I just cannot understand how anyone can believe that the 2024 election, like the elections preceding it, is NOT going to be rigged. For example, in a recent post on this blog: “The trial in New York City is backfiring on the Democrats.” In what universe?

It is working perfectly, actually … Trump is prevented from campaigning for six to eight weeks. The corporate media “covers” the “trial” as if it were a real crime and not a made-up, make-believe crime, and the vast majority of Americans buy into the deception.

The truth of the matter, bitter-clingers, is that America has NOT been a democracy for at least half a century. Our federal elections are merely camouflage for the true government … the permanent administrative/bureaucracy. The “intelligence community” is our real government … they want a proxy war in Ukraine; they get a proxy war in Ukraine. And their lapdogs in the corporate media… INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY FOX NEWS … portray  complaint, gutless, self-serving GOP “representatives” as “courageous” and having “done the right thing” for doing the bidding of the “intelligence community.”

When do you think was the last period of time that America had truly representative government, rather than a permanent bureaucracy/spy state that manipulated events to maintain control of the system?

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) April 22, 2024

NEW: Tucker Carlson explains how the FBI and CIA conducted a coup to take out President Richard Nixon with help from journalist Bob Woodward.

“Richard Nixon was taken out by the FBI and CIA, and with the help of Bob Woodward.”

“[Woodward] was that guy. And who is his main… pic.twitter.com/K8Yt9zy9Qk

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 20, 2024

NEW: Tucker Carlson says elected politicians have told him they’re terrified of intel agencies installing child p*rn on their computers if they speak out.

Insane.

Carlson suggested the U.S. is not a democracy and is a tyranny instead because U.S. politicians are completely… pic.twitter.com/41MoHTfMkW

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 20, 2024

 

The post America Has NOT Been A Democracy For At Least FIFTY (50) Years … But Just Keep Pretending, Bitter-Clingers appeared first on Granite Grok.

Another blow to parental rights is taking place in The New Hampshire House and Senate. SB341 is a simple and logical proposed Bill. SB341 would require all school employees to respond honestly and completely to written requests by parents regarding information relating to their children.

Many people will wonder why that isn’t standard practice to begin with. Shouldn’t teachers answer the questions from parents honestly?

Several years ago, The New Hampshire School Boards Association put forward a model policy for school districts to adopt.JBAB addressed school policies for transgender students. Within the policy, there is a provision that directs teachers to lie to parents if parents ask about their child’s gender status while they are at school. The NHSBA withdrew its support for this policy a few years ago, but several schools still have it in place. You can go to your district’s website and look for school policies to see if your district still requires school personnel to lie to parents under III. Guidance A. Privacy:

III. GUIDANCE A. Privacy
The Board recognizes a student’s right to keep private one’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation at school. Information about a student’s transgender status, legal name, or gender assigned at birth also may constitute confidential information. School personnel should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others, including parents and other school personnel, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure. Transgender and gender nonconforming students have the right to discuss and express their gender identity and expression openly and to decide when, with whom, and how much to share private information.
When contacting the parent or guardian of a transgender or gender nonconforming student, school personnel should use the student’s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the student’s gender assigned at birth unless the student, parent, or guardian has specified otherwise.

Since then, one parent in Manchester has sued the district, and other parents are now beginning to wonder what else school officials are willing to hide from them.

Federal law requires districts to disclose all records on students to their parents (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are “eligible students.”

*Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student’s education records maintained by the school. Schools are not required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, it is impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records.

So, who decided that this information should not be included in a child’s record and that parents should be denied any information about their children?

If you are concerned about a child’s safety, the proposed legislation does include a clause that allows a teacher to withhold information from a parent if they suspect the child will be harmed. Like teachers, parents are innocent until proven guilty.  So, there is no reason to withhold information from parents unless they are a threat to that child.

None of that mattered to the Democrats on the House Education Committee.  This week, they voted against SB 341, while the Republicans voted to support it. With a 10-10 vote, SB341 now goes before the entire NH House for a vote without recommendation.

SB341 did pass the NH Senate down party lines. All Democrats opposed it. All Republicans supported it.

Why is it that Democrats think it’s ok for teachers to lie to good parents?

Now would be a good time to contact your State Representative and ask them to vote Ought to Pass on SB341. Tell them that school personnel lying to good parents is unacceptable.

You can find your State Representative here: https://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/

The constant attack on parental rights needs to stop. Trying to break a sacred bond between parent and child is wrong.

 

 

The post Should Teachers Lie to Parents? Democrats in New Hampshire say YES appeared first on Granite Grok.

Good Morning. I’m Samuel Safford from Pelham, NH. At age 4, I was diagnosed with a rare genetic defect called Duchenne MD. It is fatal and has no cure. The doctors told my parents that my brother and I would not live long enough to graduate high school, never mind go to college or get a job. But they were wrong.

My life has not been easy. My father passed away when I was 13. I was the only kid in a wheelchair in High School. I used to sit alone at lunch, I was sad, lonely and depressed.

Back in 2021, after a hospital stay, I was diagnosed with a brain bacteria called Bartonella. This illness is an opportunistic pathogen from a tick or flea bite that causes brain inflammation leading to psychiatric issues. My physical disability was nothing compared to the psychiatric symptoms of Bartonella. It was unbearable. My depression turned into despair, and I began waking up every morning wanting to die. These suicidal thoughts became too much for me.

We want to thank Sam Safford for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.

Fortunately, my mom found me a helpful counselor and a homeopathic doctor who helped treat my Bartonella. Three years later, I can say that I am well and enjoy a rich, abundant life. I am part of a Toastmasters group in Windham and enjoy giving motivational speeches. I am a writer, singer, and artist, and I’m active in my church and community. My life has value and dignity.

I urge you to oppose Assisted Suicide. The medical community and insurance companies will only use it to end the lives of people like me. Instead, let’s provide compassionate care. No matter how you look at it, there is no dignity in suicide.

The post My Life has Value and Dignity appeared first on Granite Grok.

We’ve had many high-ranking and number-one honors over the years (many of them year after year), but I’m not sure we’ve ever gotten this number one. We consistently rank high, in the top three at worst, but Ammo.com has ranked New Hampshire as the best State in the nation for firearms owners in 2024.

New Hampshire is a permitless carry state with incredibly relaxed gun laws (and low crime rates). Any citizen over 18 years old who is lawfully permitted to possess a firearm can open and conceal carry. New Hampshire residents can travel to 29 other states with a pistol and revolver license[110]. The state also honors all 50 states’ permits.

Residents won’t need to attend firearms safety courses, go through a fingerprinting process, or any other stringent tests to obtain a permit. The state also issues permits[111] to out-of-state residents (although they’re only valid in NH). Purchasers are required to pass federal background checks in accordance with federal law.

But what’s better is that New Hampshire currently doesn’t have a state sales tax[112]. So you won’t pay additional taxes on firearms purchases. Those finding themselves in a self-defense situation may be protected from prosecution if they are protecting life or property, with no duty to retreat[113].

