This is from a conversation in the comments below one of Steve’s recent posts.  It seems relevant to a lot of what’s happening just now, so I thought I’d post it separately.

Where [many people] see lots of different problems, I see only a couple that underlie all the others.

The first — not to sound like a broken record or anything — is confusing consent with majority rule, acting as if those are the same when, in fact, they are nearly opposites.

The second is confusing form with function.

Legislatures pass laws, and eventually, people start to think that as long as the legislature follows certain formalities (introduce a bill, hold hearings, vote, send to the executive for signature), then whatever they enact must be a valid law.

Judges issue opinions, and eventually, people start to think that as long as the judges follow certain formalities, then whatever they want to rule on must be a valid precedent, i.e., ‘the law.’

Regulators issue regulations, police issue ‘lawful orders’, presidents and governors issue ‘executive orders’, and all of these are considered to have ‘the force of law’. And so on.

People seem to have completely given up the idea that if government officials try to exercise a power that their written constitutions — their job descriptions — do not delegate to them or clearly prohibit them from having, then what they say or do isn’t binding on anyone.

Imagine how different things would be if people were willing to look at laws, regulations, orders, and judicial opinions coming from government officials and say:

Look, we can read our constitutions as well as you can, and what you’re trying to do is so clearly outside of the legitimate scope of what you can do that we’re just going to ignore it. And if you try to force the issue, you’ll meet with armed resistance.

I think this is exactly what the Second Amendment means by ‘the security of a free State.’

 

The post The Security of a Free State appeared first on Granite Grok.

An ongoing kerfuffle over alleged Saudi water withdrawals from Arizona to grow alfalfa highlights the complexity of competition for increasingly scarce – and thus valuable – water for crops and residential uses.

Revelations about gargantuan volumes of water withdrawn at little cost by a Saudi company to grow hay for export have sparked a passionate dispute that extends outside America’s third-driest state to California and other water-pressed jurisdictions.

Water for Saudi Arabia

The Saudi connection stems from a company named Fondomonte, which reputedly has been withdrawing unlimited amounts of water from lands it leases for merely $25 per acre: The value of the water extracted far exceeds the rent paid. Fondomonte is allegedly growing alfalfa year-round on its 3,500 Arizona acres to ship off to other countries – like China. Outcries of foul play have resulted in an ongoing effort to limit or ban foreign nationals from owning Arizona water rights or to retroactively impose monetary assessments for the water withdrawn.

The issues of water friction will lead to yet more lines drawn in the Arizona sand. Water rights there are big business, as the state endures a crippling, decades-long megadrought that pits farmers and ranchers against newly arriving residents who seek to limit water usage and development. This in turn drives up the cost of housing, water rights, and farmland, creating a vicious cycle that further escalates prices and speculation.

Water Wars Brewing

Issues over water also exacerbate growing cultural tensions. Brad Fain, a multi-generation Arizona farmer and rancher, observes that newcomers “…see farmers as unsophisticated and maybe greedy. They don’t understand our culture, or the complexity of our business.” This urban-rural division grows more intense as Californians and New Yorkers flee high taxes and COVID chaos for sunny climes and retirement. Fain sees the pressures on both sides and is sympathetic.

Arizona is extracting water faster than aquifers and rivers can replenish their flow. Arizona’s key policy dispute arises over whether all growth should be halted or managed to extract the wealth and policies necessary to implement yet more water efficiencies. Agricultural producers have been watching water use as part of their bottom line for decades, investing in modern irrigation technologies and more regenerative practices to reduce their drawdowns while staying in business.

Mr. Fain points out an interesting opportunity to balance these competing uses: Employ taxes on development to invest in “closed loop” residential water systems that reclaim and recycle residential water usage. Private drilled wells for housing may not be as amenable to such practices as public water systems. Most residential water can be processed and reused, with the exception of swimming pools, lawn watering, and landscaping. Suburban residents seek to restrict new development, sparking cries of elitism. They want to keep their lawns and water them, too.

Arizona’s Efforts

The battle lines were drawn four decades ago, when Arizona’s 1980 Groundwater Management Act created “extinguishment credits” to incentivize farms to sell or convert their water rights for development uses. This shifted resources away from water-intensive food production to water-absorbing residential growth. Farming and ranching have steadily declined, but precious water has been sucked up by the suburban sprawl. Rancher and developer Brad Fain “Tools were put in place to augment our water. We have to be very careful with our water.”

Regardless of climate change, anthropogenic water drawdowns have increased the strain on US aquifers and rivers. The coming water wars pit neighbor against neighbor. Brad Fain is sympathetic: “Where are these people to go? They come from all over the world to America seeking hope, and retire to warm climates from up north seeking their lifelong dream. We must build more hospitals and businesses, and we have a nursing shortage and insufficient housing to meet this surging demand. We can conserve more water while supporting reasonable and smarter development.”

Uniting for Solutions

These pressures are hardly unique to Arizona. As the BBC reported in 2014, California was shipping hay to China during a severe drought there, impacting not only water supplies but the viability of American  farms:

In the dried-up fields of California’s Central Valley, [some] farmers … are selling their cattle. Others have to choose which crops get the scarce irrigation water and which will wither. … The farmers are making hay while the year-round sun shines, and they are exporting cattle-feed to China. … Japan, Korea and the United Arab Emirates all buy Californian hay. The price is now so high that many local dairy farmers and cattle ranchers can’t afford the cost when the rains fail and their usual supplies are insufficient.

California produces roughly half of all American produce. The water troubles in the American West extend far beyond the borders of Arizona and foretells of a wider conflict for precious resources yet to come. Better water management and conservation are necessary from all sides, whether rich or poor, urban or suburban, black or white, red or blue. In a time of rancorous, divisive “identity politics,” all Americans must identify threats of thirst and starvation as common enemies against which we must forge a united policy response.

Note: I discuss America’s growing water crisis at length in my book, Small Farm Republic. Solar panels, EV cars, and synthetic meats do nothing to conserve water or rebuild soils. Cows do this while sequestering carbon dioxide. 

 

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

The post Night Cap: Saudi Water Battle in Arizona appeared first on Granite Grok.

It’s rumored that some Republican-controlled state governments are considering prohibiting Joe Biden from appearing on the ballot in their states. Of course, Democrats are crying foul:  ‘He isn’t an insurrectionist!’

And yet, both candidates have been convicted of insurrection exactly the same number of times:  Zero.

Apparently, Democrats have proved that you don’t really need a reason to keep someone off a ballot if you have the political will and the numbers to make it happen. (Related: Thanks to Colorado, NH Republicans Can Sweep Every Federal Race in 2024.)

Just like they proved that you don’t really need a reason to impeach a president, if you have the political will and the numbers to make it happen.

I love what RFK Jr. said about the situation in Colorado. Paraphrasing, if this were happening in another country, we’d be saying:  That’s not a real election.

