Tuesday • May 14 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XX
Manchester, N.H.
After Conquering Twitter, Elon Musk Set To Invade Facebook
The world of social media geopolitics is undergoing a shift of apocalyptic proportions.
The world’s richest man Elon Musk was seen shirtless riding on a pale stallion as he entered Twitter headquarters just outside San Francisco. The Twitter office atmosphere, normally placid consisting of quietly sipped lattes and the soft buzzing of indoor Segways was bedlam. Loud shrieks were reported by passersby and bodies could be seen jettisoning themselves from the one-story building onto the well-manicured lawn below.
Serried by a band of IPad toting millennials dressed in business casual jeans and cleverly sloganed t-shirts, Musk strode triumphantly to his new office with the corner window overlooking the Whole Foods Market across the street. He immediately tore down the portraits of Stalin and Mao and replaced them with a war map of the social media landscape.
Just a few miles away, the Facebook headquarters was abuzz with rumors of a hostile takeover by the Musk army. For months, reports have been leaking out of Facebook headquarters that the small collection of conservative employees being held against their will by the cruel tyrant Mark Zuckerberg had sealed off a portion of the Instagram department preparing to vote on fully annexing themselves to Twitter.
Musk is reported to have been circling the Twitter campus repeatedly yelling “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?” as soon-to-be former employees, binary and non, lay curled up in the fetal positions sobbing along the promenade.
Banana’s social media war correspondents will remain on the ground via Zoom for continued reports.
The post Musk To Annex Instagram from Facebook appeared first on Granite Grok.
Libertine:
A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour observed by the larger society.[1][2] Libertinism is described as an extreme form of hedonism.[3] Libertines put value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses. As a philosophy, libertinism gained new-found adherents in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, particularly in France and Great Britain. Notable among these were John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and the Marquis de Sade.
As opposed to ordered Liberty but contrasting the two is a whole ‘nother series of posts that I’m not willing to dive into right now (perhaps later, just not now).
The reason I am doing THIS post is this one from CNN that illustrates the nuttiness and chaos that we Normals are supposed to put up with because of this social contagion called Transgenderism. It renders history not just moot but to be abolished, it treats biology as a thing that one can skip one way this moment to the other way in the next moment, and the use of pronouns (while not as bad as some others I’ve read) to be useless (the redefining of our common language so as to no longer be precise but muddied, muddled, and moronic).
Reality has no problem in knocking them off their dysphoria (reformatted, emphasis mine):
‘We’re a part of this movement, too.’ Transgender and nonbinary people say they feel excluded from the abortion fight
(CNN) — Mikiko Galpin still feels the impact of being sexually assaulted by someone he thought he could trust – and the tough decisions he was forced to make after multiple pregnancy scares. When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June, it was a sad and heavy moment for the 29-year-old transgender man. He was taken back to the first time he took a pregnancy test prior to transitioning. He recalls crying in the passenger seat of a friend’s car at 2 a.m. trying to search for a pharmacy that was still open so he could buy a pregnancy test.
Look, I’m not making light or sport about getting molested or raped. That is not my point and NO ONE should ever suffer that harm.
What I AM objecting to is the complete rejection that he was a girl at that point of his life – but with the use of “preferred pronouns”, one can only scratch their heads going “what, a man who gets raped needs a pregnancy test?”; certainly that was my thought as I first missed “prior to transitioning” as I was speed reading to make sense of the post’s title.
Sorry, this makes no biological sense whatsoever – men can’t get pregnant. And this is part of the Chaos that transgenderism is bringing to Society: that “What, HUH?” moments in which you wonder what is going on. Gaslighting is what this is – an attempt to make you believe, at a psychological level, something you KNOW isn’t true.
Sorry, men and men and can’t get pregnant. In this case, girls and women can get pregnant – and no yammering about how one can be the other without transgressing absolute facts is true. But that’s the point – to do away with absolutes. The Left hates absolutes – those that believe that there are fundamental things that exist outside of themselves like sex and gender are the same thing, cannot be manipulated for any ideological reason.
Jane can’t be Johnny no matter how hard she tries.
At the time, Galpin said he felt trapped and didn’t know where to turn while navigating the complexities of a pregnancy scare resulting from a traumatic experience. An anxious Galpin feared the potential of upending his life to care for a baby at a young age.
“I just wanted to get a pregnancy test and know if I was pregnant at that point, and just feeling that complete sense of having no control over this really big part of your life,” Galpin said. “I think when the decision came down, I had that same feeling of not having control over this very momentous and personal thing that myself and other people who have reproductive abilities are going to go through in the coming months and years.”
Although Galpin turned out not to be pregnant, those fears about who gets to decide his reproductive rights still linger.
Few people like being out of control and what happened shouldn’t have. But “who gets to decide HIS reproductive rights ” brings most people to thinking “Vasectomy? Physical castration?” and not abortion. Again, one has to double-think everything in this kind of presentation – and that shouldn’t have to happen, doesn’t happen, unless language has been co-opted for ideological purposes.
In short, it creates chaos of thought because chaos of speech is deliberately happening to us all right now.
There is much more to the CNN piece that I’m not going to fisk but it is all about women who believe they are men. It is replete, however with the corruption of our language to make us believe that which we know is not real.
Oh, it may be real to that person. I’ve been saying for a few years now that if you think you are something that you aren’t (a man believing he is a woman or a girl thinking she is a boy), knock yourself out. If your family and friends accept that, more power to you. However, leave me out of it. DON’T demand that I have to accept your gender dysphoria and, even worse, affirm who you are. Not your place to demand that I bow to your libertinism.
Sidenote: Note not only the pronoun mangling in the post but is also had “misgendering” and “cisgender”. Tell me, before 10 years ago, did you ever hear anyone speak or write in those terms? No, neither have I. And yet, there is an explosion of such “ideological words” that typical “hip” Leftists are spouting from their Moral Superiority high horse. Include “genderfluidity” and “transition” as if that terminology is based on fact.
No, you may present yourself as a guy today and a gal tomorrow (or even both during the same day) but presentation isn’t reality. You can’t “fluidly” change your biology and trying to enforce your groupthink that gender and biological sex are different.
And if you are ragingly insisting that they are, well, you are Oppressing me to be a Marginalized Person of Faith.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
(H/T: CNN)
The post Welcome to the Chaos of CNN writing about Transgender Men, mangling history and grammar, and what this is doing to Society? appeared first on Granite Grok.
If you watch their campaign ads, you would think that the world is safe, the economy is sound, the Border is secure, and the education system is the best in the world. If you buy their message, then you must be living in a bubble.
We have a chance to change our direction with our vote in a few weeks. I am not sure I have faith in the American voters to do the right thing for America. Some people are so entrenched in their lifetime belief that the Democrats are for the little guy, the hardworking American. They are wrong, and we need to convince them why.
Look no further than New York and Pennsylvania to see what I mean. Kathy Hochul was sworn in as Governor when Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace. She has proven she is ill-prepared to be the chief executive of any entity, let alone one of our most populous states. While crime is destroying the large cities of her state, her concern has been changing words in state documents to align with WOKE philosophies. People are leaving New York by the thousands, and New York is even losing seats in Congress. She has no plan to change this trend but commands a 20-point lead in her race. Insanity.
In Pennsylvania, we have the Democrat Lieutenant Governor running for Senate. It is unfortunate for John Fetterman to have had a debilitating stroke, but it is unfortunate for the state that he will not step aside and concentrate on getting himself healthy. Before his stroke, Fetterman was still a dangerous politician who was more concerned with the rights of people who broke the law than their victims. Serving on the state parole board, he worked to put hardened criminals back into society quickly. What we got was a rising crime rate.
In New Hampshire, Senator Maggie Hassan was asked what she would do to right the economy and lessen the impact of crime. Her answer was alarming. She said she would continue to do what she has been doing for the last six years. Sorry, Maggie. Bad answer. What you are doing is giving us record inflation, a recession, $31 Trillion of debt, and a less safe state with a severe drug problem. If you think that works for Granite Staters, it is time you step aside.
Look at the list of stands the Democrats have taken:
That is just a short list. I am sure we can come up with more dangerous policies and beliefs. Democrats call MAGA Republicans a crisis for Democracy. Please explain to me how any of the items on this list are conducive to a healthy and prosperous society. I will not hold my breath waiting for a response. Please vote with your head and not with habits from the past. The Democrat Party is not that of your parents. Your parents would be appalled at the direction the Left has us heading.
The post How Can Any Voter Cast for a Democrat appeared first on Granite Grok.
