The headline you haven’t seen: “Tonga Eruption Blasted Unprecedented Amount of Water Into Stratosphere.” That’s from NASA. The text accompanying some impressive time-lapse imagery notes, “The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature.”

Water vapor is the single biggest driver of …climate change. No, it is not CO2, its negligible 0.04% of the atmosphere or your minuscule 3% of that 0.04%.

 

Volcanic eruptions rarely inject much water into the stratosphere. In the 18 years that NASA has been taking measurements, only two other eruptions – the 2008 Kasatochi event in Alaska and the 2015 Calbuco eruption in Chile – sent appreciable amounts of water vapor to such high altitudes. But those were mere blips compared to the Tonga event, and the water vapor from both previous eruptions dissipated quickly. The excess water vapor injected by the Tonga volcano, on the other hand, could remain in the stratosphere for several years.

This extra water vapor could influence atmospheric chemistry, boosting certain chemical reactions that could temporarily worsen depletion of the ozone layer. It could also influence surface temperatures. Massive volcanic eruptions like Krakatoa and Mount Pinatubo typically cool Earth’s surface by ejecting gases, dust, and ash that reflect sunlight back into space. In contrast, the Tonga volcano didn’t inject large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere, and the huge amounts of water vapor from the eruption may have a small, temporary warming effect, since water vapor traps heat. The effect would dissipate when the extra water vapor cycles out of the stratosphere and would not be enough to noticeably exacerbate climate change effects.

 

A year later, the press has its dander up about heat waves, record heat, and how you’re lazy Western lifestyle is to blame—wrong answer. Your meaningless emissions are, well, meaningless. Yes, humans can pollute the biosphere. We need only look to mining for rare earth metals in Africa or to China, the world’s largest polluter, and emitter, which is also the leading producer of wind turbines and solar panels.

The irony is lost on many, like the massive water vapor injection into the upper atmosphere.

Thomas Lifson, writing at The American Thinker, adds,

 

From the European Space Agency:

In a recent paper published in Nature, a team of scientists showed the unprecedented increase in the global stratospheric water mass by 13% (relative to climatological levels) and a five-fold increase of stratospheric aerosol load — the highest in the last three decades.

Using a combination of satellite data, including data from ESA’s Aeolus satellite, and ground-based observations, the team found that due to the extreme altitude, the volcanic plume circumnavigated the Earth in just one week and dispersed nearly pole-to-pole in three months. [emphasis added]

and …

 

So there you have it: we are in for extra atmospheric heat “for several years” until the extra water vapor injected by this largest-ever-recorded underwater volcano eruption dissipates.

Jeff Childers, who brought these scientific data to my notice, writes:

Here’s why corporate media is ignoring the most dramatic climate even[t] in modern history: because you can’t legislate underwater volcanoes. You can try, but they won’t listen. So what’s the fun in that? Corporate media only exists to further political ends. Since volcanoes aren’t subject to politics, why bother?

Even when NASA scientists explain the science of water vapor – especially of this magnitude – and how it will increase the global temperature, “the Tonga eruption sent around 146 teragrams (1 teragram equals a trillion grams) of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – equal to 10% of the water already present in that atmospheric layer“), it is not the science they are looking for.

None of their experts are even suggesting it because the approved narrative is that you are heating the water and that heat is heating you, neither of which is true.

But that’s their science, and the truth makes you the denier.

 

American Thinker | NASA

 

The post NASA: Water Vapor from Massive 2022 Underwater Eruption Could Warm Earth’s Surface for Years appeared first on Granite Grok.

When learning to play guitar, any ordinary acoustic guitar can be used, but the instrument will start to sound and feel very inadequate with time. It’s a sign that the guitarist’s skills have surpassed the capabilities of his/her guitar. Now, if you have already started with a high-end, top-of-the-line instrument, then you may never really feel that way but very few of us learn their initial guitar lessons on a Collings or a Bourgeois. On that note, here are some of the most premium brands in the world that are each famous for crafting the best guitars anyone can possibly buy.

Collings

This Texan company was established more than 50-years ago by Bill Collings in Austin. Decades after earning an excellent local reputation during their initial years, Collings is now one of the best and most premium brands in acoustic and electric guitars today. Most of their high-end guitars are made from a combination of Adirondack and Sitka spruce wood, but a few models also utilize Indian rosewood and mahogany at times to improve the guitar’s sound quality, clarity, and volume.

As far as looks are concerned, all Collings guitars look every bit as classic, beautiful, and capable as they are in their ability to produce rich music. Expect meticulously finished shades of baked wood, walnut, flame, and sunburst on your Collings acoustic guitars. As the guitars come in a more versatile range of shapes and sizes than you would find at most brands, go through the details of each guitar first before making your decision.

Bourgeois

As far as premium acoustic guitars are concerned, they do not get more premium than a Bourgeois. Despite what the brand’s name may suggest, note that there is nothing middle-class or ordinary about any original Bourgeois guitar. Bourgeois guitars are crafted from a wide range of premium woods in the best combination for each type and model. They use different combinations of Sitka, Adirondack, Madagascar rosewood, Brazilian rosewood and Indian rosewood to handcraft some of the best sounding guitars in the world.

Bourgeois also loves to keep its design simple and classic like Collings, so you will find an abundance of sunburst and aged wood finishings of the highest quality in most of their collections. However, Bourgeois guitars in their aged wood tones do offer more variety in their finishings than Collings. You can shop Bourgeois acoustic guitars online here, look through your options, and pick your own favorite.

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz acoustic guitars are among the best acoustic instruments you will find anywhere. However, if you wish to purchase the best of what they have to offer, be ready to bring the big bucks. For example, the Santa Cruz 1934 D Custom costs close to $38,000, while the OM Custom will set you back by roughly $27,000 at least. Nevertheless, if you can afford them, they are among the best acoustic guitars in the world available today.

Even if you are not willing to go that high, rest assured that there are plenty of comparatively more affordable options on offer as well. Santa Cruz acoustic guitars are largely made from Brazilian rosewood, African blackwood, redwood, Adirondack and Sitka wood combinations. Santa Cruz offers more variety in their guitars and there might be custom options to explore as well.

The post Which Brands Sell the Most Premium Acoustic Guitars? appeared first on Granite Grok.

To all those who are sending in memes, thank you!  Keep them coming please, as it helps me gather weaponry to fight the Left.  Please do share this post, and if you share an individual meme, consider mentioning you saw it on the Grok!

Speaking of, from this week, Monday Memes and Meme Overflow.

 

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

 

 

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

 

It’s just a coincidence

 

 

Indeed, what are the chances of this taking off juuuuuust as there’s a growing war on red meat?  And lookie here:

 

 

But would this be the other-other red meat?

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a movie I really liked, The Ninth Gate, which I’ve watched any number of times.  It had subtlety and many plot twists (plus the blonde was, I thought, somehow exceedingly hot).  Then I found out he direct it… co-wrote it too.  Never watched it again.

 

 

 

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

 

PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA

 

This is South Africa, where not only are whole stadiums encouraged to “Kill the [white] farmers”.

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/kill-the-boer-kill-the-farmer.mp4

 

And then it happens:

 

 

All over Europe and in America, people openly talk about attacking white people.  And do it.

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/blacks-saying-get-the-whites.mp4

 

I don’t want a civil war.  I don’t want a race war.  But we have a large segment of specific demographics being programmed to believe that all their problems can end if they just get rid of white people.  And others outright dismiss that programming.

 

 

Be careful out there.  Especially if / when SHTF.

 

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

 

 

Since when did Blackrock start hiring Ferengi?

Rules of Acquisition | Memory Alpha | Fandom

Rule 34: War is good for business.

 

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

 

PJTV: Five Alarm Fire

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

WHY Centralization is a DISASTER and threatens us all – Nick Hudson explains!

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, no, no Dem-enemedia collusion here.  Nothing to see, move along.

 

 

 

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

 

Pick of the Post:

 

 

She better put out a statement, stat, that she’s neither depressed or suicidal.  And check her brakes regularly.

 

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

 

Library Director FIRED over graphic books in Wyoming library (massresistance.org)

Great news!

 

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

 

Palate Cleansers:

 

—

—

 

 

The post Friday Meme Overflow-Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.

Thousands of businesses move premises to a new building each year, and these transitions can either be a stressful experience or a smooth sailing one. The difference is in the planning and plan you must. This guide has some great advice for any business owner on the cusp of a big move.

Keep Communication Open

A business needs to support employees and clients during the transition. To do this, communication has to be at the forefront of every plan and change. For example, if services are going to be hindered for a day, let people know so they don’t get the wrong message and take their clientship elsewhere. A simple newsflash on social media backed up by a temporary change to your homepage will do wonders, but don’t be afraid to also include a mass email as well. When it comes to employees, use every channel you have to facilitate access to information like WhatsApp or Slack and email plus in-person meetings where the agenda is laid out clearly.

