Thursday • April 25 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XVII
Manchester, N.H.
The President of the United States, and by extension, the Leader of the Free World, should be judged solely on their Presidency and Administration results. Policies should be the measuring stick; politics should not, but certainly does today more than ever, come into play when determining the results of a Presidency.
Today, we have new characteristics used by many to ascertain a person’s performance or qualification for the office. I think age must be considered, but not chronological age. Age and cognitive level have become synonymous, and that is just wrong. When a Biden supporter is asked if Joe Biden is too old at 81 to run for the office of President, they usually deflect immediately to the fact that Donald Trump is only three years younger than Joe Biden, so if Trump is capable, then to be consistent, Joe must be, too. No, this is not the place for consistent logic and a perfect example of why age should not be a factor. However, the cognitive level must be considered by the voters.
The cognitive level has rarely come up when discussing the merits of Presidential candidates. That is because, until 2024, we have never had an 81 year-old candidate brazen enough to think they are still sharp enough for the job. Joe Biden believes he is fully functioning and will be until he is 86 years old at the end of a second term. Joe Biden is not fully functioning today, but he will not admit it, nor is anyone in his family or circle of staff and consultants courageous enough to explain to Joe that his time is past and he should pass the baton to a more fit candidate.
Politics has become an emotional game. The typical voter does not do the homework necessary to understand the policy positions. These voters instead vote for who they “like” or who they “feel” will do the job. This is why the campaign ads are so important and why you may never see Joe Biden on a debate stage. Biden’s handlers will need to keep him sheltered and moot so that he will make as few mistakes as possible, and there is no opportunity for a visual comparison between the two candidates. The game plan to keep Biden in the basement worked in 2020 because he had the pandemic as an excuse. Unless the Democrats can manifest another global scare before Election Day, most Americans will see through this charade.
Donald Trump has a portfolio of accomplishments from his first term that he should be able to campaign on. Unfortunately, his personality does not allow him to tout his accomplishments quietly. Trump cannot prevent himself from saying controversial things that become the soundbites for the evening news. They are controversial because they evoke anger or frustration in many and allow them to label Trump as an out-of-control radical who will further divide our country. Even Nikki Haley calls Trump a disaster. She approves of many of his policies but not his demeanor. Well, Joe Biden ran in 2020 on the promise to be the adult in the room and heal the divisions Trump created. Three years later, Biden widened the division, and his harmful policies damaged the country in ways that may never be corrected. I will take the brash over destructive. I think the polls are starting to align with my choice.
The post Can Someone Be Too Brash To Be President appeared first on Granite Grok.
It’s amazing what you have to do these days to protect kids from obscene “literature.” Content that is inappropriate and offensive to adult legislators who insist it remains available and accessible to children.
Not in West Virgina, if lawmakers have their way.
The House passed House Bill 4654 – removing bona fide schools, public libraries, and museums from the list of exemptions from criminal liability relating to distribution and display to a minor of obscene matter – in a 85-12 vote Friday, sending the bill to the state Senate.
HB 4654 would lift criminal liability exemptions from schools in the presentation of local or state-approved curriculum, and public libraries and museums displaying obscene matter to a minor when the child is not accompanied by a parent/guardian.
Most cities, towns, and states have obscenity laws. The FCC heavily regulates the display of obscene content. But most od an entire political party and a few of their alleged opponents – while upholding those standards of ‘decency’ (no one is suggesting we repeal them) everywhere else – demand and defend access to it by children. They even obstruct and object to efforts to give parents the right to filter such content for their own children.
The message is mixed. Legislators are better judges of what is appropriate for children than parents, but obscenity laws are in no other way censorship or book banning.
Supporters of the bill said it does not ban books or stop the selling or distribution of books some consider to be controversial or obscene. It merely provides the same prohibition against knowingly providing obscene materials to children outside the supervision of parents and guardians that already exist.
“This bill is giving our students and children in the community the same protection that they receive from GoGuardian and the FCC,” said Del. Jeff Stephens, R-Marshall, a school teacher referring to a computer program that blocks students from accessing pornography online at school.
Opponents suggest that the legislation “would have unintended consequences for public and school libraries, resulting in increases in challenges to even classic books and attempts to criminally charge librarians over books not pornographic in nature, but books that include descriptions of sex.”
It almost sounds like someone is admitting there’s a difference.
I must be mistaken.
The post Bill Makes Libraries Criminally Liable for the “Display to a Minor of ‘Obscene’ Matter” appeared first on Granite Grok.
Iran has been under the rule of Islam since 1979. The Iranian people have attempted on several occasions to end the practice of these barbarians. Still, each time, they were faced with the ruthless Islamic regime, and many of them were massacred while the world watched and did nothing.
This non-Iranian regime, via its mismanagement and incompetence, has turned Iran into a warehouse. In four decades of its existence, the Islamic Republic has managed, notably, to produce more hunger, more anger, more frustration, prostitution at a record pace, drug addiction beyond control, child execution without any regard for international human rights, and much more. There are many reports regarding cases of child sexual abuse and molestation reaching epidemic proportions. Prosecution and imprisonment of the innocent and the systematic and illegal abuse of detainees, and hundreds of gruesome acts of torture and rape in the prisons skyrocketed. Meanwhile, the United Nations stands by and does not blink.
Along with many acts of terror, this genocidal regime has been on a mission to wipe out the Baha’is in Iran completely. Since its arrival, the Islamic government has condoned and promoted every measure of oppression against a minority religious group called the Baha’is. The Islamic regime doesn’t even spare the dead. They bulldoze and even uproot the trees in Baha’is cemeteries.
Harassment of other religious minorities is also prevalent. They routinely hang dissidents and amputate their limbs for petty theft. They are responsible for the unmitigated poverty in an oil-rich country, sex slaves in the Persian Gulf region, and the rape of children as young as two years of age.
