I was pointed to this video set to the music of the Christmas carol “Mary Did You Know?” sung by Mark Lowry.

Well worth your almost 6 minutes to watch and listen to.

(H/T: Babylon Bee)

The post “Biden Did You Know?” appeared first on Granite Grok.

I am here to announce a Jubilee Year in 2026. We have 3 years to get it ready — 2023, ’24, and ’25. That’s thirty six-months, not really enough but we can try.

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

A biblical jubilee year is one that occurs every 49 years and has to do with preserving the land. That’s not what I’m proposing, though I did get my idea from that tradition.

What I want us to do is focus on the future.  At the moment, it’s only an intellectual exercise. Let’s inventory the good possibilities for human life. Sure, the bad stuff will also come into focus as the counterpoint. But the project is generally positive.

I dare nominate only my home country, the US for a jubilee.  But it’s patent that this country interacts with many others. I shall make it a rule that the jubilee search for “a better life” in the US cannot include taking advantage of other nations.

In the 1960s, when in college, I read Ruth Benedict’s 1934 book, “Patterns of Culture.” She was in the pioneering group of anthropologists who visited “primitive” societies. When asked which societies are happy, she said the ones in which the reward for a person to do good for himself is well synchronized with the reward for him to do right by the whole society — or something like that. It seemed very clever to me.

If it turns out that I am able to make a significant proposal for a jubilee year, it will be because I was trained in sociobiology from approximately 1976 to 1999. In 1989, I “read a paper” at the first annual conference of HBES — the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. In my audience sat all the “originals” of the field — Richard Alexander, Bill Hamilton, Richard Dawkins, EO Wilson, and George Williams. I believe William Irons and Napoleon Chagnon were there, too. They are all now deceased.

My vision of the future will have a lot of the past in it.  I believe we have a lot of the past in us. This is mainly good as it makes us human. Sometimes it’s bad because our traits may have suited the old days, say caveman days, but are a nuisance, or worse, today. Note: I will not be proposing that we change our genetic heritage by making chemical alterations to DNA.

I also will not propose that we rely entirely on our rational nature. Being an American enthusiast for the law and the Constitution, I am in the habit of using the old cerebral cortex, but that hasn’t gotten me very far in helping society. I’ll continue to encourage the expanding of our rationality somewhat, without suggesting that we count on it to move mountains.

I will also be upfront about the population problem. Today I saw a clip of Jordan Peterson say that it was terrible to encourage women to limit their reproduction, and he got great applause from the audience. However, at present, our species is overpopulated; we are unable to look after our habitat. When this happens in nature, as it often does, e.g., to bird colonies, a population crash takes place. Most members die.

We have managed to pollute even the Pacific Ocean, something that used to be considered an impossibility. Perhaps you are unable to detect serious habitat problems in the US, as most of us are protected by an artificial environment which seems comfortable enough. But all its bits and pieces come from nature and the stewardship of nature is virtually non-existent.

The late Russell Hardin put out a thesis many decades ago called The Tragedy of the Commons. The commons he referred to included such things as a pasture (e.g., the Boston Common, centuries ago) where people could let their cows graze. The “tragedy” consisted of the fact that each cow-owner may wish to put one more cow to graze on that Common, which will help his income, but if a hundred people do it, the Common will fail.

So how did that clever observation by Hardin engender a response or a solution? It did not. When we discussed it in academia, it was considered a serious subject, but later it drifted away. No one mentions the tragedy of the commons now. Yet those who are polluting oceans with their daily plastic bottles — me, for example — are doing something tragic.  Unbelievably tragic.

Oddly, there is no longer an Academy where such problems could be raised. “Altruism” is supposed to be avoided as a topic. Note, though, that the pendulum might swing back. I wouldn’t rule it out. Ever since Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle made their name as thinkers, there has been an Academy. In fact, until the 21st century, it had prestige for its rigor of thought.

