Monday • April 29 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XVIII
Manchester, N.H.
There are two opportunities to take control of the election process. One is to participate in the Resolve Initiative, which is taking a non-traditional approach to voting for candidates for NH’s top 30 elected offices (Governor, Executive Council, Senate, etc.).
The other (if you don’t want to participate in the Resolve Initiative) is to force every one of your votes to be hand-counted – thereby bypassing the voting machines that many have an issue with.
The Resolve Initiative
This initiative is a clever idea, and I’ve been told that it has gained much traction. You can read and watch about it here.
The goal is to bypass the establishment political parties and form a coalition around 30 truly worthy candidates who are running for the state’s top 30 positions who will put America First.
There will be Meet and Greets and a series of debates at one location this Friday, August 5, 2022 with candidates that are seeking your vote. Those Meet and Greets and debates will help define who is deserving of the Resolve Initiative’s support.
Some of the candidates running for the 30 top positions may not even be on the ballot in the Republican or Democrat columns – but that does not matter. The Resolve Initiative seeks to produce a coordinated, statewide write-in effort for all 30 of the top positions in the state. If you are even remotely interested, consider attending the Resolve Initiative Meet and Greets and Debates this Friday.
You can sign up on Event Brite here.
Force Your Votes to be Hand-Counted
Many people I have spoken with over the past year are not confident about the accuracy of voting machines – and therefore, they would like for all votes to be hand-counted.
But hand-counting does not have the support of those who currently write NH laws… so the towns that currently use voting machines to count votes, will continue to do so. But… that does not mean you have to accept YOUR votes being counted by those machines.
For EVERY CANDIDATE in EVERY RACE that you cast a vote for, simply fill in the “write-in” oval in the “Write-In” column (the right most column on the ballot) and then write-in the name of the candidate next to that oval that you want to be elected. If your candidate’s name appears on the ballot in one of the other columns – make sure to leave that oval blank – and use the Write-In column for casting every vote. The machines will be forced to push the ballot into the “hand-count” bin in the machine, and all races with “write-in” votes must then be hand-counted at the end of the evening.
You Have More Control Than You Know!
If you are unhappy with the election process and/or machines being used to count the votes, then consider these alternatives above and get engaged!
The post Two Opportunities to Take Control of the Election Process! appeared first on Granite Grok.
In April, the Biden Administration amended the federal regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to reverse certain changes made by the Trump Administration.
The first set of amendments took effect on May 20, 2022. This act by Biden was a direct shot at the fossil fuel industry but also put restrictions on infrastructure projects in the works and on the planning board. I am confused. I thought Biden was for infrastructure, but that is more talk than action.
One of the reasons that Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) has flip-flopped and is now in favor of the $8 billion Inflation Reduction Act was because of certain reversals by Biden of some of the energy programs he has killed since taking office. Manchin is being duped. The concessions are not part of the bill. He is being given a “promise” by Chuck Schumer that the Senate will vote on the concessions in September. There is no guarantee his vote will bring about these changes.
Enter Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AL). According to Sullivan’s website:
U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) has introduced S.J. Res. 55, a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act(CRA), with all 49 of his Senate Republican colleagues to nullify the Biden administration’s new regulation, “National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations Revisions,” that will further bog down the already-onerous federal permitting process and add further delay to building vital infrastructure projects and putting hard-working Americans back to work. The recently enacted Biden administration NEPA rules, authored by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), undermine important provisions in the infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act intended to streamline key elements of our broken federal permitting process, which Senator Sullivan played a leading role in writing. Additionally, the Biden administration’s NEPA rules are a substantial roll-back of the Trump administration’s 2020 NEPA regulations, which were the first major modernization of federal environmental reviews since 1978. Senator Sullivan was a leading advocate for the 2020 NEPA revisions, having previously introduced legislation—the Rebuild America Now Act—that mirrored the Trump-era reforms.
This act would take the handcuffs off all energy and infrastructure projects and do it now, not in September as Manchin’s resolution would do. Manchin’s resolution would only apply to twenty-five specific projects.
Sullivan’s CRA would not require approval by Schumer to get to the floor for a vote and only needs 51 votes to pass. All fifty Republican Senators have co-signed the CRA, so only one Democrat vote is needed to send the Act to the House. Manchin should sign on quickly for this CRA does all Manchin’s resolution would do and more. The CRA to overturn NEPA is a bill that has to scare the hell out of the Dems. A vote against is a vote against American workers, the people that build things and make this country and economy move. It is a vote for the Coastal Economic Elites. A vote against would harm anyone on the ballot in November.
If the CRA gets to the House and Biden’s desk, they will be under the same microscope. Are you for the people or the elites? The House cannot have a NO vote hitting them in the midterms. As for Biden, who knows. He has done nothing in eighteen months for the American worker. This would be a good place to start.
The post Time to Kill NEPA and Get Us Producing Energy Again appeared first on Granite Grok.
The term “groomer” has thrust itself into the national dialogue since about the middle of 2020 when elementary school educators began outing themselves on social media. It seems the seared conscience of the groomer has been glossed over with a sense of mission and heroism. The people who offer digital monologues filled with triumphal soliloquies about how they are indoctrinating young children of other parents, either don’t believe or don’t understand their role in the sexualized grooming of America’s youth.
The halls of human trafficking have been echoing for years with the cries to anyone who would listen that grooming is not just a seedy back alley practice among drug dens and the occasional white-collar predator. Those in rescue operations had been hearing first-hand accounts of elite predators from all sectors of society, most notably politics. However the Roman Catholic Church, perhaps due to its standing as a holy body, received the loudest criticism despite sharing the child abuse throne with the power elite. A deeper look into the reasons the church was targeted as public enemy #1 for grooming reveals their role most likely was a setup for a larger plot to destroy it from within, which I’ll get into later in the series.
I may be one of the few experts on grooming in the state of Vermont who is not involved in law enforcement. After I left college in 1996 I worked as a Program Specialist at a group home for highly functioning developmentally disabled pedophiles. After a photojournalistic expose ran in the Oregonian newspaper detailing the horrific mistreatment of patients at the sanitarium in Salem, Oregon, the public outcry forced it to close. Patients were grouped into homes based on their needs, and the home where I worked housed five pedophiles ranging in ages from the late twenties to mid-sixties, all of them moderately to severely mentally and behaviorally impaired as a result of having been sexually abused as children. My role was essentially as a high-rent chaperone who administered meds, helped with cooking, monitored their television time to avoid watching children, as well as took them out in public to shop or have activities while also protecting them and the children from them.
Add to that I was groomed and molested as a kid on more than one occasion and I have a pretty solid understanding of both sides of the situation. Much of my adult life has had me keeping my thumb on the pulse of the local, national and international grooming and trafficking that goes on, especially after my son was born. Despite my knowledge of the scope and size of the problem, it has stunned me how quickly it’s become not just pervasive, but moving toward normalization both in the United States and here in the Vermont side of the Upper Valley.
Grooming is a fairly unsophisticated process once you understand the essentials. Groomers, nearly all of whom are adult age, though teenagers can groom younger children, are first looking for people who are vulnerable. Victims more often than not have a similar lack of getting their needs met at home, so groomers spend their time looking for these types of people. Groomers look for external clues that will open the door to internal probing, which begins the process. Potential victims typically draw the attention of groomers with body language that says they are insecure, unhappy and clothing that communicates either poverty or a similar lack of care, however, this is not always the case. Some victims lack either characteristic and will be found where groomers shop, eat or hang out such as online, at clubs, fitness centers, schools, or workplaces. Groomers are pathological, so they are virtually always on the prowl and in the process in one way or another. It keeps them engaged and when they are engaged they are getting stimulation similar to a drug addict getting their high. With grooming the chase is as rewarding as the capture.