The US and its allies are aware that the Islamic Republic years ago started a nuclear program, not for peaceful purposes, as they claim, but only to strengthen its position in the region and prolong its existence long enough to get its hands on the bloody bomb so that they can feel invincible.
What is the likelihood that the ruling Mullahs will use their new toy? If they remain in power long enough to have it, they are very likely to use it in one form or another. At the very least, they will use the bomb for blackmail and intimidation in the region. Not even an all-out nuclear exchange can be ruled out. Islam is a religion centered on death, with faithful eyes fixed on the afterlife and its promised eternal pleasures. If the faithful kills, he goes to Allah’s paradise; if he gets killed, he goes to Allah’s paradise. An urgent warning to the people of the world: stop the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program now, or face eradication from the face of the earth, and this is not a joke.
When the regime is cornered, they will immediately use their propaganda machine to cover up their crimes against humanity. They create chaos and crisis. In other words, they create smoke and mirrors and then push the dust under the rug again, as they did when the Islamists took the American diplomats as hostages for 444 days. During the Iran and Iraq war, the IRI used their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, to attack Israelis to escape retaliation. They are masters in the business of distracting the world from their nuclear intentions, as they did during the Gaza crisis. They took the attention away from their nuclear program.
Since 1979, the regime has stigmatized, victimized, and murdered people without any due process of law. After 40 years in power, this regime still fears its own shadow. On the slightest suspicion, they will arrest, convict, and execute innocent people.
The Mullahs presently ruling Iran are faced with monumental threats. Internally, the great majority of the populace is against their misrule. Every segment of the Iranian population, including student groups, religious and ethnic minorities, journalists, and many others, has suffered and continues to suffer inordinate hardship under the heavy-handed Mullahs and their leads. After 44 years, they are using the slogans “Death to America” and Death to Israel” for interior consumption. It must be noted that not a single Persian has ever used the Islamic phrase of “Death to America.”
Externally, they are still engaged in brinksmanship with the United States and Israel as they try to wrestle the mantle of Islamic leadership from the Sunni Saudis and their Wahhabi cabal.
Many non-turbaned creatures are working as the mullahs’ agent frontmen and pawns all over the world — including their powerful lobbyists in Washington, DC.
They have hired non-Iranians, including disenfranchised Afghanis, Houthies, Iraqis, and Palestinians, as their proxies.
Going back to GWB’s era. For eight years, President Bush promised the Iranian people that America would support them in their struggle for freedom, but did he? The Iranian people stood up firmly only to be hanged by the Islamic Republic executioners, and President Trump only cheered and supported the Iranian people without any meaningful help. But everyone in the US administration rushed to help the Ukerainas—while Iran has been occupied for more than 44 years–a double standard.
Iranians also ask the community of nations to act, teach, and show some muscle in solidarity with them and to implement maximum pressure against this illegitimate government in occupied Iran.
There must not be, however, any compromise, any negotiation, or any deals with the Islamists in Iran before making sure that the Iranian people are part of the equation. The era of mass politics, propaganda, nebulous sloganeering, and magical solutions is over. It’s a do-or-die scenario for the Iranian people and perhaps for the people of the world.
The people of Iran wish nothing less than a complete regime change through the democratic process of a free referendum. They believe it is the surest, safest, and fastest way to achieve a democratic Iran and end the world’s nightmare of nuclear holocaust that is currently facing us all.
Iranians are no longer hopeful that America will help them; on the contrary, they believe America is in bed with the regime and has extended its life by supporting the Mullahs. After all, it was Jimmy Carter who installed Ayatollah Khomeini.
The post Four Decades of Islamic Occupation in Iran appeared first on Granite Grok.
Molly Brennan of Weare, NH testified in a hearing in the NH House Education Committee against HB1205, a bill to protect women’s and girls’ sports, on January 29.
In her testimony, Molly said:
The safety issue here isn’t … that [someone’s cis daughter] is going to be ruined for life by seeing a trans girl’s penis in the locker room. In fact, statistically, that won’t be the first penis she sees.
Watch her testimony below.
“The safety issue here isn’t . . . that someone’s cis daughter is going to be ruined for life by seeing a trans girl’s penis in a locker room.” Molly Brennan, HB1205 @NHPolitics pic.twitter.com/1mUzugabMe
— Sidewalk Steve (@Sidewalk_Steve) January 30, 2024
Related: Misogynist Anti-Science Trans Activist Featured by Derry High School Theater
That reminded me of this quote from Alok Vaid-Menon. an “internationally renowned gender non-conforming writer and performance artist” who was featured in a presentation hosted at Pinkerton Academy in Derry a few years ago.
The narrative is that transgender people will come into bathrooms and abuse little girls. The supposed ‘purity’ of the victims has remained stagnant. There are no princesses. Little girls are also kinky. Your kids aren’t as straight and narrow as you think.
If you are concerned about boys in girls’ sports and girls’ locker rooms please contact the NH House Education Committee and ask them to vote Ought To Pass on HB1205.
The post Trans Rights Activist: Says Girls Seeing a Penis in Their Locker Room Is No Big Deal appeared first on Granite Grok.
IMPORTANT: OPPOSE HB1610: This bill requires all students to participate in standardized statewide assessments.
Make no mistake about this one: if this legislation is passed, it essentially allows the GOVT/STATE to control our private, religious, and home schools. HOW? By making the children who receive EFA funds take the STATE Standardized Test.
The Education Freedom Account (EFA) is one of the current school choice programs in NEW Hampshire. It would mean that children who use the school choice (EFA) money to go to a private, religious, or home school would be forced to take the STATE Standardized test.
THIS IS A THREAT TO EVERY PRIVATE, RELIGIOUS, and HOME-SCHOOL family in New Hampshire!!
It MUST be STOPPED!
Currently, students who participate in the school choice program(EFA) can take the standardized test offered at their private, religious, or home school. This legislation would change that. All of these EFA students would have to take the STATE standardized test, which is COMMON CORE ALIGNED.
