Last weekend we alerted you to a new scam in the Green Mountain State. In the effort to shift everyone from fossil fuel heat, they would put lots of retailers out of business and leave tens of thousands out in the cold. That’s brilliant but not as great as what just saved them.

And I save saved in a temporary stay of climate execution sort of way. Vermont still wants to burnish its climate cred to the bluer states. That was why they wanted to use a carbon credit scheme to launder money away from productive purposes and toward their grifty little fantasies.

The proposed Clean Heat Standard would “make it difficult or impossible for most providers to operate. With the flick of a switch, they say they’ll be out of business, and thousands of customers that rely on them for oil, gas, propane, or Kerosene will be left out in the cold.” The small business owners told them as much. But that’s not what undid the deal.

The experts aren’t that smart.

 

The problem — either overlooked or intentionally ignored by the Climate Council — is that most Vermont fuel dealers don’t buy their fuel from wholesalers based in Vermont. They get their products from wholesalers in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire or Canada. And, minor detail, Vermont has no authority to make wholesalers in those states buy Vermont’s clean heat credits. Attempting to do so would violate what is referred to as dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. Oops.

 

It’s logistically cumbersome. Vermont was thinking about interfacing with a few wholesalers, not scores of suppliers who don’t have a gown to wear to that dance. Arrangements that would pile additional compliance costs on top of the hikes in energy prices.

The result should be the collapse of another left-wing carbon credit scheme, but the desire to launder money is strong with Climate Cultists. Their passion for either control or to mess with everything will drive them to find some alternative means of separating you from your hard-earned dollars in the name of whatever.

In this case, the idea is that the same sort of people who came up with this destructive but ultimately impossible-to-implement scheme can do things that will “save the planet.”

Government can’t do anything well, and after their COVID response, even believers should have doubts. And Democrats destroy everything they touch.

 

 

The post Vermont’s Climate ‘Experts’ Harpooned Their Own Carbon Credit Scheme appeared first on Granite Grok.

Most of us think that is it a “higher-order” of living and recognizing what is around us with both a set of rules, both written and unwritten, that have been crafted (or dumped on us) over the centuries.

Most of us think or believe that civilization is a “higher-order” of living and recognize that as a set of rules, both written and unwritten, that have been crafted (or dumped on us) over the centuries.

 

When civilisation gives up on moral principle and decides to try out ‘moral outcomes’ it leads the government to view individuals as subservient to the collective.

-Alexandra Marshall (“The greater good – or a grander evil?“)

 

But “moral principle”? “Moral Outcomes”?  We know what morals are as well as Morality as well. It is the self-governing aspect of each person that decides that “this is good” and “that is evil” as well as the “I’m not sure” grey area (like the obvious “I will lie to the house invader about the 5 yr old child hiding in the closet”). Which is, especially that example, the greater Goodness.

All that said, for centuries, we did have a set of moral principles that were shared among the populace (whether they were actually followed is another thing; at least they were recognized to be extant). Nowadays?

We are in a shift from Individuals holding those shared values. In fact, when I look at the Left which has both radicalized itself to a new set of values and trying hard to force it up on the rest of us, that is the forcing of “moral outcomes”.  The problem is that in doing so, we see a double standard developing.

Antifa riots were “mostly peaceful” in nature even as we saw the fires, the violence, and the destruction of personal property.  Protests by the Right, like Jan 6, are automatically labeled as insurrections.  Killing babies in the womb is merely “body autonomy”; arguing for the life of that new Life makes you a Hater. So does speaking out against all that used to be sexual deviancy in our culture – and now, simply being straight males and females has you being accused of heteronormative (as if being in the majority of 90%+ of people is wrong?).  Holding to the Rule of Law is “Whiteness”.

The list goes on and on.

It is the Left, not our entire civilization, that is having the Moral Certainty that they have a lock on what the rest of us SHOULD believe and are working to enact laws to codify them. THEY can do so even as they castigate us for “forcing our beliefs on them” even as they are actually doing so.

And Marshall is right – codifying what used to be personal into Law assist the process of doing so in defining the Collective as the only lawful morality.

Either you go along or bad things will happen.

Just like we are seeing in Canada with the Freedom Convoy. Premier Justin Trudeau, an avowed Socialist who has praised China’s totalitarianism in the past, is using the Emergency Act to do just that – protest against the Collective (his government) will result in you losing everything: you money, your personal property, your pets (if you bring your dog to a “protest roundup”, your credit scores.  All without an appearance in court, a court hearing, or a court defense.

You have violated the Collective Morality – suffer the instant punishment.

This, in what used to be a “liberal” democracy turned into a totalitarian country in three weeks.

So when the Democrats say that we are “violating” our Democracy, they really mean THEIR Democracy and let it be clear, if they had the Powers that Trudeau has, we would be subservient to their Collective.

 

HT | Cafe Hayek

The post When Civilization Gives up on Moral Principle … appeared first on Granite Grok.

When politicians cannot construct their arguments but resort to the simplistic headlines of the media, then they have proven their laziness to do the work needed for a solution.

The ignorant and insensitive politicians who cannot evaluate a situation on its merits but resort to rhetoric, colloquialisms, and labeling have lost the debate. When somebody is guilty of both of these qualifiers, they are the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.

I wrote about Trudeau and the Trucker Protest just a couple of days ago, but this dynamic situation is getting more complex by the day. The arrests started on Thursday night with the apprehension of two of the movement leaders. The government also threatened to take any animals, specifically dogs, away from the truckers. After moving their rigs out of Ottawa, the pets will be returned to their owners.

This inhumane action and freezing bank accounts and canceling insurance policies may prove too much for the truckers. We have further proof that Justin Trudeau cannot bring a peaceful resolution to this protest with each new day.

When you have united the likes of Ted Cruz and Ilhan Omar in criticizing your handling of a situation, you have lost the battle. These politicians have voiced their disgust over different aspects of Justin Trudeau’s tyrannical methods.

Some of the more egregious actions have been the freeze of donations given for the truckers, more than $18 Million, the disclosure to the media of the names of the donors, and the threat to freeze bank accounts of the truckers in the protest. These actions are in place of meeting with the protestors and negotiating a resolution.

He will not interact with the drivers because he considers them terrorists to the Canadian people. They are racists, Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists. Trudeau appeared before Parliament and used these terms for the protestors and those who supported the truckers. He called a member of the opposition party a swastika flag-waver. This woman is Jewish, and though Parliament demanded Trudeau’s apology, there has been none.

On Friday afternoon, the police moved on the truckers. The arrests began, and at least 70 supporters were incarcerated. The protesters acquiesced and said they would break camp and move the trucks. Not good enough for Trudeau as he had the trucks towed and impounded. Why? He wanted them moved. They moved; he took their trucks out of spite. An immature petulant child is not worthy of his office.

This encampment may be ending, but Trudeau is scarred for life. He was challenged, and he failed. He had an opportunity to meet with these people, discuss the differences, and negotiate a resolution. Instead, he divided a country and embarrassed himself on the international stage. He committed political suicide.

This three-week ordeal was not a good look for Canada. They deserve better.

 

Ray Also Writes at The Liberty Loft.com 

The post Extreme Rhetoric Ends Negotiation appeared first on Granite Grok.

One of the essential bits when discussing public health is health. The action or intervention should result in more, not fewer positive outcomes. And if the evidence suggests otherwise?

It should go without saying that the response to COIVD failed and made matters worse, but we must keep saying it, and we have new research to support that.

 

 

[B]ased on publicly available official UK and US data, all age groups under 50 years old are at greater risk of fatality after receiving a COVID-19 inoculation than an unvaccinated person is at risk of a COVID-19 death. All age groups under 80 years old have virtually no benefit from receiving a COVID-19 inoculation, and the younger ages incur significant risk. This analysis is conservative because it ignores the fact that inoculation-induced adverse events such as thrombosis, myocarditis, Bell’s palsy, and other vaccine-induced injuries can lead to shortened life span.

 

For their analysis, they looked at “vaccine fatality rates within one month of the injection and COVID-19 fatality rates within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test.” Their observation is that most vaccine risk appears in the first month after injection, which is of critical importance.

Many of those playing with the public health numbers refused to consider deaths after injection “vaccine deaths” unless they occurred 14 days after being jabbed. Using that method, self-administered “vaccinations” of heroin can never be the cause of death unless it takes two weeks for them to die. So much for that opioid epidemic, and let’s not dare imply any connection between them.

The researchers crunched the available date and arrived at their conclusion. “COVID vaccine inoculations increase risk of death and produce a net negative benefit, aka increased risk of death (shown by the negative numbers in column S = ARR-VFR) for all age groups younger than 60 years old.”

