The Manchester Free Press

Sunday • May 4 • 2025

Vol.XVII • No.XVIII

Manchester, N.H.

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News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Updated: 8 min 6 sec ago

The Lawfare Against Trump Is The Most Important Issue … Why Is Vivek The Only One Willing To Talk About It?

Sun, 2023-08-27 19:30 +0000

If the Left can take down President Trump. … the, by a landslide margin, choice of GOP voters to be their Presidential nominee in 2024 … with completely BOGUS criminal charges, who can’t they take down? Do you really believe they would stop with Trump? Were the COVID-rules for voting (mail-in voting and drop-boxes), the ballot-harvesting, the Regime-media/Big-Tech censorship and Deep State disinformation, Zuckerbucks, etc. just a one-time deal to elect Biden in 2020 … or are elections still being rigged?

Yet, with the exception of Vivek, the GOP Presidential wanna-be’s are telling us we have to “move on” past Trump. WRONG; WRONG; WRONG … the lawfare against Trump is the most important issue, the defining, issue of 2024. The lawfare against Trump raises the fundamental issue of whether certain Americans … actual Republican voters … get to choose their candidates or whether the Left and their allies, the GOP donor-class, which believes that the GOP’s role is “controlled opposition,” get to choose for them. Whether it is a crime to question obviously rigged elections, forever-wars and the Deep State. Sun-King Sununu … as FAUX a Republican as there ever has been … believes that the donor-class should run the GOP:

 

Every GOP candidate at the Faux “debate” … with the exception of Vivek … appears to agree with Sununu. For example, DeSantis’ tells us we have to make the race about 2024, not 2020. The lawfare against Trump is happening NOW, Governor DeSantis. Four totally BOGUS indictments … the use of the criminal justice system to prevent a candidate that the Uniparty sees as the greatest threat to their precious war in Ukraine, their “free trade” with China, their open-borders, etc. from running for President. And you are okay with that? Do NOT tell me you are going to end the “weaponization” of the federal government when you are looking the other way … to please the donor-class … from the weaponization of the federal government to destroy Trump.

Why is Vivek the exception? Perhaps because he isn the only candidate not dependent upon the donor class:

 

The post The Lawfare Against Trump Is The Most Important Issue … Why Is Vivek The Only One Willing To Talk About It? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

What Is Going On in New Hampshire Has Just Been Exposed in California.

Sun, 2023-08-27 18:00 +0000

What is going on in New Hampshire has just been exposed in California. All of you who have been victims of court corruption will relate to the article below, whether family courts, civil courts, or criminal courts. We have seen it over and over and over again.

It is RICO, and now, in California, it is being investigated as such. It must be investigated as such in New Hampshire.

Chuck Douglas wrote the Guide to Family Law. He is chair of the judicial selection committee. Start there. He’s on his 5th wife, I believe. His 4th wife allegedly found condom (receipts) in his wastebasket from having an (alleged) affair with his secretary in their law firm office. He was also representing the secretary at the time.

The judge in his divorce from his 4th wife, resigned in 2007 for financial fraud – hiding disbarred spouse’s assets. That says it all, really.

“Coffey reportedly said in her letter of resignation that she took issue with the high court’s opinion sanctioning her, asserting that the court was selective in its characterization of her actions in creating land trusts to protect her disbarred husband’s finances.”

Chuck Douglas’s sent a teenage rape victim back to YDC after she failed to name her abuser, and the state had paid for a secret abortion before he filed dozens of claims against the Diocese of Manchester, St. Paul’s School, and Dartmouth College for alleged victims, many of whom had been solicited and offered money if they became victims.

This is NH Courts for you. It is grotesque. They care not about real victims; they care not about children or families. Just check out Open Corporates for all the hidden companies, real estate, and shell organizations.

“I feel like all I did was become a victim of a violent crime, and now, all of a sudden, my life’s falling apart,” Gackle said.

But new information has come out that suggests Gackle wasn’t just the victim of a horrific assault; he was also the victim of a secretive, tight-knit circle of Santa Clara County Superior Court judges, lawyers, law enforcement officials, and reporters known as the Bench-Bar-Media-Police Committee (BBMP).

The history of the committee suggests that the government officials who organized and ran the group – and the “off-the-record” meetings – used it to influence local media and protect judges and law enforcement officials from scrutiny, scandal, and accountability.

 

 

Email edited (slightly) from the original

The post What Is Going On in New Hampshire Has Just Been Exposed in California. appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Survival Sunday

Sun, 2023-08-27 16:30 +0000

I cannot guarantee this will be done every week.  Between memes, work, family, etc., I’m swamped.  But still… trying to get info out as I believe things are getting to a head, and sooner than we think possible. 

Request: I am hoping to connect with, and get mentored by, someone in the southern NH area that can help me set up and “run” my pressure canner.  Also, someone in the same area that understands how to do no-refrigeration-needed sausage making / meat preservation.

 

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

 

Brace Yourselves, Because What The Elites Have Planned Is Going To Absolutely Devastate The US Economy ⋆ Conservative Firing Line

And, per a marine friend, likely before the 2024 election.  Thus giving rationale to “temporarily” postponing the election while they get it sorted out.

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

Messenger RNA “Vaccines” in Meat Animals

Determined to get mRNA into you.  BAMN.

 

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

 

Top of the fold:

INSANITY: Biden Regime Proposes Ban on Sale of Portable Gas Generators, Raising Concerns for Power Outage Reliance | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft

I should grab something that has enough “umph” to power my well.  As a backup to my backup generator.

West Africa military chiefs prepare possible Niger mission – Insider Paper

Another flash point added to the mix.

 

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

 

SITREP sites:

I used to do a SITREP post as a separate, stand-alone.  I can’t afford that time any more.  Here are some “starter places” for sites that I routinely go to get info about what’s happening.

The sidebar of my old blog, with links to other places.   redpilljew

Gates of Vienna

Doug Ross @ Journal (directorblue.blogspot.com)

The Other McCain

TheBlaze

ancipient news

 

=+=+=

Oddments – random thoughts on prepping:

  • Stuff for car oil changes.  And car maintenance in general – bulbs, belts, who knows what?

 

 

Prepper Site URLS:

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

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

Mother Earth News

The Organic Prepper Home – The Organic Prepper

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

SHTF Blog – Modern Survival

Survival World – Everything You Need To Know to Survive

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

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

Mind4Survival – Survival and Preparedness

Gray Wolf survival

Sustainable Living (sustainablelivingideas.com)

The Classic Survivalist – Surviving in a Modern World

Primal Survivor – Practical and sensible prepping advice

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

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

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

TOP 50 SURVIVAL & PREPPER BLOGS

The 50 Best Survival Blogs

Prepper Website – Preparedness • Survival • Alternative News

Specific, one-up articles:

Create a Collapse Supply List – The Organic Prepper

Older, but good.

How Gangs Operate Post-Collapse – The Organic Prepper

Useful.

What Will You Do When You Run Out of Stored Fuel? – The Organic Prepper

In the long term it’s bicycles, tricycles, etc.

Related to Spicy Time:

Bayou Renaissance Man: Cooking during a prolonged emergency

The big question IMHO is short or long term?  Long-long term, it’s over a wood fire in some form, or with something solar.  Two more from the same site, different topics:

Bayou Renaissance Man: Drone warfare: coming to a suburb near you?