In Indiana and Ohio, when children used their vouchers to attend private and religious schools and were forced to take the STATE standardized test, those schools began aligning their curriculum to Common Core. This is a de facto takeover of our private and religious schools!
There is NO authentic choice if everything is Common Core!! There is NO freedom of CHOICE when the STATE forces its Standardized TEST on the kids using the EFA program to attend a private, religious, or home school.
EVERY PARENT who utilizes the EFA program for their children NEEDS to attend this hearing! Their children already take a standardized test given by their private or religious school. They do NOT need to take the dumbed-down Common Core assessment.
LOOK at the ten dumbest Common Core math problems here. The private, religious, and home-school families will be forced to teach Common Core math. We already have a crisis of illiteracy in math and science !! This will only get worse.
ATTEND the hearing on 03/04/2024 at 12:30 pm Legislative Office Building room 205-207
SIGN in to speak and oppose HB1610
Tell the House Education Committee to ITL HB1610.
If you cannot make this important hearing, please send an email to the committee asking them to ITL HB1610.
HouseEducationCommittee@leg.state.nh.us
Also, please sign in here: https://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx.
Put in your personal information
Click on March 4th
Click on House Education
Click on 12:30 HB1610
Click on I am a member of the public
Click on I am representing myself
Click on I oppose this bill
Add any testimony you’d like to send
HIT SUBMIT
The post WARNING: State Take Over of Private, Religious and Home-Schools if HB1610 Becomes Law! appeared first on Granite Grok.
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The post In Defense of Free Markets, Free Speech and Free People appeared first on Granite Grok.
So here is a little secret … “Red States” are not really that “red.” More specifically, Wyoming, a State that is thought of as a Red State among Red States, just refused to protect girls sports.
TWENTY Republicans in the Wyoming legislature helped kill a bill that would have prevented biological males from playing girls sports.
Riley Gaines is absolutely right … HAVING AN R BY YOUR NAME DOESN’T MAKE YOU A REPUBLICAN. We see the truth of this statement all the time in New Hampshire. The NHGOP is not really that GOP. The mantra of “economic prosperity” is a smokescreen to hide that the NHGOP, despite controlling State Government for most of the last eight years, has FAILED to remove DEI in public schools to prevent biological males from competing in girl’s sports or to prevent radical-ideologues masquerading as educators from withholding information from and lying to parents.
TWENTY house republicans voted to kill a bill that would define & codify words like "woman" in state statute this week. No this isn't California, it's Wyoming.
Having an R by your name doesn't make you a Republican. A bunch of squishy cowards even in the reddest of states. https://t.co/bnxTDklvZj
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) February 19, 2024
The post So Many Cowards And Losers appeared first on Granite Grok.
The government injecting itself into the health care system or getting between doctors, insurers, and patients has been driving up the cost of care for decades. The knee-jerk response to complaints about the cost of health care is to meddle some more, resulting in more expensive health care.
Democrats in Vermont have been pretending to know better for years, but more recent veto-proof majorities have a way of inspiring. They are health Care’s worst enemy, but that’s not how they see it. Instead of tearing down barriers and opening markets, their solution is predictable progressive pablum.
Allow more people on Medicaid.
New legislation would expand Medicaid services to more people without telling taxpayers how much this will cost them.
One idea, which would require coverage for obesity drugs (where it is bravely inferred that the body positivity movement is detrimental to public health), has an estimated cost of 100 million. Government watchers will know this is likely a gross underestimate but not nearly as blatant a disregard for other people’s money as expanding eligibility to age 26 or anyone in a 4-person household with income up to 7,925.00 a month. That’s 87,540 a year.
Median household income in America (2022) is $67,521.00. The average salary in Vermont is just over 59K a year. Are we admitting that the state has so bolloxed up health care with its meddling that the average Vermonter should be on Medicaid, or are we saying we want everyone on Medicaid because cradle-to-grave government-run care was always the plan?
That was the goal of Obamacare, which is still around, but it never managed to do anything to make care more affordable (if it had, we wouldn’t be having this discussion).
New Hampshire’s problems began when legislators led by Democrats made it impossible for insurance companies to compete. We went from more than a dozen insurers to fewer than five. We may have fewer today.
The hospital cartel has used the legislature to ensure its good health by promoting rules and laws that make it harder for private non-affiliated medical practice to thrive, which would create competition and drive prices down.
Legislators, pockets filled with donations from the medical Industrial complex, aid and abet the monopolies instead of going out of their way to get government out from between patients and providers, including health insurers and nothing Vermont (or New Hampshire, as far as I can tell) wants to change the trajectory.
The only thing legislators can do to help healthcare costs go down is to open up markets that allow for competition. Permit any insurer to do business with anyone (patient, practice, whomever) and watch them compete like Geico, Progressive, and State Farm on plans and pricing. Let private practice negotiate with insurers and patients for the cost of care and coverage and watch access improve..
Drugs? The US does pay too much, more than most other nations, but the internet (as with telehealth’s potential) is waiting to solve that problem if licensed healthcare professionals and pharmacists are freed up to help consumers find the drugs they need at the lowest cost instead of at the inflated cost insurers won’t cover.
That’s a very loose 30,000-foot analysis, but in almost every case, the problems were created by legislators, and stakeholders leverage influence to create monopolies, and these solutions are nowhere on their radar.
So, Vermont Legislators are looking busy but not for ways to bring down costs. They are hoping to provide the appearance of doing something even when everyone should know it will only make matters worse so they can keep looking busy, and so on.
The post After Years of Making Medical Care Cost More VT Legislators Pretend More Meddling Will Lower Costs appeared first on Granite Grok.
I was thinking some more about HB 1308, Arlene’s bill for parental access to library records, and thought about an old Ian Underwood article that should be in the Grok archives and found in a search.
