Tuesday • May 14 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XX
Manchester, N.H.
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.
—
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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The Sora app first came to my attention when my son came home from school saying he’s being advertised lesbian content on his reading app.Here are a couple of books Betsy was able to access using the Sora app the district provided to her son: FLAMER: ‘Flamer’ contains sexually explicit and pornographic content: (see more here)
I tried to understand what he meant and investigate for myself. I quickly determined that I was unable to access anything without pretending to be my child and signing in with his password. Parents have NO place within the Sora app.
If you do a search using the term “parents”, no results come up. Parents can’t see what their kids are reading, parents can’t choose any content, parents don’t get to know. They have NO access.
I also learned that kids are able to delete any history, so they can hide any reading that others may not support. They are advertised new reading, or suggested reading, when they open the app. This is how Here and Queer (a sex Ed book for questioning girls) and Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School were advertised as new reading.
I met with the school board in private, because of the inappropriate content, and was laughed at and told to just take it off their computers. So I did and put it on my phone instead so I could look a little further.
I can see that there is a section called rainbow reading that has over 150 books. I know of a few books that have already been brought to many School Boards across the country and were removed after pornography charges were being filed and supported. So I looked up the books and found Flamer. I started with the description, which did not cover what was coming. The few pages you are allowed to read before checking the book out, do not give warning to how explicit it is, with drawings of naked teens.
It quickly became uncomfortable and sexual in an unnecessary way. It’s a cartoon style story with an 11 year old main character. It would be appealing to a kid who likes comics or drawing. Right up until the circle jerk. I’m really afraid to go further and see what else my kids are reading while at school. What else are they advertising to my kids?
The book Flamer, which is basically a cartoon, is supposed to be for “young adults”, which at our school means middle and high school students. It says it can be read by a K-2 (because it’s really just a bunch of sexual pictures).
It’s recommended for highschoolers but I don’t know a lot of highschoolers that want to read a sexual cartoon about an 11-year-old. It would more appeal to AN 11 YEAR OLD. It’s available to 11 year olds in my district.
That’s upsetting and likely criminal.
The Sora app is free to students but NOT accessible to parents. Teachers can arrange for certain books to be available if students are all expected to read the same book for class. Otherwise, teachers are seeing the reading time (or listening time, the app reads TO you also).
Because the history can be deleted, they can’t REALLY see what their students are reading or listening to. Our curriculum specialist says openly that “listening has the same effect on the brain as reading.” She is returning as our superintendent so I’m pretty concerned. It could have a real impact on reading abilities, despite her belief that “it’s the same”. Listening ISN’T reading and we ALL know that. It may have it’s benefits but reading is the goal, not being a “good listener”. Our curriculum is based on an agenda that most parents are uncomfortable with. The app is only part of it. Inserted sexual education is happening during the morning announcements on the intercom. It can’t be avoided by those feeling uncomfortable. I thought parents could decide if sexual education was taught and it happened in a classroom?
How do I opt out of this? How do I protect MY kids and others from this pornographic content while at school?
Here and Queer: A Queer Girl’s Guide to Life:
This content is available to young adults, which includes middle school children as young as 11 years old.Notice that as these books sexualize children, there is no reference to consent laws.The New Hampshire Age of Consent is 16 years old. In the United States, the age of consent is the minimum age at which an individual is considered legally old enough to consent to participation in sexual activity. Individuals aged 15 or younger in New Hampshire are not legally able to consent to sexual activity, and such activity may result in prosecution for statutory rape.
In Ohio, John Stover from Ohio Value Voters, spoke before the Ohio Board of Education exposing a similar situation where children can access pornographic content through the state tax-funded organization called InfoOhio. InfoOhio is a joint effort between Ohio schools and Ohio libraries to provide online resources for students. Stover spoke before the Ohio State Board of Education to inform them that this resource was exposing children to hardcore pornography:
In this video, Gary Click, a State Representative from Ohio, questioned a representative from Children’s Hospital in Columbus Ohio about his ability to visit their website, and then within a few clicks, he can end up on a pornographic website:
Whether intentional or not, it is obvious that those in charge of educating children are exposing children to pornographic content. You cannot provide pornographic material to children and claim you are not sexualizing and grooming children. Parents are outraged by this and they are not stupid.