 

 

So the only people who might benefit from this treatment are the elderly at high risk, and regardless of the cause of death, you are more likely to die if you get the Jab than if you don’t.

They also ran the numbers to determine how many people had to be inoculated in each age group to prevent one covid death along with the number of vaccine-related deaths as a result of “saving” that one life. The net outcome is, as we’ve previously reported, negative.

 

 

Based on the UK and the CDC data, you will get more COVID deaths trying to prevent them with this pharmaceutical intervention than if you’d instead promoted prophylaxis or done nothing.

The result is not new to our readers. Remaining unvaccinated proved statistically to be the better public health outcome.

But if we are more likely to die of all causes, including from COVID19 with theJabb than without… I’ll let you finish that thought.

A few related links on the ‘Grok.

• Pfizer/FDA Hid How COVID Vax Could Make Recipients More Susceptible to COVID Infection and Death
• So Much for “Public Health” – Excess Deaths From All Causes Have Risen 40-50 Percent
• Pandemic of the Vaccinated: Latest Report Reveals 500-600% Increased Death in Vaccinated Young Adults
• Great Barrington Declaration Authors Launch New Website Focused on the Damage Caused by COVID Policy
• Insurance Company Refuses to Pay Claim, Says Death by Experimental COVID Vaccine is the Same as Suicide
• Data: COVID Vaccines Cause More COVID Cases per Million and More Deaths per Million
• Indiana Life Insurance CEO: Deaths Are Up 40% Among People Aged 18-64
• Record-Setting Non-Covid Excess Deaths as The Pandemic Politics Piper Has Come to Call

You can use search to find more, and we have more.

HT | Steve Kirsch

The post Research: Vaccinated at Greater Risk of Fatality than Unvaccinated Are of COVID-19 Death appeared first on Granite Grok.

This is one of those hypothetical thought experiments that will piss off the Gendersaurus. What if LeBron James changed his gender? What would happen next?

And don’t worry too much about Gendersaurs. Many are vegans (veggiesaurs to Jurassic Park fans), so they won’t eat you (that’s not true; I made it up, they may still try to eat you).

And they may yell and shout and cry and call you names because just ‘cuz how dare you ask such a question.

LeBron is one of the most successful NBA players in history. Amazing basketball player. He’s also a bad actor and a whiny diva, so there’s that and maybe those are signs of things to come. Anyway, I stumbled upon this clip, and after picking myself up, I watched it and laughed and said, this I must share.

It’s from Dave Chapelle. I’ve been a fan for a while, and I love it when he goes after the dopey woke.

So, this is him, asking a question that appears even more relevant today given the recent noise surrounding swimmer Lia Thomas and her penis.

Lia, a guy (in transition!), is kicking ass and taking names in collegiate women’s swimming when he’s not exposing his penis to his female teammates. The obvious question is why and the answer is men tend to be better at those sorts of things because of biology, the kind of science with which the Gendersaurs want no part.

Yes, better at showing women their penis because they have one (even if it makes the other girls uncomfortable) and better at physical contests in general given similar attention to fitness and skill.

Mr. Chappelle wonders what might happen if LeBron changed his gender, and it’s damn funny if you ask me because of the truth bomb that comes with it (language warning).

 

 

One other thing might happen if LeBron changed his gender and joined the WNBA. A lot more people would start watching it.

And, yes, if Dems have their way, men will rule Utopia and some of them might be wearing a dress. Biological women who complain will be labeled as bigots.

 

The post What If LeBron James Changed His Gender … ? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Yesterday, the GOP-led New Hampshire House voted 179-174 in favor of House Bill 1609. The House rejected an amendment proposed by the House HHS Committee—which Cornerstone supported—and instead passed the bill in its original form.

As passed by the House, HB1609 completely guts the Fetal Life Protection Act, or FLPA: a 6-month abortion ban that is our state’s only protection for late-term unborn children.

The House bill strips out the law’s enforcement mechanism—its narrow ultrasound requirement—making it impossible to convict any abortionist for violating the law.

Additionally, the House bill adds an open-ended “health” exception to the law, making abortionists the final word on when abortions can occur. US courts are clear: adding an undefined “health” exception to an abortion ban means that an abortionist can perform an abortion for any reason he deems appropriate—including even “economic” reasons—at any time.

The current text of the FLPA already contains a carefully-defined health exception allowing late-term abortions whenever there is a serious risk to a mother’s physical well-being. The sole purpose of the new “health” exception—as well as the complete removal of the ultrasound requirement—is to nullify the law in bad faith.

By voting to pass HB1609, the New Hampshire House has just won the tragic distinction of being the only Republican-led legislative body in America since Roe v. Wade to vote in favor of authorizing unlimited abortion up to birth. The House’s vote yesterday was even more pro-abortion than Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.

In December of 2020, Massachusetts—which formerly had a felony 6-month abortion ban—legalized abortion up to birth by passing the “ROE Act,” a law functionally identical to HB1609. Like HB1609, the “ROE Act” nullified Massachusetts’ abortion ban by stripping out key enforcement provisions and adding open-ended exceptions. Although Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is known as a moderate and socially liberal Republican, this was too extreme even for Baker, who vetoed the bill. In December 2020, a strong Democratic majority in Massachusetts’ legislature overrode the veto.

Some might defend the New Hampshire House by saying that only a minority of House Republicans voted in favor of HB1609 yesterday. But this would be to excuse the systemic problems in our House GOP. Republican leadership has knowingly installed pro-abortion extremists in influential Committee positions and refused to remove them. Pro-life legislators have also repeatedly been discouraged from speaking in defense of the FLPA in floor debates.

Cornerstone was saddened, but by now unsurprised, that Governor Chris Sununu has continued to openly support this bill, making Sununu more pro-abortion than Charlie Baker and the most pro-abortion GOP Governor currently serving in any state.

In 2016, Sununu—although generally pro-choice—promised pro-life voters in writing that he would support a late-term abortion ban. We now know that this was a lie.

Now that millions of dollars have been spent attacking New Hampshire’s 6-month abortion ban, Governor Sununu, in a display of weakness, has reversed his position. His continued support for HB1609 has made it clear that, contrary to his promises, he will oppose any enforceable prohibition on late-term abortion—rejecting even moderate compromises—and will only be content with a purely symbolic abortion law that has no ability to save a single life. A meaningless, nominal abortion ban, which will only help GOP politicians deceive their constituents, is worse than no law at all.

Pro-lifers may be tempted to react to yesterday’s betrayals by threatening to refrain from voting for Republicans in future elections. However, this is no longer enough. Pro-lifers have threatened to sit out elections for decades. These threats have accomplished nothing.

Pro-life voters are a large and cohesive voting block in New Hampshire—a state that also has a uniquely representative form of government. Our Republican Party, despite claiming in its platform that life is sacred “from conception,” has repeatedly been unwilling to fight for even modest protections for the preborn. And some influential and powerful Republicans, including Governor Sununu, have pledged to openly work against their own platform and any concessions that honor the beliefs of their pro-life constituents.

Pro-life Granite Staters must begin to think outside the box. With HB1609 on the verge of success, we may soon have nothing to lose. After decades of futile patience with the Republican Party, it is time to fight.

Why are Sununu and other Republicans doing the bidding of pro-abortion extremists? Not because they hope the pro-abortion lobby will support them. Instead, they are afraid that the abortion lobby will actively harm their political interests if they do not kowtow to its demands.

In the same way, it is no longer enough for pro-lifers to threaten to withhold support from Republicans. If our state GOP truly takes a stand for life, it will only be because it knows pro-life voters will actively harm its political interests unless it agrees to make compromises in favor of life.

In the meantime, there is still one remaining chance for the House to reject HB1609 or pass the HHS Amendment to the bill. HB1609 is currently going before the House Finance Committee. The bill will then return to the House floor for another vote. Contact the House Finance Committee and tell them to oppose the bill, then contact your GOP representatives and demand that they do everything in their power to fight for the FLPA. We need to be a loud and vocal force impossible to ignore.

The post The NH House Just Became the Most Pro-Abortion GOP Legislature in US History appeared first on Granite Grok.

The visual spectacle of the goings in on Canada is both moving and compelling. Thousands show up tens of thousands show support, and that’s a message that hard to beat. Optics and perception matter but only if they achieve the intended goal.

The goal is to get the government’s jackboot off the necks of truckers who want to be left alone to do their jobs. Justin Trudeau (known Colloquially as German Hillary’s Canadian girlfriend) let a bit too much of the Castro out of himself when he started playing doctor. The result was thousands of truckers out of work. Well, if we’re going to be out of work, might as well make it count.