He discussed the difference between a beneficiary and a customer, using an example of giving money to a (grand) kid to purchase a bike. He explained how the future owner of the bike is the beneficiary, but the donor of the money to pay for the bike is the customer. Without rewriting his article, the take-home talking points were about who gets to decide certain things, like the bells and whistles and price tag.
When I read that, three situations came to mind. One of them is when a landlord hires a handyman or contractor to make repairs or improvements to the rental unit. The tenant is the beneficiary, and the landlord is the customer. As a tenant, I remember complaining to the management office about a contractor making a mess and not cleaning up after himself and another one doing low-quality work. If I complained to that contractor myself, I would be told to go pound sand because I wasn’t the one paying him. If I was a property owner, my recourse could be refusing to pay my balance until the problem is rectified.
Another example is when you order something online and free shipping is included, for whatever reason. You, the customer(of the goods being purchased), are NOT the customer of FedEx, UPS, USPS, or whatever 3rd party carrier is used. You are its beneficiary. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has spent countless moments (or whatever other embarrassing units of time) furious about lies and broken promises when the merchandise fails to arrive when it’s supposed to. Again, you, the consumer, can’t sanction that delivery company for doing a bad job, but Amazon, Chewy, or whoever the sender is can!
The 3rd example is you, the patient, and Blue Cross (or other 3rd party insurance). A cash patient is a customer and s/he can see any provider in any zip code that’s accepting new patients. As an insured patient, it’s the insurance company that is the customer, and you are the beneficiary. You don’t get to choose treatments, drugs, procedures, schedules, etc., that are outside its clinical policy bulletin. If you do, guess what? You either get a big bill from the provider or are refused by that provider up front (in an approval-required situation).
So this brings me to a 4th example, which is the library. It could be a school library or your local Anytown USA public library. Your kid (or someone else’s) is the beneficiary, and you are the customer. Your kid might want to check out a Nancy Friday book, but you disapprove, just like the kid with the cash gift might want the bike with the $1000 price tag, but you only gifted $200.
As it stands now, my guess is that parents can refuse to sign off on a library card for their kids, but that could be complicated and inconvenient for a variety of reasons that we all can think of. But with HB1308, parents would have an extra tool in their toolbox to keep a watchful eye on their kids’ library records. Of course, there are still other issues to be dealt with, such as what materials are available to kids, but remember that YOU, parent, taxpayer, or both, are the customer, and the customer is always right.
If you, unlike Nashua and Hollis, happen to have decent reps, you might consider telling them to vote against the committee recommendation and support HB1308 next time the House meets, which appears to be tomorrow! (Thursday, 2/22). Remember that you are their boss, and this is an election year. Contrary to what Nashua’s former BoE member Ray Guarino wants you to think, they work for you.
The post YOU, Property Taxpayer, are the (Library’s) CUSTOMER appeared first on Granite Grok.
Despite prompting from House Rs, the leadership refused to reconsider HB1212, which Republicans won and had ITL’d. That was the first of a waterfall of mistakes that cost big losses in the House for conservatives, solely due to inadequate House leadership.
That bill was later reconsidered by the Dems and passed. How many more times do we have to lose before we get competent republican leadership?
Don’t even get me going on the whipping. When you send out a whipping sheet and then don’t even take a minute to have a conversation with those telling you they don’t know how they’re voting or that they’re voting against you on your PRIORITY bills… You’re not a whip. You’re self-demoted to a flag waiver, especially when leadership admits to two freshman reps single-handedly flipping the EFA votes at lunch last week.
It’s pretty bad when freshmen are more effective than “leadership.”
I couldn’t say it better than Rep True –
The post Op-Ed: House Leadership? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Starting in January, I have begun writing sermons or as we say in Judaism “drashot,” about my religious beliefs regarding blockchain technology. I believe that in the current age, my religious beliefs are under attack and so I believe it is my duty to articulate my beliefs to normalize them in the hopes that they will be normalized as I continue to articulate them.
The post Zephan’s Bitcoin Sermon – January appeared first on The Liberty Block.
The Machine Media is so busy engaging in a post-Trump 350+ Million dollar decision circle jerk they seem to have missed who got screwed. Donald Trump is going to appeal and win. It won’t even be close. The city used a political vendetta to attack a developer and was deliberately a public takedown.
But they had no cause other than their Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). I can almost hear the progs screeching; what do you mean by no cause? I mean, no cause! No one else could find a reason to charge Trump with any wrongdoing because he didn’t do anything wrong.
The feds declined to file charges as did the previous AG. And the reality is, this should have been heard by the Commercial Division, however, they had already declined to file.
Why do you suppose the real experts in complicated commercial cases, part of the Supreme Court of New York State would decide not to pursue?
To borrow from cheatin’ star-crossed Crossfire Hurricane lover Peter Strozk, there was no there there, but someone with a political agenda (and chronic transmissible TDS) encouraged it. And while that ruling went against Trump, it will cost NYC exponentially more than The Donald, even if he doesn’t win on appeal (which he will).
More from the Tweet (shared below)
I know many reading this think they are experts in everything. You’re not. Those of us who actually attended law school and have been doing commercial real estate for over 40 years, you’ve been lied to. You do not have the facts. You do not know what you are talking about. We employ two of the largest law firms in the country and they’ve been in meetings 16 hours a day in order to determine just how bad this all really is. Every one of these companies, representing trillions of dollars in real estate, is carefully evaluating whether to stay or exit.
Chetrit Group
Vorea Group
Turnbridge Equities
Extell Development
Bldg Management Company
Vornado
Realty Trust
L+m Development Partners
United Construction And Development Group
Beb Capital,
Totem Howard Hughes Corporation
Starrett Corporation
Rfr Realty Jay Group
Property Markets Group
Rabsky Group
Two Trees Management
Heartfelt Townhouse Builders
Lonicera Partners
Taconic Partners Beitel GroupWhether Trump wins on appeal or at SCOTUS, the precedent has been set. A wall has been broken and there are no take backs. Any company can now be targeted and have their assets seized at the whim of an over zealous AG or politicians. I don’t expect you to know or understand standard CRE practices, but every company below could be found guilty of the exact same actions the Trump Organization was accused of and found guilty, because it is NOT a crime.