Some books may include content that parents do not agree with. When serving a diverse group of families, that’s going to happen from time to time. However, this goes beyond offensive content, and crosses a barrier that harms children. Sexualizing children through these materials is irresponsible if not criminal.
Parents need to attend school board meetings and demand better from the people you employ and pay. With the number of sexual assaults on students in New Hampshire, the last thing we need to do is help predators by sexualizing the children in their care.
The post The Pornography Problem in Hillsboro Deering School District (SAU34) appeared first on Granite Grok.
That would be Denise Conroy. The entire Delegation, until November, is Republican. Good Conservative ones. They put her onto the Gunstock Area Commission last night. From the Daily Sun:
During the voting period, delegates in favor of Conroy cited her extensive resume as well as her relative lack of incoming baggage. Conroy stated that she moved to the area a few years ago and had not been involved with the GAC until she attended its July 20 meeting.
..With 10 delegates voting, a candidate would be approved with six votes. Conroy received seven during the second round of voting after Ploszaj and Lang changed their votes from the first round into her camp.
Well, good going, dufuses. Glad to see you did your homework in vetting that “relative lack of incoming baggage”. Didn’t think to check her social media accounts, didja? The following were in her feeds (according to my source).
She hates you all:
Except the Tim Lang gang. Gosh, for the LIFE of me, I can’t understand why they were left out. Oh yeah, they hate the rest of the delegation, too.
Ironical, right, that she singles out both Harry Bean, who is NOT the Delegation Chair (that would be Mike Sylvia who was absent) but usurped that role for the sake of political expediency to “GET SOMETHING DONE”. Gregg Hough, who lied to me yesterday (not a good thing, as with redistricting, I’m now a constituent of his; more on this later) who did the same thing to Ray Howard (Vice-Chair, who was out of state).
She’s also fallen for the Democrat extremist view of what Free Staters really stand for. Who cares for reasonableness and facts when demagoguery rules the day? Betcha she was/would have been (have no idea how old she is) thrilled with the TEA Party movement too.
Again, the majority of the Delegation voted for her. Nice to see they chose someone that fulfills “choose your method of Destruction”.
First two Stages of the Empire’s (with lots of $$$) anger of “taking it back are now complete. This is now the beginning of Stage 3 – I warned them what was going to happen and none of them listened. This is going to be brutal. Red Wave here in Belknap?
Right color, wrong reason
UPDATE: She has a website as she’s a life coach:
Her tagline: “Power. Grace. Wisdom. Wonder.” Well, the above is ALL about obtaining Power over others, aren’t they?
“Grace” is certainly lacking in those pics, though, right?
The post So, look at who the Belknap County Delegation Chuckleheads picked for the new GAC Commissioner appeared first on Granite Grok.
Zogby recently sampled a group of Americans to get their thoughts on their COVID vaccine experience. Fifteen percent said they’ve been diagnosed with another ailment or condition within weeks of receiving The Jab. Thirty percent say they know someone who had.
Among those under age 50 – 62% report receiving a COVID-19 vaccine vs. 38% who have had none.
Among those receiving any COVID-19 vaccine, almost one quarter — 22% — report being medically diagnosed within a matter of weeks to several months after taking a shot.
The top five cited new conditions include:
…
Finally, 30% of those ages 18-49 report knowing someone else who has been medically diagnosed within a matter of weeks to several months after taking a COVID-19 vaccine.
The top five cited medically diagnosed conditions of the person known by those under age 50 are:
“Describing their experience with taking one or more COVID-19 vaccines, 58% report it was a good decision, 28% are neutral and 14% regret it.”
The total number of all age groups reporting a new medical issue was 15%. The total regret among all age groups was 10%. If the DCD is correct and 232 million Americans got at least one dose, a little bit of math tells us there was a lot of harm and regret.
HT | Steve Kirsch
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By definition, we officially entered a recession. The second quarter GDP was released, and with two consecutive quarters of negative numbers, the Biden Economy has now hit a new low. By changing definitions, the Biden administration believes they can convince the American public that all is well. Americans are more intelligent than the Biden Team and are not buying what Joe sells.