Set Up an Information Portal for Employees

Employees are human beings at the end of the day, and they may need reliable updates and a point of information that they can refer back to for common questions. Create this, and so many other things will fall into place. There are lots of ways this can be done, and the key is to find the one that fits in with your management style and employee demographic.

Be Available

Despite the fact that you will be organizing a hundred and one things, being present is non-negotiable. Make yourself available for employees and clients at set points in the transition period and ensure that people know exactly where you will be.

Hire Professional Movers

It is difficult to move premises completely without the help of professional movers, especially when you have important stock or equipment to move. The benefits are things like saving time, preserving energy, helping organization, and keeping things on track. It will also just generally make life easier when it comes to setting up the new office or shop on the other side.

Sort Out IT Services as a Top Priority

You cannot afford to go more than a day without IT services because staying connected and active is pivotal to functional operations. Sometimes, your movers can help with this, but other times you need to outsource the task to another service. There are temporary methods to stay connected while the servers are re-established, so cover all the bases just in case.

Check Your Energy Provider

Another major task will be to ensure all of your utilities are up and running. This is the perfect opportunity to find a better electricity provider for small businesses in your area in a bid to save costs and ensure you are on the most efficient tariff too. Take advantage of the moment and create a space that works for your budget.

When you move your business from one premises to another, there will always be a long to-do list. The best ways to tackle this may not be intuitive, but it can be done with some forethought and discipline.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Moving Business Premises appeared first on Granite Grok.

There are several critical points we try to make about the Left’s “victim groups” and the pursuit of progressive one-party rule. First, your special rights designation is temporary. If they  determine you will not do their bidding – expect to be “othered.” And your special status has a shelf life. Once the Left has what it wants, you are garbage to them.

If you were given extra-judicial deference to instill fear, intimidation, or actual mob action, you might be first in line to be detained or disappear. Your benevolent rulers will brook no dissidents in their regime, and any natural proclivity to mischief or violence (see also “peaceful” protesting”) will result in your othering, incarceration, or death. There can be no resistance. You will get in line or be removed from the line.

That’s number one.

The second point informs the first—the destruction of those victim-class rights. We have real-time examples of how progressive one-party rule evolves. Trump supporters, MAGA Republicans, those deplorables are one example that crosses party lines. Indefinite detention. Two-tiered justice for political opponents. Pay attention because that’s how they will treat you, and it is there before your eyes.

White women, and women in general. The transgender movement has supplanted women’s rights on the Left to such a degree that the only thing they can still call their own is abortion because it continues to launder money into their campaigns. Writ large, the Left is replacing you and your special status – with men.

Paula Scanlan testified before a House Committee in DC about how the ‘girls’ on the U Penn Swim team were treated when William ‘Lia’ Thomas joined the locker room. How Thomas, an underachieving male swimmer, preceded to break women’s collegiate swim records and then break #MeToo taboos.

 

Thomas broke records during the 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships in Atlanta, GA. At that time, and as Scanlan attested, many women athletes had issues with Thomas’ participation, but few spoke out. Those who did were targeted as “transphobic,” and video of women athletes who expressed the view that Thomas’ participation was unfair was censored and suppressed on Twitter.

“What you do not know,” Scanlan said, “is the experiences of the women on the University of Pennsylvania swim team. My teammates and I were forced to undress in the presence of Lia, a 6′ 4″ tall biological male, fully intact with male genitalia 18 times per week.”

 

We’ve reported that Thomas is fully intact and has admitted to being attracted to biological women. Scanlan informs us that he was not only given access to fit women to whom he is sexually attracted, but the girls had to undress in his presence, and if the girls complained, they were targeted.

Let me translate. You will shut up and embrace the dogma or become the enemy.

 

“When we tried to voice our concerns to the athletic department, we were told that Lia’s swimming and being in our locker room was a non-negotiable and we were offered psychological services to attempt to re-educate us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male.”

“To sum up the university’s response,” Scanlan told the House Committee on the Judiciary. “We the women were the problem, not the victims. We were expected to conform, to move over and shut up. Our feelings didn’t matter. The university was gaslighting and fear-mongering women to validate the feelings and identity of a male.”

 

College campuses were subjugated by the progressive jihad years ago. Corporate America, a bit more recently, but can you imagine something similar? A woman is told that a man got her job (because he dresses like a woman), and she’d best conform or shut up. Oh, and here’s some mandatory sensitivity training to help you get over it.

How about women in Hollywood losing parts to men who identify as women if they don’t undress in front of men? Refusing to do that just to get a part was deemed criminal and spawned the #MeToo movement, which has nothing to say about in-tact men and boys attracted to women allowed to watch girls and women change and shower.

What’s next, allowing Toobining without the Zoom Call?

A progressive patriarchy is pushing women out. This is the same so-called Party of Women that coined the phrase “war on women” to smear Republicans. They are applauding it.

White women will be followed by light-skinned Latina women, black women, and all women. The progressives will pander to you but only on their terms. If you dare step off their reservation, you will be othered. Your life will have no meaning, which is precisely what you should have expected from a political movement founded on the idea that there can be nothing outside The State.

Everyone else is equally expendable. Those rights you think you earned aren’t even skin deep. Age, race, occupation, and even gender are Potemkin’s promises. Look at what they are doing to children.

You are nothing more than a tool. A vote-slave whose function is to keep Democrats in power long enough to fully rig the system. When they’ve accomplished that, you will experience the true meaning of equity and inclusion. If you are not at the table, you are under it, and there are never enough places for you. Anyone in power who tells you differently is telling another lie.

If you are applauding the idea of silencing speech you disagree with or happily calling it hate to keep from having to answer hard questions, guess what? You are next.

The third critical thing is resistance. We’re not there yet. We are close – as close as we’ve ever been. The Capitol is captured. Education, corporate America, media, churches; the list of lost institutions is staggering. Energy, finance, public health. The DoJ, FBI, IRS, and soon the US military. But it’s not over. There are still, potentially, tens of millions more of us than them, with the voting and buying power to move this mountain.

There are still a majority of states that have not been compromised. Take them, keep them, nurture them. It is through the states alone that we will restore liberty. If not, whatever rights you think you have will soon be gone or, at best, will not survive you into future generations.

 

Here is Paula’s testimony before Congress.

 

Swimmer @PaulaYScanlan breaks her silence at a “gender-affirming care” hearing: “My teammates and I were forced to undress in the presence of [Lia Thomas] … a biological male.” pic.twitter.com/wkM0FIjC0o

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 27, 2023

 

The post Embrace the Left’s Worldview or You Are Worse Than the Enemy appeared first on Granite Grok.

The United States military recruiting is reaching its lowest point in nearly 50 years. The branches are offering enlistment bonuses. They are offering the choice of first duty station. Nevertheless, all three branches of the military are expected to miss their annual recruitment goals.

They will miss their goals by a lot this year. That information comes from recent testimony by the service chiefs at the House Armed Services Committee.

Why do you think this is happening? We know recruiting numbers are not improving despite significant efforts by the military services. The military is a young man’s game. It is something most do not do post 40s. The result of inability to recruit means we face undermanned Navy ships and cutting the number of Army Brigade Combat Teams.

The regime claims they are facing a number of factors. They claim there is a strong U.S. economy. The regime says it cannot compete with the civilian job market. Then there’s the claim of large numbers of legally ineligible recruits. And finally, there’s a claim of a lack of knowledge and patriotism among youth. How would that come about? Bottom line: None of these excuses mitigates failure and declining numbers.

The low recruitment issue does require a multi-faceted approach to fix. Do you see the efforts of our current regime or our current military leadership headed in the right direction? Do you see them moving in a direction that will achieve success? Look at their ads. Would you change anything? Look at their leadership. Would you change anything?

Inability to defend the nation is an issue in need of attention. Action is needed from the government and military leaders, but also parents, teachers, and community role models. The rubber meets the road where we engage with young people. We are not currently explaining the importance of military service. If parents, educators and community leaders do not lead on this issue the results will not change.

We must know the target audience. Military communications must be reshaped to appeal to them. The public must be educated on the benefits of military service. We need to emphasize educational opportunities, ability to acquire leadership skills and self-discipline. Our young people must understand military service is a responsibility implicit in citizenship.

There can be no excuses or delays. Our leaders must take action. Leadership starts at the top and this will require team building. Military service is essential to the survival of the nation. The tyrants and bullies of the world are not going to suddenly disappear. America must be strong enough to deter them. Peace is acquired through strength not appeasement and submission.

There are real benefits to supporting your country. It is not an easy job. It may not be easy to convince a sufficient number of young people to devote time and effort to service. But it is a necessary task. It’s time for the United States to confront its military recruiting crisis. Uncle Sam wants you…

 

The post The Peace You Save May Be Your Own appeared first on Granite Grok.