I said above that I must correct my prejudice toward rationality. Most persons do not crave intellectual argument.  They crave food. They crave status.  They crave sex.  They crave an outlet for their talent or skill. They crave escape. And so forth.  If a jubilee year is to be a goal that we can work towards, I imagine it will be worked-toward by each participant according to his/her preferences. And many will decline to participate, if that’s their preference.

Which brings me to the matter of who leads whom, and who makes the rules. Kind of a big issue, but if you want the jubilee year to be enlightening, I think it’s necessary to go right to the heart of the matter. Maybe some individuals are born leaders and some are born followers. That is kind of different from everyone being a potential leader.

Whatever evolved in H sapiens in regard to leadership, it could only have been for leading small societies. Thus, for Jubilee-planning, there is going to be a circumstance that is not biologically provided for, at least not directly. To wit, one person may have to lead millions or conceivably even a billion. And where the leader of a small society had under his command a bunch of, say, rebels, he did not have people that were raised in a different culture. Now he (or she) will.

Today’s leaders have many mixed groups under them. This is very significant in that it thwarts unity.  Some human emotions are colored by group attachment. There are positive emotions, generally referred to as love, and negative emotions — willingness to insult or harm others. I assume they are controllable by a leader who can rely on symbols such as a flag or a mention of past heroes, which easily bring all the individuals into a state of imagined unity.

Note: Paul Craig Roberts said this on December 27, 2022: “Countries that constitute the West are no longer nations. They are conglomerates of populations that have nothing in common. There are no common mores, no common values, no common religion. There are no unifying forces…. Democracy, free speech, and accountable government are being replaced by tyranny.  Tyranny is the only possible outcome. A divided people — a Tower of Babel — cannot hold government accountable.”

Before continuing here to outline how we might make good use of an understanding of evolution, let me point out that some Baddies are very much in that game already, making wicked use of it. They can play us.  They do play us. Just on the issue of unity, they can increase unity or stir up disunity quite easily by manipulating the symbols. I have often note that soldiers who may oppose war policy can hardly get a listen from the American public, as the sentimental side of “sacrifice” is always pushed by the media. It grips the minds of the audience.

Ah, war policy, shall we go there next? There is a very real possibility that the instigation of the two world wars, and many previous wars, was not “as advertised.” Tens of thousands of men can be sent off to deal in a horrific situation, on the belief that their work is for the sake of their nation when it’s really to benefit someone else.

Two examples: a leader may start a war to increase his reputation at home (!), and he may start a war so that weapons manufacturers can try out some new weapons. In the novel 1984, British writer George Orwell (born Eric Blair, an Eton graduate) went so far as to say that leaders would keep wars going endlessly, for no purpose other than to distract the population from looking at the wealth of the leaders.

Now this brings us to property and to money. In some animal species, there is “possession” of goods, however minor. In humans, it is well accepted that I own my stuff and you own yours. As the opportunities for wealth-creation increase, a huge imbalance of possession follows. Today 1 percent of the world population is said to own 85% of everything. (I am not sure of that as fact.) Whatever we plan, in regard to a jubilee, must deal with that unhealthy situation.

As soon as a human possesses great wealth, he becomes concerned with keeping it. He may see the threat of losing it as equivalent to theft and see the person who is eyeing his wealth as a thief that deserves constraining. Or deserves dispensing with altogether. I think our genes can adjust us, both to a situation where goods are shared or a situation where goods are fought over. There are plenty of instances of either, in history.

Money is the form of wealth that came about to replace barter. Coins were first used in 700 BC and paper money came about in Europe in the 1600s. Coins may have actual value as metal, but paper money relies on the existence of a guarantor. Right now, you probably have wealth that is entirely based on hope, hope that someone such as “government” will do the right thing.

Another thing about great wealth is that it engenders ecological damage. A corporation that sees a way to take in high profit by acting socially irresponsible to, say, trees, is unlikely to worry about the long-term effect on society of that tree loss. Corporations emphasize the bottom line.