And the NH State GOP is PAYING for it? Good going, dufuses, right off target again! Yep, sent right to my house:
What is Chair Stepanek / Executive Director Eliot Gault? Is this just more of the “getting a body into the slot” regardless that drives us in the base so nutty? No discipline at all (something that Stepanek said he was going to start doing at the beginning of his tenure). And why do I say that? Let’s start with the NH GOP Platform:
We believe in free people, free markets and free enterprise.
And unions are not about any sense of Freedom. Sure, they have the First Amendment Right to assemble together but why should they have the ability to lock others out of jobs simply through the mechanism of a closed shop (“you must join the union to work here – or pay us tribute if you don’t join”). It’s CLEAR that the NH GOP SAYS it’s about free markets but when it looks the other way concerning Republicans taking union money, those in charge know that their votes aren’t going to be about Right To Work but, instead, perpetuating Being Turned Away because UNIONS.
Now, Brodie Deshaies will no longer be in the NH State Legislature – as a RINO, several groups independently converged on him during the primary and well illustrated his dismal voting record to his voters. They took note and tossed him into the trash. I also noted that his Common Sense PAC received just about all of its campaign money from two unions ( So, Look Where Brodie Deshaies Is Getting His Campaign Money From! Hint: Right to Work). I also noted who much of the funds were disbursed to (“So, Look Where Brodie Deshaies Is Spending His Union Campaign Money To! One of Them Surprised Me“) – mostly those state reps that have been backed by the Democrat organized, funded, and run Political Action Committee called Citizens for Belknap here in (where else?) Belknap County. They have been dubbed “the Lang Gang” and I’ve illustrated their voting records on Right To Work before (going against the Party). In part, I bet, because of Brodie’s “union contribution”:
In that post, I pointed out a surprise – Howard Pearl, who got $5,000 from union money peddling Deshaies. I dryly note that Right To Work is not one of the issues listed on his ISSUES PAGE. Guess that kind of freedom doesn’t quite make it for him – for 5,000 reasons?
Tim Lang has a website but is devoid of any issue statements so I can’t “remind” him by using the Platform. However, the UNIONS did remind him that they are demanding his fealty to them – with $5,000, just like with Howard. Deshaies’s latest PAC filing tells the story: the leader of the Lang Gang is also now on the Union teat:
(click to embiggen)
SO, ladies and gents of the Republican Party? What do you think is going to happen in the NH State Senate if another Right To Work bill appears on the docket this session (and I am told there will be one)? Will the people that you voted for (in this case, Pearl and Lang), expecting that they will follow the Republican Platform, actually FOLLOW the Platform? Or simply brushed under the rug as “well, I’m with you 80% of the time – while holding that handful of money behind their backs as they tell you that?
Follow the money. First, you have to FIND the money. Fortunately, a loyal reader showed me where Brodie’s money was coming from. From there, it was easy to see where it went.
Which Party loves them Union money the most? It’s still the Democrats – but it is seeping elsewhere.
You reward their stances on this issue by voting for these elective representatives. You can ALSO tell them “HECK NO!” by voting for someone else. Heck, write me in as a protest vote if you live in District 2!
Heh!
The post GOP Candidate Tim Lang (NH Sen. Dist. 2) Is Sucking from the Union PAC Teat – AND Getting the NH GOP to Push Out Mailers for Him? appeared first on Granite Grok.
As predicted in the last Monday Memes, and in the Meme Overflow, I have an overflow-overflow. Enjoy, and Happy Friday!
If you could, if you send a meme to someone, please say that you found it here (or whichever meme post is appropriate) and give the link. In theory, it will get at least some to pop over and look. The idea being is that they may peruse other memes which might then get through as Thought Splinters. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Part IV is making snails-pace progress and I have a few other things I’m also poking at. Work is… work and I’m playing project manager for a home remodel project too.
Now, let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:
*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***
Note: Somehow the formatting seems a little off. Apologies.
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OK, that’s really funny. Also:
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Do I believe gays, etc., should be discriminated against? No. But I’m no longer willing to tolerate their behaviors, especially when it impacts my children.
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Years ago, working in a bridge job at a college, it was just before the 2016 election and everyone was in a blind panic that Trump might win. One person in particular was petrified, “He’ll start a world war”!
HE didn’t, but the party she likes seems determined to actually do it with how hard they’re poking the Russian bear. But then the Left has played that fear porn recording every election. Every GOP candidate would start WWIII. And it will be truly Scadenboner territory – even with a horrific cost – if the Potato actually has it happen on his watch.
#Belarus Minister of Defense : #NATO preparing for war.#Minsk cannot ignore the militarization of its Western neighbors, as there is concrete evidence that the countries of the #NATO are preparing their infrastructure and troops for war.#NATORussiaWar pic.twitter.com/5jXfc9hFVI
— UkraineNews (@Ukraine66251776) October 5, 2022
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Pick of the post:
And Bill Whittle weighs in on this in an excellent piece about this – specifically, the use of Critical Theory and the lack of context / perspective:
Bill accurately calls out that Critical Theory never demands context. It never demands an alternative. It’s purpose is solely to tear down.
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Palate Cleanser:
The post Friday Meme Overflow-Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.
This is a cute little clip titled, Why I Vote Democrat. It gets the message across. Democrats hate it! Love the ending – the most important part!
(H/T: Dave)
The post Be a Better White Person – Vote Democrat appeared first on Granite Grok.
Hurricane Ian is bringing extraordinary events to the open-air prison that is the island of Cuba, the people are rising up, and the tyrannical government is begging for help from Biden.
Something strange is happening in the communist ‘Utopia’ that is Cuba. Despite what many of the anti-liberty left would have you believe, their socialist national agenda has never worked in the history of mankind. Before we see the blunderbuss of BS on the subject from the enemies of liberty on the left, we need to remind everyone of a few facts:
Despite the ‘embargo’ the US trades with Cuba, it exports about $ 324.1 million worth of goods to Cuba each year.
The ‘embargo’ has many exceptions. Cuba also trades with the rest of the world. So much for the ‘embargo’ excuse.
As they say, facts are stubborn things, this means that anti-liberty leftists don’t have that excuse, and once again, it should be clear that collectivism (communism, Castroism, fascism, leftism, Leninism, socialism, Stalinism, etc.) Has never worked, no matter what it’s called, with it being tried all over the world for the past 400 years, with Cuba being a prime example of that trial and that abject failure.
Now in the aftermath of hurricane Ian, the people have had enough.
When a collectivist government claims to ‘care’ about people and restore ‘equity’ and socialist justice. But only seems to redistribute the wealth – to them. Sound familiar? The people rightfully rise up and start protesting, and as of Sunday night, they’ve taken to the streets for the third day in a row.
This includes this extraordinary video of the State Security of the communist Castro dictatorship forced to retreat from the people:
PROTESTS IN HAVANA CUBA ON SEPT 30, 2022 [Watch]
The illegitimate communist regime of Díaz-Canel is now taking the extraordinary step of begging their fellow collectivists in the Biden regime for help.
After the islandwide blackout caused by Hurricane Ian, Cubans took to the streets in parts of Havana and elsewhere to protest the lack of power and to demand the resignation of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, “Everybody is angry,” said Camilo Condis, a self-employed Havana electrical contractor. “The worst thing is food, which is so difficult to get, and it rots when the power is out.” Mr. Condis said he had no electric power or water pressure in his house.
Cuba fears a repetition of an unprecedented wave of protests in July 2021 that shook the government when tens of thousands of Cubans took to the streets in dozens of towns and cities throughout the island demanding freedom and the resignation of Mr. Díaz-Canel. The demonstrations were also sparked by extended blackouts and deteriorating economic conditions.
In the months following the protests, Cuba charged some 930 people with crimes linked to the demonstrations and imprisoned at least 675 people, some to terms as long as 25 years, according to Cubalex, a human rights organization which monitors the island.
Anti-liberty leftists need to realize that they are on the side of the collectivists, the oppressors, and against the people. You socialists of the nation’s left need to always remember that it’s the far left that is the source of oppression in this world, despite the outright lies you try to tell yourselves.
Despite your fatuous labels and lies, you aren’t ‘progressive’ or the party of freedom. Neither are you the ‘resistance’ that you’ve convinced yourself that you are. You are the oppressors, the people behind the batons and the teargas. You are fighting against the spirit of this song:
HOMELAND AND LIFE: PATRIA Y VIDA. THE SONG THAT IS TAKING OVER CUBA [Watch]
D Parker Writes at The Blue State Conservative
The post Is Biden Going To Rescue The Castro Dictatorship From The Enraged People Of Cuba? appeared first on Granite Grok.
