There’s a saying in software that the only numbers you should be seeing in code are zero, one, and infinity.  If you’re seeing other specific numbers (e.g., there can only be 140 characters in a message, or 255 characters in a filename, or a finite number of elements in a list), then someone is being lazy.

It occurs to me that the same is true when considering the ‘interpretation’ of constitutions by courts. Just recently, SCOTUS decided that POTUS didn’t have the authority to forgive student loan debt without action by SCOTUS.

Justice Kagan’s response?  That this is terrible because ‘some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides’.

So, 40 million Americans would be let off the hook for up to $20,000 each.  According to Justice Kagan, that’s sufficient reason to leave the program in place.

But what if the numbers were 4 million and $2000?  Or 400 and $20?  Should those numbers make any difference at all?  They should not.  As a rule, if you’re basing an argument on numbers, it means you’ve lost your connection to the underlying principles involved.

Note that the same is true about arguments over gun control, education, all flavors of welfare, voting, censorship, and so on. If you think that

RKBA works differently if the number of people killed with guns each year is 30,000 or 300;

a tax on income or assets is justified if it’s ‘small enough’;

a war on drugs is justified if the number of deaths from overdose is ‘large enough’;

shutting down entire economies and cultures and stripping people of the rights you’re supposed to be protecting becomes necessary when an infection rate is ‘high enough’;

and so on, then you have completely misunderstood the concepts of individual rights, delegated powers, and government by consent, and you shouldn’t be allowed to officiate at a little league game, let alone on the nation’s highest court.

The post Numbers aren’t Principles appeared first on Granite Grok.

The videos say it all. Just as Ray Epps somehow, someway has escaped prosecution for instigating … some would say leading … the “insurrection,” the person cutting down the security fence WHILE TRUMP IS STILL SPEAKING somehow, someway did not even get picked up by the FBI’s J6-radar. Amazing … isn’t it? But remember the real threat to America is NOT Merrick Garland or Chris Wray … it’s PUTIN; its PUTIN, PUTIN, PUTIN, PUTIN, PUTIN.

Two videos in one.

Watch what happened on SW lawn of Capitol grounds as Trump finished his speech at Ellipse around 1:10pm on January 6.https://t.co/WKb78SxpTQ

— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) July 1, 2023

The post Nothing To See Here … Just The FBI Cutting Down The Fence Around The Capitol WHILE Trump Is Still Speaking appeared first on Granite Grok.

At some point, I think I would enjoy sitting down with DHHS Deputy Chief Legal Counsel John Martin for a chat “about stuff.” I have to admit; he’s probably the most responsive guy in State Government I’ve had to do business with. That said…

I had put in my “missive” concerning how it appeared that DCYF had doxxed TMEW and myself to people we don’t know (The Daughter-in-Law’s family and ex-spouses; a couple of the latter are also “abusers”) such that those people could then reach out to The Granddaughter to say “Hi!” et al.

Emphasis mine, reformatted:

My Daughter-in-law, Mother of my Granddaughter [that we are caring for], just called me to let me know that DCYF has released my personal information…While she did not catch/remember the name that called, she was told that DCYF was contacting her family members and friends to let them know where my Granddaughter can be found to contact her and she remembered some of the family names enumerated over the phone.

HOW DARE YOU release my information to people that I do not know!

Subsequent to that, I was told that some of the “ex-husbands” of that family member set are “abusers” of one type or another. A family friend that works dispatch for first responders was agog over this. I told that friend that I demanded to have the complete list because of the above, and that would explain that at some 3 am time of the morning, they’d be hearing from me in no uncertain terms.

But that’s not the purpose of this post. My email to DCYF on this went out at 12:57 PM yesterday.  At 1:30 pm, I got my response from Mr. Martin:

—— Original Message ——
From “Martin, John” <John.B.Martin@dhhs.nh.gov>
To “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
Date 6/30/2023 1:30:55 PM
Subject RE: Has DCYF now breached my PERSONAL information?

I will see that this gets to the right people for response.