And they did. Truckers who were not going to be out of work joined them. Armies of Canadians joined them. And it’s getting a bit brutish as Trudeau hasSWAT teams arresting folks while prohibiting the media from reporting it.

Along comes this one guy with an alternative that will likely result in a similar but less peaceful form of protest. He’s suggesting that it American truckers (or haulers in any country) just park them, turn them off, and walk away, the protests that follow will get the jobs done without them.

Major cities will be a wretched mess in a matter of days with people demanding action from whoever will listen.

There is a Better Way! Check it out.

 



 

You as a trucker protester are never in harm’s way or at risk of being arrested at home on your sofa. You might get fired, but the shortage of drivers is such that getting another job won’t be difficult. You can probably your pick. And if you happen to have enough food and supplies at hand for the duration, well, you’re all set until you get what you’re after.

Not so with many others.

One final note. I’m not saying I wouldn’t love to see an army of trucks lockdown DC and force Nancy to take a jet back to San Fran to escape the noise. That would be great. As would the optics, but, think about it. Same result, less fuss on your part.

And I’m good for a few weeks at least.

Added: American Truckers Freedom Convoy MeWe page.

The post Idea for American Truckers Who Want to ‘Protest’ – No Convoy, Just Do This! appeared first on Granite Grok.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the Pandemic of the Vaccinated – which discussed documented dangers associated with the Covid “vaccines”. I quoted multiple credible sources, including the CEO of OneAmerica Life Insurance company from a 1:10 youtube video titled “Scott Davidson CEO of OneAmerica Insurance says deaths are up 40% among people ages 18-64”.

Last week, Windham resident Marjorie Burdette summarily dismissed the facts presented and falsely accused me of misrepresenting Davidson’s statements. Then she blamed the increased deaths on Covid – instead of acknowledging what Davidson said:

Note: This post was first published by the Government Integrity Project.

“Death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic.”

“What the data is showing to us is that the deaths that are being reported as Covid deaths greatly understate the actual death losses among working-age people from the pandemic. It may not all be Covid on their death certificate, but deaths are up just huge, huge numbers.”

The quote above clearly states that deaths are up by large numbers, and that Covid is not listed as the cause for those excessive number of deaths. More alarming is that those deaths are among people aged 18-64.

 

Similar data was presented from Funeral Director John O’Looney of Milton Keynes Family Funeral Services in Milton Keynes, England,

“What we’re seeing is an ever-growing number, particularly of thrombosis deaths … and they’re in unprecedented numbers.

“People in their 20s, in their 30s and 40s, and people that wouldn’t normally be dying.”

There is more disturbing data linked to the covid vaccines if you are willing to look. The American Heart Association published a paper in the 71-year old peer reviewed journal “Circulation”, stating,

“We conclude that the mRNA vaccine dramatically increases inflammation on the endothelium and T-cell infiltration of cardiac muscle and may account for the observations of increased thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and other vascular events following vaccination.”

In my Pandemic of the Vaccinated article, I also referenced Dr. Robert Malone. I found it ironic that Ms. Burdette dismissed Dr. Malone’s concerns – as well as his lifetime achievements of scientific medical research – based on a source of misinformation that claimed Dr. Malone was a source of misinformation.

From Wikipedia:

“Dr. Malone has promoted misinformation about the vaccine.”

Sadly, that’s all Burdette needed to dismiss Dr. Malone.

Too many people buy into the misinformation and name calling tactics that have become a common weapon by tech companies and the main stream media.  Those tactics have been effective to control the Covid vaccine narrative; to suppress information; and to discredit, cancel and silence credible doctors who have been on the front lines successfully using safe, inexpensive and effective early treatments for covid, like Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine.

Real examples of misinformation are now just being exposed. For instance, the FDA’s statement,”Using the drug Ivermectin to treat Covid-19 can be dangerous and even lethal“.

There is a version of Ivermectin for animals, but how many know there is also a human version that has been successfully and safely used for decades.

3.7 Billion doses of Ivermectin have been safely dispensed to humans. It is on the WHO’s list of essential medicines. The NIH calls Ivermectin a “Wonder Drug” alongside of penicillin and aspirin. Uttar Pradesh, India used Ivermectin for its population of 230 million people to obliterate covid.

The “misinformation” campaigns that have been waged by the social media giants and main stream media warning against using Ivermectin and HCQ for treating Covid are propaganda – as are the misinformation campaigns against medical professionals like Dr. Robert Malone.

Dr. Malone is the scientist who developed the mRNA technology (9 patents) that is used to produce the Moderna and Pfizer Covid “vaccines”. His credentials are impeccable. If you want to “follow the science”, then Dr. Malone is your man. He is the scientist who invented the science.

When he speaks, people should listen. He produced a 4:32 video (below) that explains the potential dire consequences of injecting a child with an experimental mRNA Covid vaccine:

He has expressed many concerns regarding the mRNA vaccines that use his technology. His video below focuses on the potential dire consequences of injecting your child with an mRNA Covid “vaccine”:

“A viral gene will be injected into your children’s cells. This gene forces your child’s body to make toxic spike proteins. These proteins often cause permanent damage in children’s critical organs, including

– Their brain and nervous system

– Their heart and blood vessels, including blood clots

– Their reproductive system, and

– This vaccine can trigger fundamental changes to their immune system

The most alarming point about this is that once these damages have occurred, they are irreparable.

– You can’t fix the lesions within their brain

– You can’t repair heart tissue scarring

– You can’t repair a genetically reset immune system, and

– This vaccine can cause reproductive damage that could affect future generations of your family”

It’s worth watching the entire video.

If you have children and want to sleep well at night… do your research before having them injected with an experimental mRNA Covid “vaccine”.

Here’s a homework assignment that might help you find valuable information…

• Which countries have banned the mRNA Covid vaccines?
• Extra Credit: How many of those bans were implemented because of dangers to children?

The choice is always yours, please make an informed decision.

 

More Posts by Ken Eyring

Ken Eyring [send him an email], is a founder and President of the Government Integrity Project, whose mission is to unite the country and demand action; to hold elected and appointed representatives accountable to their oaths and obligations of office; to protect and restore Liberties as defined in our Country’s Founding Documents.

 

The post Rebuttal Of Covid Vaccine Disinformation appeared first on Granite Grok.

The “GOP”-led House passed HB 1609 yesterday, which removes the ultrasound requirement from the law banning late-term abortions, which guts the law banning late-term abortions.

If passed by the Senate, New Hampshire will again once allow … with a wink-and-a-nod (how Sununu-esque) … abortion up to birth (and for all we know post-birth). SUN-KING SUNUNU STRONGLY SUPPORTED HB 1609.

This LINK will take you to the online record of the vote. Here are the “GOP” Reps who voted in favor of unrestricted abortion:

JAMES ALLARD

LEX BEREZHNY

BILL BOYD

NED GORDON

JOHN GRAHAM

NORM MAJOR

JAMES MASON

BETSY MCKINNEY

DIANE PAUER

CLAIRE ROUILLARD

DAN WOLF

JOSH YOKELA

If I missed anyone, please let me know.

 

The post Here Are The Sununu-Bots Who Voted to Gut the Ban on Late-Term Abortions appeared first on Granite Grok.

Commuter Rail should not be a priority in New Hampshire for more reasons than I can count, but I’ve counted them for the past 12 years, with some success. Now, it looks like Amtrak has imagined a spur from Masskachusetts to Concord. Why? Seriously, why?

 

 

Congress wants it. Rail. All over. That’s what it says. Paid for with more inflation now and debt my great-grandkids can inherit? No, thank you.

As for the Granite State, there is no economic benefit unless you’re talking about human or drug trafficking up from Lowell and Lawrence. Commuter rail will help that exponentially. Other crimes will as well, I’d suspect, those go hand in glove. Maybe the Dems can sell it alongside their defund the police rhetoric.

Commuter rail. The best way for Massachusetts criminals to feed off Granite Staters while we cut police budgets! They want that, don’t let them fool you. NH Dems pine for the sort of chaos sowed by the decades-long one-party rule in places like Detroit, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Lawrence, and Lowell. But that’s just a political side gig for them when it comes to commuter rail.

They want it here because, on paper, it advances other goals. Limiting your ability to move at will anywhere you please. Rail justifies making costing people out of personal transportation, which leaves them confined to the limits of local public transportation, and the cost to maintain commuter rail in NH has always been a big fat negative.

Support has long been prefaced on taxing people near the corridor to cover operating costs. There is no real scenario where it pays for itself.

A few years back, one proposal suggested a special business tax on everyone within a mile of the rail line. You know, because they gained some supposed benefit. But if that were true, then all that added commerce from booming commuter rail traffic would result in more tax revenue without the new penalty.