Anyone who balances a checkbook or lives on a budget knows the economy is harming every American. Gasoline, groceries, and services are all putting a dent in American wallets, and many will have to look at record-high home heating costs in just a few months. There is no relief in sight.
With a straight face, Biden compares himself to Ronald Reagan. Reagan took an abysmal economic situation from Jimmy Carter and gave us a monumental recovery. Joe Biden took a strong recovering economy from Donald Trump and gave us a recession. Joe Biden, sorry, but you are no Ronald Reagan.
Any economist worth a grain of salt will tell you that you do not increase taxes or inject money into the economy during a recession. Joe Biden’s troupe of Nobel Laureates must not be worth their salt. With the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will do both. The bill will tax everyone and increase inflation.
U Penn economists claim that every citizen would see taxes rise for the next two years. This bill contradicts Biden’s claim that he would never raise taxes on people making less than $400K a year. But Americans are still paying increased taxes every day in the form of increased prices due to Biden Inflation. If Biden’s goal were to bankrupt America rather than return us to prosperity, he would be succeeding. America is not thriving under Biden, which is evident in his 31% historic low approval rating.
This bill is not to fight inflation but to further support Biden’s commitment to Green Energy. This proposed legislation is a 700-page bill worth over $1 Billion per page of spending. Surprisingly, Sen Joe Manchin, R-WV, agreed to sign onto this bill when he opposed previous spending bills. His change may be due to help for the West Virginia coal industry built into the act. This was probably a poison pill for Manchin. He could not go home and tell his constituents that he voted against aid for the dominant state industry.
The spotlight now turns to Senator Sinema and so far she has not indicated her support. Her vote is critical, as every Democrat has to vote in favor to move the bill to the House. She has made no public statement regarding her intention. It will be tough for any member of Congress to vote for a bill that will increase taxes so close to the midterms.
It is unnecessary to detail the hundreds of unnecessary causes this bill would support. There are hundreds, but the critical fact to focus on is the wrong timing and policy decision to push a bill when we are now in a recession that will further hurt Americans in the wallet. Right now, the Act may die on the Democrat side of the aisle. This bill is a Hail Mary to get some money directed at the Green Energy sector before Biden loses Congress in November. That is a good thing for America.
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Maine passed a law abrogating religious exemptions for childhood immunizations. Passed before the Chinese Flu Plandemic, it became effective in 2021 and has since cut the number of exemption requests in half. We’ve posited that this is an unconstitutional violation, and now we may have some backup.
First, yes! There is a 117-year-old court precedent for mandatory vaccination (Jacobson v. Massachusetts) despite religious objections. But religious liberty has been enjoying a string of court victories in recent years. A legitimate challenge on suitable grounds with proper standing might move that needle.
Is this it?
The class action settlement against NorthShore University HealthSystem is on behalf of more than 500 current and former health care workers who were unlawfully discriminated against and denied religious exemptions from the COVID shot mandate, according to the non-profit religious rights law firm.
The NorthShore settlement would require them to offer jobs to everyone they fired (if they wanted them back) and a cash settlement totaling over ten million dollars.
As part of the settlement agreement, NorthShore will pay $10,337,500 to compensate hundreds of health care employees.
NorthShore will also change its unlawful “no religious accommodations” policy to make it consistent with the law, and to provide religious accommodations in every position across its numerous facilities. No position in any NorthShore facility will be considered off limits to unvaccinated employees with approved religious exemptions.
Liberty Counsel, representing the class, notes that this should “send a strong warning to employers.” Okay, let’s say it has and that this message is received. But what about state mandates upon employers? The US Supreme Court only managed to deny OSHA the power to mandate vaccines as an exercise in public health policy. Still, it allowed the Feds to mandate that millions of public health employees could be made to accept The Jab as a condition of employment.
Wait a minute. Didn’t you just say that a Hospital Conglomerate lost a lawsuit that required The Jab? I did!