From 2007-2015 Simon Marcus was a British Conservative Party Candidate, “sometime advisor and up-and-comer.” He’s taken that experience and written a piece you should read titled “How Politics Destroys Your Soul.” He’s talking about Parliament, but it rings true in any political environment.

From Washington, DC, to your state legislature, town, and city councils. The formula is the same. You select people who appear principled; over time, some less than others, they all join the equivalent of the swamp. It almost seems inevitable. Inexorable. As if the maxim is true about the people drawn to politics.

What I referred to the other day as,

 

“…too often those who should be kept from it. They are flawed, human. Not special. Not deserving of elevation beyond the office, they may very well come to abuse. For a time, they may serve as defenders of liberty, but if left unchecked, many abandon the isolation of defending individualism for the kindred comfort of ruling-class despotism.”

 

What I generalized Marcus has outlined—the people, the pressure, the journey; from principled freshman to corrupt career politician. And no, it’s not a voyage with which we are unfamiliar. You can likely name a few off the top of your head—people you supported who turned to the dark side. But having an insider articulate it puts helps us better understand not just the process but the danger the government (big government, in particular) presents to individual rights and liberty.

 

MPs, ministers, civil servants, special advisers, think tanks, quangos, NGOs, industry groups, unions, MSM, charities, lobbyists, consultancies and more are all the ‘crooked timber’ of humanity.

They need to be accepted. To belong. They are greedy. Angry. Ambitious. Fearful. Vain. Vulnerable. Most of them are utterly enslaved by ego. They want what they don’t have. They don’t want what they do have. They are easily manipulated. …

These levers are part of our cultural machinery. Thousands of organisations orbit around political parties and institutions like different fan clubs for a football team. Youth groups, business advocacy groups, industry groups, single-issue pressure groups and interest groups such as Conservative Friends of China. In this universe you form new networks, incentives, views and habits. You learn how to climb the ladder. It is an entirely transactional world. It encourages both conformity and self-interest.

Corporations are not all that different. It’s all about leverage to get the desired response, and if you have a spouse and family, all the better—flanking opportunities. Honey traps. Whatever it takes to compromise you, and that compromise is rewarded.

 

The higher you go, the better it gets. You are wined and dined. Introduced to famous people. Private lunches with billionaire donors. Luxury overseas trips. They talk about your future, your ability and talent. You practise your speeches in front of the mirror. You get an appointment with the Prime Minister. The head of the Civil Service calls you up. You are living the dream. You already have quite an address book too.

Your new social ecosystem has huge emotional power over you. It gives you a new identity. You come to depend on it and self-regulate to stay part of it. That means we nudge our beliefs a tiny bit every day. It becomes a habit. It’s the banal way in which humans function.

Then you meet the serious guys who hide behind the scenes. ‘Do you have any skeletons in your closet? We need to know in case the lefties do a hatchet job on you.’

A few months later you get some instructions you don’t like. You protest. You are told to do it, or things could get nasty. You ask yourself, ‘Have I just been threatened?’ You aren’t sure. But you tell your first half truth anyway.

 

This is the Georgetown flu—an infection you can’t even cure by running them out of office. The very next day, they are either hired to consult, find themselves working as a lobbyist, or embedded somewhere else on the beast, influencing the new generation of idealized freshmen, thinking they will bring change. Very few fail to succumb to the “crooked timber” of humanity.

Being on the outside is lonely. You are told you’ll never have any influence from out there. Nothing you came to do will get done; come on inside.

They convince you, or you do yourself, that you can resist the lure, but how many have? There are not many, and it is why so many people are enthusiastic about Donald Trump. He doesn’t need or appear to want any of what they’ve got to offer, and their hatred of that only makes him more appealing to his base.

If Ron DeSantis wants the nomination, he must do a better job at two things. First, prove to them that he is an outsider, and second that he can stay outside no matter how bad it gets. Florida is the bush leagues. He has allies in his home state. The bureaucracy is his; his party controls the legislature. He does not need to convince them of much.

When you step inside the beltway, it’s a boss battle against the devil himself. Almost no one will be on your side unless you take their side because the devil does not like to lose.

 

 

 

HT | Meryl Nass Substack

The post “I Don’t Know Where Any Bodies Are Buried. But I Think I Know What Happened to Their Souls.” appeared first on Granite Grok.

In 2016, Donald J. Trump, a political outsider and successful businessman, captured the hearts of millions of Americans with his promise to “Make America Great Again.”

Against all odds, he secured a remarkable victory in the 2020 election, reflecting the aspirations of the American people for change, openness, and optimism.

Throughout his presidency, Trump’s unconventional approach resonated with many who sought a break from the status quo. He tapped into a sense of frustration among the electorate, promising to shake up the system and put the interests of the American people first.

In this article, it is, therefore, my striving to delve into the policies and actions taken by the Trump administration that aimed to fulfill its commitment to “Make America Great Again.” Trump’s presidency marked a significant shift in American politics from tackling corruption and preserving American values to safeguarding electoral integrity and confronting global adversaries.

One of Trump’s central promises was to drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, D.C. He called out the cozy relationships between politicians, lobbyists, and bureaucrats, vowing to hold those in power accountable.

Trump’s administration faced an uphill battle against perceptions of corruption within critical institutions like the military, FBI, CIA, and Justice Department. Critics accused him of undermining these institutions, but his supporters argued that he was taking a stand against the deep-rooted establishment.

Trump’s strategy to fight the establishment involved challenging the status quo, promoting transparency, and appointing individuals who shared his vision. Although met with resistance, his efforts sought to break the grip of the entrenched elite on American politics.

Many Americans felt that traditional values were under attack during Trump’s tenure, with growing concerns about cultural shifts and ideological divides. Trump presented himself as a defender of these values, promising to preserve the American way of life.

Trump’s vision to preserve American identity included prioritizing national unity, promoting patriotism, and upholding the rule of law. His supporters saw him as a champion of American exceptionalism, standing firm against the rise of progressive ideologies. Trump’s opposition to socialist ideologies struck a chord with conservatives who feared the erosion of capitalism and individual liberties. He staunchly opposed policies that, in his view, would lead the country down a dangerous path of government overreach.

The issue of voter fraud and election integrity dominated much of Trump’s presidency, with many of his supporters raising concerns about the credibility of the electoral system. Trump’s relentless pursuit of allegations of voter fraud aimed to ensure that the people’s will was accurately represented. However, this pursuit was met with criticism and legal challenges.

While some critics argued that Trump’s claims were baseless, his supporters saw his efforts as a necessary step to protect the sanctity of American democracy and voters’ confidence.

Trump took a tough foreign policy stance, confronting global adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. He also prioritized combating terrorism to safeguard American interests and national security.

Trump’s emphasis on “America First” sought to protect the country’s economic and security interests, signaling a departure from previous administrations’ approach to international relations. While critics criticized Trump’s direct approach, his supporters argued that his strategies aimed to promote peace through strength and protect American sovereignty.

Trump’s leadership style prioritized bilateral relationships and direct diplomacy, which some saw as refreshing, while others criticized it as unconventional. Trump’s skepticism of globalism and multinational agreements reflected his belief in prioritizing American interests over international entanglements.

By renegotiating trade deals and pushing for fairer agreements, Trump sought to protect American industries and workers, challenging the conventional approach to international trade. Some of Trump’s supporters believed that powerful global elites sought to undermine his administration and its America-first policies, leading to allegations of an international plot against him.

Throughout his presidency, Trump accused the mainstream media of biased reporting and silencing conservative voices. He also criticized social media platforms for alleged censorship. Trump’s supporters praised his transparency, but critics argued that his adversarial relationship with the media undermined the free press and the public’s right to information. Trump’s battle for free speech and media neutrality aimed to protect the voices of everyday Americans and ensure diverse perspectives were heard. Many Americans felt the federal government needed more responsive to their needs.

Trump promised to shrink the size of government, reduce regulations, and empower citizens to take charge of their lives. Trump’s efforts to reform the government faced successes and challenges, with his supporters lauding his commitment to a smaller, more efficient establishment. Throughout his presidency, Trump spoke passionately about reversing what he saw as America’s decline in influence and prosperity.

Trump’s vision for national renewal focused on revitalizing industries, investing in infrastructure, and empowering American businesses and workers. Trump’s supporters believed his policies would lay the foundation for a stronger, more prosperous America, ready to face future challenges.

Watching President Trump being wrongly charged by special counsel Jack Smith is a travesty of true justice. In an apparent attempt to undermine the transformative ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) movement, former President Donald Trump has been shamefully indicted in a baseless federal probe. These charges, filled with politically motivated allegations, accuse President Trump of conspiracies to defraud the United States, obstructing official proceedings, and more. It is outrageous that they have gone as far as implicating six unnamed co-conspirators, seemingly to cast a wide net and smear the President’s reputation. We know that President Trump has always fought for truth and justice, and any claims of wrongdoing are the disinformation his opponents spread.