With each week that passes, our chances of having a ‘real election’ seem to decrease significantly.  This could be a good thing if it helps us move, as a country, beyond the farce that majority rule has made of what was supposed to be government by consent.

 

The post Reason? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Reason appeared first on Granite Grok.

Since writing the first article, Are Convenience Stores Violating Your Privacy, I have been gathering more information and find the Driver License Scanning issue to be quite the bottomless rabbit hole.

Here are some key takeaways:

1. 1. 1. The AG’s office is still trying to get me to go away.
      2. I did have a conversation with the Director of DMV, John Marasco, who says he has concerns.
      3. There is a committee of state legislators that must approve the rules of most departments, but as far as I can tell, the Department of Safety is “exempt” from having its rule-making overseen by the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules.
      4. It has been reported to me that Macy’s is now scanning driver’s licenses to verify identity during credit card purchases.
      5. (According to another reader) LHS Poll Pad Training in Manchester is instructing people to scan driver’s licenses (must ask first) to verify voter identity:  https://lhsassociates.com/resources/Poll-Pad-Sell-Sheet-(NH)-(1).pdf
      6. We are still not absolutely sure exactly how much information can be scanned off of the license.  One State Representative told me that everything on the front of the license can be scanned.  Others think less information can be scanned.  As taxpayers, I believe we have a right to know.

As noted above, the NH Attorney General’s office isn’t all that interested or concerned. A John R. Davis responded to my RSA 91-A request as follows:

 

“I am an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection & Antitrust Bureau (“Bureau”) of the New Hampshire Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General. I am responding on behalf of the Bureau to your 12/04/2023 email to Ms. Jessica Raymond, of the Bureau, which email is attached below.

For your information, I believe that the Bureau previously, timely responded to your right-to-know request. I believe that the Bureau provided all documents that the Bureau had to provide under the applicable statute. Furthermore, I believe that the Bureau, both in referring you to the Department of Safety (“DoS”) and closing your complaint, acted properly.

Relative to your most recent email below, please be advised of the following:”

I asked the AG the following questions.

 

Before closing the case, did you confirm the following:

• Verify the equipment “does not visibly identify any personal information, other than driver license number and name”? If so, how did you do this? Please provide documentation to prove this finding. Driver licenses have other personal information on them, including date of birth, address, etc…
• Verify the equipment “does not retain, store or transfer any personal information, other than driver license number and name, for any period of time.” Please provide proof the equipment that is used to scan licenses by Circle K does not retain unauthorized data.
• Please provide proof that you verified the Circle K equipment “does not store any personal information, other than driver license number and name, in a central repository, disaster recovery central repository, such as a cold site or hot site whether on-site or in a remote location.”

 

The only documentation provided to me was our email exchange and my written complaint. There was no indication that any investigation or equipment testing was or would be done. Should there? Let’s look at the law.

 

From TITLE XXI Chapter 263 – Drivers’ Licenses

 263:12 Prohibitions. –
It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to:

X. Knowingly scan, record, retain, or store, in any electronic form or format, personal information, as defined in RSA 260:14, obtained from any license, unless authorized by the department. Nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit a person from transferring, in non-electronic form or format, personal information contained on the face of a license to another person, provided that the consent of the license holder is obtained if the transfer is not to a law enforcement agency. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person selling alcohol or tobacco who uses due diligence in checking identification to prevent unauthorized sales and purchases of alcohol and tobacco shall not be held responsible for the acceptance of fraudulent identification. Where due diligence is exercised on the part of the seller, the unauthorized purchaser shall be liable for any penalty or fine resulting from the unauthorized sale.

 

There is no legal reason or legal exception that justifies Macy’s, a convenience store, or LHS Poll Pad Training in Manchester to gather this data in this way. Scanning your driver’s license in New Hampshire is illegal, with these exceptions (emphasis added).

 

This paragraph shall not prohibit the scanning, recording, retaining, or storing of such information in electronic form collected with the license holder’s consent as part of a sale of merchandise to a pawnbroker, scrap metal dealer, or other secondhand dealer, and submission of such information to law enforcement databases for the sole purpose of identifying sellers of stolen merchandise. The pawnbroker, scrap metal dealer, or secondhand dealer shall not retain the scanned information in electronic form transmitted to a law enforcement database, unless required by local regulation, and shall not furnish the information to anyone except a law enforcement officer. The pawnbroker, scrap metal dealer, or secondhand dealer may maintain in a log or other document the name and address of the person whose license was scanned along with a description of the items the individual sold, pawned, or purchased, and shall allow such log or document to be examined by a law enforcement official upon request.

 

Absent new information, these businesses are committing misdemeanor offenses every time they scan the barcode on the back of your driver’s license, regardless of your having given consent.

But the State Attorney General either doesn’t have the time to provide the legal exception that allows it or to investigate and prosecute violations if that’s what they are.

Are they too busy working on another frivolous case against James O’Keefe?

 

The post Are Driver’s Licenses Being Scanned Illegally in New Hampshire? appeared first on Granite Grok.

To all those who are sending in memes, thank you!  Keep them coming please, as it helps me gather weaponry to fight the Left.  Understand that I do get a fair number of repeats, and some that don’t “grab” me as well.  However, please do share this post, and if you share an individual meme, consider mentioning you saw it on the Grok!

Speaking of, from this week, Monday Edition and Wednesday Edition.

 

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

 

Note: I will be taking the day off on December 25th – Christmas.  OK, I grumble about it, but my (non-Jewish) wife loves it and so do the kids.  And speaking of Christmas, here’s a piece I wrote about my being a Jew in a Christian country:

Merry Christmas! | Forward in Christ Magazine

 

 

So consider this slickly-worded WEF presentation.  Just marvel at how noble and high-sounding a clampdown on the information flow can seem:

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/wef-cencorship-video.mp4

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MHO, if the US / NATO go to a hot war with Russia directly, it will turn nuclear.  No question.  And I have ZERO doubts that Putin has plans for that.  While I’m certainly no expert, in many senses the Russian mentality – that I’ve come to know at least – is very simple: “If we’re going down we’ll take you down with us”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who the living F voted for this POS to have such control over what we can or can’t do?

 

 

 

 

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

 

PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA

 

 

Any of the above sound familiar?  No, wait… any of the above NOT sound familiar?  Take a look at the tearing down of statues.  This is part of Mao’s “Four Olds” strategy, sweeping away the last vestiges of the old Republic.

 

 

How soon before they get tired of statues and just come straight for anyone to the Right of Stalin?  I’m betting within a year…

People who fled Communist China are sounding the alarm.  People who fled Communist Cuba are as well, as are people who fled Communist Venezuela.  They’ve seen this before.  And despite this living testimony from countless people who have seen their countries fall, most people are TWENTY-NINERS as to the possibility that bad things could happen here.  (A Telegram friend is lamenting their seeming role as a Cassandra – making correct prophecies and attempting to warn people about multiple things, only to be completely ignored if not derided.  I know the feeling.)

