The Manchester Free Press

Saturday • April 20 • 2024

Vol.XVI • No.XVI

Manchester, N.H.

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Dominating the Political Bandwidth in New Hampshire
Updated: 17 min 55 sec ago

Joe Biden Needs To Make a Decision

Thu, 2023-11-30 16:00 +0000

Joe Biden needs to make a decision. Does he want to run for re-election or be President of the United States? He cannot be both and cannot do either well, but this country needs its Commander in Chief.

Biden is governing to the Radical Left and to the votes he will need to beat Donald Trump. It is time for him to face reality. The people do not want him, his Party does not want him, and he will not beat Donald Trump unless he finds a way to use his Justice Department to lock him up, ala Third World Banana Republics.

Domestically, we are in a spiral. Not only does Bidenomics not work, Biden can no longer convince anyone it does. Prices are still rising beyond the middle class’s ability to keep up. New home ownership is beyond the dreams of our children. Crime is out of control, and the wide-open Southern Border is now adding to those growing crime numbers. Our education system is failing; all Biden can do is throw more money at the problem. The White House Briefing should be canceled as the Misinformation Police have muzzled KJP. Her time each day is a joke. She spews lies and finishes each section with, “it’s a fact.” Really? Well, you have been fact-checked, and you are no longer needed.

Internationally, Biden is playing both sides of the fence. He tells Israel that we are behind them and then puts the cuffs on them by pushing for a long-term cease-fire. If Israel does that, and they won’t, Hamas will be killing women and children before sunset. We have sent billions to Ukraine without accountability, including how much is bouncing back to the Biden Family bank accounts. We have no idea who the American hostages are in Gaza, whether they are alive, or when, if ever, they will be released. In turn, Biden relaxes restraints on Iran, giving them more money to fund Hamas and Hezbollah.

We cannot decide between 1st Amendment Rights and Hate Speech. Colleges are protesting our support of Israel, and High School teachers are threatened by students for supporting Israel. More than 60% of Americans disagree with Biden’s policies on the Economy, Domestically and Foreign, but Biden shrugs it off, saying Americans don’t understand. 30% approval is because Americans are stupid. Brilliant explanation, Joe.

I don’t think Joe Biden can get America back on track. Joe Biden has lost sight of our track. But, the only chance we have is for Biden to step down from his ridiculous attempt at re-election. As poor Jimmy Carter was wheeled out for his wife’s funeral service today, I realized he and Joe have more in common than we imagined. I do not say that to disrespect Carter. He is 99 years old. But it is to disrespect Joe Biden because I do not respect him. He hates America, has done everything in his power to destroy her, and has committed treason against the American people. He cannot leave office soon enough.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Michelle Obama’s Magical Turnout Machine

Thu, 2023-11-30 14:30 +0000

Michelle Obama can predict the future. Well, she can shape it anyway.  Back in 2012, she stood before the assembled throng at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, and said words that are still shaping elections a decade later. “Let’s be clear,” Michelle said, “elections aren’t just about who votes but who doesn’t vote.”

Today, we finally understand what she meant.

Here’s what happened: just a few weeks after Biden moved out of his basement and into the Oval Office, he was handed a piece of paper to sign – a paper that set in motion an extremely clever scheme designed by the Obamas and their Biden-managing team. The paper is Executive Order 14019, and it was signed on March 7, 2021. Within its flowery language is something without precedent in our history. Specifically, it deputized every single federal agency and office across the nation to identify eligible voters, get them registered, and help them vote.

In crafting this order, the so-called “elites” had a very specific mission in mind. They already had a sense that Democrats would suffer a bloodbath in the 2022 midterm elections. Their party’s notional leader was Joe Biden for goodness sake, and election watchers were already predicting a “red wave” for the GOP. They also understood that if Republicans regained majorities in Congress, the radical Obama-Biden agenda would be stopped dead in its tracks.

That needed to be prevented at all costs – even if the price to be paid was the integrity of America’s elections. So, the elites put Michelle’s words into motion. Enter Executive Order 14019.

For the first time ever, the federal government dove directly into the election process, with officials identifying and contacting federal benefits recipients who might be inclined to vote for Democrats. Food stamp recipients, job training participants, and farm workers were among the millions contacted and assisted. True, many of them may not have planned to vote in the midterms or even known who the candidates were, but no matter. As soon as the officials (who happened to be the source of the benefits they received) urged them to register and fill out ballots, many of them did exactly that.

This isn’t conjecture – it’s documented. For example, the Labor Department sent a memo to state and local officials who administer the huge sums of federal cash that fund their programs. The memo advised officials to use the nation’s nearly 2,400 American Job Centers (AJCs) not solely for job training and employment services. That’s so pre-Biden! Instead, Labor called on them to be used as voter registration agencies, where job training participants would register to vote – with the officials’ help, of course. What to do with all those ballots? Simple – the Labor memo also authorized job training centers to engage in “collecting and transporting voter registration forms.” Factual, documented, and flat-out wrong.

Congress and election watchdogs found out about this and filed multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to get to the bottom of it. At no point, however, have their FOIA requests ever received a fulsome response, and an Obama-appointed judge blocked disclosure. Even when ordered to come clean, Merrick Garland’s highly partisan Department of Justice only issued heavily redacted documents that hid the real story.

Meanwhile, ballot harvesting occurred on an unprecedented scale. As Biden actually boasted on video, “We have put together I think the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.” (That’s not a typo – he actually said it!) In a report perversely named “Strengthening Democracy,” 14019’s backers estimated that it “could collectively generate an additional 3.5 million voter registration applications per year.”

As for the 2022 and 2023 elections, I’ve examined the data and reached my own conclusion: the “red wave” of 2022 and the strong GOP showing of 2023 that nearly every pollster anticipated did in fact happen. Americans of all types have told pollsters they are sick and tired of the damage being done by the Obama-Biden regime and are ready for a new direction.

So, why didn’t Republicans regain the Senate in 2022 and win key races in 2023? Executive Order 14019 is why. In 2022, for example, a red wave did roar across America, as over 3,000,000 more votes were cast for Republicans than Democrats. But it ran smack into what I call the blue wall.

Or, to be precise, Michelle’s blue wall.

Nor am I the only one to note this. My friend Jason Chaffetz recently wrote about the 14019 scheme. And legendary election watcher Charlie Cook observed, “Clearly something or someone intervened, affecting the outcome of the election in the places that mattered.”

