Nothing says ‘get vaccinated’ like Biden’s Baghdad Bob – the regime’s mouthpiece – getting COVID. Again! Jen Psaki, who has been nothing if not persistent in her promotion of the approved COVID narratives, caught the Rona a second time.

 

The 43-year-old mother of two previously tested positive for the coronavirus in late October. Psaki as a result did not travel with Biden on a week-long trip to Italy and Scotland, as she had originally planned at the time.

 

The 43-year old mother of two credits her mild symptoms to being vaccinated.

I’m not vaccinated. I avoided the masking protocols, never did the distancing, worked through the whole thing (where no one was masked). No quarantines or lockdowns for me, lots of public events, crowds, and I wasn’t even carrying a restaurant dining table to protect me.

No Jab.

No symptoms.

No Rona.

And I’m comorbid but not stupid. The Public Health sector has been bought out or leveraged by politicians and bureaucrats who have net-zero interest in actual health.

Related: Pfizer Docs Show They Knew Their Experimental COVID19 “Vaccine” was Neither Safe Nor Effective

That’s clear as vodka.

I did up my vitamin D and vitamin C over the winter, but I was more concerned about the effect of the lies spewed by the likes of Psaki and like-minded water carriers (including the FDA, Pfizer, and Corporate media) than the actual flu.

And I credit not getting vaccinated with not catching COVID. I know many people who got vaccinated (for work school travel), and almost all of them have had flu symptoms, gotten flu, or tested positive for COVID.

We know why, but Psaki can’t circle back to that because she’d have to cover it in detail for that linguistic sleight of hand to apply. Pfizer knew the COVID vax didn’t protect you for more than a few weeks and actually increased the likelihood of infection.

According to Pfizer’s science Psaki caught the Rona because she’s vaccinated. And I don’t wish COVID on Jen or her family or any of the 1290+ Pfizer-documented side effects, but that’s what they signed up for, and we’ve been publishing the evidence for nearly 10-months.

And they were aware of it. They’ve been calling it conspiracy theory which is Left-Wing code for truth we dare not tell.

Yet.

No offense, but we’re not waiting for you to decide when it is politically expedient to reveal the truth.

 

 

 

The post ICYMI – COVID “Circled Back Around” to Reinfect Double-Jabbed Jen Psaki appeared first on Granite Grok.

Was Joe Biden off prompter on Monday, or did he really mean to allude to a “new world order?” The phrase usually denotes a change in the geopolitical environment, but I am not sure Joe would recognize that shift.

We know that President Biden has been impacting the world order since his first day on the job. He has moved the balance of energy, set our economy back years, made us less powerful militarily, has opened the floodgates for illegal immigration, and disrupted our supply chain.

So, of all of these negatives, I cannot come up with a positive unless you embrace diversity. Which was he alluding to on Monday? To make things more confusing, he converged two issues with his statement:

“You know, we are at an inflection point, I believe, in the world economy — not just the world economy, in the world. It occurs every three or four generations,” Biden said.

Biden was referring to the assault by Russia on the independent and sovereign Ukraine. But in his desperation to deflect blame for our economy and inflation issues, he is looking for someone, or thing, to point his finger. This is not working. You can only go to the well so many times.

Before the Russian invasion, Biden blamed COVID for rising fuel costs and supply issues. Then it was Putin, and currently, it is major fuel companies. He has no evidence, but he and Psaki claim that the oil companies, especially on the west coast, are price gouging.

So what is this new world order Biden speaks of? We are sacrificing American jobs in the energy sector by shifting drilling and production to foreign entities. We are reclassifying terrorist or corrupt governments like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela as partners and sending American dollars for their crude. Our money funds the Ukraine battle in Russia and their chase to a nuclear weapon in Iran.

Maybe it is him destroying our energy independence on day one by declaring war on big oil. Biden sees the world going Green as envisioned by John Kerry, AOC, and the rest of the Radical Left. These people see the transition from fossil to green energy as simple as flipping a switch.

As usual, they are wrong.

The infrastructure is not ready, the people are not prepared, the impetuous move is killing economic growth, and the inflation is worse than any tax Biden could have implemented. The 8% inflation and $5.00 gas may be more than the low to middle-income people can tolerate.

Maybe it’s a borderless world where sovereign countries are only a memory. This is what Joe Biden is creating with our porous Southern Border. Democrats do not see these people as illegal, but low-income workers and future democrat voters.

Maybe Joe Biden had no idea what he said or what it meant to his listening followers. He has proven in his first year that he does not have a solid plan. Joe Biden is erratic, sporadic, and worst of all, reactionary.

Everything that he and Harris have touched has turned sour.

Ukraine, Russia, and every domestic crisis with his name on it will have lasting impacts. He may not have planned them, but he owns them. Chaotic is the new world Joe will leave to his successor. Pray to God that person is strong enough to put it back together.

 

 

Ray Writes for GraniteGrok.com and the Liberty Loft

The post What is Biden’s New World Order appeared first on Granite Grok.

One of the biggest issues with commuter rail is that everyone in the state, most of whom will never use or have use of it, will have to pay for it forever. So, y’all should be excited about this bill.

What, I was on Liz Gabert’s show today, and that y’all business sticks for a few hours.

Anyway, the bill is HB1432 which amends RSA 21-L:2, II(a) -Department of Transportation; General Functions to state,

 

 …that no state funds shall be appropriated or expended for the planning, construction, operation, or management of passenger rail projects, including the project named Nashua-Manchester-Concord, project number 40818, in the 2019-2028 Ten Year Transportation Improvement Plan.

 

The state may not raise funds, allocate existing funds, or use any money taken from Granite Staters to pay for the development, construction, or maintenance of commuter rail in the state.

If the pointless train fetishists want their token choo-choo, they need to get the feds to pay for it. All of it, in perpetuity, and that’s a huge commitment. Some would say unreasonable. But everyone knows commuter rail will never make money, so the 13 million dollars a year question is this.

Why is it reasonable to bilk Granite Staters out of 13 million a year (at a minimum?) to prop up something most of them will never need or use? Because Democrats – with few exceptions – want it.

Commuter rail is the trophy wife of green virtue signaling. It’s a costly habit that makes them look good to other liberals, and that’s been the case for as long as they’ve been pining for it.

Back in 2010, one of my earliest “official” posts on GraniteGrok.com was about rail.

 

John DiStaso reports in this morning’s Sunday News the details of costs and taxes proposed to prop up commuter-rail in the Nashua-Manchester-Concord Corridor, along with an apology by Transportation Commissioner George Campbell for releasing the report. …

The report lays out recommendations for funding the project by bumping up against the third rail. Higher property taxes, more vehicle registration fee increases, and phrases like, “(the) concept of this business improvement tax was that if they were going to have a benefit, then we could tax them on that benefit,” this from Steve Williams, a former executive director of the Nashua Regional Planning Commission.

