The Manchester Free Press

Friday • January 10 • 2025

Vol.XVII • No.II

Manchester, N.H.

Massachusetts Houses Children and Pedophiles Together … Again!

Granite Grok - Mon, 2024-05-20 12:00 +0000

If you need a poster child for the incompetence of a bloated government, Massachusetts would have to be at the top of any list of candidates. Yes, Hawaii and California are bad, but they lack the tenure of the Bay State. Once the cradle of liberty, it has long since devolved into an aged ineptitude its younger upstarts can’t quite match.

Massachusetts may not be as woke or as “crazy-liberal” as the Left Coast or the Islands, but it has been pursuing Democrat decline for longer than either. The time has allowed it to build layer upon layer of densely packed special interests doing business as public servants. A cancerous growth that is unresponsive to treatment, not that it was ever anything approaching operable.

The faces change, but the crime family of state government remains the same, with apologies to organized crime, which would never survive if they were this incompetent.

Headline: Blue State Housed Migrant Children In Hotels With Sex Offenders

A Massachusetts agency reportedly housed homeless and migrant families with young children in the same hotels as registered sex offenders, according to the Boston Globe.

The state placed hundreds of homeless migrant families in at least six locations with sex offenders convicted of crimes against children, including pornography, rape and assault, the Boston Globe reported. Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities rejected the outlet’s requests for information on sex offenders, but said after the outlet identified offenders that the agency checks shelters against the registry every six months.

It is no secret that the third world is unloading its prisons and exporting its inmates to America, and the Biden administration is helping them get here and there and everywhere. Most of the rising crime in Burlington, Vermont, appears to be a product of its sanctuary city status and the influx of foreign gangs, drugs, and disparate cultures.

Blue cities and states are overwhelmed, cutting services to address the basic needs of these misnamed “migrants” at the expense of the minorities who are watching slack-jawed as invaders get better treatment than they do.

Democrats have been screwing their constituents forever, but we rarely get to see this level of escalation such that those getting screwed recognize it as something Democrats are doing to them.

In the case of Massachusetts, the child/predator issue isn’t new. The state has a history of claiming only it can protect families while doing what it can to undermine its claim. Two recent examples:

(2020) Rapist Freed by the Massachusetts Bail Fund Arrested Again for Rape (Kidnapping and Assault)

(2019) State Housed Displaced Children in Facility with Convicted Sex Offender

“The safety and wellbeing of the 7,500 families in Emergency Assistance shelter is a priority for our administration,” a spokesman for the agency, Keven Connor, told the Boston Globe. “We will continue to take all possible steps to ensure the safety of EA residents and carefully review any situation that comes before us to act quickly to protect families.”

Families in locations with sex offenders, like at the Baymont Hotel, where a man convicted of “repeatedly and indecently assaulting” a girl under 14 is reportedly living or at the Colonial Traveler Inn, where an offender convicted of rape and child abuse is reportedly living, did not seem to be notified, the outlet reported.

Talk about leaving plenty of room for sorry, but we did our best. All possible steps.

It is a tragedy that children will be irreparably harmed because the state’s best isn’t good enough, but the state’s best is never good enough, and the voters can’t seem to connect those dots in any meaningful way that would convince them to behave differently at the ballot box.

The post Massachusetts Houses Children and Pedophiles Together … Again! appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Time to Pick Another Comment of the Week [Updated]

Granite Grok - Mon, 2024-05-20 11:00 +0000

Another week, more comments, and your opportunity to decide which of these seven daily selections is our comment for the week’s winner.

We have also added, upon request, a “none of the above” selection in the event that you can’t pick one or aren’t moved by any of them.

Note: The selection of comments does not infer or imply that I agree or endorse the position(s) taken in the comment. And yes, after the fact, I realized I’d selected comments on two different days from the same commenter. I try not to do that, but this week, it happened.

The poll is live until 8 pm Tuesday evening.

Here are your comment choices

(apologies for leaving one out of the poll – It has been added below.)

Post: Holly Novelesky Running for Congress

Mike Chiasson Support for the “energy transition” (or whatever the Climate Cult term of the day is) is a non-starter. We need to eliminate EV mandates and taxpayer subsidies for EVs, charging stations, and so-called clean energies. Let the different forms of energy compete on an equal playing field, and don’t put up legal and political impediments to expanding oil production, refining, and distribution capacity. I also support a robust nuclear power program, but it’s an anathema to the left and Holly doesn’t seem prepared to fight that battle. I posed a few questions to Holly related to Speaker Johnson’s 3 betrayals on her campaign’s Facebook page, but she has not yet answered them. In sum, if Holly is the GOP congressional candidate for NH-1, I’d vote for a 3rd party or write-in candidate. She strikes me as having more of the same Uni-Party attitude, which has not done anything good for New Hampshire or America. Post: Scientists” Testing One-Jab-To-Kill-Them-All ‘Vaccine’ to Fight Multiple “Coronaviruses”

Martina Vaslovik There has never been any efficacious vaccine for any form of coronavirus, ever. There has never been any cure for the common cold, which is caused by a coronavirus, specifically rhinovirus 39. What they are hawking is not even a vaccine, which is made from an attenuated virus, it’s gene therapy using mRNA, to do God knows what to us, and it’s killed millions so far. They cannot make a vaccine for the *alleged* covid virus because it does not exist. It has not been isolated by anyone anywhere in the world four years later and the CCP conveniently announced they had ordered the original specimens destroyed. It’s my belief that COVID19, or the idea of it, originated not in Wuhan, but in Davos with Klaus Schwab and his merry men, who when they came out with their Great Reset’s pie chart had COVID19 smack in the middle of it and lauded it as a narrow window of opportunity to change the world. Note also that Klaus Schwab’s buddy Yuval Noah Harari has put us all on notice telling us “Frankly we really don’t need the vast majority of you.” Should that not tell us something? Dr. Derek Knauss: “When my lab team and I subjected the 1500 supposedly positive Covid-19 samples to Koch’s postulates and put them under an SEM (electron microscope), we found NO Covid in all 1500 samples. We found that all 1500 samples were primarily Influenza A, and some Influenza B, but no cases of Covid. We did not use the bulls*** PCR test.’ At 7 universities not once COVID detected. ‘This virus is fictitious’ ‘I still need to find one viable sample with Covid-19 to work with. We who conducted the lab test with these 1500 samples at the 7 universities are now suing the CDC for Covid-19 fraud. The CDC still has not sent us a viable, isolated and purified sample of Covid-19. If they can’t or won’t, then I say there is no Covid-19. It’s fictional.’ ‘The four research papers describing the genome extracts of the Covid-19 virus never managed to isolate and purify the samples. All four papers describe only small pieces of RNA that are only 37 to 40 base pairs long. That is NOT a VIRUS. A viral genome normally has 30,000 to 40,000 base pairs.’ ‘Now that Covid-19 is supposedly so bad everywhere, how come not one lab in the world has completely isolated and purified this virus? That’s because they never really found the virus. All they ever discovered were small pieces of RNA that were not identified as the virus anyway. So what we’re dealing with is just another flu strain, just like every year. Covid-19 does not exist and is fictitious.’ Which brings us to this: Seasonal Flu Cases in the US 2012-2013 34,000,000 2013-2014 30,000,000 2014-2015 30,000,000 2015-2016 24,000,000 2016-2017 29,000,000 2017-2018 45,000,000 2018-2019 36,000,000 2019-2020 38,000,000 2020-2021 1,822 Draw your own conclusions… graphic Post: Ashley Biden Confirms Diary Is Hers … And That Joe Biden Is A PEDOPHILE