You don’t say…

 

Ashley Hayek (@AshleyHayek) is Executive Director of America First Works, Chief Engagement Officer of America First Policy Institute, and the author of Beat the Elites!: 5 Steps to Stop the Elites and Save America.

 

Ashley Hayek | Daily Caller

 The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline, and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Winter Warning: Energy Security Issues Plague Biden’s America

Thu, 2023-11-30 13:00 +0000

We’ve complained about energy security and reliability in the Northeast for years. ISO New England warned policymakers ten years ago that we had demand and infrastructure issues that continue to go unaddressed. And they remain unheeded.

Here are a few more recent examples.

 

  • Vermont Democrats Want You to Freeze to Death
  • Winter is Coming: Is It Time for New England to “Pay” the Green Energy Piper?
  • Another Reason to Vote Out Democrats – The Potential for Rolling Blackouts in a New England Winter
  • New England’s Shortsightedness on Energy Isn’t Just Bad for You; It is Bad for The Green Agenda
  • Northeast Activists Still Working to Ensure We All Freeze to Death

 

We’ve got dozens more, but you get the point, and perhaps in ways you’d rather not. With all the focus on decommissioning reliable on-demand generation in the absence of any replacement, the break-neck, cutthroat, at all costs (mostly yours) Biden energy transition looks more like a planned culling of locals when demand exceeds supply and people lose power. And the threat is increasingly real for many of us.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has released a winter reliability assessment for North America, and it is not flattering to the Biden Energy Agenda.

 

(Fox Business)The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned this week that more than half the U.S. is at an elevated risk of blackouts this winter due to a combination of increased demand, regional power generation shortfalls and potential fuel delivery challenges in the event of prolonged cold weather events.

The findings came from NERC’s annual Winter Reliability Assessment released Wednesday, which, for the first time in its 55-year history, pointed to energy policy as one of the top threats to the U.S. power grid due to the Biden administration’s green agenda.

 

The Report (here) includes a map with some details as well as information about each region.

 

 

The Map blurb for New England includes this.

 

• NPCC-New England: The capacity of natural gas transportation infrastructure could be constrained when cold temperatures cause peak demand for both electricity generation and consumer space-heating needs. Potential constraints on the fuel delivery systems and the limited inventory of liquid fuels may exacerbate the risks for fuel-based generator outages and output reductions that result in energy emergencies during extreme weather.

 

These are problems shared by huge chunks of the nation.

Here in New England, the issue has festered for many years, but efforts to improve the situation are met with resistance. The keep-it-in-the-ground nimrods who hate reliable energy run scare campaigns that set the NIMBY folks into action, and before you know it, infrastructure gets canceled.

We should be adding to Seabrook Nuclear not talking about decommissioning it. Could Northern Pass have been handled differently? Getting a gas pipeline to bring needed energy north (or any direction) is as impossible as a pipeline from Pennsylvania’s rich gas fields across New York State, which will not allow it.

Our own members of Congress have done nothing to allow domestic gas and oil to travel from the Gulf of Mexico to New England, so you’d be right to think they rather see your wallet raped and your toes freeze.

They are guessing mild winter where I live, and maybe that’s what we’ll get, but it only takes one storm (and we get those) with extreme cold to stress the grid and send everything in a tailspin. But a huge chunk of that map above is expected to have a lot of snow and cold this season, and according to NERC, they are at risk from Biden’s Energy Agenda and it doesn’t need to this way.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Supreme Court’s Knickers should be in a Twist!

Thu, 2023-11-30 11:30 +0000

Daniel Richards presented his case against the New Hampshire Supreme Court about voting rights. The case: Daniel Richards v Governor Christopher Sununu et al — it is covered here — pay attention to the “et al.”

Present on the panel hearing the case was Supreme Court Chief Justice, Gordon MacDonald who was appointed by Christopher Sununu as the Attorney General in 2017. Then Governor Sununu nominated MacDonald twice for his position on the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The second time he was appointed with only 4 years experience as an AG and before that working in private practice for Nixon Peabody — in other words with no experience as a judge at all.

I’ve asked before why New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald didn’t recuse himself from a case involving the Laurie List of police officers with credibility issues since Gordon MacDonald had argued to keep the list of corrupt police officers secret — one of whom he was working with directly and knew of his corruption when he made the statement to keep the list private in August 2018. That police officer, James F McLaughlin, has an ongoing inquiry against him which is so complex that it’s taken months. Clearly there’s a lot to hide because 28 pages from a Right to Know request came back mostly redacted.

Now I’m curious as to how Gordon MacDonald was ever appointed to the Supreme Court when New Hamsphire’s RSA 490 seems to indicate that he wouldn’t even qualify:

“Chapter 490: Supreme Court

RSA 490:1 — Justices

“On the effective date of this section, the administrative position of Chief Justice shall be held by the justice with the most seniority on the Court for a period of up to five years. Each succeeding Chief Justice shall serve for period of up to five years and shall be the justice with the most seniority of service on the Court who has not yet served as Chief Justice.”

Section 490:1
490:1 Justices. — The supreme court shall consist of 5 justices appointed and commissioned as prescribed by the constitution. On the effective date of this section, the administrative position of chief justice shall be held by the justice with the most seniority on the court for a period of up to 5 years. Each succeeding chief justice shall serve for a period of up to 5 years and shall be the justice with the most seniority of service on the court who has not yet served as chief justice. A justice may decline to serve as chief justice; however, no justice shall be permitted to serve successive terms as chief justice. In the event that all 5 justices have served a term as chief justice, succeeding chief justices shall serve rotating 5-year terms based on seniority.

Source. RS 171:1. CS 181:1. 1855, 1659:1. 1859, 2211:4. 1874, 97:1. 1876, 25:1. GS 189:1. 1877, 25:1. GL 208:1. PS 204:1. 1901, 78:1. PL 315:1. RL 369:1. 1945, 174:3. RSA 490:1. 1978, 33:1. 2001, 50:1, eff. Dec. 31, 2003.

490:4 Jurisdiction. — The supreme court shall have general superintendence of all courts of inferior jurisdiction to prevent and correct errors and abuses, including the authority to approve rules of court and prescribe and administer canons of ethics with respect to such courts, shall have exclusive authority to issue writs of error, and may issue writs of certiorari, prohibition, habeas corpus, and all other writs and processes to other courts, to corporations and to individuals, and shall do and perform all the duties reasonably requisite and necessary to be done by a court of final jurisdiction of questions of law and general superintendence of inferior courts.