 

What were some ideas to pay for rail service no one would use 12 years ago (this is from an official government report on the boondoggle)?

 

[A] business improvement assessment” of $1.02 per $1,000, on top of existing local and statewide property taxes, could be levied on all properties in a mile-wide corridor along the track, a half-mile on each side.

They could also choose “…to add a 16 cents per $1,000 property tax surcharge on all properties in 27 communities in the Nashua-Manchester areas.”

Then there’s a vehicle registration fee [which] “has actually been a pretty common approach across the country. You tax what you want people to avoid if you will,” Williams said. He said that with 528,273 vehicles in the 27 communities in the region, a $15.82 charge would be needed to raise $8.3 million.

 

That was a direct hit on every town and city along “the corridor.” It has since become clear that NH would need to punish everyone to scratch the surface of this turd. HB1432 would prevent that, but I have no idea how it will fare in the Senate or if sometimes republican governor Sununu will sign off on it.

Given the negative press the green agenda is getting thanks to Biden’s energy policy, this might be the year, but as always, with a caveat. Democrats promise to undo this protection the first chance they get, no matter what.

In other words, they are committed to putting Granite Staters on the hook for tens of millions annually for a rail service that touches a sliver of the state. A service most of us would have to drive many miles to get to before (probably) having to pay to park (the traffic and parking situation is another problem), and they pay to ride.

And that’s why it will never make enough money to support itself and why we need HB1432 and why you need to stop electing Democrats to public office.

HB1432 passed the House 181-144. It now moves to the NH Senate.

 

The post Boondoggle Derailed? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The party of no-fault divorce has us on a collision course with an arranged marriage and no escape clause. A union in which you are the abused spouse, and they are your Police State “partner” complete with trust, drinking, and anger issues.

If you get out of line, the beatings will continue…until morale improves, if ever it could.

Alongside that is a cultural replacement strategy that makes the unity promise impossible. Open borders policy creates an army of air-lifted refugees whose cultures you are required to accept.

Asking them to embrace your culture is bigoted and xenophobic. Copying their culture is insulting appropriation. The result is institutionalized and endless conflict.

The deliberate division of the people.

I briefly worked for someone whose control was based on their ability to act as arbiter between departments they deliberately set at each other’s throats (figuratively).

That’s how Democrat-Socialism will bring down the nation.

Divided without hope for reconciliation, and only the Federal government left standing.

It’s always been the plan, and it works most places, but here’s the thing.

If you commit to your state and focus on the founding and sovereignty – meaning few or no Democrats in power – that inevitable arranged marriage can’t happen. Not without an armed conflict.

I’m not saying it won’t come to that. Nor would I say that the ruling class elites wouldn’t cherish the opportunity if the circumstances were right. But when division is all they have, and they are committed to their plan, a fight is inevitable if we can’t change who pulls these levers.

This is coincidentally why the founders insisted on the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. Their world was filled with these sorts of people, and they knew that no one could be free without it. It is why the left want’s so desperately to see it undermined.

It is why you need to protect and defend it.

As the Left sells it, Progress is nothing but regression to a time, centuries ago, when a class above the law enforced its will upon everyone else. We can see it clearly from here, right now.

The Left’s unity is nothing more than “Everyone under one boot,” theirs, and it’s not unity if you have to force people to go along.

There are many names for that, and one of them is tyranny.

 

 

The post Another Angle on the Left’s Unity Lie appeared first on Granite Grok.

Our Constitutional Republic is in deep doo doo. But many of you already know that. Take a look at the video below regarding the confirmation hearing of Joe Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

If the ramifications of her potential appointment weren’t so disturbing, it would make for a great SNL skit.

Senator Marsha Blackburn asked a simple question that any five year old should be able to answer, “Can you provide a definition for the word woman?”  Jackson’s response?  “No, I can’t …  I’m not a biologist.”  Jackson also said she doesn’t know when life begins.

Can’t define what a woman is.
Doesn’t know when life begins.

Totally not a radical. This is fine pic.twitter.com/4u3dqlirll

— Zachery Henry (@zhenryaz) March 23, 2022

If that doesn’t disturb you, then watch this episode of Steve Bannon’s War Room, where Judge Jackson’s history of dramatically reducing sentences for child pornography is first exposed by Senator Ted Cruz (@ 5:42 – 8:45), and again by Senator Josh Hawley.

Here are a few excerpts from Sen. Hawley from 15:00 – 19:05.

United States vs Hawkins. The defendant was Wesley Hawkins. He was 18 years old at the time.

This is from the government’s sentencing memorandum in this case. Just so we understand the facts, here some of the videos that the government charged and they recovered.

• There is a 24:06 video depicting a 12 year old male committing a sexual act.  I’m not going to read exactly what it was.
• There is a 1:57 video depicting an 8 year old committing a sexual act.
• There was an 11:47 video depicting an 11 year old committing a sexual act and being raped by an adult male.
• There was a 15:19 video depicting two 11 year olds committing sexual acts.
• There was a 7:51 video depicting a 12 year old committing a sexual act.

So as the government said in this case, and I’m quoting now from the transcript at the sentencing hearing

“Seventeen videos is a lot. And some of the videos, including the ones that are described in the statement of the offense, and I’ve just related some of them, are very lengthy and include numerous images, numerous views, sometimes collages, sometimes multiple victims you see the act in progress.”

The government goes on to describe some of these as sadomasochistic images.

You talked about it this morning said these cases are terrible. This is one of them. This is terrible stuff. This is not a good guy who is doing this stuff.

Guidelines in this case was 97-121 months. So if I’m doing my math right that is up to ten years.  And in this case the guidelines recommendations were essentially written by Congress.

I know you remember the Protect Act. You’ve talked about it. You’ve given lectures on it. And it was enacted as I said in 2003.

So Congress has set the guidelines here, 84-0 in the Senate.

Congress sets the range. Essentially it’s 97 months up to 10 years.

The prosecutor in this case nevertheless still asked for two full years in prison.  You gave the defendant three months.  Guidelines called for 10 years, prosecutor wanted at least 2, you gave him 3 months.

Jackson admitted the evidence was “heinous and egregious” (@ 21:08) but reduced the sentence to 3 months.

Later on (@ 30:59), Sen. Hawley reminded Jackson said the following while apologizing to the defendant,

“This is a truly difficult situation. I appreciate that your family is in the audience. I feel so sorry for them and for you, and for the anguish this has caused all of you. I feel terrible about the collateral consequences of this conviction. 

Jackson treated the child sex offender as if he were the victim.

You can watch the video and come to your own conclusions.