And are they not likely to be receiving Federal money for this or that and therefore fall under the federal mandate upheld by the Court? Yes, but you can’t abolish religious exemptions, at least as far as I can tell, which is what NorthShore University HealthSystem did. It is why they lost.
So, what about States like Maine passing laws that invalidate a legitimate exemption of conscience? States can, as intended, do whatever the hell they please when it comes to vaccine mandates, and the Court has shown no interest in cases challenging them.
The Supreme Court this year has repeatedly declined to take up challenges to vaccine mandates in Maine, New York and at a public university in Indiana. Most of those cases were focused on whether states could impose such mandates without including an exemption for religious objections.
States appear to be off the hook, so the problem is not that NorthShore refused to acknowledge religious exemptions. The problem is that NorthShore is not a state that, for some strange reason, makes that right of conscience disappear.
Is there where we say, but what about the 14th Amendment?
If states have to be religiously neutral when it comes to blanket programs like education funding, why are they allowed to ignore the religious rights of students in those schools if the state says Jab them?
I’m sure it makes sense to somebody, but that somebody is not me.
HT | CBN.com
The post If a $500 Mill Religious Exemption Settlement is a Wake-Up Call to Employers, How About States Like Maine? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Being pro-life, pro-second amendment, and a vaccine pro-informed consent the Democrats were uneasy with me being a Democrat. Now, Republicans hold the same question and unease; “What are you, and why are you with us?”. “You must be a FedPoser or a leftist agitator”! False!
The fear is palpable.
Let me address the tension for you.
On the day I declared my candidacy, a reporter asked me if I was “conservative.” Today, I will answer; I consider myself a Foundationalist!
Undoubtedly, there is a political-ideological conflict being peacefully “fought” in the political arena; and it is certain that if the “insurgent” technocratic ideology wins, the United States of America will have its spirit destroyed. However, this is less about the nuggets of truth within policy extremes; and rather, it has more to do with a complete intolerance for allowing different people to live different lives in the same country.
We want to thank Tejasinha Sivalingam for this Op-Ed. Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
In short, the problem is authoritarianism, i.e. authority without responsibility; and its ugly twin, slavery, i.e. responsibility without authority. Both the “conservatives” and “liberals” are participating (some more than others).
If we don’t get on point immediately, we may be looking at a civil war, depression, world war, secession of States, and/ or an unending pandemic of tyranny; God forbid. The point, the foundation, is Individual Rights, State Sovereignty, and U.S. Unity and Independence. Free will, relationships, and our foundational principles of tolerance; These will restore domestic tranquility for people, regardless of party.
I am a Republican because I strongly support Rights and horizontal and vertical separation of powers to prevent tyranny and slavery. Again and again, I am the lone and unique advocate for the use of Article 4 Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution. However, If your policy agenda threatens the Foundational principles of our country, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, I will peacefully and firmly oppose your position!
Am I a “Conservative” Republican? I am more, I am a Foundationalist Republican!
Reminder: Content about candidates or by candidates is not an endorsement by GraniteGrok.com or its authors.
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August 11th is fast approaching, but tickets are still available for The 603 Alliance Dinner Cruise on Lake Winnipesaukee!
There will be a lot of folks there, candidates for elected office, and me. I’ll be there. If that’s any sort of inducement to get on board. You can find me and bend my ear for a few minutes while supporting The 603 Alliance and its mission.
The 603 ALLIANCE exists to restore Constitutional principles at all levels of our government by championing the principles of free people and free markets, uniting like-minded citizens in support of candidates who will further these principles.
Join us for a DINNER CRUISE with like-minded friends on the M/S Mount Washington Cruise Ship. Meet candidates for office, enjoy a prime rib dinner, speakers, raffle prizes, straw poll, silent auction, and more!
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETSWHEN: Thursday, August 11th, boarding at 5 PM, departure at 6 PM, return at 9 PM.
WHERE: Departing from Weirs Beach (211 Lakeside Avenue, Laconia)
COST: $75 per person early-bird pricing until June 30th. AFTER JUNE 30th, $85 pp. Includes prime rib dinner. Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase onboard.
Our cruise will feature SPECIAL GUEST Nick Adams, founder of the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness (FLAG), best-selling author, motivational speaker, and television commentator.