Source. RS 171:2, 3. CS 181:5, 6. 1855, 1659:1, 10. 1859, 2211:3. GS 189:1. GL 208:1. 1885, 42:1. PS 204:2. 1901, 78:7. PL 315:2. RL 369:2. RSA 490:4. 1971, 341:1, eff. Aug. 24, 1971.

490:8 Trial of Facts. — Questions of fact pending before the court may be heard and determined by one or more justices or by a master or referee as the court may order.

Source. PS 315:6. RL 369:6

When Gordon MacDonald was Attorney General, he was forced to admit that voter fraud was a problem after an exposé by Project Veritas.

But his problem to do better was apparently vacuous,  judging by recent news announcements: Ex-Rep. Merner Arrested, House COO Knew He Was Serving Illegally Before Session Began.

AG Gordon MacDonald was reported to be investigating sexual assault at Dartmouth College when the class action lawsuit Rappuano & Does v Dartmouth College Board of Trustees was filed — per news reports. He is a graduate of Dartmouth — allegedly from the frat that “Animal House” was named. This is ironic since a reference to “Animal House” was made in the suit — you almost wonder if he helped draft it.

Governor Sununu, who appointed Gordon MacDonald to the position of AG, was on the board of Dartmouth Trustees (a non-profit) — being sued by Steven J Kelly Esq and Chuck Douglas Esq, who, coincidentally, is the Chair of the New Hampshire Judicial Selection Committee. After the initial report stating that AG Gordon MacDonald was investigating Dartmouth, nothing happened. However, the class action suit yielded a $14 million win, of which $4.9 million went to the attorneys, and $2.865 million (estimated from news reports) went to the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, whose budget is approved by Dartmouth Board of Trustees member Governor Sununu out of the State budget.

Coincidentally, Governor Sununu is also on the board of the University of New Hampshire, whose Prevention Innovation Research Center (PIRC) is partnered with the NHCADSV. UNH’s PIRC is the beneficiary of federal grants for research into domestic sexual violence and child abuse from the Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women.

Would AG Gordon MacDonald have investigated reports of sex abuse at the University of New Hampshire, and would the NHCADSV have worked with the attorneys suing it for claims? I believe the answer would be no.

Why? Because neither AG Gordon MacDonald, Governor Chris Sununu nor the NHCADSV would want to trigger an audit of how these federal funds received by UNH/NHCADSV are actually used — to support the NHCADSV to team up with civil attorneys who are pals of Gordon MacDonald to go after and extort schools (Dartmouth, St Paul’s School, Phillips Exeter Academy) which, unlike UNH, do not receive funds from the DOJ to research sex abuse and domestic violence; to sell these private schools their “Bystander” training product which is marketed under Soteria Solutions which was recognized for entrepreneurship using federal grants.

 

Startup Company Born Out of Federally-Funded Research at UNH High

 

AG Gordon MacDonald dismissed claims of sexual abuse at the Sununu Youth Detention Center as “victim negligence.” Governor Sununu also dismissed the class action lawsuit as a gold-digging exercise. But then he referred complainants to the NHCADSV and his ex partner from Nixon Peabody, David Vicinanzo (who is also legal counsel for the NHCADSV) lobbied his successor, AG John Formella, for a $100 million fund. Suddenly over a thousand cases were allowed to go forward but the State didn’t want its own employees to testify. As one judge pointed out, the AG’s office has a conflict of interests. David Vicinanzo is squabbling with Chuck Douglas over who gets the legal fees for the first complainant. Chuck Douglas used to be NH Supreme Court Chief Justice too and in that position he allegedly sent a child back to be abused at the YDC after she’d been raped, impregnated and had an abortion — all performed by state employees I gather.

It is not just the AG’s office that has a serious conflict of interest. It is the New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice, Governor Chris Sununu, and the NHCADSV. They are all very happy to get those federal grants and to squeeze every private organization for every penny they can get, but they don’t want any investigation into their own business. You would think they worked for private practices and were not paid for by the public.

There have been orders by the AG for Grand Jury Criminal Investigations into the Diocese of Manchester, St Paul’s School but none for the Youth Detention Center or the New Hampshire AG’s Office. David Vicinanzo & Chuck Douglas are silent on that and so is everyone else. I wonder why?

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

What Is a Certificate Program?

Thu, 2023-11-30 10:00 +0000

In a world where career landscapes resemble complex mazes, the quest for relevant qualifications can often feel like an expedition for hidden treasure. Certification courses online can serve as a beacon of light guiding career adventurers towards realms of new skills and opportunities.

Unveiling the Treasure Map: Understanding Certificate Programs

Imagine you are an explorer setting out on a journey. Your destination is a promising career, but the path is shrouded in mystery and challenges. This is where a certificate program comes into play, serving as your trusty map. A certificate is a specialized form of recognition, indicating that you have acquired a specific set of skills and knowledge in a particular field. Unlike traditional degrees, these programs are akin to taking a speedboat across a vast ocean, offering a quicker route to your career destination.

The digital age has revolutionized this journey, allowing you to embark on this quest from the comfort of your home. Online certification courses have emerged as a popular choice, providing flexibility and access to a plethora of skills without geographical constraints. From digital marketing wizards to IT warriors, the online realm offers a diverse array of certificate programs catering to various career quests.

Crafting Your Armor: The Benefits of Certificate Programs

Embarking on a certificate program is like forging your own armor for the battlefield of the job market. In an era where employers are increasingly seeking candidates with specific skill sets, these programs offer a practical and focused approach to learning. They are the whetstones sharpening your skills, preparing you for the specific challenges of your chosen field.

Certificate programs often involve hands-on training and real-world applications, ensuring that you’re not just learning theories but also how to wield your new skills effectively. This practical approach is crucial in fields like healthcare or technology, where theoretical knowledge alone is akin to going into battle with a blunt sword.

Navigating Uncharted Waters: How Certificate Programs Work

So, how does one embark on this voyage? A certificate program typically involves completing a series of courses focused on a specific area of expertise. These courses are designed to be comprehensive yet concise, focusing on the practical skills needed in the job market. The duration of these programs can vary, from a few weeks to several months, depending on the depth and breadth of the subject matter.

The journey through a certificate program is marked by milestones, often culminating in a capstone project or an examination. These assessments are designed to test your mastery of the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired, ensuring that you’re ready to set sail in your career with confidence.

Charting Unknown Territories: Case Studies

To illustrate the transformative power of certificate programs, let’s consider a few real-world adventurers who changed their career trajectories.