Bayou Renaissance Man: Looks like crime by the homeless is getting organized

Related to Bushcraft specifically:

 

5 Survival Traps and Snares that WORK! – Primitive Traps

 

 

Another couple of trapping videos (links only):

10+ Bushcraft Skills and Wilderness Survival Hacks – YouTube

Man Survives in the Wild Using Primitive Fishing Traps| by @rampe201 – YouTube

 

Old School Survival Camping – No Tent, No Sleeping Bag – Exploring Appalachia

 

 

Related (link only):

Lost in Alaska – How to NOT Freeze to Death! Winter Survival Camping & Bushcraft (No Tent or Bag) – YouTube

11 Essential Knots for Survival and Bug Out – YouTube

Build All Natural Bark Roof Bushcraft Shelter in Winter Snow (bitchute.com)

A Beginner’s Guide To Trapping (prepperswill.com)

Some good tips.  Related:

Building traps and snares

 

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

Top 5 Rules of Stockpiling!

 

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

Foraging: One-up articles

40+ Wild Plants You Can Make into Flour (practicalselfreliance.com)

Lots of alternatives to regular flour.  Another:

How to Make Birch Bark Flour (Plus Birch Shortbread Cookies) (practicalselfreliance.com)

50+ Edible Wild Berries & Fruits ~ A Foragers Guide (practicalselfreliance.com)

And then the opposite – not to eat:

Poisonous Berries ~ A Forager’s Guide (practicalselfreliance.com)

Foraging Beech Nuts (practicalselfreliance.com)

One person I know has, I think, one of these.  Need to ask to come over to double-check.

Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines: Corylus, Hazelnut (substack.com)

Not just for food!

Foraging (permanent feature):

Foraging (practicalselfreliance.com)

Wild Harvests (arcadianabe.blogspot.com)

Southern Appalachian Herbs

Books (permanent feature):

Feasting Free on Wild Edibles (old but good)

The Lost Ways (much more than just foraging)

The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO EDIBLE WILD PLANTS FOR BEGINNERS

 

 

=+=+=

Shortages (broadly):

‘Some will go hungry, some will starve’: Global rice shortages feared after India bans exports | World News | Sky News

This will have ripple effects, even if you don’t eat rice specifically.

Drug And Food Shortages Are Here, And They Will Get A Lot Worse… | ZeroHedge

Trouble ahead.

 

=+=+=

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

 

My Clever Ways to MANIPULATE Tomatoes to Produce Early, Often, and Nonstop

 

 

Other gardening videos, links only:

You’re Killing Your Tomatoes if You Do This, 5 MISTAKES You Can’t Afford to Make Growing Tomatoes – YouTube

2 Ways To Grow Zucchini And Summer Squash You May Not Know – YouTube

How to Build a Mini RAISED BED Using ONE PALLET, FREE Backyard Gardening! – YouTube

Doing This ONE THING Eliminates 90% of PEST PROBLEMS in the Garden – YouTube

The Holy Grail Homestead Plant & The Secrets to Grow It – YouTube

A Simple Composting System for Small Farms | Four Winds Farm – YouTube

1/8 Acre Abundance: FULL TOUR + BEST TIPS for Growing – YouTube

Your Cucumbers Will LOVE You For This: 5 Things To Do NOW! – YouTube

When are Potatoes Ready to Harvest? – YouTube

Grow More Sweet Potatoes FAST & CHEAP! – YouTube

How to Grow: Potatoes in Pots / Homegrown Garden – YouTube

Unbelievable Backyard Garden Harvest, This is What I Harvested Today! – YouTube

Harvesting Your Garlic – The Definitive Guide For Beginners – YouTube

I Made A Tomato Trellis With The Biggest Yields! – YouTube

 

 

Make ANY Fruit Into Crystal Clear Jam…

 

 

55 Gardening Resources to Help You Have the Best Harvest Ever (theorganicprepper.com)

Sweeping with many references.

A Prepper’s Guide to Personal Hygiene When the SHTF – The Organic Prepper

So many things to think about!  And I did not know soaps could break down.

Using eggs in the garden – 5 expert tips | Homes & Gardens (homesandgardens.com)

I have a big bag of cleaned eggshells, fragmented, that I use.

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

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

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

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

Canning | SDSU Extension (sdstate.edu)

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

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

National Center for Home Food Preservation (uga.edu)

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

Topical Books (also permanent):

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking & Curing

Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing

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

The Prepper’s Canning Guide

Pickled Pantry

Fermented Vegetables

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

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

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

 

=+=+=

Self-defense (broad)

I sometimes get the feeling I’m talking to a brick wall…

I wish I could live farther out.

Blending In While Carrying Concealed | An Official Journal Of The NRA (shootingillustrated.com)

Useful.

 

=+=+=

Hunting & Fishing:

 

=+=+=

Concluding thoughts if I’m moved to comment:

Blind mystic Baba Vanga makes nuclear disaster prediction for 2023 (nypost.com)

I’m not one for psychics.  In one place where I used to live there was a prominent psychic / palm reader.  I used to joke that I’d take them seriously if they put up a sign with my name, the correct date / time, inviting me in.

But given that she died quite a while ago… and that there seems to be a push for something with Russia… something to consider.

 

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

 

Biden Crime Family Chalkboard: The Corruption Charge that Could Take Joe DOWN | Ep 297

 

 

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

Palate cleansers:

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

 

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

 

The post Survival Sunday appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Dear Dirty-Dave Scanlan … Meet Professor Jonathan Turley

Sun, 2023-08-27 15:00 +0000

First of all, the RNC should IMMEDIATELY strip New Hampshire of FITN for even considering the absurd, politically driven, Democrat/NeverTrump snake-oil conspiracy theory that the 14th Amendment bars Trump from running for President. Earth to Ronna. Earth to Ronna.

Second, if the Constitution and the rule of law really mattered to the grifters pushing this insane argument … then maybe they should have read Professor Jonathan Turley’s take before bloviating to the media. Earth to Dirty-Dave Scanlan. Earth to Dirty-Dave Scanlan. Some excerpts:

… Democrats have long pushed this theory about the 14th Amendment as a way of disqualifying not only Trump but also dozens of Republican members of Congress. For some, it is the ultimate Hail Mary pass if four indictments, roughly 100 criminal charges and more than a dozen opposing candidates fail to get the job done.  ..

… I simply fail to see how the text, history or purpose of the 14th Amendment even remotely favors this view. Despite the extensive research of Baude and Paulsen, their analysis ends where it began: Was January 6 an insurrection or rebellion? …

… despite formal articles of the second impeachment and years of experts insisting that Trump was guilty of incitement and insurrection, Special Counsel Jack Smith notably did not charge him with any such crime.

The reason is obvious. The evidence and constitutional standards would not have supported a charge of incitement or insurrection. …

… That leaves us with the argument that any effort to stop a constitutional process is akin to an insurrection or rebellion under the 14th Amendment. If that were the standard, any protests — including the anti-Trump protests and the certification challenges to electoral votes in 2016 — could also be cited as disqualifying. If that were the case, figures such as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md) could be summarily purged from office for having sought to overturn an election.

Notice how Dirty-Dave Scanlan is NOT talking about removing from the ballot all the Democrats who pushed the Russia collusion hoax or any of the other equally FALSE challenges to the 2016 election.

Golly, gee … I wonder why.

 

The post Dear Dirty-Dave Scanlan … Meet Professor Jonathan Turley appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Hurricane Season has Arrived! Tropical Depression Expected to Make US Landfall as a Hurricane.

Sun, 2023-08-27 13:30 +0000

Hurricane Hilary, doing business as a tropical storm, gave Southern California and Arizona much-needed rain. Yes, they had a lot of winter runoff, but they are terrible at managing it, so more is usually better.

The aquifers will be happy, as are the climate alarmists, but the Northern Atlantic and the Gulf are the new hotness.

Three depressions, one of them a named Storm (Franklin), are milling about. Franklin has 90-mile-per-hour winds and is projected to brush past Bermuda but is not currently a threat to anything else (cue Hey, It’s Franklin).

