“We’ve all heard the sensational stories of whistleblower retaliation in federal agencies, but I have the sense most potential whistleblowers get left in the dust of federal bureaucracy, with multiple oversight agencies passing complaints back and forth and little resolution.  My biggest fear in this process was retaliation, but I would prefer that over the feeling of alienation.”  This is an excerpt from a letter I sent to Senator Shaheen, Senator Hassan, and Congressman Pappas. I eventually had interactions with staff members from all three; mostly disappointing.

In part one of this series, I discussed the injustice I witnessed in the care of our nation’s Veterans and the malfeasance of management at the Manchester VA. In part two, I discussed the stonewalling I received from the federal oversight agencies after I worked up the courage to blow the whistle.

The only option I had left was to contact our elected representatives and inform them of the experience of a whistleblower.  Senator Hassan and Congressmen Pappas are both on their respective Veteran’s Affairs Committees.  Hassan recently asked the Secretary of the VA to address the failing infrastructure in Manchester, and Pappas has addressed issues of whistleblower retaliation within the VA and the oversight agencies.  All of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation make periodic visits to the Manchester VA to shake hands with employees, take pictures, and visit with management.  I’ll let the reader decide if these are meaningful visits or mere photo-ops.  In my opinion, this isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue but more of a dysfunction of the bureaucracy.

We want to thank Ron Fawkes for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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My first reply was from a Veteran’s representative for Congressman Pappas.  We emailed back and forth for two months, and I was repeatedly told they were reviewing my information.  Eventually, I was told the oversight agencies have never shared information with their staff, and there is likely little they can do.  I guess whistleblowers are not the only ones whom these agencies are stonewalling.  I’m not sure how Congress can conduct oversight if the agencies refuse to share information.

Worse was the phone call from Senator Shaheen’s staff member, who rushed me off the phone after he independently determined my mistreatment was due to my choosing to be anonymous.  He informed me he would call the VA New England Director to inquire about my case, but he never called me back and did not return my call when I attempted to follow up.

Eventually, I did receive some hope from the staff of Senator Hassan.  I spent time talking on the phone with one person and emailing back and forth with another.  For the first time in eight months, someone spoke to me and listened to what I had to say.  I was told my case was used to inform meetings where communication among the agencies was discussed, and they reached out to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and received a response to my concerns.

The response from OIG was a disturbing act of gaslighting and excuses of why they didn’t address my concerns, which included not having evidence of harm, too much time passing, and “Covid.”  Most disturbing was only one of my issues was forwarded to VA New England “for awareness,” meaning none of the other issues were forwarded as I was led to believe that nothing was investigated, and there was no follow-up or actual oversight.  This is why I’d asked to speak with a human being to ensure all information was being communicated by all involved agencies.  Additionally, they suggested I should have kept better records to determine if harm occurred to Veterans.  This would not only violate VA policy but also patient privacy laws.  It seems the oversight and investigation agency was suggesting I do my own oversight and investigation.  Of course, I was still not given a point of contact at OIG, so my reply was to Hassan’s staff asking they send it to OIG (talk about a bureaucratic nightmare).

It’s been over a year since I started this journey, and I have yet to speak with anyone at OIG or VA New England Headquarters about these issues.

I want to take a minute and say that most of the Veterans at Manchester VA are receiving good medical care.  There are good people working at the VA, many who are true advocates of the community, but when there are issues that need to be addressed, management fails almost every time.  When I think about the staggering number of managers walking around the Manchester VA on any given day, this is just not acceptable.  The common mantras “we’ve always done it that way” and “look where you work” wouldn’t be a reasonable excuse in any other Manchester Hospital, and it shouldn’t be at the VA either.

This three-part series demonstrated not only a failure of VA management but also a failure of oversight on a staggering scale.

I will supplement this series with commentary and opinion pieces in the future.

 

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The New tact for the Democrats is rude, insulting, and degrading. Four women sat on the opinion desk of MSNBC on Super Tuesday and had a good laugh at and insulted every Republican in this country. These people were thrilled that Joe Biden was elected and pledged to be the great unifier.

He failed miserably, and the legacy media is falling into the pit of despair with him. Nothing is funny about Joe Biden’s America, and these people insulting us like we are meaningless individuals is disgusting.



Jen Psaki, Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow, and a no-name to balance the set laughed at Republicans in an attempt to minimize the Party and its supporters. Maybe this is the reason that nobody watches this network. They started with the polling data indicating that immigration was the number one concern for Republicans. Psaki had a good chuckle over Virginians who were concerned about immigration. Maddow quickly pointed out that Virginia has a border with West Virginia. This line got a chuckle, but why? It was insensitive to the good folks of West Virginia.

Joy Reid then went into a monologue, with the other three nodding in agreement, that Republicans are a one-issue Party. That one issue is Race. What an overpaid, undereducated Harvard Ass. Joy Reid is the next generation Al Sharpton, who can twist any topic to Race. Reid is an example of wasting good money on an Ivy League education because, in the end, it is useless for most people. She went on to claim that all Republicans are obsessed with a flow of “brown people” crossing our border. Republicans are concerned about people of any color coming from over 150 countries to break into America. We Republicans will debate any Radical Leftist at any time on any topic. The dim Karine Jean-Pierre can say daily that Joe Biden has done more in his three years than any President has done in two terms in 50 years. She can say it, but no one believes it, and by the polls, that includes Democrats.

This quick video clip highlights a significant difference between Democrats and Republicans. We, on the Right, respect life, whether it is an unborn fetus or Laken Hope Riley. We do not laugh at the plight of Americans in this new Biden America. We pledge to make sure Biden does not have another four years to further destroy our once great country. It must have taken a lot of effort to get four ignorant, callous, and offensive women on the same panel at MSNBC, or maybe I am wrong, and they could have pulled any four people out of their cesspool of talking heads and had the same results.

Rachel Maddow explained on Tuesday night that MSNBC has a policy of not showing any speeches by former President Donald Trump, saying the network opts not to give lies a platform. We can assume, then, that the network will not cover the State of the Union

 

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We’ve had a warm winter where I live. A statist stooge in neighboring Vermont said it’s the warmest winter on record. Oh yeah, since when? The correct answer is since the last time they had a warmer winter because that would mess with the narrative.

Our New England winter was warm, no doubt about it. And they are on their CO2 high horse shouting about how the emissions are coming (the emissions are coming). But none of that is delivered in any context, certainly not historically, and that’s the first of two Achilles heels on the climate cult. Yeah, they’ve got two.

The first is that they’ve been manipulating or ignoring data to keep a political agenda alive (as you well know, the warming narrative has nothing to do with temperature or the health of you or the planet).

The second is that there is net-zero evidence that even if the earth did warm a few degrees, any of their cataclysmic predictions would occur (none have to date) or that warming would not be good for everyone.

Historically, great civilizations have risen during more significant warming than any we’ve experienced (depending on when you start) – because we’ve actually been cooling. A few warm winters do not make global warming. Likewise, a few cold ones do not mean the opposite. You need unmanipulated a-political historical data to make any comparison, so the yahoo claiming Vermont just had its warmest winter needs to be asked … since when?

Feel free to ponder why. They might be on the dole from the grant machine or just another useful idiot—the sort who still wear masks in their car alone or acted as pro-bono sales reps for Pfizer and Moderna’s safe and effective marketing campaign.

All of that is fine until it starts to affect the lives of others, as both the Climate and COVID Cults did and do. There’s no ramp if you think they are cherry-picking the details. But Australian geologist Prof. Ian Plimer is back to help.

Professor Pilmer’s words have made a few appearances on our pages, most recently last November when we shared his observations and evidence regarding CO2.

“[Six of the six] great ice ages started when we had more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than now. We have 0.04% of that gas in the atmosphere… Well that means nothing to me, because the atmosphere has changed in its carbon dioxide content from over 20% to now, which is really low in geological time. If we halved it, all plant life would die, and animals would die.”

He’s back—or at least we’re noticing something he’s said is back—with another bit of wisdom regarding the notion of warming, which the headline gives away. Warming…since when?

Australian geologist, Prof. Ian Plimer: “We have been cooling down for the last 4000 years… It’s all about when you start the measurements.”

“If you take measurements from the Medieval Warming, we’ve cooled about five degrees since then. If you take measurements from the… pic.twitter.com/Y1YU8kGaIo

— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) February 27, 2024

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After investing billions of taxpayer dollars in electric vehicles (EVs), the Biden administration is making a sharp dogleg on ambitious targets for implementation. In an effort to court United Auto Workers (UAW) ahead of the 2024 election, President Joe Biden is now seeking a bevy of delays in his climate change plans.

