an utter dependence on fossil fuels for cheap food.  This refers not just to diesel fuel for tractors to plow and harvest but to fertilizers manufactured from natural gas and limited natural resources.  Forget about the petrodollar; it is time to comprehend the wheatdollar — as input costs rise, food prices will skyrocket, most especially in factory grain–dependent confined animal feed operations (CAFOs).

This is not an argument to ban all industrial food production — millions would die.  But it is folly to become wholly dependent on a system that yields short-term produce but long-term economic collapse.  More, the problem is not just monetary — America is desertifying its prime farmlands to the great peril of future generations: once lost, fertile soils are not easily reclaimed.  The consequences of dosing farmland with chemicals for decades have been deteriorating soils, escalating erosion, and a loss of fertility and water retention.  Concurrently, our nation’s underground aquifers are steadily diminishing as water is pumped onto the ever-drier ground with ever-thinner soils.

Back to the fear factor.  Americans dizzy with fear spinning from 911 and the “War on Terror” to date are so conditioned to fake “red lights” and “orange lights” to gaslight them into terror that they are blind to the very real threat of food system collapse.  For years now, the rabid left has ideologically pummeled Americans with false fears — a nonexistent “systemic racism,” active shooter drills, and warped reporting on gun violence, hand-wringing, and child-torturing over the End Times Climate Catastrophe.

But the real threat is corporate-dominated food production, enabled by bipartisan legislators for decades.  Americans will soon see this growing threat is much more real than yellowcake uranium from Niger.  And the AOC-Biden crew have already revealed their plan to “rescue” Americans by building corporate domination back better — totalitarianism is not complete without controlling food supplies.

Food security will be the future battleground in America.  Under Biden, presumably, poor black people and QBGLTs will be fed first (not Gates, Pelosi, et al.).  Gun owners will surrender their weapons with a food buy-back plan: most gun owners in the U.S. have never gone one day without food and will surrender security and the Second Amendment for sustenance (unless they are self-reliant for food, something Big Brother does not endorse!).

This is what genuine fear looks like — not crocodile tears for long-dead black slaves, screaming appeals exploiting children, or dramatic calls to end the conflict America seeded in Ukraine.  Those who call to send our young into foreign battle will themselves soon be battling to fill their bellies. Millions of Americans are waking in awareness of the unprecedented threat of famine in the world’s leading economic nation.  This folly was avoidable: our vulnerability is by design.  As Kissinger said, “Control the oil, control the nations.  Control the food, control the people.”

Creepy Joe points to everybody else as the causes of the problems he seeds, whether war, inflation, or Hunter’s laptop.  But the unfolding food insecurity and shrunken incomes of the 21st century will not easily be laid at the feet of The Donald — that Trump card has worn very thin.

 

John Klar is an Attorney, farmer, and author. Mostly farmer… And Regular Contributor to GraniteGrok and VermontGrok.

The post Night Cap: Food, Famine, Fear: Beware the Great Agricultural Reset appeared first on Granite Grok.

If you have been using the internet for longer than a couple of years, you might have noticed that it used to be much “freer.” What freer means in this context is that there was less censorship and less stringent rules regarding copyright violations on social media websites such as YouTube and Facebook (and consequently a wider array of content).

Search engines used to show results from smaller websites often, there were fewer “fact-checkers,” and there were (for better or for worse) less stringent guidelines for acceptable conduct. In the last ten years, the internet’s structure and environment have undergone radical changes. This has happened in many areas of the internet; however, this article will specifically focus on the changes in social media websites and search engines. This article will argue that changes in European Union regulations regarding online platforms played an important role in shaping the structure of the internet to the way it is today and that further changes in EU policy that will be even more detrimental to freedom on the internet may be on the horizon.

Now that readers have an idea of what “change” is referring to, we should explain in detail which EU regulations played a part in bringing it about. The first important piece of regulation we will deal with is the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market that came out in 2019. Article 17 of this directive states that online content-sharing service platforms are liable for the copyrighted content that is posted on their websites if they do not have a license for said content.