 

 

Invest 92L is a disorganized mess east of Franklin, visible in the image above. NOAA projects a 10% chance of cyclone formation in the next 48 hours, and while we wait, we’ve got Tropical Depression 10 currently over the Yucatan Peninsula.

 

 

With maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour, TD10 is poised to pick up strength as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico before landing in North Florida and the Panhandle. Moving at five mph, it is forecast to reach hurricane strength before making landfall in three days, which would give us our first actual hurricane of the season. Governor DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency to mobilize resources.

Looking further out, other than Invest 92L, nothing new has formed on the Western Coast of Africa, but we are in the heart of Hurricane Season until the end of September, and after several months of mucking about, it is game on!

There is nothing left to do now but prepare for the climate hysteria and wait to see what sort of storm hits the coast.

If you’d like to geek out, The Heartland Institute’s Climate Change Round Table #77 focuses on Hurricane Season, the warm Atlantic, and some regular features you might find fun or disturbing – we won’t judge.

 

 

The post Hurricane Season has Arrived! Tropical Depression Expected to Make US Landfall as a Hurricane. appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Promoted From The Comments: Bud Forgot Who is REALLY In Charge

Sun, 2023-08-27 12:00 +0000

Recall Prof. Sowell’s truism about minimum wages, that “The Real Minimum Wage is Zero” is talking about the person who DOESN’T get the job because the Government has artificially screwed up the Marketplace by hiking the cost of doing business.

An otherwise potential aide to an organization is priced out, based on their skill sets (or lack thereof), for the economic worth of that job.

Companies aren’t job providers for the sake of giving someone a job. That’s just welfare, and companies aren’t in that business. They are in business to make a profit; making a profit tells the company owners/shareholders and managers that what the company is doing is properly serving their customers.

And that’s the nub of the problem – too many engaging in AND criticizing the American free market system (such as it is, as too much Government has intruded) have forgotten the First Rule of Capitalism: A company exists to serve the people that are its clients and consumers. When you don’t, even with all kinds of stupid platitudes to the contrary, the customer will move on.

We’ve had that real-world example in front of us – you don’t make fun of your customers and expect to “live long and profitable.  As NHnative tells us over at “Billy Busch Offers to Buy BUD Back” (reformatted, emphasis mine):

I talked to the beer drinker in my world about all this recently.

You had a whole lot of middle-aged and older men that were loyal to that brown bottle. The ones that drank way too much of it that began having waistline issues had switched over to Bud Light…There was a whole lot of brand loyalty.. it was the beer they grew up on. A lot of these people hadn’t really strayed much- if at all.

BUT then they pissed that crowd off and they quit on them- which then set them free.

What they did was learned that there are just tons of other beers, ales, and hard cider, (have you seen the beer aisle lately at the grocery store?).

What this guy said to me was:

“Ya know, that beer is really sh*t beer and I didn’t realize how bad it was until I went out and tried all these others- I ain’t going back- why go back when there is all this other stuff out here that is much better and ain’t pushing a Tranny at me???

What Bud Light did was give them a reason to quit– and once they did that, they saw that the grass is greener on the other sides of the beer aisle.. and they won’t be back and it’s for several reasons really- what they did combined with the fact that there are so many other products they like more now. So ‘Manly’ new ad campaigns are not going to have any impact at all on these people.

I think the real lessons here are ones that many of us old-timers know: You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

The Political Activists that are running businesses need to learn that business and political activism are not necessarily a combination that is going to work for the entire market.

If you can get by on 50% of the population- then go for it.

But if making money is your goal, they you’ll need more than that and that means removing politics from the business.

Give them a reason to quit” is what happened when it became known that the Political Activist at the head of all this, Alissa Heinerscheid, had dissed all of the blue-collar workers as “frat boys” and let the world know that she despised her current customers and wanted new ones. At that instant, she let us all know that she didn’t think that serving customers was important anymore. Customers believed her and acted accordingly.

You know, like the Democrats who despise the current American electorate (because we can’t stomach their condescending manners and their autocratic policies) are trying to import (by opening up our borders) a brand new one.

 

The post Promoted From The Comments: Bud Forgot Who is REALLY In Charge appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Government Imposed “Competition” Harms Competition

Sun, 2023-08-27 10:30 +0000

“A fair, open, and competitive marketplace has long been a cornerstone of the American economy, while excessive market concentration threatens basic economic liberties, democratic accountability, and the welfare of workers, farmers, small businesses, startups, and consumers.”

These words were the opening statement of a White House executive order by Joe Biden to save economic freedom in theory by limiting it in reality through government intervention. Biden is right that competition is the cornerstone to a prosperous economy, but the best way to promote competition is less regulation instead of more of it. When business decisions are up to bureaucrats instead of actual business owners accountable to their customer base, it’s the consumer who will lose the most.

Inefficiency of Efficiency as a Policy

Two of the most successful businesses in American history are Standard Oil and Walmart. They became that way because they were relentless at being the most efficient in their businesses. As both companies grew, they expanded their operations into new ventures, but these were services and products whose purpose was to support the main business. This is known as vertical integration.

Standard Oil manufactured their own barrels and railroad tanker cars instead of purchasing through a third party because they were able to make a better product for themselves at a lower cost and were able to save overhead on the markup that a supplier would charge.

Walmart created their own distribution network that was exclusive for their store’s use. They used their own trucks and drivers to deliver stock to and from their stores instead of relying on someone else. This efficiency that they created from being their own distributors also had the compounding effect of improving how they managed their inventory, which meant that not only did they have low prices but also always had stock.

These two examples led to both companies overtaking their competition and increasing their market shares for their industries. Standard Oil acquired many of its smaller competitors in the oil refining industry with the results being that many people working at the acquired firms received jobs with Standard Oil, and the price of oil fell during their growth because they passed their efficiencies on to their customers through the lower prices they charged. Today the company is remembered as the original big bad monopoly, but its negative reputation doesn’t match the facts.

Kmart was America’s largest discount chain as Walmart was growing. Walmart not only went on to become number one through their superior business practices, but Kmart today is now practically out of business. That is how things are supposed to work in a free market, but today’s politicians feel like they have the need to regulate this because it’s not fair to the business owners that ended up losing the game, despite making a lot of money as they played it.

Instead, today there would be calls for Walmart to spin off their distribution centers, and we might later find out that those politicians received donations from Kmart. Or there might have been regulators preventing the Standard Oil drums and cars being used because they weren’t from an approved third party. In each of these hypothetical situations, the government would be promoting competition but through fragmentation, and the cost of this would be greater inefficiency, less innovation, and higher prices for consumers.

Small Businesses Can Compete against Behemoths

In Sam Walton’s autobiography Made in America, he acknowledged the criticism that his company, Walmart, was outcompeting smaller businesses which was leading to their closure. Instead of defending himself, he laid out a strategy for smaller businesses to compete with him and enter a specialized market. He knew that he might stock a little bit of everything from every category, but he couldn’t offer it all. So it would be up to the shop down the road to fulfill that need for the customer.

Likewise, Amazon is considered a villain by many for its business practices and the ability of its online store to often outcompete its brick-and-mortar counterparts. But less than forty years ago, the company did not exist. There were much larger chain stores, like Sears, that sold everything under the sun. If they didn’t have what you wanted in the store, they had it in the catalogue. The big businesses of yesterday seemed impossible to compete against when they were at their peak, but the landscape always changes with rises and falls. Today Sears is out of business while Amazon dominates retail. Amazon did this because they sold books online, became the best at it, and then expanded their product lines.