From delaying planned EPA climate rules for tailpipe emissions to reevaluating planned dates for EV ownership levels, EV carmakers are swallowing massive losses, autoworkers are deprived of jobs, and consumers remain unconvinced to drive electric cars despite incentives and climate marketing, which were apparently not part of the Biden plan.

Economics 101

President Biden has made EV cars and other renewable energy products a top plank of his administration, announcing grand plans for the nation’s transportation and electric grid infrastructure as the cure for climate change, the foundation of a strong economy, and the source of “thousands of high-paying union jobs.” The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was substantially focused on these projects. An August 16, 2023, White House Fact Sheet states:

“The Inflation Reduction Act is the most ambitious investment in combating the climate crisis in world history. … The Inflation Reduction Act is accelerating progress to meet America’s climate goals, build a clean energy economy, and strengthen energy security…. EV sales have tripled since President Biden took office, spurred in part by investments in the Inflation Reduction Act to boost clean energy manufacturing and lower EV costs for American families.”

The same document claimed that the IRA’s “clean energy and climate provisions have already created more than 170,000 jobs and could create 1.5 million additional jobs over the next decade.” EV car sales are not comporting with this plan.

Policy Fail Deja Vu

The best-intentioned technocratic plans mostly pave roads to economic Hell. EV car sales are stagnating over high prices for dubious performance (especially in the cold), growing awareness of environmental pollution in manufacturing and disposal (especially of batteries), and complaints of regressive subsidization. The EV car industry failed with a solid “thunk” in the 1990s due to a lack of reliability, high cost, and weak consumer demand.

Consumers are not buying EVs despite Biden’s marketing. Car dealers are losing profits; manufacturers and their supply chains are cutting production; auto workers are rebelling against Biden EPA rules and subsidies for snazzy EVs. Leasing companies are asking for refunds from Tesla and other manufacturers as EV resale prices plummet and rental fleets are downsized due to a lack of customer interest.  The market once again prevails over the planners: None of the various forces of economics demand what Biden plans.

Synthetic Markets

Perhaps one of the greatest market failures in product history will prove to be synthetic meats, where intense marketing of futuristic technological possibilities ran aground on impossibilities of production at cost or scale. But this is a free market failure – voluntarily undertaken by risk-taking venture capitalists, who will take their losses while the industry consolidates (if it survives).

In contrast, partisan regulatory edicts and lavish subsidies favoring EVs using taxpayer dollars for political pageantry are not corrective to their own failures. Indeed, the announcements of delayed implementation of EPA tailpipe emission rules were accompanied by a reaffirmation by the Biden administration that these rules remain the end goal. Mr. Biden will continue pressing destructive economic policies and poor allocation of resources on EVs, squandering good money after bad.

The Biden-Harris administration has pledged to incentivize 67% of cars driven by 2030 to be EVs – but President Biden cannot dictate what cars Americans drive any more than he can control what lever they pull in November 2024. Wooing the UAW may not appease its membership.

Using government regulations and money-printing to force Americans to buy cars they don’t want in the name of saving money is disingenuous. Fox News recently reported that even after lavish federal and state subsidies, “the average cost of an EV is about $52,000, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, while the average subcompact car costs $24,000.” The more government policies warp markets to compel EV ownership, the more low-income and middle-class Americans are coerced into bigger loans for a depreciable asset. All auto prices will rise as increased demand for new and used gasoline-powered cars steadily escalates under EPA rules.

Bidenomics vs Biden Political Optics

President Biden has temporarily paused his efforts to control economic reality in the EV industry to curry favor with union workers and soften a potential rout in the EV market. If being re-elected is more important to Joe Biden than meeting his own emissions goals claimed to be necessary to save the planet, skepticism about the urgency of national EV conversion will increase. Blue-collar Americans won’t be fooled again by promises of great jobs to build pointless products that cost twice as much.

 

John Klar is an Attorney, farmer, and author. Mostly farmer… And Regular Contributor to GraniteGrok and VermontGrok.

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January Littlejohn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor whose story, though shocking, has become virtually commonplace in America.  Mother of a socially awkward thirteen-year-old daughter who likely is “one the spectrum,” Littlejohn shares her heartbreaking and enraging story of a school captured by trans-activists who would lead her daughter into a transition behind her back.

Littlejohn’s daughter is described as having “ADHD, and she’s gifted,” indicating a high IQ. with relatively love emotional intelligence.  The problem with this combination is her ability to grasp intellectual concepts like trans-identity with a low ability to discern the emotional ramifications of the cost of transitioning.

The social grooming of children to these cult-like teachings is nearing epidemic levels in places like California and other hyper-liberal regions where even legislators are codifying apparent child abuse.  What makes Littlejohn’s story even scarier?  She lives in Florida where the governor and the citizens combined to push back against the ideology.  Despite its reputation, Florida has statewide power centers set up to not only push the trans agenda but protect them as well.

• Part of vulnerable cohort
• Peer influencers
• Online and other influences

Websites Scratch & Deviant Art, Anime, Music (Capetown – trans singer)

Training in the late 90s/2000s, Jittlejohn had no clients presenting as trans or non-binary, and nor were those terms or others like “gender fluid” even in the literature.  As she looked into the treatment options, she found only one type of care – affirming.  Trained as a clinician, Littlejohn understands differential diagnosis, which allows the practitioner treatment options per the client’s needs.  Gender dysphoria, she states, looks remarkably similar to anorexia in its battery of symptoms. Finding only one for this obvious mental illness that calls to affirm it was a red flag. “Intuitively we (she and her husband) did not feel affirming this false identity that came along so suddenly was the right choice for our daughter.”

They found their daughter lacked any real understanding of the things she was requesting.  Things like HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy), puberty blockers, and top surgery were concepts with no understanding of methods or consequences.  She also couldn’t answer basic questions such as “What do you mean you don’t feel like a girl?”

Over the summer, things got worse to the point of hiring a mental health counselor.

The Littlejohns would find the real threat came from their daughter’s school.  Despite being Volunteer of the Year and a substitute teacher at her daughter’s school, she was stunned to discover that the faculty she trusted would, in fact, undermine her as a parent.  The first teacher she reached out to was the LGBTQ advocate for the school.  Rather than respond to Littlejohn’s concerns, the teacher ignored them while leading the daughter further into the process of transition behind the parent’s backs.

Secret meetings took place in violation of the daughter’s 504 plan which states parents are to be notified and involved in any changes to the plan.  A series of phone calls and emails with counselors, the assistant principal, the principal, and the assistant superintendent finally revealed these surreptitious meetings were somehow protected by non-discrimination laws, essentially usurping her parental rights and conferring them to the state.  Superseding the 504 was now a “gender support plan” that was filled out by their daughter, unbeknownst to them, in the presence of the principal, school counselor, and a social worker they had never met.  If this sounds like state-sanctioned child grooming, it is.

The questions in the six-page document effectively guide the confused and ill-equipped child to divest from the bonds with their parents while pretending to “support the child.” Rather than being protected by her parents, their girl was told she needed to be protected from them. If you’re wondering how anyone could come up with these methods, Mrs. Littlejohn detects it clearly—activism.

If you’re still unconvinced, this is sexual grooming,Littlejohn removes all doubt.  The document asks children, “Which restrooms and showers would you like to use on campus?” and “Which sex would you prefer to room with on overnight field trips?”  Again, this is cloaked as supportive of the child feeling safe at school.  Littlejohn notes there were no questions about self-harm, suicidal ideation or potential abuse in the home.  Furthermore, the accompanying guide, when asked if parents or guardians should be notified, warns, “No. Outing a student, especially to parents, can be very dangerous….” claiming some 40% of LGBTQ youth end up homeless (no citation is given).  Parents and guardians are the real danger, really.

Researching the guides, she found the authors are Equality Florida, who have mapped the entire state for safety plans they deem sufficient in green while marking counties with poor or no plans yellow and red.  Ironically, these are the same colors used by Stranger Danger to warn children of potential predators, only this map inverts them.  Of the sixty-seven counties in Florida, only four had not been infiltrated to the level desired by Equality Florida.

The guides found in the various counties are able to circumvent both parental and school board approval by virtue of being guides, however they are used as policy rather than guidelines. Rather than simple literature these guides are used as training manuals for faculty and staff with the putative weight of law despite being mere guides, anchoring themselves to the weight of anti-discrimination law that ultimately removes parental rights.

Having no choice but to fight the system, the Littlejohns filed a federal lawsuit. The judge dismissed it for “not rising to the level of shocking the conscience,” which begs the question: Who’s conscience? They are now appealing to the 11th Court of Circuit Appeals.

In the meantime, the Littlejohn’s have implemented their own strategy for walking their child through this process.  It is a menagerie of approaches, including finding answers, resetting their relationship and environment, reframing the issue, restoring trust, and practicing patience.

