November 1980: New York City’s WASHINGTON HEIGHTS – The Columbia Medical School applicant was walking out of the parking garage. A semi-comatose man lay across the sidewalk. People gave him no notice and walked by and over him.

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Across the street, under the bridge, were the remnants of a burnt-out car.

The medical school interview was going well until the applicant asked the interviewer about the previous years shooting/murder of one of the medical students. Without hesitation, the interviewer answered, “he was in a place where he should not have been, and if a person was smart about such things, odds were good that they would be safe.” The school applicant left and never looked back.

The admission process to medical school is especially rigorous, and only top candidates are offered admission. Because of the SCOTUS decision that diversity could be used to violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, minorities with much lower academic credentials are granted admission and makeup approximately 10% of the class. Quotas are technically illegal, but year after year the class ratios are approximately the same.

The first two years of medical school are extremely challenging. The building blocks (think anatomy, physiology, microbiology, biochemistry, and pathology} must be mastered. In general, there are 32 hours of class/labs per week and then many more hours of home study. Most medical schools do not have grades and courses are evaluated with pass/fail or honors. For many decades, after the first two years of medical school, a graded standardized test was required. The test scores assessed whether the medical students had mastered essential medical building blocks and simultaneously assessed whether the medical schools were teaching what needed to be learned. The score was a very important part of a medical student’s future. Combining the score with clinical third/fourth-year rotation evaluations, interviews, and recommendations formed the basis of being accepted to post-medical school training programs {residencies}. The cream rose to the top, and the best students landed the best residencies.

In the wake of the George Floyd BLM movement, academia’s fixation on diversity, equity, and inclusion {DEI} has taken on religious fanaticism. And like elite colleges and law schools, medical schools have enthusiastically hopped on the DEI bandwagon.

With the impending SCOTUS overturning of Affirmative Action, all of woke academia is in panic. In the aftermath of the expected SCOTUS decision, these institutions will have to change their admission/promotion practices or face legal and Federal consequences for discriminating against non-DEI applicants on the basis of race or gender.

Many prestigious Colleges and Law Schools, understanding that any standardized testing puts them at risk, have moved to no longer require such testing {SAT, LSAT}.

Some medical schools have followed suit and no longer require the MCAT. And in order to continue their ideological DEI commitment the post-second year test {previously graded} has been made pass/fail {96% pass rate}. The administrators have tried to justify this decision by saying it will take the stress out of the first two years of medical school, but their excuse rings hollow. The change really means medical schools will not be held accountable for poorly teaching students in the first two years and allows poorer-performing medical students to move on without objective evidence of achievement.

Evaluation in the clinical 3d year of medical school is much more subjective, and “Woke” academia can shift the curve toward DEI students. The first merit-based evaluation test does not have to be taken until later in the 4th year{after residency job decisions have occurred}. Suddenly residency directors, who, like medical school administrators, are under extreme stress to show their “Woke” credentials, can accept DEI students into their training programs because there will be no objective standards. The whole process will be subjective.

The best and the brightest will be forced to take a back seat to a “Woke “DEI ideology.
In most situations, the effect of DEI hiring will not be apparent for years. The federal government is so bloated with incompetence that adding new DEI hires makes no perceivable difference. Law firms will virtue signal and hire lawyers using DEI, but if their product is not top-notch, the firm will lose clients. This is unacceptable and poorly performing associates, DEI or otherwise, will be marginalized (although DEI employees probably will keep their job). Fortune 500 companies will behave in a similar fashion. Added costs for middle management deadwood will be the price they pay to appear “Woke”.

With San Francisco bank SVB’s bankruptcy, real-world consequences of “Woke” DEI management have become apparent. Massive amounts of funds and resources were used to promote BLM and woke causes while “banking competence” was nowhere to be found. Without competent employees, when things got tough, the bank folded.

Undoubtedly lowering standards in our military to accommodate (DEI) will have terrible real-world consequences, but it is unlikely the public will ever be made aware.

The downstream effect of “Woke DEI” infiltration of medical training won’t be apparent for a few years but will result in divisive unintended consequences.
Wealthy people will not stand for even the perception of low-quality physicians. Private concierge physician groups will accommodate their wealthy patients’ wishes or lose business. The result will be wealthy people, and their families will not obtain their healthcare from DEI-trained physicians.

The American public also has no tolerance for medical care that isn’t top-of-the-line. When their loved one needs care, they want the best. As DEI medical education matures and the public becomes aware of what is happening, people are going to be forced into making a calculated decision. In a similar fashion to the Columbia Medical College admission officer who in 1980 told the school applicant that in order to stay safe certain places in Washington Heights as well as nearby Harlem minority neighborhoods should be avoided; People who have lost faith in the process of how a DEI physician achieved a place in society, are going to look for a non-DEI medical provider. Of course, this is not fair to physicians such as Ben Carson, who competed at the highest level and achieved {or the non-violent residents of Harlem}, but it is an unavoidable reality. It is not racism any more than when a person decides to stay safe and avoid a sketchy part of a big city. It is simply a calculated probability as to whom will give a loved one the highest quality care.

In June of 2023, the SCOTUS is going to correct the terrible divisive mistake that it made 50 years ago and rule that affirmative action is a violation of the equal protection clause.

Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is openly advocating returning to a merit-based America. And other politicians are starting to follow. Ramaswamy’s message is resonating across America and forcing needed uncomfortable conversations. Returning America to meritocracy will not be easy. The usual race hustlers will be out in force, and radical unrest is almost a certainty; but for America to move toward MLK’s united colorblind future, DEI and its divisive substandard consequences must be part of the past.

2024 is coming!!
Vote!!!!

The post D.E.I. Must Die or a Loved One Might. appeared first on Granite Grok.

Alvin Bragg is an example of everything wrong with New York City. Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams are working daily to bring the greatest city in the world to its knees, but it is Alvin Bragg that has destroyed the safety of New Yorkers to the point they are abandoning the city by the thousands.
Alvin Bragg, dismissing criminal cases at a record pace and making cashless bail a new word in our vocabulary, may be the first District Attorney ever to arrest a former President in our history. According to reports, President Donald Trump may be arrested and arraigned.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels, a pornstar with whom Trump had a relationship. The strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former President.

This action by Bragg is just another step by the Democrat Party to ensure that Trump might be prohibited from running for President in 2024. The polls for Trump are strong, much stronger than Biden’s, and the Dems are fearful that Joe will not repeat his upset of Trump in 2020. The impeachments and January 6th Committee have not been enough to derail Trump, and they believe arresting the former President will be the knockout punch. I see this Hail Mary as the best thing to happen to Trump and his aspirations for returning to the White House.

Seeing the Former President in handcuffs will create the biggest spectacle to hit D.C. that the Capitol has ever witnessed. Even the Democrats celebrating the situation will see through the facade very quickly. The focus will then shift back to Biden, his connection with this arrest, and the apparent crimes he and his family have committed against our country. Biden will be dead in the water, and the Democrats have nobody warming in the bullpen who can defeat Trump. Republicans will rally around the Former President.

Trump has been offered an opportunity to testify before the Grand Jury that handed down the arraignment, but that would be tantamount to walking into the lion’s den. Trump will let the ridiculous matter play out and take advantage of the Democrat overplay.

This farce is a politically motivated move by a rogue DA who reduced 50% of felony charges in his crime-ridden city. Yet, Bragg has taken a “trumped-up” (excuse the pun) that Federal Prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission had decided was not a crime. Bragg is forcing this situation to elevate himself with Progressives, or he is a foolish pawn of the same. Either way, I hope this does play out. Let Trump destroy this move, and end the threat of bogus prosecutions that have haunted Trump for years.

One element I am looking forward to is how the Secret Service detail assigned to Donald Trump handles the scene when officials from Bragg’s office place the cuffs on the Former President. The Service has never faced this dilemma, and this scenario puts them in a conflicted position.

The post Will Someone Stop Alvin Bragg appeared first on Granite Grok.

The NH House is meeting on Wednesday, March 22, and Thursday, March 23 this week to vote on many important bills and two of them are critically important for babies, HB271 which would repeal the Fetal Life Protection Act which protects viable babies from being killed in abortion after 24 weeks gestation, and HB224 which would repeal all legal penalties for doctors performing abortions after 24 weeks.

From Cornerstone’s latest Legislative Update:

HB 224 is a bill that would repeal all criminal and civil legal penalties against health care providers for violating the Fetal Life Protection Act. If this bill were to pass, it would strip the law of any enforcement capability, and allow all abortions up to birth.

HB 224 stands as a significant threat to pre-born life, as our governor, Chris Sununu, has called to remove the penalties for violating the Fetal Life Protection Act. A pro-choice individual, he is the only Republican governor in America pushing for abortion up to birth, and has pledged to sign the bill if it reaches his desk. Additionally, Chris Sununu personally lobbied for a functionally identical bill in the House just last year.