 

 

The post Watch: Supreme Court Nominee Can’t Define What a Woman Is or When Life Begins, Plus Her Serious Child-Porn-Offender Sentencing Problem appeared first on Granite Grok.

Yes, I know. The headline elicits a lengthy list of possibilities. If you can’t think of more than a few, search “Chris Sununu” in the search bar above this post (or click here), and you’ll get the definitive conservatarian answer.

It’s a lot. About 900 articles. Some of them are favorable, less so in more recent years. It’s a lot, to which we can now add this.

Chris is “Dora the Congressional Map Explorer” and he has a redistricting map at which he wants us to look.

No, it’s not all squiggly or serpentine-like the ones coming out of Democrat-controlled New York or Illinois. These states lost Democrat house seats which the Dems in charge have “recovered” by gerrymandering Republicans out of office, instead.

No, it’s very simple. So, simple that NH Dems who refuse to answer questions about places like NY and IL look like assh*les for calling it gerrymandered. But that’s a feeling they share with Republican* Chris Sununu. He wasn’t happy with the one upon which our Republican majority legislature settled.

The legislature’s map created equity. It represented the highest probability of one Republican seat and one Dem seat instead of the two-dem seat arrangement we have been plagued with for years.

Balance. Ying-Yang. A state that elected Republican state legislators and a Republican* governor would have one voice in congress as would the Dems.

Equality!

Sununu doesn’t like it. Said he’d veto that and has followed this threat with his own map. A map that, “would make adjustments to the current districts to create a more competitive first district and a second district that still leans Democratic.”

Sununu’s map still gives up CD-2 to the Dems forever (not much could change that) and gives CD-1 to the Dems (more than likely).

WTF Is Wrong With You, Chris Sununu?

In a contentious political climate where one seat could decide leadership, committee chairs, the entire agenda, and the direction of our Nation, you’re like, eh, more Dems in congress. That’s fine.

Seriously.

What has happened inside your head and who the hell is advising you that this makes sense for Republicans or New Hampshire?

Or are you planning on switching parties sometime soon because I’m having an increasingly difficult time seeing how you being the governor is helping Republicans as opposed to just helping Chris Sununu.

And I’m actually not sure yet how this helps Chris Sununu, but you don’t do anything unless it helps Chris Sununu, so when does the other jack boot drop, and what’s in it?

Wait, I think I know.

Two Democrat districts in New Hampshire in perpetuity.

Now if I can just find that goal in the NH Republican Party list of priorities…

 

 

 

The post Redistricting: WTF Is Wrong With You, Chris Sununu? appeared first on Granite Grok.

To the sober observer, it appears we have crossed over the pharmacological Rubicon where dealing in drugs, once the practice of the dark artists found in alleyways, college campuses, covens, and secret temples, is now so profitable it makes the GDP of a third world country seem like a weekend allowance.

Classifications of drugs have expanded like the American waistline, with such targeted titles as “amylon analogs” and “neuronal potassium channel inhibitors”, making today’s physicians a much classier version of yesterday’s witch doctors.

Days of yore found some haggardly looking warlock promising healing from a smoky vile of green elixir with names like “hog’s bane” have been replaced by hypodermic orange bottles neatly labeled and secured within a national database (for our safety), the contents of which are perfectly crafted pez-like caplets formed in laboratories to deliver the once promised magic.

The 1980s ushered in this new industry and had even the top artists of the day singing songs about them. One famous doctor, Huey Lewis, not to be confused with the neighborhood pharmacist Huey Newton who died tragically in a drug deal gone bad, sang his way to a Billboard number one spot by crooning what we all were thinking – “I Want A New Drug.”

We want to thank Johnny Bananas for this Op-Ed.
Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

Well, Huey, we still do, and thankfully here are some we’re told are in the works…

 

Name: SIMPASLAV

Classification: selection non-uptake inhibitor

Action: Causes women to give direct answers to direct questions rather than unrelated stories intended to give clues as to what they really mean.

Sample usage:

Man “Hey baby where would you like to eat?”
Woman “My orange dress is still at the dry cleaners.”
Man “Honey, did you remember to take your Simpaslav?”

 

Name: GUYAGRA

Classification: PED inhibitor

Action: This little blue pill increases male testosterone levels and arousal when asking for directions.

 

Name: SHARTEARA

Classification:

Action: Causes liars to have explosive flatulence while crying uncontrollably.  The manufacturers recommend for all political officials including unelected.

 

Name: CLAIRVOLAX

Classification: pro-interpreter

Action: A drug that helps decipher both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s speech patterns.

 

Name: BOLLOXOR

Classification: mydriatic, anti-misinformant / anti-disinformant

Action: Automatically detects fake news while causing allergic reactions to fact-checking.

 

Name: EXERTAX 

Classification: non-steroidal beta-blocker

Action: Makes you enjoy working out along with the sensation of sweating.

 

Name: ENJOYAJIB

Classification: stimulant

Action: Improves customer service experiences by causing those who collect money to experience gratitude for income supporting their business leading to low levels of elation.

 

Name: CARPOLOTINE

Classification: anti-spasmodic

Action: Causes motorists to obey all rules of the road especially signaling and discourages overly courteous acts such as waving people into oncoming traffic.

 

Name: IRRITRON

Classification: ergogenic

Action: Creates severe allergic reactions to video games in people under the age of sixty-five.

Name: IDOLEXA

Classification: antidote

Action: Causes people to remember Donald Trump, Q and Tom Brady are not Jesus.

 

Name: BERNITYL 

Classification: anti-psychotic

Action: Causes people who espouse Marxist ideologies such as socialism, Critical Race Theory or use terms like cys, diversity, equity, inclusion, problematic, normativity and the like to develop hives in the shape of tiny hammers and sickles while lowering circulation to the hands causing the need to wear mittens.

 

Name: PEDOPAUSE

Classification: Contraceptive

Action: Causes hair to turn blue and store unwanted body fat in people who teach youth that aren’t their biological children about sexual preferences. In severe cases will create debilitating aching and impotency in their genitalia when watching any type of illuminated screen.

 

Name: TRIBALQUEL

Classification: Anti-racial hallucinogenic

Action: Causes users to see others as the race they most despise.  For instance, Ibrahim Kinde would see all people as white people and conversely David Duke would see all people as black people.  Kathy Griffin would see all people with slightly orange skin.

 

Name: FEMPEDESCAN

Classification: radiologic conjugating agent

Action: Emits soft yellow glow for women while driving that maintains brightness during daytime especially when driving foreign cars.

 

Name: ZIPPITUPSIS

Classification: anti-fungal, anti-karenic, anti-kenic

Action: Causes tongue swelling and seizures in bossy people.

 

Name: AQUAMAAM

Classification:  zootrophic agent

Action: Gives biological women gills and fins when in water.  Does not work for biological males.