Among the many cult grooming tactics used to disorient their daughter was the use of love-bombing, which is an affirmation on emotional steroids.  This false inclusion technique is what deceives the child into believing the guides are more loving than the non-affirming parents who resist the irreversible transition of the child.  Yet another irony she detected was the love-bombing is really an affirmation of the child’s apparent self-hatred of their natural identity, which, when coupled with a low emotional intelligence, leads the “empowered” child to make harmful decisions they are incapable of understanding.

They removed their daughter from the public school.

Here are some academic resources for concerned parents and guardians:

“The Queering of the American Child” by Logan Lancing and James Lindsay

Abigail Schrier’s books “Irreversible Damage” and “Bad Therapy.”

(Littlejohn includes a lengthy list of resources at the 25:38 section of her YouTube presentation)

Do No Harm website

 

 

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There are easily a thousand other things about which I might fill this particular space at this time, on this day, but for reasons we may never know, I’m wondering about death—specifically, the sudden demise at the age of 33 of another loudmouth media public health fascist.

It has been three months since jabvocate Ian Vandaelle was pronounced neurologically dead. Having reviewed at least a few of his musings and public comments on pandemic politics and policy, it is my opinion this “diagnosis” arrived a few years late. Ian’s body may have been walking him around the world, masked and distanced, but his brain was not working properly – and it killed him.

Vandaelle, a vocal advocate for mandates, passports, and the like, had a visceral hatred of those who dared question his science. How sad he did not live to see that we were right, though I can’t see him taking it well. Being wrong about the outcome of a sporting event or the weather is one thing, but this?

It was a hill he was prepared to die on, and then he did.

The wave of quiet that followed his passing, specifically what killed Ian Vandaelle, was not unlike the wakes of many anti-science conspiracies proven right. The magic medicine neither prevented infection nor transmission (they are still clinging to  “prevents severe disease,” but there’s no proof of that either). Masking, which for decades before COVID was incapable of preventing viral spread, does not prevent it after. Distancing was a prank. The list of COVID Cult false truths, since proven so, is longer than Vandaelle’s obituary. Related: Another Militant Pro-Vaxx Journalist Dies … at the Age of 33

Each is followed by an undying moment of silence like the one that follows the shuffling off of nearly every young loudmouth who bragged about getting jabbed and boosted and boosted again: Sans mortal coil and yet no publicly acknowledged cause of death.

Abdiel Leroy asks, “In a society that denies justice to those who have been medically maimed, mutilated, or murdered, would you permit some celebration that, finally, a glimmer of poetic justice, or even divine justice, has pierced through the darkness of tyrants…”

They rejoiced in our death during COVID, including some who got their magic juice (it makes your immune system disappear), then advocated for individual rights, bodily autonomy, and medical freedom. Infidels!

I’m not inclined to express joy at anyone’s passing, even when the weight of irony has piled so high it obscures anything else they’ve ever done. But we write about it, and more often than not, the cause of death is undisclosed or sounds contrived. I’ve looked. I can’t find a cause of death for Ian Vandaelle, just that before it came, the previously healthy young man and vociferous COVID Policy advocate suffered from a sudden chronic illness, and unlike child advocates arrested for laptops filled with kiddie porn, Jabernaughts, who exit the material realm before “their time” are not painted as antagonists in their own tragic comedy.

If it’s out there, his cause of death, the odds are excellent that the root of his demise has been papered over so as not to conflict with his advocacy. He has been allowed to slip – if not quietly – then mysteriously into that goodnight juxtaposed to the cacophony of pandemic passings that by default were blamed on COVID (or the unjabbed) so that people like Ian would not just line up but provide unlimited fear-marketing for Big Pharma and the depopulation uniparty globalists.

I’m not saying Ian was clever enough to connect those dots or any others, but whatever he might have been remembered for, that has been eclipsed by this. He is one of many, deprived of life in the wake of a campaign whose malfeasance continues to unravel before those still living, many of whom ignored Ian’s advice. The medical and journalistic malpractice. The science of censorship by the government through proxies. That we were right about most everything and Ian was wrong. And in the end, COVID did kill Ian. Not SARS CoV2, but the illusions crafted around it by a culture he advocated and defended. That he, as a journalist, never questioned.

I’m sure someone misses him, and to them, our condolences; he was how he was, and that was likely not your fault. But hiding how he died is, and they are still pushing what may have killed him.

 

The post We Still Don’t Know Jab-Nazi Ian Vandaelle’s Cause of Death appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Northwood Congregational Church has been reduced to a handful of leftist activists in their congregation due to their own actions. The church is in financial chaos because they went woke and now they are going broke. They are so woke that woke “Wake Up Wednesdays” are a weekly event where the church’s “Racial Justice Team” stands outside the church holding BLM signs.

This same church, “Racial Justice Team,” was silent two weeks ago when (now former) Northwood School Board member Gary Caron was in the spotlight for his racist and graphic social media posts that led to his resignation.

The church is running out of endowment money and now wants a Northwood Taxpayer-funded bailout to cover its operational costs. Instead of changing their woke behavior, which chased off their once vibrant congregation, and instead of renting their church out to those who want to use it, they decided to rent it to the Town of Northwood for $39,500 per year.

The only problem with their scheme was that the Town of Northwood was not looking to rent space, so they did a petition warrant article, which the Northwood Board of Selectmen does not support and does not recommend. The town of Northwood has a community center that they own.

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

This “rental deal” also comes with strings… the Northwood Congregational church does not own the parking lot they use. Coe Brown Academy owns the parking lot and the church has an agreement with the Academy to use their parking lot when the school is not in session or using it. Northwood Taxpayers would only be able to use the parking lot with permission from the school.

The church has also said that they will decide who uses the church facility and that those groups that they deem “hateful” will not be welcome. This means only a select group of folks will be able to use this property when the church and school give their permission. This is a taxpayer-funded bailout that will not benefit anyone but the church.

For those who are unaware, anyone with 25 signatures can submit a petition warrant article asking for a taxpayer-funded bailout. It’s up to taxpayers to vote it down on March 12. If this passes, all woke churches will attempt this scheme. If you’re in Northwood or know someone who is, on March 12, please vote NO on the Church Bailout Warrant Article 39.

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Are you a concerned voter and taxpayer who cannot attend the traditional town meeting or a COOP school district meeting? Some fellow citizens tout the traditional meeting as a pure democracy, as the voters present at the traditional meeting make up the legislative body and decide on all matters.

This statement may be true, but you actually need to be present at the traditional meeting to have a voice as a voting member of the legislative body.

Another truth is that many voters simply cannot practically attend a traditional meeting for a variety of reasons. In Hollis and Brookline, participation in traditional meetings typically ranges from 2% to 5% of voters who approve town and school budgets and spending ranging from $8M to $30M+, deciding for the 95% to 98% of voters, not at the meeting. The town and school meetings determine about 96% of our property taxes, so maximum participation is paramount.

Since 2014, COOP traditional meetings have averaged 6½ hours, sometimes over multiple evenings. I would argue voting on multi-million-dollar bonds for the COOP at 1 am in the morning may not embody true democracy, but that has occurred. Traditional town meetings often run similar durations, past midnight in some cases. This year, the Brookline traditional town meeting has 30 warrant articles with four one-hour ballot votes and is expected to take at least two evenings.

We want to thank Eric Pauer for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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From the relatively sparse traditional meeting attendance, we know that many citizens simply cannot participate in the traditional meetings. It is a significant challenge for many elderly or disabled citizens to get to the meeting location and participate in often lengthy meetings. Some citizens have health concerns and cannot risk being in a large gathering. Other citizens have a second shift, overtime, or weekend work commitments at the same time as the traditional meeting. Still, others are out of town on travel for work, are students away at college, serve in the military away from home, or may be snowbirds out of state. Two-parent households with small children often can only have one parent participate. Unfortunately, all of these voters are disenfranchised in the traditional meeting system.

The solution is to adopt the official balloting system known as SB2. Under the SB2 system, we still have a very important deliberative session to discuss, deliberate, debate, amend, and finalize all warrant articles, held in early February. The deliberative session is very similar to a traditional meeting, except for the final vote on the warrant articles. After the deliberative session, voters have time to fact-check and think about how they will vote instead of making the snap decisions that happen at a traditional meeting. The final vote on all warrant articles occurs at least 30 days later via official ballot on election day on the second Tuesday in March. Voters can vote anytime the polls are open on election day at their convenience or by absentee ballot.

Under SB2, no voter is disenfranchised!

Voter turnout on town/school election day in Hollis and Brookline historically ranges from 20% to 25%. So under the SB2 system, we could have five to ten times the number of voters participating than under the traditional meeting. When many more voters participate, we collectively make decisions that better reflect the will and support of our communities.