Hence my term, “Twenty-Niners”.  People who cannot grasp that anything that could radically change the situation in which they live are actual possibilities, and completely dismiss concerns that others present even when backed by evidence.

They have Stability Privilege.  And reality’s going to come knocking… hard.

 

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

 

 

 

 

Ouch.  Where’s Fang Fang when you need her?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just wait until all those fighting age men are married to all the arms and ammo purchased by Barackus.  What, you thought the forest service and agriculture departments, etc., really needed all that weaponry?  The Left may be missionaries, and insane to boot – but they’re shrewd and cunning…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Pick of the Post:

 

 

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

 

Palate Cleansers:

 

—

—

—

 

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

 

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

Please do consider buying me a coffee.

Buy Me a Coffee

 

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

 

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

Londonderry Times publisher Deb Paul stood before a judge on Wednesday to receive her punishment. The crime was failing to include the ‘magic words’ identifying blatantly political ads as…political ads. The judgment hath arrived.

Deb has until early January to pay a $620.00 fine, according to InDepth NH, (124.00 per violation).

 

Prosecutors charged Paul, 64, with six Class A misdemeanors which carry up to a year in jail and $2,000 in fines for the ads she ran in the Londonderry Times and Nutfield News, though Steckowych found her not guilty on one count after November’s bench trial.

Paul did not respond to a request for comment.

According to prosecutors, Paul repeatedly broke the law when publishing ads for local political candidates and warrant articles in the Londonderry Times and the Nutfield News in the run up to the March 2022 municipal elections. The Nutfield News has since ceased publication.

 

As per previous reporting, we find this excessive, given the lack of clarity in the statute. A problem the legislature needs to address. We also made a promise.

 

Regardless of what punishment the judge decides is fair, and we think a warning will do, the free press and independent media are more important to the liberty of the nation, the state, and the town of Londonderry than the “magic words.” We feel obligated to rise in support of Deb Paul and her newspaper. To share more of its content with our audience who, and this may not come as a surprise, agree that the town has become a stink-hole of political insiders. A swamp of its own that needs draining.

 

We intend to keep it.

Investigative material directed at Londonderry’s intractable swamp can look forward to finding a second home here, along with some of our poking and prodding. We know a few folks in Londonderry who wouldn’t mind if that town got a bit more exposure, but if you live in or nearby (Derry’s a bit of a cesspit as well), we hope you’ll send us your inside scoops.

If we get enough material regularly, perhaps we will feature it in Derry/Londonderry MicroGrok. Not to compete for local market share but to use our reach to get more eyeballs looking in that direction. Remember, local stories matter because the nonsense you see in one town is often in many, and until it gets pointed out, folks might not think to look for it in their town.

If you want to be a local hero, make a point of turning yourself into Ed Naile. He left us a few years ago, but he had a very respectable reputation before he passed. If Ed walked into a meeting in any town, people in the know knew to be worried about why he was there. Even if he never said a word.

New Hampshire could use a few more like that who then take their observations to the new media. We can’t cover everything, and we can’t print everything. Some of the work folks do at the local level might not translate to this medium, but a lot of it does, and we’re willing to see what you have to share.

And so is Deb Paul at the Londonderry Times. Don’t be afraid to reach out and support your local muckrakers.

 

Update: The actual total fine may be different than what was reported by InDepthNH. Deb Paul had suggested to me that she was waiting to hear form the Judge. I will update this post when we have clarification.

The post A $620.00 Fine? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Paula had her day in court this afternoon and I thought a summary of observation would be of interest. Many witnesses were in court this morning in Concord as plaintiffs against Chris Ager, which I’m sure someone else will report on as I wasn’t there.

Tom Murray was out of town and, therefore, unfortunately unavailable, but the show went on.

First, I will point out that Judge Temple did not get this one. We got Judge English, who Temple told us yesterday upon adjournment of Laurie Ortolano’s case, would be filling in for the absent Judge Colburn. English was patient, friendly, and pleasant, but I thought a little research was in order, not that it necessarily predicted the outcome. According to Marylyn Todd’s Nosey Neighbor App, which uses 2020 voter data, English is a Democrat, and she was appointed by the Damn Emperor on 6/29/22. She had a hearing at the executive council on Nurse Terese’s milestone birthday, 7/6/22, and an email has been sent to their secretary, Meagan, to ask who voted for her and who didn’t. We will use that info accordingly at primary time.

Attorney Bolton and Clerk Healey were there at the enemy table for the City. Paula had constitutional scholar Daniel Richard at hers to serve as an “assistant.” Attendees in support of Paula included Lynn Diane Briggs, Wayne Saya, Dan LaPointe, Joan Donahue, Lily Tang Williams, Donna Judge, Niko, former Alderman Teeboom, Alderman-elect Chis Thibodeau, Al Brandano, and yours truly. The enemy camp fans included Ms. Gloria, Sonia Prince, and late arrivals Mr. & Mrs. Newman.

I sat in the front row and was later told that Mrs. Newman, seated in the back, took a lot of notes. I did not speak to them, nor was I even interested in a Seinfeld-style “hello, Newman” greeting.

Before going any further, I will share the link to my previous piece on the case. My article outlines the four complaints against the City. In short, it wasn’t about proving that fraud occurred. Rather, it’s about the procedure not being followed.

Paula made her opening statement, which Attorney Bolton made many objections to that were procedural in nature, but Judge English kindly redirected Paula as needed. Like myself, or Laurie Ortolano, Paula is not a lawyer, and this judge pointed out that it is not uncommon for plaintiffs to represent themselves. As expected of nonlawyers, there were some “holes,” so to speak, in the presentation, and Daniel Richard did an excellent job “spackling” them when he was on the witness stand.

Paula took to the stand first, followed by Daniel Richard, who recognized windows of opportunity to elaborate on things and even make reference to his pro se Supreme Court case, which can be found here.

Other witnesses called by Paula were Lynn Diane Briggs, Wayne Saya and Al Brandano. All of them did an excellent job responding to Paula’s questions, which often included excellent inviting words like “can you describe what you saw…”

Attorney Bolton’s only witness was Clerk Healey and their dialogue was mostly predictable, but as Altschiller would say to the rest of the senate regarding a bill banning woke investments, “the CRUX of the matter,” was that the school board is “styled” autonomously from the city itself with regard to all its operations and there are only two exceptions. Paula explained, both as a school incumbent and as a former alderman, that those exceptions are that the city controls the budget and there’s a joint (JSSB) committee that oversees the construction of new schools. I believe that Alderman Dowd is the chair of that body.

Let me take a quick sidestep to point out that the school board is a common portal in which tyrants develop their political resumes. Mrs. Newman, my two time opponent, is a former member, and my most recent opponent, Alderman Dowd is the former chair. School elections matter. Now back to the case.