Governor Sununu wants to pretend he wants to protect babies after 24 weeks while allowing them to be killed in abortions up until the moment of birth. Despicable! Signing HB224 would also put him in violation of his campaign promise to support a late-term abortion ban.

Related: Gov. Sununu Lied to Get Elected

Please contact your New Hampshire state representatives as soon as possible and ask them to oppose both HB271 and HB224. You can find your representatives here.

For more information on the Fetal Life Protection Act, visit NHabortion.com.

The post Sununu vs. Babies, Contact Your Reps ASAP appeared first on Granite Grok.

They’re flying so thick and fast it is amazing.  Take heart – there will be a Meme Overflow and almost certainly a Friday Meme Overflow.  Last week’s Overflow.  Still slammed for time so “just” a meme dump, absent commentary.

Remember, ridicule and mockery are effective weapons:

1. Ridicule cannot easily be fought
2. Ridicule makes the enemy angry, and angry people make mistakes
3. For those in the “squishy middle” a Thought Splinter (and Part II and Part III and Part IV) can often be hidden inside humor.

Now, let the mockery and mayhem begin.

 

*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

 

There are no words in any language sufficient to curse this action against our future generations.  But remember, from the video embedded here, “… there will be a need to kill many billion, or prevent them from giving birth…”

 

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Pick of the post:

They’ve been telegraphing their plans for years and decades, and planning this for at least a century.  Do NOT BELIEVE this will be easy.

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Palate Cleanser:

 

The post MONDAY MEMES appeared first on Granite Grok.

There’s a question that should be asked more often, which gets at the moral foundations of treating education as an entitlement.

Suppose you own several properties in a town.  You have two kids, who are being schooled at the expense of the town, which costs the town more than $500,000 over the course of two K-12 educations.

Now, you could sell one or two of those properties to pay for your kids to be schooled, thus relieving your fellow residents of that burden.

Or you could insist that the cost be borne by your fellow residents, including people whose grown children have to take out loans to pay their school taxes; elderly and disabled people on fixed incomes who have to eat less or keep their houses colder; homeschoolers who have to skimp on their kids to pay for your kids; and so on.

All so that you can spend the money you save on buying more properties, or fixing up your house, or taking nicer vacations, or getting a better car, or maybe buying a boat for your lakefront home.

What kind of parent would do that?  And even feel proud of it?

The post What Kind of Parent? appeared first on Granite Grok.

I’m getting a lot of emails confused about the terms “SUPPORT OTP” or “OPPOSE ITL”, etc. I’ve been including this reference key and will continue to do so at the bottom of each email moving forward.

Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication.

LOB: Legislative office building
ITL: Inexpedient to Legislate
OTP: Ought to Pass
Re-refer or Retain: This means the bill will remain in committee and not taken up again until next year

I’ve recorded a video with an explanation of how the committee process in NH works and what these recommendations from the committee mean when the bill comes to the chamber floor for vote. Click here for video.

Wednesday, March 22nd, N.H. House
House Floor Vote
HB 10, SUPPORT OTP, establishing the parental bill of rights. With the amount of press this bill has received, I don’t think it needs much explanation. This bill requires that parents be able to know exactly what happens to their children in public schools.

HB 539, SUPPORT OTP, relative to vaccination clinics at schools. The bill would ban vaccination clinics occurring during school hours in public schools. There have been multiple reports of children receiving vaccines during school hours without parental approval in NH and this important bill would prevent further possibility of these oversights.

HB 127, SUPPORT OTP, relative to the declaration of a state of emergency. This is the common sense state of emergency reform bill that Governor Sununu vetoed last year that simply forces both chambers to agree to extend an emergency after three, 21 day renewals by the governor.

HB 69, SUPPORT OTP, relative to direct payment and membership-based health care facilities. In NH currently, all hospitals and clinics must accept Medicaid, Medicare, and insurance, making them subject to federal government regulation. NH has direct payment and membership based primary care and we have noticed a trend of open-minded and alternative practitioners breaking free of regulations by converting their practices to this model. We need to allow hospitals and clinics such freedom and create more free market health care options to reduce costs and drive transparency.

HB 114, OPPOSE OTP, relative to the age at which a minor may receive mental health treatment without parental consent. This bill seeks to allow children as young as 16 years old to receive mental health treatment without parental permission or notification.

HB 557, SUPPORT OTP, relative to the department of health and human services’ rulemaking authority regarding immunization requirements. Currently there are two ways that a vaccine can be added to the school requirement schedule: either through law, which requires the legislature to pass a bill, or through the rulemaking process, unilaterally proposed by the commissioner of DHHS. This bill seeks to eliminate the ability of the department to add vaccines to the school schedule through rulemaking.

HB 575, OPPOSE ITL, relative to vaccine and pharmaceutical products purchased, promoted, or distributed by the state and its political subdivisions. This bill prohibits the state and its political subdivisions from purchasing, promoting, or distributing vaccines or any pharmaceutical product without human clinical trials, as we did with the Covid booster.

Please email your representatives to support the above recommendations. You can find your representatives and their contact information HERE.

 

The post Key Bills Head to the House Floor Plus Some “Lingo” Tips appeared first on Granite Grok.

Shortly after reporting Greta Thunberg’s deleted apocalyptic tweet from 2018, news of the underwater prediction spread like fears of drought at a climate conference, and with it, a reminder that the climate ‘experts’ are good at something, and that is being wrong.

Yet another old road we are traveling again but one the Left walks at your expense, and often so, we need to keep revisiting the planned failure of both the agenda and its prophets. As Greta’s revisionist history lesson reached escape velocity, folks with the knowledge or the audience made time to explore the antics of the Climate Cult and the international multi-billion-dollar conglomerates that give it an endless supply of earned media.

The Main Stream Press/Machine Media.

Fortunately, at least to me, this never grows old, nor should it. This past week Joe Biden, speaking to a room full of Democrats, reminded us that Climate Change and decades of drought are drying up the Colorado river, with over 150% of the annual snow/water equivalent laying on the ground all around the Colorado River watershed waiting to melt.

Colorado’s 120-year mean for precipitation is only 18 inches. Drought is the norm. And recent years have seen a gradual downward trend, with only four of the past ten years being above that mean. But from 1895 to 1905, seven of ten years were below the mean, with neither.

What’s it all mean? Nothing. But back to Climate failure.

Thanks to Thunberg, we are reminded of how poorly the ‘experts’ and their leads are at the prediction business and why this is political science, not climate science.

First up, Tony Heller pokes more fun at the melting sea ice crowd with a flurry of predictions compared to reality.

 

 

Next, Tucker Carlson visits the Thunberg Tweet delete, followed by a time capsule of predictions from a wide range of earth-ending prophets about snow and ice and how not one of them got anything right, but still they have an audience.

 

 

The post Comrade Klimate Expert appeared first on Granite Grok.

All of us are familiar with shopping – one of the guilty pleasures that we all have. Few feelings compare to the hit of dopamine that we get from getting a new shirt, pair of shoes, that funny mug, or a new computer. Shopping is nothing new and has been around for a long time presumably thousands of years.

For a long time, the way we shopped stayed the same. If we wanted something, we would go to a market, pay for it, and bring it home ourselves. When the internet came around, this changed. Not too long after the internet started growing in popularity, the concept of e-commerce started to show up.

The idea of sitting at home, ordering what you want, paying online, and having it delivered to your home was something out of science fiction. Luckily for us, this is the reality of the world we live in and it has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.

Amazon, the online retail titan, is one of the largest organizations in the world. Its humble beginnings started with online shopping. Online shopping is powered by the internet, a tool without which the world would have been very different. This article will expound on the thought process behind online shopping, how it compares to brick-and-mortar retail and other factors that make it what it is.

Convenience and Accessibility

Online shopping offers many different benefits to us, chiefly convenience and accessibility. When we think of online shopping, we immediately relate it to the ease of process involved. From anywhere in the world, we can use our mobile phones or any device with an internet connection to make a purchase. We pay for it online and in a short amount of time it is delivered to where we want it to be. Customers can make a purchase at any hour of the day, allowing sales to happen at any time of the day. With powerful e-commerce tools working with extensive automation, sales can happen at any time, payments are processed at all times, all of this without the store owner actively working on it.

Moreover, online stores are now available in two main ways. One of them is using a platform like Shopify or WooCommerce that has a variety of plugins to make the entire process easy. The other is to use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to create an online presence. Once the presence is there, these social networks offer various tools to make selling a product easier.

Since all of this is so incredibly simple to get started and easier to access coupled with ads at all times, consumers can easily make a purchase. When you have Mediacom internet, you no longer need to worry about unreliable internet. Click here to head over to their website to start using their services!

Online Shopping vs. Brick and Mortar

In order to better understand this, it is important to compare online shopping with brick-and-mortar stores. While one has essentially replaced the other, both continue to coexist. Instead of formulating an opinion for you, we will list down the pros and cons for you to make the choice yourself.