To be exempt from liability, the websites must show that they exerted their best efforts to ensure that copyrighted content does not get posted on their sites, cooperated expeditiously to take the content down if posted, and took measures to make sure the content does not get uploaded again. If these websites were ever in a place to be liable for even a significant minority of the content uploaded to them, the financial ramifications would be immense.

Due to this regulation, around the same period, YouTube and many other sites strengthened their policy regarding copyrighted content, and ever since then—sometimes rightfully, sometimes wrongfully—content creators have been complaining about their videos getting flagged for copyright violations.

Another EU regulation that is of note for our topic is the Digital Services Act that came out in 2023. The Digital Services Act is a regulation that defines very large online platforms and search engines as platform sites with more than forty-five million active monthly users and places specific burdens on these sites along with the regulatory burden that is eligible for all online platforms. The entirety of this act is too long to be discussed in this article; however, some of the most noteworthy points are as follows:

1. The EU Commission (the executive body of the EU) will work directly with very large online platforms to ensure that their terms of service are compatible with requirements regarding hate speech and disinformation as well as the additional requirements of the Digital Services Act. The EU Commission also has the power to directly influence the terms of conduct of these websites.
2. Very large online platforms and search engines have the obligation to ban and preemptively fight against and alter their recommendation systems to discriminate against many different types of content ranging from hate speech and discrimination to anything that might be deemed misinformation and disinformation.

These points should be concerning to anyone who uses the internet. The vagueness of terms such as “hate speech” and “disinformation” allows the EU to influence the recommendation algorithms and terms of service of these websites and to keep any content that goes against their “ideals” away from the spotlight or away from these websites entirely. Even if the issues that are discussed here were entirely theoretical, it would still be prudent to be concerned about a centralized supragovernmental institution such as the EU having this much power regarding the internet and the websites we use every day. However, as with the banning of Russia Today from YouTube, which was due to allegations of disinformation and happened around the same time the EU placed sanctions on Russia Today, we can see that political considerations can and do lead to content being banned on these sites.

We currently live in a world with an almost infinite amount of information; due to this, it would be impossible for anyone or even any institution to sift through all the data surrounding any issue and to come up with a definitive “truth” on the subject, and this is assuming that said persons or institution is unbiased on the issue and approaching it in good faith, which is rarely the case.

All of us have ways of viewing the world that filter our understanding of issues even when we have the best intentions, not to mention the fact that supranational bodies such as the EU and the EU Commission have vested political incentives and are influenced by many lobbies, which may render their decisions regarding what is the “truth” and what is “disinformation” to be faulty at best and deliberately harmful at worst. All of this is to say that in general, none of us—not even the so-called experts—can claim to know everything regarding an issue enough to make a definitive statement as to what is true and what is disinformation, and this makes giving a centralized institution the power to constitute what the truth is a very dangerous thing.

The proponents of these EU regulations argue that bad-faith actors may use disinformation to deceive the public. There is obviously some truth in this; however, one could also argue that many different actors creating and arguing their own narrative with regard to what is happening around the world are preferable to a centralized institution controlling a unified narrative of what is to be considered the “truth.”

In my scenario, even if some people are “fooled” (even though to accurately consider people to be fooled, we would have to claim that we know the definitive truth regarding a multifaceted, complex issue that can be viewed from many angles), the public will get to hear many narratives about what happened and can make up their own minds. If this leads to people being fooled by bad-faith actors, it will never be the entirety of the population.

Some people will be “fooled” by narrative A, some by narrative B, some by narrative C, and so forth. However, in the current case, if the EU is or ever becomes the bad-faith actor who uses its power to champion its own narrative for political purposes, it has the power to control and influence what the entirety of the public hears and believes with regard to an issue, and that is a much more dangerous scenario than the one that would occur if we simply let the so-called wars of information be waged. The concentration of power is something that we should always be concerned about, especially when it comes to power regarding information since information shapes what people believe, and what people believe changes everything.

Another important thing to note is that just because it is the EU that makes these regulations does not change the fact that it affects everyone in the world. After all, even if someone posts a video on YouTube from the United States or from Turkey, it will still face the same terms of service. Almost everyone in the world uses Google or Bing, and the EU has power over the recommendation algorithms of these search engines. This means that the EU has the power over what information most people see when they want to learn something from the internet. No centralized institution can be trusted with this much power.