These phony indictments are nothing but a witch hunt designed to tarnish the legacy of a President who truly put America first and restored prosperity to our great nation.

Donald Trump’s presidency left a lasting impact on the nation, igniting fervent debates on both sides of the political spectrum. Regardless of one’s views on Trump, his presidency reshaped American politics and highlighted the deep divisions within the country. As the nation moves forward, the pursuit of making America great again continues, shaped by the enduring impact of the 45th President of the United States.

The post Trump’s Vision: Make America Great Again appeared first on Granite Grok.

Making sure a product is stable and reliable is crucial in the fast-paced world of software development. This is where regression testing steps in as a formidable ally. Regression testing is a crucial quality assurance process that helps to detect potential defects, validate code changes, and ensure that new updates do not adversely impact existing functionalities. We will go deeply into the realm of regression testing and thoroughly examine all of its many advantages in this extensive blog article.

1. Detecting errors and preventing them: Regression testing tools have several important benefits, one of which is its effectiveness in identifying and preventing problems. As software evolves and undergoes changes, new bugs might inadvertently emerge or existing ones may resurface. Through systematic regression testing, these anomalies are promptly identified, allowing developers to address them before they reach the end-users. By nipping potential issues in the bud, regression testing ensures a smooth user experience and mitigates the risk of costly post-release fixes.
2. Code Stability and Maintenance: Software systems are complex entities with multiple interdependencies. When new features or updates are introduced, there’s always a risk of code disruption. Regression testing provides a safety net, assuring that existing functionalities remain intact even after implementing changes. This stability instills confidence in developers and facilitates code maintenance, as they can quickly identify the impact of modifications on the overall system performance.
3. Optimizing Test Efficiency: In agile development environments, where frequent changes are the norm, manual testing alone becomes cumbersome and time-consuming. Regression testing offers a more efficient approach by automating the verification process. A testing automation platform can be used to run repetitive tests, allowing testers to focus on exploratory testing and other critical tasks. By optimizing test efficiency, regression testing enables faster releases without compromising on quality.
4. Version Control Validation: Modern software projects often involve multiple contributors working on different components simultaneously. Regression testing comes to the rescue by validating the integration of changes made by different team members. It ensures that the latest version of the code functions harmoniously and cohesively, avoiding conflicts that could arise from merging incompatible changes.
5. Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Nothing undermines customer satisfaction more than a buggy and unreliable software application. With regression testing, businesses can deliver a more robust and stable product to their end-users. A bug-free experience fosters trust in the brand, encourages user loyalty, and boosts customer satisfaction. Happy customers are more likely to spread positive word-of-mouth and contribute to a growing user base.

Conclusion: 

In conclusion, regression testing is an indispensable process in the realm of software development. By thoroughly examining the impact of changes and identifying potential defects, it ensures the continuous enhancement of software products while maintaining their stability. Embracing regression testing as an integral part of the development lifecycle empowers organizations to deliver higher quality software, delighting users and fostering long-term success in today’s competitive market. Utilize the robust testing automation platform Opkey to streamline your testing process. Boost productivity, find problems early, and guarantee smooth software deliveries. The change impact analysis report from Opkey provides a thorough study of the effects that an ERP upgrade will have on business processes and suggests and ranks various regression test scenarios.

The post The Power of Regression Testing: Unraveling Its Key Benefits appeared first on Granite Grok.

When did our politicians become such pompous power-hungry individuals that they now want to control who is worthy of being on the same ballot? Some may think that is a rhetorical question and believe the ruling class has always been this way. But somehow, it feels different this election cycle. And this is on both sides of the spectrum and may morph to include the possible middle rail of a third-party candidate flying the No Label Party flag!

To set some ground rules, these are the only requirements set forth by the Constitution, which I still think has some power of its own in America:

The President be a native-born U.S. citizen; be at least 35 years of age; and have been a resident of the United States for at least 14 years.

That is it—three simple rules. There is nothing about asking the sitting President or candidate leading in the polls for permission. Desire the job, satisfy the three rules, and be ready to take the heat from both sides, and you are in. Enjoy the ride at your own risk and peril.

But nothing is simple in today’s America. Ask Robert Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson. They both qualify and want to challenge Joe Biden to be the Democrat candidate for President. Not so fast. Joe Biden is not just the President but owns the seat until he is done with it. And that will not be until he and Hunter have squeezed every million possible from those who need access to the United States government. Joe does not need to campaign, raise money, debate, or acknowledge anyone crass enough to think they can take it all away from him-and that goes for anyone named Kennedy. After all, Joe believes that Camelot closed when Teddy died. Teddy was a great man who showed Democrats how to get away with murder! If Ted could escape murder charges, Joe could easily escape extortion and money laundering. Thank you, Ted, but please tell Bobby’s kid to step down.

The Republican side may not be much better. Donald Trump believes that since he was President and had his re-election stolen, he is entitled to run again without opposition. It doesn’t matter that he has been indicted three times by the Biden Department of Justice and awaits a fourth from the State of Georgia. He is running for President and doesn’t think anyone is getting in the way. Ironically, Trump’s approval numbers amongst Republicans go up with each bogus indictment, but his overall numbers decrease, and his chance of beating Biden gets more remote.

Trump also believes he does not need to debate challengers. He just has to berate them and hope to wear them down. His plan is working with some like Pence, Hurd, and Hutchinson. They probably will not qualify for the first debate. The rest of the field holds firm and must be beaten at the ballot box. Trump Will undoubtedly be the candidate despite his legal challenges. He has spent $40 million on legal fees and will need to dig deeper, but he will, and his lead is too great for DeSantis or Ramaswamy to overcome.

This election will be unique and embarrassing on the world stage. We will have a four-time indicted candidate versus a President entangled in an impeachment inquiry. There will also be a Joker disguised as a Third-Party candidate in the deck. Nobody knows for sure who that will impact more. So buckle up and prepare for the ugliest, most dysfunctional Presidential election in history, and may the least corrupt man win! Forget the RNC or DNC. This election should be held on a Monday night and sanctioned by the WWE.

 

The post You … Cannot Run For President! appeared first on Granite Grok.

The USDA is almost entirely responsible for obesity in America. That’s the thing where men are overweight. When it’s women, we call it body positivity, if we call it anything, but that’s a rose by any other name. Carrying extra weight is bad for longevity and lowers quality of life. The USDA blames meat.

That’s a lie.

The high-carb diets are the cause, and the results are the same no matter how many times they juggle the pictures on the nutrition chart currently doing business as the food pyramid. You end up dead and buried under it. Just ask vegetarians presently doing business as vegans who have embraced animal protein in their diets. They feel better, have more energy, and look a lot less like walk-on extras in an episode of The Walking Dead.

Meat is neat, meat is good, and you should have it in your food. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Some researchers looked at meat consumption and life expectancy across 175 contemporary populations; the result was my headline up there.

 

Results: Worldwide, bivariate correlation analyses revealed that meat intake is positively correlated with life expectancies. This relationship remained significant when influences of caloric intake, urbanization, obesity, education and carbohydrate crops were statistically controlled. Stepwise linear regression selected meat intake, not carbohydrate crops, as one of the significant predictors of life expectancy. In contrast, carbohydrate crops showed weak and negative correlation with life expectancy.

 

Translation: having meat in your diet can lead to a longer life, which explains why the depopulation folks are keen on eradicating it from your diet. They want you to die sooner, and to help, they’ve embraced fake meat, lab-created meat, bugs instead of meat, and labeled cow farts as toxic to the planet’s health. As if the entire green agenda isn’t worse.

We could call it Plan B for the population. Oops, we accidentally let a few billion people who don’t think and act like us live. We’d better put an end to that. But COVID didn’t work, and neither did the cure (for overpopulation) doing business as a vaccine.

Let’s take away tasty food options that are necessary for a nutritious diet. But those researchers disagree. They looked all over.

 

Methods: Population-specific data were obtained from 175 countries/territories. Scatter plots, bivariate, partial correlation and linear regression models were used with SPSS 25 to explore and compare the correlations between newborn life expectancy (e(0)), life expectancy at 5 years of life (e(5)) and intakes of meat, and carbohydrate crops, respectively. The established risk factors to life expectancy – caloric intake, urbanization, obesity and education levels – were included as the potential confounders.

 

The result were the same.

Animal protein is essential to life expectancy. Want more proof?

 

 

Which world population has the longest lifespan? The answer is surprising: bustling, crowded, polluted Hong Kong! According to United Nations data, the life expectancy in Hong Kong is 82.38 years for men and 88.17 years for women. Another surprise: Inhabitants of Hong Kong have the highest consumption of meat and dairy foods in the world, at 500 grams (over one pound) of meat and 281 grams (almost ten ounces) of dairy products per day.

 

On the flip side, the research showed that carb-based diets have the opposite effect. “Carbohydrate crops showed weak and negative correlation with life expectancy.”