All four complaints in Paula’s petition were ultimately acknowledged, some in greater detail than others; procedure not followed, chain of custody for ballot storage breached, equal protection clause violated, and incorrect handling/processing of absentee ballots. Near the end, a lot of verbal dispute was about the school board’s separate status from city hall as its own entity. Attorney Bolton started thumbing through some book while Paula was speaking and it reminded me of Annie Kuster (another lawyer worse than Lionel Hutz) seen on TV dressed in white and reading her pocket constitution during Trump’s speech that Queen Nancy ripped up moments later.

When it was his turn to speak, he started citing several local litigations that occurred in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Then he cited a recent federal court case of a disenfranchised blind woman. I was later told that when counsel starts digging for cases from several decades ago, it’s a sign of desperation. Attorney Bolton has until December 29 to submit his final statement and Judge English knows the swearing in is to take place in a matter of days later, so we won’t be waiting long for her ruling.

The post Paula Johnson vs. City of Nashua (The Sequel) appeared first on Granite Grok.

If you are not familiar with Konstantin Kisin make it a goal to do that. This Russian-British comedian, podcaster, writer, and social commentator (he’s politically non-binary) is brilliant, in my opinion, at not just on subject matter but delivery.

He’s smart and funny. Thoughtful and sarcastic. He understands the world and can articulate its problems in contrast to the self-created mental-health crisis of modernity referred to as wokeness.

Yesterday I shared a speech by Jordan Peterson speaking at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. That was brilliant and worth your time if you missed it. Today, along the same vein – as it is the same conference – Kisin has a much shorter speech but one that is as critical to understanding the problems and likley solutions to the work we are in and the direction it has taken.

Not so much the problem but a means by which we work toward solutions and where Peterson unraveled the foundational challenge of how individualism properly developed build the best communities, Kisin confronts the question of individual direction for the positive benefit of civilization, with a good bit of snarky humor.

Like, “Say what you want about Hamas supporters. At least they know what a woman is.”

He’s got wife jokes, Greta jokes, makes fun of Americans and, Brits, and his family while delving deeply into the question of the future of civilization and offering his thoughts about the problem and the solution.

Just under thirteen minutes and IMO worth every second.

 

 

The post Audacity and the Future of Western Civilization appeared first on Granite Grok.

“We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government.” — William O. Douglas, dissenting in Osborn v. United States (1966)

The government wants us to believe that we have nothing to fear from its mass spying programs as long as we’ve done nothing wrong.

Don’t believe it.

It doesn’t matter whether you obey every law. The government’s definition of a “bad” guy is extraordinarily broad, and it results in the warrantless surveillance of innocent, law-abiding Americans on a staggering scale.

For instance, it was recently revealed that the White House, relying on a set of privacy loopholes, has been sidestepping the Fourth Amendment by paying AT&T to allow federal, state, and local law enforcement to access—without a warrant—the phone records of Americans who are not suspected of a crime.

This goes way beyond the NSA’s metadata collection program.

Operated during the Obama, Trump and now the Biden presidencies, this secret dragnet surveillance program (formerly known as Hemisphere and now dubbed Data Analytical Services) uses its association with the White House to sidestep a vast array of privacy and transparency laws.

According to Senator Ron Wyden, Hemisphere has been operating without any oversight for more than a decade under the guise of cracking down on drug traffickers.

This is how the government routinely breaks the law and gets away with it: in the so-called name of national security.

More than a trillion domestic phone records are mined through this mass surveillance program every year, warrantlessly targeting not only those suspected of criminal activity but anyone with whom they might have contact, including spouses, children, parents, and friends.

It’s not just law enforcement agencies investigating drug crimes who are using Hemisphere to sidestep the Fourth Amendment, either. Those who have received training on the program reportedly include postal workers, prison officials, highway patrol officers, border cops, and the National Guard.

It’s a program ripe for abuse, and you can bet it’s getting abused.

Surveillance, digital stalking and the data mining of the American people—weapons of compliance and control in the government’s hands—haven’t made America any safer, and they certainly aren’t helping to preserve our freedoms.

Indeed, America will never be safe as long as the U.S. government is allowed to shred the Constitution.

The Fourth Amendment was intended to serve as a protective forcefield around our persons, our property, our activities, our communications and our movements. It keeps the government out of our private business except in certain, extenuating circumstances.

Those extenuating circumstances are spelled out clearly: government officials must have probable cause that criminal activity is afoot (a higher legal standard than “reasonable suspicion”), which is required by the Constitution before any government official can search an individual or his property.

Unfortunately, all three branches of government—the legislatures, courts and executive offices—have given the police state all kinds of leeway when it comes to sidestepping the Fourth Amendment.

As a result, on a daily basis, Americans are already being made to relinquish the most intimate details of who we are—our biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.)—in order to clear the nearly insurmountable hurdle that increasingly defines life in the United States: we are now guilty until proven innocent.

Warrantless, dragnet surveillance is the manifestation of a lawless government that has gone rogue in its determination to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, the Constitution be damned.

Dragnet surveillance. Geofencing. Fusion centers. Smart devices. Behavioral threat assessments. Terror watch lists. Facial recognition. Snitch tip lines. Biometric scanners. Pre-crime. DNA databases. Data mining. Precognitive technology. Contact tracing apps.

What these add up to is a world in which, on any given day, the average person is now monitored, surveilled, spied on and tracked in more than 20 different ways by both government and corporate eyes and ears.

This creepy new era of government/corporate spying—in which we’re being listened to, watched, tracked, followed, mapped, bought, sold and targeted every second of every day—has been made possible by a global army of techno-tyrants, electronic eavesdroppers, robotic snoops and digital Peeping Toms.

The government has a veritable arsenal of surveillance tools to track our movements, monitor our spending, and sniff out all the ways in which our thoughts, actions and social circles might land us on the government’s naughty list, whether or not you’ve done anything wrong.

Rounding out the list of ways in which the Techno-Corporate State and the U.S. government are colluding to nullify the privacy rights of the individual is the Biden Administration’s latest drive to harness the power of artificial intelligence technologies while claiming to protect the citizenry from harm.

In his executive order on artificial intelligence, President Biden is calling for guidelines on how the government will use AI while simultaneously insisting that corporations protect consumer privacy.

Talk about ironic that the very government that has been covertly invading our privacy rights wants to appoint itself the guardian of those rights.

Tell me this: how do you trust a government that continuously sidesteps the Constitution and undermines our rights? You can’t.

A government that repeatedly lies, cheats, steals, spies, kills, maims, enslaves, breaks the laws, overreaches its authority, and abuses its power at almost every turn can’t be trusted.

At a minimum, you shouldn’t trust the government with your privacy, property or freedoms.

Whatever else it may be—a danger, a menace, a threat—the U.S. government is certainly not looking out for our best interests.