Online Shopping – Pros

• Convenience
• Easy price comparisons
• Diverse selection
• Detailed information

Online Shopping – Cons

• Logistical delays
• No in-hand inspection until the product is delivered
• No personal interaction with humans
• Security risks like credit card fraud

Brick and mortar – Pros

• In-person experience
• Personal interactions
• A feeling of community
• Instant gratification

Brick and mortar – Cons

• Overhead costs
• Inconvenience for those with mobility issues
• Limited Variety
• Limited information

A quick glance at this list shows the differences between online shopping when compared with brick-and-mortar. For some, online shopping makes sense while for others, brick-and-mortar stores are better. Making a decision between the two is reliant on different factors that include convenience, variety, in-hand feel, quick delivery, and so on. There is no right or wrong choice, it all comes down to what a consumer wants or prefers.

The Role of Social Proof

Social proof is a phenomenon in psychology whereby we are more inclined to do something if we see other people doing it. When someone relies on the opinions and actions of other people when making decisions, they fall into the same category. Social proof has existed around us since the dawn of time, it has only been given a name in recent times. As social media has become more commonplace, we see the lives of people who are doing things we aren’t and we are instinctively drawn to that type of living.

Social proof also exists in online shopping in the form of testimonials and reviews. When we open a product page, we look at the pictures, price, and specifications and then scroll down to see the reviews. By reading what other people have to say about the product, our decision becomes simpler. If reviews are positive, we are more inclined to buy them.

Another example of social proof is when brands use social media influencers to market their products. When their audience sees their favorite influencer using a product, they will be tempted to do the same. In the digital age, social proof is incredibly powerful as it can make or break the decision of a prospective customer. Positive social proof results in conversions, sales, credibility, trust, and business growth. Negative social proof does the opposite of this, essentially taking the business down.

The Impact of Personalization

As a consumer, we want the shopping experience to offer as much value as possible. This is not limited to simply going into a store and making the purchase. Nowadays, AI and big data allow online sellers to create targeted content that is personalized for the user. Using personalization, online stores are able to positively impact customer loyalty and satisfaction. This is made possible by analyzing purchasing behavior and previous browsing data to create a relevant and customized shopping experience for the customer.

Not only does this make that customer feel special, it also prompts them to spread the word, and so on and so forth. For a business, showing customers what they like is the best way to guarantee a sale. When a business understands what a customer wants and the customer sees it, everyone wins. Modern marketing practices use this method to learn more about users to create more tailored marketing campaigns.

However, this has raised concerns surrounding privacy and data security among other reasons. In order to provide this experience, consumer data is used and taken with little transparency. While the browser may be doing it for the customer experience, who is to guarantee that sensitive information won’t land in the wrong hands? Moreover, this personalized shopping experience can create immense reliance on a said system that might not make regular shopping experiences feel the same.

Conclusion

Online shopping is one of the great pleasures of our time. Being able to order what we want from the comfort of a screen with nothing more than a smart device and an internet connection is an incredible example of how the internet has changed our lives. Moreover, thanks to innovations in this space, we have seen that there is a profound evolution in this space that makes this experience more personalized and efficient.

To start an online store or make an online purchase, you only need a smart device with an internet connection. With Mediacom, this entire process becomes incredibly convenient owing to its robust, reliable, and reputable internet services. Visit here to find out more and join the family today!

The post Online Shopping: How the Internet Affects Our Buying Habits appeared first on Granite Grok.

For those interested in disaster preparedness, there are numerous lessons throughout “Contagion.” Many miss the movie’s intent if they only watch it once.

It teaches more about the ramifications of a viral pandemic than any other movie in the genre, yet it has some major facts omitted or misrepresented. I will address those in a moment.

The movie is about the emergence of a new, highly infectious pathogen and how those responsible for mitigating its spread must go about doing their business with minimal rending of the “social fabric.”

The ripping apart of “social norms” is the inevitable outcome when inhibitions, regard for criminal law, moral, ethical, and personal standards, and values are cast aside as a direct result of fear, denial, ignorance, and psychological responses that, once they coalesce into muddled confusion, cause many people to panic. Conversely, those who keep their wits about them are often compelled to aid anyone in need.

When faced with deprivation, especially shelter, food, water, and restrictions from free movement (i.e. being unable to drive into another state), many people’s psychological dynamics are disrupted. The human mind severs ties to inhibitions that keep us emotionally well-adjusted when there is no threat present. In principle, the brain ignores all the “programming” done by parents, schools, peer groups, churches, and life’s circumstances, etc., and reverts to primal instinct. If in need of food and water, those driven by instinct would do anything to obtain what they seek, even if that means taking out a close friend to gain access to supplies he/she has stored up over years. For lack of a better term, I will call this state of mind Catastrophe Denial Syndrome (CDS) and it is most prevalent in those who have failed to prepare for a cataclysm so severe it shreds societal norms.

This is not a constant, of course, and indications are that many people would simply give up in the face of a major calamity. Once that happens, their chances for survival plummet.

 

As “Contagion” progresses, we see Matt Damon’s character and the girl playing his daughter go through the phases of an evolving pandemic that tears up “social norms,” yet they keep their wits about them. Social norms begin to unravel when the CDC gets involved and begins implementing processes to contact anyone who may have come in contact with an infected person. Any time federal government agencies arrive, the dynamics shift, sometimes to the resentment of those in power locally who have been pushed aside.
In “Contagion” the CDC is alerted to the plight of Gwyneth Paltro’s character and that of her son. While the movie made no mention of it, the CDC can go to an outbreak only if invited to get involved unless a virus infects so many so quickly that their intervention becomes a matter of national security. But those writing the “Contagion” storyline erred.

Even though there were only a couple of cases, as more presented with symptoms at the local E.R., the CDC would have sent a small army into the Minnesota town to do the “cover interviews,” which involves questioning everyone who may have come in contact with Gwyneth Paltrow’s character or that of her son. The need for more help was evident when Kate Winslet’s character spoke with Lawrence Fishburne’s character by phone and he asked when she had last had a meal not from a vending machine and told her to get some rest. By that point, the epidemic had stricken many not only in the town but in the state and nation, then globally. It is unlikely that the CDC would have sent just one epidemiologist in the first place. They would have sent several of them to conduct interviews.

The impact on social norms is evident in the scene in which Kate Winslet’s character is meeting with what appears to be the town’s city council. The discussion gets contentious when a cynical, councilwoman, becomes negative and confrontational, if not outwardly hostile. In a real scenario such as this, a reaction like that would not be out of the ordinary. From the Councilwoman’s viewpoint, the breakdown of social norms sends her into denial when Winslet’s character starts making decisions without that woman’s input. This is a problem for CDC and NIH (the National Institutes of Health) personnel who are invited into a town or city to address the problem. In the interest of getting the contagion under control, Kate Winslet’s character had to push back by citing facts, such as how most humans touch their faces more than 3,000 times a day, and that is how they get infected. Viruses of this type can enter the body through the nose, eyes, mouth, or even a cut in the skin.

To its credit, the movie gave us an object lesson in something every “preparedness expert” will tell you is their prime and inviolate directive: No matter how much you believe you can trust another person, you must never, under any circumstances, tell anyone that you are preparing or that you have a suitable bug out shelter in preparation for any calamity that might befall the nation. That may seem very selfish, but adhering to it may be what determines whether you survive or not. Lawrence Fishburne’s character mistake, though different in context, came when he called his fiancée and told her to leave Chicago. Strongly insisting that she tell no one. When she ignores the admonition and tells a close friend about the outbreak, she, too, insists that her friend tell no one, yet the news winds up on Facebook and the crisis are made public.

In addition, in various scenes when Damon’s character took his daughter out to shop, the chaos they encountered completely obliterated the social fabric. That became even more relevant when what appeared to be National Guard members were doling out meals ready to eat from trucks. When the supplies ran out, violence superseded chaos. This scene had some subliminal messages, as well. You may have noticed the tents with the FEMA logo on them. Their presence tears what is left of the social fabric because it creates a new and unwelcome reality.

In my view, and I’ve been studying survival since the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, it was almost too mild of a reaction when the food ran out. A component of primal instinct is mob mentality, and that was observed less than it should have been.

Nonetheless, this movie is a great choice, even if not perfect.

ICYMI – Written by Amil Imani – March 2014

The post Contagion appeared first on Granite Grok.

One of the features of Mao’s communist cultural revolution was student zealots (Reg Guard) willing to rat out anyone from teachers to neighbors to their own parents. Anyone who dares to contradict Mao or his tenets. Modern America has that too.

The #woke warriors or rainbow guard troll the internet looking for people or things to cancel, but there’s a more insidious Red Guard comparison from a School District in Maine.

 

Kristen Day said students affiliated with one of RSU 14’s Civil Rights Teams harassed her daughter. When her daughter refused to speak about her sexuality, two students affiliated with the club began to bully her and call her homophobic.

“They insisted she was gay because she dressed gay and listened to gay music,” Day said of her daughter, who was a 7th grader at the time of the alleged harassment.

“She was then called homophobic because she wasn’t at least bi,” Day said.