Government Regulations Hurt Competition

Government rules and regulations bear heavy costs on businesses in many ways. For example, many states require companies to purchase workers’ compensation insurance even if the business is one employee (the owner) and he pays himself almost nothing. Instead of benefiting the new business, government helps subsidize the larger businesses. Likewise, some areas charge businesses license fees for the privilege of working out of their homes. As the lists and requirements go on, so do the costs and the time to make sure you are in compliance. And if something is out of order, more capital resources are wasted through fines, and time dealing with these issues is time spent away from running the business.

When John D. Rockefeller would visit his competitors that he wanted to acquire, he would bring Standard Oil’s accounting books with him. This was a time before government income taxes and modern accounting procedures, so everything in his books was transparent and easy to understand. And what most of his rivals understood after viewing the books was that Standard Oil was a much more efficient operation than the one they were running. Most business owners tend to relax after the money starts to roll in, but not Rockefeller.

Innovation and a relentless work ethic were John D. Rockefeller’s competitive advantages over his rivals. He made those traits part of his company’s core values, and he was able to outcompete others in his industry. As his company grew, he created new products, new jobs, and drove prices down for consumers while increasing quality.

Imagine how different the world would be today had regulators stepped in and told Rockefeller and the companies he was acquiring that they couldn’t join because everything is better when a lot of small companies compete over a small pie instead of a few large companies making the pie bigger. It wouldn’t be fair to the consumers if the government put their finger on the scale to make sure that the less competent get a bigger advantage over the more competent.

Of course, the fairest way to make sure there is honest competition is through fewer rules and less interference, not more. But the people in Washington setting the policies right now don’t want to hear that.

 

Daniel Kowalski is an American businessman experienced with the emerging markets of Africa. His writings have been published with Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and Western Journal Opinion.

 

Mises Wire We heartily encourage reprints and shares of Mises Wire articles. If you wish to reproduce an article in your blog, magazine, radio show, newspaper column, classroom material, textbook, discussion group, website, or any other venue, please do so. The original publication source must be included in an appropriate place.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Progressive Governing 101: If You Make Life Miserable People Will Volunteer to Kill Themselves

Sun, 2023-08-27 01:30 +0000

A government that thinks there are too many of us, that we are some sort of burden, and encourages medically assisted suicide will always make its citizens suicidal and then pretend it is a kindness to kill them.

That is not speculation or conspiracy theory; it is a fact. Over the past several years, nation-states have gone to great lengths to ensure mental health distress, chronic drug abuse, and illness. At the same time, the more progressive players have either instituted medically assisted suicide or made it easier for you to “qualify.”

Depending on how far gone, the State will declare its political opponents (agitators who brought them to power and agitators who oppose their power) mentally unfit, make them disappear in jails or in mental institutions where they will either kill themselves (suicide), or ask to die (assisted suicide).

We’ve shared plenty of slippery slope examples already but we’ve got two more.

Assisted suicides in California jump 63% in just one year.

The latest report by the state includes the data for 2022 assisted suicides. It shows that “853 individuals died following their ingestion of the prescribed aid- in-dying drug(s), which includes 50 individuals who received prescriptions prior to 2022.”

In 2021, 522 people died after taking drugs prescribed under the law. This means there was a 63 percent increase between 2021 and 2022.

Assisted suicide deaths in Quebec now the highest in the world.

Euthanasia in Quebec has reached seven percent of deaths, the highest in the world. Nonetheless, the head of the province’s Commission on End-of-Life Care, Dr. Michel Bureau, found it necessary to email a veiled rebuke to MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) doctors in Quebec.

According to Radio Canada, he said that there are too many euthanasia deaths administered at the limit of legal conditions and that there have been a number of MAiD deaths that have not complied with all the conditions of the legislation. He had to remind doctors that old age is not a serious and incurable condition – a criterion for a legal MAiD death.

 

But old age, like poverty, represents a significant burden on resources from which there is no return. People who are not working or unable to work tie up or drain resources. In a socialized healthcare system, I can guarantee you that “counselors” are hinting at or suggesting – even to people who are otherwise healthy – that medically assisted suicide is an option to consider.

If you think that won’t result in permission creep, then you need to brush up on progressivism. The old, poor, infirm, or chronically ill get in the way of progress. The State will find a “compassionate” way to execute them, and normalizing medically assisted suicide is the key to solving all your inconvenient political problems.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

How Much Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Is There in the COVID Spending?

Sun, 2023-08-27 00:00 +0000

A federal campaign to combat COVID-19 fraud has resulted in 718 enforcement actions so far. Criminal charges have been brought against 371 defendants for crimes related to more than $836 million in alleged Covid fraud.

We want to thank Marc Abear for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
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How much waste, fraud, and abuse is there in the Covid spending?

The U.S. Department of Justice made a PR show this week out of their efforts. Attorney General Merrick Garland said,

 

“… The Justice Department has now seized over $1.4 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that criminals had stolen and charged over 3,000 defendants with crimes in federal districts across the country…”

 

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco made the announcement launching two additional Covid Fraud Enforcement Strike Forces: one at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, the other from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. Monaco says,

 

“…The two new Strike Forces launched today will increase our reach as we continue to pursue fraudsters and recover taxpayer funds, no matter how long it takes…”

 

The two new strike forces are in addition to three others launched in September 2022. They are working from the Eastern and Central Districts of California, the Southern District of Florida, and the District of Maryland.

The 718 law enforcement actions include criminal charges, civil charges, forfeitures, guilty pleas, and sentencings, with a combined total actual loss of more than $836 million, according to the Justice Department.

Criminal charges were filed against 371 defendants, 119 of whomdefendants pled guilty or were convicted at trial.  More than $57 million in court-ordered restitution was imposed. If collected that’s a 3.8% recovery rate while prosecutors and law enforcement secured forfeiture of more than $231.4 million, that’s another 15.2% recovery.

Do you know what now happens with the recovered $288.4 million or how much the DoJ spend to recover the money? Nope.

We know federal agencies failed to use some of the tools at their disposal to prevent fraud. Did you know there’s a “Do Not Pay” list?

Don’t feel bad; neither did the people in the Government who disbursed the money even though the U.S. Treasury had set up the list of suspicious payees who should trigger additional screening.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

CDC: New Variants May Cause Infection Among Vaccinated – (No, Kidding?)

Sat, 2023-08-26 22:30 +0000

The CDC has decided to formally announce that the vaccines you got that weren’t safe or effective against older variants of SARS-CoV2-WIV may not protect you from newer strains. Or is it that your declining obedience to the approved public health fascism will not be tolerated?

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated Wednesday the new BA.2.86 COVID-19 lineage may cause infection in people who received vaccines or previously had the virus.

The CDC said it is too soon to know whether this might cause more severe illness compared with previous variants. But due to the high number of mutations detected in this lineage, there were concerns about its impact on immunity from vaccines and previous infections, the agency said.

 

Wait, there’s more.

 

“The large number of mutations in this variant raises concerns of greater escape from existing immunity from vaccines and previous infections compared with other recent variants,” the CDC stated in its assessment. “For example, one analysis of mutations suggests the difference may be as large as or greater than that between BA.2 and XBB.1.5, which circulated nearly a year apart.”

 

So, get your butt to the local pusher and get boosted with a recent version of the Jab Juice (that can’t possibly be effective against rapidly mutating variants). We promise we’ve changed the labels on the old bottles that were piling up and will continue to pretend it is necessary to prevent “severe illness.”

And don’t worry about the side effects. That’s all conspiracy chatter (even though most of it has been confirmed by documents released by the FDA).

What is not a conspiracy is that every year, the flu causes severe illness in some people. Old people, sick people, frail people. Some of them die. And seasonal flu has always been a profit silo for vaxx makers, but until 2020, we didn’t have to violate natural rights and shut the world down so they could buy more beachfront to watch the seas rise.

That’s the virus we should be concerned about.

And what’s this bit about existing immunity in the vaccinated? That’s a stretch. The data suggests the vaccinated are more likely to suffer from an impaired immune system, making them more susceptible to everything, including your BS.