Of course they don’t have to; they could emphasize social responsibility.

Think back to Ruth Benedict’s insight: the happy society is one where rewards to an individual tie in with the behavior of the individual as a good helper of society.  I suppose it is not completely out of the question for the super-rich to take on a new attitude about helping the whole society. But their new attitude would make them question their “entitlement.” Or it would make others question the rich folks’ “entitlement.”

Which brings us to the subject of reputation. It does seem that each human values his reputation highly.  Any “knock” to it can be devastating. In today’s America, apparently cooked up by the mass media, we have a whole profession of smearers.  The US military assigns thousands of “soldiers” to make comments anonymously on social media. These either glorify a bad idea or bad person or dump on someone who has a good idea. At taxpayer expense.

And that brings us to the whole issue of mind control. All human relationships have been altered by the modern techniques of getting another person to want what you want him to want. I think we naturally exploit each other when we get the chance, and some exploiting arrangements become permanent, as with slavery. That’s bad enough, but truly getting into the other person’s brain so she will fulfill your orders is to turn humanness upside-down.

Ah, that probably made you think of the incredible chutzpah of Yuval Noah Harari, “son” of WEF, saying, in 2021, that humans have no right to their mind.  I note that Dr. Jose Delgado had already said that, boldly, around 1980. There really is only one way to deal with such a theme, and that is to oppose it entirely. Seriously you can’t take it on board in any way, that would be species suicide.

That is my Introduction to Jubilee Year, 2026. It will be our nation’s 250th anniversary if we consider 1776 as the founding. A lot can be done in the next three years 2023, 2024, and 2025 to improve the human situation.

— Mary Maxwell lives in New Hampshire.  At the moment she is in need of singers with guitars, banjos, or fiddles.  Please email her at MaxwellMaryLLB@gmail.com if you have a musical urge.

The post Proposing 2026 As a Jubilee Year appeared first on Granite Grok.

Steve had put up a post a couple of days ago for the 603 Alliance’s School Board training to run for School Board positions:

If you’re concerned about the decline in academic standards, the harm done by shutdowns and mandatory masking, and the politicization of our public schools, please consider running for School Board in your district. We need to take back control of our schools and renew their focus on academic achievement.

My take on this is that until the idea that the CHILD is entitled to his/her education money directly (as Society has decided that Public Education is a civil right) as in “let the money follow the child rather than go to a zip coded building”, the majority of parents are stuck with the present system (ex: School Boards that refuse to answer questions from Parents during School Board meetings). Commenter Jay Ehelman had some comments, thoughtful ones, that are a bit contrarian in my mind. Thus, I thought they needed a bit more exposure.  While I WOULD ask that you go to the post to see them in context, I present them here in chronological order (a little reformatting, emphasis mine).

First:

Re: “If you’re concerned about the decline in academic standards, the harm done by shutdowns and mandatory masking, and the politicization of our public schools, please consider running for School Board in your district.”

As a former public school board director, please believe me when I say; ‘don’t bother’ running for school board. You’ll be jousting with windmills.

Keep in mind that half the people in your community want their children to be indoctrinated to CRT, transgenderism, Marxism, Restorative Justice… you name it. Many others wouldn’t know a school board from a surfboard. And as a school board member, even with a sympathetic majority on your side, you’ll still get stuck up in the Uncle Remus tar baby known as the public education monopoly.

It’s the system that’s problematic. Teacher unions. Principal associations. Superintendent associations. The State school board association. From Guidance Counselors to school bus drivers, the ‘system’ is pervasive. Not to mention the legislators who stalk their prey at the great public education watering hole for funding their campaigns.

The only reasonable recourse is School Choice vouchers that allow parents to choose the education programs they believe best meet the needs of their children. Let the parents who believe in the current social indoctrination programs have them. But let parents who want to homeschool or to send their children to independent schools (including parochial schools) receive a commensurate share of the tax revenues to do their thing. Then let the marketplace determine what’s best.

