Saturday • September 7 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XXXVI
Manchester, N.H.
Yes, this would be Patrick Hynes, an NH/DC-based political operative with an Op-Ed concerning Chris Sununu’s chances in the 2024 Presidential Campaign. For full disclosure, he was a founding member (with Doug Lambert) of Meet The New Press, our radio show here in the Lakes Region of NH.
And it continued until Lambert called NH Democrat Party Chair Ray Buckley a faggot on our livestream of the show and the rest was history well told in previous posts.
And Hynsie turned out to be one of the reasons why I harp on the fact that there’s no loyalty in politics – he PLEADED with me to remove all mention of him from Meet The New Press as he was throwing Lambert under the bus as quickly as he could – you know, like former NHGOP Chair Jennifer Horn (who was infamous from running away from any flying political mud lest a drop of it fall on her. She’s no longer a Republican grifter as the Lincoln Project helped her to “trans” to be a Democrat. Bet the operative word is still “grifter”, however.).
But I digress.
SHOT: TO BE HONEST, I DON’T SEE SUNUNU AS HAVING A MOMENT: Patrick Hynes: “Sununu’s Moment”
GOVERNOR SUNUNU has been an effective and popular leader here at home, and as he takes his show on the road to share New Hampshire’s success story with other states his commonsense approach and upbeat disposition are attracting a fair amount of attention. It’s time to start thinking of Governor Chris Sununu as a serious potential candidate for President of the United States. And it’s okay for Granite Staters to get excited about the idea…
Chaser: ElectionBettingOdds.com: Sununu isn’t even listed. “Other” (a grab bag of wannabees, I guess) shows up at 5.9%
Sununu doesn’t even show up in the list even after a month+ of running around the nation and going on all the Left-of-Center talking head shows.
US Senator Josh Hawley is the last one enumerated – with a rating of “< 0.01%”. Which means Sununu doesn’t even rate that high.
Hangover: An “Evergreen” statement by Sununu himself on low-rated wannabes:
Mr. Sununu also warned minor candidates not to carve up the field.
“I think there’s a lot of hope and opportunity for good candidates to get in, drive the message where it needs to be,” he said. “But the discipline is getting out, too. The discipline and saying, ‘Look, you’re only polling at 5%, you got to get out.’ We don’t want a crowded field here.”
I have a feeling that this quote will get a lot workout over the next year as I think that “not listed” is a “minor candidate”. Remember, NH is still the Republican FITN and Sununu has been in the limelight as the “NH FITN Host” when the candidates rolled through – he’s not an unknown entity. But NH isn’t much larger than Delaware but at least its former Governor, Larry Hogan, is listed at BetFair.
Like I said, Hynsie is a paid political mercenary. Either he’s on the payroll or perhaps looking to be on it.
Otherwise, he’s lost his mind. Or delusional. Or both.
The post Really Hynsie? You’re Touting Chris Sununu as the Next Greatest President? appeared first on Granite Grok.
YOU MIGHT not realize how fortunate we are as Americans to be able to celebrate love on Valentine’s Day. Before 1988, when I was a young woman living in China, it never even occurred to me that such celebrations should even exist.
We want to thank Lilly Tang Williams for this Op-Ed. Please submit yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
During the Cultural Revolution and many years beyond that, love was a forbidden subject. We were only allowed to show our “love” in public when it was our love for Chairman Mao, the Communist Party, and the motherland. Even expressing love to an immediate family member would be criticized. Couples caught holding hands together in public would be humiliated. My parents would call each other “male comrade” and “female comrade” instead of “husband and wife.”
Gender and beauty were canceled. Girls were required to wear unisex clothing and have approved hairstyles. Feminine clothing and behaviors were not tolerated. Wearing makeup was not accepted. Youths were strictly forbidden to date during school years. The girls were encouraged to rat out suitors by turning over love letters they received from boys. The boys would then be lectured by the teachers. Notes were sent home to their parents, with their violations recorded in their STUDENT FILE, a secret document kept on each student by the government.
I was forced to apologize in school for being too “sentimental” because I kept a photo album. When I had a “puppy love” during my middle school and high school years, I told myself to keep it quiet, as even my friends would turn me in.
Romantic songs and art were banned. We were only allowed to sing red songs to show affection to Mao and the CCP. The artwork on posters and walls was about collective love and loyalty to our leaders, never to family or friends. Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao were the focus of our directed “love.” For example, the lyrics to one popular song we had to sing in school went like this: “My parents are dear, but Chairman Mao is dearer.” Spouses were urged to report on each other. Children were brainwashed to turn on their parents.
In my college freshman year, we were warned by the Communist Party Law School Secretary, “don’t think about dating or marriage; focus on your studies to build China.” Of course, some of us rebelled against CCP rule, at least in secret. Things started to change publicly when a romance novel was published. It caused a national firestorm; the novel, “Love shall not be forgotten”, was about romance: a woman and a man who put their happiness first in a society that values sacrifice. Finally, the dating bans and dancing party bans were lifted.
After I came to America, I read a book written by a defector and former personal doctor to Mao. He revealed that Mao engaged often in dancing parties and had as many young women as he wanted during the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, the powerless were being kept down by a party and told they should not live a “capitalist lifestyle.”
My family and I were eyewitnesses to the true communism that exists in reality. You see, the reality for the perfectible socialist man — is a place where utopian promises never come. It is, instead, a place of hatred, division, envy, oppression, poverty, and suffering. It is a place where there is the destruction of love, families, individuals, human nature, and humanity.
Today, in America and outside of China, I am free to wear whatever I want; I can pursue beauty and express my feelings and opinions freely. And yet, ironically, I see too many young people in America idealizing socialism and communism. Just recently, I was informed by a young Twitter commentator, “You did not survive REAL communism. Real communist society has never existed.” This is a shocking lie and propaganda. The real communism I lived in is the same one that has exterminated nearly 100 million people this last century. I sometimes wonder if the victims of real communism are turning over in their graves because of what many young Americans now believe. Have these real victims of communism been forgotten so easily?