Nope, it’s always been a dog.

No one has ever expected that, so you tax businesses to pay for the cost of supporting infrastructure with no commercial benefit. A cost that companies could avoid by opening their doors outside the area of effect and that would make rail even less appealing, yes?

They also considered a higher gas tax or a special vehicle registration fee hike for people who live in communities along the rail line. Talk about a disincentive to live near that boondoggle.

Related: Nashua Didn’t See its “Housing Crisis” Cuz it Was Hiding Behind “The Rail Study.”

There are other problems. The presumption is that this will ease traffic or reduce transportation emissions. I like t0 call this Zero proof planning. There is zero proof it will reduce anything but the private income of people who will never use it or need it. But we do know that rail studies in Nashua suggest that traffic near rail stations will be a huge problem.

We’ve written about all of the negatives here. I won’t belabor the point in this piece any further. But Congress is itching to spend money that isn’t there on infrastructure we don’t need in the pursuit of solving a problem that doesn’t exist.

Amtrak has their wish list map, and New Hampshire is on it. And there are Dems and Republicans who will gladly spend money that isn’t there on a project that will reach deep into taxpayers’ pockets forever because that’s the price you’ll pay for that inflation posting “fiat Money” with the strings attached.

New Hampshire has no commuter rail and the most robust economy in New England. Let’s not ruin it by pretending a rail line in southern New Hampshire will help anything. It won’t. It will only become another boondoggle propped up by tax dollars.

 

The post Amtrak Wish-List Includes Rail into NH No One Will Use appeared first on Granite Grok.

A big issue through the past four years in the USA has been the advancement of Critical Race Theory in high school and elementary education systems nationwide. Some states have banned this controversial material.

Some governors and education administrators have been caught in outright lies hiding the fact that it is in classrooms. What is it, and is it worth the struggle?

The CRT field initially emerged in the early 2000s in the US and UK university systems as a facet of Race Studies courses and is frequently included in courses in Gender Studies. While university studies occasionally pursue degrees in these fields, for the typical student this course material is not required. It is available as an elective.

When I studied for a Master’s in Education in the late 2010s, I took two courses as prerequisites for the program— Women’s & Gender Studies and Race & Ethnic Studies. I had taken several sociology courses as part of my undergraduate degree— sociocultural anthropology, sports psychology, and sociology 101. Taking these extra courses was fascinating.

The Women’s Studies course was taught by a petite blonde caucasian American who had studied only at Temple University, and nowhere else. Maybe her international experience consisted of tourists raping a few monuments— that’s when you go somewhere foreign with some friends, have no real immersion experiences, take pictures in front of famous places, and then leave. This is no way to understand other cultures.

This woman insisted that white supremacy existed and described it as a global phenomenon that meant white people can’t experience racism. This is an ideological concept. It’s dogmatic in the sense that if you accept it to be true, it requires an entire mindset that essentially ensures that you are a racist.

This mindset ignores explanations deriving from geopolitics, socioeconomics, global trade, and other fields. It requires one to consider only the racial aspects of the current global system. Furthermore, it demands a lack of awareness for the development of economic, financial, and political structures by races other than Caucasians.

Essentially, white supremacy is a self-reinforcing concept pushed by white supremacists.

In one journal assignment, this professor failed me because I wrote that I had been discriminated against while living in China for seven years. She had no idea about what it is like to live in a society not dominated by her own racial group. No sense of how it feels to be a minority. She insisted that I couldn’t experience racism. Well, she was wrong. I did experience it.

I was treated cruelly by some. When I applied for a grant for a social entrepreneurship competition in Hong Kong, I was never contacted and my idea was implemented by a well-connected district council member. I later looked at a picture of the grant winners— all eight of them. They were all Asian ethnicities.

This Temple-educated American professor, wearing way too much makeup and rocking a ridiculously plastic-looking perm, is a white supremacist. Anyone insisting that white supremacy exists is reinforcing white supremacy.

This is not a field where someone is going to boast about being a race supremacist. So, why would another race or ethnicity seek to usurp this claim? They typically wouldn’t. Anyone posting that white supremacy exists seeks to make Caucasians the ultimate scapegoat.

In Hong Kong one evening circa 2015, I shared drinks with some HKU grad students while I pursued a degree in Buddhist Studies. One engineering grad from Shanghai boasted “I am racist!” We had been discussing some facets of interracial relations. That was kind of shocking. Although it reinforced the reality I had been increasingly becoming aware of that Chinese society is incredibly racist, dominated by Han Chinese ethnicity.

This is referred to as intersectionality— a term that is supposed to lend credence to an idea when multiple fields of study support the same notion. It is often used to describe the overwhelming dominance of a term like patriarchy, which supposedly is the worst thing since Lucifer fell from heaven. Of course, these theorists tend to be angry women who are divorced or otherwise unable to find a partner.

Honestly, patriarchy exists, but so does matriarchy. It’s silly to blame all of society’s issues on one gender, without any consideration for historical realities— like the structure and functioning of hunter-gatherer, herding, or strictly agrarian societies. We are about 20 to 25 generations away from that societal structure in the most developed urban centers. Almost all countries still have some of these societal structures still extant.

The other course, Race and Ethnic Studies included a unit on Critical Race Theory that lasted about a week. I learned that this field revolves around one idea: blaming everything wrong with society on Caucasians by labeling them as White. Jews are White. Asians are White. The professor was Indian— as in South Asian. He said even Indians are White. Apparently, even some Latinos are White. Wealthy Blacks are White.

According to CRT, Whites are responsible for slavery— a false blame considering it was practiced by people of all races, colonialism (not entirely a bad practice as it helped regions develop economies and global ties, and it has mostly been ended), poverty, Caucasians as Scapegoat and any other societal ills.

This entire ideology exists to make anyone with darker skin color who is dissatisfied with their position in society feel othered and disenfranchised. And, it makes them believe that the sole fault of this reality is the White Man. Very few, if any, of the people who promote this ideology are white men. Funny, isn’t it?

American society teaches people that all are created equal. That all races, religions, ethnicities, tribes, ideologies, etc, are welcome and supported. This is a beautiful idea. This is supported by the UN’s declaration in 1968 to eliminate racial discrimination. This was a real event that occurred following the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.

Now, Critical Race Theory depends on racial discrimination. The entire purpose of the field is to create a thought experiment that encourages a deeper understanding of race. It is best studied when one already has a strong understanding of socioeconomics, history, and geopolitics. Otherwise, the direct result of CRT is radicalization and the creation of an individual who desperately hates White Men and all Whites.

This is not a field to teach in elementary, middle, or high schools. This is a field for developed minds who possess a high degree of intellectual sophistication and discernment.

Anyone promoting CRT is regressive and a racist.

End all efforts to provide CRT training outside of universities.

The post Caucasians as Scapegoat appeared first on Granite Grok.

One of Russia’s critical pieces of leverage is energy. Europe is dependent on Putin. Trump’s energy policy had begun to kneecap that advantage, but Biden has done everything in his power to give Russia the upper hand.

 

Russia already has enormous leverage. It is January and it is cold. Europeans are now facing shortages of natural gas, as Russia reduced its exports to Europe by more than 41 percent from the level of January 2021. It’s not that Russia can’t deliver more; it just chooses not to.

 

Biden’s domestic energy policy has taken the US from an independent exporter to energy-dependence. It negatively impacts American jobs, the price of everything, mobility, industry, and diplomacy. And our enemies are enriched and emboldened, including Russia. But Biden isn’t don’t. He just pulled US support for the EastMed pipeline, which would have delivered Natural Gas from Israel to Europe and significantly reduced Putin’s influence.

As we reported two years ago, Israel is now a natural gas superpower. Israel’s massive Tamar Offshore Natural Gas field online, which “holds an estimated 8.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The EastMed would have carried some of that across Cyprus up into Greece, giving Europe another energy lifeline.

A clean, low carbon lifeline that would help take Putin’s boot off Europe’s neck.

Joe Biden just yanked American Support.

Related: Joe Biden’s America Is Buying Three Times as Much Oil from Russia and At Higher Prices

Was that Putin’s price to say he’d stay out of Ukraine? Whoever is Running the Biden Administration claims it is about saving the planet.

 

Amos Hochstein, now Biden’s senior advisor for energy security, has said he would be “extremely uncomfortable with the U.S. supporting” EastMed because of its environmental implications. “Why would we build a fossil fuel pipeline between the EastMed and Europe when our entire policy is to support new technology…and new investments in going green and in going clean?”

 

Saving it for who?

China has been building dirty coal plans as fast as possible to feed its massive military-industrial complex. It is the largest polluter on the planet, from ocean plastic to CO2 to industrial waste and poor air quality. Russia has no interest in green politics except when it hobbles its adversaries.