Sponsorships are available. Contact info@603alliance.org for details.
GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY
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A lot of comments on social media are saying “this is exactly how you do it.” Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. We know that any interaction with the police can escalate quickly, and especially if they are called in for a “pretend” federal agent, as happens here.
Body cam footage from a July 2021 incident that has been recently circulating online shows an ATF agent waiting outside an apartment building to check on the purchase of an alleged illegal gun (per reports). When the individual being sought went inside under the guise of locating the weapon, they instead called the local police and suggested a man was posing as a federal agent outside his residence.
Because both officers turned out to be just doing their jobs, there’s an element of unfortunate tragedy.
Still, there is an innate joy in watching some talentless federal goon with a tough-guy act wet his pants when push comes to shove. He didn’t cry as much as paid actor Michael Byrd, but he came close. Not so tough now, are you? The crying and pleading from the federal agent pretty much sum up bullies everywhere; the facade crumbles fast. It’s also ironic that he resists arrests. You know how that’ll end, right?
The two-minute video is overlaid with some comedic commentary too. Watch:
Damn! https://t.co/UT6MgEEN7O
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) August 1, 2022
Let’s recap how the Big Bad Fed began this interaction:
“I’m a federal agent…What’s your deal? It ain’t happening…You guys are making a big mistake.”
Now let’s recap how Part 2 went:
“Wait a second! Don’t do this! I’ve got a medical condition! Please, please! I can’t breathe! I’m begging you! My wife’s pregnant!”
The entire interaction makes you wonder if the ATF guy will approach his job differently in the future. Will he see a human being on the other side of the cuffs?
My guess is that he won’t change his ways. Local outlets reported that the ATF agent was suing the local police department for use of excessive force, which indicates he can give but he can’t get. That’s not promising.
“According to the suit, the ATF agent was trying to confiscate an illegally-held firearm when the suspect called 911 and the dispatcher sent officers Joseph Fihe and Kevin Winchell.
The article goes on to report that Burk has filed an excessive force lawsuit in federal court against the city of Columbus and the two police officers.
Burk admits this sort of confusion isn’t unheard of. However, in a typical situation, he says, the police officers would have checked his credentials and then either assisted with retrieving the firearm or left the scene.”
At the end of the day, the original suspect who allegedly had an illegal firearm is the real culprit, but it’s odd that the ATF bothers with this at all. Where are they in Chiraq? There must be thousands of illegal guns in the Windy City alone. Where are they on the southern border, for that matter?
Rather than actually exist to fight real crimes, agencies from within the federal government are merely corrupt and bloated tools for even more corrupt politicians. Every law and every mandate is at the point of a gun. Don’t pay your taxes? Guys with guns will arrest you. Don’t close your business during a plandemic? Guys with guns will arrest you.
Regardless of who they were after or why they were there, it’s nice to see the Feds get a taste of their own medicine.
Hailey Sanibel Writes at The Blue State Conservative
The post Man Calls Cops On ATF Agent, Who Loses Tough-Guy Fed Act In A Hurry appeared first on Granite Grok.
UPDATE (and bumped from 8 am)! And an important one: Summary – Emergencies (like what has been called for Gunstock below) in 91:A ONLY APPLY TO TOWNS AND CITIES; not the “County Convention” (aka, “the Delegation”. While I have a call into the County Attorney, Andrew Livernois, I have not heard back as to which holds priority: RSA 24-9:d or RSA 91-A:2 II. However, Dan Itse has this:
Pay attention to the highlighted sections: Dan Itse is a former multi-term State Rep and is often considered to be one of the State’s leading experts on the NH Constitution.
From: NHHRA@groups.io <NHHRA@groups.io> On Behalf Of Dan Itse via groups.io
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2022 11:47 AM
To: NHHRA@groups.io
Subject: [NHHRA] Belknap County meetingTo those of you on this list who are following the Belknap County controversy an emergency meeting was called Friday for tonight. RSA 24:9-d which governs meetings called by the body requires 7 days notice. Those who called the meeting were advised that they could call an emergency meeting with less notice under 91-A:2 However, though 91-A does include counties under definitions, the section which refers to emergency meetings includes only cities and towns.