“She’s not political, but she does not want to talk about her sexuality in school,” she said

 

Remember, silence is violence. It’s a fascist/Nationalist/Marxist mandate to give the approved Sieg Heil when called upon. Failure to comply resulted in mob attacks during BLMs Summer of Love and has long been a feature of every proto-Marxist Democrat party proxy thugs. That includes the ones doing business as above-board non-profits, the SPLC, and, more recently, the Public Schools.

Cities, Counties, and States have them operating as social justice commissions wielding police-like powers under the mandate to reduce hate speech or hate crimes (neither of which truly exist). These are front groups for unconstitutional usurpations of primarily first amendment rights.

Our own Skip Murphy has lawsuits against his school district which, blindly following a state-funded left-leaning lobbying group doing business as School Board Association, implemented a policy that included compelled speech. A policy they had no authority to adopt and no legal right to enforce.

In the case of Maine’s Windham Raymond School System, a student who just wanted to be left alone learned firsthand that no such right exists across the diversity and equity landscape. Not only will you be made to care you will declare it when commanded.

 

Civil Rights Teams (CRTs) operate in Maine schools as a project of the Maine Attorney General’s Office, and the nominal goal of the student organizations is to reduce “bias-motivated” bullying and harassment in schools.

Day said her daughter was harassed about her sexuality by students affiliated with the school’s CRT under the pretext of opening a discussion about student sexuality.

CRT members also created surveys for their peers to take with questions about sexuality and gender, and they pressured them to don “pronoun” pins, Day said.

 

Tasked with creating a civil environment, the Rainbow Guard created a hostile one.

Both CRT and the porn-grooming literature culture are embraced there (surprise), so you won’t be alarmed to hear that a male teacher is alleged to, on at least two occasions, informed the class he was uncircumcised.

I wonder what lesson he was teaching that made that bit of information relevant.

No worries. Not long from now the Rainbow Guard – which I suspect will make a nice breeding ground for future members of the Gaystapo – will require you to share that information, and if you don’t, they might beat you to death and then find out anyway.

 

 

The post Mao Would Be Proud: Maine School’s Student “Civil Rights Team” More Like “Rainbow Guard” appeared first on Granite Grok.

A great example of what I am getting at here was my email sent to NH Speaker of the House Sherm Packard and NH House Majority Leader Jason Osborne concerning a Right To Know for Belknap County Legislative emails:

—— Original Message ——
From “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
To “Sherman Packard” <Sherman.Packard@leg.state.nh.us>; “Jason Osborne” <Jason@osborne4nh.com>; Jason.Osborne@leg.state.nh.us
Date 3/18/2023 1:26:38 PM
Subject Right To Know Demand for the Legislative emails of the NH House Representatives from Belknap County

Good afternoon NH House Speaker Packard and NH House Majority Leader Osborne,
<snip>

Jason’s first listed email is his official email as seen here – a private email address – so I used it.  I also used what I thought was the format of the “@leg.state.nh.us”.  However, this was the result (emphasis mine):

—— Original Message ——
From MAILER-DAEMON@cloudhost-4403025.us-midwest-2.nxcli.net
To Skip@granitegrok.com
Date 3/18/2023 1:26:41 PM
Subject failure notice

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at cloudhost-4403025.us-midwest-2.nxcli.net.
I’m afraid I wasn’t able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I’ve given up. Sorry it didn’t work out.

<Jason.Osborne@leg.state.nh.us>:
3.13.178.213 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 554 5.7.1 <Jason.Osborne@leg.state.nh.us>: Recipient address rejected: Access denied
Giving up on 3.13.178.213.

Now, my message still reached him – an official email to an official within NH Government. Using a private email address. Should that be the case? And yes, perhaps he does have an @leg.state.nh.us account and I got the name wrong.  It happens but this still serves as a great example (so let’s assume I DID get it right IF it exists).

So here’s the issue:

What if that Right To Know was meant for Jason’s emails dealing with official business? His email looks like a campaign address and not one that would match up with his official duties within the NH House. Because his official emails are government records, putting in an RTK to get them should be relatively easy; I have done this many times before for various parts of Government here in NH.  All those emails are centralized and under the control of NH Government, whether by an NH IT server or outsourced to a private company. With a NH based Governmental domain (e.g., @leg.state.nh.us, jonos@sau73.org, dlafond@gilfordnh.org, or shackett@belknapcounty.gov).

PLEASE know that I’m NOT accusing Jason of anything and I’ve never constructed an RTK for any of his emails. Since I just sent it today (that would be yesterday by the time this goes live) and unexpectedly got a reject on the @leg.state.nh.us email. it serves as a great Object Lesson (his email address, not him personally).

But what can I do with “Jason Osborne” <Jason@osborne4nh.com>?  Even if I KNOW there is something in one of his emails that is important and submit an RTK for it, there is nothing I can depend on to get that particular email with his address.  He could say “No”, I’m not going to give it to you – and my only remedy would be take him to court, and spend a lot of time and money, and hope that a judge would order that the email administrator for that domain satisfy the order to fork it (or others) to me.

The problem is that if the need is for that is immediate, if the process is dragged out, it becomes moot (unless another court case is filed to roll something back). Essentially, using personal email address is a way to avoid accountability and hide such demanded information – they effectively (de facto) are not subject to valid RSA 91-A processes. You know, like what Hilary did with her personal email server in a closet that she famously said “what, wipe it with a cloth?” (and showing how little regard she had for openness and transparency).

And we have no way of telling – using personal email addresses instead of official government ones.

And that has happened in my recent RSA 91-A demands at the  Belknap County Delegation. I have to ask, and then Trust, any Rep using a private email address as their “official” one is giving me a correct answer.  Given  what I’ve seen over the years (and lately over HB357, the “give them 4 years instead of 2 year term”), Trust is complicated first and hazardous at worst; I don’t know if I’m getting a correct answer.

By sending an RTK to a superior that then gives it to their IT folks (like I have also done lately during the “Gunstock Incident”), the individual Representative (in this case) is cut out of the loop. GENERALLY, IT folks tend to be more honest…

So look at how Belknap County Reps are with respect to official Government email addresses:

Out of the 17 Representatives, only 5 are using the @leg.nh.state.us domain, 10 are using private emails, and two have no contact info at all.

This is not a privacy issue – this is a Government problem. Those in Government are accountable to we citizens (and not the other way around – a trend that seems to be desired and accelerating).  Deliberately making it harder to do, like these Reps are doing, needs to be corrected.

 

The post Belknap County Delegation – Showing a Loophole in RSA 91-A that Government Officials or Staff Can Exploit? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Recently, a federal judge was addressing a room full of law students when the event turned ugly. Stuart Kyle Duncan, a judge with the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had been invited by the Stanford chapter of the Federalist Society. This group of students is not yesterday’s Federalist Society. The Federalist Society has had a history of exploring both sides of an issue and exchanging ideas to learn from each other.

The presentation ended abruptly when the students shut down the Judge with their catcalls and heckling. Many of the students walked out of the event, further disrupting the Judge’s time. The students were joined by Tirien Steinbach, associate dean of DEIJ, and her comments were critical of Judge Duncan. The issue the students and associate dean had with Duncan was that some of his rulings were adverse and hurtful to the LGBTQ community immigrants, Black voters, women, and others.

On Friday, Judge Duncan spoke to Reuters about the incident and said the student protesters were “idiots” and “bullies” while calling on the school to apologize for his treatment. He also commented on Steinbach’s involvement.

“The administrators’ behavior was completely at odds with the law school’s mission of training future members of the bench and bar,” Duncan told the National Review.

Stanford responded to the incident with the following apology. “What happened was inconsistent with our policies on free speech, and we are very sorry about the experience you had while visiting our campus,” Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne and law dean Jenny Martinez wrote in a Saturday letter to 5th U.S. Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, a 2018 appointee of former President Donald Trump. There was no mention of Associate Dean Steinbach in the carefully worded response.

There have been a couple of interesting happenings since the incident. Both involve students and not the Judge. First, the school felt obligated to offer the students involved in the protest counseling sessions. These sessions do not address their poor behavior and reflection on the university. This counseling is to help them resolve the trauma they faced by having to endure such hateful speech from Judge Duncan.

The second is even more bizarre for students that may soon be a part of the judicial system, either as lawyers or future judges. They are demanding anonymity and to have their names purged from any reference to the incident by Stanford. They were so brave to shout down a sitting Circuit Judge but not to be identified as part of the ugly end of the presentation to the Federalist Society.

These young people are in for such a shock when they leave the safe culture of Stanford and get into the real world. Their only saving grace is their generation is making such a mark on society that they may never leave the cocoon.`WOKE thinking might make these young people feel warm and fuzzy and that they are good stewards of the earth, but it is doing nothing for them to face reality. It is going to be a hard fall for this generation, and maybe we are all to blame for letting it happen. We do have the power to change course, and we must rise to the challenge or live with regret as we watch this experiment fail, as our forefathers warned us.