Governor Chris Sununu recently signed into law a bill[114] that restricts the state’s law enforcement from enforcing federal laws that infringe on an individual’s right to gun ownership. Essentially, New Hampshire seems to be the best state for gun owners, with low crime rates and minimal restrictions on firearms and purchases.

You can see how your State fared here or check out their visually stimulating map with big, friendly numbers. California ranked 50, New York 49, and Vermont – how far it has fallen – is 31.

Ammo.com provides its methodology (ranking factors) along with footnotes to links on which it bases its research.

So, congrats to NH. Another number One.

The post Ammo.com Names New Hampshire #1 Best State for Firearms Owners appeared first on Granite Grok.

As promised in Monday Memes, I have an overflow. My meme cup runneth over.  And yes there will be a Friday edition too.

Let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:

 

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

 

 

Please understand that I don’t want to be right on my Depopulation Speculations – already late on the timing, so there’s hope – but at the same time…

Caddyshack – Well? We’re Waiting (youtube.com)

 

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

 

 

 

There would, doubtless, still be people who – despite the pain at the pump and inflation in general – would still cheer that “Orange Man” is not in power.  My belief is this, captured in a cartoon, that people could be in a collapsed society, but still be grateful that Trump is not in.

 

 

 

 

 

Simple: to keep those citizens from defending themselves against those armed illegals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More generally, liberals evade facts that don’t support their view of their moral (and intellectual) superiority.

 

 

 

 

 

For Hollyweird, trans kids are a trendy fashion statement.  Burn. It. All. Down.

 

 

No, no they don’t.  Reality imitates art.

 

 

I’d argue it’s much worse than that.

 

 

 

 

 

Why am I somehow reminded of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation?

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a scene in the movie “Devil’s Advocate” where Satan (Al Pacino) is talking about using the law to get acquittal after acquittal after acquittal until the universe fills up with darkness – or something like that.

 

 

What hath feminism wrought?  Same with porn for men – the expectations are set that cannot possibly match reality.

 

 

Is Trump “salvation”?  I doubt it; certainly he’s not a deity.

 

 

I know I’ve mentioned it before… in one of Bernard Goldberg’s books he described how a reporter, on the scene as an eye witness to a massive chemical spill / release (in India IIRC – possibly the Bhopal incident) where he called his editor to describe it.  That editor declined to run what would have been a career-making scoop… until he saw it coming across “the wires” so it was officially news.

 

 

 

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

 

PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA

 

Yes, they are coming for your kids.  It’s Communist doctrine to do so.

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/children-and-indoctrination.mp4

 

This about the video: a woman abandons her family – children! – to become a missionary for Communism in Russia.  Thus proving my oft-asserted point – that this is a RELIGION.  And that the fight against the Left is not a war of ideas per se, but a religious war against fanatics who believe they can create paradise on earth.  See Bill Whittle’s review of the Frankfurt School.

Two different Socialists agree with indoctrination:

 

 

 

Incidentally, while I do attempt to guide my kids, I do so by the Socratic method, not brow-beating.

 

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

 

Links (some from me, some from my Jarhead friend):

 

Biden Signs Bill Gates’ Pact to ‘Combat Future Pandemics’ – Slay News

Who the living F is Bill Gates so connected with that he has this kind of pull?  It can’t JUST be money IMHO; just what info is Microsoft gathering?

—

Dr. Aseem Malhotra’s Explosive Court Testimony on COVID “Vaccines”(UPDATED) (aussie17.com)

Courtroom testimony – thus I infer under oath – censored by youtube.  Because “misinformation”.  Transcript at the link.  Every time I want to believe that the censorship is ending, I see things like this.  They’re determined to control your thoughts through the information you have available.

sHeEp BrAiN – Top Molecular Geneticist Warns mRNA Jabs are ERASING Memories & HIJACKING Personalities (substack.com)

There’s a longstanding joke about people being idiots.  “You sound vaccinated”.  Looking more and more like this might actually be a thing.

Multiple COVID Shots Linked to Higher Mortality Rates in 18- to 39-Year-Olds • Children’s Health Defense (childrenshealthdefense.org)

Non-sterilizing (does not stop infection, replication, transmission) vaccines: they knew (vaccine makers, vaccinologists) that if you MASS vaccinate into a population across age-groups, in the MIDST (substack.com)

It means that mechanically, there was NO way that the COVID mRNA vaccine could have ever even worked.

It was DOA. Day one.

—

‘Democrats Got Everything They Wanted’: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries Hailed as House ‘Shadow Speaker’ After $95 Billion Ukraine Bill Passes (infowars.com)

Uniparty.

—

How we know that the sun changes the Climate. Part I: The past – Watts Up With That?

Great graphs plus other info.  More – destroying wealth and civilizations, in the name of climate:

The War On Cars | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

How Many Billions of People Would Die Under Net Zero? – Watts Up With That?

—

Bayou Renaissance Man: Some inflation is nothing more than deliberate price-gouging by businesses

‘Something Will Have to Give’: IMF Issues Dire Warning to Biden Administration (westernjournal.com)

Economy sucks canal water.  And this is deliberate.

—

U.S. Troops Forced Out in ANOTHER Humiliating Biden Diplomacy Fail. (thenationalpulse.com)

Remember, these are the people who said they were the experts – the “adults in the room” compared to Orange Man.

—

NYC Man Convicted Over Gunsmithing Hobby After Judge Says 2nd Amendment ‘Doesn’t Exist in This Courtroom’ – RedState

She told us, ‘Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.’

Police Website Reveals CDC Suppressing Defensive Gun Use Data – The Truth About Guns

—

Blaze News investigates: The truth about raw milk the government doesn’t want you to know: ‘Close to a perfect food’ | Blaze Media (theblaze.com)

I’m still leery, but at this point if “government” says X, I’ll default to believing NOT X until more data come in.

—

Surveillance Need Not Be Governmental – Liberty’s Torch (libertystorch.info)

In the UK.  But doubtless coming here.

—

Smithsonian, America’s Top Museum, Worried it Can’t Hold Drag Shows Any More – The Lid (lidblog.com)

Our tax dollars at work.  Related:

 

 

—

Trump is busy in New York dealing with BS “trials”, which is what they want (so he’s not out campaigning).  Here are two articles (both by lawyers) showing that these charges are bogus, and the trial is a sham just designed to waste Trump’s time & money (and the taxpayers money also):

The lawfare against Donald Trump hits new heights today (substack.com)

Related:

https://www.declassified.live/p/another-defense-against-braggs-sham

Among all the bills being voted on (that give our money to foreign governments), one that slipped under the radar is the REPO bill, which aims to take seized Russian money and give it to Ukraine.  Gee, let’s give some MORE money to Ukraine, I mean it’s not like we need it here, right?  Also, it’s another way to “poke” the Russian bear.  These people WANT to start WW3, and the American citizen can go to hell:

https://pomp.substack.com/p/geopolitical-chess-meets-economics

—

Major banks are being called on the carpet for de-banking Christian organizations.  But the government is not stopping them.  Imagine the hue & cry if they de-banked a Muslim organization:

Major Banks Debanking Christians | Armstrong Economics

Related:

Largest Christian University in America Gets Fined $37 Million. Coincidence or Targeted Attack? (dailysignal.com)

—

This short video (2 minutes) sums up 25 things that are actively being used to destroy America:

Diogenes’ Middle Finger: For Those Who Haven’t Been Paying Attention….. (diogenesmiddlefinger.com)

Related:

https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/1782569668462477545

—

BRM with another good “you need to think about this” article.  What happens when critical infrastructure goes down due to enemy action.  And you have no water, no heat (or AC), no electricity, no access to banks, etc.  And not for a few days, like after a big storm, but for MONTHS, maybe YEARS:

Bayou Renaissance Man: About that critical infrastructure…

Related:

Bayou Renaissance Man: More about our fragile global Internet

 

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

 

 

So here’s a question: How was it that these were bought and handed out ahead of time?