Agent Liberty You have a far less cynical view of the average liberal than I do, as I think their motivations are less being ashamed over being conned as large numbers of these herds of dependent “thinkers” have been taught that there is nothing wrong per se with child molestation as long as it’s okay with the child, that being sold along with homosexuality as “liberating” and “being true to oneself.” Otherwise, I find their usual excuses are the following: “It’s their private life, it doesn’t affect policy” and “It’s not a crime when WEdo it, since we’re always speaking truth to power, thus our “intended” higher purpose far outweighs any harm Democratic misdeeds may cause”. Post: Night Cap: What Could Have Spiked Colorectal Cancer in Young People Starting in 2021?

TheOrneryNurse Health has been declining rapidly since the medical industrial complex starting pushing “low-fat” diets, a myriad of pharmaceuticals and toxic shots. Our children and grandchildren have been poisoned since birth and the Boomers are not enjoying a quality of life even close to that their parents had. Gen X is being worked to death or being disabled in their 50s because they were coerced into taking experimental injections to keep their jobs. The medical community has much to atone for, but the ruling/laptop class is still earning millions on death, so little, if anything, will change. The People are too fat, sick and sedated to rebel, I’m afraid. #NoAmnesty Post: Hillary Speaks the Truth?

Agent Liberty Yes, Grandma Vodka may have stated several facts here, but all of it just reminds me of what my Grandma used to say about persons like the Clintons, that is: “The Devil will often cite Scripture to try and make his case.” Cankles Clinton (and other Democratics) saying these things is a matter of trying to keep American Jews and their money in majority support of the Party and not a matter of telling the truth about these frauds known as the Palestinians that have brought misery and death wherever they have traveled (including several Islamic nations that have violently expelled them, after accepting them in as “refugees”.

Post: Ross Berry

Hunter Hmmmn, interesting to say the least. Not to put too fine a point on this, but I would be considerably more impressed with this inside baseball had the honorable representative not chosen to hide behind anonymity. Even though or perhaps especially because I understand the consequences that can arise from enthusiastically casting stones at fellow representatives, the speaker, and let’s not forget a regular writer here at the ‘Grok, regardless of whether actual hits resulted or any of these targets happen be someone whose work I’d critique or endorse <shrug>. In a case like this, the identity of an *elected* *official* pointing out the kinds of shenanigans we all know happen, not just in our own legislature but quite likely every such body anywhere on earth, is a very important part of understanding the context. If nothing else, in any tempest in a teapot, without knowing ALL the details the voters have a harder time deciding just who might need punishing at the polls in the upcoming election. Not hard at all for any of us following along at home to come up with all sorts of different scenarios to make just about any kind of story we want without the full context. Which again can be entertaining, but not necessarily the best way to inform your vote. Yeah, I can see the wisdom of Granite Grok ALLOWING said representative to hide under the cloak of anonymity if they so request. Protecting your sources is a fundamental principle of journalism, and political figures and commentators have been publishing anonymously pretty much since the invention of writing systems. Wouldn’t surprise me if some of the cave paintings were in this genre. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate the information, I just wish we had the full context. One thing I *require* of elected officials occasionally is a modicum of moral courage and willingness to do the right thing, damn the consequences. Even publishing anonymously, there ARE going to be consequences, even if it’s limited to fueling gossip, whisper campaigns, and (more) infighting. Anyone present for the events described will be able to narrow the field of suspects pretty dramatically should someone decide to go witch hunting. I wasn’t there, have only a few dozen times ventured within those ‘hallowed grounds’ for hearings and such, yet I could pretty easily do a bit of sleuthing with that article and resources I’m aware of easily available online to come up with a list of the usual suspects. There’s even a respectable chance I might have the actual author on said list were I to bother. <grin> One among many dangers, of course, someone might well choose to toss the wrong person into the tank to see if they float. While that can be entertaining, it can also be a bit rough on the innocent. Not like we don’t know a lot of folks up in Concord frequent and/or monitor the ‘Grok, and anyone who’s had any dealings with the statehouse can tell you word gets around. My bet is that within a week at most anyone who cares will have a pretty fair guess who it was they THINK wrote this article. Right or wrong, however just any motives might be, regardless of the facts of the matter, that can have all sorts of consequences whether intended or not. I admit, I am human and am rather looking forward to the rebuttals, accusations, finger pointing, and reprisals. (That might or might not be irony or sarcasm, I haven’t decided quite yet.) “Sunlight is the best disinfectant” didn’t after all start as a sociopolitical metaphor in the way Brandeis made the saying famous, but in either context has a lot to recommend it. Post: Government Overcriminalization Catches Unwary Americans Mike Remskiyesterday

Federally prohibitive criteria for posession of a firearm includes:
A person convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year whether or not sentence is imposed. This includes misdemeanor offenses with a potential term of imprisonment in excess of two years, whether or not sentence was imposed.

There is a reason for all of this; look at how many places are not charging or even going after real criminals, but Joe average law abiding citizen gets the book thrown at him for jaywalking and has firearms taken away.

Poll

Pick one Commenter as This Weeks Winner
  • Mike Chiasson
  • Martina Vaslovik
  • Agent Liberty - Biden Diary
  • TheOrneryNurse
  • Agent Liberty - Hillary Truth
  • Hunter
  • Mike Remski
  • None of the Above
Vote

The post Time to Pick Another Comment of the Week [Updated] appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Becky Whitley Is A Bleach Blonde, And Has A Bad-Built, Butch-Body

Granite Grok - Mon, 2024-05-20 10:00 +0000

Actually, I have no idea whether Becky Whitley dyes her hair. Nor do I care. Nor have I ever seen her body. Nor do I care what kind of body she has. I just figured that if it is okay for Representative Fake-Eyelashes, a/k/a Jasmine Crockett, to say that about Marjorie Taylor Greene, it would be okay for me to say it about Becky Whitley.

What’s that you say? It’s not okay? Tell me why; I’m all ears. Because I am a White male? Now I understand.

If I say Becky Whitley has a “butch-body,” it is homophobic because I am a White male, but when Representative Fake-Eyelashes says MGT has a “butch-body,” it is not homophobic and, in fact, is “owning” MGT because Representative Fake-Eyelashes is a Black female.