The feds declined to file charges, as did the previous AG. And the reality is, this should have been heard by the Commercial Division, however, they had already declined to file.
Why do you suppose the real experts in complicated commercial cases, part of the Supreme Court of New York State would decide not to pursue?
I know many reading this think they are experts in everything. You’re not. Those of us who actually attended law school and have been doing commercial real estate for over 40 years, you’ve been lied to. You do not have the facts. You do not know what you are talking about. We…
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) February 21, 2024
No one is safe from malicious political prosecution. The obvious problem aside from the trucker strike this inspired is that billions in investments don’t leave without someone feeling it. New York (Little Letitia) and New York City (Engoron) just F***** itself, and I’m not even sure they (the TDS political cranks) know it yet or care. I’m sure they can move away, too, if the need arises.
But who wants to bet that when they figure it out, and it’s all going south, they blame Trump?
The post Night Cap: NYC Has F***** Itself With 350 Million Dollar Trump Ruling appeared first on Granite Grok.
IN EARLY 2021, our New Hampshire House Education Committee held a hearing on a transgender sports measure. I had serious concerns about biological (XY chromosome) boys playing contact sports against biological (XX chromosome) girls but naturally wanted to hear everyone’s thoughts.
Of the 33 folks who testified (mostly moms), 32 passionately advocated for their trans kids. And their testimony “moved the needle” for some of us.
Moms (and dads) want their trans kids to have full opportunities to experience all that they can as they grow up — including sports. The hearing raised much awareness.
But there are other moms and dads out there similarly advocating for other kids as well. They also have strong feelings about what’s best for their children that can conflict with feelings of other parents. The schism reminds us to be wary about messing with momma bears.
Some would counsel that this subject is a minefield to avoid. Why step into it and opine at all and then get blown up? But as a parent, grandparent, sports columnist, and elected official, I’m going to enter this dangerous and complicated minefield, and hopefully emerge without getting blown up. We’ll see.
Parents experiencing more traditional circumstances need to understand how parents of trans kids see their worlds — as we learned at that 2021 hearing. And conversely, parents of trans kids need to do likewise. Folks on various sides of this issue surely honor parental love.
This year, after much deliberation, I accepted an invitation to co-sponsor HB 1205, which “prohibits biological males from participating in female athletics.” Given the number of people seeking to speak at the Education Committee hearing, testimony was limited to two minutes. I used my time to speak of safety and 50/50 balls.
A 50/50 ball (or a 50/50 puck) involves two players heading toward each other at full speed. I specifically recalled a high school soccer game where my daughter and another girl banged into each other while going for a 50/50 ball. The violent collision was followed by a scream and soon an ambulance was on the field to take a broken-legged girl to a hospital. (Not my daughter.) The imagery always stayed with me.
The two soccer players each weighed 115 to 120 pounds. But what if a 100-pound (XX) biological female has a violent 50/50 run-in with a 160-pound (XY) biological male? Ouch.
There are many more pieces to this beyond 50/50 balls. For example, the NCAA requires trans athletes to take drugs. A male-to-female transgender student who is not doing hormone treatments may not compete on a women’s team.
This mandated drug use requirement is unsettling and complicated. Then there’s the debate over minors undergoing gender reassignment surgery. We recently had a big kerfuffle at the State House over HB 619, which would ban the practice.
Regarding yet another (bathroom) bill, many folks testified about fears relating to biological males in female bathrooms and locker rooms. A proposed criteria for bathroom use essentially came down to what gender a person claimed to identify as. And while most trans kids are wonderful people, there are examples of miscreants exploiting the “identification” situation with nefarious intent. Related concerns deserve attention.
Inconveniently, some folks’ “identifications” also change over time — not just in adolescents but, in some cases, folks who are 50 or 60 years old.
Caitlyn Jenner is perhaps the world’s most famous trans athlete. As Bruce Jenner in 1976, Caitlyn won the Olympic Decathlon. Jenner is a strong and articulate opponent of XY trans athletes competing against XX athletes at any level.
There is a simple (though not easy) answer to this complicated transgender sports participation question. XX’s compete against XX’s. XY’s compete against XY’s. Admittedly, this would preclude some trans athletes from competing on their desired teams. Sport, like life, is not always fair. And while sport can yield ecstatic victory thrills, sport is also about dashed dreams and disappointment. Such is life. At some point, I accepted that I was never going to play for the Celtics.
Any other policy would guarantee ambiguous grey areas, endless conflict, drug mandates, bathroom/locker room danger and drama, and untold avoidable injuries as players pursue those 50/50 balls.
Can we ever get through this minefield to a promised land with clear definition and safety? We need to try. It wasn’t Yogi Berra but Geoffrey Chaucer who first said over six centuries ago, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
The post 50/50 Balls and Transgender Sports appeared first on Granite Grok.
In terms of judicial activism, New York’s infamous Judge Engoron has got nothing on New Hampshire’s Judge Ruoff. Engoron has abused his position as a judge in order to destroy one man … Donald Trump. Ruoff has abused his position as a judge in order to destroy democracy in New Hampshire.
I am not going to waste my time (at least for the time being) explaining how dishonest and absurd Ruoff’s education-funding decisions are … because such an explanation would fall on deaf ears. The majority of the NHGOP State Reps and State Senators are SHEEP, who do and think as their “leaders” tell them to do and think.
You can explain to them over and over and over and over again how the State Constitution does NOT contain a right to an “adequate education” and does NOT empower the judicial branch to be the final arbiter of that right (including the power to stealth-order the legislature to raise taxes) … and you would just be wasting your time.