In other words, while two of the biggest threats to world peace and democracy embrace expansionist policy and a burn everything manufacturing posture, Joe Fing Biden is making it as difficult as possible for America and its allies to keep the lights on.

Biden’s America is buying three times as much oil from Putin and paying more for it. And backing out of the EastMed pipeline helps Russia more than anyone as Russia appears poised to invade a sovereign neighbor it claims belongs to Russia.

And it still can invade after Biden scuttled US involvement in EastMed. Russia can’t lose.

And thanks to Biden, America loses, Europe loses, a mutual coalition of Middle Eastern interests, some of whom are supposed to be US allies lose, and the green energy future loses.

There is no transition to anything new without several decades’ worth of natural gas power as a backup. So, this has got nothing to do with green energy and everything to do with green in someone’s pocket.

Joe and his family have a history of benefiting financially from that sort of thing while in elected office. We need to consider that as well.

 

The post Biden Hands Russia Another Victory appeared first on Granite Grok.

We learned that “State House South” (AKA Manchester Doubletree Expo Center) was this week’s House Chamber destination to accomplish the “work of the people.”

Hopefully, when the next House session meets we can finally seat our representatives in their rightful places in the newly, and beautifully, renovated Reps Hall in Concord. Otherwise, their seat number is just a number on their license plate.

We learned that Wednesday’s session gave us the opportunity to pass many great bills and get rid of a lot of trash bills contained in the consent calendar – all with Bi-partisan support! Here’s a sampling: Things like school mandates on how much time to eat ones lunch (HB1058), teaching labor history (HB1144) and giving a pubic assistance stipends to legislators (HB1486), got tossed … but we gave the thumbs up to allowing tuition waivers in the university system for children of veterans who have died (HB1575), expediting background checks for healthcare workers (HB1659) and allowing military service members and spouses quick and easy licensure in various fields when relocating to NH (HB1653).

Another win was House concurrence with the Senate on HB95. Now it is off to the Governor for his signature. This means raw milk ice cream can be sold by our farmers in NH in 6 oz. containers with proper labeling. Yum!

We learned that the NH House doesn’t want NH to become China as they passed a bill prohibiting banks and businesses from using social credit scores (HB1469) – a roll call vote was taken (Ought To Pass as Amended 187-168). You guessed it – our House Democrat friends voted NO on that one.

We learned that NH has taken the next step in legalizing cannabis (HB1598) and most say it is “high time” (wink). This legislation would have NH selling cannabis products much like alcohol, in state-run stores, and tax-free. Revenue from this would be used to fund drug rehab/education programs, plus offset the Statewide Education Property Tax. The vote was 235-119. Now it’s off to the finance committee for financial scrutiny.

We learned that the House Democrat assault on Education Freedom Accounts (HB1516) was killed 181-174. This highly popular program instituted by the budget bill last year gives students new educational options. 1,800 students are now getting instruction suited to their needs. It is a shame that it has become a priority by House Democrats to kill, dismantle and otherwise eliminate something that truly is “for the kids.”

We learned that ranked choice voting (HB1482) was voted down 205-149 by traditional voting methods, and the effort to perform a forensic audit on the 2020 election was tabled 273-76 by votes that could not be “mailed in”.

We learned that numbers matter to prevent bad bills from passing. One such bill came at the end of Wednesday, when a bill that would have made the state pay more towards pensions for one class of employees in the retirement system and not another (HB1417) had originally been killed with a 173-172 vote. Then someone called for a reconsideration vote, and after 4 parliamentary votes the bill passed 182-169. Now, its fate will be up to the Finance committee. Hopefully, it will be retired there.

We learned that Thursday brought it’s own bag of tricks. We started off the day with the Governor presenting his “State of the State” address which highlighted all of the successes of the 2021 legislative year and how well NH was doing as compared to other states in the nation. He did not quite finish his speech though because Rep. Ralph Boehm (R-Litchfield) collapsed on the concrete floor, hitting his head (which was audibly heard). Luckily, we had many House Reps who are medics and EMT’s that rushed to his aid prior to the arrival of additional EMT’s and an ambulance. We hear Rep. Boehm is doing well, but we continue to keep him in our prayers.

We learned again that numbers matter as we tied a vote to pass HB1604 – including state medical facilities in statute providing medical freedom via exemptions that include conscientious objection. The vote was 173-173 and the speaker broke the tie vote by voting to pass the amendment on the bill. The amended bill then passed 176-174. That’s a win for medical freedom in NH.

We learned that again, numbers matter, as another tie vote occurred. A bill (HB1609) that guts the fetal protection act (the legislation that was passed last year) failed to garner votes for the amendment that would have clarified and saved the ultrasound requirement. The vote was close 175 YES-177 NO and the amendment failed. The next move was to table the bill entirely, and that vote came out 176-176 with the speaker again breaking the tie. So the bill was tabled. Then, later on, Rep. Weber (D-Walpole) removed the bill from the table with a 178-175 vote and subsequently passed the bill which removed the ultrasound requirement (among other things) 179-174. This now goes to the Finance Committee, and hopefully, this bill will get aborted there.

We learned that NH may be establishing a municipal road and bridge disaster relief fund, for communities that suffer damages from natural disasters. HB1665 was passed unanimously by voice vote, and hopefully will go on through finance and beyond to allow a mechanism for the state to help towns that suffer major infrastructure damage as a result of natural disasters. Here’s hoping the road to passage doesn’t get washed out.

We learned that in the interest of time many bills which had Inexpedient To Legislate (ITL) recommendations from their committees were just being tabled. This prompted Rep. Marjorie Smith (D – Durham) to ask the Speaker, “How many bills can sit on the table before it collapses?” Turns out there is no limit. The Table is quite large. One of those tabled bills was HB1208, so it looks like parents will still not be able to teach their own kids how to drive in NH and have it count as driver’s education.

Finally, We learned that at the end of the day, Unanimous Consent (where legislators may speak to their House colleagues about a topic) can be pretty entertaining. Tony Labranche (I-Amherst) began to give a speech about why he left the Democratic party. Of course, Democrats tried to shut him down, but Republicans wanted to have him continue and hear what he had to say by a vote of 199-70. What he had to say was very revealing. Apparently, the party is tyrannical and doesn’t even follow its own constitution… they won’t let anyone speak, or lend ideas. Everyone is just given marching orders and basically told to shut up and sit down and do as they are told. Rep. Labranche also said that, “The Democratic Party, ironically, is the least Democratic organization I’ve ever been a part of”.  NH Dem Party leader Ray Buckley was skewered by Rep. Labranche who gave us some truthful criticism and insight on the NHDP.  It was a great way to end the day.

The post So Kids, What Did We Learn From This Week’s House Session (02/16-02/17/22)? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Mostly.  It doesn’t appear that we’ve lost any posts (Steve and I saved content from the last couple of days just in case). The Home page comes up well, and we can get into the “back end” of the ‘Grok to create more stuff for your edification and amusement.

So, thanks to our hosting company for that!

However, if you folks have been sending emails to “@GraniteGrok.com (like Skip@, Steve@), you’ve probably seen that you got a bounceback.  That is because our email server was late in being moved over as well (“Oh yeah!  Gotta do that too!). It was briefly up for a while last night but I noticed that it was down this morning.

Given that it WAS up, I’m hoping it will be a quick fix once they come in later on this morning. In the mean time, I’m “rid of a distraction” for a bit and can concentrate on some needful things. Don’t get me wrong – I want to hear from folks but in getting 500-700 emails / day, sometimes it is a luxury to have that firehouse shut off for a bit.

However, the Piper has to be paid later and I know that what can be avoided in the present will bit me in the future. Example: how many people dread going on vacation simply because you know how much work is going to be stacked up when you return?

“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” as Robert Heinlein made famous. But I’m glad the blogsite is up and I can scratch something off my task list!

Many thanks to you all for being patient for most of the afternoon until early evening.  Here’s to hoping that the wait was worth it!

The post Server Migration – Well, It Seems That We Made It Through – Mostly! appeared first on Granite Grok.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being schooled on Democracy by a group of truckers protesting in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. In its fourth week, this trucker protest has grown in strength, not only in Canada but worldwide.

What started as a caravan of trucks stretching for miles as they traveled across Canada has turned into a peaceful occupation of the area around the Capital building, chocking off the downtown area of Ottawa. As the movement has gained momentum and support, Justin Trudeau is losing support due to his mishandling of the protest.