Grooming doesn’t just target children. Adults can groom other adults, which is in part the reason the human trafficking trade has grown to now outpace illegal arms trafficking and illegal drug trafficking revenues combined. Vermont’s congress recently overturned illegal prostitution in Burlington, thus opening the door to this type of grooming, however, grooming has been happening as long as people have been in Vermont and would continue even if laws opposed it. The appeal is not merely money, but power and control.
Another type of adult grooming can be found in cults. As with all types of grooming the goal is to deceive the target into entrusting themselves to the groomer(s) until they are trapped and feel either obligated to stay in the unsafe relationship or afraid to leave for fear of negative repercussions. The Branch Davidians, Satanists, offshoots of Christianity and Islam, secret societies like Freemasonry, and even entire countries like North Korea all use the same tactics to attract and capture victims. The grooming stages are:
A typical storyline would have the groomer identifying the person based on their appearance or perhaps just the general fishing groomers do when interacting with others. Once they have a potential victim they ask lots of questions and appear to be wonderful listeners. The more they get the person to talk the more they hone in on vulnerabilities. It’s important they are able to spend time with the person through regular contact, whether in person, online, or over the phone. As they build trust they begin to desensitize the person through learning and ultimately exploiting their vulnerabilities. For example, a child predator would often spot careless parents while acting familial with the child, or a trafficker would be the shoulder to cry on for the neglected teen.
The powerful process of love bombing is what entrances the victim to drop healthy boundaries and give themselves over to the groomer’s schemes. This involves gift giving, quality time, affirming words, generous acts of service, and often physical touching. As the relationship intensifies the groomer looks to get the individual alone, then continues to love the bomb until they see the opportunity to initiate the abuse. This stuns the victim who has been so overcome with love and trust that they are put into a state of psychological shock which the predator will exploit by returning to the love bombing stage only less so and with strings attached. Children who have been abused will be threatened with the shame of exposure or vague threats of hurting their loved ones. Teens will be strong-armed into prostitution often with the use of drugs to keep them numb to their plight. Religious cults, secret societies, and nation-states will use the fall from grace, threats of shunning, and even death as intimidation and control tactics.
Over time the groomers become the masters as they control the mind games intended to confuse, bewilder, intimidate and enslave their victims.
The next article will identify the new world of grooming being foisted onto Americans through social media, schools, and government.
Here are a few accompanying articles and videos that go more in-depth.
7 Must Know Signs of Grooming by a Sexual Predator
The 5 stages of online grooming – radicalizing children
Stages of Grooming (by the Child Advocacy Center in Alberta Canada)
The post Groomers Part 1: Methods appeared first on Granite Grok.
Warning Danger! Honorable State Legislators, beware! Don’t let the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC) influence the way you represent “we the people” so much that they make a “smart Alec” out of you.
In these times of oppressive, unconstitutional federal power overreach, we need your office to stand against all of their usurpations of power not granted to them by the U.S. Constitution. I was reminded of the ALEC move to recruit conservative liberty-minded Republicans away from constitutional limits when I received a Facebook email from a friend with a picture of a number of New Hampshire state legislators being wined and dined by the ALEC.
When I first contemplated the negative impact of this move that helps reduce and weaken advocates of limited constitutional government benefiting leftist causes, my first perception of this picture was that these public servants seem to be busting with pride about their association with ALEC. Applying Will Roger’s witty comment to this association with ALEC by public servants: “What these elected officials think they know about ALEC ain’t so.”
State Representative Robert Theberge sure learned this lesson the hard way by being a member of ALEC. Based on experience, his observation was,
“ It is true that I was a member of ALEC several years ago. My intention was to bring forth a different perspective on issues. However, I quickly learned that the voice of what I believed to be reason, did not prevail. I was also concerned about the make-up of the members, where businesses and corporations had a direct voice and vote on national issues. In particular, pressure was placed on members to put forth legislation and provided with boiler plates for legislation to that end. In conclusion, I am no longer a member of ALEC, nor do I support their views. . .”
It is encouraging that a Democrat is concerned about the danger of pressure from corporative influence over model “boilerplate” legislation.
Lew Rockwell, President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, adds to the concern over the deception of their stated purpose: “ALEC talks a good game of “free markets” while actually promoting corporate subsidies and economic Fascism…” Check out an in-depth article from The New American of May 5th ,2014, called The Not-so-smart ALEC
It is easy to see why ALEC’s philosophy and its goals appeal to legitimate constitutionalists who oppose the oppressive hand of Big Government. However, just like a small amount of cyanide in a glass of water will kill the one who is thirsty, there are many signs that the goal of ALEC is just the opposite of its stated purpose of “Free Markets Limited government and individual liberty.”
Members of ALEC cite how Liberal establishment media and leftist activism beat up on ALEC for its conservatism. But this doesn’t prove their conservative free market image is genuine.
How can 800 to 1,000 model bills per year heavily influenced by corporate and business giants from “who is who” of Fortune 500 companies truly represent the will of the people of NH if corporate members and state legislators all have equal votes? Googling these corporate giants is a vivid exposure of how much power, wealth, and influence they have in the promotion of legislation that benefits their interest and promotes the opposite of their stated purpose.
But It isn’t surprising that mostly liberty-minded conservative state legislators are attracted to ALEC. Unfortunately, those who join as members add undeserved conservative credibility to ALEC and thereby create a divisive problem for“we the people” that promote individual liberty maximized by constitutional government. But it is surprising that too many good legislators who normally promote “individual liberty” do not look below the surface for the following red flags that promote the destruction of our Constitution through Article V Conventions and the Marxist “Free Trade scam.”
First, it seems almost unlimited budgets have promoted Article V Conventions (ConCon) funded by the likes of George Soros (among other power elite) through the Open Society Foundation, which promote amending the Constitution with “amendments” or even replacing our present Constitution that just needs to be obeyed not fixed or replaced. Just think, if Soros gets his way with the Constitution 2020 movement that he is bankrolling, that is a powerful blueprint for implementing Marxist tyranny.
ConCon’s are a danger to our Constitutional Republic because the amendments proposed initiate a mandate for the federal Congress to call a ConCon after 2/3 of the states call for a Convention on a specific issue. After the ConCon is called, it represents the “sovereign will of the people” superior to both the federal and state legislatures.
Article V is silent about delegates, who will be chosen, how, and by what method. Madison, Hamilton, and Washington will not be around to protect our liberty as in 1787. Imagine the unlimited Nanny state advocates of today turned loose with a hatchet to chop up the Constitution. It would be like turning a “fox loose in the chicken coop.” Get the rest of that story here.
The second “red flag” is a major move toward international socialism and the destruction of national sovereignty.
It was initiated in the 1990s when Newt Gingrich, Republican Speaker of the House, joined forces with President Clinton to pass NAFTA (now superseded by a more dangerous agreement), the (USMCA), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
For decades Congress has been inundated with so-called free trade legislation promoted by ALEC that continues to surrender its control over trade along with the presidents to the WTO’s unelected international bureaucrats. Why does ALEC promote agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), ” entangling the U.S with all the nations of the EU,” and the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) that, “thank God!” have so far not passed? Free trade is not free. It is an essential strategy for the progression of international socialism envisioned by Karl Marx to be promoted by non-communist hands.