The public education monopoly is the largest, wealthiest, governmental organization in the country. It’s bigger and more powerful than the military-industrial complex. No school board on the planet can manage it. So don’t waste your time. Just get out and let it rot on the vine. But get out… now. The public education monopoly is nothing short of the most dangerous institution on the planet for your children and the best thing you can do is stay away from it. Whatever it takes.

Second:

Ostensibly, everyone’s tax dollars, whether or not they have children in the school system, provides a benefit to the community. That’s the underlying premise to public education support from the get-go. And, yes, it is a debatable premise, to be sure. But that’s not what we’re discussing today. As long as society deems it appropriate to subsidize our children’s education, should that money be monopolized by one institution in a one-size-fits-all methodology? Or should the money follow the student? And if the money follows the student, who leads the student where the money should follow?

In Vermont, our property taxes pay the lion’s share of education costs. As I believe is also the case in NH. But in Vermont, property tax is indexed to income. The maximum property tax can be no more than 5% of one’s household income – give or take. But even though I have no kids of school age, I’m still obligated to pay for publicly funded education. Because I benefit when my neighbor’s kids are well educated. Interestingly, we find that property values are higher in School Choice districts because homeowners can see the benefits of School Choice. Conversely, property values in districts with failing public schools have lower property values.

As you can see, this is a nuanced issue. And as a former school board director, employer, and parent, I’ve been promoting School Choice for more than 30 years. I’ve thought through most of the issues you mention and am happy to discuss them with you as they come to mind.

Third:

I’m from Vermont. And our system provides a tution voucher equal to the average cost per student thoughout the State. Our problem is that only certain districts provide that opportunity. And yes, that’s not only unconstitutional, it’s being argued in our Superior Courts right now.

The tuition voucher can be used in public schools and independent schools. And while some of us lobby to have the State tuition available to homeschool parents, many are afraid to take the money because they believe the State will put conditions on their programs. So the battle still rages here too.

But my point is that while you may have made inroads in your local school school district to an extent to which you’re satisified, certainly, other parents won’t agree. And, over time, the public school monopoly has staying power. Today may be okay. But tomorrow they’ll be back.

The only way to really win, is to be able to take your commensurate share of taxpayer funded education dollars and spend it where you believe it will be best for your children.

He has a couple more as well but are more intertwined with other folks’ comments. Go take a read!

The post Promoted from the Comments – A Contrarian View on “Call for Candidates: Run for School Board!” appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Tentacles of the Omnibus Octopus Omnivore ($1.7 T spending bill in the headlines) is unascertainable. Here are three highlights:

We want to thank Charles Bradley for this Op-Ed. Please submit it to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

1.) The Omnibus Octopus Monstrosity provides $575 million dollars to ” maintain the federal government’s ongoing commitment to human genocide.” This program is known as ” Population, Health, and Environment( PHE), whose goal is to protect insects, fish, and animals by aborting babies.

2.) The appropriation for the weaponized persecution of the unconstitutionally imprisoned J6 demonstrators will be increased by $212 million dollars, exceeding the DOJ budgetary request by $180 million dollars.

3.) While the Uniparty promotes an invasion of hundreds of thousands of illegal felon aliens on our Southern border, the Omnibus Octopus Monstrosity provides $500 million dollars for Ukrainian border security but none for the Southern border and $2 billion dollars for the comfort and care of the illegal felon alien invaders.

Finally, even more alarming to all American citizens should be the obfuscating, merely performative tactics employed by Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, and others. Anyone of these supposed “shining conservative Senatorial stars” could have taken to the Senate floor by reading the 4,000+ page Omnibus Octopus until the end of the Congressional term or joined in an “authentic” filibuster to kill the Omnibus Octopus bill, which allows the Demolitioncrat destructive reign of Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden to continue thru 2023.