That actually makes a lot of sense once you understand that Woke-Communism is a religion and so is not rational or understandable. Preach it, DT Ford; preach it:

 

The post Becky Whitley Is A Bleach Blonde, And Has A Bad-Built, Butch-Body appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Travel Worry Free Now With a GPS Tracker

Granite Grok - Mon, 2024-05-20 09:00 +0000

Whether you’re heading off for your annual family satiation or you’re travelling abroad, the use of a GPS tracking device can prove to be rather useful.

You can attach one to your luggage and keep an eye on it, allowing you to pinpoint its location in the unlikely event that it gets lost or stolen.

Luggage Tracking

Keeping track of your Baggage safety is made easier with a GPS tracking device. These are a must-have for anyone who checks bags, and can especially come in handy in a busy baggage claim.

These tech gadgets show your suitcases’ location on a map via an app on your phone, giving you a little more control in a chaotic situation. They may also act as a deterrent to theft, since thieves know the bag is equipped with a tracking device.

Some travelers like to tuck their tracking devices into protective luggage covers, which hide the tracker and make it harder for someone to grab and remove. Many bags also have zipped pockets that are rarely used; slipping your tracker in one of those spots makes it less obvious. Alternatively, you can attach them to your Baggage safety with glue or strong adhesive strips. You can even use a travel organizer or packing cube to stash your tracker, which distributes it and makes it more difficult to pull out.

Vehicle Tracking

Vehicle tracking systems are a powerful tool to help improve productivity, reduce costs and increase quality control. They provide real-time location data that enables fleet managers to better manage inventory, optimize routes and monitor vehicles on the go.

Discreet vehicle trackers are ideal for home deliveries, providing peace of mind and improving customer satisfaction. They send a new GPS signal every two minutes for accurate real-time vehicle tracking, and can also store historical data.

Choose from hardwired or plug-in trackers that run on battery power for maximum reliability. Plug-in devices, like the OBD GPS tracker from Linxup, plug into a car’s OBD port (standard on all vehicles since 1996). They are also easy to move between vehicles and can function without a battery, making them perfect for small businesses or concerned parents.

Family Monitoring

When your kids leave the house to hang out with friends or go on a field trip, you want to be sure they are safe. This is where a GPS tracker comes in.

Most tracking apps have a map that displays all your family members in real time. Some even allow you to create geofences and receive alerts when they enter or exit a specific location.

The same features can also be used to monitor older relatives or loved ones who may need help if they get lost or become ill. It is especially helpful when they are traveling alone, on vacation, or in places where crime is common, like a hotel.

Some apps, such as Locategy and SilverCloud, can even prevent automotive theft by tethering your kid’s phone to their car or other vehicle to keep it safe in case of an auto accident. They can also remotely wipe your child’s device in the event of a theft or loss.

Emergency Alerts

Whether it’s an evacuation during a hurricane or an outbreak of disease, location-based alerts can save lives. Using GPS, emergency response teams can identify specific landmarks and streets to locate and direct people who need care. This can greatly reduce the amount of time a person is unattended and improve their chances of receiving timely, effective treatment.

When you have a medical alert system with GPS, you can check in on your loved one’s location and get notified if they move outside of a defined geofence boundary. This is especially helpful for seniors or individuals with dementia who might wander from home.

A medical alarm with GPS can also instantly contact 911 and dispatch help, even if your loved one can’t speak. Moreover, the top-rated mobile medical alert systems with GPS include nationwide wireless voice and data, and emergency dispatch through the cellular network for faster assistance.

The post Travel Worry Free Now With a GPS Tracker appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Night Cap: Repurposing Leftover and Surplus Tootsie Rolls

Granite Grok - Mon, 2024-05-20 02:00 +0000

While holding my totem at the corner of the Charlotte School campus during the 2022 election, my group and I were approached by a young lady who introduced herself as Angela.  I will call her a “volunteer intern” and explain why in a moment.

She had a plastic pumpkin bucket and said, “Would you like one,” and I was the only one among us to say yes.  Looking inside and only seeing Tootsie Rolls, which I consider to be fake chocolate, I was disappointed.  Being a rep candidate, I didn’t want to appear rude by changing my mind, so I took one, said thanks, and put it in my pocket.  It later wound up inside the interior driver door handle until I did some recent spring cleaning in my car.

Following the Tootsie Roll offer was some small talk between me, Angela, and a few others.  Angela was asked if she voted in Ward 2 as it was unclear if she was 18 or not at that point.  It was a yes or no question, but word salad was served.  She indicated that she was too young to vote and implied residency in Ward 2, but just for a few minutes until additional probing questions were asked.  She later claimed to be a Hollis HS student, which spawned some interesting discussion.  When asked what she was doing in Nashua or who she was working for, she toggled back and forth with her use of the words “volunteer” and “intern” interchangeably.  She also said that her dad works for the Union Leader.

While I was more puzzled by her deer-in-the-headlights look when I made a few comments about Nackey Loeb and Kevin Landrigan, a clear indicator of her unfamiliarity with such well-known figures, I didn’t see the forest from the trees. It was unclear if she was a volunteer(an uncompensated worker, by my definition), an intern(someone receiving school credit for performing a task, also by my crude definition), or both!

Because the situation, as perceived at the time, did not pass the smell test, some texts, phone calls, and emails were sent to look into it.  I was later told that a former Hollis rep went to their high school and asked some questions, and the principal actually looked into it and also had some questions.  Sorry to disappoint anyone expecting a juicy outcome, but nothing exciting came of it other than that I still have the keepsake from that day, the Tootsie Roll.

My late grandmother, a member of the Tom Brokaw-dubbed Greatest Generation, was the first person to ever say(to me), “Waste not, want not.” As a serial question-asking kid, I had to ask what that meant, and most adults in the English-speaking world knew the answer. My grandmother came from a large Irish Catholic family in working-class Roxbury; hence the thrifty values from her cohort, and her birthday was earlier this month. Shucks, I missed it.

However, there is another birthday coming up this month belonging to another Roxbury native, Ms Melanie Levesque.

What better way to honor my grandmother’s words “waste not, want not” with regard to Angela’s souvenir Tootsie Roll than to make some “kitty litter cake” on Monday, May 20?  Meow.

 

The post Night Cap: Repurposing Leftover and Surplus Tootsie Rolls appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Actually, Alissandra Murray … They Are Just Males

Granite Grok - Mon, 2024-05-20 00:00 +0000

You should know by now that disagreeing with a Woke-Communist means you are engaging in “hate.” So in the alternative reality that Woke-Communist Alissandra Murray lives in, most Americans are “haters” because most Americans do NOT think males should participate in female sports. Note that I said “males” and not “biological males.”

I have been guilty of using the term “biological male.” It is, at best, a redundancy. There is no such thing as a non-biological male. A non-biological male is an impossibility. Whether you are male or female is a function of biology. End of discussion.