Valentine’s Day is a time I will always treasure. I am happy to see people celebrate love. Love is a part of family life and individual freedom, expression, and desire that must not be suppressed or eradicated. So, I want to invite you to celebrate this Valentine’s Day with me, to celebrate one of our most profound, precious, and powerful human emotions — love. It is love that will keep alive the memories of those millions.
—
Lily Tang Williams lives in Weare with her husband of 32 years. She is the chair of the N.H. Asian American Coalition. You can contact her at LilyTangWilliams.com.
The post A Late Submission: Happy Valentine’s Day in a Free Country! appeared first on Granite Grok.
I was invited to go to Vivek Ramasway’s event at St. A’s IOP last week by NH GOP Chair Chris Ager (the other videos are here and here, and Ray has a couple of posts on him as well).
I spoke with him ahead of the event and started wondering during his speech, “is he running”? His staff reached out to me afterward and asked if I’d be willing to be part of a panel discussion occurring tonite at Murphy’s Taproom in Manchester (see the ad on our right sidebar).
Note: PLEASE KNOW that because of the storm, it will end an hour early, at 8 pm.
His staff again reached out yesterday and asked if I’d be willing to speak individually as well – riiiiggghhhtt, giving a blogger like me an open mic? Hope to see you there. Heh!
Back to the purpose of this post – last night, biotech and financial services entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced that he was the next candidate seeking the Republican nomination for President of the United States on Tucker Carlson. First, however, his campaign’s announcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 21, 2023
Press Contact: Tricia@vivek2024.com
Vivek Ramaswamy Announces Candidacy for President of the United States
COLUMBUS, OH– Today, business leader and New York Times bestselling author Vivek Ramaswamy announced he is running for President of the United States. The goal of his candidacy is to lead Americans to rediscover our shared national identity which he views as a requirement to overcome our key domestic and foreign policy challenges.
Visit Vivek2024.com to watch the full announcement video and to learn more about Mr. Ramaswamy’s policy positions, personal background, and vision for America. Mr. Ramaswamy announced his candidacy on Tucker Carlson Tonight and in a Wall Street Journal opinion editorial.
Vivek Ramaswamy issued the following statement:
“We’re in the middle of a national identity crisis. Our nation is hungry for a cause, for purpose, for meaning. The things that used to fill that void – like faith, patriotism, and family – have disappeared. Today the woke left preys on that vacuum. They tell you that race, your gender, and your sexual orientation govern who you are and what you can achieve in life. If you question that orthodoxy, they call you a bigot. A homophobe. A climate denier. A racist. And there is no greater damnation in modern America than to be called a racist.
“This is psychological slavery. And that has created a new culture of fear that has completely replaced our culture of free speech in America. The best measure of the health of a democracy is the percentage of people who feel free to say what they actually think in public, and right now we are doing abysmally.
“That is why today I am announcing my candidacy for President of the United States. This isn’t just a political campaign–it’s a cultural movement to create a new dream for the next generation of Americans.”
And his official video announcement:
*Editors note: there are more than three running in the Republican Presidential Primary, but only three that “might” have some national name recognition at this point in the primary campaign.
Reminder: Content about candidates or by candidates is not an endorsement by GraniteGrok.com or its authors.
The post Breaking: And Then Were Three* – Vivek Ramaswamy Is Running for President appeared first on Granite Grok.
As promised in the last Monday Memes, I have an overflow. My meme cup runneth over. Certain about a Friday Overflow-Overflow.
Also, for those prepper-minded, my last two Survival Sundays:
Survival Sunday – Sunday PREP Edition – Granite Grok
Survival Sunday – Thursday SITREP Edition – Granite Grok
Now, let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:
*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***
A hat trick of past essays:
Concealed Data: My BS Meter Pegs Out – Granite Grok
—
The Right to Disagree – Urban Scoop
—
The Right Way: The Leftist Sense of Self (obamasez.blogspot.com)
>>>>>=====<<<<<
Virtually all fighting-age men. Virtually no children. Virtually no women. Virtually no family units.
Just men. Fit, young, healthy & strong men.
Prepositioned soldiers for when the fecal matter finally hits the shan? For when the Globalists need to control the invaded countries and the militaries finally balk? There are quite a number of people who hold that view, and IMHO not without justification.
>>>>>======<<<<<
>>>>>=====<<<<<
I’ve seen videos of Chinese barriers to movement – you can only pass through with your digital ID and a green QR code:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/china-gate.mp4
And yet… there are people who think this ghettoization of cities is good and beneficial. Cowards. They want to be slaves.
>>>>>=====<<<<<
>>>>>=====<<<<<
BILL WHITTLE: FERGUSON AND THE REAL RACE WAR
Click on it – it WILL play.
>>>>>=====<<<<<
>>>>>=====<<<<<
Pick of the post:
I do believe he was killed. Murdered. Because he said the Constitution means what it says, and no more.
>>>>>=====<<<<<
Neil Oliver: I don’t think governments value human beings anymore
I’m not sure, honestly, if any modern government really did. If they did, it’s certainly an exception to the general rule.
>>>>>=====<<<<<
Palate cleansers:
—
—
The post Meme Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.
Well … the NHGOP has lost ANOTHER House election … to another extremist. I am sure the bitter-clingers are in full denial mode … the Democrat was the incumbent … Democrats always do better in special elections; means absolutely nothing … Democrats always do better in cities … we were outspent … we still have the majority … blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Rather than reiterate the obvious … that New Hampshire is a BLUE State … not a swing, not a purple, and clearly not a Red State … and getting BLUER by the day … I will just ask, AGAIN, why is the GOP having this BLUE State lead its Presidential Primary calendar.
The post Blue Wave Continues To Wash Over New Hampshire appeared first on Granite Grok.