Remember the purpose of a good government is to protect the lives and liberties of its people.

Unfortunately, what we have been saddled with is, in almost every regard, the exact opposite of an institution dedicated to protecting the lives and liberties of its people.

Indeed, the government has a history of shamelessly exploiting national emergencies for its own nefarious purposes.

Terrorist attacks, mass shootings, civil unrest, economic instability, pandemics, natural disasters: the government has been taking advantage of such crises for years now in order to gain greater power over an unsuspecting and largely gullible populace.

That’s exactly where we find ourselves now: caught in the crosshairs of a showdown between the rights of the individual and the so-called “emergency” state.

All of those freedoms we cherish—the ones enshrined in the Constitution, the ones that affirm our right to free speech and assembly, due process, privacy, bodily integrity, the right to not have police seize our property without a warrant, or search and detain us without probable cause—amount to nothing when the government and its agents are allowed to disregard those prohibitions on government overreach at will.

This is the grim reality of life in the American police state: our so-called rights have been reduced to technicalities in the face of the government’s ongoing power grabs.

While surveillance may span a broad spectrum of methods and scenarios, the common denominator remains the same: a complete disregard for the rights of the citizenry.

With every court ruling that allows the government to operate above the rule of law, every piece of legislation that limits our freedoms, and every act of government wrongdoing that goes unpunished, we’re slowly being conditioned to a society in which the Constitution means nothing.

Any attempt by the government to encroach upon the citizenry’s privacy rights or establish a system by which the populace can be targeted, tracked, monitored and singled out must be met with extreme caution.

Dragnet surveillance in an age of pre-crime policing and overcriminalization is basically a fishing expedition carried out without a warrant, a blatant attempt to circumvent the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement and prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.

What we need is a digital “No Trespassing” sign that protects our privacy rights and affirms our right to be left alone.

Then again, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, what we really need is a government that respects the rights of the citizenry and obeys the law.

 

| The Rutherford Institute

The post The White House Goes Rogue: Secret Surveillance Program Breaks All the Laws appeared first on Granite Grok.

The response to the Colorado State Supreme Court’s decision to remove Donald Trump from the primary ballot has been nothing if not amusing. That was always my plan. How do we stir up the Left about their own supposed victory? Well, here’s another swizzel stick with which to stir.

The Decision is a judicial circle jerk.

According to Special Assitant to Mr. Trump, Boris Epshteyn, the 200+ pages of bloviating published by the left-leaning Colorado State Supreme Court is little more than a vanity project—a chance to vent their progressive gills.

“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”  Four poor players – the judges in the majority –  That struts and frets their hour upon the stage And then are heard no more—maybe not that last bit. I’m sure they’ll have a lot to say and not much of it good for the people of Colorado.

This decision, as written, according to Epshteyn, invalidates itself. It is a pile of pretty words with no meaning, but I’ll disagree in one respect. Tis not all for naught – we’ve had a blast with it.

 

• Me – The Four State Supreme Court Judges Who Voted to Keep Trump off the Primary Ballot Need to be Impeached
• Mary Maxwell – What’s Up with Colorado Judges in Trump Ballot Case?
• Auntie V – Thanks to Colorado NH Republicans Can Sweep Every Federal Race in 2024
• Ian Underwood – The Silver Lining in Colorado, and Reason? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Reason.
• …And we’ve got a few more queued up yet to publish – since yesterday.

 

A public interest-feeding frenzy to which I’ll add this bit from Warroom. “Boris Epshteyn Gives His Reaction To The Ruling To Take Trump Off The Colorado Ballot”

Enjoy!

 

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Rumble("play", {"video":"v3zqd1o","div":"rumble_v3zqd1o"});

 

 

The post Night Cap: Colorado Decision as Left-Wing Judicial Autoerotica appeared first on Granite Grok.

How can this happen when the guy admitted to drug use, had multiple infractions, and was actually supposed to be suspended when the accident occurred because Massachusetts screwed up?

A man found not guilty in the 2019 Randolph motorcycle crash that left seven people dead is trying to get his driving privileges restored in New Hampshire.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy was found not guilty of all 15 charges he faced in connection with the motorcycle crash in Randolph. An attorney representing him in a separate administrative hearing said his driving privileges are being reviewed in the context of whether he caused or materially contributed to that crash.

Last I knew, he was in Immigration custody and facing deportation, which by all accounts should have been a slam dunk.

We want to thank Ken Goodall for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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And not a citizen, so why hasn’t he been deported?

Well, I just found the answer, “After Zhukovskyy was acquitted in August 2022, he was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. In February, an immigration judge ordered his deportation to Ukraine. The order came as U.S. deportations to the country remained paused because of the ongoing war.”

Our rules are clear for visiting non-citizens: If you break the law, you get sent home. This is wrong on so many levels. Ukraine needs him in the fight over there.

 

The post Volodymyr Zhukovskyy Not Deported Due to War appeared first on Granite Grok.

It is time to take off the gloves and get the knuckles bloody. It is time to stop playing softball and throw the heat high and inside, right under the chin. It is time to stop playing by their rules and take back this country.

It is time to nail Biden with a fastball that will make him double over in pain and not even know where first base is. It is time to take this country back by whatever means are necessary. The Democrats are destroying this country, and most Republicans are willing to be casual spectators. This dynamic must change, or we will someday see America replaced by a new Socialist experiment and wonder how that happened.

The solution has to begin with awareness. I have two types of people in my circle of acquaintances: those tuned into the news and those tuned out. The tuned out have different ways they arrived in this group. Either they were never concerned with political and government happenings, or they are so upset and discouraged by them that they have blocked it all out. Most of these folks have no idea what is happening around them. Sometimes, I envy this group as they may be the happiest in my circle.

The tuned-in consists of many types. This group creates a big divide in America because they are getting diametrically opposed views depending on who they tune into. Because of the vast difference in what they see and hear, they can sometimes not agree on anything. Then you have the passive observers and those who get involved. I am convinced those of us on the Right are getting and seeing a more honest view of the actual happenings. It is less biased and filtered, which is the word we need to spread.

Any Republican, heck, any true American, should be alarmed and disgusted by the Colorado decision to remove Donald Trump from its primary ballot. They have stretched any logical interpretation of the Constitution to claim that the former President is guilty of citing an insurrection and, therefore, forfeits his right to run for the Presidential office. This is a clear case of a Left-leaning court in Colorado manipulating an election. The Left is petrified at the strong probability that Donald Trump will be replacing Joe Biden in the White House, and tactics like this are what they are resorting to. Colorado is not alone. There are as many as 32 states considering similar actions.

The Maine Secretary of State must decide by Friday night on whether to remove Donald Trump from the Primary in the Pine Tree State. The Maine legislature held an eight-hour session to debate the Trump case this week, and there were multiple witnesses on both sides. These cases are pushing the clock as the Primary season is quickly approaching. Any decision to remove Trump from any ballot will be challenged in court and will probably be fast-tracked to the United States Supreme Court.