We have a saying here at GraniteGrok (one of our informal mottoes):  Spank’em when they’re wrong but Thank’em when they’re right. I would be morally hypocritical not to take a moment and say thanks for the quick response on this. Thirty minutes, in the area of RTKs, is almost instantaneous.  I’m thinking that part of it was the data breach (and now I have thoughts of MORE Right to Knows to create!) and part of it was the danger aspect.  No matter which or both, it is appreciated.

NOW, when will I hear back? Probably not until next week due to the long holiday with the Fourth Of July falling on a Tuesday and many folks “filling in vacation days” to have the week off. I am hoping that someone there has the thought “what would happen if someone in that family has a grudge against DCYF and now knows where to go to “send a message” and will bounce it up and down faster to find someone that can get things done quickly.

And as I type this, I’m feeling that I ought to let our local constabulary know of this as well….

The post Is This The Most Responsive Guy in NH State Government? appeared first on Granite Grok.

And if you think that it isn’t, why is almost every decision it is making (especially “Administrative Rules” that have the force of Law) mean GOVERNMENT makes the decisions and not you and I? Are you really that dim-witted that you believe “but it’s for your own Good?”

Nope, you’d probably would have been considered a Tory or a Loyalist come Tuesday back 247 years ago.

Competition in a private property system is expected to guide resources to those uses that maximize the value of production secured from them. This value is measured by what consumers are willing to pay, making due allowance for the implicit value of leisure and other goods consumed outside the formal market arena. The profit criterion stops uses of resources that would result in more cost than benefit as these are measured by the money votes of consumers.

-Harold Demsetz (Economic, Legal, and Political Dimensions of Competition)

Competition can only happen when there is Freedom to compete. Sounds simple, sounds trite, but it is true. When Government believes it knows better than the millions of decentralized people making billions of decisions on their own for their own self-interest, the result is always better than Government control. We have had hundreds of years of examples of Socialism, fascism, and Corporatism that show my assertion to be true.

Each of those government/economic models is defined as “planning from the top” – centralized decision-making by a relatively paltry few who have the hubris to believe they can efficiently control economies that have billions of decisions – every hour. Each individual one focused on one person’s needs and desires but which, in the aggregate, form the “Invisible Hand” discussed by F.A. Hayek.  Efficient (perhaps not always the highest optimal, but “efficient enough” for each) in which their capital is put to the highest good.

Planners, as in Critical Race Theory adherents, only see groups and not the individual needs. And they can only approximately guess their needs, wants, and cost ranges. Because of that, they are insufficient when it comes to “Complete Knowledge” and, thus, end up with sub-optimal decisions because the limited information they have is already out-of-date by the time they receive it; the People have already moved on.

And planners are never concerned with the People’s concern with Time which is one of the most important issues of that decision-making – time to work vs. time for leisure.

Freedom to decide – that’s what our Founding Fathers gave us. Big and Bigger Government, run by bureaucrats and stupid elected officials, forget that was one of the driving forces for Independence.

IMHO, it is being taken from us – what are you actively doing to take it back?

Or are you that lump sitting on the couch?

(H/T: Cafe Hayek)

The post Notable Quote – With The Biden Administration Hurtling Into Corporatism and Fascism… appeared first on Granite Grok.

Apologies for the late update, as my DCYF saga continues. In Part 1, I put in a Right To Know requesting the volume and locations of DCYF abuse and neglect reports being made. The RTK payload (w/out the boilerplate) was rather simple.

For the Division of Children,Youth and Families (“DCYF”) and the time frame starting January 1, 2018 to today, June 17, 2023 (inclusive):

• Initial incident reports of neglect of a child/children, all sources
• Initial incident reports of abuse of a child/children, all sources
• Initial incident reports of neglect and abuse of a child/children, all sources

Only three data elements for each governmental record are demanded:

• Date of complaint filed with DCYF
• Complaint/incident type [neglect | abuse | neglect and abuse]
• Originating Town | City from where the complaint was filed

No other identifying or personal identifying data elements are requested or desired.