We’ve covered negative efficacy among the COVID jabbed and boosted, but this is that with a twist. Kaiser Permanente did some research relative to COVID “vaccination,” its insurance plans, and its healthcare business. Maybe they wanted to determine if the unvaccinated cost more. They discovered the opposite.
The Jab is worse than just ineffective.
Kaiser did something unusual: it actually sequenced 16,418 positive COVID samples to determine the Omicron subvariant with which the enrollees were infected.
What it found was that for 4 out of 5 Omicron subvariants by 150 days (5 months) post shot, efficacy had fallen into negative territory, and Kaiser’s thrice-vaccinated enrollees were more likely to get COVID than the unvaccinated.
The Boosted are at a greater health risk than the unvaccinated, which also means they are a more expensive health risk for insurers. And not just for persistent illness. As we’ve also reported (one example), the post-vaccine world is wrestling with sudden adult death syndrome. I am referring to the 40% plus or minus spike in deaths among otherwise healthy adults in the wake of a massive global push to inject experimental pharmaceuticals into people.
Related: Data From 145 Countries Show The Jab Increased Cases and Deaths
Negative efficacy even against death: Well, at least the shots still work against critical illness, right? Wrong! Deaths have largely plummeted across all groups given that Omicron is not nearly as pathogenic as the previous versions of the virus, but data continues to show the overwhelming number of deaths to be among the vaccinated. It turns out that in the month of June, 92% of all COVID deaths in Canada were among the vaccinated, even though they composed a slightly smaller share of the population (85%). Even more telling is the fact that 81% of the deaths were among those who had three or more doses, even though those individuals only account for 34% of the population.
And here’s the terrible news. If you are “vaccinated,” you are less likely to get sick and die if you only got the first two shots (but still not less than the unvaccinated). Talk about irony. The Public Health Industrial Complex, upon discovering that they could no longer hide how their cure didn’t work, pushed boosters as the proper response. Another human test trial and the results are in: you are more likely to get sick, more often, need hospitalization, or drop dead if boosted than not.
Either from COVID or something else or from the vaccine damaging you.
And that’s not just their problem. Jabbed donors are polluting the blood supply, and we have no idea if that translates to similar problems among either the jabbed or not-jabbed who receive this blood.
As for dealing with more COVID, the Public Health Industrial Complex response is another booster – the Biden admin bought millions of them – but it is already obsolete.
One of the likely culprits for negative efficacy is that the shots prime the body to respond to a version of the virus that has long since changed, thereby making the natural immune response misfire. Supporters of endless jabs will suggest that this is why they created the new bivalent shot for BA.5 (the one that was studied in eight mice and no humans). However, an entirely new variant is already surging, rendering this shot just as irrelevant and likely counterproductive. According to the CDC, BA.4.6 now represents 13% of all COVID-19 cases and is rising sharply, with some other variants breaking out as well.
Obsolete if the plan is to prevent infection from COVID. If you are trying to harm or kill them, the bivalent booster is probably made to order.
HT | Dr. Meryl Nass – Substack
HT | Daniel Horowitz
The post Insurance Company Discovers Triple Vaxxed More Likley to Get COVID than Unvaccinated appeared first on Granite Grok.
We are living an exciting period of history regarding sportsbook betting in New Hampshire and across the United States. Often used as a political tool to score points and build favour, online gambling is fast becoming a weapon across the US.
Thankfully, the rule-makers working in the Granite State are already ahead of the game, and residents are enjoying their newfound freedoms, betting on futures and other exciting markets, while millions across the land watch on in envy.
When officials lifted the long-running and often controversial ban on betting in the White House, each state has handed the power to make its mind up on betting. Should it be legalised and enjoyed responsibly by millions while the local government sets taxes and benefits from inviting the world’s top names from sportsbook betting to play? It’s certainly appealing as the nation fights back from the devastating effects of the pandemic, which, of course, hit us all financially.
Changes were made
In 2019, seeing what was coming and knowing the winds of change were gathering pace, New Hampshire voted to legalise online sportsbook gambling. That means you are no longer required to up sticks and travel for many hours to Las Vegas simply to place a bet on the next NFL game shown live on television or the next big horse race that grabs your fancy. This can now be done at the touch of a button using your smartphone or desktop computer. But that’s not the case everywhere.
Online gambling isn’t yet legal nationwide, which can confuse some people. You can bet at home in New Hampshire, wagering using your smartphone on the totals in an NBA match, but what about when on vacation or working on the road? How do you know which states you can bet in and which trying to do so would see you thrown in jail?
The subject of sports betting is a tricky one at present, with people not entirely clear where they stand. We all want to be good citizens and follow the laws of the land as best we can, but that’s not always easy. It’s even more of a challenge when we aren’t exactly sure what the rules are, or they keep changing. Thankfully, there’s one trick that will always keep you right when online sportsbook betting is involved.
Keep yourself legalWe know online betting is legal in New Hampshire and has been for over three years. Despite the interruption of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, you would have noticed that the gambling industry is beginning to take root in the region and has become part of everyday life for sports fans in the area. Changes to the laws have even allowed our local sports teams, both professional and amateur, to work closely with major betting brands and collect sponsorship or advertising revenue.
A study of gambling in New Hampshire showed more bets are placed using a smartphone than a desktop computer or at a land-based sportsbook or casino. And that makes keeping on the right side of the law even easier. Simply enable geolocation services on your handset – especially when travelling across the United States and overseas. Your device will now recognise exactly where you are in the world.
Let the app lead you
If you have downloaded a betting app to your handset, you can access it from anywhere. Deposit funds, withdraw winnings, check scores and compare betting odds. This can be done at work, on the train, or whilst out for lunch. Anytime and anywhere.
When you are ready to bet – or want to check the local laws regarding betting – simply fire up your betting app. If gambling is legal in an area you’re in; you will gain access to the app and your betting account in seconds.
Your app will display this information if betting is banned in that region. When attempting to log on to the app, you’ll be met with a message informing you that gambling is illegal in the area and that no bets will be accepted or honoured. When you move around, the location settings on your smartphone easily keep up.
The post Sports Betting in New Hampshire: What you need to know appeared first on Granite Grok.
Joe Biden has always claimed that he was the best option for President because of his years of experience in the Senate. His claim, like most of his Presidency to date, was bogus. Biden continues to fall flat on the global stage, and his most recent failure is with Saudi Arabia.
In July, Biden visited the rich desert country and fist-pumped the crown prince. This show of friendship was with a man that Biden had called a pariah. Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 murder of former Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. In 2019, Biden promised he would make Saudi Arabia “the pariah that they are.” Biden was in Saudi Arabia to beg for oil to ease the crisis in America brought about by Biden’s poor energy policies.
When Joe Biden took office in 2021, the average cost of gasoline was $2.35. In less than two years, that average rose to over $5.00 until he started a withdrawal program from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He signed an order to release one million barrels daily for six months. This 180 million barrels, along with reduced demand, did reduce gas prices temporarily, and Biden took credit for the falling prices. About ten days ago, the prices started rising again, and Biden panicked. Biden, and all Democrats, cannot afford costs to spike before the midterms.
This week, OPEC Plus, which is the Middle Eastern oil producers plus Russia, announced they would be cutting their output by two million barrels daily. This is a shocking development for Biden as he felt his diplomacy had secured support from OPEC. Biden now has to dip again into the SPR as he negotiates with other sources of crude. He has already begun to bolster his standing with the rogue regime that controls Venezuela, including a prisoner swap this week. We do not recognize Venezuela as a legitimate country, but Biden is desperate.
The SPR is at its lowest level in forty years. The reserve was put in place to protect our supply of crude in the case of war or natural disaster. It was never meant to be used to manipulate cost. Biden has also sold some of the SPR crude to China. This was never the intent and is another example of how China controls our President.
Yesterday, Administration spokesman John Kirby flat-out lied about domestic fuel output. He claimed that we are producing more crude in America than at any time in our history. He is wrong. We are 50 million barrels less than we were in 2019. Under Donald Trump, we were at record-high production levels and were exporting energy, not begging our enemies for oil. We are jeopardizing our national security to patch bad policies from Joe Biden.
Energy costs/Inflation are high on the list of concerns for voters going into the midterms. Biden thought he was going to see prices continue to fall and make energy a winner for Democrats. He was wrong, which is very common with this President. There are no positives for Democrats in 2022, which makes it difficult to understand why any Democrat is leading in any race. The polls have been shaky for many election cycles. I think they will look foolish again, and the only poll that counts will be the votes cast on November 8th.
The post Biden Diplomacy Falls Short in Middle East appeared first on Granite Grok.
Since the passing last year of New Hampshire’s ban on abortions after 24 weeks (nearly six months), liberals have been busy spreading lies about the new law, claiming that it required a transvaginal ultrasound and that the law requires a woman to carry a dead baby to term.