 

What did we miss?  Are there any drugs you’d like to see the industry develop?  If so, please leave a comment below.

 

 

The post I Want A New Drug appeared first on Granite Grok.

Don’t Say Gay is the National Narrative the left has erected in response to an idea that it might be inappropriate to take to 3rd or 2nd graders about sex. But here’s the thing. That’s what they’ve been telling your kids for years.

You need to keep quiet about all the gay “stuff” at school.

Shhhh!

It’s endemic to public schools, and we’ve published numerous reports of parents discovering schools and teachers trying to transition their kids. You know, everyone keeps it secret, ‘don’t say gay.’

A handful of teachers have let the little rainbow mask slip, but other than that, everyone is mum—no talking to mommy or daddy. Let’s keep it our little secret.

You’ve got a different name at school. We’ll even put you in the transition closet or let you change clothes here and then again before you go home.

Related: Sherry Frost Wants You To Send Gay! Postcards to Ron DeSantis but Two Can Play That Game

And whatever you do, “Don’t say, Gay!”

It’s not just rampant; it is institutionalized.

The Left’s Education Industrial Complex has been on a years-long gender bender to convert kids to their sex-obsessed cult keeping parents and taxpayers in the dark.

When confronted about their grooming, they shout and call you a bigot and hide behind taxpayer-funded district lawyers and stone-faced school-boards who hide public documents and pretend you’ve no right to raise your own kids.

In other words, coming out is all the rage, just not outside the school walls or campus.

 

 

Keep it inside our little circle. Confidential. “What we say in the room stays in the room.”

In other words, whatever you do, “Don’t Say, Gay!”

 

 

HT | AoSHQ

The post It’s the Public-School Groomers Who Say “Don’t Say Gay” appeared first on Granite Grok.

During a February House session, there was a debate on marijuana legalization. HB 1598-FN passed 235 to 119. This bill is now under consideration in the NH House Ways and Means Committee.

It will come back to the House for a final vote at the end of March and then on to the Senate.

The bill proposes marijuana legalization despite nearly ten years’ worth of data from other states documenting how legalization has led to significant increases in underage marijuana use, marijuana-related traffic deaths, child welfare caseloads, and the number of infants born with THC present in their bloodstream.

The negative consequences have been so damaging in Colorado that the governor recently signed a landmark reform bill to reign in the most harmful aspects of their marijuana laws. At the very least, every state legislator should closely examine these reforms before making any decisions on legalization.

We want to thank Sue Homola for this Op-Ed.
Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

In addition, concerns about high-concentrate marijuana have been documented for decades. We now have the hindsight of many longitudinal studies that show a verifiable increase in addiction and psychosis among heavy marijuana users.

Another issue is the relationship between opioid abuse and marijuana usage, as detailed in a 2017 study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. This documents how marijuana use is linked to increased occurrences of new-onset opioid use and opioid use disorder.

It is important to note that in Nashua and Manchester, drug overdoses during 2021 increased by 110% when compared to 2020. Given this startling trend and New Hampshire’s tragic history of being a state hit hardest by the opioid epidemic, it is unconscionable that legislation is now being proposed that will make this situation worse.

In addition, this bill proposes a $25 million fund to treat drug addiction. Sadly, it will help mitigate a problem we ourselves make worse with this legislation.

Another intent of HB1598-FN is the state-sanctioned distribution, selling, and profiteering of marijuana — which no other state has done so far. According to the Criminal Justice Committee Majority Report, this bill “…allows consumers to purchase a clean, superior tax-free product at a consumer-friendly price that is competitive with the black market.” (Surely, New Hampshire can have better goals than to be competitive with the black market.)

This bill also appropriates $14 million of taxpayer money for start-up costs so the Liquor Commission can manage ten state-run retail outlets. This commission also estimates an additional $5 million will be needed annually for operating costs, salaries, and benefits for 70 state employees.

We must ask ourselves: Do we really want to legalize a drug that we know will result in more harm to our most vulnerable citizens and empower state agencies to essentially act as a cartel, a drug dealer, and a money launderer?

If we think we should legalize because some say it’s inevitable, then we are ceding control of the issue and ignoring the negative consequences demonstrated in other states.

If we think we should legalize and manage the sales ourselves because it will put more money in the state’s general fund, we should examine the actual budget revenues in other legalized states. In reality, we will discover that marijuana revenues are never enough to pay for the societal ills caused by this drug’s use.

Finally, do we believe that legalizing marijuana will end this discussion? No, it won’t.

When your main selling point for a drug policy is the promise of untold millions being used for school funding and property tax relief, despite the documented harmful effects on vulnerable populations, it merely paves the way for the legalization of other drugs if the profit margins are attractive.

Make no mistake, HB1598-FN opens the door to a whole new discussion.

 

 

Rep. Sue Homola (R-Hollis) represents Hillsborough County’s District 27.

The post Marijuana Legalization; What the Public Deserves to Know appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Executive Council voted 4-1 to reject the nomination of Brian Shaughnessy as New Hampshire’s newest circuit court judge. Three Republicans and one Democrat voted against, with Councilor Ted Gatsas the only vote in favor.

Shaughnessy was a bad choice from go, plagued with integrity issues tied to his hometown of Bedford.

In an exclusive Op-ed for GraniteGrok.com, Robert Fojo summed them up nicely here.

 

Government officials are supposed to follow the limited laws that govern them. Judges, likewise, are supposed to adhere to their limited roles in our republic. If an official such as Shaughnessy ignores the fact he had no authority to provide legal advice to the Town, and acted outside of his authority in doing so, why should we trust that he would adhere to the law (and not act outside his authority) as a judge?

…In this era where judges who actually follow and apply the law are hard to find, Shaughnessy does not deserve a vote of confidence.

 

And he did not get it.

Mr. Sununu will have to put the re-re-redistricting map and make another pick from his bag of cronies which, in our experience, will result in someone markedly worse.

We’ll have to get back to you on who that is when he makes the announcement.

 

 

 

The post Breaking News: Embattled Sununu Judicial Nominee Brian Shaughnessy Rejected 4-1 By Executive Council appeared first on Granite Grok.

The US has gobs of fossil fuels and one of the cleanest extraction processes on the planet. But the more environmentally sound practice for Dems is to get it offshore and move it here while we wait for the Electric Vehicle Golden Age to dawn.

Politicians insist that dawn will come around 2030, or else. Or else, what? All of their apocalyptic predictions were false. Not once have they gotten right. So, dates and Democrats are not things that can be trusted, especially dates announced by Democrats.

It is a list of poor prognostications that grows longer every year, but they persist. We are doomed and the solution is to stop relying on energy produced here by people less likely to vote for them. We should instead depend on rare metals from nations where people don’t get to vote at all.

Talk about a red flag.