  • Sarah, a former retail worker, completed a six-month certificate program in web development. Post-certification, she transitioned into a thriving career as a front-end developer, harnessing the power of code to create digital masterpieces.
  • Alex, a marketing professional, felt stuck in traditional marketing methods. By completing an online certificate course in digital marketing, Alex unlocked new realms in social media and SEO, propelling his career into the digital age.
  • Maria, a nurse, pursued a healthcare management certificate. This quest equipped her with leadership skills and administrative expertise, catapulting her from bedside care to a managerial role in her healthcare facility.

These stories are testaments to the transformative potential of certificate programs, acting as catalysts for career advancement and personal growth.

Embarking on Your Quest: How to Get Started

To start your own journey, begin by identifying your career destination. Research the skills and qualifications most in demand in your chosen field. Once you have a clear target, explore the various certificate programs available, particularly those offered online, to find the one that aligns with your career goals.

When selecting a program, consider factors like curriculum, duration, flexibility, and reputation. Opt for programs that offer practical, hands-on learning experiences and opportunities to work on real-world projects. This approach ensures that when you complete your journey, you are not just holding a certificate but wielding a powerful tool that opens doors to new career opportunities.

Conclusion: The Journey Ahead

Certificate programs are more than just educational pursuits; they are voyages of career transformation. In an ever-evolving job market, they offer a focused and practical path to acquiring the skills needed to navigate the complexities of modern careers. Whether you’re looking to change careers, advance in your current field, or simply gain new skills, a certificate program can be the compass guiding you towards your professional goals. So, set sail on this journey of learning and discovery, and watch as new horizons in your career unfold before you.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Night Cap: Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon Talk Us Through What’s Happening in Ireland

Thu, 2023-11-30 02:30 +0000

The Globalist immigration invasions have been underway for years, with a slight hiccup in America when Trump was president. Biden quickly broke what was fixed, and the US has been put back on a plan with its European “friends” as the conquest of the Western World continues.

Millions are ferried, bused, flown, or walked into countries, displacing the (dare I say) indigenous populations, many of these new arrivals – or most of them – living off the backs of the people whose nation they’ve invaded.

There’s a limit to how much grace one can manage under such circumstances, which is a well-understood problem. The goal of these globalist stooges is to create local tension, strife, and ultimately violence, which justifies an escalation of police powers, the police state, national control of local law enforcement, curfews, marshall law, and so on.

Dublin, Ireland, exploded after an Algerian non-citizen freeloader – on the dole for over two decades – decided to stab some children – and the despots couldn’t have done it better had they planned it (and maybe they did). The Irish are pissed and rioted, and its a mess.

Good news: Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon are here to try and talk us through it.

 

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

A Pattern of Government Behavior in Concord and Beyond

Thu, 2023-11-30 01:00 +0000

Today I visited the Supreme Court to witness Daniel Richard’s oral arguments, which I’m sure will be reported on in great detail in other articles, but I’m going to share a different observation.

It’s about a government trend that I thought stuck to my side of the Merrimack River, but today marks the second time I’ve observed it on the other side and in the same place. It’s the willful limiting of in-person attendance observing the government process, something the state house, the LOB, and Nashua schools that host elections have been doing for quite some time. Coincidence? Read the rest of what I have to say, and YOU decide.

It’s not every day that such a high court accepts a case from a non-lawyer representing himself as a constitutional scholar. Even rarer is when that same pro se litigant gets to have another case heard. That in and of itself ought to generate a lot of public interest, but the SC staff can’t claim ignorance because I was there to observe the first time. I got lost and was late. When I arrived, the “courtroom was full,” and I was directed to the law library. I can’t blame anyone but myself for being late and pleasant employees ushered us to the law library’s comfy furniture and set up the big screen TV to watch the oral arguments livestreaming. Fair enough. What many may not know what that one of the judges had invited a law school class to attend, thus taking up most of the seating. Whether or not that was intended could be debated.

This is no ordinary courtroom with church pews close together. There are 70 fancy wooden armchairs, like one would find in their formal dining room, all generously spaced apart. Wheelchair access, anyone? Why yes, indeed! I could go on about how it was as luxurious as flying first class and void of the obligatory annoying movie theater patron furthest from the aisle that makes everyone stand up to clear the way to the aisle, but you get the picture. In ordinary average attendance situations, that’s great for the attendees.

As to avoid the same thing happening(to me) twice, I got there wicked early to get a seat of my own in the courtroom, and an even larger crowd appeared this time. Before the court was called to order, some of the later arrivals popped in to say hi and socialize, and I learned from one of them that the law library with its big TV was NOT available today because the room was being used for some asbestos mitigation event. Now, intelligent people must ask themselves if that was by design. Does the same person/staff group that schedules court dates also schedule the use of the law library? Was this a clerical oversight, just like ANOTHER court in Concord claims with Frank Staples and the NH9 defendants in booking their hearing times? By the way, the ordinary courthouse is on the other side of the Merrimack River: wink, wink, nod, nod.

On 9/8/21, there was a vax registry hearing scheduled at the DHHS building with Lori Shibinette’s ilk in a room clearly way too small to accommodate the masses who showed up to attend. Keep in mind that this was during the time when people were getting fired for refusing to roll up their sleeves. That was followed by various shenanigans, like rescheduling and changing it to an online event without reasonable notice. Some people drove many miles to attend with many kids in tow.

On 3/30/22, HB 1131 (a school mask bill ultimately vetoed by His Excellency) was scheduled in a tiny room in the LOB for a senate committee hearing. I got there early for a variety of reasons, including one that was very predictable. The lobbyists took all the audience chairs and the senate staffer refused to let anyone stand, all in the name of maximum occupancy. I even gave up my seat to Rep Jose Cambrils at his request because he wanted to stick around for the hearing after introducing a bill he sponsored. On that day, the venue was changed twice, once being to either room 100 or 103 in the state house first floor and then a second time being a big double room upstairs in the LOB. JR took a picture of me at the mic, and it appeared on the front page of the next day’s Union Leader, in which one could clearly see the attendance, thus showing the amount of public interest. Whose fault was it scheduling that little LOB room with about 10-15 chairs? Jeb’s? He was the committee chair and, therefore, a suspect, but perhaps it was some obscure minion.