 

 

 

 

Increasingly, Magic Eight Ball says NO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would love to go to visit Australia.  Nope, not now.

 

 

 

 

 

Towards a permanent-majority voting block.  They’ve been working on this for DECADES.

 

 

 

About the only thing I trust government to do.

 

 

 

YouTube still at it.

 

 

Unverified, but very possible.  Slowly, slowly, slowly the constrictor tightens its coils.

 

 

Remember, conquest by migration & demographics – Hijra – is a real thing in Islam.

 

 

 

OOH, I am grateful America is supporting Israel.  OTOH, it only shows that Israel MUST work to cut the financial dependency on America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Pick of the Post:

 

Understand that I post this reluctantly; there’s enough Jew hate around as it is.  “Circling the wagons” is a natural reaction.  But if we, as a people, cannot and do not call out our own, others will take that as tacit approval.  To take no action is an action in and of itself.

Grooming is real – after all, since LGBTQP don’t reproduce biologically, their ongoing numbers MUST come from other sources.  And this denial by the ADL only fuels the fires of those who hate us for their perception that “all Jews” are for this.  Like my open letter calling out pro-migration Jews, this too must be called out and criticized.  Primarily, of course, for the children affected by this, but also to show that Jews are nowhere near united behind this perversion.

 

 

Just look at the open and outright denial – gaslighting – of what people understand is implicitly and obviously true through simple logic: that LGBTQP+ increases because of grooming and indoctrination.

What is “Grooming?” The Truth Behind the Dangerous, Bigoted Lie Targeting the LGBTQ+ Community | ADL

This calling-out-our-own applies not just to this, and to migration, but to the perceived unity in Jewish advocacy of Communism.  Except:

Socialism and Passover: The Holiday Of Freedom – The Lid (lidblog.com)

 

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

 

Palate cleansers:

 

—

—

 

Been learning Morse code and trying to teach it to my kids (without much luck).  I can send – very slowly – messages but would have to see them written down to decode them.  Practice, of course…

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

The post Meme Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.

Amazingly, the colleges and universities where you think you would find the brightest thinkers of the next generation of leaders are dens of lemmings. Columbia, Yale, MIT, and Emerson College are some of these schools.

The media focuses on East Coast schools, but West Coast schools like UCLA and UC Berkeley are also protested. Thousands of young students are taking to the campus courtyards to chant, beat drums, burn flags, and harass their Israeli classmates. They are protesting against Israel and American support for Israel. They are supporting Palestine and Hamas. These are not spontaneous, organic gatherings of intelligent, well-informed students united by a cause. These planned and funded statements by wealthy outside forces using these students as pawns in their chess game against the establishment. These organizers stay anonymous in the background, but they all share one thing: they hate America.

Signs, audio systems, and tents are the obvious signs of financial support for these uprisings. Sad accounts by Jewish students tell of the harassment they are experiencing, but worse is the threat to their safety. These students are urged to leave campus and return home. The school administrators, campus security, or local police cannot guarantee the Jewish student’s safety. These targeted students are afraid to leave their dorm rooms, and if they choose to stay, they attend their classes remotely.

These protest groups are very similar to the Holocaust deniers. They refuse to admit that Hamas is a terrorist group or that these thugs invaded Israel on October 7. They do not recognize the 1,200 tortured and killed Israelites or the over 100 hostages held by Hamas. These students are jeopardizing their status at the institutes they are paying dearly to attend by condemning the global stands or connections the schools have. Obviously, few of these students investigated these schools before agreeing to become a community member. They wear hijabs or surgical masks to protect their identity. Many of the overzealous protestors are being arrested or expelled by the institutions. This lapse in decorum will have a lasting impact on their future.

Many of these student protestors show little knowledge of the people or groups they support or the history of the Middle East. These female protestors deny the horrendous treatment of women by Hamas, Hezbollah, and many of the countries surrounding Israel, where women have equal rights as men. These LGBTQ groups screaming “We are Hamas” do not understand they would be put to death by the terrorist group they claim allegiance to. Students at Yale sing Black Civil Rights hymns, conflating the two issues.

These protests are going to have the adverse effect that these students want. They are forcing the school administrators to swing the schools to the Right and away from the WOKE or DEI influences that have brought them to these crossroads. These student protestors are showing their immaturity in being sucked into these gatherings and their ignorance of the facts and truth about the issues. These protests will lose momentum and dissolve as more students face accountability for their illegal actions. Unfortunately, the effect of a lifetime of indoctrination will not change as quickly. These children have been compromised, and only life’s experiences will show them the errors in this Progressive philosophy.

The post Elite Colleges Show The Impact Of Lifelong Indoctrination appeared first on Granite Grok.

If the corporate media says it, the odds are good that it is misleading, an incomplete ‘truth,’ or a lie. But because they are so politically driven in their choices and coverage, you can almost glean the truth based on how hyperbolic their response is or how narrow their focus is.

The average winter temperature (Dec-Feb) in New Hampshire is about 2 degrees C warmer than the previous century’s mean. Wait, 2 degrees C? Why hasn’t the world ended? That’s a fair question.

Summer temps (Jun-Aug) are a hair over 1 deg C above the previous century’s average, and again, why hasn’t the world ended? Because they changed it to 2 degrees C, silly!

It could be that the world has ended and we missed it or that it has experienced larger swings in its history (it has) with little impact on surface life (also true) in ways that are effectively meaningless to a species (humans) who have mastered living in nearly any climate (which we have).

For centuries (millennia, truly), humans have found ways to live (often comfortably) in Deserts (Las Vegas and Southern California) and thrive, even above the Arctic Circle. In jungles, on dusty plains, and along the water’s edge. All without Al Gore’s coffee table books, Tom Steyer’s dirty coal money, the UN IPCC, or Governments laundering billions to generate scary “science” by bought-and-paid-for grant-hunting white tower proglodytes who otherwise would get nothing.

As I reminded folks here, this was always about economics and political science, not saving the planet.