This is not supposed to happen in the United States. The Democrats have found a new low in their tactics, and you can bet the house they will work hard to find another tactic should the High Courts shut down their attempt to eliminate Trump from the 2024 election. Regardless of Party, every American should demand a stop to this Democrat effort to save our country, by tearing it down.

The post It Is Time To Take Back This Country appeared first on Granite Grok.

COP28, the climate summit underway in Dubai through Dec. 12, has so far displayed a circus parade of aspiring celebrities jostling for superiority in the climate cult. Perhaps highest on the ridicu-ladder of nonsense, poised between a pontificating King Charles and a social justice Pope, is US climate envoy John Kerry’s absurd call to ban all power plants fired by coal.

Kerry’s Coal Plant Flub

Kerry’s coal faux pas reveals either deliberate disregard of the costs of solar panel and EV manufacturing or clueless disconnect. Most solar panels employ silicon manufactured in China using coal ore and energy from coal-fired power plants. Chinese aluminum smelters energized by Chinese coal-fired plants supply US EV car manufacturers. China’s manufacturing powerhouse fuels its economy and carbon dioxide (and toxic pollution) generation, offsetting so-called greenhouse gas emission “reductions” in the United States.

Kerry reportedly stated, “There shouldn’t be any more coal-fired power plants permitted anywhere in the world.” China is notoriously deficient in meeting its supposed carbon reduction promises, in part because it views coal power as an essential element of national energy security. The Sleeping Giant is unlikely to yield to globalist commands if they undermine the critical fuel of its economy and exports to the United States.

China Rules Climate

Without China sitting seriously at the net-zero carbon table, there is no chance of the world achieving the dreamy Davos-Dubai goals. China receives mixed signals (or a wink?) from climate warriors who call for it to stop burning coal and manufacture solar panels and endless consumer goods for heavy-spending Americans. As explained in a 2021 Wall Street Journal commentary:

“Concerns are mounting in the U.S. and Europe that the solar industry’s reliance on Chinese coal will create a big increase in emissions in the coming years as manufacturers rapidly scale up production of solar panels to meet demand. That would make the solar industry one of the world’s most prolific polluters, analysts say, undermining some of the emissions reductions achieved from widespread adoption.”

Unsurprisingly, in 2022, China authorized the construction of the equivalent of two large coal power plants a week. The Red Dragon now accounts for more energy-related greenhouse gas emissions than North America, Central America, Africa, South America, and Europe combined. The trillions of dollars King Charles wants the world to spend on manufactured Chinese gadgetry is putrefying the planet with a myriad of toxic chemicals, in addition to fueling demand for coal as energy.

Cirque du Dubai

The Joint Statement of COP28 UAE aspires to “adopt more ambitious policies to scale up renewable energy and develop financing schemes” toward “enhanced adaptation action that builds resilience and reduces vulnerability, with a robust outcome.” The statement reveals the folly of this robust pollution generation:

“Scientists say both actions – rapidly expanding clean energy and quickly reducing the burning of CO2-emitting fossil fuels – are vital if the world is to avert more severe climate change.”

The circular logic is that quickly burning up oil and coal to manufacture solar panels (that will be toxic waste in 25-30 years) will rapidly reduce the burning of oil and coal. “Clean” energy is wholly dependent on filthy coal – and lucre. Kerry calculates that if the United States unilaterally abandons its coal-fired plants and China pollutes while building its economy and national security, the world will improve. Factory smoke fills the industrial nostrils of the Land of the Dragon, fueled by COP28 UAE and its jet-setter elites. America’s envoy calls on China to build more junk, while hampering America’s hard-earned energy independence at our nation’s peril.

EVs Sapping Electricity

The Biden administration has effectively halted future coal- and gas-fired power plant construction in the United States. Deliberately burdensome regulations, premature closures, and hostility toward expanding fossil fuel reserves or distribution systems burden the overstrained national electric grid.

Increasing US dependency on Chinese coal while abandoning domestic energy security, Kerry ignores the apparent problems with existing electricity distribution sapped by electric vehicles. The North American Electric Reliability Corp. recently warned of an elevated risk of blackouts this winter for more than half the nation:

“… the key factors contributing to the risk are increasing demand for electricity to power things like electric vehicles, decreasing generation due to the premature closures of coal and gas-fired power plants, and permitting delays that prevent new infrastructure from being built and connected to the grid.”

This orgy of destruction, reminiscent of Saruman’s devastation of Isengard in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, shifts fuel consumption to milk profits and consolidates global corporate dominance. The Dubai summit joins Kerry in climate hypocrisy, calling to eliminate cows to reduce deforestation while burning wood chips for polysilicon, proclaiming all coal plants should be shuttered while calling on China to supply more solar, and pretending to care for the planet over which globalists drool to rule.

Kerry, King Charles, Klaus Shwab, and the Pope – our unelected elitist climate envoys – all glorify themselves, covered in soot, at the expense of real climate action.

 

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

The post Coal Plants on the Worldwide Chopping Block appeared first on Granite Grok.

You may not be the sort to read something titled “That Moment When You Realize You’re Part of God’s Project; He’s Not Part of Yours” (even if not paywalled), but perhaps that is why you should.

Whether you believe yourself religious, spiritual, or even humanist, lessons can be found everywhere we are willing to look.

If Not Now, When?

Faced as we are with cultural decline, moral depravity, and the self-indulgent internet society that dominates the lives of so many (and of which, arguably, we are a small part), truths revealed or otherwise are in short supply. And while you might not want to wade through the author’s personal journey leading up to the following pull quote, it would have been worth the effort.

 

Much of the modern societal upheaval regularly on display amounts to a tantrum in response to the imposition of reality itself. Trans-humanism, in all its forms, is very much a petulant rejection of the way the circumstances of our existence have been arranged. Moderns feel imposed upon by reality. Were you created as a man? Well, surgical and hormonal interventions can remedy that; no need to live with the constraints reality has imposed. Does the healthy human body operate in the direction of fertility and reproduction? That can be remedied too.

The idea that reality might intrude and dictate our understanding of ourselves, thereby constraining our actions, is something many moderns simply cannot tolerate. We are living at a time of peak “follow your heart.” The easiest thing in the world right now is to find entire communities of people who are eager to believe that self-absorption is actually a virtue. The fact that unrestrained self-absorption is indistinguishable from madness is something that we have decided to simply … forget.

 

Another thing we have to consider is the relationship between this new normal to liberty and human freedom. Tulsi Gabbard recently spoke about the elite’s war on God and Faith. If there is no God, there can be no God-given rights. No natural rights. No right to life, liberty, happiness, free speech, free press, no right to travel, or to defend yourself when attacked. With whom you must have fidelity (the State) and before whom there shall be no image, graven or otherwise, than the State. And maybe that sounds a lot like some religions, but it is these people who have nurtured that war on reality, seeding generations with a preference for petulant fantasies. The invention, through modern illusion, of a new way that is as old as the human experiment itself. That there are those fit to rule and those whom the State must rule as god-king, omniscient, and unmerciful—a Government whose self-absorption is unrestrained.