 

Meat! Meat! Meat! Meat!

 

HT | The Burning Platform

 

 

 

…

The post Data From 175 Countries Says, Eat Meat, Live Longer! appeared first on Granite Grok.

Harmony Montgomery & Elijah Lewis were two young children whose disappearance and alleged gruesome murders bear the same markings — failures by New Hampshire’s DCYF — again.

There are questions that Richard C Tracy, New Hampshire’s Chief Crimes Investigator, needs to answer because too many children have fallen prey to atrocious lack of accountability at the state’s agencies — for decades. This is by design, and it is deliberate.

Public trust in both NHPD and DCYF has been eviscerated due to cover-ups of abuse at the Youth Detention Center, deletion of files, and protection of corrupt police officers by the AG’s office.

Richard C Tracy should be under investigation. He is, after all, on the board of the Granite State Children’s Alliance (aka “Children’s Advocacy Centers”) and is apparently incapable of investigating failures of DCYF and the Police. Failures that led to fatalities.

According to Kayla Montgomery’s (strategically?) unsealed (coerced?) affidavit, Harmony Montgomery was murdered by her father, Adam Montgomery, in December 2019. He was known to authorities as a convicted drug dealer.

The last time there was a visit to the Montgomery house by authorities was allegedly in October 2019 — two months before. And authorities had been informed of a black eye injury noticed by Harmony’s uncle in August 2019.

It then took over two years for Manchester Police to state Harmony was missing even though her mother, Crystal Sorey, had allegedly made several inquiries about her to New Hampshire officials, including to Mayor Joyce Craig’s office.

There are some gaps in the official narrative. Richard C Tracy, police, DCYF, and prosecutors need to answer. Harmony Montgomery looks like so many other little girls whose faces plaster the walls of the Canadian/American border entrance points — the missing children. Whether or not she was a victim of trafficking or solely a victim of abuse by her father needs to be looked into, and the fact that the authorities are not pondering this is a red flag.

For starters, there is a protocol in place for how allegations of domestic violence are handled. This is a protocol that goes back to at least 2002 — with contributions to its publication from members of DCYF (including Sylvia Gale) and police (including James F McLaughlin — currently being very slowly investigated for corruption. McLaughlin worked closely with DCYF and yet was known for being dishonest, fabricating statements, soliciting adults with the images of children (entrapment), and abusing guns. In short, he is a criminal who operated under the protection of qualified immunity, including protection by the NH AG’s office and Richard C Tracy.

Why were the protocols for child abuse not followed by DCYF or Manchester PD when it came to Harmony Montgomery or children in foster care or children at the Youth Detention Center? They research and provide them for school employees. Don’t they apply to DCYF, police & public employees who created them as well? Or do these have a different set of “best practices”? If so, these “best practices” they use internally for their own need to be published and scrutinized. Who authorizes DCYF to delete files?

JLF-R-Guidelines-for-Reporting-Child-Abuse

What’s the point of having Governor’s commissions or task forces to address domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual violence when the recommendations are routinely ignored year after year, decade after decade? What’s the point of a Governor’s commission to implement recommendations after the discovery of failures across agencies (including the AG’s office) for Ponzi and money laundering enterprises like the FRM Ponzi scheme? These go hand in hand with child trafficking and drug trafficking. They are interconnected. You cannot traffic weapons, drugs, or children without having a money laundering front — shell companies, shell non-profits, shell realty investments, shell investigations. The system is broken, AND they don’t want to fix it because it’s yielded a portion of the $932.5 billion in secret offshore Pandora Papers wealth.

DCYF was aware of Montgomery’s drug dealing, and so were Manchester Police. Since Richard C Tracy and a member of Manchester Police are effectively directly tied to DCYF via Granite State Children’s Alliance board (Children’s Advocacy Centers), why is it that Chief Aldenberg of Manchester Police indicated that his department was telling the truth, but others were not? And he’s criticizing Mayor Joyce Craig for playing political games. What does he know that he is not allowed to say?

Jeff Hatch of Granite State Recovery was known to authorities as a fentanyl trafficker for five years. He stated he was part of a network but sworn to secrecy. He worked at a recovery center that is part of the Catholic Medical Center network, a recipient of Medicaid…and he was trafficking drugs. Was Adam Montgomery tied to Jeff Hatch’s network? Are Manchester PD and DCYF tied to that network?

What if NHPD, DCYF, Mayor Joyce Craig, and Richard C Tracy are all playing drug games? What if drug court advocate Tina Nadeau, chief justice for New Hampshire’s superior courts, is too?

The police union chief for San Jose California, Joanne Marian Segovia, was charged with importing and trafficking fentanyl across the nation. Former US Attorney for New Hampshire, Scott Murray, was unable to adequately answer questions (or perhaps he was evading them) from journalists demanding to know why Bedford police were not involved in a huge drug bust. Bedford, which coincidentally houses offices for the FBI, DEA, and Primary Bank on whose board was Andrew H Crews of Autofair, Children’s Advocacy Centers, New Hampshire State Lottery, and…Granite One Health tied to the CMC where there are opioids and fentanyl aplenty. CMC has been fined in kickback schemes that hid serious medical malpractice.

Boston Police Chief Patrick Rose was protected for decades as a pedophile, known to DCYF, City and State agencies.

Could members of New Hampshire’s police department and DCYF be involved in this kind of operation? Were Adam Montgomery & Kayla Montgomery drug traffickers for DCYF & NH PD?

What did Kelsey Small — Adam Montgomery’s girlfriend who was suddenly found dead by police — know? Why were Manchester police scant on details? Was she murdered? Would she have been a liability if she’d remained alive as a witness? — for the State?

In a brief email, Manchester police confirmed Small’s death. Small, 27, was with Adam Montgomery when police found the homeless couple sleeping in a car on Dec. 31, 2021 in the early days of the search for Harmony.

“The cause of death is still pending, but it does not appear suspicious,” wrote police spokeswoman Heather Hamel.

Elijah Lewis, another victim of horrific child abuse in New Hampshire and whose family had also been under the watch of DCYF, was found murdered in Massachusetts. He was poisoned with fentanyl and beaten.

WMUR — who reported on the affidavit for the Elijah Lewis case, written by a Merrimack Police Officer — didn’t publish the document or name the officer. WMUR’s Amy Coveno is on the board of CASA New Hampshire. Who are WMUR protecting? What is the real connection between the two cases that might have caused a defendant from one to be called as a witness against the other?

Kayla Montgomery’s story only changed once the Grand Jury was involved and then her statements were released pretrial just as Elijah Lewis’ mother’s (Danielle Dauphinais) statement was released pretrial. Kayla’s affidavit came AFTER Kelsey Small was found dead.

Did the Grand Jury convene after this for a reason?

According to Concord Police Chief Bradley Osgood, payments are sometimes made to witnesses appearing before a Grand Jury and these payments are not necessarily made known to the defense or judge. Is it possible that in both cases police & prosecutors are attempting to manipulate the perception of the cases pretrial in order to escape scrutiny of members of the DCYF and police who failed to follow the protocols in place? It’s bad enough to coerce a statement for an affidavit. It’s even worse to do so as part of a secret deal for PD or DCYF to avoid scrutiny.

Richard C Tracy, New Hampshire’s top crimes investigator and on the board of Children’s Advocacy Centers has some accountability here. Jeff Hatch of Granite Recovery Centers admitted that he was part of a larger fentanyl trafficking network but was sworn to secrecy. He was given an exceptionally light sentence considering the crime. Kayla Montgomery has been given an exceptionally light deal so far as well. Charges against her for welfare fraud have been dropped. How convenient for the prosecution. Keeping the welfare fraud charges would allow the defense to get discovery on any misconduct by the State regarding welfare fraud — such as double billing the federal Government. Or perhaps the State knew that Harmony Montgomery was dead, and discovery in the welfare fraud charge would expose this?

The State was just fined $7.9 million for Medicaid fraud after all.

Something is beyond rotten. DCYF is known for deleting files, covering up child abuse. Judges have ruled that CASA NH should have judicial immunity in child abuse cases involving DCYF and CASA.

Of course — look at the members of CASA’s board and you are basically looking at public officials, law enforcement and the department of revenue. For a volunteer organization, why would former AG Michael Delaney and his wife Caroline Delaney, have a financial interest in CASA NH? And why was Michael Delaney so quick to jump in and sort out a plea deal for Judge Julie Introcaso who whited out judicial documents, had children removed from their parents and ordered GAL Kathleen Sternenberg to be paid using Apple Pay?

The NH AG’s office has protected corrupt police officers. Massachusetts & Boston authorities & DCYF protected Patrick Rose, police union chief and also a known pedophile.

Who can anyone trust to tell the truth and bring justice for these victims of drug & child abuse? How many grams of fentanyl, how many dollars is a child’s life worth to NHPD, DCYF, Mayors, attorneys, non-profits and DOJ?