A few degrees C means nothing. But if you’ve done an adequate job of grinding out successive generations of increasingly less intellectually agile Americans (public school), scaring them into giving up their freedoms (and paying for the privilege) for a declining lifestyle and opportunity – gets easier. That’s the Claimte Cult scam from Global Warming to Climate Chaos.

One continues large bowel!

The end of an interglacial is not a reason to pilfer future generations to fund anything, and “climate change,” despite all the column inches and your grandchildren’s tax dollars they throw at it, is not much of a priority to anyone (including Democrats, in the Biden economy). That didn’t stop the corporate media (dba: Democrat Communications Consultants) from making up a bunch of sh!t and throwing it at you. Last summer was the hottest summer on record, except it wasn’t, and so what? This year, we promise, they will say it is even hotter, and it might well be.

But last summer (Jun-Aug 2023), New Hampshire’s maximum temperature was one-half of one degree below the 20th-century mean.

You’d be right to wonder what all the yelling was about. Only thirty-three summers in the past 128 years had lower Maximums. I know. Why didn’t we hear about that? Probably because Mother Nature messed up drought season. We got a lot of rain. Oh, and the minimum temperatures were up (it didn’t get as cool at night as the 20th-century mean), but New Hampshire has had at least twenty summers with higher averages than 2023 going back to 1945.

Now, I cannot say for certain if NOAA has meddled with this data. They like to tweak the past and massage the present to create dramatic revelations for the corporate media to parrot. But, even with this data, 2023 was far from the hottest anything unless you mean steaming carts full of, you know what? And that’s a trend upon which we can rely. 2024 will be hotter than whatever it needs to be to excuse all the wasted spending on infrastructure that is neither cleaner nor better than what we had before the Climate scam.

One more point. I have no objections to wind or solar and never have if you pay for your own, and no handouts, subsidies, or incentives for the materials, installation, or power generated. Solar and wind for you (to get off the grid) are just okay by me whether we get climate truths or lies. You also need to cover its end-of-life costs (that should go for EVs as well (which should only be charged with wind, solar, hydro, or nuclear). These are green realities that, like the temperature hysteria fraud, would provide a very clear picture of what you would have to sacrifice to continue on the path these idiots have placed us on. People who have predicted nothing correctly and cannot prove that the warming they claim is catastrophic is any such thing.

It’s all BS, and 2024 will be no different, with one exception. The Cloward-Pivening “migrant” invasion has pushed climate concerns further down the list and could put Democrats in trouble in places they have had locked up for decades.

And no, I am not inferring that the GOP will successfully take advantage of that.

The post The Next Hottest Summer Ever Update appeared first on Granite Grok.

A recent post argued that NH taxpayers shouldn’t be ‘forced to fund irreversible surgeries for gender-confused kids.’

While I agree with that, I would note that Article 3 of the state constitution says that NH taxpayers can’t be forced to fund anything that doesn’t directly protect the rights of the people paying the taxes.

Look through the state and municipal budgets and see how much falls into that category. Very little.  So why complain about these surgeries specifically?

If the GOP took Article 3 seriously and started working to defund everything that violates it, things like these surgeries would be defunded as a matter of course… along with DEI/CRT indoctrination centers, Title IX sports, porn in public schools and libraries, and a lot of other sources of agitation.

But to say, essentially, We like these violations but not those violations seems disingenuous.

The post Subsidies for Me, But Not for Thee appeared first on Granite Grok.

Joe Biden was on a three-city tour of Pennsylvania this week. He started in his hometown of Scranton, though I am not sure many in Scranton want to claim Joe as one of their own. You see, for all Joe says he is doing for his homeys, his lousy policies are costing the good people of Scranton over $800 per month to maintain their lifestyle from 2020. These folks, Joe, are not making $10,000 a year to cover your Bidenomics, but apparently, that has been scrapped. We are not supposed to mention your dynamic economic plan that proves each month that it is not worth the napkin you wrote it on. Tell us that good one about the bottom up and the middle out as those people are driving up their credit card balances to keep up with the rising cost of everything. The busiest person at the local gas station is the one raising the prices each day on the marquis. People in grocery stores take items out of their shopping baskets at the checkout to afford their orders. You are not raising all boats, Joe. You are sinking the middle class. It is painful to watch and experience.

Your green initiative to get us all driving battery-operated cars is a bust. No demand exists for these overpriced vehicles, even with us subsidizing the costs. There are images of vast parking lots of abandoned EVs in China. Tesla and Rivian both announced layoffs, Rivian for the third time in twelve months. The recharging stations you bragged about are not being built, so where did the billions go to fund them?

Your plan to forgive student loans is having a devastating impact on tuition rates. As colleges and universities see you passing tuition costs onto taxpayers, they seize the opportunity to blow the top off tuition rates. Nearly a dozen schools have posted tuition rates over $90,000, and dozens more work toward that number. What income will graduates need to justify a $400,000 student loan package?

Credit card debt is at a record high, and with interest rates over 30%, most people living on plastic will never see a zero balance. Your solution was to attack late fees. That $10 savings will go a long toward paying off the interest! Who is advising you on these weak, ineffective policy decisions? Karina Jean-Pierre?

The fact that you are spending so much time in Pennsylvania, a state you should have a lock on, tells us you know you are in trouble. Working overtime to put Trump in jail and to defame RFK Jr is not working for you. Your media ads focusing on your acuity prove you have lost a step or two mentally, and trotting out the Kennedy clan to back you and throw their cousin under the Biden Train was low. RFK will give Michigan to Trump and, thus, the election.

You are showing age and weakness at a time when America is looking for energy and strength. They are finding what they need in Trump. Seeing him outside the courtroom each day shows how you have weaponized your Justice Department to eliminate your opponent. It didn’t work, Joe. Your Justice Department, like the rest of your administration, is proving to be more WOKE than competent. With the Supreme Court braced to take the wind out of the January 6 sails, it will kill one of your most potent arguments against Trump. Your house of cards is crumbling, and no help from Obama, Clinton, or the Kennedys will keep it from crashing in November. Watching you go down will be fun and satisfying.

The post Night Cap: Hey Joe, Did You Ditch Bidenomics appeared first on Granite Grok.

Quick reminder that tomorrow (Wed @ 10am) is the Senate Committee hearing for HB1283, a bill to legalize assisted suicide. It will be in NH’s Legislative Office Building, room 103 (note room change from earlier).

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

Please share this with friends or family you think would also be against legalizing assisted suicide.

You have several opportunities to stand up for the vulnerable among us by helping to defeat HB1283:

1) Pray that the Senate HHS committee and the NH Senate as a whole would vote down this bill

2) Register your opposition to HB1283 through the Gencourt website by 8am tomorrow morning (select Senate Health and Human Services, select HB1283, tell them “I Oppose this Bill”, and click “Continue”).