That was sent on 6/19/2023 1:13:02 PM.  I got a response the next day that it was received and was being sent to the data folks for the response. There was a concern from DHHS Deputy Chief John Martin concerning the ability to narrow into individuals as the targets of those incidents (emphasis mine right now):

…My only concern is that we do not release data at so low a level of granularity when there is the possibility of constructive identification.  If a report of abuse or neglect is made in a town with a very small population and we provide the specific date the report was made, it is possible that the identity of the alleged victim and/or alleged perpetrator could be derived using other sources of information, such as police reports or news accounts.  Therefore, it may be necessary for us to withhold certain information in accordance with RSA 91-A:5,IV.  For example, it may be necessary in some instances to withhold the name of the town if its population is very small, or it may be necessary to provide the month and year of the report, but not the specific day.

DCYF anticipates that it will take up to 30 days to pull the data.  I will provide the data to you as soon as I receive it and make any necessary redactions.

Valid points. I get it, but my response was this:

…My only concern is that we do not release data at so low a level of granularity when there is the possibility of constructive identification.

Which is why I asked for only 3 data items per incident. With such a paucity of data, there is no way to be able to tie it back to any particular family.

…we provide the specific date the report was made… it may be necessary to provide the month and year of the report, but not the specific day.

Point made. While part of my research was to see what days of a week or month turned out to be “least” and “maximal”, I am willing to amend my RTK to be MM/YYY. Would you want me to re-submit or can we do a “Gentleman’s Agreement” based on this email?

Or, formally state that I will forgo any attempts to use other sources in “pinpointing” within a town (that which you are worried about)?  I’m not looking for specific people with this RTK.

And all of my answers are absolute truth – I’m not looking to identify anyone – the construction of my RTK strictly marks that down (see above, Date, Complaint type, and town). And if DCYF does its job correctly, the Police do THEIR jobs correctly (which, in this case, is the protection of the Privacy of all involved) nowhere would there be “leakage” as to a family or individual.

So 30 days to receive the dataset. When I receive it, it will be interesting to see what the first takeaways will be.

The post Part 2: Update on RTK for DCYF Abuse and Neglect Incident Reports appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Global Warming Cult is just full of great ideas. Electric cars run on coal. Batteries made from metals extracted out of huge open pit mines. Wind machines that kill birds and bats. They are also thinking about how to block the sun.

It is an idea popular with Bill Gates, The Biden Admin, Harvard Professors, and other usual suspects, and now the European Union.

Brussels plans to launch massive ‘geoengineering’ interventions to deal with global warming, according to the news agency.

The European Union is looking into technologies involving large-scale interventions into natural phenomena like sun rays or the atmosphere, as part of its new strategy for tackling climate change, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing a draft document that might be made public later this week.

The first question a skeptic might ask is, what about all those solar panels you’ve been going on about for decades? We are supposed to blanket the landscapes and rooftops from sea to rising sea with the damn things, and now you want to block out the sun.

And why doesn’t that get you all spun up about stormwater runoff from hard surfaces? Wait, I know. You can tax them for that too.

Make them subsidize it, then punish them for it with unreliable electricity when you need it most and a few extra fees. And now the plan is to make them even less efficient?

We need solar one minute, and we need to block out the sun the next.

It is not an idea limited to EU countries, but those citizens may want to send a message to their so-called representatives. While not making sense is typical, this is taking things to a new level. And no, not France-level messaging. They seem to have had a few things bottled up that they felt the need to vent, and the nation is on fire.

We were thinking an email or a phone call might be a better place to start. Mention something about the impact on renewable energy targets and diminishing solar radiation. Keep it simple, or they won’t understand. Maybe a crayon picture of solar panels crying because they can’t see the sun.

The post Solar Panel Addicts Suggest Blocking Out the Sun appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Sun-King responded to the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that discriminating based on race in college admissions is unconstitutional by claiming that the Supreme Court was following “our lead.” What a modest guy:

DEI … Diversity, Equity, Inclusion … is simply another name for “affirmative action,” which is just another name for discriminating on the basis of race. “Higher education” in New Hampshire simply renamed affirmative action “DEI.” Don’t believe me.