Instead, the Nation endured the “Senatorial stars” usual bloviating and “ere they flew out of sight,” betraying the Nation this Christmas night!

 

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George Santos (R-NY) has opened up a can of worms, and nobody wants to put on a pair of rubber gloves and deal with it, or him. The Democrats have to tread lightly on this embarrassing mess because anything they throw at the lying individual could end up right on the steps of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

There is no excuse for Santos. He has embellished his resume to fool the voters and get elected. This should be easy. He lied. He cheated. He is done. But, then, what do you do with others who have enjoyed long careers in Washington after knowingly lying to get there? Richard Blumenthal is a two-term Senator from Connecticut who lied about his time on active duty in Vietnam. The problem is he has never been to Vietnam. Blumenthal exaggerated his military career to attain a Senate Seat. Should he cast the first stone at Santos? I think not.

Joe Biden has told tall tales about his life and his family for fifty years. It has always been laughed off as just Joe being Joe. No, it is somebody making themselves into someone else to improve his stature. Did we hold him accountable? Heck no, we made him President. Who is the fool?

The onion is being peeled for Santos, and it doesn’t pass the smell test. Like the Twitter files, another set of facts, or lies, pop up daily. When do we finally say enough? He has to go? 

The list of Santos’s missteps is lengthy and creative:

• Santos claimed he graduated in 2010 with a degree in economics and finance from Baruch College in New York City. Baruch has no records of Santos ever attending their school.
• Santos says his grandparents survived the Holocaust as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium. This claim did not sit well with the Jewish community, and upon investigating, they discovered that his grandparents were from Brazil. Brazil is a long way from Europe and the hell of Hitler’s Holocaust.
• Santos claimed he lost four employees in the horrific Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016. The New York Times fact-checked his claimand none of the victims ever worked at any of the various firms where Santos claims to have worked.
• Friends of Pets is a charity that Santos claims he founded from 2013 to 2018, which acted as an animal rescue operation that rescued 2,400 dogs and 280 cats. Surprise: the Internal Revenue Service couldn’t find any record of a registered charity with that name. The money donated to his Go Fund Me sites is missing.
• Santos claimed he was an associate asset manager at Citigroup. A Citigroup spokesperson said they had no record of his employment, and there is no such position at the Citigroup real estate division.
• This lie repeated with Santos claiming to work with Goldman Sachs. Same result. No record of him at Goldman Sachs. Surprise!

The New York Attorney General is looking into these accusations, but Congress has to take swift action. Santos has to be suspended, and the district he represents deserves a replacement immediately. We also must stop the acceptance of Joe Biden’s stretches of reality. I will not waste space listing them here. But suffice it to say that the only thing consistent in Joe Biden’s career is his gaffes. Sad.

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“A new study, published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), finds a striking correlation … ‘that youth suicides are closely tied with in-person school attendance.’ ”

Related: The Public Schools are Grooming Your Kid for a Lifetime of Anxiety and Depression

Mind blowing?

The FEE.org article refers to this Dec 2022 report from The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which found a corollary between suicide rates and school attendance.

 

We document three key findings. First, using data from the National Vital Statistics System from 1990-2019, we document the historical association between teen suicides and the school calendar. We show that suicides among 12-to-18-year-olds are highest during months of the school year and lowest during summer months (June through August) and also establish that areas with schools starting in early August experience increases in teen suicides in August, while areas with schools starting in September don’t see youth suicides rise until September.

 

Public Schools are killing your kids. *Or, more accurately, something about the experience is driving them to kill themselves. And it is not a pandemic lockdown distance learning issue, not that this didn’t take a toll. The NERB study covers pre-pandemic years, as does an earlier Vanderbilt study also cited in the Fee.org piece.