3) Email the Senate HHS Committee to tell them that you oppose HB1283. Their email addresses are: Regina.Birdsell@leg.state.nh.us, Kevin.Avard@leg.state.nh.us, Jeb.Bradley@leg.state.nh.us, Becky.Whitley@leg.state.nh.us, Suzanne.Prentiss@leg.state.nh.us, cameron.lapine@leg.state.nh.us

4) Testify in person if you are available tomorrow @ 10am in NH’s Legislative Office Building (33 N State St, Concord, NH), room 103.
If you do come in person, please do not wear yellow, as many of the pro-suicide community uses that to identify themselves.

5) Contact your own Senator: It’s not too early to call or email your own Senator, and let them know that you oppose state-sanctioned suicide. You can find their contact info here.

For Life,
Jason Hennessey
President, NH Right to Life

Key talking points on HB1283:

• Works against our efforts to prevent suicide. The data shows that all suicides go up when states legalize assisted suicide. By about 6.3% for the whole population, and 14.5% among individuals over 65. [full paper]
  • Based on CDC data, this could reverse the several-year trend of declining suicides in the state based on the work of the NH Suicide Prevention Council and others.
• In Oregon, patients like Barbara Wagner & Randy Stroup were denied life-saving treatments and offered suicide instead. Will insurance companies prioritize profit over patients?
• With an increasing percentage of medical expenditures being funneled through government programs, we cannot allow death to be added to the available cost containment menu (from House Majority leader Jason Osborne)
• Having physicians assist in suicide reduces trust in healthcare providers, which is why it is prohibited by the Hippocratic Oath
• Legalizing assisted suicide could lead to a slippery slope, with the potential for expansion to include those with chronic but treatable conditions like diabetes and HIV. Colorado has even had assisted suicides for mental health issues like anorexia, with a law similar to HB1283.
• No residency requirement. NH could become a death tourism destination, creating a profitable industry that then lobbies for expansions.
• All prominent disability organizations (state and national) that have taken a position oppose Assisted Suicide legislation due to disproportional affect they have on those living with disabilities.

Points that may resonate more with Democrats:

• The bill could worsen existing healthcare inequities, making death a more accessible option than life-saving treatment for vulnerable populations such as those with disabilities.
• The National Council on Disability extensively documented the negative effects of Assisted Suicide on disabled individuals in a 70 page paper.

The post Help Stop State-Sanctioned Suicide appeared first on Granite Grok.

It is unusual for a Democrat or uniparty stooge to say the quiet part out loud, but this isn’t new to Massachusetts. David Ismay, Charlie Baker’s undersecretary for Climate change (can’t be much of a ‘republican’ Gov. if you have one of those – and he wasn’t), said openly that they need to put the screws to everyone in the name of climate change.

He didn’t survive the heat (ironically, given his gig). Will this Masshole do the same?

It is Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt.

Using frank language rarely heard on Beacon Hill, Tibbits-Nutt weighed in on a series of major policy issues. She talked about how she would raise more money for transportation, with one option being the installation of toll gantries at the state’s borders with neighboring states. She promised to do more to address traffic fatalities by urging law enforcement to issue more speeding citations. And she said she would not support a layover facility for commuter rail trains as part of the I-90 Allston multimodal project, handing neighborhood activists a major victory.

Toll booths at the border is a great idea. One more reason not to go to Massachusetts. It’ll piss off all the commuters who live in New Hampshire but work in the Bay State, but that could be good for New Hampshire too. Incentivize working here instead. They’ll save on gas, tolls, speed trap tickets, T rate hikes (if you are brave enough to take the T). In other words, they need more money, and there’s nothing they are not willing to do you to get it.

“This [task force] is actually different because we’re not censoring it,” she said. “I’m going to talk about tolling. I’m going to talk about charging TNCs [transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft] more. I’m going to talk about potentially charging more for package deliveries, charging more for payroll tax — basically going after everybody who has money. And when I’m talking tolling, I’m talking at the borders. I’m not talking within Massachusetts.”

She added: “We’re going after all the people who should be giving us money to make our transportation better and our communities better.”

As if the Government could do any such thing. There’s no evidence of it. None. Higher taxes to pad school budgets have produced dumber kids. Milking trillions from Americans in the name of Climate change has only made electricity more expensive and less reliable (and the weather is still the same). The police budget has nothing to do with public safety. Voting for Joe Biden created division (inflation, joblessness, war) and not the promised unity. Nor has any sum of your dollars yet managed to solve transportation infrastructure issues. They spend it all, and things stay the same or get worse.

The only community that benefits is the one that pays her nearly 200k/ year salary. Those in and around ‘The Government get fatter and happier, protecting the politicians who keep adding more parasites to feed on the host (which is you).

Truth

Monica Tibbits-Nutt is using the pretension that she’s being brave when she says, “she will not spend any time making decisions with the goal of hanging on to her job”—which is an excuse to hide decades of poor management, which can only ever be resolved with more of your money.

And lucky you, thanks to inflation and the Biden Economy, they are going to need a lot more from you to do so much less.

Update: After this post was written and scheduled, contrary to Tibbits-Nutt’s contention that she had her back, Governor Maura Healy did not. Not exaclty.

(Boston Globe) Governor Maura Healey, appearing on WBUR’s Radio Boston, called state Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt’s recent comments about imposing tolls for drivers crossing into Massachusetts “a very poor choice of words.”

“It’s not how we do things,” Healey told Radio Boston host Tiziana Dearing on Tuesday. “It’s not how we operate.”

I didn’t click through to the full article, but “poor choice of words” isn’t a categorical no to border tolls, as Healey hints at a need for nuance. That’s not how we do things? Okay, so maybe border tolls are at the bottom of the list, but where’d Tibbits-Nutt-job get the idea if they didn’t come up at some point?

It’s on the list.

Be great if someone leaked that to the press.

The post Massachusetts Is “Going After Everybody Who Has Money.” appeared first on Granite Grok.

From the Editor: We’d like to welcome the Conservatarain Exchange and Liberty Block NH to Grok Podcasts!

Disney has won its battle in a proxy way to remain woke against outsiders; liberals keep fighting; conservatives often accept defeat as final; do establishment leaders in D.C. succumb to more than just peer pressure? threats? should republicans engage in issues such as “income equality”—turn the issue against liberal jurisdictions? Attacks on free speech in Scotland, Poland; if Americans don’t fight for free speech the “parchment guarantees” will never suffice; winner take all of electors vs. apportioning them by district (current situation in Nebraska); should we care if blue states ignore SCOTUS?

Trump should join Abbott of Texas in ignoring SCOTUS on the “invasion” issue; does an oath to support the constitution require support of all SCOTUS decisions? Attorneys afraid of taking suits on the right and/or being disbarred like Eastman; why aren’t banks treated legally as common carriers? Biden’s Easter transgender visibility proclamation? Is government our religion nowadays?

 

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The post The Conservatarian Exchange: Episode 200 appeared first on Granite Grok.

The presidential campaign of 2008 marked a turning point in America.

Millions of voters were electrified by the prospect of the first African-American president. Even one of Barack Obama’s opposing candidates seemed mesmerized by the moment: “I mean, you’ve got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.

I mean, that’s a story-book, man.” But then, Joe Biden has always viewed everything in terms of race.