With the midterm elections fast approaching, these blatant falsehoods attacking NH’s law and the general state of abortion access nationally have only increased.
A recent ad by the liberal group Women Vote, an arm of Emily’s List, targets Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Boldoc. The ad features a woman sharing an emotional story of being told by her doctor shortly after finding out she was pregnant with twins that she and her children were at risk of death. As a result, she made the decision to end her babies’ lives. While the situation the woman faced is extremely tragic, it is not about the state of abortion access in New Hampshire. New Hampshire’s ban contains exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies and for life of the mother. But that’s not what this totally deceptive ad would have you believe.
Last week the far-left media outlet, democrats.com, sent out an email falsely claiming that a bill introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham would ban all abortions. In fact the bill, a version of which Graham introduces every year to shed light on liberal’s radical up-to-birth abortion policies, only refers to banning abortions after 15 weeks gestation, which happens to be a middle ground many Americans agree on. Even so, Sen. Graham’s bills have never been successful, and this one will certainly meet the same fate. Again, the left is not letting the truth get in the way of their deceptive messaging.
Other liberal news outlets and politicians, have spread similar claims. One notable example is the repeated claim by Sen. Maggie Hassan that Mitch McConnell is planning on a national abortion ban, a sentiment the Senator has never expressed.
But Democrats are not the only ones spreading falsehoods about the pro-life community’s stance on abortion. The media has been more than happy to help them. Last week, the Union Leader published a piece which claimed that Cornerstone targeted a number of NH reps, including James Allard, for supporting a bill that would add a fatal fetal anomalies exception to New Hampshire’s 24 week abortion ban. This is not an accurate representation of the original bill or our position. The original HB 1609 entirely nullified the late-term abortion ban, and that’s why we opposed these representatives who supported it. Only later was the bill amended to only exempt fatal fetal anomalies. Those are the facts.
Journalists used to perform basic due diligence by asking for comment or at least checking our website. The fact that they no longer do so is why pro-abortion extremists are able to get away with peddling such blatant falsehoods about the law. While in some cases the problem is carelessness, in others it is a systemic attempt to deceive.
It is up to pro-life citizens in New Hampshire to dispel these falsehoods. You can do this by being well educated about the national debate on abortion, and, most importantly, our own abortion law. As long as we let pro-abortion voices use a foundation of lies to define this critical discussion, we will be fighting a losing battle at the ballot box.
The post Abortion in NH: Setting the Record Straight on Democrat, Media Falsehoods appeared first on Granite Grok.
Florida’s incumbent governor Ron DeSantis made a huge, albeit unsurprising, move in the latest polling among likely voters. A new Mason-Dixon poll conducted at the end of September shows the conservative leader pulling away from Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat rival Charlie Crist.
CBS reported:
As the days count down to the November general election, a new poll shows Republican incumbent Ron DeSantis has opened an 11-point lead over Democratic challenger Charlie Crist in the Florida governor’s race.
Statewide, DeSantis has the support of 52 percent of likely voters, while 41 percent back Crist, according to a Mason-Dixon poll conducted September 26 through September 28. It involved 800 registered voters who all indicated they are likely to vote in the election.
One percent of those surveyed were split between two other candidates and six percent said they were undecided.
Writing on Twitter, Clay Travis said:
Ron Desantis has opened up an 11 point lead in his bid for re-election according to a poll from Mason-Dixon research. He won election by less than a point in 2018. If he wins by 11 or more it would be the biggest Republican win in a statewide race in modern Florida history.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 5, 2022
Ron Desantis has opened up an 11 point lead in his bid for re-election according to a poll from Mason-Dixon research. He won election by less than a point in 2018. If he wins by 11 or more it would be the biggest Republican win in a statewide race in modern Florida history.
Since the poll was held, DeSantis has also guided Florida through the first week of hurricane recovery and is receiving near-universal plaudits from residents and honest media coverage. He was prepared before the arrival of Ian, constantly communicating with residents and updating them with forecasts, and has deployed a huge team of line workers to restore power. It seems likely his growth would not only be sustained but increased following his superb guidance.
Even without the hurricane, it seemed unlikely DeSantis would suffer in the polls given his opponent’s nasty campaign. Previously, he declared that those who would vote for him were “toothless hillbillies” and bizarrely claimed he didn’t want those people voting for him at all.
“Those who support the governor should stay with him and vote for him. I don’t want your vote. If you have that hate in your heart — keep it. I want the vote of the people of Florida who care about our state. Good Democrats, good independents, good Republicans — unify with this ticket,”
As with Joe Biden’s dangerous villainization of political rivals, Crist only reveals the anti-human, nasty streak found in the modern Democrat Party. Anyone not brainwashed by corporate media can see him for what he truly is.
Meanwhile, DeSantis fights for Floridians. He stood up to Disney, he stood up to the overt sexualizaztion of children in public schools, and he has won massive support from people who are fed up with the left’s content push into their lives.
Considering he barely eked out a victory in 2018, his presumed thrashing of Crist in November will be the ultimate memo to America that we want strong moral leadership and that Americans are largely fed up with disgusting leftist ideology.
Hailey Sanibel writes at The Blue State Conservative.
The post Ron DeSantis Expands Lead Over Democrat Challenger to Double-Digit Margins appeared first on Granite Grok.
The US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights is working hard to push through new regulations for Title IX. It is an appropriate time to reflect on the White House and New Hampshire’s partnership and role in the kangaroo courts of the last decade.
In particular, the criminal trial of New Hampshire versus Owen Labrie, which set a chilling tone for the nation regarding how sexual assault in high schools should be prosecuted.
We want to thank Claire Best for this Op-Ed Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
Early headlines surrounding the August 2015 high-profile trial of Owen Labrie (St. Paul’s School, Class of 2014) included such terminology as “Rape Culture on Display,” “Elite Prep School,” “Decades-old Tradition of Sexual Conquest Game, “Senior Salute.” St Paul’s School was portrayed as a den of misogyny, emblematic of the “patriarchy.” Labrie himself was described as a Harry Potter look-a-like who used the “nerd defense”. He was described as privileged and arrogant.
Facts matter. Statements by public officials and journalists matter because they become the public record. When those are knowingly false, lives are put in danger, laws are passed under false premise and the public is duped.
Owen Labrie’s accuser’s family (Alexander & Susan Prout) donated $100,000 to St Paul’s School in the Spring of 2013 before Chessy Prout started that fall. Her sister, Lucy Prout, was entering her senior year and applying to college. Lucy Prout had dated Owen Labrie. She also gave him a black eye before graduation while telling police who interviewed her (and documented) that Chessy had actually stated regarding Owen: “I have never said he raped me.” Fifteen months later, Chessy stated on the witness stand: “I was raped, I was violated in so many ways.” The statement came after courtroom witnesses had seen victims’ advocates tapping the shoulder of the prosecutor to say, “She needs to cry more.”
Labrie’s divorced parents’ combined annual income approximated $100,000. He attended St Paul’s School on a full scholarship and had been offered the same by Harvard College. Few of these details ever made it into the news media. I later discovered why: St. Paul’s School was targeted and Owen Labrie framed by the very same group of people who were behind the Rolling Stone’s November 2014 “A Rape on Campus” story which resulted in the defamation suit: “Eramo v Rolling Stone.” That group was The White House “Not Alone” task force formed on January 22, 2014.
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights was sued a few months ago after Catherine Lhamon, who was in the office in 2014 and has returned under Biden, ignored requests for correspondence between her and, among others, Laura L Dunn, who was present at NH v Owen Labrie as “personal representative for the victim’s family.” Criminal defense attorney Scott Greenfield wrote in his blog, SimpleJustice, “What Lhamon has to hide from KC Johnson” (Link ) about the suit and the failure of the Department of Education to answer a simple FOIA request.
As part of the St. Paul’s Alumni community by marriage and having been part of the second-year intake of girls at an all-boys prep school in the UK (Sevenoaks School, Kent) in the ’80s, I was drawn into the sensationalist coverage of New Hampshire versus Owen Labrie. Something wasn’t right. I have daughters who were considering high schools at the time.
After receiving the letter from then Rector Michael Hirschfeld announcing the multiple felony and misdemeanor charges against recent graduate Owen Labrie (18) in the summer of 2014, I was shocked that a school would not protect the interests of both accuser and accused before a criminal trial: the interests of privacy, due process and the right to a fair trial. As communications from the school have been sent to the alumni community over the years, it’s apparent that St. Paul’s has largely not been in control of the narrative.