Ruoff’s latest assault on democracy is to order that “the State” … a lovely euphemism for taxpayers … must IMMEDIATELY pay an additional half a BILLION dollars into New Hampshire’s education funding black hole in order to meet the totally fictitious, totally judicially fabricated obligation to “fund an adequate education.” Everything else can remain the same … the same teachers, the same curriculum, the same etc., etc., etc.. If this seems absurd … THAT’S BECAUSE IT IS.
So keep your heads buried in the sand, dear NHGOP. Until your “leaders” tell you to lift them and run around like chickens with their heads cut off, repeating “ONLY A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT,” which represents a capitulation to Ruoff’s assault on democracy.
But be on notice … once you comply with Ruoff’s decision, there will be no going back. The Sununu Supreme Court will interpret your capitulation to mean that they can affirm Ruoff’s assault on democracy, and you will do NOTHING.
The post Another Day … Another Assault On Democracy In New Hampshire… And Yet More Denial By The NHGOP appeared first on Granite Grok.
Senator Sharon Carson is the state senator for the Republican towns of Auburn, Hudson, and Londonderry, New Hampshire and she is the prime sponsor for bill SB422 which would remove the words “mother” and “father” from birth records and replace them with “birth parent” and “non-birth parent.”
In her testimony for the bill, Sen. Carson said that it would help those using assisted reproduction and gamete donation so they wouldn’t have to go through the extra step of establishing parentage of the babies. That means that the baby is created in a test tube from an egg and a sperm and then implanted in a woman. The egg may be donated. The sperm may be donated and the pregnant woman may be a surrogate.
In my testimony I said:
Removing the words mother and father from birth records denies our very humanity. Every child has a mother and a father and this change would create a fiction that a child was created by two people who have may have nothing to do with his or her conception. This bill also furthers the lie that biological sex doesn’t matter when we know that only women can birth children and only men can father children.
In Cornerstone’s testimony, they pointed out this bill would allow the mother of a child to put anyone on the birth certificate as the “non-birth parent.” It could even be the child’s grandmother and it would cut out the father and leave him with no rights.
This bill puts adults’ needs over children’s needs, which is backward to the way it should be. Senator Carson is sponsoring this bill for the sake of corrupt special interests like GLAD and Dartmouth Health and not for the sake of protecting children.
Contact the Senate Judiciary Committee and ask them to vote ITL on SB422.
“We should strive to prevent situations where a child is separated from a birth mother or birth father, not give them legitimacy.” @BethRS62 testifies against SB422, which would remove the words “mother” and “father” from birth records. #NHPolitics pic.twitter.com/0GVBrvq1w1
— Sidewalk Steve (@Sidewalk_Steve) February 8, 2024
The post Republican NH State Senator Wants To Remove “Mother” and “Father” From Birth Certificates appeared first on Granite Grok.
Weare, New Hampshire, an allegedly Republican and pro-liberty bastion, has been putting a local pastor through the bureaucratic meat grinder for daring to hold religious services in his barn.
The barn is fully renovated. Pastor Howard added pews, a pulpit and a heater to make sure his congregation can worship comfortably. It’s usually no more than 30 people gathered at once. ..
Here’s what’s really outrageous: The Pastor has previously held other gatherings at the property for years—such as weddings, board-game tournaments, local events and even hosted political candidates who wanted to speak to the community.
The town placed no restrictive zoning demands on those meetings. But apparently, it’s a problem now that the gathering is a church.
The town is reported to have insisted they stop holding religious services, demanding site plans, showing up for repeated inspections, and being a general nuisance.
You have to admit, it looks like discrimination, and the town is also alleged to have threatened legal action. Fair enough, First Liberty is suing the town of Weare in the name of Grace New England Church for religious discrimination.
I’m sure the town thinks it has a pressing public interest, and they will get the opportunity to explain in court, as will citizens, to hear an explanation and then consider what, if any, changes need to be made (to any local ordinance or perhaps the constitution of local boards).
We’re not talking about another Pine Tree Riot, but how about, instead of calling it a service, every Sunday morning, you meet for a peaceful protest of the Town of Weare’s war on religious liberty—something like that.
Julie Smith contributed to this article.
The post Local Government vs. Property Rights and Religious Liberty appeared first on Granite Grok.
As a follow-up to our earlier post on the nomination of Belknap County Attorney Andrew Livernois to the NH Superior Court, we have received the official Nomination packet and some additional links and commentary from a reader.
The hearing is less than an hour, so this is last minute, but if you see it and can do anything with it, we’ll consider the effort well made. I have no idea what if any, value there is in it. I leave that up to you.
Here’s our previous post: Lawyer Whose Advice Probably Got a County Commission Sued is a Sununu Nominee for Superior Court.
It was based in part on this one from Skip, to which we can add this, from a reader – a misconduct grievance filed against Livernois.
The “nomination packet” or application can be viewed below. Do with these as you like, given the time allowed (almost none), but we did receive these because of the earlier concern about the nomination, which we’d like to see deferred, delayed, rescheduled, or simply rejected.
Nomination Packet Livernois, Andrew 01-31-2024The post Breaking: Nomination Packet for Attorney Andrew Livernois – The EC Hearing is Today! 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 ***
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My first and second cartoon concepts – ably drawn by a pro.
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A step further than George Zimmerman being a “white Hispanic”.
Your tax dollars at work.
And then nobody finds that sus.
I saw the video from which the stills on the right side were taken. The girl and her mother are bouncing up and down, giddy they’ve murdered the life inside her.
They’ve made murder into a celebration.
I am reminded of the original Hearst sending a telegram to one of his people right after the USS Maine blew up. “You provide the pictures, I’ll provide the war”.
Cool wall. That should go on our southern border. (It’s the new border wall Egypt put up.) And I still want a minefield and lasers too.
The logic makes sense, Mr. Spock, when you understand that crime and chaos are the goals of those who did it.
Saw a short video of Ann Coulter saying that the fact that nobody was revealing the race of the shooter(s) was a clear indication that he wasn’t white. Accurate.