Lithium, Nickle, Cobalt. Things we do not have or in the quantities needed for the new day to dawn. Whose extraction is not just a dirty, carbon-intensive mess but that will occur outside the reach of our environmental control.

Offshoring. Jobs, money, everything at the expense of the environment we are sacrificing to save from ourselves, they say.

It’s quite a contradiction.

Here’s another one. Our salvation from high gasoline prices is a more expensive alternative.

The price of lithium is up almost 500% in the past twelve months. That’s before any increased demand is created by their electric vehicle future. Millions of new batteries would be needed, many of them larger than anything yet engineered. All depended on foreign interests who do not have the same interests as we do.

A component without which the new day will never dawn for transportation few cannot afford now. Charged with electricity we have no way to generate now and no plan to accommodate either eight or eighty years from now.

There are too many hurdles to overcome, barriers created by the Green-Energy advocates.

It can’t be done and many of those pushing it know that. It’s part of the plan.

You won’t be able to drive the car you have and can’t afford the vehicle they say you need. The observant among us understand that this is the answer but to a different question. Not what do Americans do, but how do Americans do what they want us to do?

There is no strategic lithium reserve. We do not have any other way to make the Democrat future. It is built on dependency.

They want you to depend on them for access, mobility, care, everything. And the Left is willing to rely on nations that would rule us for our resources rather than provide them to keep us whole.

America is to become a Hospice from sea to shining sea. A land where you are managed in near-darkness until you die. The only question remaining is managed by who? It won’t be the Democrat party. Neither the Russians nor Chinese would put up with it.

 

 

 

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Billionaire-owned news outlet Bloomberg says Americans should cope with soaring inflation by eating lentils instead of meat and saving on vet bills by letting their pets die. The article, headlined Inflation Stings Most If You Earn Less Than $300K.

Inflation stings most if you earn less than $300K. Here's how to deal:

Take the bus
Don’t buy in bulk
Try lentils instead of meat
Nobody said this would be fun https://t.co/HGJEoXL5ZZ

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) March 19, 2022

The article also suggested that we park the car and hop on the bus. These steps will help those of us making less than $300K a year claiming we are the group being hit the hardest by Biden’s inflation. Since the average income in America is about $94,000 a year, they have thrown a big net to include everyone under $300K. Well, that puts a lot of us in high company.

First of all, who do these ignorant elitists think they are that they can talk down to a significant block of America and tell us how to live and survive in the new Biden Economy. They could narrow their focus if they spoke to one person, Joe Biden, and tell him how he screwed up in a year and set the country and its people back for years to come. Maybe this is evidence of why the circulation is down for publications like Bloomberg’s because they are insensitive and have lost touch with its readers.

Sixty-seven percent of U.S. households, or about 85 million families, own a pet, according to the 2019-2020 National Pet Owners Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA). If these people are actual pet owners, they treat their pets as children.

We adopted a beautiful senior Border Collie a couple of years ago. During an annual exam, it was discovered that she had Oral Cancer and required surgery to correct it. We have the means and Sharon did not hesitate to do whatever we could to get Jazzee Girl healthy. After about $8,000 to remove part of the jaw and all of the cancer cells, a healthy and vibrant dog came home. Sorry Bloomberg, having her put down when there was a chance of recovery never crossed our minds.

Maybe this article was published to get the attention and stir the anger as it has done. That is giving Bloomberg too much credit. They made a bad decision to run an article that will aggravate people, not stir debate. The only debate you will encounter is the stupidity and relevance of Bloomberg. You do not tell us what to eat, when to drive, and don’t you ever ask us to let our dogs die to beat inflation. To do any of these things conjures very raw synonym’s for you. Far too raw for this blog.

 

 

Ray Writes for GraniteGrok.com and the Liberty Loft

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Not everyone will suffer the consequences of Trump Derangement Syndrome but former Porn Star Stormy Daniels might.

If you managed to miss this ring of the circus, Trump tweeted and Stormy was convinced to sue him for defamation when there was no chance of winning.

 

As I pointed out in the title. Her lawyer, who is a media whore, is an idiot for walking her into the bright lights of Trump Derangement Theater. Whatever else people may think about The Donald bagging a porn star in decades past – even though both parties have repeatedly denied any intimate association until it recently presented itself as a revenue stream for an aging “actress” – the first Amendment leans heavily in Mr. Trumps favor in this case.

Daniels is probably going to get screwed by the courts, and it’s her big-mouth lawyer’s fault.

 

Michael Avenatti, her lawyer, is in prison (where he will likely spend many years) awaiting his next trial on another outstanding charge of fraud or embezzlement or some other malfeasance.

Avenatti was convicted in Manhattan federal court last month of defrauding her out of money she was owed in a book deal to write about her experience with Trump. He is due to be sentenced June 2.

Stormy lost her case and as predicted is required to pay Mr. Trump’s legal fees because of some tingle-up the leg-worthy anti-SLAPP statutes.

Clifford’s case was tossed, deemed frivolous, and Stephanie Clifford (Stormy’s real name) is required to pay $294,000.00 dollars. The cost for The Donald to defend himself.

She appealed to the Ninth Circuit and lost but Clifford said she’d rather go to jail than pay a penny.

That’s a tale of Trump Derangement Syndrome with actual consequences but it’s worse than that. Where are all those media whores and Leftists who stood with Stormy because it was Trump? (Avenatti had his face on CNN so much he should have been on the payroll.)

So, where’s the GoFundMe to raise the nearly 300K she needs to keep her once idolized ass out of the pokey?

It’s worth noting that Trump’s lawyer, in that case, was Michael Cohen who (according to reports)  just finished three years of home confinement for tax evasion, bank fraud, and lying to congress.

Lying to congress. Members of congress do that every day.

 

HT | NBC News

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Breitbart has a rather amusing tweet about how BAD things are  for Biden right now:

NEW: @Civiqs / 03/20/2022

President Biden Job Approval (-19)
Approve 36% (-1)
Disapprove 55% (=)

Independents (-42)
Approve 24%
Disapprove 66%

2022 Battlegrounds:
Georgia: 32/58 (-26)
Arizona: 35/58 (-23)
Nevada: 35/58 (-23)
Michigan: 35/57 (-22)
Pennsylvania: 35/57 (-22) pic.twitter.com/Iq0MxYkFBc

— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) March 21, 2022

That graph must be terrifying to Democrats at this point (and the Democrat Governors have already dumped their COVID mask mandates as this election leviathan has its maw wide open in their direction). That pendulum, it’s a swingin’, isn’t it?

Implement stupid policies, get stupid electoral results. But as Glenn Reynolds is always saying “Don’t get cocky” even with an 11% plus margin for Republicans in the generic Congressional races.