The trans-humanists and secular humanists, perhaps even true atheists or anarchists, can find no power greater than their current individual whims, which deprives or at least limits an understanding of the value of family and community as a tool for their own growth and liberty. That doing and giving for others strengthens them. Frees them.

Jordan Peterson explained this as only he can in a roughly 30-minute speech that you should take time or make time to watch. He examines the steps and value of self-enrichment through the series of daily personal sacrifices and how and why young people today find themselves so miserable and susceptible (I would add) to whatever sleight of hand the political class might deploy to trap them in what Peterson calls the proximal hedonistic self-interest.

That “and the next thing.” Another false prophet, empty of meaning, but something, anything, to fill the intolerable emptiness that plagues them. What some have called the godless vacuum.

The speech is profound and gratifying, and I hope you watch it more than once. Not simply to grasp another piece of the bizarre puzzle before us but to concretize your journey so far – or to help you put one foot in front of the next in each moment after to better enrich your life and that of others.

I know it’s a bit deep, but then, so is the hole in which we find ourselves, and the only way out is up.

Dave Rubin has a one-minute introduction before Peterson begins his remarks.

 

 

The post Proximal Hedonistic Self-Interest and The End of Human Liberty appeared first on Granite Grok.

It is sad to see the approval rating of our President, Joe Biden, fall to a new low of 34%. Biden is not my choice for President, but once elected, the President is the leader for all Americans. It is distressing that the man who garnered 81 million votes is doing such a poor job that his performance is approved by less than 40% of the people.

In a recent FOX poll of Democrats, 54% of those polled want a different candidate on the 2024 ticket. I want to see Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in 2024, and it will undoubtedly be an easier path to the White House with Biden being so unpopular. But for now, he is our President, and I wish he were more popular because we would all be doing better.

Over the weekend, Joe Biden was asked why he was so unpopular with voters, especially Democrat voters, and his response was the polls were wrong. That is the equivalent of the strike-out leader in baseball blaming his performance on the umpires. Biden’s approval rating has now fallen below Kamala Harris, who is polling at 35%. Both numbers are deplorable.

Biden will not accept responsibility for his performance review, and the Washington Post reports that Biden is “frustrated and upset” with the new poll numbers and has been calling out his staff, pointing his finger at them as they are to blame. The irony is we have documented how poorly his staff and Cabinet have performed and that Joe Biden chose them with concern for DEI and not competence. His goal was to have the most diverse, not the most competent, Administration. He succeeded in that mission. The approval rating indicates how Americans feel about the entire Administration, and there is but one person to take the blame, and it is Joe Biden.

It is hard to fathom the approval number going any lower, but it will because the current attention given to the President’s children’s issues will shine a new negative light on Joe. The mainstream media is now forced to cover the stories of Hunter and Ashley, and their tax woes would be laughable if not so serious. Biden has preached he wants everyone to pay their fair share of taxes, except his daughter and son. With the House moving into an Impeachment Inquiry against Joe Biden, the media can no longer hide his sins but must report on them. Because of the protection afforded the President by a sympathetic, conspiratorial press, this will be the first their followers will hear of the shortcomings of this President and his family.

The President cannot be considered a favorite to win re-election with approval numbers approaching 30%. Trump is now beating Biden in every poll, and Nikki Haley is also leading in a head-to-head matchup with the President. With the potential for two third-party candidates on the ballot that most feel will hurt Biden, he and Jill might want to start packing. They will soon be living full-time in Delaware. That will be a good thing for the rest of America.

 

 

 

The post Biden’s Deplorable Polling appeared first on Granite Grok.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has done the Dems in the Sh!tty by the Bay a solid without meaning to. She has exposed her Party for what it is. They will over-promise. They will run out of other people’s money. Things will have to be cut.

In this instance, no actual promised funding was stopped. Not one dime was ever paid out. But the pols running San Francisco into a ditch overpromised, as usual. They made a lot of noise about taking money from people who had never owned slaves and giving it to people who never were slaves. The city would take some of that to pay for shipping and handling fees to enrich a few reliable bureaucrats and pretend to have undone an injustice.

That, however, is the entire Democrat program in a nutshell. Take from people who did something and use it to buy votes from people their party incapacitated in some form or other. And then leave them hanging.

 

Mayor Breed’s reversal on reparations is not the first time that San Francisco’s progressive promises have been forced to yield to reality.

Last year, she increased funding for police, after first saying she would defund the police to the tune of $120 million. Earlier this year, San Francisco repealed a travel and contracting ban on conservative states, after officials revealed it was costing the city money without any impact on social policies in Republican-governed jurisdictions.

 

Breed’s dissolution of the office or reparations is a thumbnail sketch. Whatever it is, it either doesn’t work or it will stop working because it is unsustainable. When the budget cuts hit the balance sheet, the only thing they will protect is themselves, even as the vestigial offices they erected necessarily wither and die.

City Hall will be the last thing standing, which just makes it easier for jilted victims of Democrat lies to find everyone responsible.

 

 

The post London Breed is Falling Down, Falling Down … appeared first on Granite Grok.

Language is a  curious thing; are are the wordsmiths in progressive major media who dance around the truth to tell you lies. Take this recent lede from NBC News.  “A federal court will allow four cisgender runners to sue over Connecticut’s trans-inclusive policy, which they say deprived them of honors and opportunities.”

Just so we are clear, a cisgender runner could be either a boy, a man, a girl, or a woman. It is sex neutral. A generalization for the un-woke masses who lack the clarity of thought to identify as something other than their birth sex. Cisgender is, do I dare say it, a social construct.

 

A federal court will allow four cisgender runners to sue over Connecticut’s trans-inclusive policy, which they say deprived them of honors and opportunities. https://t.co/yTwIoWzUxd

— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 15, 2023

 

Four individuals born without a penis attached to them have asked a court to consider whether allowing “women” with a penis to rob them of athletic opportunities is social justice or injustice.

 

In a rare full meeting of all active judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, judges found the cisgender runners have standing to sue and have described injuries that might qualify for monetary damages. The runners also seek to alter certain athletic records, alleging they were deprived of honors and opportunities at elite track-and-field events because they say “male athletes” were permitted to compete against them.

 

Cisgender runners. They are WOMEN! Female. Victims of a penisless female existence – except for the odd consensual act with a member” of the cisgender class who has a “member – cast aside as if they are second-class citizens by the political left and their stenographer “journalists.”

It needs to stop.

Say it, or sing it. W-O-M-A-N.