If I’m ever at an event where they play that, I’ll do this.
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PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA
I have a bunch of links below, but if there’s ONE you read from this post, read this one. It’s long; allocate some time.
Just How Far Will the FDA Go To Protect A Bad Drug? (midwesterndoctor.com)
Now, reread it again. From SSRIs to the Jab to pharmaceuticals across decades, apparently, the entire system is corrupt and rotten to the core. The pharma companies themselves. Government agencies that are supposed to be watching them. Doctors and psychiatrists and broadly all medical industry people.
Rotten. To. The. Core.
TV Drug Ads Are Not About Selling More Pharmaceuticals, They’re About Big Pharma Buying off the Media – The Liberty Daily
And a comment on another Grok post about pharma whistle-blowers meeting oddly convenient deaths, I’ll add in: there are untold billions of dollars at stake here. If you’re already ethically compromised enough to permit shoddy research, etc., that you know will cost lives, it’s not such a large step to being willing to permanently shut someone up.
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Like a friend of mine once said, “First against the wall after the main shooting stops”.
I was just trying to explain to my boy – after he asked – what “body count” means and why it’s bad. And I tried to make the simple explanation that physical intimacy was one of the things that truly connects a man and a woman. When it becomes purely physical pleasure, especially serially, the specialness of it diminishes; it becomes the pursuit of the pleasure hit, which means jumping from one to another to get the thrill of the new. And I’ll opine that it not only just becomes about physical pleasure, but it transforms to “What’s in it for me”? (as in the climax) rather than a giving of oneself to another. Instead of generosity of the ultimate gift of intimacy to your special someone, it’s turns into a selfish focus.
From what I understand, lots of people are starting to pull business – and future business – from there.
I’m not advocating violence. But should it begin… it needs to be ongoing and relentless.
Public hangings are called for IMHO.
Consider this one:
And why? Because not only would they have to admit they were wrong… but they’d have to concede that the people they looked down on were right.
I love eggs.
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Links (some from me, some from my Jarhead friend):
Does Anyone Believe This?… New York Governor Tells Businesses “They Have Nothing to Fear” After Democrat State Leaders Fleece Donald Trump of $355 Million | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft
Just don’t get uppity or cross TPTB and you’ll be OK. More:
Private Equity Fund Manager Announces He “Will NOT Waste Time” Researching New Business Opportunities in New York After Engoron Ruling | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft
There’s a great scene in the movie A Man for All Seasons in which one of the main characters lectures another about the cutting down of all of man’s laws to get the Devil Orange Man.
A Man for All Seasons – The Devil Speech – YouTube
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How Would A Post-Apocalyptic Society Function Without Electricity And Running Water? (There were many people in America who didn’t have electricity and running water well into the 1940s.) (madgewaggy.blogspot.com)
A lot of people are going to die.
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Fluoride Has Its Day In Court – by Josh Walkos (wrongspeakpublishing.com)
Every day, it seems, I am learning more about lies I’ve been told for decades. Every day, it seems, institutions that I’ve trusted have proven to be not worthy of that trust. (See above PSA.)
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New study finds that CO2 is increasing the rate by which the globe is greening, even under drought | Just The News
CO2 is plant food and the base of every biological pyramid aside from geothermal vent locations. These maniacs are going to destroy all life on earth with “carbon capture” and blocking out the sun.
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First Look at the ‘Free-Text’ COVID Vaccine Safety Data the CDC Wanted to Hide (infowars.com)
I suspect this will be laborious go to through, but… I also suspect there will be a lot of info TPTB don’t want us to see. On the Jab:
Massive International Study Concludes That Covid-19 Vaccines Have Numerous Adverse Side Effects – Becker News
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The End of Democracy: “What I’m Describing is Military Rule” (substack.com)
Tucker interview / discussion.
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Don’t be shocked if Michelle Obama sneaks her way into 2024 race (nypost.com)
Would not be surprised at all. Of course its being denied, which brings to mind:
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Inside Mayor Adams’ migrant debit card boondoggle — no-bid bank gets $50 million, border crossers up to $10,000 each (nypost.com)
You get more of what you reward.
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TL Davis with a great article on how the Military Industrial Complex (now abetted by Big Pharma) was planning a coup in 2016, and got upstaged by Trump because he got more legit votes than they could fraudulently create in time. But they came back stronger, and (aided by Covid) staged an actual coup in 2020, and their efforts since then to hold onto and consolidate their power have been draconian. This ends one of two ways: They win, and we become a totalitarian dictatorship (or more likely an oligarchy), or we HAVE to fight back. There is no other option, and at this point, it’s not politics anymore, it’s WAR:
The Military Junta Called “The Democracy” – by T.L. Davis (substack.com)
Related: Tucker Carlson has an interview with Mike Benz, who lays out a pretty good case that we are already living under a military dictatorship, as they censor everything that goes against the narrative:
2024 Is Already Being Stolen Through Mass Gov’t Censorship (thefederalist.com)
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Breast milk is one of the best things a baby can have, right? Well that depends on the source, as woke doctors are now saying that it’s OK for a baby to get breast milk from a transgendered man. This means that HE has enough hormones, meds, and other drugs in his body to force his (normally NON-lactating) “breasts” to give milk. But whatever is in HIS body is also in the milk, so these doctors are literally sacrificing the long-term health of these babies on the alter of “wokeness”:
Woke Doctors Are Insane and Dangerous – HotAir
Uh, wut? The manufacturer explicitly says DON’T DO THIS BECAUSE IT WILL HARM THE INFANT, and the NHS Health Trust say “N’ah, it’ll be fine.”
Infants. Heart damage.
Geez, these people deserve a hot place in hell for eternity.
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Jeff Bezos sells over $2 billion in Amazon stock third time this month (cnbc.com)
Just saw a short video that a multiple people are selling off mass quantities.
Six billion in sales in a month.