One final issue of importance is the fact that the EU is investing in new technologies such as artificial intelligence programs to “tackle disinformation” and to check the veracity of content posted online. An important example of this is the InVID project, which is in its own words “a knowledge verification platform to detect emerging stories and assess the reliability of newsworthy video files and content spread via social media.” If you are at all worried about the state of the internet as explained in this article, know that this potential development may lead to the EU doing all of the things described here in an even more “effective” manner in the future.

 

 

Mustafa Ekin Turan | Mises Wire We heartily encourage reprints and shares of Mises Wire articles. If you wish to reproduce an article in your blog, magazine, radio show, newspaper column, classroom material, textbook, discussion group, website, or any other venue, please do so. The original publication source must be included in an appropriate place.

The post How EU Law Has Made the Internet Less Free for Everyone Else appeared first on Granite Grok.

Pinedale, Wyoming, is a cozy piece of nowhere nestled near the Wind River Mountains with a bustling population of just over 2000. It is also the county seat (Sublette), which might be why the holes running it fined a 13-year old 400.00 for selling cookies on the side of the road.

The story captured international attention. The UK Daily Mail Covered it. I went with Cowboy Daily for my source (since it was theirs, too), and while both do a fine job of outlining the particulars (relevant ordinances, mom’s refusal to relocate up the road when instructed), the real outrage goes unreported. First, the “particulars.’

In a report filed with the city, the officer claimed that she had instructed Emma and her mom to pack up the cookie boxes and move everything over to the old town hall parking lot at 210 W. Pine St. where it would be safer and legal.

The first was for unlawful obstruction of the road and sidewalk without receiving permission of the Pinedale City Council. The second citation was for “exception,” meaning that McCarroll didn’t leave 5 feet of unobstructed, continuous passage on the sidewalk as allowed by WYDOT.

The third citation was for parking a vehicle on the sidewalk.

Grand total of the fines: $400. But then came the legal bill.

Mom parked her car in her parent’s driveway while her daughter set up shop along the sidewalk of a “busy road.” I’m not sure what busy means in a town of 2,030 people, but I’d bet money it’s not. A confused discussion later and a city employee (how much taxpayer money did he waste doing this) captured photographic evidence, filed a complaint, and issued a fine (along with all the paperwork involved).

I’d like to assume it cost less than $400.00 to capture and process the violation and issue the fine,; otherwise, what’s the point of the fine? But where the government is concerned, you shouldn’t.

The 13-year-old’s mom hired a lawyer for more than the fine to argue the particulars, after which she still ended up paying the city $150.00.

This all seems excessive to me: the local ordinance, the code enforcement officer, the paperwork, the record-keeping, the lawyer, and the fine. Here’s how it should have gone down: Nothing should have happened except for Emma selling some cookies. If that’s too “free” for y’all, how about this instead?

Excuse me, do you live here?

No, my parents do, and this is my daughter.

If you could please make sure you’re not blocking the sidewalk, you can have a great rest of your day.

[Table leg stretching sound as Mom and daughter move the table back onto the driveway a bit more]

Thank you.

Thank you. Hey, would you like ot buy some cookies?

Am I asking too little?

The post It Was a “Fine” Day to Sell Girl Scout Cookies – $400.00 Worth of ‘Fine(s)’ appeared first on Granite Grok.

Many of us have offered repeated warnings about the focus on action civics in our schools versus a focus on academic content knowledge. The violence and anger directed at Jews we are seeing on college campuses, is what students across America have been taught.

Civics illiteracy is a big problem, and we know that in New Hampshire. New laws have been passed in an effort to improve civics literacy among the student population, but a better solution would be to develop quality academic standards, and test students on their knowledge.

New Hampshire does require students to pass the U.S. Citizenship test prior to graduating high school, so that was a step in the right direction. But there are still organizations like NH Civics, that continue to push the narrative that we need federal law to push more “civics action” in our schools.

Action Civics is CODE for, let’s turn your kids into illiterate political activists.