I was saddened to learn of his passing this morning via an email from the NH GOP
Chairman Ager’s Statement Following the Passing of the Hon. Paul Mirski
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 22, 2023
CONTACT: Chris Ager
(603) 318-4437Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Republican Party mourns the loss of former State Representative Paul Mirski of Enfield. Chairman Chris Ager issued the following statement:
“Rep. Mirski never met a conservative cause he wasn’t willing to champion. His legacy will be long lasting and his mentorship of so many Republicans will be missed dearly.
On behalf of the State Party, I offer my deepest condolences to Rep. Mirski’s family and friends.”
When I became politically aware (and then active), GraniteGrok was started. Of course, one of the items of interest was the NH GOP. Paul, having already been familiar of what we had been reporting, held out his hand in friendship. He voluntarily offered (without specifically saying it out loud) to mentor me on the politics, the factions, the people, the relationship, and the politics encompassing all of those items. He also provided a lot of history of the NH GOP that assisted in setting a context for me for all that. All done out of the goodness of his heart – he didn’t know me from a hole in the wall (even if it was a LOUD hole).
I haven’t spoken with him for a while – that love/hate relationship with the NH GOP that I’ve written about before. That said, I will miss him.
The post Breaking News: The Passing of the Honorable Paul Mirski appeared first on Granite Grok.
Vermont has been reporting an exponential rise in illegal border crossings from Canada for months. By which, we mean an 846% surge. NH Shares its border patrol sector with Vermont, and guess what?
Related: Sununu Signs on to Border Strike Force: An Agreement to Bail Together, But No One Want’s to Patch the Hole in the Boat
We’ve got ’em too.
“Most of the Border Patrol are gone to the southern borders and they’re down there, but they will help us any way they can,” Judd said.
The federal agency declined to confirm staffing levels, citing security concerns, but Lavallee said his office is supplying personnel to the Mexican border. He agreed that people might be surprised by what’s happening at the northern border.
“I think people would be surprised at the overall activity, not just drug trafficking, but human smuggling, as well,” he said.
Town officials said they believe just the visibility of a Border Patrol marked vehicle helps, but that’s more infrequent now.
Remember when Governor Chris Sununu (R-NH) said he would not send NH Guard troops to the southern border to help president Turmp calm down the mess Trump inherited from Obama? Even though other GOP governors were volunteering, he wouldn’t help Trump because he didn’t want to “separate families.” Trump got it done anyway, and things were calm and under control until Biden mumbled his way into the Oval Office.
So, do you remember when Gov. Sununu sent NH Guard Troops to shore up Nancy Pelosi’s militarization of the Capitol Complex after Jan 6th? He was a big yes to that.
How about when Mr. Sununu sent NH Guard Troops to help Joe Biden with his “border crisis.” The one that didn’t exist until Biden fixed it? He was Chrissy on the spot then, too, and not a word about separating families then.
Democrats, Yes! Republicans, not so much. Keep that in mind, please, because while New Hampshire isn’t a sanctuary state like Vermont, but we’ve got them here (illegals and Vermonters). And we know border crossings are escalating exponentially from Canada in the Swanton Sector, which includes NH, VT, and upstate NY.
Border patrol is hollowed out, and according to WMUR, the folks up in Pittsburg, NH, could use some help, so here’s the big question. Chris has proven he’ll help Dems when they ask, but not Republicans.
He’s a Republican, so… is he unwilling or unable to send National Guard troops to guard his own state border?
The post Will Sununu Send Guard Troops to Defend New Hampshire’s Border? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Open Letter to New Hampshires Federal Delegation: Senator Shaheen & Hassan and Representatives Pappas & Kuster; Listening to sportscasters talk over the radio this morning complaining about the New England Patriots raising their season ticket prices, they made the point “that all prices are going up.”
With all due respect to the honor that should be placed on your office, as your constituent, I take issue with you all about this “widely accepted lie” that covers our chronic perverted monetary system, which is sick with inflation caused by the Federal Reserve that has been given license to inflate our money supply since its inception in 1913. These sportscasters have swallowed this lie “hook, line, and sinker.”
Congress set the precedent by initiating the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 into law. The majority of every Congress since has accepted this lie as having constitutional authorization. Today’s Federal Reserve note has no precious metal backing and only has value as legal tender for debt because “it’s the law.” Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky now has 50 cosponsors of his bill HR 24 to audit the Federal Reserve, which mostly operates in secret. Article VI labels “All laws not made in pursuance of the Constitution as null and void.” This includes the Federal Reserve, which was not made in pursuance of the Constitution.
This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. It is corruption that steals the value of the wealth of the American people. Both parties, I think it is safe to assume, do not condone stealing when they are the victim. The “lie” is that “prices are going up.” What you buy, yes, increases in cost, but this deception hides the fact that the value of the dollar is going down because the Federal Reserve continues to print more dollars. It takes more to buy the same value. They call it a nice-sounding name, “Quantitative Easing.”
In 2010, a congressionally-mandated partial audit of the Federal Reserve was conducted. This was highly revealing that demands further and greater transparency to expose further corruption. It’s a good bet that we have seen only the “tip of the Iceberg.” Now, please push for greater transparency by mandating a full audit. We, the People, must be given the facts, for it is our money that is being stolen through the “inflation process.” It is our decision to make. You represent the people. I demand that The Federal Reserve, more accurately called the “generational theft machine,” should ultimately be abolished. I urge all victims of this theft to support HR 24.
The post The Federal Reserve Inflation; The Worlds Greatest Pickpocket appeared first on Granite Grok.
The date is February 22nd, which is Ash Wednesday, cook a sweet potato day, and National Margarita Day, among others.
If you’re interested.
In 303 AD Emperor Diocletian at Nicomedia issued the first official Roman edict calling for the persecution of Christians. Churches were ordered closed, and scriptures burnt.
In 1300 Pope Boniface VIII issued a papal bull benefiting anyone with the proper social credit score, “instating a Jubilee Year, granting forgiveness of sins and debts for those who fulfill various conditions.” Or was this more like Climate Offsets?
In 1349, the Jews were expelled from Zurich, Switzerland.
And some of the leftovers and links we Couldn’t get to, yesterday.