This was never more apparent than on August 28th, 2015, when St Paul’s issued a statement following the jury’s mixed verdict in which it announced that it was starting to use “Bystander” training (Link).
On September 8, 2015, the Boston Globe published an article: “St. Paul’s graduates want to provide a different picture of their school”. I didn’t know it at the time, but I later discovered that the coverage I and so many millions had read or seen on TV was created and controlled by victims’ advocates who had a strategic partnership with the 2014 “Not Alone” White House Task Force and with Concord Police, Merrimack County Prosecutors, gold-digging civil attorneys lobbying for Victims Rights Bills to the Senate, Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Congresswoman Ann Kuster.
The “personal representative” who appeared on TV during the trial for the “victim’s family” – Laura L Dunn – was, in fact, an advisor/member of this White House “Not Alone” task force who was advising Concord Police for their investigation into St Paul’s School and Owen Labrie. That investigation’s budget was approved by the City of Concord Council, whose chair of public safety is Amanda Grady Sexton, Director of Public Affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence. Sexton was also on Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s re-election campaign committee.
Shaheen introduced the Victim’s Bill of Rights in 2016. One of the ambulance-chasing attorneys Laura Dunn had introduced to the Prout family five months before trial, Steven J Kelly Esq, had lobbied the Senate Judicial Committee in May 2015 for the bill. He argued that victims should be consulted throughout the process of a criminal investigation, prosecution, and sentencing. In the abstract, I wouldn’t necessarily disagree, but Kelly has described himself as a “one-stop-shop” for the “not the perfect victim” who trains witnesses, investigators, and prosecutors. Receiving 35% of any settlement he negotiates for “Doe” suits against a school such as St Paul’s, you can see his financial incentive for lobbying for the bill.
In a document published by the National Crime Victims’ Law Institute with a grant from the Department of Justice, Amanda Grady Sexton, and Steven J Kelly describe their tactics for pretrial publicity, getting in front of the associated press, working with police and prosecutors, witnesses and third parties to create and control the narrative (see: Pretrial Publicity…)
It was a strategy they used in New Hampshire v Owen Labrie. Several Does v St Paul’s School suits, and Rapuano & Does v Dartmouth College, which resulted in a $14 million settlement of which the NHCADSV appears to have received $2.865 million. The suit was cited as a probable contributing factor in the suicide of Professor David Bucci. His 10-year-old daughter spoke at his funeral. The Concord Monitor, which had covered the suit, was silent on Bucci’s death (see: NY Times…).
Amanda Grady Sexton’s husband, Adam Sexton, a political director and reporter for WMUR, reported the arrest of Owen Labrie on July 16th, 2014, just one day after Laura L Dunn and members of the White House Task Force had spoken at Dartmouth Sexual Assault Summit introduced by Congresswoman Ann Kuster.
When Owen Labrie turned himself in on July 16th after being blindsided by the arrest warrant with no warning from the prosecutors, Concord Police told him his face would be famous. The police had interviewed him five weeks earlier, refuting his mother’s suggestion that an attorney should be present while he was being questioned. A few days earlier, Chessy Prout had texted him to say, “things are getting out of control” (or similar wording). Why would she text her rapist to say this?
It is my belief, eight years later, as Owen Labrie having just completed several years of probation, eight months incarceration including two months in solitary confinement, endured a failed retrial hearing and two appeals, that both students were used by the White House Task Force. A task force that was working in cahoots with the University of New Hampshire (promoting “Bringing in the Bystander” and “Know Your Power” training paid for via federal grants) and local New Hampshire public officials.
My growing suspicions were validated in November 2019 when I met S. Daniel Carter, another advisor to the White House “Not Alone” task force who described Laura Dunn as his “mentee.” He had co-founded the non-profit SurvJustice with Dunn in 2014, shortly before Labrie’s arrest. He admitted to me that the use of publicity in the case was insensitive and problematic. More concerning was an assertion that his understanding of Dunn’s attendance at the trial was tied to a White House interest in St Paul’s School as opposed to Labrie himself.
SurvJustice, according to its IRS Form 990s, was directly tied to the White House “Not Alone” directive and listed as a resource on its site. Dunn had also made a public statement in September 2014 when Emma Watson became the ambassador for UN Women and the #HeForShe campaign. An excerpt from Rewire News group’s “Power” section by Emily Crocket reads:
As Laura Dunn, founder of the sexual assault survivor advocacy group SurvJustice, told Rewire, campaigns like HeForShe, with an icon for the “Harry Potter generation” behind them, make issues around feminism and sexual violence prevention easier for younger generations to understand.
“It shifts their mindset and maybe challenges the norms accepted by older generations too,” Dunn said.
That is more than a symbolic change. Take our legal system: “The reason a lot of sexual assault cases aren’t prosecuted is, ‘The jury won’t understand, they won’t like that you were drinking,’ that kind of thing,” Dunn said. But when today’s kids grow up to prosecute these cases or serve on juries, “you won’t need an expert to explain rape culture.”
Dunn said that another big part of this shift, especially on the issue of campus sexual assault in the last few years, is due less to celebrities speaking out than to survivors like herself telling their stories to the media, sometimes coming out with their full names and faces. They were no longer anonymous Jane Does but real women demanding real justice, which made some people start to sympathize with them and share their outrage (Link).
Amanda Grady Sexton of the NHCADSV, according to the Concord Monitor, attended the Labrie trial to “keep tabs on the media.” A motion by the Prouts’ representatives (which included Laura Dunn and Steven J Kelly) managed to restrict media access to those journalist who were taking the bait from NHCADSV, police, prosecutors, Dunn and Kelly. Sexton described it as “an opportunity” (Link).
When reports of Labrie’s appeal regarding the computer felony conviction surfaced (the computer felony conviction requires lifetime tier 2 sex offender registration), Amanda Grady Sexton penned an op-ed in the Concord Monitor in which she mentioned both her official titles for the NHCADSV and City of Concord Council but failed to report her organization’s financial interest in seeking sex offender registration for Labrie.
Since 2014, New Hampshire has received close to $1 million under the Adam Walsh Act for Sex Offender Registration. On the same day that the White House’s “Not Alone” paper was published, April 29, 2014, the Department of Justice announced a new grant incentive under the Adam Walsh Act for “Campus Sex Offenses.” The NHCADSV is in charge of the State of New Hampshire’s sex offender registration management.
Steven J Kelly led several lawsuits against St Paul’s School in the wake of NH v Owen Labrie, starting with the Prouts suit against the school on June 1, 2016. Susan Zalkind, reporting for Vice Media, received a copy of the suit before the school was able to obtain a copy from the courts, which had already closed for the day. NBC Today Show and the Concord Monitor were also furnished with copies. The school obtained its copy from Jeremy Blackman at the Concord Monitor, who was given it by “a source.” Zalkind has an entire page of links to articles relating to Labrie. Her coverage had to have been paid for by an interested party connected to Sexton, Dunn, Kelly, and the prosecutors (see: https://zalkind.info/owen-labrie).
When Gordon MacDonald became the Attorney General for New Hampshire, the NHCADSV lobbied him for a Grand Jury Criminal Investigation into St Paul’s School. The report was completed in August 2018, and a settlement agreement was reached with the school that September. Laura Dunn tweeted congratulations to the Prout family for the agreement, which required a compliance officer and a contract with the NHCADSV whose Director of Public Affairs, Amanda Grady Sexton, in her capacity as Chair for the City of Concord’s Public Safety Committee, would have approved the budget for the police’s investigation into the school. The school waived its right to privacy. David Vicinanzo, attorney for the NHCADSV, praised Judge Richard McNamara’s decision to ignore that and to keep the report private. As Mark Hayward of the Union Leader commented: “His ruling decided a case that had been argued in secret”.
The agreement echoed another one reached with the Diocese of Manchester over a decade before. Many of the same people were involved, including AG Gordon MacDonald, who is now New Hampshire’s Supreme Court Chief Justice (link).
The “compliance” officer for the Diocese was Monsignor Edward Arsenault. The police officer involved in the Diocese of Manchester investigation, which resulted in the arrest and prosecution of Father Gordon MacRae, was James F. McLaughlin, who was given a lifetime achievement award in 2016. At the same ceremony, Police Detective Julie Curtin, the officer involved in the St. Paul’s and Labrie investigations, received an award for her work and “justice for the victim.”
Edward Arsenault pled guilty to defrauding the Diocese between the years of 1999 and 2009. He shook hands with Assistant Attorney General Jane Young (now US Attorney for New Hampshire) before going to Concord Men’s Prison, where he was quickly transferred to Keene County Jail in 2014. He was later released from home confinement and is now free to work for the non-profit ReServe under the name Edward Bolognini. His restitution – amounting to almost $300,000 – was miraculously paid off while he was incarcerated.