This year, Hollis and Brookline voters will have the opportunity to adopt SB2 for the Hollis Brookline COOP during the March 19 meeting at 6:30 pm (warrant article 9).

Brookline voters will also have the opportunity to adopt SB2 for the town during the March 13 meeting at 7 pm (warrant article 23).

Motions will be made to bring the vote on adopting SB2 early in both meetings, so please plan on attending at least the beginning meeting so that SB2 is successfully adopted and no Hollis or Brookline voter is disenfranchised. For any questions on SB2, you can email me at info@hollisbrookline.com or visit www.hollisbrookline.com.

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A recent article by Russ Payne (a supporter of the John Birch Society) made some outlandish claims that must not be allowed to stand unchallenged.

In 2012, a “balanced budget amendment,” HCR 40, was passed by a bipartisan vote in the NH Legislature, with a great cause and foresight, to control the runaway Federal US Debt. The facts below speak for themselves.

2012 National Debt = $16,066 Billion Debt to GDP ratio * 99% (* pivotal timing in financial history – as we have just fallen off the Fiscal Cliff) 2022 = $30,824 Billion with a Debt to GDP ratio of *123 % (* For the first time since World War II, the federal public debt has reached 100% of GDP, meaning the federal government will soon owe more in debt than the annual size of the American economy We are in a free –fall with no parachute)

Feb 2, 2024, after nearly an increase of $14 + Billion of runaway debt, HCR 9 was introduced to rescind the NH “Balanced Budget Amendment of 2012. The vote to rescind failed. (14 to 6 as “ITL” House State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee). In testimony supporting a YES vote – (to rescind), was the John Birch Society supporters and Hal Shurtleff of Camp Constitution. It appears via their testimony they believe in the Constitution – but simply want the authority to pick and choose what parts they want you and I to follow!

We want to thank Al Brandano for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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Fortunately, the wisdom and clear foresight of the 2012 NH Legislature won the day, along with the testimony of concerned citizens, organizations, and supporters of *The Convention of States (* approx 13,000 grassroots petition signers in NH)

Now, let’s reimagine 2012 in terms of what we could have accomplished if all of the#34 required states (#26 have signed on) had just used the authority granted to the states under Article V and, in fact, called for a Convention of The States ( NOT a Constitutional Convention/ Con-Con).

The founding fathers envisioned Article V as a nonviolent solution for states to take back an out-of-control federal government. Article V Convention of States simply and only allows us (the states), the rights to come together to just meet, for the purpose of only proposing amendments to this US Constitution. They also gave us a high bar to cross to amend the US Constitution. Any student of the Constitution understands that all proposed amendments via the States under Article V require a ratification process ( same as federal) in which all #50 State Legislatures have a vote.

John Birch & Camp Constitution “Con/Con of Fear Mongering” is simply folly! Current polling indicates that 68% of US voters support A Balanced US Budget. Why? Because the Debt is projected to double to 200% by 2050, when our net interest payments will be the single largest budget item, exceeding the size of Social Security and Medicare. For perspective, fifteen years ago, the U.S. public debt as a size of our economy was only 35%.

Tell your NH Legislators to please VOTE NO on HCR 9 to protect our Constitution and all of our rights. To keep alive New Hampshire’s support, hope in a “balanced budget amendment” for the sake of our children, grandchildren, and national security.

Al Brandano is the New Hampshire State Director for Convention of States

 

The views and opinions expressed by contributors are those of the author and may not reflect the opinion or position of  Grok Media, GraniteGrok.com, its authors, advertisers, donors, or sponsors.

The post Night Cap: The Folly of HCR9 appeared first on Granite Grok.

You cannot get through a day without hearing a politician cite a threat to our Democracy. This statement is factually incorrect. The United States of America is not, and hopefully never will be, a Democracy. Our forefathers protected our individual states by creating America as a Constitutional Republic.

We are a Republic of 50 individual states.

To level the playing field and give the smallest of states, like Rhodes Island and Delaware, an equal say with the largest of states, like Texas and California, with the brilliant tool called the Electoral College. When we have a Presidential Election, it is 50 individual elections (more, including our territories like Puerto Rico or Guam). The individual elections determine which candidate is awarded the Electoral Votes for the state. The number of Senators and Representatives makes up a state’s Electoral Vote total. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

There are many of the Democrat Party and some states that want to do away with the Electoral College in lieu of a popular vote. A popular vote would align with a Democracy. If that initiative were to succeed, the country’s population centers would elect our President, and all other votes would be irrelevant. We are a vast country, but our population is concentrated in the Northeast, West Coast, Texas, and Florida. Two of those four regions are Liberal, and if we were a Democracy, these two regions would elect our President, and he/she would be a Democrat.

So why does a state like Maine legislate and pass a bill favoring a national popular vote and the cessation of the Electoral College? The short, blunt answer is ignorance. But we must dig deeper. Maine is also a state that has adopted ranked-choice voting. For a state like Maine to support a popular vote is to make the votes of their constituents irrelevant. Maine is geographically a large state. The rest of New England can fit within the borders of Maine. But Maine has less than one million registered voters. The votes of Mainers would be as useless as Iowa if a popular vote replaced the Electoral College.

The good thing is that a vote by the Maine legislators is ceremonial. Eliminating the Electoral College would require an amendment to the Constitution, and the chances of that are the same as Biden serving a second term.

So, what is the purpose of a legislature vote in Maine? It is solely for the Progressive Base. Look at us. We are so far to the Left. We are the Party for you. Well, the Progressive Movement is as popular as $3 gas and 19% Inflation. It is as fun as 8 million criminals wading across the Rio Grande or walking downtown, avoiding homeless encampments and discarded syringes. Biden has turned America into the Tree Street region of Lawrence, which I took my family away from in the 80s. Biden has taken the beauty of the American Dream and gave us Friday the 13th. Forget how old and feeble he is. As a President, he is a disaster.

If you want the elite of NYC and LA electing your President for you, then do nothing and let the libs steal your freedom as you sleep. If you have a spine, then wake up, speak up, and fight for this great country while we can still put her back together again.

The post Do Not Let The Electoral College Fade Away appeared first on Granite Grok.

At least, Mikey Graham is FINALLY being honest about it … he and his ilk helped elect Biden in 2020. But he is NOT being honest about WHY. The real reason is that Donald Trump represented (and still represents) an existential threat to the grift of “traditional Republicans,” to use Mikey’s euphemism for the country-club elitists like McConnell, Sununu, Ayotte, etc.:

Biden was never “that guy,” AND, more importantly, a student of politics like Mikey knows that. For his entire career, Biden has trafficked in lies and character assassination. A few examples: In 1987, he turned the name BORK into a verb (borking) via his character assassination of arguably the most qualified nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court in the twentieth century: Robert Bork. And that was shortly after he withdrew from the Democrat Presidential primary for plagiarizing and lying.

Fast forward to 2020: It was apparent that Biden did NOT “want[] to bring back normalcy.” For example, during the Democrat primary, he expressly promised to open the Southern border and to destroy the domestic fossil fuel industry. Mikey is simply attempting to rewrite history.

Mikey and his ilk supported Biden in 2020 because Trump did NOT play by the rules. His real “crimes” were actually attempting to close the border, actually getting economically tough o China (i.e. tariffs) and NOT starting any new endless wars. That is why Mikey and his ilk sat by silently and secretly applauded the Deep State conducting a soft coup against Trump for four years.

That is why Mikey pretended AND still pretends that the 2020 election was NOT rigged … you will NEVER hear Mikey and his ilk mention Zuckerbucks, censorship (laptop), misinformation (Russia bounties, etc.), drop-boxes, unverifiable mail-in ballots, etc., etc., etc.. They needed to pretend that 2020 was a legitimate election in order to finally dispatch Trump and go back to their grift.

But just keep pretending that Mikey Sununu and Ayotte are on “your side” because they have an “R” after their names.

 

The post We’re Not That Stupid, Mikey … Biden Was Never “That Guy” appeared first on Granite Grok.

Democrats are confusing. Ivanka Trump got a white dog, and the Liberal Left lost their hive mind (racism!). Melania Trump wore a white dress to speak before the RNC, and the Liberal Left lost their hive mind (racism!).  Dem women wear white as a group and, what?

As I noted here, it makes no sense, but white is the traditional Democrat Party Klan color, so there’s that.

Governor Sununu gave his budget address yesterday. A number of New Hampshire Democrats dressed in the parties traditional klan color to protest their pro-choice governor. You read that right. Women in New Hampshire copied Democrat’s Klan-color “protest” from Trump’s State of the Union.

To listen to the budget address of a Republican governor who has given tax dollars to planned parenthood more than once.