The Morning Mail B-B-B-Biden
The post The Morning Mail – Feb 22nd, 2023 appeared first on Granite Grok.
Just about everyone who gets involved with sports eventually gets hurt, both physically and emotionally. And while athletics are generally healthy endeavors —and while fitness is good—most everyone’s suffered sports injuries. For me, that includes three knee operations, three horrific ankle sprains, several dislocated fingers, an eye injury from a sucker punch, and some rearranged teeth due to an errant elbow on a basketball court.
Tennis anyone? But even tennis has its hazards.
Which brings us to our 30th President, a Vermonter named Calvin Coolidge. Our Presidents Day holiday, as always, involves stories of our illustrious—and not so illustrious—Commanders-in-Chief, including Silent Cal.
A true conservative, Coolidge was Governor of Massachusetts in 1919 when the Boston police went out on strike. (Yes, Massachusetts used to have conservatives.) With criminals running rampant, Coolidge sent in the Massachusetts militia into Beantown and famously stated that “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.”
Coolidge’s decisive action won him kudos, plaudits, and huzzahs throughout New England and beyond. In 1920 he was elected vice-president to serve under President Warren G. Harding. When Harding died in 1923 the taciturn New Englander became president.
America experienced unprecedented peace and prosperity under Coolidge. The 1924 election returned Coolidge to the White House in a landslide. His popular vote total almost doubled that of the Democrat nominee, John W. Davis.
This brings us back to tennis.
President Coolidge’s sons, John and Calvin Jr., loved to play tennis on the White House court. One day Cal. Jr. played without socks and developed a small toe blister. Sadly, infection and then sepsis resulted, and the 16-year-old was soon fighting for his life.
As the bedridden youngster’s condition deteriorated, he tearfully pleaded with his father for help. Coolidge may have been the most powerful man in the world, but neither he nor the nation’s top doctors could save young Calvin, who died within a week.
The grieving Coolidge would never be the same. Despite unprecedented popularity, the heartbroken president chose not to run again in 1928. He died in 1933 at the age of 60 and was buried in his hometown of Plymouth Notch, Vermont.
One must ponder how history may have unfolded very differently if only young Calvin Jr. had worn socks that fateful day on the White House tennis court.
Basketball, anyone?
The post “Silent Cal and Tennis Toes – A Presidents Day Story appeared first on Granite Grok.
Violent Male Sex Offenders in Canada Have Been ‘Transitioning’ To Get Into Women’s Prisons
Back in 2017, Canada began incarcerating inmates based on their preferred gender. At some point, someone decided to take a look at gender-diverse accommodations as well as the criminal profiles of these individuals, and they found something that’s not very #woke.
A recent study conducted by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), an “Examination of Gender Diverse Offenders,” which surveyed 99 “gender diverse” inmates between 2017 and 2020, found that of the 61 male inmates in the study who identified as transgender or something other than male, 46% had committed sexual offenses and 92% were incarcerated for violent crimes.
If you are transgender or support or advocate for this (at least in Canada), this is a PR nightmare. The longstanding practice, regardless of the country, has been that you can’t ask for proof of sexual identity because it is discriminatory. But without any failsafe, as we’ve long warned, male predators are using it to gain access to new victims in once-safe spaces.
California is the poster child for this failure. The government can’t even protect incarcerated women from sexual assault, which – in my opinion – says a lot about their competence to protect anyone else anywhere else, as they insist they can and shall.
More from The Daily Wire.
The report found that 91.7% of male inmates who identified as transgender women surveyed were incarcerated for a violent offense, including 41.6% for homicide. By contrast, according to the Correctional Service of Canada’s 2021 annual report, 25.8% of male inmates (who identify as male) were serving sentences for a violent offense, which includes homicide/manslaughter, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and other violent offenses.
Additionally, the researchers determined that 62.7% of male inmates who identified as transgender women had a low reintegration potential, 39.3% required maximum security, and 74.6% had “high static risk,” which refers to a high level of risk that an individual will reoffend based on factors that are relatively unchangeable or “static.”
It is difficult to walk away from this information without a sense of dread for biological women, especially in prison. Ninety-four percent of men in this study are violent sex offenders who are changing their gender after being imprisoned to gain easy access to women they can then sexually assault.
One bright note. “Canadian policy was clarified with a 2022 directive that explicitly gave prison officials the power to reject a transgender inmate’s transfer request on a case-by-case basis.” In other words, wardens and corrections officials with direct knowledge could deny any spurious claim, ala Corporal Clinger from the TV show M.A.S.H. and his efforts to get discharged from the army on a section 8 (crazy town).
He frequently wore dresses and high heels instead of his uniform. Everyone knew he was as sane as anyone, but, irony alert, you couldn’t do that on TV these days. You’d be called out as a bigot. So, do Canadian corrections officers have the stones to deal with that attention even when they know better?
And is someone going to do research like this in the US?
The post Violent Male Sex Offenders in Canada Have Been ‘Transitioning’ To Get Into Women’s Prisons appeared first on Granite Grok.
HB 44 was recommended as “OTP” (Ought to Pass) by the House Municipal and County Government Committee by a slim 11-9 margin. One Republican, the sponsor Rep Yokela, voted with Democrats to recommend the bill.
Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication.
This does not mean the full house can’t vote it down.
This bill will turn residential areas zoned single-family into multi-family areas.
OPPOSE HB 44 – 2023-0084 – Title: relative to permissible residential units in a residential zone. Sponsors: (Prime) Rebecca McWilliams, David Preece, Julie Gilman, Josh Yokela
Bill text: HB 44
Put simply, this bill will turn residential areas zoned single-family into multi-family areas.
House Municipal and County Government Committee already held a hearing on this bill with 11-9 OTP. On February 22 the full house will vote (all the reps) on the recommendation to pass. They can still vote NO if you email them.
Please write to the full house and tell them to vote NO on OTP on HB 44:
The post House Vote on HB 44 is TOMORROW February 22, 2023 – Vote NO on OTP! appeared first on Granite Grok.