 

The post The Word You Are Looking for is ‘WOMEN’ appeared first on Granite Grok.

A court in Colorado has announced that Donald Trump can’t be on the Republican primary ballot in March because the 14th Amendment somehow prohibits that.

This is wrong on at least three levels.

First, it’s wrong because the Republican Party is a private organization.  The courts have absolutely no authority to tell it who it can or can’t nominate to run for president.

Second, it’s wrong because there was no insurrection!  (We know that there was no insurrection because there were no guns!)  So, there is no reason to invoke the 14th Amendment.

Third, even if there was an insurrection, Trump hasn’t been convicted of participating in it.  He — and, more importantly, anyone who supports his candidacy — is being punished on the basis of a mere accusation.  This turns the whole idea of due process — which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment! — on its head.

To its credit, the Colorado GOP has said that it will ‘withdraw from the primary and convert to a pure caucus system’ if the decision is allowed to stand, which is what it should be doing anyway, rather than using the state’s resources to fund and operate its private, internal processes. So that would create a great bandwagon for parties in every state to jump on.  (I’m looking at you, NH GOP.)

But there is a silver lining here, which is that we are being presented with an opportunity to return presidential elections back to a constitutionally sound basis.

That is, suppose that the decision stands: Trump becomes the national nominee of the GOP, and the state of Colorado refuses to list him on the ballot.  Colorado is controlled by Democrats, so there is probably not much that could be done about that.

But there are a lot of states that are controlled by Republican legislatures, and the Constitution says that those legislatures can send whatever electors they want to the Electoral College.

If the normal election process has become corrupted to the extent that the party in power is using its power to deny ballot access to the strongest candidates from other parties, this is exactly what those legislatures should do:  They should vote, as a state, for the presidential candidate that is favored by the legislature.

This makes sense if you look at the plain words of the Constitution — the people choose representatives in Congress, and the states choose a president.

Sometimes, out of the muck — because of the muck, actually — something wonderful can grow.

 

The post The Silver Lining in Colorado appeared first on Granite Grok.

Tulsi Gabbard isn’t great on every issue, but she was better than most Democrats on a lot of issues (and more than a few Republicans) and has since left that Klan Bake to take up many a cause on the center-right.

This grants her the opportunity to get speaking invites, which encourages her to think out and articulate positions on issues and principles. And while you should not trust any politicians as far as you can throw them – at least until they’ve proven themselves worthy in a trial by fire (like, say – COVID) – Tulsi is making a very good case for natural rights and liberty in this clip, and I wanted to share that with you.

 

@tulsigabbard When we recognize each other as children of God — as our founding fathers did when they formed this nation — we recognize that every one of us belongs to God and no one else. And as such, no government or no individual has any right or authority to try to take away our God-given freedoms.  #God #godgivenfreedom #fyp #freedom ♬ original sound – Tulsi Gabbard

 

 

The post Individual Rights and God-Given Freedoms appeared first on Granite Grok.

A recent hearing to consider whether dangerous killer David Peterson should be released from Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH) exposes a serious flaw in a recent change of Connecticut law.

As a former Connecticut criminal defense attorney, I support legal protections for those institutionally committed for mental illness (as here). However, new rules granting unilateral rights to violent offenders to apply for release needlessly perpetuate victim trauma. This imbalance can and must be remedied promptly.

David Peterson was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1971 and 1988 stabbing attacks. Ordered to CVH for a 15-year sentence in May 1988, Peterson left the facility on a day pass in 1989, and viciously stabbed 9-year-old Jessica Short more than 34 times in the head, neck, and face in front of her mother and young sister. His subsequent commitment to 70 years in CVH expires in 2060, but that timespan is a fiction: under a new law, CVH residents like Peterson can apply for release every six months. This puts Jessica Short’s family, and the entire community, on edge repeatedly.

The new law (Public Act 22-45) provides:
At any time after the confinement of an acquittee in a hospital for psychiatric disabilities, … the acquittee … may apply to the board for an order of temporary leave. ….An application for temporary leave under this subsection shall not be filed more frequently than once every six months from the date of the initial hearing held by the board pursuant to section 17a-583. …. If the board grants an application made under this subsection, (1) the acquittee may be permitted to leave such hospital or the custody of said commissioner temporarily, under the charge of his guardian, relatives or friends….

As an attorney who has attended countless periodic release hearings with family members of killers at CVH found “not guilty by reason of mental illness,” I can personally attest to the profound trauma and reliving of these horrible crimes that impact these victim families, including deep anxiety that these very dangerous offenders may be released into society after supposedly being committed for decades. Presumably, this statutory change (unanimously supported in the General Assembly) was prompted by recent revelations of abuse at Whiting Forensic. But throwing crime victims under the bureaucratic bus is the result.

Too many current laws disproportionately protect dangerous felons at the expense of creating more victims. A balanced solution here would be to implement a two-stage process whereby CVH would hold these hearings without notice (and stress) to the victims’ families. If it was determined that the dangerous, insane “acquittee” was to be considered for temporary release to stroll at the local parade (as Peterson did before publicly mutilating and killing young Jessica), a second hearing could be scheduled, allowing for victim and public comment. Instead, victims’ families must go through a torturous ordeal every time a patient or their representative tries to get back on the streets.

This is no light matter. Victims may travel great distances at their own expense, and feel a profound duty to others to protect them from what happened to their loved ones. Not all victims have the monetary resources to take time from work or pay for airfare and hotel, let alone hire legal counsel to speak on their behalf. Malicious offenders can simply file frivolous applications for release, deliberately tormenting their victims’ families for decades from within their confinement, with the rigid, callous assistance of the State of Connecticut.

This sentiment was expressed concisely by Jessica Short’s uncle, Andrew Reynolds, at Peterson’s recent release application hearing. Since 1989, Reynolds has been showing up to hearings like these to advocate for his family, reminding psychiatrists, judges and members of the public of the lifelong trauma they continue to endure. “I deeply did not want to come here,” he said after the recent hearing, noting that he felt angry and anxious on his drive to Middletown that morning. “Nobody wants to come to these hearings.”

But he does, he said, because he feels a responsibility to advocate for Jessica, for her mother, and for every other family who has had a loved one murdered in Connecticut. ….“It’s not just about our family, it’s about every family that has to go through this. ….People don’t understand what those families have to go through,” he added.

Just receiving a letter that Peterson is due for a hearing, Reynolds said, “creates havoc” in their family. They never know what will happen at a hearing, whether his restrictions will be lowered, or if he may even be granted access to day passes.

While paying lip service to homicide victims’ families, the Connecticut legislature has implemented laws that torment them and inflict recurring harm. This is obvious to anyone who has had any involvement with these sorts of horrible traumas. It should be more obvious to the legislature: the cure is simple enough, and would protect hundreds of innocent family members from this state-sponsored psychological duress while fully protecting the rights of the mentally unwell.

 

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

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