Congressional Dems wore white to protest Trump at the SOTU more than once. They even got Klan’d up for a speech in which the guy they were protesting announced record-low unemployment for black Americans (Racism!).

Your guess is as good as mine because they did it again this week for Uncle Joe’s ‘Hate of the Union Speech,’ and it had little to do with any of the previous sartorial expressions of racism (or whatever).

Today, ahead of @POTUS State of the Union Address, I stand alongside my @DemWomenCaucus colleagues in our commitment to defending reproductive freedoms against extremist attacks. pic.twitter.com/it9kLz7VS0

— Rep. Norma Torres (@NormaJTorres) March 7, 2024

“Where else are you going to wear white?” might be the question, except on the DC plantation with a mint julep in hand as you survey the generational slavery you’ve enabled with tens of trillions of debt spending.

How ironic is that? White is racist except when it’s on women who have legislated future generations of minorities (everyone, actually) into slaves of the State without them having any say about it. Reproductive freedom? Seriously?

No, this is about women killing babies in exchange for campaign donations. I’m sure they’ll remind us that those aborted children will never have to labor to pay off all the debt they’ve created.

But someone has to, and it is not going to be any of these white-wearing ideological descendants of the Klan.

 

The post Democrat Women Wear Traditional Klan Colors for Biden’s Hate of the Union Speech appeared first on Granite Grok.

Thursday is session day, and if you missed Judy Aron’s round-up this morning, make a note to check that out (right after you’ve finished looking to see if your rep missed any roll call votes or if they missed a lot of them).

Each week, we will publish a list of Republican members of the House and … a note about missed votes. We make no distinction for why just that they were missed. I know that Rep. Moffett is out of state for some reason, for example, so he missed all 23 roll call votes yesterday. I’ll also add that after the original announcement about posting these numbers, I got a bit of pushback.

I’m sure your constituents will understand. Gould, O’Hara, and Trottier’s, on the other hand … https://t.co/57LZQuoMQM

— GraniteGrok (@GraniteGrok) March 6, 2024

I’m not publishing this to pick nits over legitimate absences. As I explained to readers in the original piece,

We’re not telling you what to do with this information or that, in some cases, a “republican” Rep. missing a vote isn’t good for Republican priorities, just that they’ve missed …roll call votes, you should know this, and can pursue that with them if that’s how you roll (including a thank you to reps who always find a way to be there when it matters).

This is a volunteer citizen legislature (working for less than peanuts, but we want to keep it that way). But when your majority is razor thin, and you find the Democrats, who are in the same attendance situation as their Republican counterparts, patiently working the system to kill good bills and advance bad ones because of attendance issues, that’s a damn significant problem worth investigating.

There are always exceptions, but then there are those in Republican districts who cannot be bothered and should be encouraged to let someone who can make it replace them this November. Or, maybe that primary opponent can use the attendance information to help them remove that reluctant Rep. via the ballot box.

The List(s)

Here is this week’s missed roll call: Roll Call! – The total number of Missed Roll Call Votes for March 7th.

One more note: A reader suggested we publish these each week, and below this week’s update is a list of reps with perfect attendance (a reader asked for that, too).

Votes Missed
23	Crawford, Karel (R, Moultonborough)
23	McLean, Mark (R, Manchester)
23	Moffett, Michael (R, Loudon)
23	O’Hara, Travis (R, Belmont)
23	Sanborn, Laurie (R, Bedford)
23	Testerman, Dave (R, Franklin)
23	Tierney, James (R, Northumberland)
23	Verville, Kevin (R, Deerfield)
11	Wolf, Dan (R, Newbury)
10	Packard, Sherman (R, Londonderry)
9	Guthrie, Joseph (R, Hampstead)
9	Nagel, David (R, Gilmanton)
8	Thackston, Dick (R, Troy)
7	Abare, Kimberly (R, Pelham)
5	DeSimone, Debra (R, Atkinson)
5	Trottier, Douglas (R, Belmont)
4	Beaudoin, Richard (R, Gilford)
3	Bordes, Mike (R, Laconia)
2	Fedolfi, Jim (R, Hillsborough)
2	Panek, Sandra (R, Pelham)
2	Varney, Peter (R, Alton)
2	Walsh, Thomas (R, Hooksett)
1	Bickford, David (R, New Durham)
1	Dolan, Tom (R, Londonderry)
1	Doucette, Fred (R, Salem)
1	Foote, Charles (R, Derry)
1	Katsakiores, Phyllis (R, Derry)
1	Lascelles, Richard (R, Litchfield)
1	Post, Lisa (R, Lyndeborough)
1	Simon, Matthew (R, Littleton)
1	Smith, Steven (R, Charlestown)
1	Sytek, John (R, Salem)
1	Tripp, Richard (R, Derry)

Here is the list of Republican NH House Reps with perfect (Roll Call Vote) Attendance this session.

Andrus, Louise (R, Salisbury)

Aron, Judy (R, South Acworth)

Aures, Cyril (R, Chichester)

Avellani, Lino (R, Wakefield)

Aylward, Deborah (R, Danbury)

Bailey, Glenn (R, Milton)

Ball, Lorie (R, Salem)

Bean, Harry (R, Gilford)

Belcher, Mike (R, Wakefield)

Berezhny, Lex (R, Grafton)

Bernardy, JD (R, South Hampton)

Bogert, Steven (R, Laconia)

Boyd, Bill (R, Merrimack)

Boyd, Stephen (R, Hooksett)

Brouillard, Jacob (R, Nottingham)

Brown, Richard (R, Moultonborough)

Burnham, Claudine (R, Milton)

Cahill, Tim (R, Raymond)

Cambrils, Jose (R, Loudon)

Colcombe, Riché (R, Hillsborough)

Comtois, Barbara (R, Center Barnstead)

Corcoran, Travis (R, Weare)

Costable, Michael (R, Freedom)

Coulon, Matthew (R, Pike)

Creighton, Jim (R, Antrim)

Cushman, Leah (R, Weare)

Davis, Arnold (R, Milan)

Donnelly, Tanya (R, Salem)

Drago, Mike (R, Raymond)

Drye, Margaret (R, Plainfield)

Dumais, Russell (R, Gilford)

Dunn, Ron (R, Londonderry)

Durkin, Sean (R, Northumberland)

Emerick, Tracy (R, Hampton)

Erf, Keith (R, Weare)

Ford, Oliver (R, Chester)

Gagne, Larry (R, Manchester)

Gerhard, Jason (R, Northfield)

Granger, Michael (R, Milton)

Greeson, Jeffrey (R, Wentworth)

Griffin, Gerald (R, Mont Vernon)

Harb, Robert (R, Plaistow)

Healey, Robert (R, Merrimack)

Hill, Gregory (R, Northfield)

Janigian, John (R, Salem)

Kaczynski, Thomas (R, Rochester)

Kelley, Diane (R, Temple)

Kennedy, Stephen (R, Hudson)

King, Bill (R, Milford)

Leavitt, John (R, Hooksett)

Lekas, Alicia (R, Hudson)

Lekas, Tony (R, Hudson)

Lewicke, John (R, Mason)

Love, David (R, Derry)

Lynn, Bob (R, Windham)

MacDonald, Wayne (R, Londonderry)

Mannion, Dennis (R, Salem)

Mannion, Tom (R, Pelham)

Mazur, Lisa (R, Weare)

McCarter, Nikki (R, Belmont)

McDonnell, Valerie (R, Salem)

McGough, Tim (R, Merrimack)

McGuire, Dan (R, Epsom)

McMahon, Charles (R, Windham)

Melvin, Charles (R, Newton)

Mooney, Maureen (R, Merrimack)

Murphy, Michael (R, Gorham)

Nelson, Jodi (R, Derry)

Newton, Clifford (R, Rochester)

Noble, Kristin (R, Bedford)

Notter, Jeanine (R, Merrimack)

Ouellet, Mike (R, Colebrook)

Pauer, Diane (R, Brookline)

Pearson, Mark (R, Hampstead)

Pearson, Stephen (R, Derry)

Perez, Kristine (R, Londonderry)

Phillips, Emily (R, Fremont)

Plett, Fred (R, Goffstown)

Ploszaj, Tom (R, Center Harbor)

Popovici-Muller, Daniel (R, Windham)

Potenza, Kelley (R, Rochester)

Potucek, John (R, Derry)

Pratt, Kevin (R, Raymond)

Prout, Andrew (R, Hudson)

Qualey, James (R, Rindge)

Reid, Karen (R, Deering)

Rollins, Skip (R, Newport)

Santonastaso, Matthew (R, Rindge)

See, Alvin (R, Loudon)

Seidel, Sheila (R, Goffstown)

Sheehan, Vanessa (R, Milford)

Sirois, Shane (R, New Ipswich)

Smith, Jonathan (R, Ossioee)

Spilsbury, Walter (R, Charlestown)

Stapleton, Walter (R, Claremont)

Stone, Jonathan (R, Claremont)

Summers, James (R, Newton)

Sweeney, Joe (R, Salem)

Thomas, Douglas (R, Londonderry)

Tudor, Paul (R, Northwood)

Turcotte, Len (R, Barrington)

Ulery, Jordan (R, Hudson)

Vose, Michael (R, Epping)

Wallace, Scott (R, Danville)

Walsh, Lilli (R, Hampstead)

Weyler, Kenneth (R, Kingston)

Wood, Clayton (R, Pittsfield)

Yokela, Josh (R, Fremont)

The post NH House Republican Attendance for the Week of 3-7-2024 appeared first on Granite Grok.