Both state legislators and freedom-loving citizens should be concerned about ALEC policies. For the concept of government in America’s birthing documents in the Declaration of Independence that is secured by the Constitution is called Americanism. It mandates the eternal biblical wisdom that, “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the purpose of government is to secure these rights.”
This biblical wisdom of our Founders was poured into a Godly mold that has created more liberty for us than any people who have walked the earth. It is precious for it maximizes freedom by limiting government to its primary and proper purpose to “protect the life and property of its citizens.” We of our time must “pay the price of eternal vigilance to preserve it.”
We need our state officeholders to represent “we the people” more than ever in these chaotic times. Remind them that ALEC does not vote at the polls.
Why shouldn’t citizens question the reasoning of their State Representatives and Senators who promote the philosophy of government advocated by ALEC?
For in their promotion of the dangerous ConCon movement that blames the Constitution “for not being obeyed” by those who are sworn to it, they endanger our liberty. For their promotion of the solutions of “amendments that will be just more laws that will not be obeyed.” Or replacing the whole Constitution, endangering the most powerful human document in all history that is designed to limit government, thereby maximizing liberty.
This is a path that freedom-loving Americans do not want to take. ALEC’s stated purpose is good. Its track record is a danger to our Constitutional Republic.
The post The Other Side of ALEC appeared first on Granite Grok.
Nobody
In a recent post here at Free Keene, Chris Waid presented his notes from the sentencing hearing for Nobody as a, “Big win for Mr. Nobody“. This is ridiculous spin. For those who didn’t hear the news, my co-defendant Nobody was recently sentenced to “time served” of approximately six months in jail as well as $2,100 in fines and fees, a forfeiture of $10,000, and two years’ probation. He had taken a plea to one count of “wire fraud”, despite not having defrauded anyone. Like the other Crypto Six defendants, he was intimidated into a plea deal by the threat of further charges.
Whether or not he took the plea and even if he went to trial and “won” on every count – as Aria and I are hoping to do – it would not be a “win”. As Mark Stevens put it in his book, “Adventures in Legal Land“, whenever you are targeted by the state, it is a loss. Even if you “win” and defeat the charges, you still lose your time. You still lose your ability to focus on things that are actually important to you instead of focusing on a criminal trial and the stress of bail conditions and the government’s axe hanging over your head. Basically, when they bring charges against you, you are going to lose – the only question is how much?
In Nobody’s case, he went through a horribly and unnecessarily violent pre-dawn raid on his home, spent several months behind bars, most of a year on restrictive bail conditions, and now is having his personal finances decimated. He has nearly nothing left after paying their extractions, is now a federal felon for life, and is still under multiple probation restrictions for two years. All of this damage has been brought upon him simply because, as he described it, he was convicted of, “contempt of bank”. It’s great that he doesn’t have to go back to prison, but this is not a win.
In other Crypto Six news, the remaining two defendants, Aria DiMezzo and me, have had motions filed by our defense attorneys, including a motion to dismiss the “money transmitter” charges, a motion to block the prosecution from using blockchain analysis experts, and a notice of a “public authority defense”. The hearing on these motions is set for September 1st at 9:30am at Concord Federal District Court Church.
Yep, that’s him that I “boxed” in the slightly edited registered Democrat voter Denise Conroy’s social media image. And you voted for her, amirite, because of her “lack of baggage”? Like I said, a complete lack of doing your homework, Gregg Hough, in picking this “temporary Commissioner” (after all, that WAS the agenda item).
Tell me, Gregg, as with redistricting Laconia Ward 2 was melded with Gilford, as my NH House Representative, do you know what a Dillon’s Rule State MEANS? It’s obvious that you don’t or you wouldn’t have acted the way you did.
Apart from that, you and I had a discussion about you taking part in what was an illegal Delegation meeting – and you told me that you weren’t going to do so – our text conversation:
Me: Just tried to call you, mix full
Me: Mbx full
Me: Now that I am your constituent, I can now yell at you loudly. Now, this meeting tonite
Me: It was called for under 91A.[Right to Know Law] You are governed by RSA 24:9-D [regulations for Conventions] for the calling of meetings which requires 7 day notice. RSA 399 [authorizing language for Gunstock] doesn’t allow for a [GAC] temp commissioner, go read my post of this morning.
Me: My ire has nothing to do with Gunstock but that my rep is willing to not follow the Law!
That got his attention and he called me and we discussed thing. At that time he told me that he would not participate/show up and say that he wouldn’t take part and then leave.
And now we all know that he did go, did participate and did so as a “pro-temp Vice Chair” (just like Harry Bean did as pro-temp Chair) and voted to oust Dr. Strang “for cause”. While this post is about Gregg Hough, this question can be for both – where in the Law does is say that a meeting can illegally be called (either less than 7 day or by a State Rep that is not the Delegation Chair)?
And add – where in Law (RSA 24) does it say that in the absence of the Chair/Vice-Chair that the rest can simply decide to make up new positions and go with them? I’ll wait but I’m not going to hold my breath as I know better. Why don’t YOU know the answer, Gregg? Why did you go along with this?
Voters are entitled to trust their Representatives. I didn’t vote for him simply because the vote was taken “pre-redistricting” back in 2020. Now, I’m stuck with him until either the Primary or the General Election.
The long and short of it, like Frank Guinta of now long ago (yeah, I don’t forget someone after they’ve lied to me), you lied to me. Did you not think I was going to find out? And did you REALLY think I’d say nothing.
I don’t like people that first tell me one thing and then when I’m out of sight, do the exact opposite. Am I as a voter supposed to just “take it in the shorts” that my Rep IS going to lie to me with impunity? This is about your integrity – and you flunked that completely.
So I ask – WHY did you lie to me by telling me one thing but doing another? Why couldn’t you be straight with me – we could have disagreed over the phone, perhaps vehemently, but at least I would have to say you were honest about it.
Now, all I can concluded is that “honesty” is not a word or virtue I can apply to you going forward.
Now, for those that only care that Gunstock is opening up but don’t care about the Law and Government following the correct processes/procedures, you’re probably looking upon him with favor. But ask yourself, what if it was something else that was important to you and he (or any OTHER elected official)
The post On Keeping One’s Word – Or Not. Not Cool to Lie to a New Constituent, Gregg Hough (Laconia Ward Two)! appeared first on Granite Grok.
The hypothesis of man-made climate change is bad science, if not outright fraud. However, let’s forget that for a moment and focus on the proposed solution: The Green New Deal.
Simply, the green new deal is the “all-natural,” “raw,” “organic,” “locally sourced” variant of centralized planning.
It has other euphemistic epithets like “Energy Independence.”
A helpful indicator of where it is all going is to look at how we are getting there…total destruction of our economy, and starvation.
One problem of centralized planning is that it is akin to you attempting to control all of your autonomic and cellular functions with your conscious mind. How long will you live if you need to consciously direct your digestion?
We want to thank Tejasinha Sivalingam for this Op-Ed. Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
Another problem with centralized planning is, it does not allow for the natural redundancy and resilience that arises from decentralized planning. This makes the system prone to failure upon interference.