 

The post Stanford Law Students Need to Reconsider Career Path appeared first on Granite Grok.

First, I am merely an “enlightened amateur”.  Please vet & check on your own.  Caveat emptor.  Consider these to be priming the pump for your own investigations.  I know this is a long post; I am attempting to put out a lot of information as a resource.  Read or skip sections depending on your interests.

Second, I fear spicy time is very close, but even a month of food, water, etc., puts you well ahead of most of the sheeple.  IMHO, set your minimum sights on a three-month period.

Third, two things will be critical for having the best chance of making it through:

1. Mentality: first and foremost in survival is having a flexible mentality and cultivating the ability to adapt. Vanity has no place in survival.
2. Develop a meatspace network of people that are likeminded: cultivate your community ties and build alliances with neighbors (note: don’t babble about the Jab or globalists or depopulation, or start pointing political fingers when doing this)… and remember, the first rule of PREP CLUB is that there is no prep club.

And please follow both me, Nitzakhon, on Gab… as well as my blog host Granite Grok and also on Telegram Tommy Robinson Official plus his Urban Scoop site.  And don’t forget posts sometimes get cloned on American Reveille as well, which is a good site to check out in general.

FYI, here’s a link to the last Survival Sunday.

 

NOTE: These will be somewhat sparser than normal – slammed work-wise.  But trying to keep going to get info out.

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Top of the fold:

Just a comment: It feels – based purely on intuition – that things are about to shift into overdrive.  The potential Trump arrest, the poke-poke-poking of Russia, Iran about to become a nuclear power with Israel determined to stop them, the banking crisis with more and more bad news about the economy and it being a shaking house of cards, China seeing all this and going to a war footing, Biden’s corruption coming out… the list is long.  And need I mention the seemingly increasing Jab deaths and drips of information; on Telegram, on some channels, more and more Jab fans are switching sides and blaming it for their ill health, or the bad health – or deaths – of loved ones.

The tapestry of America, indeed the world, seems to be fraying, and I feel it’s coming apart faster than the Globalists want.  They excel in slowly-slowly.  They’re getting faster-faster.  The question, then, is what will happen in their attempt to distract us again?  More importantly, what will they create to distract us again?

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Oddments – random thoughts on prepping:

1. Think about trading; what, as you can, can you buy that might be useful as barter goods? Beyond food, water, etc., there are things like alcohol, cigarettes, feminine products, OTC meds, even a lowly can opener or set of nail clippers.  Beware “ballistic wampum” though – that ammo that you traded away today may be incoming during tomorrow night’s raid.
2. Hold on to your faith.  Be grateful.  Pray.  Trust Him.

 

=+=+=

Prepper Site URLS:

Most have daily articles; revisit daily.  Please recommend others in the comments.

Ask a Prepper, how to prepare, survive and thrive, latest news

Mother Earth News

The Organic Prepper Home – The Organic Prepper

SurvivalBlog.com – The Daily Web Log for Prepared Individuals Living in Uncertain Times.

SHTF Blog – Modern Survival

Survival World – Everything You Need To Know to Survive

Homestead Survival Site – How to Live Off The Grid in Comfort and Style

Urban Survival Site | How to Survive a Disaster in the City

Mind4Survival – Survival and Preparedness

Gray Wolf survival

Sustainable Living (sustainablelivingideas.com)

The Classic Survivalist – Surviving in a Modern World

Primal Survivor – Practical and sensible prepping advice

Em Off-grid – We & Our Off The Grid Life – Em OffGrid

Resource for Practical, Daily Prepping Skills for SHTF & Survival (geekprepper.com)

MorningChores – Build Your Self-Sufficient Life (new)

And three aggregate sites listing their top favorite sites & links too:

TOP 50 SURVIVAL & PREPPER BLOGS

The 50 Best Survival Blogs

Prepper Website – Preparedness • Survival • Alternative News

—

Specific, one-up articles:

What You Need to Know About Radiation Sickness (theorganicprepper.com)

My understanding is that, for most, fallout is the biggest issue.  Lots of good advice here.  As to radioactive iodine specifically, fill up your thyroid now with “good” iodine.

—

How To Treat And Heal Wounds With Sugar – Ask a Prepper

Good to know.  Related:

10 Herbs for Wound Care: A Prepper’s Herbal Medicine Cabinet (theorganicprepper.com)

—

Essential Survival Know-Hows Modern People Have Forgotten (askaprepper.com)

I can do most of these, though I’m sure a real expert would scoff.  Read the comments too – I noticed the bow-and-drill fire method didn’t mention, as of when I read it, a second handpiece to keep your other hand safe.

—

Why You Should Put A Silver Coin In Water – Ask a Prepper

Amazing stuff, silver.

—

8 Sustainable Toilet Paper Alternatives (and a Few Emergency Options) (morningchores.com)

When ya gotta go…

—

75 Emergency Supplies List You Should Always Stock at Home (morningchores.com)

It’s a long list.  Remember, you can only do / prep as you have the means to do so.  Related:

8 Basic Disaster Preparedness Tips for Every Homesteader (morningchores.com)

—

43 Fascinating Survival TV Shows to Add Some Excitement to Your Nights (morningchores.com)

I’ve heard of several of these; the only one I’ve watched is Survivorman (and I need to get the DVD set).  As with everything, the problem is time.

—

 

Related to Spicy Time:

Rule Five Civil War Friday | Animal Magnetism (frombearcreek.com)

Interesting long view on the coming unpleasantness.  And note this:

Look at this from a strategic sense.  By and large, the left is concentrated in a few small geographic areas.  For the most part, these areas are heavily urban, and dependent on the outskirts – red country – for electricity, gasoline, food and clothing, indeed most of the requirements of a modern lifestyle.  It would not be terribly difficult for a military force or even a well-organized militia to shut down imports into even a large city.  The blockage wouldn’t have to be leak-proof, but even preventing fifty percent of a major city’s food and energy imports would have that city melting down within a matter of days.

As an abstract and purely academic thought, I have read news reports of how some strategically distributed boxes of roofing nails can shut down roads quite handily.  And for quite some time.

The above echoes this; The 2nd Amendment is Obsolete, Says Congressman Who Wants To Nuke Omaha | Monster Hunter Nation:

[B]ecause the guys who build that, grow that, and ship that, well, you just dropped a Hellfire on his cousin Bill because he wouldn’t turn over his SKS. F*ck you. Starve. And that’s assuming they don’t still make the delivery but the gas is tainted and food is poisoned.

—

14 Ways to Use Emergency Communication When Disaster Strikes (morningchores.com)

I’ve learned Morse code (well, at least the letters and numbers… working on the punctuation) and am attempting – key word, attempting – to get the kids to learn it too.  The problem is, at their age, nothing that I say is important is important to them.

—

How to Make (and Cook On) a Swedish Fire Log (morningchores.com)

For when you’re in the woods.  More:

21 DIY Rocket Stove Plans to Cook Efficiently with Wood (morningchores.com)

Survival Cooking: 18 Off-Grid Cooking Methods without Electricity (morningchores.com)

Not just for outside, and a couple of ideas I’d not considered!  Related:

Bug Out Bag: 15 Life-Saving Essentials to Pack (morningchores.com)

Got to be able to carry all this.  Balance preparation with that.  On water specifically:

How to Purify Water as a Life-Saving Emergency When SHTF (morningchores.com)

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

CRAZY Survival Hack | Start a Fire With a Plastic Bag

 

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Short of years and untold wealth, you cannot possibly be fully prepared for everything (I have to keep reminding myself of that).  But even some preparations, ideally at least 90 days of food, water / water purification, etc., puts you head and shoulders in front of the vast majority of the sheeple who will be in jaw-gaping astonishment when the SHTF.  The only relevant questions are:

1. When does it start?
2. How bad will it get?
3. How long will it last?
4. What will the aftermath look like?

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

“Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty?”

— Patrick Henry

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

I just started a FORAGING group on Gab.  I will check 2-3 times a week to see if people have asked to join.

—

Foraging: One-up articles

Beginner’s guide to foraging: 12 rules to follow – Tyrant Farms

Good rules.  From that site:

16 common edible weeds growing in your yard… with recipes! – Tyrant Farms

I concur with the “note all edible weeds are worth eating” – though starvation can move that line.  Their whole collection of foraging articles:

Foraged Archives – Tyrant Farms

—

Printable Foraging Guide – Temperate North America (judyofthewoods.net)

Foraging for Food: a Monthly Guide (liveabout.com)

The month by month aspect looks intriguing.  More:

50 Edible Wild Plants You Can Forage for a Free Meal (morningchores.com)

Foraging 101: What to Eat (and Avoid) – Cleveland Clinic

All About Foraging and Harvesting Reishi Mushrooms (morningchores.com)

How to Get Started with Urban Foraging and Connect with Nature in the City (morningchores.com)

DIY: How to Make Acorn Flour (tyrantfarms.com)

—

3 Ways to Make Homemade Aspirin Using Willow (morningchores.com)

Herbal medication knowledge in general too.