The Daily Signal picked up on this here:

 

Parents asking why their college student’s graduation is canceled this year need only remember when their child was in high school.

K-12 schools have been training students to disrupt the systems around them for years through the teaching of “action civics,” which primes students to be activists even if it deprives them of understanding if, when, or why a demonstration would be necessary.

This has been an agenda of Nellie Mae for many years. Nellie Mae has been instrumental in our own New Hampshire Department of Education, and in many of our schools. They offer schools grant money, school administrators respond by taking the money, and implementing the agenda from Nellie Mae. Money talks. Here you can see that they’ve awarded grants to Pittsfield public schools.

They even include a reference to Saul Alinsky at the end of page 1 (Introduction)

Who funds Nellie Mae? The federal government and the Gates Foundation. This is another way state and local communities lose control over their local public schools. They are paying public schools to turn kids into political organizers.

Screenshot

No one should be surprised by the disruption and violence coming from the trained Marxist calling for the “Final Solution.” Many of them interviewed cannot answer simple questions about why they are protesting. Illiteracy is common among trained Marxist activists.

When you refuse to demand better from your local public school, don’t be surprised by what they are turning out.

The post Want to See “Action Civics” On Display? Look at Our College Campuses appeared first on Granite Grok.

A local political activist is scheduled to appear in court on June 3rd. He is accused of a handful of charges stemming from an event at Porcfest (August 2022), including simple assault and sexual assault of a minor and false imprisonment.

Patch has all the details.

Elliot “Alu” Axelman, 31, of Heather Drive in Hooksett was charged by Lancaster police in August 2023 with false imprisonment, two counts of simple assault, and four counts of sexual assault, all misdemeanors. The charges stem from an incident at Porcfest in June 2022, an event he reportedly attended. The victim, a girl who was 14 at the time, was also at the event with her family.

According to complaints filed against Axelman, he was accused of “purposely (engaging) in sexual contact” with the girl “by touching her buttocks with his body, where such contact can reasonably be construed as being for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification” and there was an age difference of more than five years between them. The filing also accused him of applying physical force by holding her and pulling her toward him while touching her buttocks and “having her body touch his erect penis.” Axelman was also accused of kissing the child’s neck and holding her by her waist.

Axelman has been active in local politics for years and runs the website LibertyBlockNH. Axelman ran the NH House as a Republican a few years back, losing by 40 votes.

After the charges were filed, an arrest warrant was issued against Axelman in September 2023, and he was released on $5,000 bail. As a part of his bail, he was ordered to stay at least 1,000 feet away from the child, was not to be at the Roger’s Campground & Motel in Lancaster, where Porcfest is held, and needed to refrain from excessive use of alcohol.

More details here.

We’ll try to keep you updated if new information becomes available and when the case gets heard in June.

Correction: The alleged assault happened in August of 2022. The original article referenced last August (2023). It has been corrected.

The post Elliot Axelman Headed to Court on Sexual Assault Charges appeared first on Granite Grok.

As promised in Monday Memes, I have an overflow. My meme cup runneth over.  And yes there will be a Friday edition too.

Let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

Reminds me of this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where are the DADS?  More:

A group of middle school girls in West Virginia protested the fact that a biological male was allowed into their coemption.
In response, the board of education banned them from ever taking part in the competition again.

 

 

MHO of course.  Board, tar, feathers.  Some assembly required.

 

 

 

People DO NOT WANT to see the dark side of reality.

 

 

Many in my circles are exactly that.

 

 

No amnesty.

 

 

 

I’m still leery of Vivek in general, but that’s a great point!

 

 

 

 

 

Are Guns the Problem? – Walter E. Williams (walterewilliams.com)

I am very honored to have his picture, autographed to me, framed and on my wall at home.  And, parenthetically, years ago I saw a correlation between the introduction of TVs widely in society and an uptick in violence.  It wasn’t the programming per se; it was the mere fact of the “idiot box” in a majority of homes.  And while correlation does not equal causation, the data looked compelling nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of people have no problem with panels 1-3; they somehow believe that being appointed or elected or hired into governmental jobs somehow erases human weaknesses.  Same with having a MD or PhD after your name… suddenly they become transformed into beings made from finer, more noble clay.