I am reposting J.K. Rowling’s mostly excellent rebuttal to the propaganda of people like Ali Murray:

 

 

 

The post Actually, Alissandra Murray … They Are Just Males appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

The Tale Of Two Chiefs

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 22:00 +0000

Two members of the Kansas City Chiefs addressed college graduating classes this week and showed how divided we are as a country and how upside-down we have become. Travis Kelce and Harrison Butker could not be more diametrically opposed in their messages. Still, the surprising and sad thing about the two is who was lauded and who was chastised.

Travis Kelce and his brother Jason were awarded University of Cincinnati diplomas. Both missed their graduations due to NFL obligations. In addition to receiving his diploma, Travis delivered the commencement speech while holding a beer. His words of wisdom to the graduating students were, “You gotta fight for your right to party.” That is a shallow message to young adults who invested four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in their future. There is not a lot of inspiration in that line, and to deliver it holding a beer cheapened the moment even further. You probably have figured out that this was the speech that was cheered.

Harrison Butker, the placekicker for the world champions, took a different tack and has been broadly criticized for his moral message to the graduates of the Benedictine College. I listened to the entire 20:36 speech and found it incredible- incredibly honest, insightful, inspirational, and a speech I wish I had heard at my commencement. The media and critics of the speech are taking a two-minute segment out of context and twisting it to fit their agendas. They are using that snippet to label Butker with every slanderous adjective they can conjure up, and it is a disgraceful show of ignorance and disrespect; disrespect for Harrison and the First Amendment.

Butker, a devout, traditional Roman Catholic, addressed these students at a private Catholic university. He was not speaking to the morons at CNN, MSNBC, or The View. Those ignorant, self-serving individuals could not comprehend the message delivered and would be in their element chugging beers with Travis Kelce. Butker called out everyone from Joe Biden, politicians, the media, and the church hierarchy for their hypocrisy and part in the decline of our country and the family. He pointed to Biden claiming to be a devout Catholic yet showing total disrespect by making the sign of the cross at a pro-abortion event. He spoke about the bishops who have become more political than the shepherds of the church they were supposed to be, and he called out the media for doing exactly as predicted in response to his speech. Rather than embrace the moral message given to young adults about to step out into the world, they mock and condemn the messenger.

Butker urged the graduates to “pick a lane” and be true to themselves and their beliefs. To not let outside influences move them out of their paths. He spoke about the difference between a career and a vocation. He reminded them that God put them on earth to find a mate, create a family, and bring new life into the world. He explained that a career should be secondary to the quest for a good life with a partner who would join you on a path to salvation promised by Jesus Christ. He spoke about his wife, whom he met in junior high, and how she opened his eyes to God. She chose motherhood and educating her children over a career. In her mind, she chose the correct career path for a meaningful and fulfilling life for her and her family. This concept was especially appalling to the critics who claimed the Butkers were setting back women and their role one hundred years. These narcissistic, half-brained, talking heads could not comprehend the depth of Harrison Butker’s words, so they chose to condemn him.

Butker may get the last word in this story. His speech has been viewed over one million times, and his jersey is the number one seller in NFL merchandise, especially the women’s sizes. In a world where people are turning away from the WOKE culture and looking for more meaning in life, Butker’s words were like a symphony to their ears. For the rest of the folk who want to continue to be a part of the herd roaming aimlessly through life, I bet the Kelces have a few more beers in the cooler.

The post The Tale Of Two Chiefs appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Social Distancing … Shame On Them, But Shame On Us

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 20:00 +0000

By “shame on us,” do NOT think I am saying shame on me. I knew it was a hoax and repeatedly said so once the projections for hospitalizations/deaths turned out to be total bunk, which was something like two weeks into it.. But “they” kept the hoax going through and after the election and the vast majority of people just went along with it. COVID did NOT change us … it exposed us. Americans, in the aggregate, are feckless, timid, weak and will do whatever the authority-figure tells them.

The six-foot social distancing … TOTALLY ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS. No science supporting it. NONE. Yet I can remember walking down the street, maskless of course, and seeing idiots, masked up of course, literally diving into the street to maintain their precious six-feet of distance from me.

Those of us who can think for ourselves already knew there was no science behind “social distancing.” But for those who can’t, here is your precious authority figure telling you exactly that:

(p.s. I am no longer able to insert tweets (Xs) into my posts; so above the screenshot is a link to the tweet (X). Sorry for any inconvenience.)

The post Social Distancing … Shame On Them, But Shame On Us appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Pot, RTK and Our Feckless Senate

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 18:00 +0000

HB 1633 had its big day in the senate chamber and it was indeed a long one though Denise did not get to participate.  More on that in a moment, but let it be known that what I have to say is neither pro-pot nor anti-pot, it’s about the senate’s ruling class’s priorities.

Bills of the ordinary garden variety, no pun intended, usually wind up with a 14-10 roll call, assuming they don’t get buried in the consent calendar.

Pot is no ordinary bill and party lines get crossed each time.  Sometimes there are personnel changes in the body with each election cycle though D’Allesandro is a Carbon-14 dated fixture that’s a guaranteed constant until he dies.  He turns 86 this summer, in case you were wondering.  While he has flip-flopped on women’s sports, he hasn’t on pot.  That’s good news if you’re anti-pot, despite his political career being bad news for ALL of NH.  He’s also on the Finance committee, but more on that later.

Denise is on her 2nd term and has kept a steady anti-pot record.  She passed out in the senate chamber earlier in the day and left to get the care she needed.

Though I sent my best wishes for her well-being, she was absent for the rest of the day, and that created a thought to ponder.  Seeing that Jeb and Sharon are so bent on stopping pot and that they are the senate power duo with all kinds of tools at their disposal, why did they carry on with HB 1633 while down a team member?  I won’t get into all the things they could have done, but there were a multitude of amendments introduced and processed in the several hours that the bill was being discussed.  Not every amendment had the same roll call results, but some of them could have been meaningfully different(to those who are passionate about HB 1633) had Denise been there to vote.  Just saying.

Now onto my thoughts about Jeb’s Senate, which I’ve had ZERO respect for since it passed a NEW TAX (HB 1002) 2 weeks ago.

First, I will remind the readers that Daryl Abbas, a well-spoken young lawyer, has placed himself at odds with “the senate brass” by defying Queen Sharon in committee and also Jeb on the floor.  It’s a shame that such a sharp minded rising star chose to do battle for pot, but not RTK.

Again, I’ll remind the readers that I’m not pro-pot or anti-pot.  I just don’t care about it like I do about right-to-know.  RTK is a hill to do battle on, whether or not you’re a stoner and whether or not it’s an election year.  I have an anti-pot senator, which is fine with me, but what I am NOT fine with is his unwillingness to man up as pro-RTK and do battle with Queen Sharon the same way Abbas does with pot.  Queen Sharon is a political dominatrix.

I will close with pointing out that the Queen of Spades needs to get beheaded in a primary in order to detoxify the senate.  If you know of someone in Hudson, Londonderry or Auburn who can slay the dragon, s/he should be told that duty calls in the name of Live Free or Die.