James F McLaughlin’s name appeared on a list of police officers with credibility issues published earlier this year. He has been known to the New Hampshire Courts for dishonesty since 1985 – a full nine years before Father Gordon MacRae was targeted, prosecuted, and convicted for crimes for which many around the world believe he was framed. MacRae is in his 28th year in Concord men’s prison. He was denied the right to a retrial in 2014 by Judge Larry Smukler, who presided over the Labrie trial in 2015. Smukler similarly denied Labrie a retrial in 2017 and claimed “justice for the victim” in December 2018 as he ordered Labrie back to Merrimack County jail after his appeals to complete his one-year sentence for misdemeanor sexual assault convictions.
Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward deleted the names of 28 corrupt police officers shortly before a New Hampshire bill went into effect this year which would have made them public. Detective Julie Curtin no longer works for the City of Concord. She is employed by Epping Police Department. Numerous requests for an investigation into her tainted investigations, witness, and evidence tampering have gone unanswered.
Lyn Rosenthal of the Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women said upon leaving office in 2015 that the reason the Obama administration focused on campuses was because if they got it right there, they would influence generations to come. In 2016, she became president of SurvJustice, which lost a lawsuit to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over due process in Title IX campus sex discrimination. On the board of SurvJustice with Laura Dunn and S. Daniel Carter was Meg Garvin of the NCVLI, which also rewarded Detective Julie Curtin for her work in the St. Paul’s and Labrie investigation.
Lyn Schollett, Executive Director of the NHCADSV, is on the board of directors for Soteria Solutions Inc, which markets “Bringing in the Bystander” and “Know Your Power” training to schools, colleges, and universities around the world. It was recognized by the White House for entrepreneurship using federal grants.
Federal grants to New Hampshire for sexual assault and related research have increased exponentially since 2014, the year that St Paul’s School was targeted and Owen Labrie framed.
To read more, please see my piece on Medium.
Claire Best heads Claire Best & Associates, an international talent agency representing some of the most respected names in the entertainment industry for film, television, and commercials that was established in 2010. She had 16 years of experience in the agency business as an owner, C.E.O. and C.O.O. before Claire Best & Associates. Prior to becoming an agent in 2002, Claire was a production executive at New Line Cinema and Fine Line Features where she oversaw the production of many well-known domestic and international feature films from 1996-2001. Claire has also produced and executive produced a number of award winning and critically acclaimed features, shorts, and documentaries. She is a voting member of B.A.F.T.A. and the Television Academy (see: clairebest.net).
Reformatted and lightly edited.
The post The Scandal of Owen Labrie and the #MeToo Movement appeared first on Granite Grok.
The data continues to show that almost no one under 20 who is unvaccinated needs to fear the Rona. That did not prevent the Covid Cult from trying to put a needle in every student’s arm or from using scare tactics to get it done.
Related: “Vaccine Clinic” Table With Needles and Vials Left Unattended at Milton NH High School
“Public record emails show the Biden administration wanted to ‘leverage’ school sports and activities to coerce vaccination amongst students,” Megan Eileen noted. “… we have seen leveraging athletics and extracurriculars as a way to boost you vaccination as an effective tactic across the county.”
They used the threat of students missing games due to Covid-19 exposure and long quarantines:
“Sports and extracurriculars as an important factor for why young people should get vaccinated- they don’t want to jeopardize forfeiting games or missing performances and competitions.” pic.twitter.com/hak0SSIy6i
— Megan Eileen (@MegBeileen) October 5, 2022
To the best of my knowledge, there is no state-level direction in New Hampshire to apply this tactic, but that does not mean it did not happen or find its way into the inboxes or ears of administrators in COVID-Karen districts.
Getting the mRNA vaccination for COVID was heavily promoted with ad buys in the media and chatter from state and local officials.
My question to schools and, more specifically, parents – were kids in your district told they had to get The Jab, or they’d miss band, Cheer, chorus, clubs, team events, or any other activity? Were any of them asked to talk to other students to encourage them to get The Jab?
If the answer is yes, you might want to fire up a right-to-know request to the SAU or administrators in specific schools for emails related to vaccine clinics on public school property.
Related: 16-Year Old “Overdosed” with a Triple Shot of COVID Vaccine at Local School Clinic
The Jab has proven significantly more dangerous to kids than the virus it was purported to treat, so any failure to adequately provide informed consent before the injection of an emergency-use pharmaceutical in a minor – especially in these circumstances – might have legs.
I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t play one on the Internet, but if you had school board members or the administrators they hire and retain discussing this method of intimidation to unnecessarily innoculate students, it might not play well at re-election time.
HT | Becker News
The post Did NH Schools ‘Pressure’ Kids to Get The Jab™ with Threats of Long Quarantines? appeared first on Granite Grok.
RINO-NeverTrump Governor Larry Hogan came to New Hampshire today. His message? AMNESTY for illegals, AND stop complaining about the Biden-Regime’s open-borders policy. What a total LOSER.
JUST NOW: Maryland Gov. @LarryHogan targets fellow #GOP governors @RonDeSantisFL @GregAbbott_TX for transporting undocumented migrants to progressive cities and islands up north, saying it's "a mistake" and a "publicity stunt" #2024Elections #FITN #nhpolitics #flapol #txpoli pic.twitter.com/kUna1uqjNs
— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) October 6, 2022
The post Hey Larry AMNESTY Hogan … Go Back To DC And Don’t Come Back appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Climate Cult is obsessed with blaming CO2 for warming the globe but won’t call it global warming. It is climate change. And yes, the climate changes. You can see it in the UAH global mean temperatures, but what happens when all that “changing” balances out to nothing?
Related: Global Warming Update: Greenland and Iceland Have Been Cooling for Twenty Years
The folks the cult calls climate deniers call this a pause.
Despite the so-called epic summer heatwaves, there has been net zero warming since 2015.
The New Pause, having paused a month ago, has now lengthened again: this time to exactly eight years. As always, the Pause is calculated as the longest period for which the least-squares linear-regression trend up to the most recent month for which the UAH global mean surface temperature anomaly is available is zero.
The alarmists deny the existence of the pause. In their minds, we can concern ourselves with hyperbolic headlines about heat waves and droughts but nothing that balances them, like cooling temps or above-average months of precipitation. You know, the amalgam of weather that defines climate.
Related: Ruh-Roh – “Warming Causes Cooling” Experts Admit Warming Does Not Cause Cooling
New Hampshire, for example, has been getting wetter, but all we hear about in the news is drought or that the rain we get isn’t enough.
And despite similar headlines this year, it looks like we will have above-average precipitation in 2022 but little to no reporting on it, just like the lack of warming, which looks like the beginning of a global decline in temperature since 2016.
Related: Despite any “Modern Warming,” The Earth has Still Been Cooling for the Past 8,000 Years
This trend is -0.01 Cº, and given its proximity to the start of the current solar minimum, that spells trouble for the Warmists. That might be why they are spending trillions we don’t have on ideas that don’t work to solve a problem that does not exist.
HT | WUWT
Note: The trend line is estimated and not exact and is for observational purposes only.
The post Is The Planet Cooling? appeared first on Granite Grok.
How many people stop to consider if there are any restrictions on what or how the federal government can tax? Does the Constitution for the United States allow the federal government to tax anything it wants, whenever it wants, and in any way that it wants?
It certainly acts that way. The federal government is always looking for new things to tax.
The most obvious tax is the income tax. However, the federal government also taxes things like gasoline, tobacco, alcoholic beverages, airfare, etc. These are excise taxes, meaning they are levied on an individual product. In some cases, manufacturers pay the tax during production. In other cases, the consumer pays at the time of purchase.
Excise taxes can be used to raise revenue, but they are also used to “modify” behavior.
For instance, gun control supporters proposed a 1000 percent federal tax on AR-15-style rifles. There wasn’t even a pretense of levying this tax to raise revenue. In their minds, a tax that turns a $1,200 rifle into a $12,000 rifle is perfectly justified in order to make the cost of gun ownership prohibitively expensive.
At what point did the federal government begin reading the constitutional taxing power so broadly it could become an instrument of social engineering?
There is a fundamental division between those who construe the federal government’s taxing powers as narrow and finite – and those who embrace a more liberal view on what the federal government can tax and for what ends. This division runs all the way back to the ratification debates.
Let’s start by examining why supporters of the Constitution insisted the taxing power as delegated in Article 1, § 8 was necessary and proper.