Lastly, it is anything but sustainable; Joseph Stalin proved this pretty well with his 5-year plans. The administrators at the top never really understand the conditions on the ground, and so they make unrealistic projections and demands.
Here is the solution: We don’t focus on “energy independence” per se but rather on “independence in energy.” We give it to the States and have them draft their own energy plans. This will create State competition, diversify our energy portfolio, and make us more adaptive and resilient.
Some States will run towards wind and solar, others might move more towards hydrogen or Medium energy Plasma Reactors, others still will stick with proven coal and natural gas, etc. This will allow States to try on their new pair of energy jackboots without kicking us!
The post Don’t Focus On “Energy Independence” but Rather on “Independence in Energy.” appeared first on Granite Grok.
Interesting Study from the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
SEE .PDF File below
"Researchers and community agencies need to explore the needs of this forgotten population, especially as the country grapples with the loneliness associated with COVID-19 and various levels of quarantine. Individuals impacted by the incarceration of a loved one already have limited access to their loved ones behind bars. COVID-19 has dramatically decreased the amount and types of communication available to these individuals. Family members and friends, outside of prison walls, are also major sources of support for incarcerated individuals as they are released from prison (Sirois,2019). More than two million people are incarcerated in various facilities throughout the United States (Sawyer & Wagner, 2020; The Sentencing Project, 2020). Think about the number of individuals impacted by the incarceration of a loved one. Each of those incarcerated individuals have mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, and others. There are millions more impacted by incarceration, not accounted for in the two million incarcerated throughout the United States. The secondary prisonization of family members and friends, outside of prison walls, needs to be more fully explored, so that their needs are being met, which might enable them to continue providing invaluable support to individuals who cycle through our prison system."
Back in May, I called BS on a ‘mental seed’ planted in the fertile minds of gullible readers by so-called “experts” on tick populations. By seed, I mean make a statement of opinion, surround it with the potential for facts, and let people believe it’s true.
Ticks, like COVID, can be manipulated to mean whatever the loudest voices claim – especially when they can shout down all contrary opinions. But sometimes subtle is more effective.
There are many factors that have made it difficult for experts to make predictions about the severity of tick season, Casey said. One factor making tick season especially unpredictable is climate change.
Our takeaway is that Climate “change” may not one of the factors but coupled with the headline “Officials say tick season is now all year,” I bet at least a few people have repeated the notion as fact in casual conversation.
It’s hot, Darrell, and they say we’ll see more ticks when it’s hot, so there must be more ticks. Did you see any, Darrell? No, Darrell, I did not, but they say they’re there, so they must be, right?
Right?June was unseasonably cold, but we did have a warm July, and you can see and feel that, even though Climate-wise, Vermont is not getting hotter. But if there are more ticks out there (black-legged, Dog, or Lone star), that means more end up on us and our animals. Otherwise, who cares?
As previously reported, we have a Yellow Lab, light with white fur, a few acres, and when ticks are most active (spring and fall), I can pull 2-4 of those blood-sucking parasites off the white dog every time we go outside. Sometimes more. A dozen or more in a given day would not be uncommon. I’d call that a decent baseline for “tick season” in my yard.
Any increase in the numbers in the summer months might justify some consideration of the theory, but we just went through what the same scaremongers may decide is the hottest July on record. It is not, but since they’ll insist and climate changes and messes things up (mostly cult narratives) if tick season is all year, we should be able to see that.
July is over, and I have a report from the White Dog Research Arm of GraniteGrok.com. We didn’t see any ticks on the dog in July. Not even one. None on him, none on me, and none on my beautiful research “assistant,” who spends a lot of time with our “lead researcher” in the yard when school is out of session.
She didn’t see any either.
Zero ticks!
We did see plenty of deer in June and July. More than is typical but not nearly as many turkeys and fewer poults (probably because of climate change – wink-wink).
So, what does that tell us?
Local predators are eating more poults and ticks are not “now all year.” Unlike Democrats, these parasites are like most every other year. Heavy in spring absent in summer. So, if someone brings it up, you have some details with which to contradict. And don’t be a jerk, just use statements of fact and ask questions. Did you see more ticks? I didn’t.
Do you have a baseline for comparison like I do or did you rely on journalists and their reporting?
I have years of hands-on “research,” and so far, tick season 2022 is not all year around here (yet), but we will be conducting extensive testing in August and every month after that.
I’ll bring you updates as they become available.
The post White Dog Research Update: Despite “Warming” Tick Season Did Not Extend Into Summer appeared first on Granite Grok.
While a judge was not found/available/willing to issue a Temporary Restraint Order that a gentleman by the name of Stephen Peterson put in on August 1st, a Summons has been issued in the case. Who knows what it will force given it isn’t until September 8th. The only fact that is apparent is that a judge has deemed that the actions of the Belknap Delegation were sufficiently egregious as to warrant it being heard.
Here is the entire document:
Stephen Peterson Summons with Hearing Notice 211-2022-CV-144Let’s see what comes of this.
The post Breaking: While Too Late to Stop Monday’s Illegal Meeting, the Belknap County Delegation Is Being Sued appeared first on Granite Grok.
I’ve known that the existence of this newly discovered $1,000 check had been rumored for a while but I was asked to remain silent. However, loyal reader (and relatively new – THANKS for reading GraniteGrok!) Commenter Manny brought this up last night on my post (“Gunstock – Somebody Gave NH State Rep Harry Bean Really Bad Advice about a Delegation Emergency Meeting“). And Manny has a GREAT finishing line at the bottom – Hahahahahahha!
Manny: And now this:
Exclusive. The plot thickens. Remember last week's furor over $500 from Gunstock Area Commission to Gov. Chris Sununu's 2020 campaign? Most recent report confirms GAC gave gov's 2022 campaign $1,000. Sununu says all legal and Gunstock past mgt. insist it wasn't taxpayer money.
— Kevin Landrigan (@KlandriganUL) August 1, 2022
Doug ought to go over and start reading the replies. Kinda ruins his Narrative about Tom Day and his own actions.
Well, Doug Lambert is now on a Morality pickle, isn’t he? He was the one doing all of the public agitation to bring Tom Day (the resigned General Manager of Gunstock Mountain Resort) back to Doug’s Sacred Mountain, and the above appears. So what will Doug Lambert, of the Gunstock Area Commission and DGFIndustrial, what will you do? Stay “loyal” to your new buddy, Tom Day, or do the right thing and let him go for writing another Gunstock check to a political campaign? Is that the Proper Role of Government agencies to support the sitting Governor?
Where does your Morality now lie?
What would you be doing, Doug, if the sitting Governor was a Flaming Democrat Progressive that you hated? Would you do something or just sit on your hands and do nothing because TOM DAY?
Emphasis mine now:
GraniteGrok
So Doug, as now being the Overwatch guy on the GAC, what are you going to do about Day’s using GAC money to give a political donation to Sununu?
I’ll take a flyer on this – a payment in advance for flying coverage for the crapshow that Day, Kiediasch, Doug Lambert, Jade Wood (NH GOP Area 5 Vice-Chair), and Brian Beihl have concocted and are now executing almost flawlessly?
And here’s the operative question that puts Doug Lambert on a REAL moral dilemma – will he do the RIGHT thing or will he do the political expedient action? The old Doug (the RIGHT thing) or the new one?
Are you going to find and tell us all at the next GAC meeting what the vote was to authorize it?