And let’s talk about elections in Nashua for a moment, not exclusively any train wreck in particular, but you can take your pick what year (city or state) and which of the nine schools that host them. Teachers’ workshops have been scheduled on the same day, resulting in the faculty hogging all the parking that’s supposed to be available to the voters. Whether the fault lies with the NTU or not, let it be known that plenty of would-be voters were seen driving around in circles and giving up after a few trips around the campus. People might make predictable excuses for that, but I’m not buying them.

And let’s not forget about 10/13/21, the day that NH became a Police State! Only 173 people were admitted to that executive council meeting that was in the partitioned-off police academy gymnasium with a fleet of patty wagons wasting valuable floor space behind the curtain. I asked former Rep Tom Lanzara, a fireman, how maximum occupancy is computed. He said it’s a formula involving the number of square feet, the number of fire exits and fire extinguishers in addition to the presence or absence of sprinklers and an on duty fire marshal. When I estimated to Tom that it was about 15,000 square feet that day, he said the number 173 sounded very low and would have to look into that. I never followed up.

The next time there’s a hearing or other event intended to be open to the public and you or people you know are denied admission to, please speak up. Do a 91A RTK inquiry on who’s in charge. Ask for emails and scheduling dates. Do what you have to do to shame the people responsible for blocking access. Enough is enough.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Fan Pilloried by Progs for Tribal Face paint and Headdress at ‘Chiefs’ Game Is Descended from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians

Wed, 2023-11-29 23:30 +0000

The rage-mongers in the social-justice media like to get out in front of their skis if you take me meaning. Cart before the horse. Tail wagging the dog. It happens often, but this is just embarrassing.

 

An article from Deadspin’s Carron J. Phillips accused the young child, Holden Armenta, of wearing racist blackface in an article titled, “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress.” The child was wearing the team’s colors of red and black and his headdress resembled the team’s 1960s and early ’70s logo.

 

According to the Daily Caller, the young man’s grandfather “is a member at the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.” His Great-Grandfather “was an elder of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.”

The kid has more Native American in him than Lizard Warren, but then who doesn’t? This makes the Deadspin hit piece an attack on a native American for wearing culturally appropriate gear to a football game where the team name honors his family’s ancient warriors.

And it’s not even about the kid. The whiney SJWs can’t stand that KC refuses to give their Arrowhead logo or the name to something more #woke like the Kansas City Snowflakes, or Groomers, or how about “Social Justice Warriors?”

It irks the left, and I bet those intolerant little troglodytes lose sleep over it – no, that they sleep. But it’s the one that got away. Land-O-Lakes got rid of their Indians but kept the Land. Aunt Jemimah got so SJW pink-slipped that they changed the branding altogether. Uncle Ben lost his gig. Mutual of Omaha dumped their Chief, and the Redskins sent their Indian packing and replaced him with a Commander.

Has Deadspin taken a shot at Taylor Swift for dating Big Chief Travis Kelsey? How dare she date a player on a team with a name like the Chiefs. Or is Swift also too big for them to tackle?

 

The post Fan Pilloried by Progs for Tribal Face paint and Headdress at ‘Chiefs’ Game Is Descended from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Less Local Control For Public Schools in New Hampshire?

Wed, 2023-11-29 22:00 +0000

A recent ruling was issued by the New Hampshire Superior Court on state funding of public schools in New Hampshire. Legislators pride themselves on local control when it comes to decisions that should be made by local communities. But if more funding is required by the state, will that mean that they expect to have more of a say in what happens in your school?

Right now, there are state and federal laws that govern local public schools. But when considering legislation at the state level, elected representatives try hard to weigh the importance of local residents, board members, and school officials engaging in these important decisions and policies. A judge who shifts more of the funding to the state is essentially removing local control from those communities. What the state funds, they will want to control.

For instance, many schools have a policy that non-residents cannot speak at local school board meetings. They open up public comments for local residents only. Why not pass a law on the state level that allows for non-residents to speak? After all, their state and federal tax dollars are going to all public schools in the state.

State legislators hear from anyone who attends a public hearing. People can come from out of state to weigh in on proposed laws. Why should a resident paying taxes to all of the schools in New Hampshire be restricted from speaking at a school board meeting in a neighboring town?

There is already a call for accountability from state and federal officials. I would assume that will go further if the state must provide additional funding to local schools.

What will your property tax bill look like? Some will expect some relief, but will that happen? Or will school budgets increase due to the additional revenue from the state? My guess is local taxpayers will not see any significant relief in their local taxes. When COVID funds were distributed to local schools, did you see your property taxes decrease?

One thing is for sure: when you shift the funding to the state or federal level, expect to have less of a voice at school board meetings. Some may think they won something with this ruling, but time will tell who really benefits.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Researchers Find Medical Facemasks Increased Risk of COVID-19 Infection by Up to 40%

Wed, 2023-11-29 20:30 +0000

Medical facemasks can’t stop a virus. Even Tony Fauci knew that before May of 2020—research before and after has confirmed it. Just ask the manufacturers. Masks also present some risk of harm, including, based on new peer-reviewed, journal-accepted research, increasing the odds of a COVID-19 infection.

Cambridge Epidemiology & Infection has accepted a research paper with the following summary.

 

We examined the association between face masks and risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 using cross-sectional data from 3,209 participants in a randomized trial of using glasses to reduce the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2. Face mask use was based on participants’ response to the end-of-follow-up survey. We found that the incidence of self-reported COVID-19 was 33% (aRR 1.33; 95% CI 1.03 – 1.72) higher in those wearing face masks often or sometimes, and 40% (aRR 1.40; 95% CI 1.08 – 1.82) higher in those wearing face masks almost always or always, compared to participants who reported wearing face masks never or almost never.

 

Alternate title suggestions include, “The more you wear a facemask, the greater your odds of getting COVID-19.” Or, “Not Wearing Facemasks Reduced Chances of COVID-19 Infection by up to 40%.” (Related: Under Oath, Fauci Can’t Name A Single Study That Justified Mass-Masking).

 

Sensitivity analysis showed that when adjusting for differences in baseline risk over time, the risk of wearing a mask was less pronounced, with only a 4% (95% CI 1% to 7%) increased incidence of infection with COVID-19 for those wearing face mask almost always or always  compared to those wearing face masks never or almost never. Results from secondary outcomes were largely in the same direction, i.e. mask wearing was associated with an  increased relative risk of experiencing respiratory symptoms (1.04 [95% CI 1.01 to 1.07]),  while we found no clear association between mask wearing and notified COVID-19 cases.