Yes, the election of America’s first black president was a watershed moment. Some believe it took too long to get there, but it was an inevitability.

There was another watershed moment, though, that most voters failed to notice. It was the first time that Americans elected a president who, throughout his life, had been steeped in socialist, Communist, and anti-American ideologies – a man whose value system clearly contradicted traditional American values. Voters chose to ignore Obama’s background and the people who helped mold his values – people like Frank Marshall Davis, Bill Ayers, and Jeremaih Wright. Those anti-American diatribes by Jeremaih Wright? No matter.

And when that self-proclaimed “citizen of the world” vowed to fundamentally transform the country that most Americans cherished, they didn’t seem to care.

With the country behind him, Barack Obama succeeded in transforming our country in ways no one could have imagined.

Under Obama’s administration, America became more divided, especially along racial lines. And Americans lost some of their national pride. Prominent sports figures began disparaging our flag and our national anthem. Disdain for police agencies started growing. Many in our country began to reject our capitalist system and the idea of American exceptionalism while embracing socialist concepts like redistribution of wealth.

But that’s ancient history.

Now, more than seven years after Obama left office, the man who served as his vice president wants a second term in the White House and an opportunity to finish their disastrous transformation of America.

During his 2019 campaign, Joe Biden was touted as a moderate candidate with traditional American values, an elder statesman committed to unifying the country. He’s proven himself to be anything but.

Who knows why Biden took such a radical left turn after his election? Many believe that he’s doing China’s bidding, thoroughly compromised by the millions of dollars the CCP quietly paid his family. Others suggest that he’s nothing more than a figurehead, a marionette controlled by radical leftist puppeteers – among them, perhaps Barack Obama himself.

Polls confirm that Biden is an unpopular president. He’s widely perceived as weak, addled, incompetent, and corrupt. Surveys consistently show that his policies are taking our country in the wrong direction.

Yet paradoxically, in a head-to-head matchup with Donald Trump, other data suggest that Biden stands a fair chance of reelection in November. That’s mostly because the propaganda machine of the Democrat Party and the liberal news media managed to convince so many Americans that Donald Trump poses a genuine “threat to our Democracy,” a threat to our very survival. Incredibly enough, they’ve come to believe that Trump’s “America first” agenda is somehow un-American.

Consequently, many voters now believe that even Joe Biden is a better alternative.

Biden pontificates about fighting for the “soul of the nation.” But there was nothing wrong with America’s soul before he and Obama began tampering with it. National pride – patriotism – wasn’t derided. It was seen as the glue that holds this nation, any nation, together. It was once an unassailable American value.

Other values that were part of America’s soul included freedom, equality, the right to privacy, individualism, personal responsibility, personal property rights, and a competitive spirit. Topping the list was a fair justice system. The Biden Administration has been systematically extinguishing them all.

America also once had a conscience – an uncompromising sense of right and wrong. Today they’re replacing that conscience with contrived radical concepts like social justice, CRT, DEI, and gender-affirming care. They’re doing it in defiance of our Constitution, using subterfuge and deceit.

In fact, given his many abuses of power, Biden would certainly have been impeached and removed from office by now, were it not for the blind support of congressional Democrats, his loyal apparatchiks.

That leaves it to the voters. Will they continue to blindly follow a path they know leads to self-destruction? Or will they finally say “enough”?

For the greatest threat to the Biden Administration is not Donald Trump. It’s an informed electorate, endowed with common sense and the ability to think independently.

Yes, the economy, immigration, the border, abortion, and national security are all important issues in this election. But in November, voters will have to decide who we are as a nation. They will decide whether to preserve the soul of America or extinguish it forever.

The post Last Chance to Save the Soul of the Nation appeared first on Granite Grok.

Democrats in the State House were parading around this week with a banner insisting, “If you make a mess, you clean it up!” Yeah! Big talk! They think this should apply to oil companies regarding climate change (another story I’ll get to soon), but apply that message to themselves regarding the colossal property tax tsunami of a mess they’ve made for us. Well, not so much.

As far as property tax relief for Vermonters goes, the banner reads, “If you make a mess, create a ‘task force’ of usual suspects to ‘look into it’, keep the money flowing to your political cronies, and hope the voters have short memories and deep pockets.” Hey, it’s worked in the past! But I’m getting the feeling it’s not going to work as well this time. They’ve been successfully boiling the frog (us) for a long time but got greedy, turned up the heat too fast, and the taxpayers are ready to jump out of the pot.

Vermonters worried we are about to be taxed out of our homes come July are now being told not to expect any sort of relief for at least three years while they study the issue. News flash: we can’t afford the bill this year! Fix your mess NOW.

Vermont’s current property tax explosion/crisis is driven by the fact that we spend more money per public school student than almost every other state in the Union by a long shot. After this year’s spending spree, we might just be number one. The official “weighted student average” is $23,299, but if you divide the total $2.5 billion education budget by the 80,000 pre-k to 12 kids in the system, the number is over $30,000.

This latest $200 million budget gap that is the reason for the 20 percent year-over-year average property tax (and/or other taxes) increase is primarily the result of overspending on:

• The $30 million unfunded mandate to expand the free and reduced meals program for low-income students to universally include free food for the wealthiest kids as well. Yeah, that was dumb and unnecessary.
• Poor financial planning that irresponsibly used one-time COVID emergency money for ongoing expenditures. Yeah, that was dumb and avoidable.
• Jacking up per-pupil spending with a new weighing system (Act 127). That was just a power/money play to pay off the teachers’ union at the expense of the taxpayer. Repeal it today.
• Salaries and benefits resulting from the overstaffing of a system (Vermont has the highest staff to student ratio in the country; more than twice the national average) that has lost roughly 25 percent of its students over the past two decades. Simple bureaucratic bloat.
• And general inflation. Thanks, Joe Biden!

What’s the solution? Here’s my proposal:

Short term, cap individuals’ property tax increases to a level no greater than inflation (currently 3.5%). If what that generates plus the other revenue streams to the Education fund (100% of the sales & use tax, 25% of the rooms & meals tax, lottery, etc.) doesn’t cover the cost of school budgets, the delta should be made up through cuts to other programs – unfunded education mandates such as the $30 million free meals programs or cuts to general fund programs with the revenue shifted to education. I’d suggest starting with all those programs that use taxpayer dollars to subsidize EV purchases, solar panel installations, etc. Those are luxury programs, not basic government services.

No new taxes! We are taxed enough already, and taking even more of our money just out of different pockets – as the Democrats are doing — is not tax relief. It’s making the mess that much bigger.

Long term, restructure the system to first establish an education budget amount and a tax rate Vermonters can afford, and then figure out how to spend that amount in the most efficient and cost-effective way to achieve superior student outcomes. Every other state in the Union, bar one, has figured out how to spend less on education than we do, and a lot of them are getting better student outcomes to boot. Every independent school in Vermont operates this way, and they get better results for less money. How about we learn from them instead of trying to shut them down?