 

 

 

 

Wow!

 

 

 

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

 

PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA

 

 

I misplaced the text that goes with this, but basically it’s a chart of what percent of males & females loved their first intimate partner (not sure what language that is).  Not only is it disturbing that the trend goes down… to the point where half the people are giving themselves physically to people they don’t love or that, at least in this latest data point instance, more women than men now don’t love their first partner, there are other implications:

The Myth of Sexual Experience

Why Sexually Inexperienced Dating Couples Actually Go On to Have Stronger Marriages

Why, it’s almost as though Hashem’s wisdom of being chaste until marriage, and faithful within a marriage, works best.  Hmmm.  Related:

 

 

Understand this: There is a push for more and more casual sex hookups – the “hookup” culture – because the more partners you have, the less distinct each one becomes.  I’m not saying that you, whether male or female, will forget individuals, but when early sexual life becomes a quest for the next one, the next thrill-of-the-new, then you get bored with the same-old, same-old.  Marriage and the ruts you can get into become tiresome.  And it sets up comparisons to prior partners.  On “performance”.  On fun, on height, on wealth, on various bodily attributes (male or female), on all sorts of things.

 

 

Stability, dull stability and sameness, create a burr to do something “fun” again in the minds who have had multiple partners, especially the thrilling casual encounters.  And thus, marriages fall apart.  Partners cheat, looking for that thrill of the new.  The term is monkey branching – always reaching to the next thing.  And not only marriages fall apart, but harm to the children ensues.  They see, with their own eyes and feel, without a mature brain’s ability to handle it, the dissolution of their family – the one thing they should be able to count on.  With the subsequent dissolution of a sense of stability and anchoring.

All deliberate.  A strong nuclear family is one of the foundational elements of Western civilization.  Of course it’s under attack.  Just as is having a posterity.  Consider, as a concluding thought, the tale of these two women:

 

 

Who, on their death bed, is going to look back and think they had a more fulfilling life?  And who, on that same death bed, will have more people there… and more people who care when they’ve passed?  Let alone, in ten years, people who still remember them?

 

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

 

Links (some from me, some from my Jarhead friend):

 

Pro-Hamas Protesters Want Amnesty, Records Wiped To Avoid Future Consequences – Pirate’s Cove » Pirate’s Cove (thepiratescove.us)

Cancel culture works both ways, buttercup.  How’s it taste?

—

Does The CIA Run America? | ZeroHedge

All credit to my brilliant father who speculated along these lines at the time. I was very young with only the vaguest clue about what was happening. But I recall very well that he was convinced that Richard Nixon was set up in a trap and unfairly hounded out of office not for the bad things he was doing but for standing up to the Deep State.

If my own father, not a particularly political person, knew this for certain at the time, this must have been a strong perception even then.

You hear the rap that these agencies—the CIA is one but there are many adjacent others—are not allowed by law to intervene in domestic politics. At this point and after so much experience, this comes across to me like something of a joke. We know from vast evidence and personal testimony that the CIA has been manipulating political figures, narratives, and outcomes for a very long time.

Frank Herbert, author of DUNE (one of the top five sci-fi books I’ve ever read), said:

“Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.”

—

CONFIRMED: Federal Government Giving Voter Registration Forms to Non-Citizen Refugees | The Gateway Pundit | by Cristina Laila

Treason.

 

 

—

“Do Not Disclose This Is An Ad”: OnlyFans Creator Says Biden Admin Paid For “Full On Political Propaganda” | ZeroHedge

To paraphrase Andrew Breitbart, if you need T&A to sell your agitprop, your agitprop sucks.

—

Breaking JAMA study (Hu et al.) shows that the mRNA technology gene-based mRNA injection (Bancel Bourla Malone Weissman et al.) causes heart failure & seizures in children (FDA) aged 6 mths-17 years) (substack.com)

Kids, who were at a functionally-zero risk of fatality from Covid, were injected with something with substantially more risk – not just to hearts, but potentially fertility, plus myriad other possible adverse reactions.  Not to mention the incorporation of the mRNA gene sequence into their reproductive DNA.