For the meeting on February 22nd, here is the following item the Executive Council is set to approve related to Covid-19 spending:
I know this is the same action item as the last meeting, but it’s going to take a repeated effort to move the needle.
According to government databases, one child under the age of eighteen years old has died with Covid in New Hampshire, while there are VAERS reports showing four children in the same age group died subsequent to Covid-19 vaccination in New Hampshire. These are horrific statistics.
Please email your Executive Councilor and demand that they pause Covid-19 related expenditures to the Department of Health and Human Services until the department retracts their recommendation to vaccinate children against Covid-19 and stops state distribution of these shots to minors.
Joseph.D.Kenney@nh.gov
Cinde.Warmington@nh.gov
Janet.L.Stevens@nh.gov
Ted.Gatsas@nh.gov
David.K.Wheeler@nh.gov
Not sure who your Executive Council member is? Check here.
Towards Liberty,
Melissa Blasek
Executive Director, RebuildNH
The post February 22th Executive Council, Covid Spending Spree Report appeared first on Granite Grok.
Mikey Graham has a post up on NH-NeverTrump Journal about Dirty Mike Delaney … more specifically, about Dirty Mike’s nomination to serve on the First Circuit Court of Appeals. “Dirty” you ask. Well .. it was under Attorney General Dirty Mike Delaney that the NHDOJ refused to defend a law intended to reduce voter fraud by college students … Guare v. State. Dirty Mike is the head honcho of the Litigation Department at the McLane firm … which sued the State in 2020 to make New Hampshire elections even dirtier. And as Mikey Graham explains in his post:
Chessy’s parents Alex and Susan Prout filed a civil lawsuit after Labrie’s conviction on statutory rape and other charges, arguing the [St. Paul’s] school failed to “meet its most basic obligation to protect the children entrusted to its care.” They also claimed school administrators knew about the “Senior Salute” tradition. Delaney represented the school in the civil suit which St. Paul’s settled for an undisclosed amount in 2018.
The family claimed Delaney used a request that the court out the victim by name as a threat to intimidate her from participating in the lawsuit. During his hearing, Delaney denied ever asking the court to take that step. However, when confronted by Sen. Ted Cruz acknowledged he did ask the court to strip Chessy of her anonymity, but only if the case went all the way to trial.
So, yeah, I think DIRTY is a fair adjective to describe Mike Delaney.
What’s interesting about Mikey Graham’s post is the ONLY local politico he quotes is Chuck McGee … yeah that would be the Chuck McGee of phonegate fame … which strongly suggests that Mikey could NOT find anyone in the NHGOP willing to go on the record against Dirty Mike. Why is the NHGOP giving Delaney the kid glove treatment?
If the roles were reversed and Delaney was a Republican, nominated by a Republican President, you know every Democrat from U.S. Senator to Town Selectmen would be PUBLICLY demanding the Senate reject the nomination. The Democrat Party apparatus would be organizing petitions, calls to the State’s U.S. Senators and setting social media on fire. Why, in contrast, is the NHGOP giving Delaney the kid glove treatment?
Is it incompetence, apathy or, worse, is it Uni-party complicity? I don’t have the answer. I would love to know.
The post What’s Behind The NHGOP’s Kid Glove Treatment Of Dirty Mike Delaney? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Gentlemen:
I watched – and rewatched – your hour-plus discussion ranging from shoes, ships, and sealing wax to cabbages and kings. It was, to put it mildly, a sheer delight.
Modern Scottish Warrior Goes ‘BRAVEHEART’ on Elites | Neil Oliver | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 171
If I have a complaint, well two actually… first, the section clipped to avoid censorship, obviously beyond your control. Second, that I wasn’t in on it as often I felt like raising my hand to be called on to chip in with something that I thought might contribute to the mix!
Welcome Back, Kotter Arnold Horshack Raising Hand
As, I’m sure, innumerable others also did.
CYCLES
As I said, all of it was just a sheer delight. But in the last segment you guys talked about cycles throughout history. I’d like to refer you to this excellent speech by Bill Whittle talking about, amongst many things, the cycle of civilizations:
Bill Whittle The Assault On Civilizational Structures
It’s long but I watch it regularly as, even with seeing it several times, I manage to continually glean new insights each time. I highly recommend it. And it was, in part, thanks to Bill’s discussion of the cycle of civilizations that I developed – then wrote about – my own observations and theories about the biological roots of civilizational collapse:
Civilizational Collapse and Biology (Part 1) – Urban Scoop
Civilizational Collapse and Biology (Part 2) – Urban Scoop
Civilizational Collapse and Biology (Part 3) – Urban Scoop
Without doubt the above are not the only reasons for civilizational collapse; e.g., IIRC the Hittite Empire collapsed, in part, because of drought. Maybe that’s a factor but, from reading the excellent albeit academic-dry Armies of Pestilence, about the role of plagues in history, strong and growing civilizations can withstand enormous hardships and pick up again. Positing a theory: the biological roots of civilization collapse that I discussed prime a civilization to then be taken down by external agents – agents that would not have done so to a growing and confident civilization.
Great civilizations can survive a lot of things, but not impoverishment of spirit.
– Mark Steyn
Consider Western Civilization and the devastation wreaked by Yersinia Pestis – the Black Plague.
(Image source, and an interesting article in its own right!)
Yet here we are… Western Civilization still stands. So it’s my belief – taken in large part from that book – that while natural events can hit a civilization, it’s when they hit a civilization already in decline and/or wracked by self-doubt and criticism that they’re the death blow. Referring to the Hittites, were they already in decline when this multi-year drought hit? I wonder…
PROGRESS
In that video Bill talks about the West as having a unique mentality – one of improvement. One of not just “that’s the way our parents and grandparents did it”. The example he gives of a village where there’s an open sewer running down the center of the street “because it’s always been that way” – and a Western person would think “Give me some money and an hour at Home Depot and we fix this problem forever” rings true. Pictures I’ve seen of villages in squalor in Africa and Asia, for example… I look at those pictures and watch short videos and think to myself that precise thing: a few hundred dollars in hardware and some effort and it’s solved. But the mental attitude of the people there just doesn’t go in that direction.