The post Two Child-Victims of NH DCYF & PD Failures – Who Knew What and When Did They Know It? appeared first on Granite Grok.

If the flag banners sprinkled around the site have not given it away, our fundraiser has reached a plateau. We’re stuck at 31% and have been for two weeks. Not unexpected and in part due to other things I’d like to share.

As an update, we still need to raise more money, or Steve (yes, I just referred to myself in the third person) will have to replace his soon-to-expire day job with another one that might not leave him time to do as much of this as he has in he past. That’s right. The impending dismissal remains pending. The layoffs are guaranteed. We’re all getting the boot. But we’ve passed the target date and have moved into WTF territory, as in When the …not what the!

I’m happy to be working, but it would be nice to know the date of the last official day. It can be difficult to move forward until then. Working full-time for GraniteGrok is not my only project on hold. Other writing jobs may await my time or expertise – what of it there is.

I half-expected to have a few lingering Grok projects underway before the end of July, but that isn’t possible yet. I need to be working full-time from home. That’s still the plan. And we hope to raise enough to reach our goal to make that possible for the next 12 months … and then we get to do it again.

Joy!

Once online, the plan is still the same. More oversight, attention to ongoing projects, the App, an Ad free VIP version, more reporting from events and press conferences, the state house, hearings, interviews, dinners, the never quite on-again podcast, and so on.

That’s the update. I didn’t want people who had already donated to wonder what the heck was going on with their generous gift. It is much appreciated and will be put to use soon, and with any luck, we’ll raise the rest in the next few months. I’m patient and hopeful. And I’d like to start trolling events and getting some interviews and doing that reporting thing.

Not yet, but we’ll let you know when it happens.

Thanks Again!

Truly independent media is a rare and precious thing, even here in New Hampshire. Please consider the value we provide and then commit to a monthly subscription, a one-time online donation (via PayPal or GiveSendGo), or you can donate by check*. Thank You for Your Support.

*For donations by check, please email steve@granitegrok.com for the address.

The post So … When is This “Reporting” Thing Going to Start? appeared first on Granite Grok.

A cursory search of Google yields a myriad of results for “biggest crime organizations in the world.”

As you can imagine, most, if not all the names are recognizable to the average person. Names like Crips & Bloods, Irish Mob, Hells Angels, Cali Cartel, the Sicilian Mafia, etc. One name, however, is noticeably absent — The Biden “crime family” syndicate.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, The Bidens (via the presidency) control directly or indirectly over $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending. To put that in perspective, at the height of Pablo Escobar’s reign, he was bringing in a reported $60 Million a day in 1989. That’s equal to about $147,782,739 a day in today’s money.

If you multiply that out, his drug empire produced just over $50 Billion a year — an astonishing sum of money when you think about it.  But it pales in comparison to what the Biden’s have access to.

Vice President Biden boasted about threatening Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016 that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, if it didn’t immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. “I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired you’re not getting the money,’” Biden recalled telling Poroshenko. “Well, son of a bitch, he got fired.

A billion dollars, gone, just like that… all while flying around with our tax dollars. Now, that’s power — power that would make every mob boss jealous. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

It is an indisputable fact that Joe Biden’s son Hunter served on the board of directors of Burisma.

What was first debunked by the “experts,” but now proven to be true according to the Hunter laptop is: From 2013 through 2018 Hunter Biden and his company brought in approximately $11 million from his role as a “board member” with Burisma and his work with a Chinese businessman.  However, in true Al Capone fashion, Hunter, even though he was warned by his business partner, failed to disclose even a modest $400,000 on his tax returns.

Further, in typical dirtbag fashion, according to public documents Hunter’s outstanding debts were over $313,000 in back taxes alone.

Now, we all know that no crime family can operate with just one person, so Joe Biden’s brother had to get in on the action. James received a “loan” of $500,000 from 1018 PL LLC which was controlled by John Hynansky, a Ukrainian businessman and longtime donor to Joe’s campaigns.  It would seem strange to me that a Ukrainian businessman would “loan”, at the time — the sitting vice president’s brother $500,000 for a second mortgage on a home in South Florida.

Whether it’s threatening to withhold a billion dollars unless someone is fired, avoiding taxes on income received, using shell companies to mask payments, getting loans from unsavory individuals or not paying your obligations, all of these activities are reminiscent of how organized crime works.

Lastly, It’s important to keep the “family” happy so, Hunter rerouted massive sums of money to close to a dozen Biden family members.

Congressman James Comer revealed bank records which confirmed more than $10 million in payments, run through at least 20 businesses, to the president’s son Hunter Biden; the president’s brother, James Biden; James’s wife, Sara Jones Biden; Hallie Biden (widow of Joe Biden’s son Beau) Hunter’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; Hunter’s current wife, Melissa Cohen; and, as Comer noted, “three children of the president’s son and the president’s brother.

Like Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, and other famous “mobsters,” the Biden family syndicate will come to an end. Hopefully, for the American people, it will be sooner rather than later.

 

| Daily Caller News Service

Corey Lewandowski is a former Trump 2016 campaign manager and 2020 senior adviser.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

The post The Biden Family Syndicate is What Real Power Looks Like appeared first on Granite Grok.

Most of us have accepted that the COVID mandates are history. No more masks, distancing, lockdowns, or testing. Natural rights, what’s left of them, are not being infringed by local public health ordinances. The attentive among us know these restrictions are still here but on a Latte break, waiting to return.

But then we discover that some never left.

 

There are 104 colleges in the US still mandating COVID vaccines for students (faculty exempted) and some have indicated they will never let this go. All the while, they refuse to make sense of their pseudoscience. pic.twitter.com/R9hlVbPbwc

— No College Mandates (@NCM4Ever) July 22, 2023

 

Students required, and faculty exempt? Wow. That’s elitist.

And as you can see from the image in the tweet, two NH colleges are on this list. Franklin Pierce and St Anselm. I went to the source website and pulled in the entire inventory.

Franklin Pierce College requires you to have had the initial dose(s) but does not require boosters – a mandate that applies to Fall 2023 admissions.

St Anselms is the same per an email dated 6/21, according to No College Mandates.com.

You can view the entire list here (google spreadsheet) or our local copy (here .xls), which includes a lot of colleges/universities that never had a vaccine mandate, schools that did and rescinded them, and (of course) those that still have it.

Below I have a different look at some of the schools in the tweet. It’s not complete. I filtered their Excel file, and it pulled the names of 60 offenders from their list (not 104). I may have missed a variable somewhere.

You can see three colleges in MA, one in ME, and two in VT. California is the worst. Pennsylvania. Ohio, Georgia, New York, and New Jersey each have four. Several other states have three. And yes, I suppose it could be worse, but this is bad. It’s 2023. Why are these progressive schools so locked in the past (snicker)?

 

College Name	Abbr	City	State	Student COVID Vaccine Mandate*		For Fall 2023?
California College of the Arts		San Francisco	CA	primary	one booster	YES
CSU Cal Poly Humboldt	CSU	Arcata	CA	primary	one booster	YES
CSU Dominguez Hills	CSU	Carson	CA	primary		YES
CSU San Franciso State Univ	CSU	San Francisco	CA	primary	one booster	YES
CSU San Jose State Univ	CSU	San Jose	CA		bivalent	YES
Dominican University of California		San Rafael	CA		bivalent	YES
Harvey Mudd College		Claremont	CA		bivalent	YES
Mount Saint Mary’s University		Los Angeles	CA	primary	no booster	YES
Pitzer College		Claremont	CA		bivalent	YES
Pomona College		Claremont	CA	2 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Saint Mary’s College of California		Moraga	CA	2 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Samuel Merritt University		Oakland	CA	primary	one booster	YES
San Francisco, University of	USF	San Francisco	CA	primary	one booster	YES
Santa Clara University	SCU	Santa Clara	CA	3 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Scripps College		Claremont	CA		bivalent	YES
Trinity Washington University		Washington	DC	primary	one booster	YES
Agnes Scott College		Decatur	GA		bivalent	YES
Clark Atlanta University		Atlanta	GA		bivalent	YES
Morehouse College		Atlanta	GA		bivalent	YES
Spelman College		Atlanta	GA	3 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Lake Forest College		Lake Forest	IL		bivalent	YES
Roosevelt University		Chicago	IL	primary	no booster	YES
DePauw College		Greencastle	IN		bivalent	YES
Indianapolis, University of		Indianapolis	IN	primary	no booster	YES
Harvard University		Cambridge	MA	primary	no booster	YES
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences		Boston	MA	primary	one booster	YES
Wellesley College		Wellesley	MA		bivalent	YES
Goucher College		Baltimore	MD	one dose		YES
Johns Hopkins University	JHU	Baltimore	MD	one dose		YES
Bates College		Lewiston	ME	3 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Wayne State University		Detroit	MI		bivalent	YES
Macalester College		Saint Paul	MN	2 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
St. Catherine University		St. Paul	MN	3 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Franklin Pierce University		Rindge	NH	primary	no booster	YES
St Anselm College		Manchester	NH	primary	no booster	(yes)*
Montclair State University		Montclair	NJ	primary	no booster	YES
Rutgers University		New Brunswick	NJ	primary	no booster	YES
Rutgers University (Camden)		Camden	NJ	primary	no booster	YES
Rutgers University (Newark)		Newark	NJ	primary	no booster	YES
Bard College		Annandale-on-Hudson	NY	primary	one booster	YES
Juilliard School, The		New York	NY	2 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Sarah Lawrence College		Bronxville	NY	primary	one booster	yes
Denison University		Granville	OH	primary	no booster	YES
Kenyon College		Gambier	OH		bivalent	YES
Ohio Wesleyan College		Delaware	OH	primary	one booster	YES
Wooster, College of		Wooster	OH	primary	no booster	YES
Reed College		Portland	OR		bivalent	YES
Bryn Mawr College		Bryn Mawr	PA	primary	one booster	YES
Bucknell University		Lewisburg	PA	primary	no booster	YES
Gwynedd Mercy University		Gwynedd Valley	PA	primary	no booster	YES
Haverford College		Haverford	PA		bivalent	YES
Neumann University		Aston	PA	primary	no booster	YES
Robert Morris University	RMU	Moon Township	PA	primary	no booster	YES
Swarthmore College		Swarthmore	PA	primary	one booster	YES
Furman College		Greenville	SC	primary	no booster	YES
Fisk University		Nashville	TN	primary	one booster	YES
Hampton University		Hampton	VA	primary	one booster	YES
Bennington College		Bennington	VT	primary	one booster	YES
Landmark College		Putney	VT	3 doses monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Pacific Lutheran University		Tacoma	WA	primary	no booster	YES