 

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

 

 

Loving your nation is now being a Nazi?

Yoram Hazony | The Virtue of Nationalism

 

 

 

It’s not “just” a job.  It’s not “just” following orders.  In many – most – instances, it’s a chance to be bad while being told you’re good:

 

 

This is, IMHO, an incredible insight into human nature.

 

 

 

 

 

Yet another seemingly-accurate prophecy of when the end is near.  From another culture.

 

 

 

But… but… but the Great Replacement is a myth.  Our intellectual and moral superiors have assured us so.

 

 

 

No.  Only with Israel, because everyone understands all these other places have zero care about what “the world” thinks.

 

 

 

 

Two things.  First, when in the history of America has it been proposed to forbid questioning the official story on anything?  And second, do these geniuses at the ADL and AIPAC not grasp that most people, including myself alas, will question the motivation… and, parenthetically wonder at Jews-behind-everything in that?  Jewicidal Yidiots.

 

 

 

 

Here we go again.

 

 

Remember, pre-WWII the “Progressives” and the Fascists were kissing cousins.

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left

And that it was the KKK, founded by a DEMOCRAT, that attacked blacks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Pick of the Post:

 

 

Do I believe this?  Sadly, yes.  And if I were nabbed by that, I’d tell everyone I could about that restaurant’s deed.  But more broadly, this is an indictment on the general ethics and character of our society, that someone thinks this is a good idea to do.  Apparently enough someones that it’s a noticed.

 

 

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

 

Palate cleansers:

 

—

—

 

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

 

Come back on Friday for more memes.  Same meme time.  Same meme channel.

 

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

 

 

For the entire sweep of my Jab-related cartoons, see here:

CARTOON: We Trusted the Science – Granite Grok

The post Meme Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.

Howard Johnson’s used to boast over thirty flavors of ice cream. It was great to have so many choices, but sometimes, you simply want a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I went through a period when all my cars were white. It was not a social statement. I love the clean look of a white car. I now drive a beautiful chocolate brown Jeep.

The color is not a statement, just a choice. Choices are wonderful, as is diversity, but only when organic. Would it have been any better for society if the government had forced Howard Johnson to have 35 flavors instead of 31? Absolutely not. Forced diversity is a subliminal form of racism and is harming the quality of American life.

When choices are limited by the boxes that need to be checked, then you do not get the best option for the situation. If you focus on politics, limiting the pool to a Black woman did not give us the best person for Vice President or Supreme Court justice. The choice satisfied certain voting groups, like Blacks and women, but shortchanged America by not putting the best person in place. This also happened at the state level when Gavenor Newsom used the same thinking to replace the late Senator Barbara Feinstein. Biden brags about his most diverse cabinet in history, but he does not discuss it being the least effective either. The administration’s focus on diversity and abortion has taken its eyes off the target issues like the border, economy, inflation, Fentanyl, and trade issues.

Our military effectiveness has declined as the WOKE culture infects all branches. The surrender of Afghanistan was an example. The military is more concerned about access to abortion and gender reassignment services than recruiting. We have not hit recruiting targets under Biden’s term, and people say it is because of the weak attitude of our Defense Department.

Colleges across the country are feeling the impact of “peaceful” demonstrations, which are a result of WOKE DEI thinking amongst indoctrinated students. These students have been told for 15-16 years how evil and destructive America is, and they are all feeling hatred and antisemitism. This environment is not sustainable, and Presidents are reaching out to the leadership, police, and the FBI to intervene. The institutions show their weakness by negotiating with protestors who have violated school policy by setting up encampments instead of taking charge and shutting them down.

The attention the WOKE is getting is all negative and is resulting in the slow, eventual death of Woke and DEI. Just like BLM was shown to be a sham and a Ponzi scheme, DEI has been exposed as a progressive attempt to reshape our culture and future direction, and it failed. These movements attempted to use the Millenials and Gen-Z groups that people recognized as young morons who were allowing themselves to be used as pawns by progressive operatives like George Soros.