—

7 Brilliant Uses for Tree Resin (morningchores.com)

Related:

25+ Survival Uses Of Resin – Ask a Prepper

How to Make Candles out of Pine Resin (With Pictures) – Ask a Prepper

How Our Forefathers Made Glue Out of Pine Resin – Ask a Prepper

—

Foraging (permanent feature):

Foraging (practicalselfreliance.com)

Wild Harvests (arcadianabe.blogspot.com)

Southern Appalachian Herbs

—

Books (permanent feature):

Feasting Free on Wild Edibles (old but good)

The Lost Ways (much more than just foraging)

The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO EDIBLE WILD PLANTS FOR BEGINNERS

 

 

=+=+=

Shortages (broadly):

Just a comment: My local Market Basket has been out of one of my kids’ favorite lunch meats – really, the only sandwich meat they’ll eat – for several weeks.  Apparently there’s none to be had in the pipeline.  And while their box juice is back in stock, it’s not in the normal spectrum of flavors that they used to have available.  Tomorrow, time to get to a different chain that normally carries that meat and see if they have it.

And WOW, the beef prices!

 

=+=+=

Gardening, Food Storage, Animals, Food Preservation, Health, and Related:

 

The Double Cup Method to Start Seeds

 

 

—

10 Spices That Make Your Food Last Longer – Ask a Prepper

Some new to me.  From the same site:

24 Baked Goods That Last For A Long Time – Ask a Prepper

—

 

Smoking Meat Week: Smoking 101

 

 

And some other videos on smoking / preserving meat:

Smoking Meat Week: Smoking 101 – YouTube

Meat Preservation by Smoking – The American Frontier – YouTube

How smoke preserves food – YouTube

Salting, Curing and Smoking your own meat – YouTube

How to Dry, Cure and Smoke meat All in one video – YouTube

Beginners Introduction to Cold Smoking Meat & Food – YouTube

—

 

Benefits and Dangers of COFFEE GROUNDS and WOOD ASH in the Garden // Beginning Gardening

 

 

And other assorted gardening video links:

How To Build A FREE DIY Garden DIP IRRIGATION System With Milk Jugs! – YouTube

337 lbs of Potatoes! NO digging, NO watering, and VERY LITTLE work! – YouTube

How to Grow Onions, Harvest Onions & Cure Onions from Start to Finish l Walla Walla Onions – YouTube

How to Grow Potatoes in a 5 Gallon Bucket (Part 1 of 2) – YouTube

How to Grow Potatoes in a 5 Gallon Bucket (Part 2 of 2) – YouTube

How To Grow Garlic – The Definitive Guide For Beginners – YouTube

How to Grow Spinach Organically – YouTube

Growing mushrooms at home is super easy with a bucket – Anyone can do it – YouTube

How to grow a TON of Ginger from store-bought Ginger Root! – YouTube

—

Pros and Cons of Eating Duck Eggs vs Chicken Eggs – Mother Earth News

Depending on how hungry you are, you won’t care.  Ideally, if you have the space, I’d have both.  And without a doubt, save the shells to add to your compost.  These plants, in particular, will want that calcium:

40 Calcium-Rich Plants You Can Grow at Home (morningchores.com)

—

5 Best Meat Rabbit Breeds for Homesteads & Which Tastes the Best? – Top Outdoor Survival

We have rabbits in our yard.  I refer to them as “Emergency meat”.

—

DIY Poor Man’s Greenhouse – Ask a Prepper

This project can take less than 30 minutes if you have all the necessary supplies within your home’s compound. However, it might be longer if you must gather supplies outside your compound.  Related:

3 Methods for Heating Greenhouses for Free – Mother Earth News

How to Build a PVC Greenhouse – Mother Earth News

—

 

https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/132/289/635/playable/aa3c45fa85d09730.mp4

 

The only thing about the above video is the use of rooting hormones.  What if you don’t have those available?

—

The 9 Best Foods to Can for an Emergency (morningchores.com)

Got to learn to can properly, though.  Still haven’t figured out my pressure canner.  Grrrr.  Manual is just not clear to me.  Round-about related to preservation:

Burying Food for Preservation – Is It Still a Good Idea? (morningchores.com)

And related:

How to Make and Hide a Survival Cache (morningchores.com)

Off-Grid Refrigerator: 12 Ways to Live Without Refrigeration (morningchores.com)

—

Solar Food Dehydrators – Mother Earth News

A good friend of mine has an “industrial strength” dehydrator, and also a freeze drier.  All good, but if there’s no electricity?

—

19 High Calorie Crops to Grow in Your Survival Garden (morningchores.com)

Survival is all about maximizing calories in and minimizing calories out.

—

Links on old-time food storage (permanent feature):

Thanks to the Canning and Preserving group on Gab, I now have these links:

Preserving foods by drying | How to dry foods safely (uada.edu)

USDA-Complete-Guide-to-Home-Canning-2015-revision.pdf (healthycanning.com)

Canning | SDSU Extension (sdstate.edu)

Food Preservation– Canning | Consumer Food Safety | Washington State University (wsu.edu)

Canning Timer & Checklist App | OSU Extension Catalog | Oregon State University

National Center for Home Food Preservation (uga.edu)

Canning Recipes | Ball® Mason Jars (ballmasonjars.com)

—

Topical Books (also permanent):

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking & Curing

Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing

A Guide to Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking Meat, Fish & Game

The Prepper’s Canning Guide

Pickled Pantry

Fermented Vegetables

Hydroponics and Greenhouse Gardening: 3-in-1 Gardening Book to Grow Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruit All-Year-Round

Hydroponics for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Hydroponic Gardening, Designing and Building Inexpensive DIY Hydroponic Systems…

The Aquaponics Guidebook: Combining Aquaculture and Hydroponics Combining Aquaculture and Hydroponics

 

=+=+=

Self-defense (broad) & Hunting / Fishing:

Democrat Senators Call on Payments Companies to Track Gun Sales

Fascism: private entities doing for the government what the government is limited from doing themselves.

—

How to Make a Basket Fish Trap (morningchores.com)

Related:

 

How to make a minnow trap from a plastic bottle

 

 

You can use minnows to bait the basket fish trap!

 

=+=+=

Miscellaneous thoughts:

20 Self-Sufficiency Hacks You Can Implement Right Now (morningchores.com)

And build a community of local people.

—

What to do When a Natural Disaster Strikes and How to be Prepared (morningchores.com)

Most importantly, have a plan for common things that can happen.

—

DIY Home Biodiesel Production: Make Your Own Fuel – Mother Earth News

The availability of this versus the potential cut-off of gasoline in a STHF situation, is making me consider a diesel for my next vehicle.

 

=+=+=

Concluding thoughts if I’m moved to comment:

7 Stores Where You Can Buy Cheap Survival Food – Ask a Prepper

I’m observing, reading this, a separating line between groups of preppers.  It’s not impermeable, but I think it’s there.

First, let me state clearly – I absolutely endorse gardening and raising your own fruits & vegetables as you can, learning to forage, hunting & fishing, etc., regardless of which side you’re on, to the best of your ability to do so.  But here’s the line:

Will things disrupt and then return to something approaching current-normal within a year or so, or will we reset to a pre-electrical world where it’s about an Amish lifestyle for generations?

Regardless of which camp you’re in, stockpiling food, learning things, building community ties, etc., are all good things, so don’t misunderstand me.  But which camp you are in will determine a lot of how you plan.  Think about which side of that line you’re on.

Related to food stock-up:

10 Long-Lasting Foods From The Chinese Store – Ask a Prepper

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

The Joe Biden Diet

 

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Palate cleansers:

 

—

—

 

>>>>>=====<<<<<

 

Please check out my MEMES collections; last one here.  Mockery, ridicule, and the wrapping of uncomfortable truths inside humor can penetrate the cognitive shields of normies far more effectively – IMHO – than dry facts and figures.

 

The post Survival Sunday – PREP Edition appeared first on Granite Grok.

In a major pivot, Alu Axelman has decided to write a book that could be consumed easily in one sitting by the average reader. In only around 15 minutes, a person of average intelligence can understand why the US Constitution is fatally flawed.

The post Short Book Obliterates The Constitution appeared first on The Liberty Block.

The Canadian Cancer Society has some questions about adequately screening biological men who identify as women for cervical cancer. And no, they didn’t mean trans men (biological women who identify as men but have a cervix). They mean biological men who have no cervix.

 

If you’re a trans woman, you may not have given much thought to Pap tests and cervical cancer. And if you haven’t, that makes a fair amount of sense. After all, in order to get cervical cancer, you need to have a cervix — that is, the organ that connects the vagina to the uterus.

If you’re a trans woman and have not had bottom surgery, you aren’t at risk for cervical cancer.

 

Seems straightforward enough until we get to this.