Remember Daniel Richard’s first State Supreme Court litigation? He sued the legislature pro se and humiliated Attorneys James Cianci (House Counsel) and Richard Lehmann (Senate Counsel) during oral arguments. As part of the overflow crowd, I watched it livestream in the legal library and must say that Attorney Lehmann did a better job of saving face than Attorney Cianci.

I also would later observe that Attorney Lehmann is more user-friendly to the public than his House counterpart, which I’ll get into in a moment.

By now, most readers are up to speed on the Right To Know (RTK) Tax, aka HB 1002, which had an executive session at 10 am today in House Judiciary.

Within a day of the whole House sending the bill back to that committee (re-referred), I sent some RTK emails, which I’ll summarize as requests for all HB 1002-related communications between municipal associations, lobbyists, or any other entities on their behalf and the City of Nashua (including its individual public servants).

The other request was the same but with all the House Judiciary members instead of the City of Nashua. These carefully worded emails were sent hours before business day opening time on Friday, 2/9.

Later that morning, Attorney Cianci sent me a well-worded “legalese” email acknowledging my request. He let me know that it would require some time to respond, which was no surprise.  Attorney Bolton, on the other hand, was predictably hostile and slow to answer.

Since it’s customary to reply to an RTK (with at least an acknowledgment of the request) within five days, I followed up with Bolton at the end of (in my opinion) Day 4 and took the step to thank Cianci for his prompt reply days earlier.  I also asked him (but not for legal advice) what the law says as to when the clock starts ticking after an RTK request is made.

A few hours later, Cianci, in his own clever legal-speak, replied that he was refusing to answer my question because (as I had acknowledged in my email to him) he doesn’t work for the City and it’s unethical to make comments that could be thought of as legal advice.  Um, isn’t a judge’s opinion essentially an interpretation of the law and NOT legal advice?  I do remember observing Judges Temple and English telling pro se litigants Laurie Ortolano, and Laura Colquhoun, so, respectively.

So here it is, a month later, and Cianci followed with his findings in response to my inquiry, which I shared with some locals.  One of them said the following:

“No, I do not believe his outcome. None of the records came from individuals on the committee, even those received via email. It can be construed that you did address requests to each individual. You are getting the middle finger.

Cianci did not provide copies of the multiple emails I sent to committee members and the committee as a whole. It is good practice to have others send “test” records for circle back to check search veracity. He did, however, provide your own email, which also does not fit your request.

After some thought about this local’s feedback, I got to thinking about emails to and from members of the legislature and that several members do use Gmail or other accounts, presumably as a “91A shelter.”  If you visit NH dot gov, you will see that a “leg.state.nh.us” email address is available to the public for all 24 senators, whether or not any one or more of them prefer to use it.  This is important because you, the private person, can get your email to them on record.  And if you know a 2nd/private address is also used or preferred, you can email both addresses.  Easy peasy.

The House, on the other hand, is another story.

Each rep has EITHER a “leg.state.nh.us” address OR (not in addition to) their own private email.

It has been that way for quite some time and hasn’t taken up much space in my mind until now. House Judiciary has two members (Mr. Testerman and Marjorie Smith) who have non-government emails displayed on their home pages, but even more curious is the chair, Judge Lynn, who’s been viciously pushing for HB1002.  The ONLY email for him that’s displayed on NH dot gov is his Gmail address.

This makes for an interesting situation because I (or anyone else from the hoi polloi) likely have no admissible way of proving that he’s been reached out to. It also means that anything sent or received involving rjlynn4@gmail.com is likely below the radar.

Considering that I was told that I was being given the finger by Attorney Cianci (by someone known for doing his due diligence and knowing his stuff), I began to wonder if Cianci’s ability to “give me the finger” is based upon Judge Lynn having a Gmail address. Of course, asking Cianci if Judge Lynn’s Gmail is subject to 91A would essentially compare to having faith in a fox guarding a hen house, so I turned to Attorney Lehmann.  And because I had predicted HB1002 advancing past the House, I decided to be proactive and turn to Senate Judiciary, which has three lawyers in its membership.  One of them is a dumb blonde who mistakes a constitutional republic for democracy all the time and can’t even answer yes-no questions in the chamber, so I only included the two gentlemen with the Chair (Sharon Carson) in my email to Attorney Lehmann.

Before the crack of dawn, I sent that email, saying the following: “My legal question for you, Counselors, is whether or not a non-“leg.state.nh.us” email address is subject to 91A.” Hours later, and as the end of the day nears, I wonder how long I must wait until one of them, presumably Lehmann, replies. Or does one have to initiate litigation (at their own expense, of course) to get an answer in court?

Kind of weird, don’t you think, considering that the person of interest is retired from the state’s highest court?

The post NH Legislators Who Use Private Emails for ‘Public Business’ … and The Right to Know Law appeared first on Granite Grok.

To all those who are sending in memes, thank you!  Many, many good ones!  Please do share this post, and if you share an individual meme, consider mentioning you saw it on the Grok!

In particular, if you have any PI DAY memes, I’d appreciate them ASAP.

Speaking of, from this week, Monday Edition and Wednesday Edition.  Also check out my latest Israel-focused meme & commentary post if this is a subject of interest to you.

 

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

 

 

On the whole “fair share” thing – an essay from my old blog:

 

E Fair Share Follies

 

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

 

 

I never really thought of pharma as “the good guys” but certainly not as “the bad guys”.  I’ve changed my mind.

 

 

 

 

 

No.  I have a better idea:

 

 

 

 

Many people of faith – like myself – do believe that all works out in the end.  It’s surviving from now until then that’s the question.

 

 

Or both.

 

 

True.  OTOH, a good friend will be a shoulder to cry on / sounding board / etc.

 

 

 

But don’t call it BRIBERY.

 

 

 

And yet, so many – including too many of my fellow Jews – will cheer this Great Replacement.  Until they get turned on by those whom they welcomed.

 

 

 

 

And, as I understand it, this is one of the most significant beef raising areas in the country.

 

 

 

The passivity of the sheeple never ceases to simultaneously amaze and horrify me.

 

 

 

 

Again, admitting you were bamboozled means you’d have to admit you were fooled – and fooled by people you trusted.  And it’d also mean that those who you looked down on as anti-science, foil-hat morons were, in fact, correct.  POOF.  There goes your sense of moral and intellectual superiority.

Very few have the strength of character to take those steps; their vanity gets in the way.  No wonder it’s the Devil’s favorite sin.

 

 

The laws exist.  It’s the enforcement that’s the issue – or rather, lack of.

 

 

If, Hashem forbid, Ebola actually lands in, say, any large city like NYFC where people mingle and touch and are in close proximity for hours… to quote Peter G, “Hell’s coming for breakfast”.

 

 

Seeing means seeing things that make you feel uncomfortable, or understand you were fooled.  As above, very few people have the strength of character to really consciously admit that.

 

 

OK, moot now.  But still funny.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s one lib blogger with whom I’ve actually agreed on some things… but politically her arrogance and condescension towards anyone to the Right of Stalin drip throughout her work.

 

 

 

 

Good point!

 

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

 

PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA

 

 

I have an Android, which has its own issues, but still – understand, your data (location, browsing, purchasing, etc.) are their product.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s an axiom: You cannot get someone to see something when their paycheck depends on them not seeing it.

 

 

 

 

 

Same with classical art vs. “modern” art.  Cue this Prager video.

 

 

That’s a good one!

 

 

 

 

Monoculture, a pride in the nation and history, and – I dare say – a relatively homogenous ethnic make-up.

 

 

OK, I’m Jonesing for an answer.

 

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER “I told you so” moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never too late to set goals and act.

 

 

 

As I’ve said before, on multiple topics I will say, for example, “I used to be a climate alarmist, but I changed my mind”… yet so few people ask what is, to me, the logical question: “What changed your mind”?

 

 

What did I call it last time?  “Interspecies affection”.

 

 

What’s worse?  Waking up an hour before the alarm in this situation.