Without even mentioning Republicans, he’s lost the Independents and even a lot of Democrats. Hispanics are starting to increase their rate of turning away from the Democrats.  Blacks as well but not at the rate of Hispanics.  Either way, there’s a sense that these demographics have realized that they’ve been taken for granted for far too long.

But to bring it back to New Hampshire – the Brietbart post didn’t mention NH at all but did mention other States: Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, and Pennsylvania in that Biden’s numbers are really starting to have an impact on Democrat incumbents.

I have to wonder if both Democrats Chris Pappas and Annie Kuster are looking over their shoulders in fear for their re-election? We often use the phrase “the train is leaving the station”; I wonder if in this case, the train is backing up over their campaigns?

And then there is Baby Huey (NH Governor Chris Sununu) deciding that the redrawn redistricting maps for Congress done by NH State Senator Jim Gray are crap (even if they are perfectly acceptable from a population percentage as required).

I’m watching the Democrats in NY, Maryland, Illinois, and California where Democrats are in the majority rewrite and write a bunch of Republican districts out of existence in advance of the mid-terms: “If we can’t win, erase/cancel them out.”

Sununu refuses to see politics as a very serious war (the inverse of Von Clausewitz’s famous line of “War is politics by other means”) – and is unable/unwilling to acknowledge the ramifications.  Does he really want NH to go Blue?  Or stay Blue at least at the Federal level?

Sorry, the NH Dems would be taking any advantage they can – why else did they pop up a bunch of groups, under former Obama AG Eric Holder, to “protest” ANY redistricting, by any means possible, by Republicans?

I’ve been on their email distros for a number of years – they yammer constantly about “authoritarian Republicans” but never answer my questions back to them about the above states.  I really wish NH Republican lawmakers involved in redistricting would ask these folks, at each and every hearing, why aren’t they willing to protest what their own Party is doing there.

And make NO mistake – NONE of the NH-based groups are “non-partisan”. It’s simply a crock.

Back to Biden. Inflation, Economy, Education, Gas prices, supply chain, tail wagging the dog war stuff and soon, food availability – none of his policies (or those of the Socialists / Obama retreads, but I repeat myself)  are going to make things better. While 36% is really bad, I’m betting that they are going to get even worse.

But as they say in MMA, get a finish (TKO, KO, submission) and don’t leave it to the judges.  Don’t get cocky – pick a candidate and get them over the finish line by margins so vast that illegal voting, election hi-jinks, vote-by-mail manipulation, ballot harvesting, and other Democrat fraud can’t overcome it.

Let’s Go Brandon!!!

 

The post Data Point – Biden Is Really Underwater in the Polls appeared first on Granite Grok.

I’ve got more stuff on this and more to be asked for, but when I came across this little gem of advice. While it pertains to the magazine Christianity Today (which seemingly has lost its way since I used to read it regularly) concerning its now-former editor, Mark Galli, now accused of sexual harassment,

Sidenote: Even even professing Christian sin – it’s just that many of us admit it far faster than those who have powerful positions.  We all admit that we’ve come short of the Glory of God – but sometimes aren’t all that willing to admit it to one another.

…it seems to apply to GMR as well, top to bottom (emphasis mine):

It turns out that the atmosphere in Galli’s office was far more unseemly than anything happening in the Oval Office. Christianity Today now acknowledges: “Several women reported demeaning, inappropriate, and offensive behavior by former editor in chief Mark Galli and former advertising director Olatokunbo Olawoye. But their behavior was not checked and the men were not disciplined, according to an external assessment of the ministry’s culture released Tuesday.”

From Norm’s post about the three Gunstock Area Commissioners (Gary Kiedaisch, Brian Gallagher, and Rusty McLear):

Although the suit was brought in the name of the GAC, it sought injunctive relief solely for the benefit of 3 individuals who were described as commissioners of the GAC, namely Gary Kiedaisch, Brian Gallagher, and Rusty McLear. That suit sought to enjoin the Convention from removing the three individuals from the GAC, so rather than seeking some sort of protection of the GAC itself, it was simply seeking to preserve the status of the three individuals in question, who should have brought any such suit in their own names and on their own dimes.

Don’t mind our behavior towards the delegation, just save ourselves. Especially Rusty McLear as he ideologically is with us and should not get thrown out. Even if he was a “Commission squatter in occupying a seat that had “expired” him months ago. And given the brouhaha over the Delegation selecting new Commissioners, this isn’t done at that level of “management” at Gunstock.   And I’ve already started to show the behavior of the GMR Senior Management (and like I’ve said, more coming).

When people act badly, or an entire organization who seemingly believes that they are not accountable to ANYONE, who is the person or entity that will bring them to heel? The Christianity Today piece nails the root cause problem: “behavior was not checked and the men were not disciplined“. When all rules are dismissed because they “get in the way of getting things done” (either personally in the case of Galli and not being able to constrain himself, or in the case of Gary Kiedaisch and Brian Gallagher being in charge of the Commission – Chair and Acting Chair), the GAC ignoring their By-Laws and other State Statutes and fighting against their Overwatchers (the Delegation), there are problems galore.

Whether they like it or not, the Belknap County Delegation needs to clean that whole GMR ship, stem to stern, no questions asked. These Overwatchers need to correct the GAC Overwatchers which needs to start correcting its reports (Sr. Management).

Oh, and that’s the trigger that I need to write a letter about Soulfest.  This ought to be fun.

(H/T: Spectator)

 

 

 

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LGBT, like Global Warming, has evolved. The latter chose Climate Change, but everything about change focuses on warming. So, it’s still global warming. The LGBT agenda has a different problem.

Trans, for example, assumes you are one thing and moving toward another.

Transition is a change of states which infers that these states exist. Alpha Omega, beginning, and end. All points in between, but there’s a place where you started and one where you will end: Launchpad and landing. Without a beginning and end, you can’t have transitioned.

That’s two points.

One of those points can be a penguin, but penguins must exist and have a definition. And even if they did not, the dysphoria behind it is only an issue when it puts other people in danger or denies them their rights.

Transgender rights cannot only be about people claiming to be in transition. Every point along the way has to have the same rights, or they are not rights at all.

So, what about Bisexuals?

Bi means two. The B in LGBT means two.

Two is the number of sexes with whom a bisexual might be attracted. That, I assume, includes a “woman” with a penis or a “man” with a vagina.

Two sexes one problem. Not for me. I don’t care what consenting adults do with each other. It’s bisexuals who have a problem. At some point, you will have to be canceled or transitioned.

But wait, you say, what if we just called them non-binary?

Sorry, that doesn’t work either  Binary is also two. By creating a category defined as nonbinary, you embrace the existence of a binary system. In a binary system, you are either one or the other. Announcing that you are non-binary makes you binary, and there is no transition.

You are either-or and nothing else.