 

This new study echoes earlier findings from Vanderbilt University researchers who discovered a similar link between school attendance and youth suicidal ideation and attempts. That research, published in the journal Pediatrics in 2018, looked at hospital emergency room and inpatient data between 2008 and 2015. “The lowest frequency of encounters occurred during summer months,” the Vanderbilt authors concluded. “Peaks were highest in fall and spring. October accounted for nearly twice as many encounters as reported in July,” they found.

 

Another point of interest: “Youth suicide rates have been climbing over the past decade, leaving parents, educators, and policymakers to propose various remedies.”

Like going to war with parents over ownership of children’s minds and bodies. Partisan indoctrination that can put children at ideological odds with their parents.  Sexualizing or grooming them with the transgender agenda? Social Emotional Learning, Critical Race Theory, pornography, restorative justice, JBAB, and a thousand other shocks that have little or nothing to do with math, reading, history, and science.

Maybe if public schools focused on academics and teaching kids how to learn instead of what to think, we wouldn’t be facing this cold, hard truth. Sending your kids to public school increases the odds they’ll try to kill themselves.

And I get that this is an oversimplification, but I’m sure you’ll work it all out in the comments.

 

The post New Research: Public School is “Killing” Your Kids appeared first on Granite Grok.

Thanks for NOTHING, Sun-King Chris Sununu. While Ron DeSantis has turned once purplish Florida into a solidly RED State, under the Sun-King’s “new Republcanism” … combining wokeness and corporate welfare … New Hampshire is trending BLUER faster than any other State:

So have at it Sununu-sycophants. Tell me how it’s not Sununu’s fault. Tell me how it’s really Trump’s fault. Tell me how I am a secessionist/extremist for pointing out the obvious.

The post New Hampshire Trending BLUE Faster Than Any Other State appeared first on Granite Grok.

New York City uses its garbage trucks to plow snow. The Big Crapple is also hot to electrify the entire fleet, and why not? Who should be more climate #woke than the city that never sleeps? But someone is having nightmares after discovering the two are incompatible—electric trucks and plowing snow.

Reformatted.

 

The pipe dream of converting the city’s 6,000 garbage trucks from gas to electric in order to try and limit carbon emissions is “clashing with the limits of electric-powered vehicles,” Gothamist wrote this week. … The city’s current trucks run on diesel and can be fitted with plows in the winter.  .. Those trucks cost an astonishing $523,000 each and are to be delivered this spring.

Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch told the NYC city council earlier this month: “We found that they could not plow the snow effectively – they basically conked out after four hours. We need them to go 12 hours. Given the current state of the technology, I don’t see today a path forward to fully electrifying the rear loader portion of the fleet by 2040.”

“We can’t really make significant progress in converting our rear loader fleet until the snow challenges are addressed,” she continued.

 

Green fantasy says hello to at least one reality. This a problem that’s been popping up more often as EV users discover “how well” electricity and batteries work when it gets cold. Not as well as advertised or not well at all. From not charging to taking longer to charge to undercharging to demand issues that prohibit the use of chargers, heaters, hauling, and the risks of getting stranded in the cold.

And isn’t that ironic? Team Green is obsessed with stopping warming regardless of what it’s called. Everything they say points to fossil fuels heating the planet. To fix that (as if they could), they insist on a technology that works best – for whatever that’s worth – when it’s warmer.

As for New York, it is admitting there are roadblocks. But they are hoping for some technological leap that will allow them to electrify the fleet. Something that will make each truck cost taxpayers more than $523,000 each I suspect.

Of course, a snow-locked New York City would significantly reduce its carbon footprint if that’s the point. No moving transportation for one day is probably the left-wing climate neurotics emissions equivalent of a vast swath of America. Talk about taking one for the team.

So, maybe the solution isn’t spending a half-million plus on plow-capable EV garbage trucks that can’t get the job done. It’s airlifting New York Democrats and their trucks to Mexico’s southern border.

I’m sure they’ll appreciate 8 million whining ‘migrants’ milling about with little more than an attitude and a few EV garbage trucks, and look, no snow.