After all, at the next meeting, it’s fairly certain that you’ll be the Chair. So what will it be Doug – openness and transparency or going into the Dark Corner of Government that both of used to bring Big Flashlights?
Do I need to submit another RSA 91A demand, or are you going to quash that as well? What a change if you choose the latter given that Lambert-Tardiff RTK NH Supreme Court win over the Delegation hiding their vote for a new Sheriff.
Which Doug will appear?
How much of those years of contemplation about the wrong you said you did actually mean anything? Only Doug can answer these questions – but Manny has already figured it out!
Manny: Doug’s not going to do anything. Wouldn’t want to jeopardize his skiing this winter by upsetting Tom Day.
Cure: eyeroll from Doug. And his own answer on what is important to him:
This is so important in multiple ways – it defines him now. And I don’t have to postulate, ruminate, or cogitate; it’s his own words.
Well, except for how it ended: “Well, your end justifies your means”.
The post BREAKING: So Doug Lambert, What Are You Going to Do Now That Another Gunstock Check to the Sununu Campaign Has Surfaced??? appeared first on Granite Grok.
A series of sensational stories have splashed across the “front pages” in recent weeks about shark citings in and around the waters of New England. Is it Climate Change, or have they come looking for that hypocrite, John Kerry?
The private-jet-setting yacht owning Klimate Tsar is the epitome of the Hypocrat class. Limousine liberal. The guy who, no matter what, will never be too hot or too cold or lacking for transportation, vacation opportunities, or the comforts of the modern western lifestyle against which he rails.
He’s Marie Antoinette before she lost her head. Let them eat heat!
And these folks will say or do anything to justify the trillions they’ve wasted on so-called alternatives, by which they mean alternative laundromats for turning your taxes into their campaign and “think tank” dollars.
The latest cult rumor to hit the “shrinking beaches” is that shark attacks (or incidents of visible shark presence) are on the rise because of your devotion to a fraction of the comfort enjoyed by people like John Kerry.
In a July 2022 episode of NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Kerry Sanders reported on “the concern” that “climate change means warmer waters, which brings sharks closer to shore.”
Sharks are the new COVID. Use fear to create a reception, then tie it to a preferred policy goal.
It works, but most of the lies that prop up the global warming narrative are not just wrong they are invisible to the average human eye. You don’t see glaciers, sea ice, or polar bears (all doing fine, by the way), so they can lie about it, but so what? THey are not swirling in the waters off the coast like sharks.
And heat waves are natural, but we experience them differently in the modern era, and most of the discomfort is a result of the massive expansion (mostly) Democrat-run urban heat islands and their impact on accurate temperature readings.
Footage and fearmongering about sharks trolling beaches is unusual, unexpected, and terrifying for most. It creates a visceral rise in tension. But there’s no evidence that the weather has anything to do with sharks being near the shore or people getting attacked by them unless you mean more people swimming in the water to attract them.
So what’s the deal?
First, there is zero connection between CO2 and temperature or anything else, including shark attacks. Human activity in the water is the most likely connection. As cities grow in size and populations swell, there are more people in the water doing more things (more often).
The eastern US seaboard population has swelled for decades.
In Australia,
The way people use the ocean has changed over time. The rise in Australian shark attacks, from an average of 6.5 incidents per year in 1990–2000, to 15 incidents per year over the past decade, coincides with an increasing human population, more people visiting beaches, a rise in the popularity of water-based fitness and recreational activities and people accessing previously isolated coastal areas.
More people increase both the likelihood of sitings and the likelihood of attacks. And it makes perfect sense. If you reduced the volume or quantity of opportunities for interaction, any accounting of attacks would demonstrably decrease, and the Left should be able to see that, or maybe they already have.
Their entire Climate fantasy is based on you doing with less, so they can have more. So, maybe they are not so much trying to convince you that easy western living is making sharks angry enough to eat a few more of you (which they’d not mind one bit)? Perhaps they are hoping you’ll abandon the “disappearing” beaches so there will be more ocean front on which they can erect massive carbon-intensive estates.
HT | WUWT
The post Shark Attacks Are Not Increasing Due to “Climate Change” appeared first on Granite Grok.
So, WHO called the Delegation meeting yesterday? Was it legally done? Nope. And IMHO, County Attorney Andrew Livernois gave cover in a rambling Letter as so many had contacted him to see if the Delegation was operating legally. I have an email thread with him that I will be posting later. Hint: On quoting RSA 91:A as being permissible, he deliberately left out THE key line
NH Constitution:
[Art.] 84. [Oath of Civil Officers.] Any person chosen governor, councilor, senator, or representative, military or civil officer, (town officers excepted) accepting the trust, shall, before he proceeds to execute the duties of his office, make and subscribe the following declaration, viz.
I, A.B. do solemnly swear, that I will bear faith and true allegiance to the United States of America and the state of New Hampshire, and will support the constitution thereof. So help me God.
I, A.B. do solemnly and sincerely swear and affirm that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all duties incumbent on me as …………………………………………., according to the best of my abilities, agreeably to the rules and regulations of this constitution and laws of the state of New Hampshire. So help me God.
One would expect that our Lawmakers that we send to Concord to either the NH House of Representatives or the NH State Senate would actually be faithful to that oath. After all, if they expect us to follow the laws that THEY make, shouldn’t we also reciprocate in demanding they follow the laws that regulate the processes they are supposed to follow? Sadly, that doesn’t happen all the time and the activities of the Belknap County Delegation proved that when whipped into a frenzy by others into believing that an “emergency” existed, they acted illegally.
And once again, I am compelled to talk about people that should have known better but the “DO SOMETHING” overrode their common sense.
And broke the Law intentionally IF you look at the plain black and white words of the Law. Either RSA 91:A (which allows for only a 24 hour notice) or RSA 24:9-d (mandates a 7 day notice) could have been used to call the meeting but note the conditions:
91-A:2 II: An emergency shall mean a situation where immediate undelayed action is deemed to be imperative by the chairman or presiding officer of the public body,
RSA 24:9-d: The clerk of the convention, or his or her designee, shall mail to each member of the convention a notice stating the time, place and purpose of further meetings at least 7 days before the day of the meeting and shall cause to be published a like notice at least 7 days before the day of the meeting in a newspaper of general circulation in the county
I hold that the latter, as I said before, is the superior RSA when it comes to Delegation/Convention.
So, Harry Bean, in the case of the former, are you the Chair of the Delegation? No – you violated your oath of office in breaking the RSA 91:A Law. You took it upon yourself for no good legal purpose to trash the Law – I thought you to be far better than that; very disappointed in my State Rep that I have always trusted to Follow The Law.
And, Harry Bean, in the case of the latter, are you the Clerk of the Convention that has the Power to send out that 7 day notice? No you didn’t violated your oath of office in breaking RSA 24:9-d technically – you didn’t use it but you should have.
You talk about “THE MOUNTAIN HAS TO OPEN” wasn’t an emergency – it was a politically charged and mobbed up rush to push political agendas. There was a push, push, push to create an overriding urgency to DO SOMETHING by those that have further political agendas.
And you couldn’t see it. You know, when we met on the Gilford Budget Committee, you kept telling me that you were only a hillbilly. That was always nonsense and I told you that many times. Perhaps this time, I should believe it.