There are two sexes, and everything else is just linguistic gymnastics, like Climate Change. But as I said above, consenting adults can play all the words games they like. I could care less as long as you leave me out of it.

And since you won’t, well, here we are.

 

 

The post When is the Gaystapo Going to Cancel Bisexuals? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Last week, I published the first in a series of articles looking at how New Hampshire is trying to cancel the only lawyer in the state who challenged COVID policies.

In short, the NH Attorney Discipline Office (ADO) appears to be using Fojo’s disruptive work in COVID cases as an excuse to cancel him (get caught up here).

Where We Left Off

At the Jan 4 hearing (get caught up here), Fojo – through his attorney – presented evidence refuting the ADO’s accusations. That he misappropriated client funds, allegedly lied about closing out a medical lien, and did not cooperate with the ADO.

Fojo’s attorney also pointed out at the hearing that the ADO attempted to force him to breach attorney-client privilege (in and of itself, alarming) and provide the ADO with information for one of his clients. The ADO’s suspension order also left hundreds of Fojo’s New Hampshire clients without an attorney. A group that included hundreds of parents in the midst of mask mandate lawsuits and several large institutional clients.

Switching lawyers in the middle of a suit is not like switching grocery stores and the ADO left them all unrepresented for what appears to be political payback for daring to challenge state and local COVID mandates based on statutes and rules as written.

You know, the law.

Making it Look Political

After the ADO issued the temporary suspension and before the Jan 4 hearing, someone at the ADO tipped off the media. Several news articles were published (misrepresented the facts).

I asked around and attorneys’ licenses get “suspended” all the time. It’s a lot like politicians getting fined by the SEC. It happens often but is rarely publicized.

In the case of attorneys, disciplinary action is quite common. But can you name any of them? Unless there is some political joy to be had no one covers them. They aren’t considered news. No one inside bothers to notify the media because the media wouldn’t waste the time.

How about the lawyer daring to say things like look, the rules, and laws as written do not support these mask mandates? How about that guy? Maybe we trump up some charges, get a little overzealous, ignore process and procedure again, and give him a little media perp walk.

Use him to set an example.

In this instance, the media’s advertised allegations echoed the ADO’s petition, including allegations that Fojo stole money from his clients.

The NH Union Leader even quoted the ADO inviting “Any client who believes he or she is due funds from [Fojo Law’s trust] account should contact the Attorney Discipline Office.”

A blanket invitation for complaints against a licensee is, I am told, a major due process problem.

Inmates Running the Asylum

The hearing referee issued a recommendation on January 12 that Fojo’s temporary suspension remain in place. Fojo has appealed (filed February 10), noting that the hearing referee applied the wrong standard of review when concluding Fojo was dishonest despite evidence contradicting that conclusion.

Also refuted in the appeal is the charge Fojo overpaid himself in two matters despite documents demonstrating Fojo did no such thing. The appeal also notes that the referee ignored much of the evidence Fojo presented to refute the ADO’s allegations.

As of mid-February (after nearly eight months), the ADO has yet to file a notice of charges against Fojo – so Fojo’s license was suspended for a month and a half and he still did not know what charges the ADO intended to bring.

As of this writing, Mifd-March, Fojo cannot practice law in NH and the ADO has not filed a notice of charges. No discovery had been allowed, and no witnesses have testified.

Imagine being detained without notice or a hearing or knowledge of what you’ve been charged with: that’s what’s happening here.

The Supreme Court did hold oral arguments on Fojo’s appeal on February 15.

We’ll get to that in the next piece.

 

 

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Most Americans feel obligated to prepare each younger American generation to prosper and to carry on America’s founding principle, “that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights – Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Helping to fulfill that obligation is the primary purpose of our public education system.

Sadly, our public education system fails in this responsibility despite over 50 years of taxpayers responding to the school systems’ experts’ demands. Taxpayers provide higher wages, better benefits, smaller class sizes, increased special education funding, new technology, new facilities, additional administrators, etc., but far too many children still leave public schools without the basic skills needed for future success.

Our nation’s public education system compares poorly versus other nations’ public education systems. Various studies rank our education system as 22nd, 13th, and 20th. I found one study, that ranked us first, but it acknowledged that our math and science achievements ranked 38th and 24th respectively.

MSN reports that a Gallop survey found that 20% of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth.

The United States has only about 4% of the world’s population. American children need to be prepared to successfully compete against very bright, hardworking, and educated people worldwide.

During the pandemic, many parents were shocked at the content and teaching their children to receive. Our students are taught self-esteem, protesting, Marxism (envy and laziness), White Supremacy, Black Lives Matter, and to question their own gender, but too many can’t read, think, or make change for a dollar.

In desperation, many parents home school, hire tutors or pay for alternative schools in addition to paying their public school taxes.

Like most monopolies our public school system fails because it lacks incentives to improve. Senior citizens will remember how breaking up the high cost, limited option telephone monopoly of our childhoods brought the competition which provides today’s inexpensive and feature-rich telephones.

We don’t fund public schools just to provide jobs and sports teams; our obligation is to prepare students. We need freedom in education. Parents should be able to direct taxpayer-provided education funds to best benefit their children. This will create a revolution in education, improving public schools, incentivizing new schools and methods, and competition to provide the best possible educational results for each child.

As a result, our students will be prepared to compete and prosper against the worldwide competition. Our country will continue demonstrating to the world what can be achieved when a society is dedicated to our founding principles of equality before the law, and “life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” for all.

 

 

The post Too Many Children Leaving School without Skills Needed for Success appeared first on Granite Grok.

The confirmation hearings begin today as the Senate is ready to question, or praise, the nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. I say question or praise because it depends on the side of the aisle the Senator sits.

We have become that divisive. Depending on your party, you either have to vilify or grill the nominee or gush with unwarranted adoration.

Like the search for a running mate and eventual Vice President, President Biden has broken the law by narrowing the field to Black Females. If a corporation CEO placed an ad for a “Black Female CFO, no others need to apply,” they would be fined and probably tender their resignation. Not our President. He can shun every other pool sector, and we saw how well that worked the first time.

Biden is not looking to nominate the next great Associate Justice that will defend the Constitution but to appease the Woke crowd and have the legacy of placing the first black justice on the Court. Such a shallow motivation for such an important decision and appointment. The reason this country is on the wrong track, according to an overall percentage of the people, is because Diversity and Equity were the standards for Cabinet positions and not competence.

The country is suffering the effects of a Woke administration. Is the Supreme Court now feeling the same blow? The barbs and accusations are already flying as the Republicans express their concerns about the Judge. She has limited experience at the Federal level, confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2021. She has only one published paper, and many of her rulings have been overturned on appeal.