Trudeau could have avoided the hardship and embarrassment that this protest has placed on him and his country had he met with these truckers weeks ago instead of hiding to avoid confrontation. Instead, he refuses any dialog with the protestors. Instead, the prime minister ramps up his rhetoric and name-calling against them and their supporters using very unpopular terms like racist and misogynistic. He calls them white supremacists wielding Swastica and Confederate flags. Days of coverage and hours of recordings are yet to uncover either of these flags, making him look foolish and his action weak. Trudeau is acting more like a petulant child than the leader of a free country. He looks more like a dictator than a prime minister. It is not a good look.

The daily sessions in Parliament are a heavyweight battle between Trudeau and his name-calling members of the majority party against the opposition party that comes armed with facts and logic looking for a resolution. Trudeau replies with calls for increased vaccinations as his answer to any question from the other side and seems downright foolish and outmatched with each passing day. This protest is not about the vaccine but about the ending of mask and vaccine mandates which are no longer necessary. Canada is 90% vaccinated, as are the truckers. He had no answer when pressed for what percentage he needed before rescinding the mandates.

He has threatened to have the trucks towed, but the tow truck operators refused to get involved. He threatened an increase in Police pressure, and the Police Chief for Ottawa resigned in protest. He has urged to freeze funds held by GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, almost $20 Million, but the public and courts would not allow that to happen.

This week, Trudeau has invoked the Emergencies Act, which had never been used in Canada. This act provides for action against terrorists, not a protest by truckers. None of Trudeau’s threats or actions are having an impact on the truckers. Instead, they are bolstering support worldwide for the efforts these protestors are using to bring attention to the government overreach in Canada and other countries. Trucker caravans are reported to be forming in the United States, Australia, and Europe.

The protests are peaceful so far, but as Trudeau ramps up his words and actions and refuses to talk to or negotiate with the truckers, this situation may not have a peaceful end. That is squarely on Trudeau, and with his political future on the line, it appears his tenure as Prime Minister will end sooner than later. He has no one to blame but himself.

The post Trudeau is Playing Small Ball in the Big Leagues appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Left would disarm every citizen in America except for a select few based on the possibility that someone might use a firearm in a criminal act or to harm another. This is well-documented, and they are quite enthusiastic about getting it done.

These are the same people, more or less, who believe that men (mostly white men) are sexist bigots, pedophiles, and rapists. There are entire factions within the Democrat party who insist that looking at a woman is the same as rape. They, too, are pretty enthusiastic about this premise.

They want us to believe that men on college campuses are raping young women at rates of statistical improbability. And then there’s the #MeToo movement which targets anyone that (typically) targets men of influence or authority who misuse their positions to get women into sexual situations against their will or better judgment.

At the same time, the same people are offended by any objection to allowing “men” who might misuse or abuse the opportunity into women’s locker rooms and bathrooms.

These once safe spaces have been pried open by the Dems in the interest of protecting the so-called rights and access of those claiming to be transgender without any inclination to protect the women with whom these individuals will be mixing.

If a girl or woman gets attacked or raped, the Dems go into cover/distraction mode.

The fact that a woman or girl was harmed is less important to them than whatever other political benefit they perceive from the policy they defend.

• The Dems gun sense policies produce more violence, injury, and murder.
• Their public policing priorities produce more crime.
• Their welfare plans create more dependents.
• Their Housing plans create more homelessness.
• Their drug war creates more addicts.
• Their economic plans make even the basic economy unreachable to more Americans.
• Their energy plans create foreign dependence and price people out of necessities.
• Their public health plans result in more misery and death.

And on top of all of that, you’re not black, or gay, or a woman, or even transgender, if you disagree with their failed left-wing politics.

America’s not far from better. We just need to stop electing Democrats.

It’s that simple.

 

 

 

The post More Contradictions From the Left appeared first on Granite Grok.

Most of the Wall Street Journal is behind a paywall but I stumbled across this post that had the important bit in the clear – the video:

 

 

There is some text that is also in the clear (I don’t have a subscription) but enough to get the intent (emphasis mine):

Last spring we exposed how two elite independent schools in New York had become corrupted by a divisive obsession with race, helping start the national movement against critical race theory. Schools apply this theory under the guise of diversity, equity and inclusion programming. Until now, however, neither of us fully grasped the dangers of this ideology or the true motives of its practitioners. The goal of DEI isn’t only to teach students about slavery or encourage courageous conversations about race, it is to transform schools totally and reshape society radically.

Over the past month we have watched nearly 100 hours of leaked videos from 108 workshops held virtually last year for the National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference. The NAIS sets standards for more than 1,600 independent schools in the U.S., driving their missions and influencing many school policies. The conference is NAIS’s flagship annual event for disseminating DEI practices, and more than 6,000 DEI practitioners, educators and administrators attended this year. Intended as professional development and not meant for the public, these workshops are honest, transparent and unfiltered—very different from how private schools typically communicate DEI initiatives. These leaked videos act as a Rosetta Stone for deciphering the DEI playbook.

If someone does have a subscription, I’d love to see the rest of this!

(H/T: WSJ Opinion)

The post “Inside the Woke Indoctrination Machine” – Sports as Indoctrination Mechanisms appeared first on Granite Grok.

His Majesty, sorry – excellency, Chris Sununu thinks he’s got something of a constitutional streak. Sure, if it’s the one he creates when he uses the document to wipe his backside.

Like most GOPe tools (and every Democrat), he likes to bring the thing out like fine china or good silver to show the guests. It’s a prop but a disposable one, unlike the fine china or silver.

The same can be said for his positions on “local control.” It’s a prop.

Local towns and cities have been turning mask mandates off and on for the past two years. School districts are even bigger violators, and therein lies the problem at hand—the argument in favor of state inaction ‘cuz local control.

His Excellency will not impose another statewide mask mandate after his last one expired, or so he claims. Nor will he sign legislation (last I heard) prohibiting local government agents from imposing mask mandates.

Mr. Sununu thinks it interferes with local control, and he isn’t going to interject the State into matters of local control.

Really?

We’ll ignore all the federal mandates the State shoves down their throats when it takes DC dollars. And we will forget the sketchy nature of towns or school boards even having the authority for such mandates. Local government can’t exercise any power the Legislature has not given to them – a mandate all its own that the State ignores unless enforcement (or failure to enforce) serves some political advantage.

In other words, the local control schtick coming from the Chief Executive is hazy at best and BS at worst. But let’s not get bogged down by that. If the governor wants to hang his hat on the local control, let’s ask this question.

Why don’t parents represent his baseline for local control? What “governing” unit is more local than the family? Family values. Kitchen table economics. The State accepts and recognizes that parents and guardians have legal authority over their children, with few exceptions.

But the governor will not act to ensure that a) towns and school districts that likely have no authority in statute and therefore no right to mandate masks b) are prevented from violating the recognized legal authority of parents who do not want or need their children masked.

Executive rule-making interpretations? Court decisions based upon them? None of that supersedes the limitation of the State Constitution or the actual language in the state statute. And while the Legislature can approve administrative rules if those rules violate the constitution, then a constitutional Republican should be the first to step in and protect the citizens from this abuse.

Especially after learning that most masks don’t stop infection or spread and that the vaccines don’t either.

In other words, his approach to local control is a lot like cloth and medical masks: a meaningless gesture, posturing, political theater.

A prop.

 

 

The post Chris Sununu’s Fraud – He’s Not That Concerned About “Local Control” … appeared first on Granite Grok.

With ad hom attacks thrown in. Yes, I’m getting more militant on Treehugger – time for us ALL to heed Glen Reynold’s admonition to Conservatives and Libertarians to “punch back twice as hard” and that’s what the deal is here.  Take the eco-socialists words and turn them right back on them.  Make them come out and say what they feel and when they try and go hide, call them out and drop them in their tracks.

This is Part 5 and it will be the last of this Treehugger Retorts series in that post. Steve isn’t going to like it but it will be “long form”.  Really long.  Again, maybe I’m being a bit delusional but I’m hoping that by posting this, it will give some of you ideas on either 1) learning how to answer back these Self-Righteous Missionaries of Collectivism or 2) showing that confronting them right back shows that we can win these debates by rhetorically beating them into the ground.  I know that I keep saying that I’m an introvert but on THIS battlefield, none of us can shirk away.

So here it goes – let’s pick up from Part 4 with a recap of FreedomEV’s getting-angrier-by-the-moment-because-he’s-being-challenged:

…Helping the poor creates wealth too and increases the market as they have money and can get a job, a place to live is better for everyone including those you mentioned.
Fact is you think taxes are great and have provided you with a decent country to live, make money in. No? So you lie off the bat.
Fact is you are only arguing the amount, no?
Or you think we can live well without them?
The selfish ones are those who foist their costs on others and they must pay. You’d be pissed if someone crashed into you and didn’t pay wouldn’t you?
What is the difference between that and FF companies poisoning us loosing 1.7yr of life US average? And rich people make far more pollution. Details you don’t let bother you as the rightwing nutjob you are, filled with hate you come here to harass people making the world better.
And you can’t stand that can you? Why?