In a fascinating book, The Gifts of the Jews, author Thomas Cahill examines how the Jews looked at the world which was – at the time – almost universally seen as endless cycles and cycles within cycles, but never changing… and instead said that things could be directed. Things had a beginning and an end, and progress could be made; that the cyclical nature of things could, in fact, be disrupted and vast improvements could be made by human intent (Ayn Rand was keenly insightful in this view of wealth coming from the human mind). Also within that book was the concept introduced that men and women were individuals, with destinies that could be shaped and guided by their own individual intent, a thought that until then was unheard of in the ancient world. In that world, one’s place was one’s place, one’s fate determined purely by the gods, and it was only kings and queens and other royalty that mattered. That the common man could not just improve his lot by his own hand, but might expect to be able to, was unheard of.
It is my contention, supported merely by an arm-waving argument, that it was this idea – however slender – of individualism and the impact of individuals taken from common stock that drove the initial seeds of Jew hatred among the elites. Also present in this was the idea that the Jews said to the kings and potentates of the time that, no, they were not divine and that there was One above them, immutable, whose power was in judgment of even those royals. Remember that Pharaoh was considered a deity, for example. These we’re-above-you types have never forgiven us for giving mankind these thoughts that undermined their power and authority.
But back to the main track: whether sourced from Jews specifically or Western Civilization or whatever, there was an idea introduced: that cycles back to baseline were not inevitable. That progress could be made by individual actions – as witnessed by the rise of the West, for example, in which the individual increasingly came to the fore.
BACK TO CYCLES
Yet cycles do exist. Consider the meme of the “Great Cycle”
One need reflect on this only momentarily to consider that this cycle does make sense. Indeed, as Bill Whittle discusses in his observation of civilizations, they rise… and then fall in a flash. Again, refer to my three-part series on why I think this is so. Or, at least, how a thriving and successful civilization can be weakened to the point where an exterior agent – human, infectious, weather, or otherwise – can deal the death blow. In light of the above image, consider that the barbarians that helped topple Rome were, in fact, admitted as refugees first:
Until the second half of the fourth century the Goths had inhabited a vast swathe of territory taking what now comprises Romania as well as the Ukraine. In 375, however, they were attacked by the Huns, a tribe of nomad warriors from central Asia who had been moving steadily westwards during the preceding century and a half. In the ensuing war the Goths suffered a crushing defeat and large numbers of them fled westwards towards the Roman Empire. By the summer of 376 an enormous host of Goths, generally estimated at around 100,000, arrived at the River Danube and pleaded with the Roman authorities to be allowed into the Empire.
The Eastern Emperor Valens, at that moment stationed in Antioch, eventually gave permission for the Therving tribe, which comprised about half the total number of Gothic refugees, to be ferried across the river. For at least two centuries prior to this the Romans had actively recruited barbarians into the army (necessary because of Rome’s abysmally low birth-rate) and Valens reasoned that the Goths would provide a valuable pool of new and cheap recruits. The operation to ferry these people across the Danube was an enormous and costly one and took several weeks to complete and, as Ammianus Marcellinus sarcastically comments, “diligent care was taken that no future destroyer of the Roman state should be left behind, even if he were smitten by a fatal disease.”
Unsurprisingly, within a few weeks of their entry into the Empire, the first clashes with the Roman authorities occurred, and by the end of the summer the Goths were at war with Rome. After several military disasters, the Emperor Valens made a hasty return to Constantinople to personally take charge of the campaign, and was killed in battle at Adrianople in 378 — just two years after he had sanctioned the mass immigration.
In parallel with the above is my own contention – long-held – that it was when the “average Roman” finally grasped how utterly corrupt and separated from the honor and responsibility that had been past practice, that they ceased being willing to fight to preserve Rome as the empire, and thus turned towards family and local community preservation. Do both of these not sound familiar in today’s news events of mass migration and fetid governmental corruption??
CYCLES WITHIN CYCLES
So it was fascinating to see you discuss cycles as well, and how we seem to be turning on another part of the cycle – a decline, whether natural or engineered (the latter is my opinion). There is no question that the idea that there are long cycles and short cycles. Within those cycles and advances great strides can be made. But catastrophes do happen too. Whether an EMP, or other thing like a cyberattack brings down the grid:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/cyber-attacks-next.mp4
Or food shortages erupt, or war, after which we can rebuild and renew. Regardless of that history of ups and downs, so many chant the refrain of Oh that’s just not possible.
Consider the Moties, from the scifi book The Mote in God’s Eye. Moties are a species trapped in one solar system, unable to expand outward, and which underwent countless cycles of growth and collapse. So they built museums; not pure museums as we would think, but rather museums of technology, of teaching, so that the knowledge of prior cycles was there and available – and not needing to be reinvented each time. For writing is, indeed, one of the great advances (despite some of its dangers, also discussed at the essay – link in the original, bolding added):
Some years ago, as an intellectual exercise, some friends and I were talking about what we thought was the single biggest advance in human history.
Medicine, monotheism*, science-in-general, fire, language, the Rule of Law not men, and many others – all were excellent propositions with good evidence and argumentation behind them. After batting things around for an hour or so I threw out the idea that writing was the single biggest advance – because it allowed knowledge to accumulate.
And not just accumulate, but be copied, added to, and disseminated far beyond word of mouth or the speaker’s lifetime.
Given the world as we see it, I would like to pose a question: How can you, I, and others who see this cycle turning – for doubtless in my mind it is – preserve what knowledge that we can so that after the collapse, we can rebuild faster with the technological and other lessons learned over past cycles, in particular not just the knowledge of how things are done, but the idea of individual liberty and the supremacy of the individual over The State? That, alone, is a priceless jewel to be preserved.
THANK YOU
So, I hope in the above I’ve added a few thoughts to your mix, absent raising my hand as you talked in real time.