 

 

HT | Daily Wire | No College Mandates.com

 

The post Franklin Pierce and St. Anselm College Still Mandate COVID Vaccination for Fall 2023 (As do Over 100 Other Colleges in the US) appeared first on Granite Grok.

I told you back in April that this would happen, that the Deep-State/Uniparty/System/etc. would NEVER let Trump become President again. Because he refused to “play within the 40 yard lines” the first time … can’t risk that he might pull out of Syria, or stop the Ukraine gravy-train, or stop the flow of illegals from Mexico, or stop unpatriotic American companies from financing China’s military-build up. So off to prison with him.

Trump has NO CHANCE. The J6 indictment will be tried before a corrupt DC judge and a corrupt DC jury. It is a certainty that Trump will be CONVICTED. And the most that will happen is that people will grumble and then “move on.”

How do I know that? Because the American people are broken. COVID showed that one-half the people in this country want to live in a Police State, and that one-half of the one-half that don’t want to live in a Police State will just go along to get along. And as for the remaining one-half of one-half … they’ve seen the years of J6 prosecutions and know the fate that awaits if they do anything more than grumble.

And if some people did actually take to the streets after a Trump conviction? Their bank accounts would be frozen, credit cards canceled, utilities turned off, car insurance cancelled, etc. … just as Trudeau broke the truckers’ protests in Canada.

America is a Police State. But just keep pretending it’s not … just keep pretending that the 2020 election wasn’t rigged (that there was no misinformation (e.g. Russian “bounties”), censorship (Hunter laptop), that Zuckerbucks were not used to turn local election offices into Democrat GOTV operations, that there was no ballot-harvesting, etc., etc., etc.) … and most importantly just keep pretending that the 2024 election won’t also be rigged.

The post Trump Is Going To Prison … But Just Keep Pretending Everything Else About The 2024 Election Won’t Also Be Rigged appeared first on Granite Grok.

In the ever-evolving landscape of politics, the fusion of technology and political administration has opened new avenues for progress and citizen engagement. At the forefront of this revolution are software development careers, playing a pivotal role in reshaping political systems and empowering public service. This blog post delves into the profound impact that software developers have on politics, exploring their diverse contributions and the transformative potential they bring to the table.

Enhancing Citizen Participation with a Digital Democracy

Software developers have harnessed the power of digital platforms to create tools that foster democratic engagement. From user-friendly voting apps to interactive government websites, these tech-savvy professionals have facilitated easier access to information and streamlined communication between citizens and policymakers. Through innovative solutions like virtual town halls and participatory budgeting software, developers have empowered citizens to actively shape the decision-making process. For those interested in a leading role in this exciting realm, one can get certified as an ICAgile Coach and help shape the future.

Data-Driven Decision Making

In this information age, data is a valuable asset, and software developers are instrumental in harnessing its potential for policymaking. By creating sophisticated data analytics and predictive modeling tools, developers enable politicians to make evidence-based decisions and formulate targeted policies. From assessing public sentiment on social media to analyzing economic trends, data-driven policymaking leads to more efficient governance and responsive solutions that address the real needs of the people.

 Safeguarding Electoral Processes with Digital Security

Ensuring the integrity of electoral processes is paramount in any democracy. Software developers play a crucial role in fortifying digital security to safeguard against cyber threats that may compromise the credibility of elections. By developing robust encryption algorithms, enhancing network security, and implementing rigorous testing protocols, they bolster the resilience of electoral systems, fostering public trust in the democratic process.

Open-Source Governance

The open-source movement has not only revolutionized software development but also found its way into the heart of politics. Software developers champion open-source governance by creating platforms for collaboration between citizens, policymakers, and public institutions. By embracing transparency and encouraging public participation in policy formation, open-source policies promote accountability and ensure that decisions are made collectively with input from diverse stakeholders.

Streamlining Government Operations

Software developers contribute to more efficient government operations by building custom software solutions tailored to specific public service needs. These innovations streamline bureaucratic processes, automate tasks, and eliminate inefficiencies. Whether it’s optimizing public transportation routes or developing integrated healthcare management systems, these advancements enhance service delivery, saving time and resources, and ultimately benefiting the citizens.

Challenges and Ethical Considerations

As software development careers intertwine with politics, ethical considerations become paramount. Developers must grapple with issues of data privacy, algorithmic bias, and technological accessibility to ensure their innovations serve the greater good. Striking a balance between innovation and responsibility is crucial in fostering a democratic and inclusive digital landscape.

Software development careers are transforming the face of politics, propelling bureaucracy into a new era of innovation and citizen empowerment. As they continue to tackle challenges and uphold ethical standards, their vital role in politics is set to drive progress and create a more connected and engaged global community.

The post Innovating Politics: The Vital Role of Software Development Careers appeared first on Granite Grok.

Vice President Kamala Harris attacked Ron DeSantis over the African-American history curriculum in Florida, claiming that state officials want to “gaslight” students by teaching fallacies and that “… enslaved people benefited from slavery.”

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

Let’s think about what the Vice President is alleging. Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which a person or group causes someone to question their own sanity, memories, or perception of reality. Do the curricula attempt to do this?  Are the people who made the curricula attempting to do this?

And separately, if the curriculum does not teach that, would that have any bearing on the credibility of the allegation?

One specific standard says teachers should examine “the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation).” The added “benchmark clarification” explains, “instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Ron DeSantis did not write the African-American history curriculum in Florida.  Maybe that has a bearing on whether this smear was something other than a false, mean, cheap shot at a political opponent but the claim set off a firestorm of Leftist outrage that is not worth the bandwidth it was transmitted on.

Monday, Ron DeSantis, not one to let a smear slide, issued a direct challenge to Ms. Harris.  He invited Harris to Tallahassee to discuss the standards with prominent scholar Dr. William Allen.  Dr. Allen is a former chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and helped craft the standards. He is also a descendant of slaves and has defended the standards vigorously.

Dr. William Allen is who Ms. Harris attacked.

DeSantis wrote in a letter to Harris that,  “It’s past time to set the record straight… In Florida, we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues.  And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice.”

“So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards.  We will be happy to host you here in Tallahassee… I will ask Dr. William Allen — instrumental in the development of our impressive new standards — to join. We welcome you, of course, to bring Randi Weingarten or someone else who shares your view about the standards.”

A meeting would not appear to be logistically difficult. DeSantis said he is prepared to meet as early as Wednesday and Harris is scheduled to speak in Orlando on Tuesday, before traveling to Wisconsin on Thursday.

A short turnaround time is not difficult for Harris because, according to CNN, Harris’ team “quickly arranged” the trip to Florida, where she launched her attack against DeSantis and the new curriculum.

Valid criticism should be addressed.  Political rhetoric should be ignored.  When has V.P. Harris said anything that wasn’t political rhetoric? Vice President Harris spends most of her time making word salad for the amusement of grade schoolers.

It will be interesting to see VP Harris sit down for a serious curriculum discussion with Dr. Allen.   Want to bet a nickel on whether she shows up?  My nickel says she’s a mouthy coward not willing to defend her words.