The solution is not another dose (or two), but Joe Biden intends to spend a few billion on them. No worries if you don’t line up to get them; they are paid for, and in return, the government will hound you and put you on a list. The (other) bad news? People will line up to spin the revolver for another round of COVID vaccine Side-Effect Roulette.

Which, ironically, will put a more significant strain on the healthcare system as more people become susceptible to severe illness. Think of it as government-assisted suicide by other means.

 

HT | Epoch Times

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

MSNBC Doubles Down On Propaganda

Sat, 2023-08-26 21:00 +0000
Watching MSNBC on the morning after the first GOP Primary Debate makes me question what I watched for two hours the previous night. The cable network feels that having as many talking heads on the screen somehow lends credibility to their narrative.

When you have the likes of Mike Barnacle, who lost his job in Boston for plagiarism, and Reverend Al Sharpton, who made a fortune as a racist and then avoided paying taxes on his earnings, the field of political “experts’ is a fraud. Joe Scarborough tells the group what to say and think, Mika sits by his side with her bobbing head, and the panel spews the lies and propaganda the Left endorses. This network and CNN are dangerous for Democracy because they feed half of our country with filtered news and lies. They call the reporting of outlets like FOXNews and SKYNews conspiracy theories. Well, let’s break down their claims. Russian Conspiracy With Trump This is a favorite as they stretched this lie for over two years. The segment that was so rich was with Rachel Maddow and Hillary Clinton discussing the indictments of Donald Trump. Here is Hillary gloating about the system working where she beat and manipulated the system to avoid indictment and to influence an election….and she walks free. Sorry, Hillary, but the system is broken. Trump’s Call to Ukraine They impeached Trump on this lie, and now that the facts are available that exonerate him and point the finger of truth at Biden, the media avoids or denies it. Hunter Biden Laptop It was known but denied by the FBI since 2019, and the media conspired with 51 former Intelligence officers to validate the fabricated story. Hiding this story and its connection with Joe Biden cost Trump the 2020 election and gave us President Joe Biden. We will probably never see anyone held accountable for this charade, but the same people in on this fix call for Trump to be locked up for life. The Biden Money Laundering Corp We should have a separate tax rate for this type of business. With over 20 fake LLCs to funnel money through and documentation of Hunter Biden visiting 12 countries on Air Force 1 or 2 with his father, I have yet to hear a msm hack call for justice in this case. With the know take at over $20 Million by the Biden Cartel with no taxes paid, how many years in jail should Joe pay? Taxes are the least of the crime. How about treason for taking bribes from foreign adversaries? I will go to jail for saying it before Joe or Hunter do. I could go on, but the cesspool is simply too deep. The Biden Administration, including the Justice Department and the FBI, is corrupt and inflicting unmeasurable damage on our country. Half the country will know nothing of these as they get their news from these ultra-biased cable channels or their network affiliates. How these people can look at themselves in the mirror is beyond comprehension. These righteous hacks, dozens of them, should all be stripped from the airwaves. They are the real propagandists. They are the ones who should be pointing in the mirror at themselves.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Victims of Islamic Delusion

Sat, 2023-08-26 19:30 +0000

It is important to understand that the human mind is not a perfect discerner of objective reality. It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Similarly, it can be said that reality is in the mind of the beholder. The outside world only supplies bits and pieces of raw material that the mind puts together to form its perception—reality.

Depending on the type and number of bits and pieces that a given mind receives and its already in-place data, its reality can be very different from that of another mind.

The more prescribed and homogeneous a group, the greater the group’s consensual reality, since the members share much in common experiential input and reinforce each other’s mindset. Thus, members of a given religious order, for instance, tend to think much more similarly to one another than to members of other groups with different experiential histories.

Various approximations of the objective reality, therefore, rule the mind. The degree to which these approximations deviate from the larger group’s consensual reality determines their delusional extent and severity.

A narcotic mainliner, for instance, under the influence of the drug, may become convinced that a bug is burrowing under his skin. In his absolute, although false, certitude of the reality of his perception, cocaine users are known to take a knife to their own body to dig the burrowing bug out before it has penetrated too deeply.

A methamphetamine user’s reality is often distorted differently. Under the influence of the drug, an intense paranoia overtakes him. His reality is dominated by the belief that one or more people are lurking about to harm or kill him. He may wield a deadly weapon, searching for the assailants from room to room, from closet to closet.

If you believe that a bug is camping deeply in your body, you might try to dig the non-existent bug out. If you believe that people are lurking around the house to harm or kill you, you go after them before they get you. If you believe that all the troubles of the world are due to the evil-doings of the non-Muslims who war against Allah, then you do all you can to fight and kill them, particularly since Allah tells you in the Quran it is your duty to do so. (2:191-193) (3:151)

The drug-induced delusions are hallucinations. They are dramatic and usually transitory, while religiously-based implantation of ideas program the mind with lasting delusions.

Delusions, even when they are at great variance from the objective reality, can rule the mind without the need for drugs or because of neurological dysfunctions or other factors. The young and the less-educated are most vulnerable to believing charlatans, con artists, and cunning clerics’ claims as truth and reality.

A tragic example of the young’s susceptibility to induced delusion is the case of thousands of Iranian children who were used as human minesweepers in the last Iran-Iraq war. The mullahs issued made-in-China plastic keys for paradise to children as an enticement to go forward and clear the minefield with their bodies ahead of the military’s armored vehicles. The children believed the murderers and rushed to their deaths, thinking that they were headed for Islam’s glorious paradise.

The repeated, intense indoctrination of the children even changed the perception of some of the charlatan mullahs. They believed their lies, took their keys to Allah’s paradise, and rushed to their death, clinging to the plastic trinkets. Hence, some of the puppeteers, in this instance, became puppets themselves. Such are the follies and fallibilities of the human mind.

Therefore, it is understandable that many higher-up Islamic puppeteers, who are usually brainwashed from early childhood, devote their fortunes and persons to implementing their deeply engrained delusions.

Deluded by the threats and promises of Islam, poor or rich Muslims vie with one another to further the violent cause of Allah.

Many non-Muslims are also victims of a different, yet just as deadly, delusion. They believe that Islam is a religion of peace, only a small minority of Muslims are jihadists, and Muslims can be reasoned to abandon the Quran-mandated elimination of the non-believers. These well-meaning simpletons are just as deluded as the fanatic jihadists by refusing to acknowledge the fact that one cannot be a Muslim and not abide by the dictates of the Quran.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

How about The ‘Health Benefits’ of Less Government?

Sat, 2023-08-26 18:00 +0000

Did you know that Joe Biden has a health Czar? His name is Dr. George Koob, and he’s doing a terrible job. Joe is a frikkin’ wreck. Wait, my bad. Koob’s gig isn’t Health Czarin’ Biden; it is the rest of us (I thought that was the Surgeon General’s Job?).

Dr. Koob has it in his head that anecdotes about alcohol and health are misleading, and Americans should reduce their consumption of beer, wine, and spirits.

 

Americans could be urged by officials to drink no more than two beers a week as part of strict new alcohol guidelines.

Biden’s health czar told DailyMail.com the USDA could revise its alcohol advice to match Canada‘s, where people are advised to have just two drinks per week.

Dr George Koob — who admits enjoying a couple of glasses of Chardonnay a week — said he was watching Canada’s ‘big experiment’ with interest.

 

Canada is a role model … for the collapse of human rights and dignity. They’ve been at war with free speech and freedom to travel and locked bank accounts of political opponents. Canada also has a statist obsession with solving the problems it created with sanctioned assisted suicide. And their healthcare system – that’s a real winner (see previous reference to medically assisted suicide).

So yeah, let’s follow that example.