 

 

HT | Valiant News

The post Another Electric Vehicle Fail: NYC EV Trucks Run Out of Juice Plowing the Streets appeared first on Granite Grok.

Dear Emily Schrader,

Thank you for your reasoned support for the freedom-seeking Iranian people who risk their lives against Iran’s tyrannical, oppressive Islamic rulers.

As an Iranian-American, I take pride that a woman of your courage is championing the cause of freedom. You are the voice of America, Israel, and the world’s oppressed people.

Sadly, women have been among the most victimized in almost all societies throughout history. And you, Emily, can truly sympathize with the victims of tyranny.
Under the dastardly rule of Iran’s mullahs, women are severely disenfranchised and abused. Additionally, the despotic Islamists’ reign of oppression extends to all minorities, such as Baha’is, Sufis, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Christians, as well as political and social dissidents. These victims have no recourse. You, Ms. Schrader, have become a powerful voice for Iranians.

It is noteworthy that your work not only serves what is right but also serves the best interests of America and Israel. It proves to the world that your country cherishes and supports freedom and, at the same time, will, eventually, seal an invaluable link of camaraderie with a freed Iran.

Once again, I want to thank you and plead that you maintain your resonant voice and unshakeable resolve.

With deepest respect and gratitude,

Amil Imani

The post “Thank you for your reasoned support for the freedom-seeking Iranian people …” appeared first on Granite Grok.

There were over 4300 new published posts on GraniteGrok.com in 2022 and millions of page views despite the hurdles thrown at us by Big Tech. And we covered more subjects than I could guess.

But out of those 4300+ posts, the world (but mainly America and New Hampshire) read five more than any others.

 

Here are your top five most-read stories for 2023.

#5. The Global Warming Cult Just Took a Vicious Kick to the McNuggets

“Scientists are telling us that two million years before there were SUVs, oil or gas-heated homes, western government, capitalism, private jets, or even CO2-emitting people, Kap København Greenland was a lush, verdant, wooded landscape.”

#4.  The Next Time Someone Accuses You of Vaccine Misinformation, Give Them a Dose of This Medicine

V-Safe is the app for people who got The Jab. Its purpose was side-effect surveillance, and 10 million Vaxx recipients used it. [But] V-Safe only allowed the user to select from a pre-determined list of known side effects. … A wide array of known, much more severe side effects was deliberately excluded from the CDC surveillance tool.

#3. Is This Why Mitch McConnell Won’t Support Blake Masters?

Blake Masters thinks that it should be possible to maintain a family on one income. That is heresy … real Spanish Inquisition stuff … to the globalists and corporatists. They believe that Americans should be working for the big corporations, not raising their children themselves …

#2. A Very Good Chance to Overturn Dem Win in a Recount

Republican Dennis Hogan, is in a virtual tie with Democrat Mary Ann Crowell in the race for Hillsborough County Register of Deeds. Hogan got 81,388 votes and Crowell received 81,450, a difference of only 62 votes, a minuscule .038% of the votes cast.

#1. How Did Maggie Hassan Get 1100 Votes in NH Town With a Population Under 700?

How were over 1300 votes cast in a town with a population under 700 at least and under 800 at best? Someone up there might want to request the same-day registration list. Your town doubled in size overnight.

Note: The number one post went national after receiving several updates from me as the story developed, but many of the larger footprints that picked it up ignored the updates that explained the “how.” We appreciate the traffic, but even Jeff Kuhner (or was it his producer) ignored the details that explained that “how” when he finally caught wind of the story. Probably because he picked it up from someone else instead of chasing it down the rabbit hole and reading it at the source.

Something we all need to make sure we do when working stories, myself included.

 

We want to thank all of you for your time and attention this year, and look forward to whatever 2023 and beyond have in store for us.

The post The ‘Grok Top 5 Posts for 2022 appeared first on Granite Grok.