From the UNH website:

And if UNH is NOT considering race, sex, sexual orientation, etc., etc., etc., in admissions, then explain how UNH knows how many “underrepresented” students apply and how many attend. And also, explain to me how basing your admissions policy on increasing the number of “underrepresented” students is different from discriminating against “overrepresented” … i.e., white students.

The post No … New Hampshire Did NOT End “Affirmative Action” In “Higher Education” “Years Ago” appeared first on Granite Grok.

The State of New Hampshire never had a case, but they clung (bitterly?) to the media opportunities created by a false insurrection narrative right here in the Granite State. By “they,” I mean the Republican Governor, his AG, and the Department of Injustice.

The October 2021 Executive Council meeting WAS disrupted … by the actions of the Governor and the State Police. Twenty months later, the lack of a case (and one subpoena) and the remaining defendants have had their charges dropped. Not even a series of show trials.

I believe the subpoena issued to Governor Chris Sununu, while quashed by that judge, would not be the only one. His Excellency could expect others in all the remaining cases. He was a material witness. At some point, he’d have to testify and lie under oath or tell the truth. Neither, from where I’m sitting, looks good for Chris Sununu.

This is old (made new), and it doesn’t look good either.

Norm Silber (disclosure: he writes for GraniteGrok and has written “lawyerly letters and emails” for us in the past) shared some details in a comment under this article from yesterday.

It regards a Right to Know request he sent to the New Hampshire State Police in October 2021.

On October 15, 2021, I sent the following email to the NH State Police:

“Pursuant to the provisions of New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated Chapter 91-A, please provide or forward to the undersigned copies of all of the following:

Any and all emails, text messages, or any other form of communication from Governor Sununu, or any other person or persons purporting to be acting on his behalf, requesting, directing, or instructing officers of the NH State Police to remove any members of the public from the public meeting of the New Hampshire Executive Council held on October 13, 2021, and to arrest any of them, and any and all responses thereto from anyone acting or purporting to be acting on behalf of the New Hampshire State Police.”

On October 20, 2021, I received the following email response from David M. Hilts, Senior Staff Counsel, Office of the Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Safety:

“I’m writing to acknowledge your request below. We have no records responsive to your request. This request is considered to be closed.”

This brings to mind the old saying- What are you going to believe- what I tell you or your lying eyes?!!

If you watch the video, it looks like Governor Sununu Tippity tapped a message on his phone, after which the looming and excessive presence of State Troopers was set in motion.

No records responsive to your request.

Right.

The State may be done with this, but I don’t think the people of New Hampshire are yet satisfied. The governor had nine people, clearly targeted in advance, arrested and removed from a public meeting on charges that could not be prosecuted.

They didn’t do anything wrong, and they were arrested anyway.

What happened was an irresponsible, deliberate, and petty abuse of power. Something Revolutionary War Hero General John Stark might refer to as one of those evils worse than death.

The post The Revenge of the NH9? appeared first on Granite Grok.

There is nothing … NOTHING … more fwee market than FORCING people who use fossil fuels to SUBSIDIZE people using SOLAR. Nothing. And if you say otherwise, you are Putin’s puppet.

Indeed, if you say otherwise, you are probably too benighted to understand that codifying Obamacare into State law was TOTALLY fwee market. And that extending Obamacare Medicaid for another seven years … as the “bipartisan” budget did … was ESSENTIAL to protect us from Socialism.

In case you’re confused, I’ll explain it. When people with Rs after their names … like Jeb Bradley … do Socialism, we are supposed to pretend that it’s NOT Socialism. Understand? Anything Rs do … no matter how much it walks, talks, and acts like Socialism … is, simply because the Rs did it, NOT Socialism. I hope this helps.

The post The New Hampshire UniParty Keeps Winning appeared first on Granite Grok.