 

There was no circumstance in which wearing a mask improved outcomes, which is significant. Long-term mask-wearing presents serious health risks that increase depending on the mask, and those inclined to continue using them even now lean toward N95 or K95-type masks. (Related: Certified Industrial Hygienist Stephen Petty’s Senate Testimony on Why Masks Don’t or Can’t Work.)

When Plymouth State University tried to mandate N95 masks all over their campus during the COVID-SCARE, we pointed out that the Feds require special training to use them effectively, and failing to do that negates any benefits – if there were any, to begin with, in that circumstance – and that wearing them come with side-effects.

 

Prolonged use of N95 and surgical masks by healthcare professionals during COVID-19 has caused adverse effects such as headaches, rash, acne, skin breakdown, and impaired cognition in the majority of those surveyed.

 

Plymouth would have, by law, been required to provide OSHA-certified training to all employees and, at least in theory, students. But no one followed the law while inventing new powers to suppress the rights protected by laws, including the Big Daddy parchment – the Constitution.

It seems safe to suggest that this research will get ignored, but it is there, and you are welcome to reference it when needed.

 

 

HT | Epoch Times

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

NH Executive Council Rejects Abortion Subsidies

Wed, 2023-11-29 20:00 +0000

(Concord, NH Nov 29, 2023) New Hampshire Right to Life (NHRTL) applauds the decision of the NH Executive Council to reject Title X contracts that would have subsidized abortions. Today’s decision ensures that taxpayer dollars and the conscience of pro-life citizens are protected.

Despite the efforts of the abortion lobby, four of the five councilors stood firm, honoring the intent of the law passed in 2021 [0].

These funds in the past appear to have subsidized out-of-state abortion providers after NH denied funding in 2021, soon after in 2022, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England closed six centers, with 5 in Vermont and only 1 in NH.

Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication – Publication is not an endorsement.

As a public service, NHRTL makes available a list of affordable & free healthcare centers, including the over 70 federally-qualified healthcare sites, for the health of women, men, and their children on its website at nhrtl.org. These are in addition to expanded Medicaid & subsidized health plans, which means that most low-income individuals can now access full-service health care outside of the Title X program.

Jason Hennessey, President of NHRTL, praised the decision, saying: “The Executive Councilors who said no to funding abortion providers said yes to saving lives and money. Giving tax money to organizations that also lobby to legalize abortion all the way through birth is just too extreme.”

2021’s HB2, Section 91:36 states, “No state funds shall be awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services to a reproductive health care facility,” with a Medicaid exception.

 

Contact:
Jason Hennessey
New Hampshire Right to Life
(603) 230-8136
life@nhrtl.org
https://nhrtl.org

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Nikki Haley Would Lose In a Landslide

Wed, 2023-11-29 19:00 +0000

Did you hear? Didn’t you hear? Koch is backing Nikki Haley! Did you hear? Did you hear? This, as far as I am concerned, proves that Nikki’s “tough talk” about the border is just that … TALK. Koch supports open borders because Koch believes that cheap labor is the path to economic prosperity.

Nikki is also taking a page out of the GOP’s failed playbook by talking about “entitlement reform” … which everyone knows is code for cutting future social security benefits:

 

Pledging to cut future social security benefits, even if you call it “entitlement reform,” is a proven path to LOSING. Nikki would not stand a chance in a general election against any Democrat, not even Biden.

GOP candidates should be talking about “defense spending reform.” We are approaching $1 TRILLION a year in defense spending. Russia does not spend even 10 percent of that, yet is kicking our ass in that proxy war known as the War-in-Ukraine … because we waste hundreds of billions on exotic weapons systems that, while mega-profitable for the military-industrial complex, are irrelevancies on the modern battlefield, while the Russians take the opposite approach:

 

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Meme Overflow

Wed, 2023-11-29 17:30 +0000

As promised in Monday Memes, I have an overflow. Lots of memes built up in the “pending” file…

Let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

They always think they’re going to be freed from the need to work-work so they can focus on their art, or whatever.  Who wants to tell them?

 

 

 

Remember, I used to be a climate alarmist.  Then, when I dug into it, I changed my mind.  Like those who were enthusiastic for the Jab changed once they were confronted with evidence and/or loved ones (or themselves) being injured or killed by it.  The flow is really just one way.

 

 

 

 

If the Europeans even have two… or one… likely just a “fur baby”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Been reading a book about Bushido and its roots in Japanese culture.  Samurai, too, were encouraged to not just be swordsmen, but educated and cultured.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hearing rumors – just rumors at this point – that Michael is being lined up to succeed The Potato.

 

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

 

Pick of the Post:

 

 

I think I’ve seen this movie before…

 

 

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

 

Palate cleansers:

 

 

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

 

Come back on Friday for more memes.  Same meme time.  Same meme channel.

 

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

 

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Is Joe Scarborough Trying To Instigate The Assassination Of Trump?

Wed, 2023-11-29 16:00 +0000

It sure sounds like “Morning Joe,” … a/k/a Joe Scarborough … was trying to instigate the assassination of Trump in this twisted, unhinged rant claiming that Trump is planning to incarcerate and kill his political opponents. Needless to say, “Morning Joe” is engaging in projection.

The malevolent vegetable acting as figurehead-President for Obama’s third term is the one incarcerating his political opponents, and the Regime would be happy to see them die in prison.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

WATCH LIVE: Daniel Richard v. Chris Sununu – Voting Rights Case Oral Arguments before the NH State Supreme Court

Wed, 2023-11-29 14:30 +0000

Oral arguments in the case of Daniel Richard v. Christopher Sununu et al. will be heard this morning. Dan is in pursuit of remedy and redress for violations of his voting rights. You can read Dan’s latest brief here, and the oral remarks live stream is embedded below.

A sample from the brief.

The Appellant claims that his right to remedy of certain voting right violations was summarily and improperly denied without hearing on the merits in this case where he seeks both remedy and redress for violations of his State and Federal voting rights, under the Constitution of New Hampshire [hereinafter “Const. N.H.”] and the Constitution of the United States. Article 1. Section 2 and the 17th Amendment, [hereinafter U.S. Const. & 17th Am.”].

The Attorney General has intentionally mis-represented constitutionally relevant facts presented by Appellant and ignored case law in its response to illegitimately support flawed arguments in opposition. Further, it filed no response regarding the new national controlling case law on this topic. This gaslighting of the public and the Appellant has created a deceptive factually and procedurally faux-excuse to overlook and ignore state officials’ illegitimate behaviors to enact material alteration of the constitutional voting process in a manner that is otherwise unable to be corrected. The harm is significant, irreparable, and ongoing.