The worst thing, after you had told me on many of occasions, that you valued my opinion as I had never lied to you. You told me that I always did my homework but it wasn’t that you didn’t listen, you didn’t WANT to listen.
So what should be done with a legislator that knew he COULDN’T do something – but did it anyways? What can be done besides the Primary and General Election? What might the legal avenues taken by a constituent when their elected Representative breaks the Law?
And as to the Loyalty bit in the post title. Loyalty, in all its manifest forms, used to be a high virtue within society. We derided former NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn for never showing any loyalty except to herself (and the guy dragging the dollar bill on a string in front of her. OK, not the guy, just the dollar bill. How else explain her position with the Anti-Republican Lincoln Project (when it got any buzz at all)).
Harry just ensured that Dr. Dave Strang was ejected from the Gunstock Area Commission by calling that meeting – he was neither the Chair nor the Clerk. He did something he shouldn’t have done. Loyalty?
Loyalty? Gratitude? Loyalty is to be earned, to be sure. But it is a Virtue that demands that you don’t just throw someone into the trash for a political agenda. I spent years defending Doug Lambert on calling NH Democrat Party Chair Ray Buckley a really bad word (go ahead, ask him about it and see how quickly he’ll deflect from it). I didn’t just talk about it, I demonstrated Loyalty. What did I get for it?
This:
Certainly, my decade and a half made no difference to him at all. What I was to him in this video was both an irritant for pointing out his character failure and being an impediment to a political goal. I’m used to him using Volume 3-8. But in this meeting, he went to 13. What was most scary to me was the vehemence, the ANGER, and the Evilness that were in his eyes – at that moment, it seemed, that I was worse than either Dave Strang or Peter Ness. The difference is that he was slitting political throats – politically, there is nothing he can do to me and I BET that was, in part, fueling his rage.
And no, the “apology” he offered wasn’t – he only realized how out of control he had become in a split instant. So no, not accepted – and no, I have withdrawn all loyalty I once had. At the height of his rage, I was no longer a person but a THING. In the eyes of this “High Priest of The Mountain”, I had committed heresy by saying I didn’t care if Gunstock opened up or not. I still don’t care but I do care that it was done by Following the Law. In his early days, when he and I used to go after the “good ole’ boys” in Gilford for the dark corners and bring bad things to light, he often mentioned the money they kept spending was akin to “every dollar was sacred”. Now, he’s become just like them except “their dollar” has morphed into his “Sacred Mountain”.
Don’t think I’ll be getting any Christmas cards going forward. C’est La.
Yes, Loyalty is in extremely short supply within politics – even when the human friendship would say otherwise. Gratitude, as well. While Jade has been the most shrill about “picking her target, freezing it, and then personalizing it” (along with Lambert), one would have thought that her position of being an NH GOP Area Vice-Chair would have made her less apt to attack and agitate (like Obama the Alinsky Organizer) against two decent Republicans simply because of political differences of how to handle situations at Gunstock. Nope – they brought the battleship big guns to bear. No, they both used the Left’s tactics of the politics of personal destruction. And if anyone wants to complain that I am, well, as I’ve been saying for a while that if the Left wants to set the New Rules, I’m happy to use their rules.
And they did it with glee (well, Jade seemed to). Just like Doug V1.o used to do, I’m flashing a light.
The post Of Oaths and Loyalty – The Dearth of Fidelity to Both in Politics; Belknap County Delegation as Example appeared first on Granite Grok.
As a 23-year resident of Atkinson, I am proud to live in a state that has the motto “Live Free or Die!” and want to help ensure that New Hampshire truly abides by these words. Since serving in the legislature would give me the best opportunity to do this, .
While I have always been interested in politics, my decision to play a more active role in government has been motivated by the unprecedented events of the past two years, including those related to COVID-19 and the 2020 election, which have demonstrated the inappropriate and unconstitutional overreach of the federal government.
I consider myself a lifelong student of American history, but I have realized only recently the important role state legislatures play in preserving democracy and preventing tyranny and how important it is for concerned citizens to become involved in our own government if we want to leave a better world for future generations.
I currently consider the most important issue to be election integrity because, without safe and secure elections, nothing else really matters. I am a strong pro-life candidate who believes that life begins at conception. As the mother of three children, I am a firm supporter of parental rights because moms and dads, not the state, know what is best for our own children, so our right to raise our children as we see fit must be respected.
We want to thank Arlene Quaratiello for this Op-Ed. Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
As a supporter of New Hampshire’s school choice movement, I wrote a series of letters that were published in area newspapers and delivered testimony before the state legislature in favor of Education Tax Credit Scholarships. I strongly believe that competition in education will improve all schools. A strong advocate for the Second Amendment, I will always defend the fundamental right of self-defense.
I have spent much of my life in Atkinson with my husband Mark, supporting our children’s athletic pursuits, including soccer, basketball, and hockey. I have also volunteered for community organizations, including the Girl Scouts, and have always been a strong supporter of my local public library. For five years, I was a member of the school board of St. Joseph Regional Catholic School in Salem, which my children all attended, and I am currently a parishioner of St. Anne’s Church in Hampstead, where I sing in the choir.
I am a former academic reference librarian and adjunct college English instructor, as well as the author of three books and numerous articles (see detailed list at https://arleneqforstaterep.com/writings). I have always been fascinated by American history and have a special interest in 19th-century American autobiographical literature, a topic which I explored at St. Anselm College in my course “American Adventures: Personal Stories from a Pivotal Century.” The themes of self-reliance and individual freedom reflected in this literature have always resonated with me.
I consider this country to be a truly exceptional place, and I want it to stay that way! As a faithful fighter for families and freedom, I believe that my historical knowledge, along with my own life experience, uncompromising conservative values, and passion for making New Hampshire a better place distinguishes my campaign for state representative.
I ask all registered Republicans and Independents in Atkinson to vote for me in the primary on September 13th so that I can represent our great town in Concord. Thank you for your support!
Arlene Quaratiello
Candidate for State Representative
Atkinson NH
Reminder: Content about candidates or by candidates is not an endorsement by GraniteGrok.com or its authors.
The post I Am Running as a Candidate for State Representative in Rockingham District 18 appeared first on Granite Grok.
Since 2014, Liberty Ballot has been helping Granite Staters answer important election-related questions. Which candidates support smaller government?
How to vote? Where to vote? Voting for liberty can be complicated – make it easy with ballots and an extensive FAQ at LibertyBallot.com.
Liberty Ballot will make multiple rounds of recommendations for the 2022 New Hampshire Republican Primary before the ballots are released. In the first round, Liberty Ballot recommends Harold French for Executive Council, Michael Yakubovich for State Senate, Gary Daniels for State Senate, Dan McGuire for State Representative, and Keith Ammon for State Representative.
Harold French for Executive Council District 2Liberty Ballot recommended Harold French in 2020, and he did not let the people of New Hampshire down! According to the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, French had the best voting record of any member of the Senate over the last two years.
Michael Yakubovich for State Senate District 16Michael Yakubovich has a greater understanding of big government than any candidate for state legislative office. He was born and raised under communism, fled when able, achieved the American Dream, and now is determined to defend the New Hampshire Advantage for younger generations. In addition to being endorsed by Americans for Prosperity – New Hampshire, Rep. Yakubovich was the 2021 New Hampshire Liberty Alliance Legislator of the Year. Yakubovich is running to represent Candia, Goffstown, Hooksett, Manchester Ward 1, and Raymond. Get involved with Yakubovich’s campaign at www.michael4nh.com.