Oh, “and one more thing,” as Columbo would say.  HB 1633 did pass, much to the chagrin of Sharon and Jeb, but I predict life threatening injuries at its next stop; Finance.  Remember what I said earlier about D’Allesandro.  He will join anti-pot committee members Jeb, Regina and Senator Gray, the chair.  That’s 4 votes right there, thus making Dan Innis and Howard Pearl irrelevant, whether or not they join Rosenwald in supporting it.

The post Pot, RTK and Our Feckless Senate appeared first on Granite Grok.

Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Howard Dean vs. Phil Scott? Yes, Please!

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 16:00 +0000

Howard Dean made news the other day when he reminded Vermonters he was still alive. The dude is bumping up against the actuarial tables at 76, after all, and anyone born the last year Dean held public office is now of legal age to drink, which would come in handy if the increasingly radicalized Leftist activist returned to power.

Nevertheless, Vermont Democrats, not seeming to relish the thought of Brenda Siegal II, Here We Go Again! are all abuzz with excitement that the old Doc is ready to come out of retirement to take on, well, the most popular governor in the United States. Heeeeyaaaaaa!

I, too, am excited! Dean will get his butt kicked, which will be fun to watch and reason enough to attaboy this decision. But more importantly, as a well-funded, big-name headliner, he will force Phil Scott to campaign. For real.

I’ve heard some pundits on the Republican side worry that if Phil has a race, it could take money away from down-ticket candidates for the state House and Senate. To this, I reply, what money? If anything, a race that forces Phil Scott to raise and spend, organize a ground game to get out the vote, and loudly make a case for why Vermonters should elect Republicans (cough, cough 14% property tax increase… 70 cent carbon tax on heating fuel… unaffordable housing costs…) it will benefit down-ticket Republicans who, let’s face it, don’t raise a whole lot of cash on their own anyway, and could really use the coattails of a Phil Scott funded campaign infrastructure.

Howard Dean, on the other hand, might excite in-state Democrat donors with enough (false) hope of knocking off the otherwise immortal Scott to the point where they pour their money into his (losing) campaign at the expense of their own down-ticket candidates. Democrats already have, hat tip to ‘em, a solid machine. They don’t need Dean’s help there.

Dean, of course, has the kind of Rolodex that can attract a lot of out-of-state money, but Vermont already sees quite a bit of left-wing cash pouring into our state through activist groups with national ties. There might be more of it as a result of a Dean candidacy, but given the laws of diminishing returns, it won’t dramatically change the political landscape.

On the other hand, Scott hasn’t needed out-of-state money since his first run for governor, and since then, it hasn’t come in. That will change if Dean is the challenger. The RGA and other PACs will ramp up activity in the Green Mountain State, and that could be a game changer. When I chaired the VTGOP during the 2008 election, Governor Jim Douglas secured half a million dollars for the Party to assist in down-ticket races because he knew high turnout in local races would boost his own vote totals in what was shaping up to be a Blue Wave year – and he was thinking about his ability to sustain a veto. (Yes, Phil, if you’re reading, that’s a suggestion, not just an entertaining little anecdote!)

Make no mistake, Vermont Democrats will outspend Republicans in 2024 by wide margins, but an activated, motivated, supercharged Phil Scott campaign has the potential to better – not even, but better – the odds for underdog down-ticket Republicans. It changes the dynamic from fighting something with nothing to fighting something with something. So, go for it, Howard!

In a good sign, Phil Scott announced he will be attending the VTGOP convention on May 18th. Scott has kept his distance from state party events, and hopefully this is an olive branch he’s offering to his more conservative detractors (of which I often count myself as one before considering the sobering alternatives) recognizing that he does in fact need the Party — and more House and Senate Republicans – if he wants his popularity to translate into relevancy.

The big question is, will Scott’s intraparty critics accept the olive branch and welcome home the prodigal son? I certainly hope so. If the United States and the Soviet Union could put aside their differences long enough to defeat the Nazis, the conservative and moderate wings of the VTGOP should be able to come together for six months to take on Vermont Progressive Democrat Supermajority before they tax and regulate us out of our homes. Priorities, people. Priorities.

 

Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience in Vermont politics, including three years of service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free-market think tank. He is also a regular contributor to VermontGrok.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Harrison Butker … Hero

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 14:00 +0000

Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker, spoke some “inconvenient truths” in a commencement speech at Benedictine College. Those “inconvenient truths” include that Joe Biden is a fake Catholic, DEI is tyranny, and female graduates would find a better, more rewarding, and more productive life as wives and mothers than in corporate-style careers.

Needless to say, the Left … including the NFL, which, like every other American institution, is controlled by the Left … lost their minds. Of course, the reason the Left lost their collective minds is that Butker was speaking the truth. For example:

What a contrast between Butker and the weak, timid, soy-boys “leading” the GOP, especially the NHGOP who believe the truth should remain unspoken if it might offend “the Bedford moms.”

Here is the full speech:

 

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Ask Your Senator to Vote for the Safety of Women and Girls

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 12:00 +0000

HB 396 is needed to clarify that nothing in New Hampshire law prevents public facilities from differentiating between the biological sexes in athletic competitions, prisons, locker rooms, restrooms, or places of intimate privacy. 

Rather than focusing on a single area such as sports, HB 396, by acknowledging that “any person or organization, public or private” can make a common-sense classification based on biological sex, provides the most expansive framework to address the ongoing harm to vulnerable women and girls and has the greatest success of becoming law in New Hampshire. This bill also seeks to address the growing issue of young New Hampshire boys whose privacy is violated when the opposite sex uses their restrooms in schools.

HB 396 simply clarifies the state’s ability to differentiate based on biological sex; it mandates nothing in terms of any policy. However, it will send a clear message that, under existing NH law, organizations are not required to permit access to intimate spaces solely based on self-proclaimed gender identity. It is vital that the Senate pass HB 396, unamended in any way, as an important first step to stop the abuse of women and girls.

HB 396 had an executive session last Tuesday, May 14, during which the Judiciary Committee recommended the bill as OTP (ought to pass).

WHAT YOU CAN DO: 

HB 396 will come before the full Senate for a vote this Wednesday or Thursday, May 22 or 23. We urge you to contact your Senator to support the committee recommendation of OTP and to vote against any amendments.

CONTACT YOUR SENATOR

 

Granite State women are calling on legislators to protect their safety and privacy, and we need your help make their voices heard loud and clear in the Senate!

Get five reasons to support HB 396 in less than 60 seconds by watching the video below and share it on social media to help build the momentum behind this bill: Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram.

Safe Haven Expansion Before the Senate This Week

Last month, there was a public hearing in the Senate on HB 1607, relative to expanded safe haven protections. Now, the Senate has a critical opportunity to position New Hampshire as the leader in infant protections among our New England neighbors.