A big reason we are in this mess is because our lawmakers created a public education financing system in which we throw everything the special interests say they want into the shopping cart and then tell the taxpayers to pay for whatever the cash register rings up. This dynamic has to end. Unfortunately, it is the dynamic that Democrats in Montpelier, under the influence of the VTNEA, Superintendents Association, and Principals’ Association, are doubling down on.

The multi-year study process they are opting for in lieu of meaningful reform is not being set up to control costs and provide property tax relief. It is going to “figure out the policy, vision and the system of where we are going and then how do we fund it….” That’s no different from what we are doing now. It’s the problem. It’s the reason for the mess. Clean it up.

 

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.

The post Democrat Supermajority Has No Interest in Solving the Property Tax Mess They Made appeared first on Granite Grok.

I just thought of something: how about testing when starting school? Then Some kids may start in 1st grade and some may start in 2nd grade or even third. Then every year they take their “Proficiency Test” as long as they test to the next grade off they go, if not they get held back. If they test ahead of their class again, they could skip a grade again if the parents agree.

And to be honest, the grade levels do not have to be too difficult, just a wide field for each grade as a general test of that average grade level. I believe a lot of children would end up skipping grades, saving funding for everyone.

We want to thank Ken Goodall for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.

If a student starts getting held back, then the school would work with the parents for tutoring, or if the student has medical or mental issues, then they could be set to “Special Needs,” and each county could have one school set as “Special Needs.”

I see a lot of issues with this for sure, but I believe it could work. With the battle going on with public, charter, Religious, and private schools, this could be a viable option.

Every Change Starts With The First Step, and we need to take the first step before it is too late.

The post Food For Thought on Schooling appeared first on Granite Grok.

"The only way that we're going to be able to beat this invasion is by standing under one flag, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So we are wearing our MAGA hats loud and proud." — Patricia... Tom Bowler

If you’ve driven through any part of Goffstown or Pinardville, you may have seen the “Hate has no home in Goffstown” signs. At first glance, they seem well-intentioned and a wonderful idea. But upon further investigation, they are actually breeding much hate and division within the community.

The signs were originally designed after a neo-Nazi group from outside the community placed literature in a few residents’ driveways. It appeared to be completely random and an act that every member of the Goffstown community condemned.

The extreme leftists in our town, who never let a virtue-signaling opportunity pass them by, designed these signs immediately and sold them to whoever wanted to jump into the narrative that our town now has a hate problem because of this random act.

If hate truly has no home in Goffstown, then why was a complaint made to the zoning board after a fiscally conservative resident spoke up and presented a tax cap at the town’s deliberative session? Immediately following that meeting, an extreme leftist filed a complaint to the zoning board about the conservative resident’s chickens and coop (that have been in place for five years with no issues) and that resident is now having to go through the arduous and tedious process of fighting with the town for a variance.

We want to thank Shanun Carey for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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Some of the folks with a “no hate sign” in their yard were the first to announce that any parent or resident who stood up at a School Board meeting against inappropriate sexual materials on a Middle School library whiteboard should be put on a ‘public town wall of shame.’

Recently a parent spoke up at another School Board meeting about the fact that her son was not drinking water all day to avoid using the boys’ bathroom. He was doing this because he felt uncomfortable that a young girl, who now identifies as a boy, was now using the same boys’ school bathroom. Immediately following the meeting a complaint was made to that boy’s parent’s place of employment.

44 people in our town signed a petition for a tax cap warrant article. Once the extreme leftists got a hold of that information, all 44 of those names and their addresses were released on a Facebook group with the intent to get people to harass and shame those specific residents.

Two conservatives recently ran for Library Board of Trustees in our local election. This really bothered and triggered another extreme leftist, who happens to be our Select Board Vice Chair’s wife, and she requested the candidates’ actual library cards from the library. After receiving them from the Library Director, she proceeded to display them (including their patron codes) publicly online in order to intimidate and call them out.

Doesn’t seem very kind, caring or inclusive to me. It sounds more like when you don’t fall in line, you will publicly pay the price.

The most recent incident of the ‘no hate’ movement in Goffstown happened when a local veteran-owned business received a visit from a member of the local LGBTQ+ group. This person entered the business during working hours to demand (in front of customers) that the business owner hang an LGBTQ+ flag and stickers in his shop window during the month of June (Pride month). When the business owner politely declined (not wanting to be political and cause any discomfort to the many different views and beliefs of his wide range of customers), he was then called hostile and berated as being part of the problem in our town. She said that thanks to him, she and her wife are unable to walk the streets of Goffstown safely. Oh, those vicious Goffstown streets. It’s a tough town to grow up in. With our beautiful town square, the resident-only Glen Lake, beautiful rock water features, friendly waves from local shop owners, drivers stopping so you can cross the street, even when you’re not on the crosswalk… it’s a wonder any of us survive here.

Hate has no home in Goffstown unless you disagree with the vocal minority. Then hate is acceptable and even encouraged.

Someone make it make sense.

The post Does Hate Really Have No Home in Goffstown? appeared first on Granite Grok.

As the 2024 election season gets underway in earnest (although it has actually been going on for quite some time already), it is probably useful to look behind the curtain of (a) political “consultants” and (b) political contributions through organized groups.

It seems to have become fairly standard and expected for political candidates in our state to hire a so-called political consultant, supposedly to assist in their campaigns. Some holding themselves out as political consultants are based in our state, while others may be based in Washington as if being based in Washington is some type of badge of honor when clearly it is not.

The usual arrangement with a political consultant typically takes the form of a written contract that is supposed to spell out the duties of the consultant as well as how the consultant is to be paid. The typical payment arrangement is for a monthly payment during the campaign, often with bonuses available if the candidate prevails in the primary and another in the general election.

Further, many consultant arrangements provide for the consultant to handle the candidate’s appearances, advertising, and handouts such as brochures, palm cards, signs, and the like. But there is often an insidious factor involved in which the consultant is able to mark up the charges from outside vendors and/or receive commissions from those vendors, all of which ends up coming out of the campaign coffers.

Does it really make sense to agree to such arrangements when there are vendors, some based in NH, such as Spectrum from Manchester, who can provide all printed materials, mailings, and signs without payment of commissions or markups? Many of those services come with sound political advice without extra charge.

Finally, it is amusing to read campaign news releases announcing that a particular political consultant has been hired for a campaign, especially when examining the history of campaigns in which the consultant has been previously engaged. Some of them have a long and well-known history of being the consultant for campaign after campaign in which the candidate lost, as if to say, in effect, that my history of handling many losing campaigns in the past makes me especially qualified to handle another losing campaign now.

The most successful campaigns seem to be ones in which the candidate is very hands-on without regard, resorting to so-called consultants who seem to exist simply to extract money from campaign coffers without producing wins.

That being said, because of the size of our state and with very limited conservative media outlets, the more successful larger races (i.e. other than for state rep) that are inherently expensive often end up relying on larger campaign contributions from out-of-state donors and groups, and if a so-called consultant can actually produce such contributions in a meaningful way, perhaps they might actually be worth something.