The Federalists argued that Congress’ inability to tax under the Articles of Confederation stymied the government’s ability to pay off its war debt and would also frustrate future borrowing attempts. The Treasury Department estimates that the United States debt was $43 million in 1783. Since Congress could not efficiently tax the states, it was unlikely to ever pay off the debt, or any future debt the general government might incur. This, according to the Federalists, would discourage investors from lending to the United States.
Interestingly, it was not the existence of debt that concerned the Federalists. They were more concerned with finding a way to service debt and make interest payments to bondholders. In fact, the ability of a nation to borrow was a fundamental fiscal policy for many Federalists. In a letter to Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton wrote:
“A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing, it will be a powerful cement of our union. It will also create a necessity for keeping up taxation to a degree, which, without being oppressive, will be a spur to industry.”
For Hamilton, borrowing was extremely important for the economic development of the new nation. However, there had to be a way to service the debt. That would require federal taxation of the states, which the Articles blocked. Thus, for the Federalists, a revision of the Articles of Confederation was vital if the country was to prosper. The Constitution had to include provisions for a stronger central government with expanded taxing powers over the states. This would efficiently provide for the common defense and enable the country to pay down its national debt.
The Federalists realized that getting all 13 state legislatures to agree to a change in taxation policy would be impossible. Therefore, they decided to take the much more radical approach of persuading the country to scrap the Articles of Confederation and adopt an entirely new national constitution in its place.
In Federalist #23, Alexander Hamilton wrote:
“The authorities essential to the common defense are these to raise armies to build and equip fleets to prescribe rules for the government of both to direct their operations to provide for their support. These powers ought to exist without limitation, because it is impossible to foresee or define the extent and variety of national exigencies or the corresponding extent and variety of the means which may be necessary to satisfy them.”
In Hamilton’s opinion, the federal government could demand unlimited taxation to support the common defense.
Antifederalists, on the other hand, were very leery of the taxing power.
In the Federalist Papers, James Madison offered rebuttals to Antifederalist criticisms of the general taxation power.
First, in Federalist #45, he insisted the state governments would keep federal overreach in check
“Thus, each of the principle branches of the federal government will owe its existence more or less to the favor of the State governments and must consequently feel a dependence… towards them.”
Madison argued that the federal government is comprised of members elected by the States. Consequently, the actions of the federal government would ultimately reflect the States’ desires.
Second, in the same essay, Madison argued that because the role of the federal government was limited, taxation would also be limited.
“It is true that the Confederacy is to possess, and may exercise, the power of collecting internal as well as external taxes throughout the states; but it is probable that this power will not be resorted to, except for supplemental sources of revenue… The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government… will be exercised principally on external objects, as war peace negotiation and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected.” [Emphasis added]
Madison agreed that the federal government would have the power to tax within the states, but he assured the public that this would probably only be necessary for supplemental revenue. He also assured people that this revenue would principally be for external objects, such as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce.
Understandably, Madison’s use of the qualifiers “probably” and “principally” did not satisfy most Antifederalists. And as we have seen, they did not believe claims that a taxing power for limited purposes would serve as a check against its abuse.
Third, Madison contended that there are specific limitations on federal taxation within the Constitution itself.
“It is true, that the Confederacy is to possess, and may exercise, the power of collecting internal as well as external taxes throughout the United States… An option will then be given to the States to supply their quotas by previous collections of their own; and that the eventual collection, under the immediate authority of the Union, will generally be made by the officers, and according to the rules, appointed by the several States.”
It is worth noting that Madison did not say that the people of the states would be taxed directly. Instead, he alludes to a state-based quota system for federal taxation. Madison seems to imply that the federal government would not lay internal taxes on individuals, but that the general government would apportion taxes as a quota to be fulfilled by each state.
This may indeed be the correct interpretation, as Madison did not believe that the Carriage Tax at the center of the Hylton case was Constitutional. However, his meaning is vague. Since the word “quota” does not even appear anywhere in the proposed Constitution what does this term, as used by Madison, even mean?
Later in Federalist 45, Madison writes:
“The Powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government are few and defined.”
Madison may have believed that he had already defined the Constitution’s limits on federal taxation in Federalist #41.
“It has been urged and echoed, that the power ‘to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States,’ amounts to an unlimited commission to exercise every power which may be alleged to be necessary for the common defense or general welfare. No stronger proof could be given of the distress under which these writers labor for objections, than their stooping to such a misconstruction.”
Madison obviously thought unlimited federal taxation was a misunderstanding of Article I, § 8, Clause 1
He went on to write:
“Had no other enumeration or definition of the powers of the Congress been found in the Constitution, than the general expressions just cited, the authors of the objection might have had some color for it; though it would have been difficult to find a reason for so awkward a form of describing an authority to legislate in all possible cases…”
Madison was clearly unsympathetic to a reading of the Constitution that ignores its built-in limitations on governmental powers. He implied there are other enumerations and definitions of Congressional power within the Constitution that limit the idea of comprehensive federal taxation.
If by “other enumerations” Madison was implying that the army and welfare clauses were already limitations on federal taxation, the Antifederalists would surely not have been persuaded.
However going back once again to Madison’s belief that the 1794 Carriage tax was unconstitutional (see The Prophetic Antifederalist Warnings About Constitutional Taxing Power and The Power of Precedent: How a 1796 Supreme Court Decision Supported Obamacare) and his contention that Congress’ power to tax is defined within the Constitution itself, it is quite possible that the other enumerations he is referring to are the indirect and direct tax clauses found within the Constitution.
Therefore, the apportionment rule that is associated with the direct tax clauses could be the state taxation quotas that Madison mentioned in Federalist #45.
No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
Article I, § 9, Clause 4
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers.
Article I, § 2, Clause 3
However, if Madison thought these clauses had sufficient force to limit taxation, neither he nor the other Federalists ever clearly explained what these direct and indirect taxes were; or how they would be applied.
Therefore, the question remained: who would provide the authoritative interpretation of what these clauses actually mean? Would it be Supreme Court, Congress, the president, or the several states?
These questions were answered for the first time in Hylton v United States (1796).
This was the opening salvo in what would become a ceaseless war of federal economic subjugation of the people of the several states. And it proved the worst fears of the most alarmist Antifederalists were entirely justified. Not only did every warning they gave soon materialize, but it also continued to grow to a scope beyond anything they conceived.
The Antifederalists correctly predicted that such unlimited taxation would lead to the creation of the largest standing army the world has ever known. But could they have foreseen that this unlimited taxing power would be used in equal measure to tax away our natural right of self-defense and our last line of defense should that standing army ever turn inwards to be used against the people of the several states?
Perhaps the Federalists really believed their vague assurances that an unlimited federal taxing power could yield a limited application and reasonable exercise of that unlimited taxing power. But by 1819, in McCulloch v Maryland, Chief Justice (and notable Federalist) John Marshall embraced the axiom that “the unlimited power to tax is the power to destroy.”
Marshall was entirely correct in that regard, and as members of Congress attempt to use the unlimited power to tax as the power to destroy the Second Amendment, we are witnessing the destructive legacy of the Federalists’ scheme of unlimited taxation.
Republished with Permission from The Tenth Amendment Center
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A complaint has been filed in Rockingham County Superior Court by the Londonderry Fish and Game Club (LFGC) against Kevin and Janine Anctil of 43 Tanager Way in Litchfield. They are each accused of two counts of defamation.
A few points from the filing.
Those are just a few, in no particular order, and without further details. Read the complaint. The evidence that LFGC could not be responsible is very complete, as is the effort by the Anctils to defame the LFGC.
It’s a fascinating little journey, and I think you will agree, as I do, that the LFGC has some likelihood of success.
I asked LGFC Club President Rick Olson (a friend and a fellow Grokster) for a comment.
“It is unfortunate that LFGC had to file this legal action. In the Club’s 70-year history, this is only the second time the need for litigation has been thrust upon us. The Anctils left us no choice. I am unable to comment beyond that per the instructions of our attorney, Sean List. Questions may be directed to him.”
Dealing with disgruntled neighbors who choose to buy property near a long-established Fish and Game club will always result in some conflicts. Not everyone will realize that you might have to listen to gunfire from sun up to sundown. They may also be unwilling to believe that the source of their ills came from someplace or someone else.
A projectile struck the Anctil’s house, but they could not give up on the idea that it could not have come from LFGC.
LGFC finally said enough.
Due to the Defendants’ persistent defamation of the Plaintiff, the Plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer significant damages within the jurisdictional limits of the Court including, but not limited to, reputational harm, humiliation, attorney’s fees, and legal costs. The Plaintiff seeks all damages to which it is entitled, including any equitable relief the Court may provide to halt the ongoing tortious conduct of the Defendants. The Plaintiff also seeks enhanced compensatory damages for the wanton, willful, and malicious nature of the Defendants’ conduct.