 

‘If there’s health benefits [to drinking less alcohol], I think people will start to re-evaluate where we’re at [in the US],’ he told DailyMail.com.

 

Recent data suggests that following the American federal government’s health guidance can harm your health. Alcohol consumption skyrocketed under the yoke of otherwise ineffective COVID mandates, as did drug addiction and overdose, domestic abuse, and unassisted suicide.

All preventable if we had only reduced our consumption of Government mandates. And that’s without getting into the pharmaceutical cures, suppression of safe treatments, the death by hospital protocol, and lives lost to peaceful progressive protests.

But back to the Koob problem.

Alcohol taxes play a prominent role in the budgets of most states. In New Hampshire, the state controls the liquor business – has a monopoly, in fact, on everything but beer and wine. Is the Koobster going to subsidize the loss of revenue if the Feds were to get serious and take the Czar’s health recommendations to its logical conclusion?

The two drinks maximum per week?

How do you enforce that? What are the greater impacts of lost revenues at bars and restaurants, wage attrition, income and job loss, and the mental health stress that follows?

People in that situation could probably use a drink, so thank the maker; most states have medical or legalized marijuana sales. None of those people can buy or own a firearm or travel with their medicinals across state lines – it violates federal law (unless your name rhymes with Hunter Biden) – but maybe they’ll get stoned enough not to care?

That’s all just theoretical fun and games, of course. Dr. Koob has no police powers. He’s just making observations on your dime as an expert in the field. But it looks a lot like a trial balloon to me, and as you know, those things are allowed to float across the country for days, taking pictures of our missile silo locations and military installations.

On a positive note (I suppose), Bud Light is already ahead of the game on minimizing intake, and all they had to do was anoint some prancing dufus to represent women, and people dropped that drink like a bad habit.

 

HT | Daily Mail

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Sun-King Chris Sununu … Now His Majesty Is A Comedian

Sat, 2023-08-26 16:30 +0000

That Sun-King Sununu is a funny guy. Talking about UFOs and “climate change” and ignoring … TOTALLY IGNORING … Biden’s corruption, Merrick Garland’s and Chris Wray’s corruption, Zelensky’s corruption, the “justice system” being used as a political weapon to rig elections, Maui, etc., etc., etc,. is the future of the GOP? Only if you are a grifter like Sun-King and his minions and believe that the GOP’s role is controlled opposition in order to make people believe we actually have a two-party political system, and are happy to … because you have no decency, no integrity, no morals … make money from that.

Sun-King Sununu is a funny guy … but only because he is the JOKE. And so is anybody who still thinks that this JOKE is a Republican, never mind a “leader” in the Republican Party.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

What Every Parent Needs to Know for Back-To-School …

Sat, 2023-08-26 15:00 +0000

It is Back to School time across the country. Thousands of students will be returning to the classroom in the next few weeks to begin the 2023-24 school year. In addition to preparing our students to return to school, filling out a million forms, buying that perfect backpack and stocking up on glue sticks, colored pencils and boxes of Kleenex, parents can prepare themselves for the new school year by becoming familiar with some key parental rights federal laws.

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), is a federal law that gives parents the right to inspect curriculum. Any school that receives federal funding must adhere to the PPRA. Under this law, parents can request to review the curriculum that will be used in their child’s classroom and the school must comply.  Another important feature of the PPRA is the requirement for schools to allow parents to opt their child out of certain types of invasive surveys. (RELATED: SUZANNE DOWNING: One Of America’s Greatest Role Models Snubbed By Woke School District)

An opt-out must be available to parents when surveys venture into any of the following eight topics: 1) political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent; 2) mental or psychological problems of the student or the student’s family; 3) sex behavior or attitudes; 4) illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior; 5) critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships; 6) legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers; 7) religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or student’s parent; or 8) income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such a program). If these types of questions are asked in a school-provided survey, the parent must be given the opportunity to opt their child out.

 

 

 

Alongside the PPRA, any school that receives federal funding must adhere to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). According to the United States Department of Education, “FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level.”

The following rights are available to parents under FERPA: 1) the right to inspect student’s educational records, often referred to as the “Official Student Record”; 2) the right to request incorrect records be amended if they are inaccurate or misleading; 3) the right to request a formal hearing if the records are not amended; 4) the right to request a statement be placed in the student’s file if the school decided not to amend the record; and 5) the right to expect schools to maintain the privacy of school records. (RELATED: JOHN STOSSEL: College Is A Scam)

It must not be forgotten students and parents have the right to free speech under the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects students from compelled speech – this means the school cannot force your child to affirm certain ideology, nor can the school police speech off campus. Many districts have begun implementing Bias Reporting Systems, encouraging students and staff to report speech they deem to be offensive or inappropriate. These systems are sure to face First Amendment challenges.

The first day of school is always filled with anticipation and endless possibilities for the upcoming year. It is crucial for parents to familiarize themselves with their rights under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and the free speech protections under the First Amendment. By doing so, parents can ensure increased transparency, understanding and a positive educational experience for their children.

 

Marissa Fallon | Daily Caller News Service

Marissa Fallon is Director of Advocacy at Parents Defending Education.

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.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Does California’s Proposition 12 Threaten States’ Rights?

Sat, 2023-08-26 13:30 +0000

The constitutional and economic ramifications of California’s Proposition 12, which banned the sale in California of pork from pigs held in tight confinement, are profound for the American swine industry.

The US Supreme Court’s refusal to strike down the law opens the door to challenges on other grounds, but also myriad extensions of in-state regulation that dramatically impact the commerce of other states beyond pork or other food production. With the regulations specifically impacting swine going into effect at the end of July 2023, all components of the regulation are now in force. On the surface, the newly enacted rules appear to address animal welfare. Still, the broader implications of Proposition 12 for national and international commerce – and states’ rights under the U.S. Constitution – are genuinely seismic.

Proposition 12, and Other Pork

Gestation crates are widely employed in the American pork industry to confine sows. This prevents the mothers from eating or inadvertently crushing young piglets, preventing mortality and increasing profitability. It also assists in animal management for disease treatment and prevention.

Animal rights activists in California advanced Proposition 12 to ban the practice, prohibiting the sale of swine products that contain pig parts from confined sows or their progeny. In the name of sparing sows from discomfort, however, more piglets will likely die – an odd moral trade-off. Indeed, as Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, “according to various amici, some of the scientific literature suggests that California’s requirements could worsen animal health and welfare. See, e.g., Brief for American Association of Swine Veterinarians as Amicus Curiae 4–19 …”

Economic Impacts on Pork Industry and Consumer Prices

California consumes a hefty 13% of US Pork, 99.87% of which is imported. Proposition 12 is unusual because it regulates the production and husbandry practices of other states, including the dispatch of California inspectors across the country to verify compliance. Facility transitions will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, many jobs are imperiled outside of California, and consumer prices are expected to rise.

For national US pork producers to participate in California’s markets, they must either trace animals that comply with the new law’s requirements versus those that don’t or convert their entire operations to meet California’s demands. Excluding the Golden State from distribution is untenable for most businesses, though Smithfield Foods has cut ties and is closing California operations. The nation’s costs of swine production will rise substantially, undermining international competitiveness for the US pork industry against products from nations lacking similar restrictions.

Proposition 12 and the US Constitution

What is unusual about California’s law is that, however well-intentioned, it extends into the realm of regulating activities in other states, which is directly counter to the federalist system. After unilaterally imposing its good intentions on the rest of America and its economy in the form of increased costs, will California send envoys to foreign nations with measuring tapes to inspect pig crate areas and processing facilities?