 

 

 

The critical thing is the dogma being discussed – the belief that it is impossible to be racist against whites.

 

 

 

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

 

Link Section (some mine, some from my Jarhead friend):

 

First, a correction.  In a prior post I’d discussed my friend being able to hit a 4-5″ circle at 300-400 FEET.  He corrected me – it’s YARDS.  Which only makes it more impressive.

—

Pork Peril: RNA Vaccine Injected Into U.S. Pork Livestock Kills 1 in 33 Pigs, Raising Meat Safety Concerns (substack.com)

And don’t forget vaccines in produce:

Making “Edible Vaccines” in Plants (fas.org)

Grow and eat your own vaccines? | University of California

Notice something telling, at least to me: how utterly enthusiastic about this the tone of the articles is.  Thought the first article does have some cautionary notes.  The second, though, brings to mind the hubris of Frankenstein’s scientist.

A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Ebola Virus Disease Therapeutics | NEJM

Table 2 in this article shows the 53% mortality rate which is why the WHO pulled Remdesivier because of its lethality in 2018!

Now… understand.  Ebola has an outbreak average IFR (Infection Fatality Rate) of about 50%.  You catch it, flip a coin on you living or dying.  And Remdesivier (Verklury is the other name – be aware!) was deemed TOO DANGEROUS to use in this situation.  But it was approved – and still is used – as a medication for the treatment of a virus whose IFR is less than ONE PERCENT unless you’re over 70, and even then it’s not much higher.

RSV Vaccine Data Reportedly Reveals 30+ Deaths And 302 Serious Adverse Events * 100PercentFedUp.com * by Danielle

—

Bayou Renaissance Man: If an entire continent is planning ahead for emergencies, why aren’t we?

Got seeds?  And preps?  And allies?  Related, this seems very useful.

Food Storage Calculator (thefoodguys.com)

I plugged in for my family.  Honestly, it’s daunting if one considers starting now.  But… at least start.  Even having a month puts you head and shoulders above the sheeple.  But there are other considerations too.  Storage space for one; neighbors for another; and government confiscations if SHTF is a third.  Never mind that some family members might not be on board, e.g., my situation with my wife.

Also this:

Ingenious Ways to Purify Water in the Wild – Ask a Prepper

—

Thugs Beat and Stomp Helpless Illinois High School Student into Unconsciousness – Parents Reveal the Steps the School Took to Cover Up the Assault (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Cullen Linebarger

Whether in public school or private, teach your kids how to fight.  More importantly, how to fight to win.  That’s the problem with most martial arts places these days – they’re so focused on fitness and winning competitions that they’ve trained students to NOT do what it takes to actually win in a real fight.

—

Conspiracy theorists – Surak substack blog

I insist on an examined life based on a combination of faith, reason, and experience.

—

The Fake Science of Sugar – Vox Popoli (voxday.net)

Two axioms:

1. Results will be biased towards those that continue the funding.
2. Any data set can be tortured until it confesses.

Applies to this.  And “climate change”.  And all sorts of other things being pushed.

—

Denver Asks Property Owners to Rent to Illegal Immigrants (legalinsurrection.com)

At what point will it change from asks to insists?  Coming soon IMHO.

—

The Left-Right Divide is Not Bridgeable | Frontpage Mag

No, it’s not.

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Surviving South Africa: A Boer’s Take on the South African Situation Pt. 2 (theamericantribune.news)

Interesting perspective of where we might be heading, based on people who are there now.

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Ann Coulter: The Myth of Low Immigrant Crime | The Patriot Post

Not liking her as much as I used to, but this is still good.

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New EU Defense Strategy Treats Ukraine Like a Member State

Closer and closer – de facto a member.

 

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Pick of the Post:

 

 

Words are not needed to catch the meaning here.

 

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Palate Cleansers:

 

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TGIF.  I’ll show myself out.

 

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And don’t forget… come back Monday for another edition.  Same Meme Time.  Same Meme channel.

Please do consider buying me a coffee.

Buy Me a Coffee

Thanks to both Eleanor and Alan W. for buying me coffees in the last few days!

 

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

Taylor Swift recently blurted out on Instagram:

Today, March 5, is the presidential primary in Tennessee and 16 other states and territories. I wanted to remind you guys to vote the people who most represent YOU into power. If you haven’t already, make a plan to vote today.

In a similar vein, I’d like to remind you:

Now that it looks like it’s going to be down to Trump and Biden in November, if you haven’t already, be sure to watch Season 8, Episode 8 of South Park, as you should before every election.  Oh, and be sure to read this.

 

The post Public Service Announcement: Make Your Vote Count appeared first on Granite Grok.

Your iPhone, Android, Tablet, Car, smart TV, or any other “Smart” device has huge vulnerabilities. Your phone is not the place to store private information, and if you think you are not being tracked by your phone, tablet, smartwatch, or even your car, you are sadly mistaken. Shutting off features does nothing but limit them to hackers and governments.

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

(MSN)”Apple makes it a point to say that any Journal entries are encrypted when your iPhone is locked and stored on iCloud and that you can turn off access to any of these data points as you please. However, they stop short of saying that they don’t collect any of your data through this feature. That said, all of this data is already created on your iPhone: Journal is just accessing it.”

It used to be you could pull the battery on older phones, but now I believe they have Non-Volatile memory chips that store memory even when the phone is off. This is also where hackers and governments can turn your phone back on if the battery is in it. But that non-volatile memory may store enough memory and power to ping satellites, so today, if you are on the run, the best thing to do is smash your phone.

Yes, I know. I just told criminals, but you forget they already know this. For instance, with these new keys, you have to be very wary about who is near you when you hit unlock. With keyless starts, that “Unlock” signal also gives criminals near you the opportunity to grab the unit’s code. So now they can not only unlock your car but drive away with it, too.

 

 

The post “Apple’s Journal App Probably Isn’t a Privacy Nightmare” – But the Tech Certainly Is! appeared first on Granite Grok.

We learned that we had a full day with 52 House bills on the agenda but didn’t get through all of them. As the hour got late, we saved 10 for next week. We also learned that when Republicans show up, they stop bad bills from advancing and move good bills forward. Read more below.

We also learned that House Speaker Packard could not preside today because he lost his voice. Deputy Speaker Smith presided most of the day until Emeritus Speaker Steve Shurtleff took over the gavel at the end of the day.

At the start of the session, we learned that a tearful Rep. Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook) implored the House to suspend the rules so that he could introduce a new bill since the bill submission deadlines have passed that would compel offenders convicted of a Class A felony to attend their sentencing hearings. This has to do with justice for murdered 5-year-old Harmony Montgomery in the wake of Adam Montgomery’s murder conviction. The House complied with a vote of 286-Yes and 67-No, and the bill can now work its way through the legislative process.

We learned that the ITL motion on CACR17 failed 174 Yes -186 No in a roll call vote but also failed to get enough votes for an OTP motion 180-Yes 183-No. This bill would have amended the NH Constitution to include fundamental rights for parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children. All House Democrats supported the ITL of this parental rights bill. And just so we’re clear before the upcoming election season, their record this year and last year has been to oppose all parental rights legislation. Remember in November.

Additionally, we learned that HB1527 failed to pass with an ITL motion of 202 Yes-161 No. This bill was the “purple paint” bill and would have allowed people to spray paint their trees with purple paint to indicate posted land. The problem with this bill is that it is essentially an absolute prohibition of all activity on private land, as opposed to signage which can be specific in what the landowner will allow. Opponents said that anti hunting activists could come and spray paint your trees purple, and it would be so easy for them to do so. As for the proponents’ claim that posting signage is expensive and cumbersome to apply, well… Fish and Game will help you post your land for free if you ask them. The ironic thing about the “purple paint movement” is that all these “greenies” who claim they want to protect and appreciate the environment would be more than happy to spray all the trees purple… and seriously, who wants to look at that? How healthy is spraying your environment with purple spray paint anyway?

We also learned that HB1437 was Indefinitely Postponed 193-173. This bill would have allowed professionally paid educators to be members of the State Board of Education. The current membership of the board is 5 members comprised of 1 member from each of the executive council districts plus 2 at large citizens. This combination has not changed substantially since 1919 and the original intent of the board was to be staffed with non-professional members of the public. The proposed bill would have definitely changed the intent of the board and created tons of conflict of interest. Interestingly enough, the amendment number on this bill was “0666”, definitely not a good omen.

We further learned that HB1695 passed 192-173. This bill requires schools to obtain parental consent and simply notify parents when and why their child’s personal confidential information is shared with third-party contractors. This is a win for privacy and parental rights.