We’ll let you know how things turn out.
Update: A few minor edits to correct some poorly worded details.
The post Breaking: Londonderry Fish and Game Club Files Defamation Suit Against Litchfield Couple appeared first on Granite Grok.
Numerous Concord Monitor Op-Eds, letters, and articles have focused on abortion as perhaps the top 2022 Democrat campaign issue. The dynamic was underscored recently by mailers that went out to many of our Canterbury and Loudon constituents criticizing our votes on HB2 last term, which simply precluded third-trimester abortions.
New Hampshire earlier claimed the nation’s most liberal abortion statutes, and HB2 aligned Granite State law with those of most other states, including liberal bastions like New York, which similarly restrict third-trimester abortions.
Such horrific procedures are thankfully rare and are clearly opposed by most people. So with our opponents highlighting the abortion issue, it’s fair to ask them if they are in accord with the apparently near-universal Democrat position (embodied by Senators Shaheen and Hassan) that favors unlimited abortion on demand. Hassan has been running ads on this issue, falsely accusing her opponent of seeking to ban all abortions nationwide—which is simply untrue.
The recent reversal of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision properly returned the issue to the states to address. Even many liberal legal scholars acknowledged major problems with “Roe,” as abortion is not mentioned in our federal constitution.
Efforts to make abortion a major issue reflect Dem attempts to energize a sullen base demoralized by the Biden administration’s disastrous performance in seemingly every area. It also reflects the Dem obsession with identity politics as progressives seek to paint conservatives as “anti-woman.” This approach insults the many thoughtful and principled women who do not support unlimited abortion on demand.
Our opponents two years ago similarly and unsuccessfully tried to exploit identity politics in their campaigns. Identity politics only serve to divide us, as proponents seek to cobble together voting coalitions of the angry and disaffected.
We prefer to celebrate and honor individuals on their own merits and seek consensus in trying to advance principles and policies that improve life in New Hampshire for everyone. Granite Staters recoiled at the radical bent exhibited by the Democrat legislature from two terms ago. So New Hampshire flipped both houses from blue to red in 2020—the only state to do such a flip—and New Hampshire has done well. By almost every measure, the Granite State is the freest and most prosperous state in the northeast. It’s no coincidence that the Granite State is also the most Republican. People are fleeing from blue states all over the country. Why would we want to turn New Hampshire blue?
The last Democratic gubernatorial opponent won about 1/3 of the vote and subsequently fled the state. That speaks volumes.
We encourage voters everywhere to engage and learn about all candidates and their positions on not just abortion but on every issue that deserves the attention of Granite Staters.
(Note: The Concord Monitor refused to run this Op-Ed submitted in response to the many pro-abortion pieces published in that newspaper.)
State Representatives Cambrils and Moffett are running for reelection in Merrimack District 4, which includes Canterbury and Loudon.
The post Granite Staters Are Ill-Served by Democrat Focus on Abortion appeared first on Granite Grok.
I was reminded a few days ago by a New Hampshire teacher that the psychological profiles that are being formulated are not just on children of parents who have children in the public schools but also on children of teachers who have their kids enrolled too.
She is right; SEL is used to gather massive amounts of mental health data on children enrolled in public schools. It’s important to make sure that parents and teachers, who have their children in the public schools, also realize this.
SEL screenings and assessments are used to gather mental health data on your children in order to build a psychological profile on them. The questions may not seem so offensive, but if this sensitive data is shared, this has the potential to create a big problem for you. Once the information is out on the web, how do you ever retrieve it? You won’t even know where your child’s mental health data ends up.
First, the vendors collect mental health data on your children using PII (Personally Identifiable Information). Then this information can be shared with any organization that calls itself a researcher. That includes the Federal Government.
Parent Coalition for Student Privacy explains how the U.S. Department of Education is amassing personal data from students enrolled in public schools through the Data Quality Campaign.
Since that time, the federal government has mandated every state to collect personal student information in the form of longitudinal databases, called Student Longitudinal Data Systems or SLDS, in which the personal information for each child is compiled and tracked from birth or preschool onwards, including medical information, survey data, and data from many state agencies such as the criminal justice system, child services, and health departments.
Every SLDS has a data dictionary filled with hundreds of common data elements, so that students can be tracked from birth or pre-school through college and beyond, and their data more easily shared with vendors, other governmental agencies, across states, and with organizations or individuals engaged in education-related “research” or evaluation — all without parental knowledge or consent,.
Every SLDS uses the same code to define the data, aligned with the federal CEDS, or Common Education Data Standards, a collaborative effort run by the US Department of Education, “to develop voluntary, common data standards for a key set of education data elements to streamline the exchange, comparison, and understanding of data within and across P-20W institutions and sectors.”
Every few months, more data elements are “defined” and added to the CEDS, so that more information about a child’s life can be easily collected, stored, shared across agencies, and disclosed to third parties. You can check out the CEDS database yourself, including data points recently added, or enter the various terms like “disability,” “homeless” or “income” in the search bar.
Many teachers have no idea about any of this.
Emmet McGroarty, who represented American Principles Project several years ago, presented testimony to the Commission for Evidence-Based Policy on October 21, 2016, regarding student data privacy.
It’s not just our kids who are subjected to this massive amount of data mining. It’s the children of teachers, school board members, and anyone else working in the public schools.
What’s so bad about SEL? Most parents would agree that they want their children learning in a school that considers their child’s social and emotional needs. That isn’t the problem. The problem is the data-mining of all their sensitive mental health information. Where does all of it go? Who has access to these data? Is the data ever destroyed? What happens if the vendor collecting all of this PII sells their company? What happens to the mental health information on your child?
You will never know.
Ed Tech companies include a privacy policy that makes you think the data is protected. That’s simply not truth.
From American University Business Law Review:
Big Tech Makes Big Data Out of Your Child: The FERPA Loophole EdTech Exploits to Monetize Student Data by Amy Rhoades
EXCERPT:
With the increase of technology use in schools, parents, students, and privacy advocates have growing concerns that current regulation is inadequate to meet the rapidly advancing technology EdTech companies employ.6 Commercial companies must abide by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), which regulates online operators’ collection and use of children’s personally identifiable information (“PII”).7 However, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the enforcement agency overseeing COPPA, issued an exception for data disclosed by schools to online operators acting as authorized educational partners.8 The FTC maintains that student PII disclosed as an education record is regulated by the Family Educational Right and Privacy Act (“FERPA”).9 The legislation’s overly broad definition of education records, combined with the 2011 Amendments expanding FERPA to permit schools to disclose data to third parties, creates a loophole for the EdTech industry to avoid COPPA regulation regarding student data.10 As a result, commercial companies can quickly amass large amounts of data and potentially avoid the FTC’s oversight of COPPA compliance by contracting directly with schools.11 This practice runs afoul of legislative intent for both FERPA and COPPA, places student data at risk by creating a vacuum of oversight, and leaves little recourse for violations of data collection or use in the EdTech industry.12
This Comment argues that the EdTech industry is exploiting a loophole in federal regulations to grow the business sector by mining children’s data online at the expense of student privacy.
Not only can this sensitive data be shared with the state and federal government, it can also be shared with other vendors in the EdTech industry.
There are a number of problems associated with SEL surveys and screenings. Nancy Bailey listed them in her article titled: Social and Emotional Learning: The Dark Side. Bailey was a teacher so her focus is on supporting public schools. She’s a voice for many teachers who are limited in their capacity to speak publicly on these important issues. If you are a teacher, you’d be wise to peruse her website and subscribe to her website. She is a wealth of information.
You are also free to contact me at anytime. I keep all of those conversations confidential.
The money that is being made off of your child’s data on SEL, and every other aspect of their life should concern you. The best way to deal with this is to refuse anything SEL related for your children. No screenings, assessments, treatment or program. Unfortunately SEL is embedded into the curriculum, so that could present a challenge.
New Hampshire has a pro-parental rights law in place. It allows you to replace objectionable materials assigned to your children. So let the Teacher, Principal, Superintendent and School Board Members know you are opting your children out of all SEL in the school.
As more parents discover what is going on with SEL, you can expect enrollment to decline. Parents do not sent their children to school for mental health assessments or treatment. This is eroding academic excellence in our public schools.
Children who need specialized care should be able to access that through their family or social services. Turning schools into mental health clinics dumbs down the classroom, and turns every child into a mental health patient by those who are not educated, trained or who understand the importance of data privacy.
For more information:
https://www.education.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt326/files/inline-documents/surveys-questionaires.pdf
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