 

Watch here:

 

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Gov Hochul’s Hitler Youth Program

Wed, 2023-11-29 13:00 +0000

In my headline, I was going to suggest that what you are about to read was the first phase equivalent of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s Hitler Youth program, but that ship sailed long ago. Schools have been cauldrons of partisan indoctrination for years. So what’s this then?

The next level? An escalation? Taking it out a whole new door? I’ll let you decide, but it is a bit Hitlerian to task a Statewide “Homeland Security” agency “to develop media literacy tools for K -12 in our public schools.”

 

“This will teach students and even teachers to help understand how to spot conspiracy theories and misinformation, disinformation and online hate,” she added.

“Start talking about what we’re seeing out there. Give the teachers the tools they need to help these conversations in school. And by teaching younger New Yorkers about how to discern between digital fact and digital fiction, we can better inoculate them from hatred and the spread of it.”

 

So, no instruction on how to teach or understand “how to spot conspiracy theories and misinformation, disinformation, and online hate from the … government?

 

 

 

This Hochul Youth Program will go nicely alongside the rewriting of history. The past is filled with all sorts of hate speech and hateful hating hate-ness (perpetrated by colonialist white folks if I recall the new history).

 

“…We’re very focused on the data we’re collecting from surveillance efforts, what’s being said on social media platforms, and we have launched an effort to be able to counter some of the negativity and reach out to people,” Hochul said.

“When we see hate speech being spoken about on online platforms, our media analysis, our social media analysis unit has ramped up its monitoring of sites to catch incitement to violence, direct threats to others.

 

And they’ve been spying on you and intend to teach your children to spy on you, and won’t be allowing any more of this hateful free speech business that has prevented Democrats from complete and total control of what you see and hear. If they had their way, everyone would have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine and every booster or been tossed into reeducation camps quarantine for the good of the Reich State.

Nice Despotism you’re building. Be a shame if anyone sued you for it.

Exit Question: Who blinks that much?

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Londonderry High School and the Gutter Education Kids Receive

Wed, 2023-11-29 11:30 +0000

While many parents around the country are fighting for quality public schools, some teachers and administrators continue to let their students down. I call it Gutter Education now. That’s why it’s obvious the goal is not quality or excellence, but instead, trash and dumbed-down academics.

There is no better example than what students were given in Londonderry High School. Sure, many kids can access gutter trash outside the school and through social media. But we pay a lot of money to educate children in our public schools. Shouldn’t we expect them to provide that to the children who attend?

Here is what one parent posted about this latest GUTTER stunt:

This was a cartoon shown to students at the Londonderry High School. The assignment was to use context clues to draw a conclusion. This is the meme that was used. The image is edited – so they could figure out the meaning themselves. The kids were supposed to solve it themselves. The second picture is the full picture that I found with a quick internet search. I’m positive that kids did the internet search as well. I believe the teacher knew what the full picture was. So explain to me WHY parents don’t have a right to know about what’s shown in classrooms…

Explain to me WHY the district supports NDAs, making it impossible to know WHY someone was let go…

 

How much are you paying per student in Londonderry? Shouldn’t you expect a high-quality education for the high school students?

Is it any wonder enrollment in public schools is declining while alternative schools and home-schooling enrollments are increasing.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Night Cap: Another Mediocre Male Swimmer Breaks Women’s School Record

Wed, 2023-11-29 02:30 +0000

Not everyone can be an influence on the internet, nor are we all as equally gifted in the things we pursue as we’d like unless you happen to be a mediocre male athlete. Being just okay is your ticket to record-breaking, award-winning glory. Just say you are female.

Boys who say they are girls are immediately praised for their bravery. They get attention, affirmation, and those catty bitches aren’t allowed to complain about any of it. Not even sharing a locker room.

And you can still be sexually attracted to girls. In fact, it is increasingly common, from pathetic mediocrity to sharing shower space with fit young women and maybe even setting the odd new school records in your chosen sport. And they must praise you!

 

A transgender swimmer at Ramapo College of New Jersey broke a women’s school record over the weekend after competing for the men’s team for three years.

Meghan Cortez-Fields won first place and broke a school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.22 at the Cougar Splash Invitational, a two-day meet between six schools in Dallas, Pennsylvania. She also came in first place in the 200-yard individual medley and earned second place in the 200-yard butterfly.

 

The Swim team posted its congratulations on Instagram and then thought better of it after Riley Gaines weighed in.

 

 

Fox reports that Cortez-Fields was on the male swim team for three years and switched to the female team for his senior year. Interestingly enough, he’s still not that good but his mere presence in competition is denying the honor of victory in women’s sports to actual women. And what is truly amazing is that the gender-spectrum crowd and at least some of the LGBQ folks are still applauding and defending it.

Women and blacks used to be the victim classes Democrats missed most. Then Gay men. And not all that many years later, Gay men and straight women (or any woman who disagrees with the trans thing) might as well be crap on the shoe of the party. If you are a minority and you like the wrong candidates, you are getting scraped off the other shoe.

It’s a common problem for anyone fooled into thinking Democrats as a party care about anyone or anything but who can pave them a path to political power. They don’t have a big tent. You follow their path wherever it takes you, or you are dead to them.  Today’s darling is tomorrow’s bricks and mortar and it doesn’t take much to end up underfoot.

The Constitutional Republic is imperfect and messy but not nearly as rotten and bloody as the alternative they have planned. And you are not going to have a seat at that table.

 

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Ukraine War is Just About Over

Wed, 2023-11-29 01:00 +0000

The handwriting was on the wall. An Op-Ed in the New York Times entitled “I’m a Ukrainian, and I Refuse to Compete for Your Attention” summed things up nicely: a media junket the author’s friend had been organizing to Ukraine was canceled. The TV crew instead left for the Middle East.

The United States controls how the war in Ukraine proceeds and always has. Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said it was the American side that scuttled any chance of peace in Ukraine as early as March 2022, soon after the war began. “The only people who could resolve the war over Ukraine are the Americans. During the peace talks in March 2022 in Istanbul, Ukrainians did not agree to peace because they were not allowed to. They had to coordinate everything they talked about with the Americans first. However, nothing eventually happened. My impression is that nothing could happen because everything was decided in Washington.”