Yours sincerely,
Nitzakhon
An ask: I’m going to try and get this into their hands directly, but if anyone has better and/or direct knowledge, please also attempt to share this with them. Thanks!
The post An Open Letter to Neil Oliver and Glenn Beck appeared first on Granite Grok.
Analogous to Lego in the modern, online world, Minecraft blends play with cognitive challenge by developing the sorts of transferable skills that are becoming more in-demand for both higher education and the workplace.
While limiting screen time has its virtues for a number of reasons, parents would do well to understand the surprising things your child can learn from Minecraft in terms of their personal, creative, and academic development.
From providing an outlet for to-be visual or game designers to offering an environment to learn the basics of logic in programming, this easy-to-learn and irrefutably popular platform has more than a few things that both you and your child can grow to love.
Creativity and Visual DesignFrom designing gameplay characters with Minecraft skins to engineering entire worlds, your child can imagine, design, and deploy their visual creations in the Minecraft universe. Your child can choose an existing look for their character with a Minecraft skins download, or create and upload their own custom outfit through a change to the source code by creating a Minecraft skins mod (short for ‘modification’).
Once created, your child’s design can be showcased among thousands of other unblocked Minecraft skins on various sites online, a veritable show-and-tell with global proportions.
This level of control, customization, and creative freedom applies to more than individual characters in the game – it extends to terrain, structures, and even machines with a functional purpose. Through mods and open-source collaboration, your child is learning the basic workflow of a front-end developer at a tech company, customizing existing visual designs and deploying them to the world at large.
Problem Solving and Basic ProgrammingThrough Minecraft’s Redstone blocks, your child can learn the basic logic that defines any programming language in use today. Using IF, ELSE, THEN and END commands, coding in Minecraft teaches your child programmatic thinking, if not the exact syntax of languages like Python or JavaScript. Through trial and error using a child-friendly interface, blocks of code can be rearranged to understand their function intuitively – thus paving the way for more advanced coding experience later in life.
The genius of Minecraft is that children are intrinsically motivated to learn programming since their codes, i.e. mods, have a direct effect on how they are able to enjoy the game. Minecraft mods allow your child to customize almost anything in the game, from lighting and movement speed to advanced technology and special super powers. Roblox and Scratch offer similar functionality, but arguably Minecraft trumps all due to its sheer size and level of global popularity.
Teamwork and Project ManagementAn awe-inspiring example of co-creation on the Minecraft platform is Westeroscraft, a community-based collective project that attempts to recreate George RR Martin’s fantasy continent of Westeros using Minecraft’s native building blocks (and no small amount of mods). Beyond being a project, Westeroscraft and other worlds like it are comprised of an online community.
Through participation in their growth and development, your child will learn networking skills, personal initiative, delegation, and collaboration within a functional group – all great fodder for a college essay or job application!
Having grown from its humble origins as a ‘sandbox’ video game to a truly global phenomenon and one of the most influential games of all time, the list of surprising things your child can learn from Minecraft is sure to keep growing.
While grasping the full capabilities of Minecraft as a tool isn’t always easy for parents (just mastering the lingo can be a challenge in and of itself), understanding the fundamental concepts and areas of practice the game encourages can be eye-opening for those wishing to see their child succeed later in life.
The post Surprising Things Your Child Can Learn From Minecraft appeared first on Granite Grok.
The part-time left (Never-Trumpers) and the full-time left have been working the Trump-popularity-decline narrative for a while. Convince people he’s old news or toxic in hopes the deplorables will move on to something more to the establishments liking. Yeah, that’s not working.
The latest Harvard-Harris poll is just a poll. It is far too early to take any of this seriously. Unless, as I noted above, we look at the context of Trump as old news or toxic. The GOP “wingers” carrying water for the left have some work to do because, contrary to the narrative Trump supporters are not leaving their guy.
Donald Trump: 46%
Ron DeSantis: 23%
Mike Pence: 7%
Nikki Haley: 6%
Mike Pompeo: 3%
Marco Rubio: 2%
Ted Cruz: 1%
Tim Scott: 1%
This is brutal. Where’s the decline? Are there already too many not-Trump candidates diluting the field?
Apparently not. In a head-to-head between Trump and Desantis, the Donald still had a commanding 12-point lead.
Donald Trump: 56%
Ron DeSantis: 44%
To be fair to DeSantis he has not announced he is running and that makes a difference. Building state-level campaign apparatus drives interest and moves needles. And while Florida Ron is well known in our circles most regular Republicans won’t know much about him beyond the bad things they read or hear from the media.
Having said that, the poll is still a kick in the teeth. The folks who take polls are not necessarily the same demographic as the folks who swim on the right side of the blogosphere and Trump is up 23 points.
The survey also showed results for a hypothetical general election between Trump and President Joe Biden, showing Trump winning with 46% to Biden’s 41%; 13% of respondents couldn’t decide on either candidate.
That’s not near enough of a spread to beat the cheatin’ Left in a Federal race. Trump would need to be 23 points up and then some in those key swing states that like to discover ballots in the wee hours.
There is a ton of stuff in this poll, including that Democrats would pick Biden as their nominee if the primary was today. Absent Biden in that race, their top pick is Kamal Harris (yikes!), followed by Hillary Clinton (zoinks!), and then Bernie Sanders.
One more point: If New Hampshire Gubnuh Snoonoo jumps in, as we expect, where does he land in this list of “plorables” (see what I did there)? Can he possibly poll better than Rubio or Cruz, who have national name recognition, and if so, why or why not?
| Harvard Harris Poll
The post In Latest GOP Primary Poll Trump has 23-Point Lead Over the Never-Trump Basket of “Plorables” appeared first on Granite Grok.
Larry Hogan, former Governor of Maryland, has a lot in common with Sun-King Sununu. Like Sun-King, Hogan chickened out on a run for the U.S. Senate and is now engaging in a LOOK AT ME! … LOOK AT ME! … EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME! … pretend Presidential campaign that involves going on communist cable networks and attacking real Republicans.