Gary Daniels for State Senate District 11Of all the Senators running for reelection, Gary Daniels had the best New Hampshire Liberty Alliance ratings over the last two years. Americans for Prosperity – New Hampshire endorsed Daniels. Daniels is running to represent Amherst, Merrimack, Milford, and Wilton again. Learn more about and help Daniels at http://garydaniels.org
Dan McGuire for State Representative Merrimack County District 14Dan McGuire has an extensive education including a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. Dan McGuire previously served in the New Hampshire House, where he had an excellent voting record. McGuire spent years volunteering for the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance and Granite State Taxpayers. McGuire is running to represent Epsom. Learn more about and help McGuire at mcguire4house.com
Keith Ammon for State Representative Hillsborough County District 42Keith Ammon is a nationwide leader on innovative cryptocurrency and Bitcoin technology. Keith Ammon previously served as the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance chairman. Ammon is running for reelection to represent Mont Vernon and New Boston. Learn more about and help Ammon at http://ammon4nh.com
CONTACT: James Thomas libertyinthegranitestate@gmail.com
Reminder: Content about candidates or by candidates is not an endorsement by GraniteGrok.com or its authors.
The post LibertyBallot.com – Announcing First Round of Election 2022 Recommendations appeared first on Granite Grok.
The watermelon Marxists have another “day” to celebrate their desire for poverty through central planning. It’s called Earth Overshoot Day. Not to be confused with Green Agenda Debt Overshoot Day. Or, How are we going to Charge all Those EVs Day?
Earth Overshoot Day (is) an annual observance that marks the day humanity has used all of the natural resources, such as fisheries, cropland, and forestry that the earth produces annually.
I’m sorry but…what?
We haven’t used up anything, except perhaps our patience with this greenie-weenie BS.
The American dollar is the only “green” being squandered and used up. Machine politicians have so overspent that we have rising inflation, recession, devaluing, and a chronic case of taxation without representations. Millions of women (whatever those are) and minorities (and a few men) not yet born have been saddled with massive debt and a tax burden for which they never had a voice. Talk about a voting rights problem.
The watermelon Marxists don’t want to hear it. Fingers in ears, lalalalala, as they do artsy things celebrating the collapse of western civilization, without which, they’ll have no time for art.
Nothing about the Green Agenda is green or makes sense. Their solutions are all dirty or can’t work without more of what they claim is dirty. And the only possible endgame to any of this is a two-class system with people who have electricity (AC, transportation, heat in the winter, and any quality of life) and the rest of us hoping for scraps.
It’s sad because I’d be willing to bet that some of these people are not complete idiots outside the topic of “saving the planet.” So, maybe there’s hope.
I get it, this is your god, and you are more than willing to sacrifice other people and their things to it, but you are robbing the future to pay for a plan that can’t work today or ten years from now (or whatever the next doomsday date happens to be if we do nothing).
And the form of government necessary to take so much to do so little is consistently the biggest polluter on the planet.
But you make pictures, tell stories, and pretend while the rest of us work to pay off the debt for your fantasy.
It’s okay, freeloaders. We’re on it. And while we’re at it, how about proclaiming an economic climate emergency? That’s the only one we need unless you’d like to take your crusade to China, exponentially the world’s biggest polluter. A place where even a little would make a big difference.
And we promise to write to you when they put you in prison. We’ll use cardstock from free-range trees and responsibly sourced pens and ink.
Seriously, we will.
The post How ’bout Declaring an “Economic Climate” Emergency? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Education Opportunities Fair
August 3, 2022
3pm to 7pm
Free Event
Executive Court
1199 S Mammoth Rd Manchester NH
Education providers across New Hampshire are invited to showcase their education services for Granite State families and students to raise awareness of existing education opportunities.
Come learn about all education opportunities that exist for your families in New Hampshire!
We’ll have:
Private Schools
Public Charter Schools
Learn Everywhere Providers
Homeschool Groups & Coops
Microschools
Prenda Pods
Tutoring Programs
Come find out about every option that exists for your student to find the best education model for them!
We’ll have team members from Children’s Scholarship Fund New Hampshire on site as well to answer questions about Education Freedom Accounts!
We will also have representatives from the NH Department of Education to answer any questions about the programs that exist now for tutoring, summer camps, and more!
Contact:
Sarah Scott, sscott@afphq.org, 603.315.2710 or
Christopher Maidment, cmaidment@afphq.org, 603.440.9937
Joseph LaCreta, jlacreta@afphq.org, 603.540.6262
https://afpnh.info/educationfair
The post AFPF Education Opportunities Fair Wednesday appeared first on Granite Grok.
Leading Democrats have announced they want a federal statute overruling state laws that restrict abortion. In other words, they want Congress to legalize nearly unrestricted abortion nationwide. Obviously, such a law would intrude into an area of social policy traditionally left to the states.
Would the law pass muster in the Supreme Court?
The court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (pfd)—overruling Roe v. Wade (pdf)—would be no barrier to a national abortion law. This is because the Dobbs case was decided on very different grounds: The 14th Amendment says that states may not “deprive any person of … liberty … without due process of law.” Dobbs ruled that “liberty” as the Constitution uses the term does not strongly protect the right to have an abortion—just as it does not strongly protect the right to practice plumbing without a license or to ignore state health regulations.
Congress would rest its pro-abortion statute on at least four powers the Constitution assigns to it. These include the powers to:
What about the 10th Amendment protecting the states? Well, if a federal abortion law is truly within one of the powers listed above, then the 10th Amendment doesn’t apply, because it guards against only “powers not delegated to the United States.”
The Constitution’s Original Understanding
Traditionally, judges have applied most legal documents as understood by the parties entering into them. Accordingly, judges have interpreted constitutions according to how they were understood by the ratifiers who adopted them.
As someone who has lived with, and published about, the Founders and our Constitution for over 30 years, I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that the Constitution and 14th Amendment, as understood by their ratifiers, do not authorize a national abortion law.
The Constitution’s grant of power to Congress to “regulate Commerce … among the several States” was designed to permit Congress to govern such topics as terms of commercial trade, pricing, navigation, and marine insurance—not abortion (pdf). Indeed, even if abortion were considered “Commerce,” it would not be “Commerce among the several States,” because abortions are not conducted across state lines. The abortionist, the woman, and the unfortunate baby are all in the same room.
By the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Constitution granted Congress incidental authority to regulate some non-commercial activities customarily tied to “Commerce” (pdf). A good example is product labeling, which is part of the manufacturing process. Abortion is far outside that category.
Similarly, the Constitution’s Taxation Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1) granted Congress power to tax, but said nothing about expenditures. Most of Congress’s spending authority came from other parts of the Constitution, including the Necessary and Proper Clause (pdf).
As for the 14th Amendment, the amendment’s primary Senate sponsor (Jacob M. Howard, R.-Mich,) specifically stated that, although women are citizens with many rights, the provisions of the Equal Protection Clause have to be adjusted to take female biology into account. Nearly all the state lawmakers who ratified the 14th Amendment surely agreed.
In sum: A court dedicated to enforcing the Constitution as adopted would strike down a national abortion law before you could say “dilation and evacuation.”
So How Could Congress Pass an Abortion Law?