In National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, the United States Supreme Court dismissed a pork industry challenge to Proposition 12. Since the federal government has not regulated this area of commerce, the Court reasoned, states are free to impose restrictions within their own borders. In a complex alignment of opinions and partial dissents, the Court essentially sanctioned California’s scheme as constitutionally non-violative.

Notably, Justice Kavanaugh’s dissent emphasized the incursion into states’ rights this decision threatens, writing: “The State has aggressively propounded a ‘California knows best’ economic philosophy—where California in effect seeks to regulate pig farming and pork production in all of the United States. California’s approach undermines federalism and the authority of individual States by forcing individuals and businesses in one State to conduct their farming, manufacturing, and production practices in a manner required by the laws of a different State.”

Proposition 12 may seem a sensible ethical course, but it is a Trojan Horse into the citadel of states’ rights. It’s pigs’ rights today, but what cross-boundary regulations will now follow? Justice Kavanaugh recounts examples in his Ross dissent, concluding: “California’s law thus may foreshadow a new era where States shutter their markets to goods produced in a way that offends their moral or policy preferences—and in doing so, effectively force other States to regulate in accordance with those idiosyncratic state demands. That is not the Constitution the Framers adopted in Philadelphia in 1787.”

The British Gammon Experience

The American push to improve swine welfare bears contrasts with the British experience. That nation implemented swine housing regulations before the European Union, and the UK breeding pig population has declined more than 50% since 1997. The Guardian reported:

“The UK moved more quickly than other European countries in banning the practice of keeping pregnant sows in narrow stalls or chains throughout their pregnancies … The EU didn’t ban the practice until 2013. The hope had been that shoppers and retailers would support higher welfare pig meat. Instead, UK pig meat imports from Denmark rose by 50% and from Germany by 400% between 1997 and 2007.”

Had California, like the UK, simply imposed its pig protection strictures on its own turf, it would have undermined only its own producers, of which there are almost none. Like the EU, the federal government might one day regulate porcine welfare and preempt California’s effort with its own. In the interim, California’s progressive initiative will dominate national production. Pork prices there have already nearly doubled, and supplies are becoming scarce. Doubtless, this will encourage yet more Americans to flee that crumbling state.

The Ross decision frees California to tyrannize Iowa, North Carolina, and other pork-producing states with its animal ethics. But it also frees Iowa to ban almonds or other products that consume too much precious groundwater: California’s groundwater territorially, but Iowa’s to govern by morality. Or perhaps in 2025, Vermont will require all pork sold in the state to come from pigs that get ten hours of sunshine daily, listen to Public Radio, and dine on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream at least once weekly. Then we will see what the Supreme Court has to say about states regulating the lands and commercial activities of other states.

 

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

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Is Chris Sununu Pressuring Sec-o-State David Scanlan to Block Trump from NH’s Primary Ballot? [Update]

Sat, 2023-08-26 12:00 +0000

Governor Sununu has an on-and-off relationship with constitutional limitations on his power. When he feels the urge to invoke them, it’s a speed-dial booty call, but when they get in his way, he kicks them to the curb (without cab fare). And he’d do anything to stop Donald Trump from getting the nomination.

Consider that commitment as you read this.

 

[New Hampshire] Secretary of State David Scanlan, who will oversee the first-in-the-nation presidential primary in just five months, said he’s received several letters lately that urge him to take action based on legal theory that claims the Constitution empowers him to block Trump from the ballot.

Scanlan, a Republican, said he’s listening and will seek advice to ensure that his team thoroughly understands the arguments at play.

 

Are those letters subject to RSA 91a, the Granite State’s Right-to-Know Law, because “several letters” sounds to me like from Chris Sununu. Or maybe they are from his “girlfriend in Canada.”

Sketchy. Suspicious, dubious, fishy.

It would put His Excellency in the same category as Gavin Newsom or Kathy Hochul.

The Democratic process, the foundation of our system of government, appears poised to produce a result with which we disagree. How can I stop that?

It’s election meddling, and I’d bet money Chris Sununu has had conversations behind closed doors with Scanlan’s office, if not Scanlan himself, about shadows or penumbras that could keep Trump off the Ballot.

My advice?

Go ahead and try it.

You’ll be hand-counting write-ins for days: It’ll look like Iowa for the Dems a few years back. Um, yeah, sorry, we don’t know who one yet.

 

The New York Post (post) primary debate (at which Trump did not appear) shows his lead widening to 52 points: Trump 61, DeSantis 9, Ramaswamy 5, Pence 5, Haley 2, Scott 3, Christie 1, Hutchinson, Burgum, Elder, Hurd 0.

Insider advantage has Trump with a 27-point lead two days after. Trump 45, DeSantis 18, Ramaswamy 7, Pence 2, Haley 11, Scott 3, Christie 4, Hutchinson 1, Burgum 1, Elder 1, Hurd 1.

Morning Consults Poll Results (44-points ahead): Trump 58, DeSantis 14, Ramaswamy 11, Pence 6, Haley 3, Scott 3, Christie 4, Hutchinson 0, Burgum 0, Elder, Hurd 0.

 

Trump running in New Hampshire is good for political tourism. You may not like him, but he will draw a small fortune that fills hotels and restaurants and lights a fire under the local economy. Trump on the Ballot is good for New Hampshire.

But go ahead and tell me that DeSantis, Pence, Haley, Scott, or Christie will make up the difference. All combined, they are less exciting or of interest than Donald Trump. And maybe that’s the answer. Perhaps what Secretary of State Scanlan needs is “several” more letters (from actual Republicans) suggesting to him that taking Trump off the Ballot would be a bad idea.

Here is the email address: elections@sos.nh.gov.

Reminder: Be polite. No one gains anything in this circumstance by being an obnoxious douche, and make sure to include your name and town so they know you’re from New Hampshire.

 

Update:

“[…] New Hampshire attorney Bryant “Corky” Messner, whom Trump previously endorsed in New Hampshire’s 2020 U.S. Senate race, is apparently responsible for getting the idea on Scanlan’s radar. Messner recently announced plans to sue to ensure Scanlan enforces the Fourteenth Amendment against Trump.

“I really don’t view myself as turning on Trump, as odd as that sounds,” Messner told ABC News. “I love this country. I’ve served this country. I’ve taken an oath to this country. My sons are serving right now and I believe someone’s got to step up to defend the Constitution.”

“Someone needs to take some action legally so this thing can get in front of the Supreme Court sooner rather than later to interpret this section,” he added.

Scanlan’s office confirmed Messner and Scanlan met Friday to discuss Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment but announced the secretary of state will meet with the state attorney general before making any decisions.[…]”

 

Just the other day, I was wondering what Corky had been up to these days. Now I know. And how close are Sununu and Messner? I have no idea but I’m having a hard time accepting that after years of TDS, His Excellency isn’t somehow involved.

I’m clinging. I admit it.

 

The post Is Chris Sununu Pressuring Sec-o-State David Scanlan to Block Trump from NH’s Primary Ballot? [Update] appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

An Open letter to Executive Councilor Dave Wheeler (on the “Appointment” of DJ Bettencourt).

Sat, 2023-08-26 10:30 +0000

Councilor Wheeler:

Even though you have never answered any of my previous emails, which include pleas to reject the federal money that nine people were arrested over on 10/13/21 and the bad judge appointments of Gordon MacDonald and Anne Edwards, I am emailing you once again to go on record that I oppose the appointment of DJ Bettencourt, someone who doesn’t even come from the insurance business.

Bettencourt was in the news last year for a domestic violence arrest that you can read about here. The charges were later dropped after he was placed on “administrative leave” for about seven weeks. It’s unclear if such time was paid (at our expense, mind you) or not, and it is unclear what caused the charges to be dropped, but I want to focus on an issue that I find even more important regarding public servants, and that’s dishonesty.