Remember, this is a guy who does walk his own talk” and is fully into the electric vehicles and solar RE energy lifestyles.  I’ll applaud him for that but not for his totalitarian and Socialist outlook that we should outsource ourselves to government. Thus, my point by point rebuttals to most of those points:

Fact is you think taxes are great and have provided you with a decent country to live, make money in.

No I don’t and if you’ve actually been reading what I write you’d know better. A limited govt, which I champion, requires far less taxes than the bloated one we have now (NH is pretty well under control except for the pension plan) and I did my part to make sure my town stayed within our family budgets.

If you haven’t looked lately (and I have), the Feds are taking in far more in revenue than even just a few years ago. The problem is that expenditures have skyrocketed with $7 Trillion we didn’t have spent in just the last few years.

And then poked him with the FAR more important issue that will hit in a couple of years, max, rather than Climate Apocalypse.  See, they have blinkers on and can’t see what’s about to blindside them:

And THAT’S the lack of sustainability that will put a stake into the US FAR faster than “climate change”. It is here now and is an existential threat. Debt payment is already the 4th highest line item in the Federal budget and with the Federal Bank ready to hike interest rates, it will only go up.

So Bill, how great of a nation will we be when the entire budget goes for just interest payments??? When all of the social transfer payments (Social Security, the Federal dole) are moved to pay that debt, how great of a nation will we be then?

That’s why I just keep shaking my head concerning the climate apocalypse I’ve been told is happening for over 50 years without it happening and the DEBT CATASTROPHE is right in front of us?

And look who is talking about taxes – you boast that you live extremely cheaply and hardly have to work. Which means you pay next to nothing (or even nothing) and have become a free rider.

So, to my point, he merely waves his hands and shoves smoke out his butt by claiming that the concept of limited govt doesn’t work.

He also, at the end of my comment, gave me a DISQUS downvote. I’ll talk about that later but it was clear it was just the start of telling me “nonsense”. Actually it told everyone else he had been run out of the house with no answer.

See what I did there?  Took him out of his knowledgebase. IF YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK, you can basically silence your socialist opposition – they HAVE NO REAL ANSWERS. But you have to know your stuff AND you have to be willing to use that stuff! And you see with the last line, he tries to go into another area.  BTW, the acronym FF stands for Fossil Fuels – the most hated companies in the world if you are an Eco-Socialist.

With 330mm people dude, government can’t be limited. We don’t live in the old west dude. Times have changed, try to keep up.
Fact is not helping those people end up costing more making YOUR taxes higher.
The debt problem is made by YOUR limited government types who want to put it so deeply debt it fails. What scumbags.
If you look at the debt most all of it is from cutting taxes, corporate welfare.
So you are good giving FF companies $600B/yr to poison us?

Several fallacies there:

The debt problem is made by YOUR limited government types who want to put it so deeply debt it fails. What scumbags.

Hardly. Before the start of the 1900s, govt expenditures were generally 2% of GDP. Once the Progressives (Socialists, that knew they couldn’t call themselves that) started to enlarge Government that that percentage started to rise because their ideology said that Government should be the primary Entity and that Individualism should die.

If you look at the debt most all of it is from cutting taxes, corporate welfare.

First off, whose money is it in the first place, that tax money? Shouldn’t they be able to keep it?

Or are you of the sort that Government should be in the business of determining, as Obama said, that after a certain amount, you’ve made enough (yeah, look at his bank account now that he’s retired)?

Have you even BOTHERED to look at the revenue and expenditure flows for the US since that time? We almost ALWAYS have higher revenues. The problem is that they keep raising expenditures even higher. That’s how debt happens. THAT’s where the debt comes from.

And those Progressives, by implementing a Federal income tax to continuously raise taxes, allowed the scumbags (both sides of the aisle) to keep spending more.

another retort / rebuttal on his push that ONLY a bigger, more intrusive govt can “herd us all” in the right direction – a fallacy if there ever was one:

As the Bible says, there is nothing new under the sun.

With 330mm people dude, government can’t be limited. We don’t live in the old west dude. Times have changed, try to keep up.

Really? Show me the studies that your supposition is true. Frankly, I have don’t think you have any proof at all. In fact, you make the case for me that you don’t trust your citizens, in general (and not the exceptions), and that no one can be self-reliant (even as YOU show the rest of that you are) on their own. Only dependency upon Government is what you are saying should be the norm. I disagree.

Technology has changed, the numbers have changed, but basic human nature hasn’t. In fact, the US Constitution, while laying out the form of the Federal Government, is oft spoken of as being one of the greatest sociological documents ever written about human nature.

Or have you never thought of it in that manner? And do you understand WHY? I’ll give you that it is a two part answer from two different foundational documents.

Nope, he never said why.  So I taunted him a bit, because now he deserves it after abandoning the debate.

Downvote, eh freedomev? Not even an attempt at a rebuttal?

Or is that you realize that you can’t?

So, next point which was meant to change the subject. I don’t think he was ready for my answer:

So you are good giving FF companies $600B/yr to poison us?

Are you talking about the normal tax depreciations that all other companies can take advantage of as well? Take it up with your two US Senators and <insert proper number here> and US Representatives – they are the ones that craft the tax laws we have now.

You’re going down the wrong rat hole – I have said here in TH comments that I believe that ALL SUBSIDIES to all companies (willing to equivacate on defense contractors as defense of the country is a Constitutional mandate) should be ended. Period and full stop.

Government should not be picking winners and losers in the Private Sector.

Downvote.  Again – starting to become a pattern. No answer.  Again, the possibility of pointing out something he (and the others) don’t want to admit:

Oh, given the downvote, you WANT Govt to give all companies subsides, freedomev?

Or are you enamored with the idea that Govt should be directing and controlling the economy?

And back to the Government dole bit:

Helping the poor creates wealth too and increases the market as they have money and can get a job, a place to live is better for everyone including those you mentioned.

Helping the poor – by private sector means or by Government handouts, Bill? Which is better? Which is preferred?

And which is the least efficient and soul sapping in building an entitlement mentality that teaches nothing but dependency?

And yes, couldn’t even answer the 2 choice question? No rebuttal at all, just a “signaling” downvote.

And then he really let the cat out of the bag – no soul?  Really?

Studies have proven that false. But I’d expect that from someone with no soul.

Both turned out to be throw away lines:

Studies have proven that false.

Given that I’m trying to comment on all your points, I’m not sure which of my comments you are claiming to be false. Please, if you would, elaborate?

But I’d expect that from someone with no soul

And this is rather puzzling – I’ve never known a Govt to have a soul. So by claiming that I have not a soul (haven’t the vaguest idea why), it is only because I politically disagree with you in that you believe that Govt HAS a soul?

For as I advocate for personal and not govt action, that makes me soulless? Or are you of the ilk, like Bernie Sanders, AOC, and many others, that ONLY Govt can “do good” and that the rest of us should outsource our Christian charity to faceless bureaucrats (whose only “charity” is just a job using other peoples’ money instead of their own)?

Downvote – no answer.

This next one needs a bit of explanation – he’s talking about polluters and the nuance is that ALL big companies are such. Doesn’t matter that Science can’t come up with any realistic costing of what each “polluter” (and yes, I agree there are those that do) streams on an individual level.  Not do the THers ever try other then pulling numbers out of the air. But it is dogma for them.

But I pointed out there’s another class of folks that are FAR worse about foisting costs upon others:

The selfish ones are those who foist their costs on others and they must pay.

The MOST selfish are those Politicians and bureaucrats that believe they have the right and duty to take from one set of people simply to give to others.

And until a verifiable and equitable process to finitely determine individual costing of each type of pollution by polluter, the present political rush to do so is simply a political hack and a talking point. And as others here have pointed out, it ain’t been done yet.

French historian / political philosopher Alex De Tocqueville:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.”

And this is where we are now.

Yep, downvote with no rebuttal. Like I said, a pattern.  With this, I keep pointing this out to what is a rather lively community of commenters here.

I dryly note now that not a single one of his co-socialists came to his rescue. Not one and not once.  He was left to dangle out there. Very different for TH as, like Antifa on the streets, they generally swarm against opposing ideas.

But he did throw this out which made no sense as he supplied no context – just an ad hom:

So do nothing? What a knob.

Again, use their own actions and words against them:

So, no rational debate from you on the size and intrusiveness of Govt, eh?

So do nothing?