And so now, we turn to campaign contributions.

A famous Dem politician once reportedly said that money is the mother’s milk of politics. Unfortunately, how true!

Although state representative campaigns can be run effectively without huge expenditures, once the political stage moves into larger districts or statewide, whether for the state senate, the exec council, the governor, and our federal senators and reps, the required campaign expenses increase dramatically.

Anyone reading this has probably been solicited for campaign contributions by a variety of sources: some directly by the candidate campaigns and others by groups that seek to “bundle” the contributions and allocate them to who-knows-whom.

If you make a contribution directly to the campaign of a candidate you favor, you will have a pretty good idea of where your money is going. But if you contribute to a group, although the group may claim to be supportive of candidates you support, you lose effective control of where your money ends up.

And to further the problem, many of the groups soliciting contributions incur significant administrative expenses for staff, as well as, in some cases, payment of “commissions” to officials of the group who purportedly bring in contributions. It is not unusual to see at least 10% of a contribution go to payment of such a commission.

But some groups, including some political action committees, are run entirely by volunteers without any paid administrative staff.

So, if you are considering making a political contribution, keep in mind that your contribution will be most effective if you contribute directly to the campaign of your chosen candidate. However, if you choose to contribute to a group, before you make that contribution, inquire as to whether the group pays commissions to anyone and whether it manages to keep its administrative expenses very low.

The post Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain! appeared first on Granite Grok.

G.E.T. R.E.A.L. is a solemn promise and a positive path forward for our state by Vermont Republicans focused on improving the quality of life of our people. It is a prescription of policy proposals, and this is the fourth in a series of essays explaining the program.

Editors Note: While focused on Vermont, the G.E.T. R.E.A.L. agenda sets a standard I think could/should be duplicated in New Hampshire and – well, everywhere—a public Republican Party promise/platform itemizing its priorities ‘Contract with America’ Style. 

Given the normal weather patterns in Vermont with all the freezing and thawing and the need for plenty of plowing, maintaining safe and comfortable roads and bridges is always going to be a challenge. Even more so if the trends of warmer, wetter winters and springs continue to bring us multiple mud seasons and more frequent floods. So, we really need to focus all of our transportation fund dollars on fixing and maintaining our transportation infrastructure.

While in years past, legislatures had done a good job of ending policies that robbed the Transportation Fund to pay for other projects, recently, we have seen a return to bad habits in this arena, particularly where taking out taxpayer money to subsidize electric vehicle purchases is concerned. For example, the current version of the Transportation Bill under debate right now contains $12 million in subsidies for EV incentives and in-home charging equipment.

First of all, that’s $12 million that’s not going to pave roads, fill potholes, expand culverts, or renovate bridges – all things we need to be doing more of, not less. In fact, the average age of Vermont’s bridges is 59 years, compared to the national average of 44 years. 75 of our bridges are classified as “structurally deficient,” up from 68 as recently as 2019, and, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, nearly a quarter of a million vehicles pass over just the twenty-five most traveled of those structurally deficient bridges every day. This should be a priority for transportation funds.

However, this sense of urgency is not shared by the supermajority controlling the purse strings in Montpelier today. In 2023, Governor Scott earmarked in his budget $9 million in general fund surplus money that could have been used to draw down triple that amount in federal matching funds for road repair. Democrats chose to spend that money elsewhere.

But even without these critical maintenance needs, it is highly questionable that it is the proper role of government to force some Vermonters to pay for the vehicle choices of other Vermonters, especially when those subsidies tend to flow regressively up the income ladder from lower-earning workers to upper-income car buyers. These “wealthfare” programs need to end.

Additionally, the state using tax dollars to subsidize more Vermonters’ choice to drive electric vehicles has an additional negative impact on fuel tax and, therefore, Transportation Fund revenues. Under the current system, if you’re not buying gas to use the roads, you’re not paying to help maintain them. One solution is to charge EV owners with a “road use surcharge” when they register, which is an idea under consideration. However, the Democrat leadership, under the influence of environmental lobbyists is insisting that money go not to road maintenance but to, you guessed it, more taxpayer-funded EV subsidies.

Think about this for a minute. The supermajority wants to pay people a subsidy to buy an electric vehicle, then hit those same people with a surcharge on that same electric vehicle in order to fund somebody else’s electric vehicle subsidy, which will also be penalized with a surcharge. That’s just ridiculous. More ridiculous is that they’re doing this while not sufficiently funding the maintenance of the roads that all of our vehicles need to drive on!

It’s yet another example of policy being driven by blind ideology and special interest politics at the expense of common sense and providing basic public services. This is exactly the kind of mindset we need to GET REAL about replacing in Montpelier!

Also slipped into this year’s Transportation Bill is a provision to move toward implementing a Clean Transportation Standard. This is the motor fuel companion to the home heating Clean Heat Standard, which is estimated to add 70 cents or more to every gallon of oil, propane, natural gas, and kerosene. Yes, the supermajority wants this same scale of carbon tax applied to gasoline and diesel. An additional dollar tax on a gallon of gas? We say, Get Real!

If this gas and diesel carbon tax ultimately passes (the only way to stop it is to Vote Republican in November) and is a crucial component of the supermajorities Global Warming Solutions Act law passed in 2020, again, the revenue would not be used for road maintenance but rather pet global warming projects. This would decrease fuel tax capacity for transportation infrastructure maintenance, likely requiring tax increases elsewhere to fill the gap.

The government is supposed to provide some basic, universal services, and maintaining the state’s roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure is one of them. Elect Republicans this November, and we’ll GET REAL about fixing our roads and bridges.

Bill Huff is the Orange County GOP Chair – on behalf of all GOP County Chairs

 

G: Global Warming Solutions Act Reform
E: Education Reform 

The post G.E.T. R.E.A.L! T: Transportation Infrastructure (AKA Fix the Roads!) appeared first on Granite Grok.

Here is a sure way to know when you have yet again been screwed by Congress. The corporate-media “covers” the screwing as “bipartisan” and UniParty-Republicans are “courageous” for ignoring the voters who put them there and instead “doing the right thing,” a lovely euphemism for what enriches the elites/globalists/corporatists/etc..

And yet, I am sure, that New Hampshire’s bitter-clingers will nonetheless “vote Republican” “up-and-down-the-ballot” to reelect the same grifters intent on outlawing single-family zoning in order stop the state income tax that isn’t coming from coming.

SIXTY BILLION MORE for that corruptocracy called Ukraine to stop the looming Russian takeover of Europe that all the grifters in DC know is total fiction. And as an added bonus … the TikTok “sale” gives the “intelligence community” yet another means to spy on Americans. Slava Ukraine! Vote Republican! Slava Ukraine!

JUST IN: Congress members wave Ukraine flags in the United States House after they approve another $61 *billion* in military aid for Ukraine.

The bill also gave $26 *billion* to Israel and another $8 *billion* for allies in the Indo-Pacific region bringing the grand total to… pic.twitter.com/SCKilm6nPr

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 20, 2024

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