 

If, however, you’re a trans woman who has had bottom surgery to create a vagina (vaginoplasty) and possibly a cervix, there’s a very small risk that you can develop cancer in the tissues of your neo-vagina or neo-cervix. The risk depends on the type of surgery you had, the type of tissue used to create your vagina and cervix and your personal health history. Talk to your healthcare provider to figure out your specific cancer-screening needs as part of your overall pelvic health following surgery.

It can be difficult to make cancer screening a priority, especially when there’s not a lot of information out there about cervical cancer risks for trans women.

 

 

Dr. Bryam Bridle, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Viral Immunology in the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Guelph, so it is a subject of interest to him. Brindle,

 

“is suing the university and researchers for $3 million, alleging in a statement of claim filed in late 2022 “overlapping conspiracies” of harassment on social media and efforts to remove him from the university, a “significant loss of standing as a virologist, immunologist, scientist and academic”; loss of income and equipment; damage to his teaching career; mental anguish; and endangering his life.”

 

Without looking, I’d guess he’s been clinging bitterly to the old gods of science, and the Evangelists of the new pantheon are unhappy with his resistance to their proselytizing. Kudos to Dr. Bridle for resisting the urge to ‘culturally appropriate’ despite the threat of occupational crucifixion. Objections that include pondering with a critical eye the Canadian Cancer Societies’ suggestion that biological males screen for cervical cancer.

 

It is my understanding that trans women can have what is essentially a tunnel surgically implemented into their groin area. But, it is also my understanding that these ‘tunnels’ are not seeded with any cells that are specific to cervical tissue. As such, it would seem to be a misnomer to call any cancer that develops in this ‘tunnel’ a cervical cancer. Cervical cancers typically arise from cells that are unique to a biologically genuine cervix.

 

The result is something of a “which came first” scenario: it’s the chicken or the egg applied to the cervix and cervical cancer. Given that the new science forbids naming illnesses after their point of origin or discovery, it seems pigheaded to presume that names of cancers be restricted to the cells of the organs they inhabit.

Testicular cancer, breast cancer – cancer of the spleen, pancreas, mouth, lungs, blood, or brain. The people of the great reset will have to make compromises to appease our cultural cancer. Describe certain acts of arson or assault as nonviolent and others as insurrection. A mostly peaceful murder resulting from a well-intentioned act of political justice is a suicide. And showing porn to your own children is a crime, while exhibiting it to the children of strangers is a crime unless it is in a public school, in which case we must call it an “education.”

Assuming that cancer needs to be detected in an actual cervix to be cervical cancer is just a 20th-century tall tale. A chestnut from a bygone era. Especially when the leading lights of public health have redefined their purpose from improving the quality of life and longevity to population control and eugenics.

They don’t say that, but in the same way that a lump of non-cervical cells appropriating the name “cervix” could get cervical cancer, so then should the idea of modern public health connote planned genocide.

Or is that too honest for the political science of the new gods?

 

 

HT | Mark Crispin Miller

The post On When Biological Males Should Screen For Cervical Cancer … appeared first on Granite Grok.

How the Uniparty, the Establishment, the System … whatever you want to call it … is pushing Woke Hampshire’s Sun-King Sununu! Because he is a willing shill for their agenda and their LIES … no limits on abortion, biological boys and men competing in girls’ and women’s sports, COVID-tyranny, the 2020 election was pristine pure, etc., etc., etc., … and his latest: WAR, WAR, WAR, FOREVER-WAR, FOREVER-WAR.

More specifically, His Majesty Silver-Spoon has an op-ed in mega-billionaire/globalist Jeff Bezos’ regime-mouthpiece-rag, the Washington Post, scolding Republicans who don’t support the Ukraine-Forever-War as having “lost their moral compass.”

Sun-King begins with the familiar and fatuous claim that a Ukraine-Forever-War is in America’s interest because Putin supposedly aims to conquer all of Europe and will, unless we stop him in the Ukraine. Anyone who knows anything beyond the Uniparty’s propaganda knows this is a lie … for one thing, Russia and Ukraine were working on a peace deal in early 2022 that the warmongers in NATO opposed. Hardly the actions of a nation planning on driving its tanks all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

More importantly, Russia obviously is NOT a threat to conquer all of Europe. Sun-King Sununu and the warmongers simultaneously tell us on the one hand that UKRAINE IS WINNING; PUTIN IS HUMILIATED; blah, blah, blah … and on the other hand that today’s Russian Army is the modern-day equivalent of the unstoppable Wehrmacht … that would be the same Russian Army they tell us is losing in Ukraine … and poses an existential threat to all of Europe. People like Sun-King think that they are so smart and the rest of us are so stupid that we will believe their contradictory propaganda.

Sun-King obviously knows NOTHING about the history of the Ukraine if he really believes that this war is not a territorial dispute. In 1954, Kruschev “gave” Crimea from Russia to Ukraine, which at the time while nominally a “socialist republic” was merely an administrative unit of the old Soviet Union. Nobody asked the Russian people in Crimea if they wanted to be part of Ukraine. The history of the Donbas is much more complicated, but suffice it to say that much of the Donbas has been and remains more Russian than Ukrainian.

Some more relevant history: in 1991, the West in order to facilitate the breakup of the Soviet Union gave oral assurances that NATO would not expand westward. Those assurances obviously have not been honored and preventing Ukraine from joining NATO is one of the reasons Russia invaded. So, yeah, it is about territory … whether Ukraine becomes territory of NATO or remains a neutral buffer State between NATO and Russia.

Sun-King also claims that NOT assisting Ukraine would embolden China to invade Taiwan. Again, Sun-King does not know what he is talking about. The United States does not have the capability to simultaneously fight a proxy-war against Russia and a direct war with China. Depleting our military readiness by giving Ukraine essentially a blank check is what emboldens China.

Perhaps the most fatuous statement in Sun-King’s op-ed is this:

For generations, oppressive authoritarian rule has quashed religious freedom and limited individual opportunities across the globe. The United States should stand with freedom-loving people and help support emerging democracies wherever they are. The days of being coy on foreign policy are over.

Is Sun-King really unaware that Zelensky outlawed the Russian Orthodox Church … i.e. that Ukraine does NOT allow religious freedom? Is Sun-King really unaware that Zelensky outlawed opposition parties and took over television news stations in order to “prevent misinformation.” Ukraine is a kleptocracy, Sun-King, not a democracy.

This op-ed is so lacking in facts and manifests such shallow, flawed reasoning that I can believe that the famously lazy Sun-King may actually have written it himself. Whether he wrote it or just put his  name to it, this Forever-War propaganda should absolutely disqualify Sun-King Sununu from being considered a serious candidate for President of the United States.

 

 

 

The post Sun-King Sununu’s Op-Ed In WaPo … It’s Immoral Not To Support The Ukraine-Forever-War appeared first on Granite Grok.

• These are the most liberty-critical hearings for the week
• Click on the bill number to read the bill.
• Click on the committee name to email the committee your thoughts.

Of the 0 hearings in the House, we are recommending support of 0 and opposition of 0 with 0 being of interest.
Of the 27 hearings in the Senate, we are recommending support of 7 and opposition of 7 with 1 being of interest.

Position	Bill	Title	Committee	Day	Time	Room	State Analysis
Oppose	HB467	relative to public playground accessibility.	Commerce	Tue 3/21	9:15 AM	SH Room 100	This bill requires public playgrounds in use on or after January 1, 2024 to have solid rubber or rubber composite surfacing for accessibility to the playground and each piece of equipment.
Support	HB477	to prohibit municipal inspections of owner-occupied units of multi-unit housing.	Commerce	Tue 3/21	9:45 AM	SH Room 100	This bill prohibits municipal inspections of owner-occupied units within residential structures of 4 units or less.
Support	HB117	relative to the termination of tenancy at the expiration of the tenancy or lease term.	Commerce	Tue 3/21	10:00 AM	SH Room 100	This bill adds the expiration of the term of the lease or tenancy if over 6 months as grounds for an eviction.
Support	HB466	relative to water bottle filling stations in schools.	Education	Tue 3/21	9:15 AM	LOB Room 101	This bill repeals the state board of education’s rulemaking authority to adopt rules pursuant to RSA 541-A relative to requirements for the installation of water bottle filling stations.
Of Interest	HB83	relative to county commissioners’ authority on county buildings.	Election Law and Municipal Affairs	Tue 3/21	9:35 AM	LOB Room 103	This bill increases the expense thresholds for county commissioners’ authority to purchase real estate and repair, enlarge, or erect county buildings.
Support	HB252	(New Title) exempting certain agricultural operations from certain municipal noise ordinances.	Energy and Natural Resources	Tue 3/21	9:30 AM	SH Room 103	This bill exempts farming and agricultural operations from municipal noise ordinances.
Support	HB188	relative to the duration of physical therapy.	Health and Human Services	Wed 3/22	9:15 AM	LOB Room 101	This bill removes the requirement that a physical therapist refer a patient to a health care provider if there is no documented improvement after 25 days of treatment.
Support	HB223	relative to prescription refills.	Health and Human Services	Wed 3/22	9:30 AM	LOB Room 101	This bill creates an exception to the 34-day limit on prescription refills of schedule III topical androgens if the prescription specifies it is being used for the treatment of chronic low testosterone replacement therapy.
Support	HB500	relative to prescribing opioids via telehealth medicine.	Health and Human Services	Wed 3/22	9:45 AM	LOB Room 101	This bill modifies the procedure for physicians, physician assistants and APRN’s to prescribe certain non-opioid and opioid controlled drugs by means of telemedicine.