I said nothing of the sort. But what SHOULD be done is to decrease the size of govt at most levels (the local city / town level generally is the most efficient). Return to the question of “What is the Proper Role of Govt?” (at least here in the US, other countries are far different in type and history) and implement it.

You’d be surprised how small the Fed Govt would be if it returned to just doing what the Constitution says they should do – and only those things.

States have wider latitude in what they do – and many duplicate what the Feds do but within just their own borders. Federalism was implemented BECAUSE it was necessary to maintain States rights in holding to checks and balances such that Powers would not be aggregated to “the few”.

But the hardest part with that is at the Individual level – too many have outsourced THEIR responsibilities to Govt and expect others to do for them what they should be doing for themselves.

And with that “what a knob.” comment, you’ve proved that last sentence. Change my mind.

And it was also time to get rid of this other strawman argument:

What is the difference between that and FF companies poisoning us loosing 1.7yr of life US average?

Life expectancy was still rising until the both the Opioid epidemic and COVID hit the US.

Show us the studies that pull apart the OE and C19 data from your FF supposition.

Downvote.  I have to think that he was getting rather angry at this point – could not supply a rebuttal.

So, change the subject!

Ignorance strikes again. We are only growing for the last 15? yrs from immigration.
Without it we’d be shrinking as most of the world.

Deflection again – notice how he keeps trying to change the subject to other than what he wrote. ALWAYS keep that in mind – stay focused and on topic:

Ignorance strikes again. We are only growing for the last 15? yrs from immigration.
Without it we’d be shrinking as most of the world.

Funny, I’ve not mentioned immigration at all, nor birth rates.

Thanks for the irrelevant strawman argument to be on full display for everyone here.

Do I have to say it?  Yep – downvote. And more ad hom.  You can tell the desperation is seeping in.

And when I start using the real important stuff:

Details you don’t let bother you as the rightwing nutjob you are, filled with hate you come here to harass people making the world better.

What, that I believe in Constitutional values and want Govt to stay within its lane (which you obviously object to by your own words)?

That I want people to make their OWN decisions (and live with the results therein) instead of others forcing THEIR mandates on everyone?

That the original Proper Role of Govt (see above) has been perverted to thinking it IS the ability to legislate every single behavior of the Private Sector and Society?

Since when did that become “right wing”?

And I just LOVE the idea that simple political disagreement with you (and others) means that I’m a HATER? What a devaluation of the actual meaning of that word.

To a mere talking point so as to Other someone. I disagree with you, mostly, Bill but there are times we have agreed and I have publicly applauded those here at TH who are walking the talk.

So that makes me a Hater, Bill?

Unlike many here, I’ll reiterate, I want others to make their own decisions instead of forcing MY opinions upon them – that’s a HATER, Bill?

I’m going to enjoy you explaining that to everyone here.

Surprisingly, no downvote.  No answer, but no downvote. Hoisting them on their own petards seems to do that. Not for long, but it can work.

And to his assertion that taxes seem to make a country great:

No, not taxes. That’s the LAST thing that makes a country great (unless “less of them” is a large part of the solution).

What makes a country Great? Respecting the Rights of its Citizens and not infringing upon them:

Try the Rule of Law. Try the Right to Private Property. Try the Freedom of Speech. Try the Right of Religious Belief. Try the Right to seek redress of your Government officials.

Shall I go on?

Nope, he didn’t – downvote again. Again, out of his element completely. But he did reply – nonsensical, but a reply

No, we know you are a nut job sociopath, like Chump. You believe in those things for thee but not for me, others.

Heh! Fish, Water, Barrel:

No, we know you are a nut job sociopath, like Chump. You believe in those things for thee but not for me, others.

Right. I keep saying that I want others to make their OWN decisions for them and their families. Have said that for years here at TH.

And THAT makes me a nut job sociopath?

So what is it about the Rule of Law, Freedom of Speech, the Right to Private Property, Redress of our Government officials, and Religious Beliefs that upsets you so much, sir?

They are the foundational underpinnings of our US Constitution, right?

So what about those things, and in believing in them, that makes me a sociopath?

C’mon man! Let us all know!

He has no self-awareness in this debate. Push them to the edge and that’s what happens. No answer at all except another downvote. So I called him out on it:

If you think that I care about getting downvote, let me set you straight – I don’t care. If as a signal that you disagree, that’s fine.

What it also signals is that you’ve run out of ideas that can rebut mine. As expected.

But it is ALSO a signal that you HATE (can I use those words) that people have Rights, that Govt should be limited and held to account, and that it should take as much from others so as to make sure that all the things YOU want it to do will happen.

Regardless of whether it should even be doing those things at all – especially for those things people no longer wish to do for themselves (but should be).

Good to know, sir! Each downvote is actually showing us all where you sit; VERY good to know.

Remember, sometimes the absence of something (as in the inability to defend your assertions) is even louder than the accusations.

And back a bit:

Helping the poor creates wealth too and increases the market as they have money and can get a job, a place to live is better for everyone including those you mentioned.

Fine – I have no problem with private charity. In fact, Charity is not a US Constitutional enumerated Power for the Federal Government.

States, however, can do such. Let them, if you are too stingy to voluntarily give out of the goodness of your heart. Which, I dryly note, seems to be the intent of your line – “let someone else do it like Govt. I will outsource my personal responsible to others – in this case, Government.”.

Again, downvote. And lastly, and in summary:

And with this, I think I have answered all of your points – politely and rationally without any ad hom return attacks:

filled with hate you come here to harass people making the world better.

Hate? Nope. Trust me, if I hated you, I’d be using a far different vocabulary. Instead, I merely am challenging assertions – and in this thread, each and every one that you just made about me and my political outlook.

And that, you don’t like. And given the ad hom and your other language, to whom should the word “hate” now being pointing to?

But to your point – losing one’s Rights and Liberties is not making the world better.

Forcing people to live in a manner they otherwise would not choose for themselves is not making the world a better place.

Deciding for others how they are to think and believe does not make the world a better place.

Stealing from some to simply give their stuff to others because of a distorted Robin Hood view does not make the world a better place.

A world without Freedom to Choose for oneself is not a world worth living in.

But all of those seem to be anathema to you. So, are you ready to rationally discuss all these points? After all, this IS a post about “equity” – all of my comments here speak exactly to it (maybe just not in terms that the Author expected).

Thus, I think that this is the longest post I have ever done and if not, close to it.

We HAVE to be able to talk about what is important – not only to us but to them as well. I find that many, like FreedomEV, don’t ever think of Life in this manner. It’s clear that they want what they want but haven’t moved the chess pieces on their board to see what the REAL endpoint would be if removing all of the things I brought up are removed. They might get their Eco-Utopia but probably not. But even if they do, what is the world they will have created for the rest of us with Rights and Liberties removed.

I’m hoping that with the silence of the other TH eco-Socialists that some of the above made a bit of an impact. I want to think that as no one else ventured into the debate.  I want to think that some amount of hesitation cause some thoughts to happen that otherwise wouldn’t have.

But I’ll never know.

 

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Politically, there are few ideas more potent than the notion that all your problems are caused by other people and their unfairness to you. That notion was the royal road to unbridled power for Hitler, Lenin, Mao, and Pol Pot – which is to say, millions of human beings paid with their lives for believing it.

-Prof Thomas Sowell (Contradictory Notions of Fairness)

And now, we see Trudeau of Canada using it.  All those truckers, simple blue-collar working stiffs, have upset his applecart and bruised his “*I* am the Leader!” ego.

They simply wanted to do their job, trucking, and wanted Govt to get out of their way.  And now, while six of the Canadian Provinces have given in and said no more mask / vax mandates, Trudeau can’t stand that they are standing up to him.  Just like Sununu of “Public Health trumps Everything!” fame, Trudeau went to volume 11 and basically has called them all enemies of the State.  HIS problem, according to him, are all these people that refused to take a knee to his edict.  THEY are the problem – not himself. So he went full Monty by invoking the Emergency Act, like Sununu did here in NH, and made himself Judge, Jury, and Executioner.

They, on the other hand, see him as a Tyrant. And I agree.

Each of the folks that Sowell listed believed that the end justifies the means, and that means was anything they believed was needed.  A limited Government that respected Rights, Liberties, and Freedom?

No. Right now, when the Canadian Govt believes that it can now just take all of someone’s assets simply because their political stance varies from theirs, it is a totalitarian State.  Canada has now crossed that Rubicon.

And has the US as well, with those that illegally went into the Capital building on Jan 6?  Yes, given the stories about how they are being confined AND contrasting that to how many crimes that are going unpunished (illegal immigration, BLM, Antifa, et al).

(H/T: Cafe Hayek)

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