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Is Your Food….FAKE? (rumble.com)
Shudder-inducing, IMHO. Who comes up with these experiments, thought?
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Lastly, some spicy time related reading material:
Total Resistance Swiss Army Guide To Guerilla Warfare (1965) : H. von Dach Bern : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
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Pick of the Post:
Pushing, pushing, pushing for WWIII.
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Palate cleansers:
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You cannot tell me the song didn’t pop into your head.
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Come back on Friday for more memes. Same meme time. Same meme channel.
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The post Meme Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.
When I was a school-age child in the sixties, patriotism had a massive influence on our lives—our day started with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Our Father. We will talk about the former today and leave the Our Father for another day. There was no question about participation. Only Jewish kids were allowed to pass on the prayer.
Every sporting event started with the anthem, and the sight of Old Glory brought a comforting sense of pride. We were all first or second-generation Americans whose grandparents made the dangerous journey across the Atlantic. Europe had been their home, but America had the potential of a better life for their future generations. They were incredibly proud of the fact they came to America to be Americans. Citizenship was a badge of honor.
I grew up in a city that was a patchwork of neighborhoods with different nationalities. Each had their own church, specialty food stores, and restaurants. This wasn’t done to isolate people but to allow people, many of whom did not speak English (yet), to feel comfortable in their new home. One thing each of these neighborhoods had in common was the American flag, which could be seen everywhere. The system was working well, but things started to change dramatically in the sixties, and not necessarily for the good.
The change started after the Vietnam War. People from the Asian-Pacific Region, Haiti, and Central America began to emigrate to America and disrupted the demographics and balance in our cities. The significant difference between these immigrants and the post-WWI group was these folks were not here to assimilate. This new group was much more willing to live on the dole. They loved the American welfare and social services, and they were not ready to leave their culture behind. They looked for America to assimilate with them.
The new Biden migrants are more like the post-Vietnam era immigrants on steroids. These new migrants, we cannot call them immigrants as they have not come here legally, are not family units but primarily young to middle-aged single men who have their hands out for whatever the Progressive Americans will give them. Free is key to this new group of “Americans.” New terms have been coined for this new block of people- amnesty and path to Citizenship are synonymous with the Obama/Biden migrants. The government is selectively locating these folks into Red states with the hope they will change these Conservative states to Purple or even Blue.
The Progressives are diluting the concept of Citizenship. Starting with an attack on our Sovereignty, Progressives now see us as citizens of the world, not our nation. They write laws that allow these non-American nationals to vote in local elections. Voting had always been the right and privilege of Citizenship, but no longer. The U.S. Constitution does not confer any innate right to vote based on Citizenship, but it does delegate the responsibility to manage elections to states.
Cities in some states have seized this loophole and have given non-citizens the right to vote in their town/city elections. Vermont, New York, California, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts are on the list of the states that are changing voting rights. San Francisco has just installed the first non-citizen on their election board. The logic was to allow all members of the community to form the future of San Francisco.
This watering down of Citizenship by Liberals/Progressives does not sit well with any Conservative who loves this country and respects the legacy of those who have died fighting to keep this great country free. This process is part of the mission for those pushing for non-citizen voting rights. That mission is the destruction of America as we know her, and they seem committed to their cause.
The post Is Citizenship A Thing Of The Past appeared first on Granite Grok.
HB1050-FN, which claims to wish to establish a voluntary waiver of the right to purchase firearms, is up for a floor vote this Thursday and needs your immediate attention. This bill poses a significant threat to our rights and freedoms, introducing measures that could potentially impact gun ownership and individual liberties broadly.
HB1050 is a restriction on Second Amendment rights, creates precedents for further restrictive measures, and impacts individuals’ rights to self-defense without adequately addressing the underlying issues related to firearm misuse. It creates a sneaky avenue for so-called ‘red flag’ attempts and is a backdoor gun registry attempt.
We strongly urge all NH Firearms Coalition members to take immediate action by reaching out to your state representatives. It’s vital to express your opposition to HB1050-FN and communicate the importance of protecting our rights.
You can find your state representative’s contact information [here].
Emailing or calling your representative is a direct way to make your voice heard and influence the outcome of this legislation. Please ask your legislator to vote Inexpedient to Legislate on House Bill 1050.
The New Hampshire Firearms Coalition emailed legislators on your behalf, you can see that text below if it’s helpful in crafting your message. We need as many members writing legislators as possible to prevent this backdoor registry attempt.
Our letter to legislators:HB 1050-FN, a bill to create a so-called ‘voluntary waiver for people who don’t want to purchase a firearm’ recently came out of the Criminal Justic and Public Safety Committee with a split recommendation.
The New Hampshire Firearms Coalition urges you to support the minority report of Inexpedient to Legislate when the bill comes to the floor for a vote. What need is there of the state wasting taxpayer dollars to support a list for people who don’t want to purchase a firearm—when all they have to do is just not buy one?
Frankly, such a list is not only expensive, but doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t even include a funding mechanism.
More troubling, HB 1050-FN has a crafty clause in paragraph V, section II, which clearly indicates that a third party could place another person on this list.
II. Any person who knowingly gives any false information or makes any false statement with the intent of enrolling or removing another person onto or from the list shall be guilty of a class B misdemeanor.”
This bill would open up the floodgates of harassment of the many by the few who wish to interfere with a person’s 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms.
This would make the state vulnerable to extensive litigation, which would constitute another waste of taxpayer dollars.
Again, NHFC urges you to vote Inexpedient to Legislate on HB 1050-FN.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Help us oppose HB1050-FN by calling your State Representative today before Thursday’s floor vote and urging them to vote Inexpedient to Legislate! Together, we can safeguard our freedoms and ensure our rights remain intact for future generations.
Thank you for your dedication and support.
JR Hoell, Secretary
New Hampshire Firearms Coalition
The post Urgent Call to Action: Oppose HB1050-FN appeared first on Granite Grok.