The post Bill Hearings for Week of March 20, 2023 appeared first on NH Liberty Alliance.

The Daily Wire’s Jordan Peterson interviewed international migration expert Michael Yon and Dutch independent journalist Eva Vlaardingerbroek recently to discuss the farmer’s crisis in Holland.  If you weren’t aware the Dutch farmers have been under the yoke of their purportedly conservative government’s “climate crisis” policy changes for nearly ten years.

As Vlaardingerbroek explains the government has repeatedly issued demands of the farmers in regard to what are and are not acceptable practices.  Long one of the most efficient farming people in the world, responsible for the largest relative agricultural output on the planet, the Dutch farmers are facing catastrophic consequences thanks to the ever shifting sands of their leader’s policy changes.  After years of bending over backwards to appease their government’s demands the farmers have reached their breaking point.

Citing environmental concerns the farmers are now being told some fifty percent of them will have to “voluntarily” sell their land, which in reality is a coercive means of grabbing the land by the government says Vlaardingerbroek.  Current Dutch policy forbids them from selling in the open market essentially leaving them one choice – to sell to the government.  This has led to massive protests by the Dutch farmers, similar to the truckers who protested Trudeau’s COVID anti-freedom vaccine demands last year that saw Trudeau freezing the bank accounts of those who protested.

In Holland the farmers have taken to the streets using their tractors to block traffic by way of protest.  This has seen Dutch and German police brought in for law enforcement with the usual counter protesters, in this case the Extinction Rebellion clan, tossing their bodies into the fray.  At one point the German police used Dutch water hoses to extinguish the Extinction Rebellion offensive who were stepping over the bounds of simple protest.

Yon’s concern for the Dutch farmer’s is one of replacement by the now ubiquitous illegal immigration at the borders of virtually all western nations.  His eye witness account reveals fighting age men from Afghanistan, China and other middle-east and Asian countries coming into Holland for reasons that are unclear given the language barrier and lack of crisis in their native lands.  Yon’s study of war and historical use of unfettered migration to weaken a nation has him suspicious the goal is to simply displace the Dutch farmers with a heterogeneous population prone to tribal affiliation, thus lacking a larger solidarity with other immigrants as well as the farmers, which prevents any meaningful rebellion against the globalists in government who wish to destabilize the country in favor of the World Economic Forum / George Soros “open society” model.

Vlaardingerbroek and Yon agree the battle can still be won given the superior man power and cultural support within Holland who largely favor the farmers.  However the window of opportunity is closing and the farmers need active measures joined by sympathetic countrymen who have the guts to exercise their God given right to oppose a tyrannical government.  A tyranny displayed not just by policy overreach but a now famous moment when Dutch police fired on a sixteen year old boy driving a tractor away from the protests, which caused an international outcry largely suppressed by an equally fraudulent media.

Peterson presses the pair by playing devil’s advocate for those in the Dutch government by asking what are their goals?  Vlaardingerbroek and Yon explain they’re two-fold: 1) To capture the Dutch land 2) To use the land to create a tri-state smart city that effectively acts as a 21st century technocratic ghetto.  The plans for the tri-state smart city are already in development. 

Listen to the entire Peterson interview here and share this article and/or the video with your family, friends, colleagues and representatives.  Legislators should be made to aware of this situation and the ramifications for the rest of the world including Vermont and New Hampshire.

 

The post Dutch Farmer’s Crisis: The Makings of a Famine To Come appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Novavax COVID jab got Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)  from the public health ‘watchdogs’ at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), despite being flagged last summer as presenting some small risk of heart inflammation.

July 2022 (emphasis in the original).

 

“Authorizing an additional COVID-19 vaccine expands the available vaccine options for the prevention of COVID-19, including the most severe outcomes that can occur such as hospitalization and death,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. 

 

Novavax’s version is another spike protein injection advanced in the hope that the public health industrial complex could convince the vaccine-hesitant (see also smart people) to line up and take two for the team—all with the knowledge that there was a known risk of heart inflammation.

 

The Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccine (Vaccination Providers) includes a warning that clinical trial data provide evidence for increased risks of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of tissue surrounding the heart).

Part of the approval process required Novavax and vaccine providers to report issues to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, which the FDA had been ignoring or dismissing long before with the help of the media and politicians. In other words, not much of a demand to get an EUA on an old COVID-19 vaccine whore in a new dress.

FDA greenlighted the EUA in July 2022, and in late February of 2023, new research suggests that,

 

Using pre-pandemic rates of heart inflammation in the population, the researchers calculated that the number of post-vaccination cases was higher than expected.

Reporting odds ratio values of higher than one indicate a higher-than-expected rate. For myocarditis following Novavax vaccination, the ratio was 5.2. For pericarditis, it was 24.75. For myopericarditis or both conditions at once, it was 14.4.

Novavax’s Nuvaxovid vaccine does not use mRNA, but like Pfizer and Biontech, it does use nanoparticles. Common among all three is their complete lack of respect for the mythological gender spectrum. Despite sex being a social construct, the COVID vaccine science continues to cause heart damage to young adults born biologically male more than any other.

Emphasis mine.

The median age of individuals was 35.5 years old, and most were males (38; 62.3%). Chest pain was the most common co-reported event 43 (70.5%). The median induction period was 3 days after immunization. Increased disproportionality for myopericarditis was found for NVX-CoV2373 (ROR 14.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] 11.22–18.67) and mRNA vaccines: BNT162b2 (ROR 17.15, 95% CI 16.88–17.42) and mRNA-1273 (ROR 6.92, 95% CI 6.77–7.08). Higher values were found in males.

We are not, however, allowed to make any connection between an apparent chemical war being waged on men and an increase in sudden deaths and all-cause mortality. That’s just a conspiracy (like the lab leak?).

Nothing to see here.

Remember, minor side effects are a sign that your vaccine is working, except the COVID vaccines don’t work. The morning after, the COVID vaccine pill (Paxlovid) doesn’t work as advertised. Remdesivr didn’t work as advertised. The pandemic protocols didn’t work as advertised. The political response didn’t work as advertised.

I’m sorry, old ground again. They did not work as advertised, but they did work as planned, and we can add the Novavax Jab to the list.

HT | Dr. Kat Lindley

The post So, Heart Inflammation is a Sign Your COVID-19 Vaccine Is Working … appeared first on Granite Grok.

The following was published on the Ides of March 2023 from an undisclosed location east of the once-viable Mississippi River.

We want to thank Mary Maxwell for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.

The Members of the United States Continuity of Government Committee, having met in 2023 as a constitutional convention, do hereby propose these amendments to the Constitution of 1787.

They will replace, by deletion, the now obsolete Amendments I through X, which had been called The Bill of Rights.

These will be called The Bill of Mights in recognition of the fact that might makes right.

 

The Bill of Mights

I. Congress may make any law respecting an establishment of religion, and may abridge freedom of speech and freedom of the press to accord with community standards. People may not assemble in an insurrectionary manner. People wanting to submit grievances shall have the right to apply for a court order granting them permission to do so.

II. A well-regulated militia, being a necessary apparatus of the state, shall be formed by conscription and shall counteract the people’s crime of keeping and bearing arms.

III. Soldiers may be quartered in homes exclusively by permission of Congress.

IV. The searching and seizing of a person’s body, house, papers, or electronic material may be carried out per an order of government, provided that a justification be furnished ex post facto.

V. Persons held to answer for crime may be required to act as witnesses against themselves and may be subjected to double jeopardy. The owners of property seized by the state shall receive nominal compensation.

VI. Accused persons shall be given the assistance of a Public Defender and may be told of the evidence to be used against them.

VII. The right of natural persons and corporations to file lawsuits shall be honored. Priority of common law shall not be assumed. The fact finder is the state-appointed jury whose validity and judgement shall not be questioned.

VIII. Bail and fines shall be determined by the judge. Punishments shall be inflicted according to their suitability for the security of society.

IX. This enumeration of certain Mights shall not be construed to deny or disparage other Mights retained by the government.

X. Powers not yet delegated to the government are reserved.

The manner in which these ten amendments will replace Amendments I through X is by signature of the president of the United States, during national emergency.

— Mary Maxwell’s website is ConstitutionAndTruth.com. Her book, Boston’s Marathon Bombing, is linked here. It contains her civil RICO case, Maxwell v FBI et al., as an appendix. Please contact her at MaxwellMaryLLB@gmail.com

This clip of French protestors getting beaten lends verisimilitude to the above Bill:

The post The Bill of Mights appeared first on Granite Grok.