Earlier this year, the most important part of the bill was removed on the House floor: Section 5 would have ensured parents surrendering a baby would not have to fear prosecution as a result of their surrender. It is critical and necessary to include this provision, called the “exclusionary rule,” in the expansion of safe haven law to accomplish the law’s goal, which is to save lives, NOT catch criminals or deter parents from doing the right thing for their child.

We know of instances where mothers have turned away from making use of the safe haven law out of a real fear of prosecution. This either leads to an increase in illegal abandonment and likelihood of infant death through malnourishment, exposure, or overdose or keeps an unwanted child in an unsafe and dangerous environment. Excluding the act of surrendering a child from being leveraged for prosecution does not preclude bringing a criminal to justice.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held an executive session on HB 1607, during which the bill was amended to reinsert the section 5 exclusionary rule. The Committee then recommended the bill as OTPA (ought to pass with amendment).

WHAT YOU CAN DO: 

The safe haven expansion will come before the full Senate this Wednesday or Thursday, May 22 or 23. We urge you to contact your senator and ask that they support the OTPA motion, and pass the bill with the important exclusionary rule.

CONTACT YOUR SENATOR Senate Votes Against State-Sanctioned Suicide

HB 1283, relative to end of life options, would have implement state-sanctioned suicide for those facing an illness which a physician has predicted would be terminal within six months.

On Thursday, May 16, the Senate voted in 17-7 in support of the interim study recommendation. While this vote is not the outright rejection of state-sanctioned suicide we hoped for, it effectively kills the bill while underscoring the dangers and slippery slope it would create.

The following senators voted in opposition to the bill:

Sen. Carrie Gendreau (R-Littleton)
Sen. Timothy Lang (R-Sanbornton)
Sen. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro)
Sen. James Gray (R-Rochester)
Sen. Dan Innis (R-Bradford)
Sen. Ruth Ward (R-Stoddard)
Sen. Denise Ricciardi (R-Bedford)
Sen. Shannon Chandley (D-Amherst)
Sen. Kevin Avard (R-Nashua)
Sen. Cindy Rosenwald (D-Nashua)
Sen. Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry)
Sen. Howard Pearl (R-Loudon)
Sen. Donna Soucy (D-Manchester)
Sen. Regina Birdsell (R-Hampstead)
Sen. Lou D’Allesandro (D-Manchester)
Sen. Daryl Abbas (R-Salem)
Sen. Bill Gannon (R-Sandown)

If your senator is on the above list, we urge you to reach out and thank them for bravely taking a stand against the dangers of state-sanctioned suicide.

THANK YOUR SENATOR

On Tuesday, the next generation of Granite State leaders took a final stand against HB 1283 at a press conference in the State House, speaking out about the specific dangers the bill would have posed to our state’s young people. Their eloquent words and clear passion certainly made an impression, and they were later quoted during the Senate debate on the bill! We are thankful for their valiant advocacy and the bright promise their leadership holds for our future.

 

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

ICYMI – NH’s Assisted Suicide Bill Has Been Benched: 17-7 Vote to Send it To Interim Study

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 12:00 +0000

In case you missed it, the New Hampshire assisted suicide bill got benched this week. The New Hampshire State Senate, in a rare roll call vote, voted to send the bill to an Interim study. They didn’t kill the bill, but by suggesting it needs a deeper, longer look, they sidelined it indefinitely.

Related: Night Cap: Assisted Suicide Will Start Out Well-Meaning, Then Gradually Revert To its Eugenic Roots

HB1283 was on our radar long before we even had the bill number. It is an Act Relative to End of Life Options—state-sanctioned assisted suicide. We’ve documented its progression in places that have passed it, and the pattern seems consistent. Whatever the good intentions were at the start, it tends ot evolve into a euthanasia policy.

Summed up.

There is ample evidence throughout history, much of it recent, that claiming compassion to justify government-sanctioned suicide is a trap. Yes, chronic pain is terrible, but not nearly so much as the power of a State that inevitably sees it as a way to solve problems it created or just “problems.”

This is not dead. It will be back, but not this session (which is nearly over). So, keep your eyes open.

Here’s the roll call

 

Abbas, Daryl(R) Dist. 22 Yea Altschiller, Debra(D) Dist. 24 Nay Avard, Kevin(R) Dist. 12 Yea Birdsell, Regina(R) Dist. 19 Yea Bradley, Jeb(R) Dist. 3 Yea Carson, Sharon(R) Dist. 14 Yea Chandley, Shannon(D) Dist. 11 Yea D’Allesandro, Lou(D) Dist. 20 Yea Fenton, Donovan(D) Dist. 10 Nay Gannon, Bill(R) Dist. 23 Yea Gendreau, Carrie(R) Dist. 1 Yea Gray, James(R) Dist. 6 Yea Innis, Daniel(R) Dist. 7 Yea Lang, Timothy(R) Dist. 2 Yea Murphy, Keith(R) Dist. 16 Nay Pearl, Howard (R) Dist. 17 Yea Perkins Kwoka, Rebecca(D) Dist. 21 Nay Prentiss, Suzanne(D) Dist. 5 Nay Ricciardi, Denise(R) Dist. 9 Yea Rosenwald, Cindy(D) Dist. 13 Yea Soucy, Donna(D) Dist. 18 Yea Ward, Ruth(R) Dist. 8 Yea Watters, David(D) Dist. 4 Nay Whitley, Rebecca(D) Dist. 15 Nay

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Daniel Goldman Is A Cocker Spaniel

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 10:00 +0000

Daniel Goldman is a first-term congressman from New York. An Ivy League education from Yale and a decade on the staff as Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York should have given him the knowledge and backbone to be a pit bull in Congress, but the way that he gets schooled by his colleagues from the other side of the aisle and from witnesses he is questioning, he is far from a pit bull.

He is more like a cocker spaniel.

Goldman loves to pontificate and is always playing to the cameras, but today, as often happens, Goldman tried to come across as a heavyweight and ended up more like Eric Swalwell. I apologize for the multiple metaphors. I think it is helpful to understand a person by using a reference with which people are familiar. On Thursday, Goldman attacked former President Donald Trump and the plethora of Congressional members who have traveled to New York in a show of support for Trump, calling their actions “Lawfare.” Lawfare is a relatively new term that is often used to describe the weaponization of the Justice Department by Joe Biden in an attempt to crush his opponent, Donald Trump. When he finished his weak argument, the microphone was passed to Elise Stefanik, also from New York. Unfortunately for Mr. Goldman, Elise is a pure Pit Bull and feeds on weak people like Goldman, who speak often but offer little. She schooled Goldman on the origin of Lawfare and who and which party is guilty of using the tool. Goldman sat like a good pup being scolded-his tail between his legs.

YouTube is loaded with videos of Goldman being taken to task by witnesses and Republicans alike. He embarrasses himself so often that you wonder why he would keep putting himself in that position. This personality trait seems to be unique to the Democrats. Here are some of the more notable:

Adam Schiff spent four years lying about evidence he had on Donald Trump that would connect him to the Russians. His claims were false but enough to get him on the Sunday talk show every week. Schiff was sure he would replace Barbara Feinstein, but he was passed over by Governor Newsom. He was called out by the Republicans, but not enough to resign.