And the Count Delegation is NOT a Town or a City!
If a construe 91-A:2 to apply to counties, it requires that the situation be declared emergent by the presiding officer.
The Belknap County Chair, whom I just got off the phone, has not called a meeting for tonite as he follows RSA 24 as the governing Law for County Conventions He DID call for a meeting and the quickest was for August 8th. But here is the REAL IMPORTANT part:
The body has no power to declare the situation emergent. Therefore, 91-A:2 cannot be construed to apply to a meeting called by the body, even if it did apply to counties.
The Delegation can’t call something an “emergency” for legal purposes. This clause was supposed to be for emergencies like a natural disaster (flooding, tornado, blizzard) or for things like the Town Hall or School building(s) catching fire, roofs falling in, a critical piece of equipment like a fire engine gets wrecked in an accident.
Like it or not, the Convention can’t declare, if I am reading this correctly, that a county owned facility that isn’t open ISN’T an emergency of the type above. However, there are partisans that are trying to make this to be a POLITICAL emergency – if Tom Day and Peter McGonagle had honored the agreement made with David Strang, it would be open. Instead, in the parlance of the reality show called Survivor, they blindsided him by changing the deal to include ALL of the Sr Management that quit, not because the meeting room was rearranged (a very petty excuse) but because of the demand Letters from Lawyers investigating serious charges. Those resignations worked, didn’t they – who in the public has taken any note of the Investigation? How much has the local media kept that in front of the reading public?
If you are a Belknap County Rep. Please do not attend the emergency meeting with is invalid on its face.
Dan Itse
24:9-d Notice. – 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. Mailing such notice is not required during any session of the general court, if the notice is printed for 2 legislative days in the journal of the house of representatives.
91-A:2 II. Subject to the provisions of RSA 91-A:3, all meetings, whether held in person, by means of telephone or electronic communication, or in any other manner, shall be open to the public. Except for town meetings, school district meetings, and elections, no vote while in open session may be taken by secret ballot. Any person shall be permitted to use recording devices, including, but not limited to, tape recorders, cameras, and videotape equipment, at such meetings. Minutes of all such meetings, including nonpublic sessions, shall include the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions. The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes. Subject to the provisions of RSA 91-A:3, minutes shall be promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting, except as provided in RSA 91-A:6, and shall be treated as permanent records of any public body, or any subordinate body thereof, without exception. Except in an emergency or when there is a meeting of a legislative committee, a notice of the time and place of each such meeting, including a nonpublic session, shall be posted in 2 appropriate places one of which may be the public body’s Internet website, if such exists, or shall be printed in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town at least 24 hours, excluding Sundays and legal holidays, prior to such meetings.
Here’s the emergency part:
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, who shall post a notice of the time and place of such meeting as soon as practicable, and shall employ whatever further means are reasonably available to inform the public that a meeting is to be held. The minutes of the meeting shall clearly spell out the need for the emergency meeting. When a meeting of a legislative committee is held, publication made pursuant to the rules of the house of representatives or the senate, whichever rules are appropriate, shall be sufficient notice. If the charter of any city or town or guidelines or rules of order of any public body require a broader public access to official meetings and records than herein described, such charter provisions or guidelines or rules of order shall take precedence over the requirements of this chapter. For the purposes of this paragraph, a business day means the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday, excluding national and state holidays.
So here’s the emergency from the agenda items:
That completely renders the Commission inoperable – 2 Commissioners cannot be a quorum. And what is the cause? Merely a difference of opinion of how things should proceed? Let the Delegation INFORM US ALL what laws or regulations he has broken? All we hear is “he broke his oath” (saying it over and over again without saying HOW he broke his oath!
Well, Commissioner Jade Wood, who is the NH GOP Area 5 Vice-Chair, where is your voice about the RINOs that break theirs? Or the Democrats? Funny, you’ve remained VERY silent on that, haven’t you.