Admittedly, I was a low-information voter in 2012 and did not know who Bettencourt was at the time. Nine years later, and while receiving a campground firewood delivery, I had an interesting conversation with the owner, Senator Giuda’s brother Brandon. Brandon had served as a representative at the time of the scandal involving Bettencourt lying about his law school work. I won’t get into the minutia of the story, so I’ll refer you to this link, and encourage you to contact Brandon with any follow-up questions you might have.

I would have otherwise not noticed this appointment had I not been on the executive council page looking for something else. When I saw his name, I vividly recalled my talk with Brandon and how he said he took a lot of crap from the “establishment elite,” including Old Man Sununu, for speaking up as a whistleblower. “Nothing to see here; don’t make such a big deal,” was their message.

Last night, I emailed Brandon at his campground in Lancaster to point out the upcoming hearing on September 6 just in case he’s enjoying his post-Concord life too much to be on top of such things. He answered within the hour, thanking me for reaching out and reiterating what he had said to me two years ago, among other stuff, and that he would not be at the hearing.

What I also learned was that Bettencourt has never had an ordinary private-sector job. While being a “Republican Ed Markey,” or as Howie Carr would say, “Mr Frosty,” does not make one a criminal, public distrust in government is at an all-time high. Dishonesty should never be tolerated in public servants, elected or appointed, on either side of the aisle.

Please do the right thing and put an end to this bureaucrat’s career that has no relevance to what’s on his resume that can be verified. It would be a good effort to right the ship and work towards redemption.

 

The post An Open letter to Executive Councilor Dave Wheeler (on the “Appointment” of DJ Bettencourt). appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Harvard Grad Students Are Eligible for SNAP?

Sat, 2023-08-26 01:30 +0000

It’s wicked expensive living near or around the City of Boston, so what are poor Harvard Grad Students to do when an institution with a 53 billion dollar endowment leaves them to fend for themselves? The cure is to sign them up for SNAP, the federal food assistance program.

 

The Health Services office sent a flier to graduate students, encouraging them to participate in the SNAP Benefits Sign-Up event in April. The flier read, “Fuel your body & stock your pantry. Did you know that grad students may qualify for assistance paying for food & groceries?”

 

Students paying Harvard-level tuition are destined (more than likely) for one-percenter jobs – if they even need to work – living at a university that could feed the entire student body like Kings and queens without blinking an eye need your money for food assistance. Few things could sound more backward. And according to Yahoo! Finance they get paid 40K a year which might admittedly isn’t much given the location.

But still. The optics and that goes both ways.

Times are so tough that Harvard grad students can’t afford to eat.

 

Approximately 30% of Harvard’s grad students are international, so they are ineligible to apply for SNAP. This means that the solution presented by the university fails to support about one-third of its graduate students adequately.

 

The solution to that seems simple enough. Leave and sneak back across the southern border. You’ll get a nice hotel room and free meals.

 

The post Harvard Grad Students Are Eligible for SNAP? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Bananas: Republican Debate Knee Deep In the Cheese State

Sat, 2023-08-26 00:00 +0000

Milwaukee, Wisconsin was the site of this year’s first Republican Primary Debate and the raucous crowd of cheese-loving patriots were not disappointed as the candidates squeezed plenty of cheesy moments out for them and some 13 million Americans watching from home.

Among those qualifying for the stage were former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, Governor of Florida Ron Desantis, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, billionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and a guy from North Dakota named Doug.

Not in attendance at the debate was President Donald Trump, who currently enjoys a 62% approval rating among Republican voters.  This is forty-six points against his closest competitor Ron Desantis (16%) and just shy of the number of charges brought against him by Democrats in Georgia, New York, Florida, and the District of Columbia.  Trump chose not to bolster his opponents by instead being interviewed by former Fox top-rated television personality Tucker Carlson.

The moderators for the event were Fox News Martha McCollum and Brett Baier, who doubled as nannies for the unruly crowd and candidates at times threatening to put them in time-out and once even suggesting Mike Pence might need a spanking if he kept interrupting.

The fireworks came early and often as Vivek Ramaswamy’s opening comments included levying an insult to all seven candidates as “bought and paid for,” which drew cheers and jeers from the audience. This led to former V.P. Mike Pence calling him a “rookie” and stating, “running the country isn’t the same as running your gas station Apu,” at which point the gloves were off.

Mrs. Haley, clad in a light-blue afro-cotton blazer from Martha Stewart’s new Martha’s Vineyard line, began by chiding the field for their irresponsible spending of American tax-payer money. Included in this criticism was President Trump, who saw the debt increase by nearly a trillion dollars.  After her criticism, the beleaguered President’s numbers went up another two points.

Up next, the candidates were asked about their stance on Ukraine, which all but Ramaswamy supported. Haley again chided the young Harvard grad by reminding him of his lack of experience and accused him of implicitly supporting a “murderer” in Vladimir Putin. She finished by reminding the listeners that Ukraine is a “pro-American country” and, without a hint of irony, that “we paid good money for that,” motioning to her coterie of supporters from Raytheon.

An audience member was then given the chance to ask a carefully-groomed question about climate change being the most important issue for young Americans. Ramaswamy again took the negative position, referring to it as a “hoax.”  This time, Governor Christie took a swing at the young upstart by suggesting Ramaswamy also believed the earth was flat.  The svelte Indian-American must not have heard the comment clearly over the loud roar from the crowd because he responded by saying, “You are fat, Governor Krispy Kreme,” which was followed by a series of “I know you are, but what am I” parries.

The handling of January 6th by Mike Pence became the focus, and candidates were asked if they agreed with his decision to not exercise his white house privilege to recall the vote. A pensive Pence took this moment to remind the American people of his super-double-duper faith in Jesus Christ and oath on the Bible he swore to the Constitution, not Donald Trump (who immediately saw another two-point increase), then broke into a semi-spontaneous rendition of “Amazing Grace” before reminding everyone he stands with Ukraine and recommends we bomb Russia back to the stone ages. This was received by a smattering of applause from his donors at McDonnell-Douglas.

Ron Desantis, when asked his position regarding Pence’s decision, said had “no beef” with the former vice president before reminding everyone how important it is to look forward rather than look back to the political mayhem of January 6th.  He followed this quickly by reciting his record as America’s favorite governor who has single-handedly taken on the tyrannical theme park giant Disney, only to be trolled by the other seven debaters who broke into “It’s A Small World.”  So goofy!

One candidate who was not invited to participate despite garnering the necessary support was Larry Elder. When Banana’s Media asked why he was not allowed to participate, we were told there were already too many white supremacists participating, and they already had Tim Scott.

The avuncular Tim Scott was perhaps the most congenial of the candidates, often pleading with the listener to remember the plight of the poor from whence he came. Quite the American success story, a black man one generation from cotton picking slaves had made it all the way to the senate of the most powerful nation in the land. Fox then ran a commercial at the break celebrating the senator’s heart-warming story with their world-exclusive premiere “Uncle Tim’s Cabin.”

Trump was again brought into focus, which had Governor Krispy up in arms as he reminded the people the conduct of Donald Trump was not only likely criminal but “beneath the office of the presidency,” similar to the location where secret service agents recently found a bag of cocaine.

Finally, an odd line of questioning featured Baier asking Christie if the recent reports on UFO’s were something he would disclose to the American public, however, the cameras panned over to Governor Asa Hutchinson for an uncomfortably long amount of time as did the sideward glances of the other candidates.  Hutchinson’s appeared to glitch momentarily before reminding everyone Donald Trump is a racist, vaulting Mr. Trump up another twelve percentage points putting him at nearly 97% by the close of the evening.

As of the time of publishing the Vegas odds for Trump to win the presidency are now 2-1, which are the same odds of him dying in a plane crash somewhere over Arkansas before November of next year.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

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