Indeed, RINO Hogan … every bit the COVID-tyrant as Sun-King … is spewing the same Anti-DeSantis garage as the Sun-King.
This fat idiot banned kids from going to school and enforced mandates for useless masks and ineffective, untested COVID-19 shots. There’s absolute nothing small or conservative about him or the state government he runs. https://t.co/cuHD6QdHKr
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 20, 2023
And, by the way, Hogan has been succeeded by a hard-Left Democrat … which is exactly the fate that awaits New Hampshire in 2024, when Chris Pappas is coronated.
The post RINO-Fraud Larry Hogan Repeating Same Anti-DeSantis Garbage As Sun-King Sununu appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Biden Admins war on your Second Amendment Rights continues despite the majority shift in Congress. They use the bureaucracy’s deep-state swamp rats to nibble, chomp, and stomp on your rights.
Related: Is the ATF Coming for You*, and Will Gov Sununu and AG Formella Defend You From Them If Necessary?
ATF issued a pistol brace rule that turns millions of Americans and perhaps thousands of Granite Staters into felons. What’s worse is that attempting to comply is a trap, and we’ve no word on whether the Sununu Administration and its AG will use HB1178 to help or hinder this federal overreach.
While we wait, the ATF’s new plan to disarm America will take root. If there are no legal federally licensed firearms dealers, there’s no “legal” way to purchase a new firearm.
“Rather than targeting those who display clear negligence and disregard for the law, ATF now revokes licenses without warning at the discovery of a first mistake by honest gun dealers,” Johnston said.
“When Federal Firearms Licensees are forced out of business, ATF adds their records to its digital gun registry that has nearly a billion gun and gun owner records,” he continued. “GOA is already working with Second Amendment champions like Rep. Michael Cloud on Capitol Hill to address this alarming issue and eliminate this unconstitutional gun registry.”
This reads to me like Red Flag laws for gun dealers. They get blind-sided by the ATF without any means for an appeal or – at best – a bankrupting trip through what passes for the judicial process to recover a license they may never get back.
That business is over, making it increasingly difficult for law-abiding citizens to defend themselves.
The Feds (presumably) seize all the inventory and hand it out to IRS agents or Department of Ed Stormtroopers (I’m only half-kidding). And at some point, it becomes almost impossible to arm yourself or your loved ones – except in states like Montana that step up and say no.
HB1178 is the law in New Hampshire, and it can protect GraniteStaters from federal overreach if enforced, but it didn’t go far enough. Additional legislation to shore it up was introduced this session, but HB 474 does not protect FFLs directly.
This bill prohibits the enforcement of any federal law or rule that might impair a person’s natural right to firearm ownership and natural right to self-defense and requires any public official who attempts to enforce such a federal law to be terminated from their position.
HB474 would prohibit any state entity or individual employed by the state or a subdivision from enforcing any federal rule or law that denies a law-abiding citizen of their second amendment rights, unemploys them, allows the citizen to ask for legal fees in their defense, and prohibits the use of qualified immunity as a defense for violating the lawful right to self-defense.
Does this include refusing to protect rights from federal agents who act unassisted to go after FFLs or individuals found in violation of the pistol brace rule?
It’s all academic now – these rules may never come into force. Lawsuits will likely tie them up for some time, but we can’t dismiss the attempt or the Left’s persistence in pursuing disarmament by any means.
The states are the wall that separates their citizens from federal overreach. But if they prefer to stand idly by and allow these natural rights to be violated, are there any rights they would stand up to protect?
HT | The Burning Platform
The post Who Will Protect Federally Licensed Gun Dealers From the ATF’s New “Red Flag Rule”? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Watching the breaking news on Monday morning of President Biden arriving at the Presidential Palace in Kyiv, I was not proud of him but angered at Biden’s twisted priorities. It is a horrific situation in Ukraine as the Russian military has been destroying it piece by piece for over a year.
Joe Biden has been sending equipment and money to Ukraine, starting with ammunition, missiles, tanks, and possibly fighter jets. The United States has given more than $100 Billion in aid, and Joe Biden says that there is no limit to the amount of aid we will give to Ukraine. This blank check has to come with stipulations, but Biden appears to be OK with signing these checks with no strings. We should be insisting on and facilitating negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Russia is poised to come out of this winter break in the fighting and is reported to have 500,000 ground troops ready to invade and attack Ukraine. Ukraine is no match militarily for Russia, and defeat would be painful and inevitable. Even if the war ended today, Ukraine’s infrastructure is in shambles, and they will be looking for untold billions to rebuild. A negotiated end must be an option.
Biden constantly boasts about his relationship with foreign governments. He obviously could not parlay that into mutual assistance for Zelenskyy and his country. As of January 1, no other country in NATO had given more than $5 Billion except the United Kingdom. The world is leaving it up to America to fund and equip Ukraine. That may be good for Biden, but not for American taxpayers.
While Biden was planning this clandestine visit to Kyiv, he and his team ignored the tragedy in Ohio. The lies continue to mount, and the danger to the residents of East Palestine looms like a dark cloud. The cries for help fell on deaf ears. The Whites House refused to allow FEMA to visit and evaluate the site for two weeks. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg proved his incompetence for the job by not only staying away from Ohio but belittling the severity of the crash and the damage to the land, air, and water of East Palestine and the surrounding area. Residents are told they are safe to go back to their homes and drink the water. This is while surrounding streams and rivers are polluted with dead fish, and the water glows in the dark. The sore throats, congestion, and rashes tell these people nothing is safe about their neighborhoods, and they fear what will transpire in the years ahead.
East Palestine is a disaster and an embarrassment. These people have been cast aside as insignificant. Joe Biden must be held accountable for ignoring Americans in need while concerned with illegal immigrants, cartels, a lost cause in Ukraine, and the earthquake victims in Turkey.
Incompetence and twisted priorities will be the legacy of this Administration. We hope that it will be a one-term Administration.
The post Kyiv, Yes. East Palestine, No Way. appeared first on Granite Grok.