Some feel that she has shown a softness to crime, and her pro-bono representation of alleged inmates at Guantanamo concerns many. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has been vocal about his concerns and is being torched by the msm.

The following from The Grio:

“The assault on Judge Brown Jackson came as Hawley tweeted a lengthy thread last week accusing her of being lenient in dealing with sex offenders—particularly those who hurt children. Other Republicans predictably are following his lead. Hawley went on his favorite network, Fox News, on Thursday night and spewed more of his venom. “I think we just have a basic question to ask,” Hawley said. “Are we gonna get a judge here who’s gonna protect children, or who’s gonna protect child predators?”

So doing his job is “assaulting” a nominee. I fear that the false testimony brought against Judge Kavanaugh, in an attempt to stop the nomination and destroy his reputation, did not face the same scrutiny. The problem with the current scenario with Judge Brown is that the Left will tolerate no criticism. To do so will bring labels of racist, misogynist, or in the case of an MSNBC contributor, a killer.

The Nation’s Elie Mystal said Saturday on MSNBC that by bringing up Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was “trying to get her killed.”

Mystal said he needed the Democrats to “step up” at this week’s confirmation hearings for the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“What Josh Hawley is doing. Let’s be very clear. What Josh Hawley is doing when he tries to do this is he’s trying to get her killed. He is trying to get violence done against a Supreme Court nominee,” Mystal said on MSNBC’s “The Cross Connection with Tiffany Cross.”

The hearings in the Senate will be ugly and partisan this week. That is where the Senate, and the House, have evolved. The Judge will likely be confirmed unless any Democrat Senators break from the pack. Does she deserve the job? In my opinion, no. I do not see her as a Justice who will rule by the word of the Constitution. I see her as someone who wants to write policy from the bench and impact the world. That is a dangerous person to be in a lifetime appointment.

That last statement is why we need to push forward on our work to get thirty-four states to approve the resolution to force Congress to call for a Convention of States under Article V of the Constitution.

To learn more and sign our petition, click here:  Convention of States Petition.

 

 

Ray Writes for GraniteGrok.com and the Liberty Loft

The post Flawed From the Start appeared first on Granite Grok.

Many of the stories, commentary, and questioning from the Executive Council on March 9, 2022, concerning whether Bedford attorney Brian Shaughnessy should serve as a New Hampshire Circuit Court judge have focused on the wrong issue.

The question – as it pertains to whether Shaughnessy should be a judge – is not whether Shaughnessy mishandled 190 uncounted absentee ballots, was under investigation or attempted to cover up the investigation into the ballot mishandling. The more interesting and compelling question is whether Shaughnessy (then the assistant moderator) acted outside his authority in rendering what appeared to be legal advice to the Town of Bedford.

In New Hampshire, an assistant moderator’s powers and duties are limited. An assistant moderator has “all the powers and duties which the moderator has, subject to the control of the moderator.” RSA 40:3-a, RSA 658:7.

The duties of the moderator are focused on two areas: town meetings and elections. They include “presid[ing] in the town meetings, regulat[ing] the business thereof, decid[ing] questions of order, and mak[ing] a public declaration of every vote passed.”RSA 40:4, I.

We want to thank Robert Fojo for this Op-Ed.
Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

The moderator may also “prescribe rules of proceeding” for town meetings and re-schedule deliberative or business sessions of such meetings. RSA 40:4, I, II(a).

Regarding elections, a moderator’s duty is to ensure that the election process is fair and is conducted in accordance with state law. A moderator may conduct vote by secret ballots, conduct a recount of votes, or re-take questioned votes. RSA 40:4-a, RSA 40:4-b.

A moderator also has duties concerning the preparation of polling places, monitoring additional polling places, establishing procedures for polling places, certifying ballots, and handling ballots. RSA Chapter 657 and 658.

Assistant moderators have all the powers and duties above that the moderator may delegate to them, except that the moderator may not delegate to an assistant moderator the power of making the declaration of votes cast. RSA 40:3-a, RSA 658:7. Most important: these powers and duties are limited, and they do not authorize the provision of legal advice.

Shaughnessy, nevertheless, decided to provide the Town with legal advice. He admitted so in his recent Facebook post.

“The advice to not discuss matters relating to the pending investigation came from me, as a lawyer, advising someone who is the subject [of] a pending investigation that could support criminal charges (see RSA 661). Any notification to the Town Council would be subject to RSA 91-A (the right to know law), and any public statements could become fodder for social media which could impact the pending investigation. Standard legal advice.”

That sounds like standard legal advice, but Shaughnessy was not the Town’s attorney, and he conceded to the Executive Council he was not there as an attorney. He was the assistant moderator.

Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington (a Democrat and herself an attorney) focused on this issue on March 9. In response to the concerns Shaughnessy expressed to Town officials regarding the “email traffic” that could result from their discussion of the investigation (which would be subject to public disclosure under the Right-to-Know law), Warmington opined that Shaughnessy’s communication to those officials appeared to be “legal advice.”

At one point, she asked Shaughnessy, “Who was your client?” Shaughnessy responded the Town Moderator (Bill Klein) was his client, but then he conceded he was “not representing anybody in the legal sense.”

Although Warmington will likely vote for Shaughnessy’s confirmation, she isolated the most glaring problem with Shaughnessy: his provision of legal advice to the Town despite having no authority (either as assistant moderator and, particularly, not having been retained by the Town as its attorney) to do so.

Shaughnessy’s decision to render legal advice in that instance should disqualify him from being a judge.

The Founders separated powers among three branches: among those is the power by our courts to interpret laws. That power, like its two counterparts (the executive and legislative branches), should be limited. A judge should interpret a law based on its text and original meaning.

This constraint means the law should govern, not the intent of a legislator, much less the preference of a judge.

The late Justice Antonin Scalia was highly critical of judges who say the law means whatever it ought to mean, ultimately based on their own policy preferences. Indeed, this practice becomes even more problematic when done by unelected judges. A judge – even a panel of judges sitting on an appellate court – can hardly be called a “representative assembly” of the people.

When judges deviate from these standards, the judiciary quickly becomes that which the Founders sought to prevent. We are a “government of laws,” and judges should faithfully apply those laws: the rule of law is predictable, is imbued with wisdom, and protects us from the government’s potential abuse of power.

Government officials are supposed to follow the limited laws that govern them. Judges, likewise, are supposed to adhere to their limited roles in our republic. If an official such as Shaughnessy ignores the fact he had no authority to provide legal advice to the Town, and acted outside of his authority in doing so, why should we trust that he would adhere to the law (and not act outside his authority) as a judge?

That is the question that should be asked. In this era where judges who actually follow and apply the law are hard to find, Shaughnessy does not deserve a vote of confidence.

 

 

Editors Note: An earlier version of this article had the citations in the wrong place. That was our fault, not the authors. They have been corrected.

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