 

The post If Gas Is Bad In Appliances Why Is Kamala’s Gaslighting Good? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Boy Scouts of America used to stand for something, but not long ago, it became about equity and inclusion. Undermined by left-wing influences and leaders, the BSA is barely an organization, and that’s what the Left wanted.

The Boy Scouts used to be about boy things, masculinity, and foundational ideal the Left hates. So they broke it, and is officially beyond fixing. Having lost its meaning, it is – to quote more than one movie –  a dead man, and it doesn’t even know it. Or maybe it does.

 

The organization lost nearly half of its membership between 2019 and 2020. This national event represents one of its first steps out of a generational nadir brought about by the pandemic, a sexual abuse scandal, and an ensuing bankruptcy.

The BSA had barely resolved its struggle over membership policies — fully admitting gay men in 2015 and trans boys in 2017, and then [girls] in 2018 — before facing an avalanche of sexual abuse claims. …

Membership for the BSA’s flagship Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA programs dropped from 1.97 million in 2019 to 1.12 million in 2020, a 43% plunge, according to figures provided to The Associated Press. Court records show membership has fallen further since then, to about 762,000.

 

BSA became Scouts, and now it’s just this club, and there’s camping, and who gives a darn—certainly not mainstream America. Parents aren’t sending their kids to play in the woods with girls or even gay men or, better yet, people who have no clue what they are.

There are too many variables at play.

It’s just a matter of time before the whole thing falls apart or, more likely, the Left completes the transition and starts recruiting liberal kids and turns it into an American Progressive Hitler Youth or Mao’s red guard.

We laugh nervously and think that’d never happen. But then we look around. Well, yeah, actually, that could happen.

 

The post How the Left Killed the Boy Scouts of America appeared first on Granite Grok.

The acronym 2SLGBTQ+IA stands for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, androgynous, and asexual. The 2SLGBTQ+IA community is often described as seeking “rights and equality” for its members. What fair-minded person could object?

Increasingly, however, the community appears to want privileges and equity as well. These goals are diametrically opposed. Rights, such as freedom of speech, are universal and cannot properly be denied to anyone. Privileges, such as affirmative action, are special advantages extended to certain classes of people; they can be given and taken away, usually by government. Equality means the law treats everyone in the same manner, with no regard to their status; equity—as the political term is used now—means the law views some people as disadvantaged and treats them preferentially as a matter of social justice.

Factions within the 2SLGBTQ+IA movement are becoming more aggressive in demanding privileges and labeling anyone who objects as a “hater.” In doing so, the movement risks losing the dynamic that allowed it to grow in the first place: the goodwill of fair-minded people. This risk is especially high when the demands for privilege involve children or physical violence.

Consider some of the Pride month parades that occurred in June. Fox News reported, “Seattle Pride’s parade . . . sparked backlash over the inclusion of a fleet of nude male cyclists, whose genitalia was on full display to attendees, including families with children.” The Washington Times referred to another incident in the Seattle parade in which naked adult men cooled off in a public water fountain near young children. Videos of both were confirmed as true by fact-checking site Snopes. Nevertheless, the progressive congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and other prominent Democrats marched in the event, including Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell. The marching officials seem determinedly silent on these events, even though they threaten the hard-won equal rights that gays and lesbians fought for in the ’70s and ’80s.

The acclaimed journalist Glenn Greenwald explained this danger during an interview (approximately 3:20 minutes in):

The gay and lesbian movement was an important part of my life. It enabled me to be legally married and it was something I supported for a long time. The lynch pin of it was not only something I believe but most Americans ended up believing. There was a cultural consensus . . . based on the principle that adults have the right to live their lives in whatever way will bring them the most self-actualization and a healthy, decent society facilitates this freedom. . . . If you look at polling done in 2015, most Americans favored same-sex marriage, even young conservatives. People even had no problem with trans rights.

All of this has unraveled because the LGBTQ+IA2—or whatever acronym you prefer—has waged a war on that principle. There were people chanting in the streets [of New York City] “We’re coming for your children.” The San Francisco gay men’s chorus sang, “We’re coming for your children.” They are claiming you’re required to get certain trans-affirming treatment for your children if they identify as trans, even if you don’t want them to; you can be deemed guilty of child abuse and have your children taken away if you don’t. The whole movement has transformed from one of “We want to be left alone to live our lives” into “Now we want to control your lives too. We want to control the way they [your children] think and influence the way they grow up.”

This was once a marginalized community. . . . It didn’t have much power; it needed to hide; it was genuinely persecuted. Now it has every institution of power on its side . . . and it has become a bullying movement. The idea that “We are going out into the streets publicly in front of your kids, be fully naked, desexualize that nudity and you can’t do anything about it” is the mentality of a movement that believes . . . they are now sort of the majority, that they have the power. And they are using it in ways that are very self-destructive. (edited for grammatical and space considerations)

He is correct about the trans movement’s trying to usurp parental rights. Consider California Senate Bill 107, sometimes called the gender-affirming care bill. California invites minors and their families to come to the state for transition treatment if their home state restricts the practice. If the change of residence violates custody orders, the noncustodial parent need only request “gender-affirming care” for a minor to receive sanctuary rather than jail time. Nothing could reverse sympathy for 2SLGBTQ+IA faster than this.

Except, perhaps, open violence. Walgreen uses the term “bullying movement” in a literal manner. For example, a disillusioned ex-trans activist showed up at the New York City parade with a sign reading “Stop Female Erasure.” She was physically mobbed and abused. Such tactics are a death knell for the positive developments that emerged from the original gay and lesbian movements.

The trans narrative is ramping up. Perhaps the authorities and mainstream media see trans power as declining, which would diminish their own power. The trans agenda is being imposed on the most trivial behavior, such as using the wrong pronoun, as well as the most heinous acts, such as the murder of children. Here are just a few cases of trans violence, among many, that happened in less than one week in 2023.

• March 27, Nashville, TN: Aiden Hale, who self-identified as transgender, fired 152 rounds within Covenant School, killing three staff members and three students. The Trans Resistance Network issued a sympathetic statement saying, “Hate has consequences,” and identifying Hale as a “second and more complex tragedy” of the shooting because he “felt he had no other effective way to be seen than to lash out by taking the life of others, and by consequence, himself.” Most media coverage downplayed the murdered children to dwell upon the victimhood of Hale. Authorities have refused to release the many journals and documents found in Hale’s home, claiming they were inflammatory.
• March 29, Richmond, VA: Two transgender activists were arrested for violently disrupting a pro-life event at Virginia Commonwealth University. According to Students for Life of America (SFLA), “The event was shut down, materials and equipment were damaged and stolen, and multiple SFLA staff and students were assaulted with Emergency Medical Services called to the scene.”
• March 31, Colorado Springs, CO: Transgender Lilly Whitworth was arrested for plotting a mass shooting after making threats to three schools and possessing the floorplans of at least one. In prison, Whitworth promised to complete the plan if bail was posted. The incident was largely ignored by the mainstream media.

Silence and denial are the worst possible strategies for events of which so much of the public is aware. If the 2SLGBTQ+IA movement keeps its current course, then it will crash.

When it does, I will be left with a question. Did we witness a double standard being embedded in the law or was it something worse—a gender caste system? Most likely, the answer will be a mixture of both.

A double standard is when an individual or group is treated with preference under a single set of laws that should apply equally to all. A caste system is when a population is divided into a hierarchy, with each category having distinct and often antagonistic “rights.” In other words, different laws for different categories of people, a “status society,” as Ludwig von Mises called it. In his book The Free and Prosperous Commonwealth, Mises described a status society as “constituted not of citizens with equal rights, but divided into ranks vested with different duties and prerogatives.”

The gender caste system and warfare have been promoted by a fashionable dynamic called “intersectionality.” The critical race theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term, which she described as “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.” In a sense, a person’s rank in the caste hierarchy is based on victim points; the more victim points, the higher a person’s rank and entitlements. A woman oppressed by patriarchy may have one point, for example; a black woman, also oppressed by racism, may have two; a black lesbian three . . . the list goes on. Those high up on the oppression scale often pull rank on those beneath them; for example, black feminists can tell white feminists to shut up in meetings because their white status makes their voices secondary. Currently, the transgendered seem to be at the apex of the hierarchy. Heterosexual white males are at the bottom.

An open caste system—rather than a hidden one based on money, for example—makes a travesty of deep-rooted American traditions. Nevertheless, the trans agenda has achieved real legal successes, and that is because the average person has deep compassion for victims. But compassion is running thin. And when compassion means harming children, when tolerance means empathizing with the murderers of children, then it is time to withdraw this compassion and demand justice instead—a single justice for all.

| Mises Wire

Author: Wendy McElroy is a Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. She was a co-founder along with Carl Watner and George H. Smith of The Voluntaryist magazine in 1982.

The post 2SLGBTQ+IA and the Law appeared first on Granite Grok.