DEI needs to die and should have sooner than this. It aimed to feature groups that wanted recognition when they should have earned it with merit. To isolate groups and elevate them above others is racism. Black History Month, Gay Pride Month, and Women’s History are all efforts to isolate and recognize one group over all others. How is this allowed when people are seeking equity and equality? How about we get back to celebrating humanity as a whole and let Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion happen organically?

 

The post Is DEI Ready To DIE appeared first on Granite Grok.

It was inevitable. My yard is still damp with March and April showers (and muddy in places), and the Fire department says the Fire Danger is High. Okay. We’ve also got reports of wildfires in Canada (are the arsonists starting early this year?), and me with my mud season decorations still up. What the heck!

Meanwhile, in Maine, a bit closer to where I sit than British Columbia, they are also reporting dryconditions and some brush fires. “Authorities have been fighting several small wildfires and brush fires around the state Saturday.”

If you look at this wildfire map, there are zero in New Hampshire or Maine.

 

If you look at the ARC GIS Map, there are reported fires (all from 4/27).

 

 

There are three in New Hampshire and three in Maine (it helps to have good tools), though I can’t say what the difference is or why Map One isn’t showing these events. I zoomed down on both to get them to show up. But we all have a similar problem.

Related: CO2 Increases “Linked to” Rising Education Costs and More Gun Crimes in Democrat Cities but not Forest Fires.

While we didn’t have much snow, we did have a lot of rain so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. The winter before last, the West and Left Coast got a lot of snow and rain. That tends to result in an increase in wild grass (as it does here), which is a fuel that lends itself to a potentially crazy wildfire season, but not last year. 2023 saw fewer acres burned in this century. The Wild West and crazy Left Coast didn’t burn as predicted. I blame Global Warming.

Fewer than 3 million acres cooked.

I can’t say with any certainty that people just behaved themself and listened to Smokey the Bear. Maybe the climate cult nutters were all up in Canada last year? They had a lot of arsonists starting fires north of the 49th parallel, much like Australia a few years back. Pro Tip: If the media is hyper-focused on some country and its unusual number of wildfires, human beings are very likely the reason why they started.

Climate nutters engaged in “real action,” starting fires and blaming it on Global Warming. So yeah, it is man-caused, but not because you drive an SUV.

Additional Reading.
Massive California “Wildfire” (Allegedly) Started by a Former Forestry Student Not Global Warming
Louisiana’s Largest Wildfire (ever) Was Man-Made, as in Arson
Are They Really “Wildfires” if You Arrested 79 Arsonists for Starting Them?
Australia’s Brush Fires – Arson is Playing a Huge Role
Suspected Arsonist Caught Starting Fires in Italy and Sicily

I have to go take my mud season decorations down, even though it is raining and still muddy.

The post It’s Forest Fire Season Already And I Still Have My Mud Season Decorations Up appeared first on Granite Grok.

Here is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis telling the Biden-Regime to pound sand in response to the Regime’s redefining Title 9 … which is supposed to protect girls and women … to accommodate men and boys who identify as girls and women: FLORIDA WILL NOT COMPLY.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for Chris Sun-King Sununu or his underling Sununicans, i.e. Imposter-Republicans, to say something similar.

Sununu-Republicans, AT BEST, pay lip service to the rights of female athletes … while they make common cause with the DemocratsWoke-Communists to turn New Hampshire into a sea of shanty-towns (ADUs) and apartment complexes, where single-family zoning is illegal. Ask them about it, and what you will hear in response is the usual pablum about EFAs and Parental-Bill-Of-Rights, neither of which will do a damn thing about protecting girls’ and women’s sports.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says the state will not comply with the Biden administration's efforts to push gender ideology into education. pic.twitter.com/kIjy8HXePY

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 25, 2024

The post Things You Will Never Hear Sun-King Chris Sununu Say … appeared first on Granite Grok.

A judge in New York may have slipped up when he repudiated the US Constitution on the record during a trial. Essentially supporting secession from the federal government, judge Abena Darkeh proclaimed that the federal constitution did not exist in his courtroom. This decision absolutely violated the federal constitution and the US Supreme Court. 

The post NY Judge Says Quiet Part Out Loud; Endorses Secession? appeared first on The Liberty Block.