The Supreme Court no longer fully enforces the Constitution’s limits on federal power. During the mid-20th century, SCOTUS issued a series of rogue cases that changed the rules for interpreting the Constitution. In effect, the court distorted the document to fit the liberal political agenda.
Ideally, those cases should be overruled. But that hasn’t happened because—despite what the establishment media tell you—the court has not had an “originalist” majority for many years.
Thus unfettered by the Constitution’s limits on their powers, presidents, congressional majorities, and bureaucrats have gone hog-wild. This has been true of both Democrats and Republicans. One illustration: In 2019, a Republican president, Donald Trump, signed a bipartisan bill demolishing centuries of state precedent and decreeing a single national age for tobacco purchases.
And that’s only one illustration. Today the feds also mandate a national drinking age. They regulate our toilets’ water capacity, determine what light bulbs we can buy, micro-manage school sports, label bathrooms, require people to be vaccinated, impose massive restrictions on the relationship between you and your physician, and spend trillions of dollars we don’t have. In 2015, the Supreme Court itself ruled that all states must recognize same-sex civil marriage, even though 30 consecutive state popular votes had rejected the idea—recently, uniformly, and overwhelmingly. On July 20, the House of Representatives, again on a bipartisan tally, also ignored those popular votes and agreed to insert same-sex marriage into federal statutory law.
None of this conduct is constitutional. It is, frankly, pure usurpation.
Does the Court Enforce Any ‘States’ Rights’ at all?
Almost all the justices agree that the federal government may not directly order a state to pass, repeal, or enforce a law: This is called the “anti-commandeering doctrine.” But the anti-commandeering doctrine would be of little help against congressional legislation legalizing abortion nationwide.
Most justices also agree that if an executive agency invades an area traditionally administered by the states, then it must show clear authorization from Congress for doing so. The days apparently are gone when agencies could fix the limits of their own power. But this protection would be useless as well against a clear federal statute legalizing abortion.
For the court to strike down a federal abortion law, it would have to go farther: It would have to courageously enforce the Constitution’s subject-matter boundaries between federal and state jurisdiction.
Under the leadership of Chief Justice William Rehnquist (1986 to 2005), SCOTUS did issue a few decisions protecting state jurisdiction over certain subjects. However, Congress found ways around most of those, and SCOTUS has not followed up. In 2018, for example, a case (pdf) arose on Congress’s intervention into sports gambling (of all things). Although the court did void part of the law for violating the anti-commandeering doctrine, only Justice Clarence Thomas questioned why the Congress thought it could regulate this subject at all.
Similarly, the court continues to avoid striking down Obamacare—even though since the 2017 repeal of the individual insurance mandate, Obamacare is unconstitutional under the court’s own standards.
In sum, most of the justices have shown no stomach for directly defending the Constitution’s most important limits on congressional power. Of course, it’s possible they might stand up against an overreach as flagrant as a national pro-abortion law.
But don’t count on it.
Rob Natelson | Republished with permission from The Tenth Amendment Center
The post Would a Federal Law Legalizing Abortion Survive the Supreme Court? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Mayors Bowser of Washington D.C. and Adams of New York are looking as foolish as politicians can look. They are getting a small taste of what the Border States have been enduring for eighteen months, and that snippet is not sitting well.
Adams quickly called out the Governors of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Bowser wants the Feds to send the National Guard to hold off the onslaught of humanity.
First, these mayors are looking foolish complaining about a couple of thousand illegal immigrants descending on their city when tens of thousands engulf small towns along the Border every day. They had no problem with a broken Border until the buses hit their city. Pathetic.
These mayors, and all Democrats, had no problem with Joe Biden putting an end to building the wall on Day One of his administration. These folks had no problem with Joe Biden erasing our Southern Border and allowing over two million illegals into the country since January 2021, until now. Now that they have been made a border city, they suffer and cannot deal with the crisis.
With their childish rants, they are telling the world that this crisis at the Border is real and is a threat. Until now, Democrats have been united in their desire to eradicate our Southern Border and open our country to people from all over the world. They continue to claim that these migrants are fleeing the horrors of the Northern Triangle in Central America. They will not acknowledge the reality that these people coming from over 150 countries are unvetted, unvaccinated, and potential threats to our national security.
Our President has yet to visit the Southern Border. Our Vice President was assigned the task of solving the Border Crisis over a year ago, and she has yet to travel to the Border. No excuse. Kamala Harris cannot be bothered with the open Border. If big city mayors like Bowser and Adams continue to draw attention to the Border, the media will be forced to cover the story. Should the media start spreading the truth about the Border Crisis, Kamala Harris may be forced to respond. That should be interesting but will prove futile as Harris is not capable of the challenge,
Governor Abbott of Texas has invited Mayors Bowser and Adams to come to his state. He wants them to see firsthand what the Biden policies have done to damage the actual Border States. They may have a different perspective on the issue once they see what they are experiencing in their cities versus the magnitude of the crisis in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. If they are honest, they will have no choice but to join the people saying the Border must be shut down.
This situation with New York and Washington D.C. has exposed the difference between Republicans responding to an issue and Democrats denying it exists. We see this same dilemma with inflation, recession, the plague of Fentanyl, and even the rise in crime. The Democrats and the media believe if you don’t recognize a crisis, it doesn’t exist. All of these issues exist for Americans. We don’t have the option of closing our eyes and saying it isn’t so.
The post Democrat Mayors Cry Uncle appeared first on Granite Grok.
As promised in the last Monday Memes, I have an overflow. My meme cup runneth over. And yes, it looks like I will be doing one on Friday as well. Again.
Now, let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:
*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***
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When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. I strongly recommend the book Dial 911 and Die, available through the JPFO store.
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Pick of the post:
I’ve just been having an email conversation with a Covidian who, low-key, criticized my skepticism of The Jab. As I said in A Curious Incuriosity and its sequel A Curious Incuriosity 2, plus in A Crisis of Trust, there is this starry-eyed, child-like trust in government and its pronouncements. There’s no fear, there’s no curiosity, there’s no skepticism. All is a wonderful, bright world where nothing bad ever happens and everyone in government / authority is perfectly, 100% trustworthy and just wants sunshine & light for you.
Please understand that I don’t wish them ill (with a few exceptions, I concede). But as someone with a life-long sense of curiosity about things, and especially when “things don’t add up”… I continue to be flabbergasted at the lack of any curiosity amongst people who, in many other endeavors, are perfectly fine getting into the thick of a debate… yet flee any information that goes contrary to SAFE AND EFFECTIVE. It’s their prayer now.
Understand, they view themselves as good and virtuous people because they’ve taken their Jab. To admit they were bamboozled, to admit their Rite of Passage into that good and virtuous community was in error, would destroy their egos. Not for nothing is Vanity the Devil’s favorite sin, for only with Humility, a virtue – only with the capacity to admit we may be wrong – can we learn.
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On second thought, here’s another one:
I go to my kids’ sporting events and am appalled at how many parents and grandparents and others do not put their hands on their hearts. Some continue talking. A few don’t even stand.
This should be a pittance of time to show gratitude for living in this, the greatest and most exceptional country in the history of the world. It should be beyond politics. And they can’t even do that.
GTFO of my country, you ingrates. Good men and women died for that flag.
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Please do consider helping this bumper sticker go viral. I don’t make a lot per each one, but it’d be nice to have a few million sold!
Bumper Sticker
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Palate cleanser:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/elephant-calf-playing.mp4
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