Eric Swalwell slept with a Chinese spy and facilitated her exit from the country before the FBI could question her and discover what Eric had told her when the lights went out. He remains on the Intelligence Committee.

Ilhan Omar married her brother to get him into the country, has been called out for antisemitic remarks, and has been shown to violate campaign finance laws, but she remains in Congress.

Sandy Cortez is the female version of Goldman, but without a law degree. She does have a B.S. in mixology from Boston University. She has more campaign finance violations than laws passed—by the way; she has no bills passed into law.

There are so many more, but you get the idea. These Democrats cannot be embarrassed into submission, and some wear it like a badge of courage. We, the voters, are ultimately to blame for the quality, or lack thereof, of our elected politicians. These people continue to be reelected after their sins are exposed. We should expect better, but instead, we get what we deserve.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Night Cap: Should Eve Fight Adam?

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 02:00 +0000

I just got done watching a video of one of our state senators (it seemed impolite to find out which one) using some dubious statements about the genders of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis to rationalize letting transgender girls participate in girls’ sports.

(My wife is sitting here reading the Hebrew, which says, in Genesis 1:27, that ‘male’ and ‘female’ were created simultaneously.  Take that for what it’s worth.)

This is yet another instance of how the whole discussion about trans athletes competing in sports has devolved into comedy, because it ignores the whole point of competitive sports.

The issue isn’t whether there are many genders, or just two; or whether we should blur the distinction between sex (a biological attribute) and gender (a linguistic concept); but whether, if Adam and Eve were boxers, they should be placed in the same category.

They should be placed in different categories, but not because of any biological or cultural labels.  They should be in different categories because Adam would win every time, and put Eve in danger while doing it.  Also, no one who happened to be around would have any interest in watching a ‘contest’ whose outcome is completely predictable in advance.

These are the same reasons why a full-grown Adam shouldn’t box against a pre-adolescent Abel, even though they’re both males.

Note that the simplest, most Solomon-like way to settle the question would be to make this offer:

If there is really no difference between boys and girls, or between men and women, where athletics are concerned, let’s do away with categories altogether. Everyone in a sport will have to compete against everyone else in that sport.

Oh, and while we’re at it, we would stop segregating athletes by age, and weight, and so on.  The playing field would be wide open, if not particularly level.  And we could try to level it by handicapping individuals, rather than segregating them into categories.

The thing is, some small number of people would go along with this, and those are the people who would accept Solomon’s offer to cut the baby in half.

The rest, having admitted that there are good reasons for segregating athletes that have nothing to do with how they ‘identify’, but with how they match up physically (in terms of size, strength, and skill), would find it much harder to defend the idea that how you feel about yourself should have anything to do with who you face in an arena.

Of course, having silly discussions about serious issues isn’t a phenomenon limited to sports. We routinely have ridiculous conversations about schools, for example, which lead to ridiculous conclusions, because those conversations have become completely detached from first principles, i.e., what are we trying to do, and why?

But any discussion about competitive sports that doesn’t begin by revisiting the question of why we have them in the first place is destined to end up being comedic, rather than substantive — even when the results will be used to determine public policy.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Elections Have Consequences: Democrats Say The Dumbest Things (Two-Fer)

Granite Grok - Sun, 2024-05-19 00:00 +0000

“Democrats say the Dumbest things,” and “Democrats = Dumb.”

Democrats Say The Dumbest Things
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Democrats = Dumb

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Government Overcriminalization Catches Unwary Americans

Granite Grok - Sat, 2024-05-18 22:00 +0000

A strange trend has emerged in the law – strange and dangerous. While some crimes like robbery, shoplifting, and drug dealing – things that require criminal intent – have been decriminalized in many areas, the already quite large body of federal regulation has grown under President Joe Biden, putting unsuspecting citizens who don’t intentionally or knowingly break the law increasingly at risk for prosecution.

This isn’t entirely new, as it follows decades of federal expansion at the expense of states’ rights and US federalism. But with a robust push from the current administration, federal agencies have been weaponized for social justice warfare, lawfare against political adversaries, and a complex regulatory oversight scheme that essentially criminalizes what once were civil violations. This bureaucratic overcriminalization threatens the nation’s stability and the rule of law.

Federal Expansion Through Rulemaking

On April 30, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance heard testimony on “Overreach: An Examination of Federal Statutory and Regulatory Crimes.” Courts and legislators are increasingly concerned that traditional legal protections for American citizens are being scrapped by a federal regulatory juggernaut that concurrently obscures state and local criminal jurisdiction by duplicating offenses.

Witnesses testified that there are currently some 4,000 federal criminal laws and 300,000 federal regulatory “offenses.” Patrick A. McLaughlin, an attorney testifying on behalf of the non-profit, non-partisan Mercatus Center at George Mason University, averred that “it would be impossible for any human to read the entirety of federal laws and regulation,” taking the average adult about three years to read them all as a full-time job.

McLaughlin related the massive proliferation of federal criminal statutes and regulations over the past three decades, many of which occurred during Bill Clinton’s tough-on-crime stint from 1994-1996. He testified that his research “has demonstrated how the buildup of rules over time significantly slows economic growth,” that federal incarceration rates have increased in tandem, and that duplication of state and federal offenses results in redundant crimes and public confusion. Federal overcriminalization wastes “limited federal resources on problems better left to the states,” he argued, exposing offenders to multiple prosecutions and tempting prosecutors to allege a plethora of potential charges, “opening the door for bias.”

Scourge of Federal Overcriminalization

Former US District Attorney Brett Tolman, who serves as executive director of Right on Crime, identified overcriminalization as a severe problem for any free nation, offering citizens “seemingly benign choices … that can unknowingly lead to criminal sanctions.” He decried the removal of mens rea (intent) elements for many statutory and regulatory offenses and faulted “the bloated administrative state” as the chief culprit. He asserted that “Congress has overstepped into the traditionally state-held space” and this has opened the door “with political pressures taking precedence over the rule of law and where the Justice Department has the potential to use its power and discretion as a political weapon.”

Tolman offered a prescription to reverse this scourge: Congress must rein in agencies from “creating new criminal offenses as a method of regulating business activities,” which are better handled by fines and market forces. It must ensure that agencies incorporate mens rea requirements in regulations so citizens are not sent to prison when they have no awareness of or intention to violate a bureaucratic rule. Overcriminalization also stems from over-delegation of legislative (congressional) powers to the executive and administrative branches.

Tolman called for Biden to reinstate Donald Trump’s Executive Order, “Protecting Americans From Overcriminalization Through Regulatory Reform,” which:

“required agencies that issue regulations with criminal penalties to ‘be explicit about what conduct is subject to criminal penalties and the “mens rea” standard applicable to those offenses.’ The order, taking heed of [James] Madison’s Federalist Papers, ordered agencies to make all regulatory criminal laws ‘clearly written so that all Americans can understand what is prohibited and act accordingly.’ Unfortunately, with a stroke of his pen, President Biden undid this criminal justice reform.”