See below for the reasons they can’t (no mention of a “temp Commissioner” capability/status in Law. If they appoint one, they are breaking the Law if you read RSA 399
Look, if Gunstock opens or closes, I really don’t care. But what SHOULD matter to everyone that the Law be followed. But it seems that most peopler that are angst ridden that THE MOUNTAIN MUST OPEN WITH THE SAME STAFF (that are currently under investigation) don’t care about the Law. Like Commissioners Doug Lambert and Jade Wood They want a political “want” and not worry about the law.
My actual post follows below:
Yes, I went to the emergency Gunstock Area Commission meeting this afternoon. And yes, it was a crapshow. I have decided to wait on processing the video until later – I just don’t have it in me right now. The only thing that didn’t happen, during the mobocracy and “WE HAVE to DO SO SOMETHING NOW!!!”, was that someone said “Is that Legal”? and that everyone else listened.
Sidenote – as soon as politicians start saying that, like Doug Lambert, Jade Wood, and a bunch of others that should have known better, you can be sure that the fix is in. And yes, IMHO, it was in but I’ll leave it for the recording for you to decide for yourself.
What I am peeved (not, I’m not going to use any of the other dozen words floating before me to stay within Rule #1) at is what seems to be both a lack of knowledge of the Rule of Law and ACTUAL knowledge of the Statutes (RSAs) that govern the Gunstock Area Commission, on handling RSA 91A demands and about the Law regulating how County Conventions are concerned.
I’m not going to give the context just yet but at one point, NH State Rep Harry Bean said that an emergency meeting of the Delegation (all the NH State Reps in Belknap County) had been planned for tomorrow at which time:
1) Dr. Strang would be removed from the GAC leaving just Doug Lambert and Jade Wood
2) That renders the GAC unable to carry out its duties as there must be three to have a quorum
3) NH State Rep Harry Bean announced that he had the votes and that the meeting would be held tomorrow to do that. That’s a problem.
4) He also declared that they would immediately appoint a “temporary/interim/30 day” (paraphrasing here – wait for the recording) Commissioner to have three to be functional. That’s a problem.
Somebody gave Harry REALLY bad advice (I’m hoping he didn’t do this on his own; shame on him if he did) – unless they wish to be willing to break the Law to be seen to be “DO SOMETHING!!”.
24-hour notice, as he said during the meeting, is not the correct Law that governs county Delegation (“County Conventions”) meetings. He was quoting RSA 91:A which other political bodies (Selectmen, BudComms, School Boards) that do set that standard for those entities. However, NH RSA 24 is in charge of Delegations and as far as setting up meetings, specifically RSA 24:9-D (emphasis mine):
24:9-d Notice. – 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. Mailing such notice is not required during any session of the general court if the notice is printed for 2 legislative days in the journal of the house of representatives.
Seven days – not one. So Monday is out unless they want to do it illegally; August 8th would be the first day possible – and there is already a Delegation meeting scheduled for that day for a completely different purpose. So it would have to be further out on a calendar.
Really, Harry, an “interim” Commissioner”? That is just as bad as when Gary Kiedaisch proposed making Rusty McLear (who had overstayed his interim term by 15 months, or so) a “de facto” Commissioner to keep his power base on the GAC. Which was just ONE of the plots with plots within plots of this whole sordid affair.
Sorry, Harry, but RSA 399 which covers the operation of the GAC has NOTHING concerning a temp Commissioner, an interim Commissioner, or a time-limited Commissioner. There is only a full Commissioner. Thus, because we are a Dillon’s Rule State, the Delegation just can’t “make stuff up” just because people are demanding that you DO SOMETHING! And he forgot the normal due process of advertising for the Commissioner position, receiving Letters of intent, scheduling them for interviews, and then voting for them.
The meeting ended around 3 pm – even IF 24 hours was lawful for a meeting, it takes time to do all the rest of that stuff.
So, IF THEY AREN’T GOING TO FOLLOW THE LAW, they’ve got bupkiss – no meeting, no temp appointment.
So, the ball’s in your court, Harry, as you seem to be leading this effort – what is the Delegation going to do now?