We also learned that CACR14 was ITL’d 197-168. This constitutional amendment would have enshrined the right to a “clean and healthful environment for present and future generations.” This is part of a national greenie movement to add environmental rights to state constitutions. Montana has done this and is now embroiled in a series of lawsuits regarding climate change and all other manner of environmental legal challenges. The state could be sued for everything and anything, including not having electric vehicles in its auto fleet, not employing other green agendas in their policies, allowing farmers to raise beef, or allowing businesses to operate that don’t have zero waste policies. The lawsuits are endless. It’s a good thing this bill was given a green burial.

We learned that HB1100, the coyote hunting bill, was tabled 241-123. This bill would have suspended the open year-round coyote hunting season during the months that coyotes are whelping. The committee recommendation was to leave the open hunting season alone and that animal management was best left up to the folks at Fish and Game. The Roadrunner seemed to be quite happy with the NH House vote as well. Beep Beep.

We learned that HB1194 passed 191-171. This bill removes the word infectious from the definition of non-communicable disease as it relates to the requirement of immunization and clarifies that many diseases are infectious but not transmissible from person to person. Essentially, now, decisions about immunizing for non-transmissible diseases could be left up to the individual instead of being mandated. You could say this gives NH citizens a shot of medical freedom.

We also learned that HB1213 passed 189-173 on a roll call vote. This bill repeals the vaccination record-keeping requirement for licensed daycare facilities and private schools for school-aged children, freeing up the time and cost of record keeping for these businesses.

We further learned that the bill to introduce the buying and selling of blood and organs in the marketplace for the purpose of use for blood and organ transplants (HB1482) was tabled 326-38. People struggling with Biden inflation and trying to pay the bills will just have to sell their silverware or their other heirlooms first before selling their kidney.

We learned that HB1660 passed with a roll called OTP vote of 193-169. This bill prohibits gender reassignment surgery for minors (18 and younger) to be covered under the state’s taxpayer-funded Medicaid program. With the passage of HB619, the House already has taken the position that gender reassignment surgery on minors should be prohibited because these procedures are irreversible and long-term consequences are unknown. It only follows that we should not be funding these procedures with Medicaid dollars.

We learned that HB1037 was indefinitely postponed with a roll call vote of 196-163. This bill would have repealed limited liability for manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms and ammunition (RSA508:21). This very bad Democrat-proposed bill was shot down by every House Republican who voted. This was a true win for 2nd amendment rights in NH.

We also learned that HB1118 passed on a roll call vote of 179-166. This bill cleans up RSA 263:39-a, which sets criteria for granting driver’s licenses to aliens temporarily residing in New Hampshire. Criteria for identification, proving the ability to drive, and identification of eligible people were scattered throughout the statute. These are now grouped together in topic sections. The bill also sets the term of the license to be concurrent with the length of residence. The committee amendment sets a policy that the director must use one of the prescribed methods to determine if someone knows how to drive. The amendment also clarifies that these licenses are not valid for voting and will contain markings to make them recognizable by clerks. The amendment further clarifies that people seeking asylum will be granted licenses once their application has been granted.

We learned that HB1416 was indefinitely postponed with a vote of 189-176. The bill would have prohibited and created a fine for the parking of non-electric vehicles in spaces designated for charging electric vehicles. This bill would allow a person to snap a picture of a non-electric vehicle parking in a public or privately owned parking space designed to charge electric vehicles and then present the picture as evidence to law enforcement, which could issue a ticket from that picture. The bill required mandatory signage or changes in signage but did not allocate any money for the purchase of them, therefore violating Part 1 Article 28-a of the NH Constitution.

We learned that Rep. Marjorie Smith (D – Durham) asked the Speaker if it was dilatory for Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) to move Reconsideration for several bills that Republicans passed or killed. The answer was NO; it was not dilatory. The fact is, we know that if Democrats were in the majority today and were winning their votes, they would have made the same motions to cement their victories.

We also learned that Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) claimed in his Parliamentary Inquiry on HB1416, that “He didn’t start the Fire”… you’ll have to ask him about that.

Finally, we learned that Jack Casey, 26, of Dover, NH, was memorialized as Rep. Schmidt (D-Dover) remembered him during Unanimous Consent. Captain Jack Casey was a pilot aboard the CH-53E helicopter that went down during a training exercise on Feb. 7. May his memory be a blessing always.

There’s more to come when we reconvene on March 14th!

The post So Kids, What Did We Learn From This Week’s House Session (3/7/24)? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Just a heads up regarding the newsletter. We have seen some small improvements in email delivery as a result of the ongoing tinkering with the SPF and DKIM, but nowhere near where we need ot be. Gmail is still a problem, so we’ll keep at it.

We did change the email “from address” back to newsletter@granitegrok.com. I have also added a second automated release.

If you are receiving it (many of you are still trapped in the SPF DKIM problem) beginning this morning, you should get a morning and evening newsletter. This is so content normally trapped at the bottom of the current distribution gets a chance to be near the top.

The morning update will include the previous day’s nightcap, and posts published the previous evening. The evening newsletter will start to arrive around dinnertime (ish) and should lead with the 4 PM post and then back through the afternoon into the morning content.

If you are signed up for the newsletter and still not getting the emails please keep visiting the site a few times a day to stay caught up. We have had a rise in quality op-eds as well as consistent content from a handful of regular contributors, and we don’t want you to miss their words.

In other news, I’m ust waiting on my webby mistress of internet design to tell me she’s ready to complete our site rebuild. I keep hearing soon, but we’re still on Grok 3.0, and there are a bunch of front and backend fixes we’ve skipped that the rebuild should resolve.

Once the new battle station is fully operational, we’ll work in the ad-free VIP, and I have someone in the wings waiting to use the new site to roll out a GrokApp.

We will keep working on the newsletter issue. If I can’t solve the plug-in-to-server-to-security-verification issue, we may need to go back to MailChimp or something similar. It is an added cost, but I’d rather figure out how to pay for that and ensure content delivery than the reverse.

 

The post Housekeeping: Daily Grok Newsletter Update and Other Business … appeared first on Granite Grok.

It doesn’t take much to twist the panties of the average all-in-leftist. Fragile is an understatement. They are tightly wound emotional time bombs with more triggers than a gun store. Speaking of which, if you’d like to see them snap like a dry twig, cut a school budget, or add this optional funding for public schools.

Wyoming school districts that want to store firearms in their schools and train staff how to use them would get $10,000 each to help pay for it under a bill moving through the state House.

The House’s Education Committee on Monday voted to forward Senate File 86 to the House floor. The committee also agreed to boost funding from $100,000 to $480,000 — enough to provide each Wyoming school district with $10,000.

That sum is chump change (estimates are you need at least 25K to properly train one school staff on gun safety and proper tactics), and supporters admit that, but they see this as a way to get things started. A little fiscal jump start on a cold Wyoming  morning. Encourage them to find additional funds or to even consider that if you have armed staff, and these days it makes sense to do that, professional training lowers liability costs and you’re might deter FBI proxies from using your school to advance the Left’s gun control agenda.

Training and storage of proper fierams at schools?

I can hear twigs snapping, but wait, there’s more! “House Bill 125, … would repeal gun-free zones in Wyoming schools.” You would still need a carry permit to enter school grounds armed, but that’s a requirement of federal law and one of the few good reasons to get a carry license or permit (the other being reciprocity).

In New Hampshire, you don’t need a permit to carry open or concealed, but you do need one if you find yourself armed on school property. That’s not advice. The federal allowance for this has never been tested in our state (to my knowledge), but on paper, if you have a carry permit or license on you and have a firearm on you or in your vehicle and you need to pick up a kid at school, that’s not illegal.

It shouldn’t be illegal. Law-abiding citizens have the right to keep and bear arms, but in all instances, that’s your call, knowing that the injustice system likes to make examples of people even if they just bankrupt someone on the way to losing their case.

And keep in mind that your state probably won’t step in to defend you unless it is very red and very pro-gun. New Hampshire is pro-gun (at the moment), but I have zero faith that our local or state “officials” in the justice department would get between any of us and an out-of-control federal prosecutor. None. And that is entirely on them. State funding of firearms training so adults can carry and protect students and staff in most states? Not likely. So good for you, Wyoming – which already allows armed staff with mandatory training.

If you are looking for some extra money to help fund training, fire a diversity official and defund their office. That’s easily 125K to start (give the extra back to the taxpayers). If you don’t have those, don’t hire one and fire some other overpaid, useless administrator, starting with the ones who object to training and arming staff. Yes, you can fire more than one.

Every district has a plethora of dead weight “middle managers” who make teaching more difficult and less effective. You could end up with safer schools and kids who can read, and what’s not great about that?

 

 

The post Night Cap: Try This Simple “Trick” to Make Democrats Lose Their Tiny Narrow Minds appeared first on Granite Grok.