Fast-forward to 2023, and the story is different. Earlier this month, NBC News quietly released a report that said U.S. and European officials broached the topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, including “very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal with Russia.” NBC said, “the discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe.” They began amid concerns the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing open-ended aid to Ukraine. Biden administration officials are also worried Ukraine is running out of men in this war of attrition, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and recently saw public protests (not shown on American TV) about President Volodymyr Zelensky’s open-ended conscription requirements. Kiev is today sending 40 and 50-year-olds to the front.

This comes as Time reported Zelensky’s top advisers admitted the war is currently unwinnable for Ukraine. Things look a bit better from the point of view of Ukraine commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzhny, who believes the war is only at a stalemate. “It’s now a battle of inches,” say American sources quietly.

Americans will be forgiven if they never hear this bad news, never mind be surprised by it if they did. The narrative that drove sports teams to wear blue and yellow patches and E Street Band member Steve Van Zandt to paint his guitar the Ukrainian colors were simple. Amid a flood of propaganda, the story was always the same: Ukraine was pushing back the Russians with weapons provided by a broad range of agreeable NATO benefactors.

Between Ukrainian jet fighter aces with improbable kill ratios to patriotic female sniper teams with improbable hair and makeup, Russia was losing. It would be a difficult but noble slog for “as long as it takes” to drive the Russians out. Any talk about peace was insulting to Kyiv, fighting for its survival and all. Meanwhile mediagenic President Zelensky at first flew around the world like the anti-Christ Bono, procuring weapons while showing off his man-to-man relationships with celebrities. Now desperate, Zelensky is inflight claiming Russia, Iran, and North Korea sponsored Hamas’ attack on Israel, trying to rattle up some support.

It was as compelling as it was untrue. Any thoughtful analysis of the war showed it to be, from its early days, a war of attrition at best for the Ukrainian side, and while the U.S. could supply nearly bottomless cargo planes full of weapons and munitions, right up to the promised F-16 fighter-bombers and M1A tanks due on line soon, it could not fill the manpower gap. Any appetite for American troop involvement was hushed up early in the fight. Russia could do what she had always done at war: hunker down in the field and reach deep into its vast territory to find ever more conscripts to wait out the enemy. It didn’t hurt that Russia’s capability versus NATO equipment was surprisingly good, or perhaps the Ukrainians’ handling of sophisticated Western arms was surprisingly bad.

But the most predictable factor leading to quiet U.S. moves toward some sort of “solution” in Ukraine is as predictable as the battlefield results. There is unease in the U.S. government over how much less public attention (despite the propaganda) the war in Ukraine has garnered since the Israeli-Hamas conflict began more than a month ago. Combined with what looks like a feisty new Speaker of the House seeking to decouple aid to Israel from aid to Ukraine, officials fear that shift could make securing additional funds for Kyiv difficult.

Americans, the people, and their government, assisted by their media wielding the greatest propaganda tools ever imagined, seem capable of focusing on only one bright shiny object at a time. Over 41 percent of Americans now say the U.S. is doing too much to help Kyiv. That’s a significant change from just three months ago, when only 24 percent of Americans said they felt that way.

In the case of wars, a new bright shiny object must include two clear sides, one good and one pure evil, with one preferably an underdog, daily combat footage that can be obtained without too much danger, and a football game-like progression across a map that is easy to follow. It should not be boring. Ukraine was such a conflict and enjoyed almost a full two-year run. But the fickle attention of America shifted to the Middle East just as things started to look more and more like static WWI trench warfare in Ukraine. It was a hard act to follow, but something always follows nonetheless (the same calculus works for natural disasters and mass shootings, which are only as mediagenic-good as the next one coming.)

Ukraine, like Israel, owes most of its continued existence to American weaponry. However, despite the blue and yellow splattered on social media at present, Ukraine does not have anywhere near the base of support Israel does among the American public and especially within the American Congress. The terms for resolving the war will be dictated to Kyiv as much by Washington as they will be by Moscow, as with Crimea a few years ago. The end will be quite sad; Russia will very likely solidify its hold on Donbas and Crimea and achieve new territory to the west approaching Kyiv, roughly 20 percent of Ukraine. Ukraine will be forced to set aside its goal of joining NATO even as the U.S. takes a new stand on its western border with Poland.

It is all something of a set piece. America’s habit of wandering into a conflict and then losing interest is long (Iraq) enough to count as an addition to history (Afghanistan.) “We have your back” and “we will not abandon you” join “the check is in the mail” and “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help” among joking faux reassurances. Our proxies seem to end up abandoned and hung out to die. As in Iraq and Afghanistan, never mind Vietnam before that, what was realized at the end could have most likely been achievable at pretty much any time after the initial hurrahs passed away. It is sad that so many had to die to likely see it happen in 2023.

 

Peter van Buren | Ron Paul Institute

Copyright © 2023 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

PBS Reports on Abysmal COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Uptake Without Calling it ‘Vaccine Hesitancy’

Tue, 2023-11-28 23:30 +0000

COVID-19 Booster uptake has been weak. By mid-October, it had barely scratched 2%, and six weeks later – despite all the advertising, cajoling – advertising, and (begging?), it has stalled at 7%. Over 90% of Americans are taking a hard pass.

 

A month after federal officials recommended new versions of COVID-19 vaccines, 7% of U.S. adults and 2% of children have gotten a shot.

One expert called the rates “abysmal.”

The numbers, presented Thursday at a meeting held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, come from a national survey of thousands of Americans, conducted two weeks ago.

The data also indicated that nearly 40% of adults said they probably or definitely will not get the shot. A similar percentage of parents said they did not plan to vaccinate their children.

 

After roughly 70% lined up for one or more shots, this precipitous decline seems unprecedented. What happened? Not to the decision by most Americans to no longer be booster buddies, I’d like to know when the media stopped calling this behavior vaccine hesitancy and those who rejected government information on these “vaccines” as anti-vaxxers.

If memory serves, COVID is still a grandma killer (to which we can add RSV – there’s a lousy shot for that if you want one), and anyone who rejects the approved medical science and public health recommendations is (or was) a domestic terror threat. We get none of that from the Public Booster Shills at PBS. This is about as rough and tumble as they get.

 

One expert at the meeting, Dr. Camille Kotton of Harvard Medical School, called the numbers “abysmal” and said part of the problem may be patient confusion. She urged stepped-up public education efforts.

Dr. David Kimberlin, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, also expressed dismay.

“The recommendations are not being heard,” he said.

 

Patient confusion. Not being heard.

What if the problem is how badly you’ve all burned your credibility?

Nothing from PBS on that possibility either.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

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