Topic switch – Josh McElveen (former WMUR TV reporter and now in charge of McElveen Strategies) also walked into the main Lodge at Gunstock for the meeting. He had been hired by former Chair Peter Ness (now resigned) to help out the entire GAC with some PR assistance and direction. With today’s turn of events (if this was Survivor, it was clear that Dr. Strang got blindsided by the “other side” of the GAC as well as by Tom Day when the rules were changed at the last minute (yes, the crowd ate it up), it wasn’t clear what should happen.
He and I have talked in the past especially when we crossed candidate paths during election cycles and we talked about the difficult position into which he had been placed. He had this to say:
Since ex-Chairman Peter Ness did not inform the full Commission that he had executed a service contract with our team until after the fact, we [Update: Doug Lambert and McElveen] have decide to void the agreement. That should have been a collective decision made by the full Commission.
Yeah, there hadn’t been a full “there, there” for quite some time and having been in similar situations (being told one thing and find out that reality bites HARD), that’s probably the best situation. Can’t work in that environment when half the GAC was playing full on “politics of personal destruction” while efforts were being made by the other half to react.
Which was the entire plan all the time. Glad that Josh realized he was in a no-win situation and was able to extracate himself and his team. Given that Doug Lambert and Jade Wood decided to NOT pay the investigative lawyers, PretiFlaherty (which may well result in a lawsuit) that Ness had hired, I’m doubting that McElveen is going to get paid either.
The post Gunstock – Somebody Gave NH State Rep Harry Bean Really Bad Advice about a Delegation Emergency Meeting appeared first on Granite Grok.
Goffstown, New Hampshire
Announcing the return of Rep. John Burt’s Hot Dog Day. On August 13, we are bringing the event from the State House to John Burt’s house in Goffstown. Learn about the famous Hot Dog Day, help conservative Michael Yakubovich, and donate to a charity all at the same time!
When: Saturday, August 13, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Where: Rep John Burt’s house, Goffstown, NH
Hot dogs, all the fixings, drinks, cookies, chips, crackers, and cheese! Suggested donation is $16 in honor of State Senate District 16.
Note: There will be a 50/50 raffle with half of the money going to the Michael Yakubovich for State Senate campaign and half of the money going to a local dog charity.
Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases for consideration
to editor@granitegrok.com. Submission is not a guarantee of publication.
Go to www.Michael4NH.com for tickets and additional details.
Rep. John Burt endorsed and is hosting Michael Yakubovich’s event because “Michael Yakubovich is a proven conservative that is for the New Hampshire Advantage and low taxes across the board. Michael supports election integrity reform, the Second Amendment, and socially conservative values.”
John Burt and Michael Yakubovich’s Hot Dog Day
Saturday, August 13th, 2022
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
John Burt’s House
Goffstown, NH
Tickets at www.Michael4NH.com
The post Hot Dog Day Moves to Goffstown on August 13 appeared first on Granite Grok.
In mid-June, Matt Mowers’ campaign held a “meet and greet cocktail hour” at the Bedford Village Inn. If you plan on voting in the GOP CD-1 primary, you should consider who hosted the cocktail hour. Here is the invitation:
If you know anything about New Hampshire politics, two names immediately jump out. Let’s start with Bill Greiner. That would be the Bill Greiner who publicly supported Jeanne Shaheen in 2020:
Other Republicans backing Shaheen included former Executive Councilors Ruth Griffin of Portsmouth and Peter Spaulding of Hopkinton, former George H. Bush administration official Betty Tamposi of New Castle, Bedford businessman Bill Greiner, New Castle builder Hank Stebbins and former New Hampshire Housing Finance Agency Executive Director Claira Monier of Goffstown.
The next name is Joel Maiola, who held the position of Judd Gregg’s brain … technically, chief-of-staff … while Globalist-Gregg was in the Senate. That would be the Joel Maiola who chaired “Republicans for Lynch”:
Given their track records, I think it is eminently fair to call Greiner and Maiola Democrats. But rather than quibble about labels, let’s just say that Greiner and Maiola represent the sneering, elitist/globalist wing of the GOP that President Trump fought against. The question GOP CD-1 primary voters need to ask is: would these elitist/globalists be supporting Mowers if he were really an America-First Republican?
The post Some Of Mowers Top Supporters Are Democrats appeared first on Granite Grok.