A Double Standard?

Yet the Biden administration has concocted a slew of new regulations to criminalize once-legal conduct even as liberal “decriminalization” policies are turning violent criminals loose with no-cash bail, reduced sentencing, and non-prosecution of drug dealing, shoplifting, and numerous other crimes. Biden signed so-called “hate speech” legislation in the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, expanded Title IX protections for transgender students that mandate gender pronoun compliance, and strengthened investigations against police officers following the death of George Floyd. Though he is pushing to reduce criminal penalties for marijuana use and has essentially decriminalized illegal immigration, this expansion has weaponized federal agencies in their social justice crusade.

Overcriminalization is a growing federal regulatory problem, even as the Biden administration displays a double standard toward the rule of law and its equal enforcement.

 

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

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Ross Berry

Granite Grok - Sat, 2024-05-18 20:00 +0000

Knowing how much Ed Mosca loves Rooss Berry, I thought I would share with you the following recounting of events from a member of the House of why Berry is no longer a state representative:

During the last full day House session, the Speaker delayed the lunch recess by commanding everyone to remain seated for a briefing by the Security Director. (What a joke. Here it is the end of the year and term, plus the Security document in the seat pocket was dated January 2024!)

Ross Berry presented himself at the Well of the House chamber and proceeded to announce that there would be an Executive Session of the Election Law Committee in five minutes. The Speaker said nothing and many members got up and walked out for lunch.

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Subsequently, the Democrats filed a multi-page letter of complaint to the Speaker. They maintained their Members of the Election Law Committee could not attend because the Speaker had told everyone to remain seated for the Security briefing. Interestingly, all the Republicans showed up. Further, when the Democrats did show up for the Election Law Committee Exec Session, Berry had just about concluded supervising the voting on a particular item, possibly a CACR. The Democrats cited numerous Berry violations of House Rules and demanded action.

The Speaker acted dramatically. He not only REMOVED Ross as Chair of the Election Law Committee but also as a member of the committee!!!

Shortly thereafter, the other shoe was dropped. Ross resigned as a Member of the House, disclosing that he had bought a house in Weare and had moved his family and himself into the new home. Thus, he was no longer able to represent the district in Manchester that had elected him to the House.

You cannot make up this stuff!!

So, now the already thin R majority in the House is even thinner.

 

Note: We have verified the identity of author but at their request, posted this under the by line of anonymous

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

The Conservative Hippie

Granite Grok - Sat, 2024-05-18 18:00 +0000

Many, many years ago, I was working 50 to 70 hours a week, keeping track of politics, contacting legislators, e-mailing testimony to Concord, and writing two columns in The Exeter-NewsLetter. There were nights I was up until midnight to meet deadlines. Then I realized, being in Exeter, I was in a small minority fighting a giant.

I finally had to give up to focus on home and family. Then we moved to West Ossipee, but I was still working the same hours, so I did not get involved in Politics, although I did try to pay some attention.

After my wife died, I started paying more attention to the goings on and saw a story in the Conway Daily Sun about “The Bridge To Nowhere.” The bill was $900,000 from the state and $230,000 from the town—my new home. For a bridge, off on a side street, changed mid-stream to being “Pedestrian Only.” And that was it. I was off and running.

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Now I am trying to help conservative candidates, democrat, republican, or independent, as long as they have conservative goals. Being retired makes it a little easier, but holy cow, the amount of bills proposed in the legislature is completely overwhelming. So following legislation, writing in groups and blogs like Granite Grok, and now being available to help a conservative group, I start when I get up, and all of a sudden I am on my third coffee and it is almost noon.

Now, I did get out a few times to get my steps in going around my property, but it can be exhausting. I truly feel Steve’s pain here, and I know it takes committed people to affect change, but it really should not be this difficult to be involved with our towns, counties, and States.

As I have said many times right here in the comments on Granite Grok, I am no longer a Republican, so I am not a true Right-Winger and far, far from a Liberal. I used to say Conservative Libertarian, but that party goes off the rails from time to time, so I guess what I am is a “Conservative Hippie.” And a very tired one from trying to keep up with all the stuff going on and helping conservative candidates.

So It Goes.

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Categories: Blogs, New Hampshire

Parental rights Group Fingers Manchester Public Schools for Disastrous Woke Discipline Policy

Granite Grok - Sat, 2024-05-18 16:00 +0000

Parent Defending Education has a new report and a warning “about the widespread adoption of “restorative justice” disciplinary practices at schools, saying that the new policies may lead to dangerous and disruptive classrooms.”

With the massive increase in school districts using Restorative Justice/Restorative Practices coupled with the unprecedented behavioral chaos being seen in schools, we have begun to track the school districts that use “Restorative Justice” or “Restorative Practices” as an official part of their discipline policy and/or code of conduct.

New Hampshire is in the report, but only one school publicly promotes restorative justice as a discipline policy. Manchester. In the section titled LEVELS OF INTERVENTIONS/ SANCTIONS, Restorative Conference is listed as a response to the first three levels of conflict. What is a Restorative Conference?

“Restorative justice is a philosophy for student discipline where reconciliation between the offender and the victim is the ultimate goal,” the report explained. “In many school districts, restorative justice has REPLACED exclusionary discipline in schools, so the response to a violent action in class is not a suspension or expulsion, but to clear the classroom and have a restorative conference.”

According to Parents Defending Education, it is making matters worse.

“Restorative justice has proven to be a disaster for school safety and school culture,” Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach for Parents Defending Education, told The Daily Wire. “Are there minor infractions for which it can work? Sure. But in an effort to juke the discipline statistics and feel good about themselves, school districts have allowed their schools to get out of control in terms of defiance, disruption and even violence. It can’t continue.”

We’ve reported on numerous incidents in New Hampshire schools where, despite state, local, and district anti-bullying policies, students get harassed and even assaulted, with schools doing little or nothing, whether that includes punishing the victim. The result is an escalating culture of violence and disrespect at institutions that do not want children to go anywhere else.

Billy, just beat your ass. How about we sit down and share our feelings?

Teachers are often helpless to control kids, and kids know it. The result is that students and faculty are in harm’s way, and based on the videos on the internet, they are harmed before any meaningful action is taken to protect anyone but the perpetrators.

Ultimately, everyone has suffered through this for almost nothing, given the declining proficiency scores in many districts.

The public school experiment is a failure, but one so well funded and lawyered up that fixing it no longer seems possible if you happen to be someone who thinks it can or should be saved. Instead, it needs to be starved, first of attention and then funding. The first is not as easy as it sounds (paradigms and all that), and the last seems almost impossible, but nothing worth doing was ever easy.

 

The post Parental rights Group Fingers Manchester Public Schools for Disastrous Woke Discipline Policy appeared first on Granite Grok.

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