According to Wikipedia: “A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or following the collapse of the previous governing administration.”

“Interim governance arrangements are an institutional framework established to create a ‘bridge’ from political or violent crisis often situated in an authoritarian past, towards a more peaceful, inclusive and democratic government.”

Dr. Iman Foroutan as an Interim Executive

Foroutan is an Iranian patriot who for decades has selflessly dedicated his life to his beloved homeland Iran in order to save the suffering Iranians from the hands of the tyrannical Mullahs of Iran.

For the past twenty-three years, each day, Iman has labored tirelessly, with utmost courage, and integrity in the defense of liberty, freedom, and the rights of Iranians inside Iran. Prince “Reza Pahlavi truly believes in Democracy and believes monarchy should be left to people to decide. yet is ready to do whatever he can to help his compatriot. He also reiterated that he “will not seek power or a political office” and in future elections, he “will not support any party, organization or form of government over another.”

Foroutan’s vast knowledge, involvement in Iran’s affairs, and decades of executive experience would make him an ideal candidate to lead and be part of the interim government of diverse Iranians.

They say history repeats itself. “It was the first government established in Iran after the Iranian Revolution. The regime was headed by Mehdi Bazargan, one of the members of the Freedom Movement of Iran, and formed on the order of Ruhollah Khomeini (known as Ayatollah Khomeini) on 4 February 1979. Mehdi Bazargan was the prime minister of the interim government and introduced a seven-member cabinet on 14 February 1979. Ebrahim Yazdi was elected as the Foreign Minister.”

We are back to square one. The Islamic Republic turned out to be a bad experience. The time has come for change.

Islamic tyranny, regardless of its form, recognizes no borders. It does not confine itself to any geographic area. It is by nature aggressively expansive and invasive. The US misguided administration’s appeasement policy has indeed emboldened the Islamic Republic in its wanton behavior.

The Islamic Republic is at its last breath. Knowing the seriousness and determination of Iran’s regime in demolishing Iranian culture and heritage, Iman singlehandedly went to work and created an invaluable patented software tool that is capable of connecting all Iranians. The New Iran (“TNI”), aka “Nahade Mardomi” which in Persian translates to People’s Foundation, a not-for-profit grassroots organization birthed by Dr. Iman Foroutan has become a powerful political organization to unite Iranians around the world for over a decade.

Anticipating the events of the last few months in Iran, Iman started working on his latest creation, SOS IRAN, a first-ever project-based eco-system for organizing and collaboration of IRI opposition worldwide.

As an Iranian-American, Iman deeply loves his country of birth and the country that has given him a home of freedom. Hundreds of thousands of Iranian-Americans feel the same way.   

Are we witnessing the end of the Islamic Republic?

There is no question about that. It is only a matter of time, and not a very long one. The Islamic regime is in deep trouble. Masses of Iranians are irreparably alienated from the corrupt oppressive Islamic rule. The rule of the Islamic Republic in Iran (IRI) is crumbling. The previously solid edifice is showing many cracks that keep growing. Too many fault lines to list here.

My Iranian colleagues and I have indeed done, and continue to do, what we can to help our compatriots in Iran, who are on the front line fighting the Islamic Regime. It is regrettable that we do not have enough material support since most of us must work for a living and are not able to substantially contribute to equipping the resistance with further means of communication and information distribution.

In my honest opinion, Dr. Iman Foroutan is the best person and candidate at this crucial time to lead the interim government in exile. For those who have not heard of this brave son of Iran, it is time for you to get to know him. He has the support of many Iranians both in Iran and abroad.

Dr. Foroutan upholds and defends the ideals of human rights. Like many past heroes of Persian history, this inestimable man also has risen to the occasion in the defense of his beloved homeland and her people.

Iman has a proven record and is a true friend of freedom. He has always stood with the people of Iran in their life-and-death struggles.

It is understood, that the Iranian people themselves can set up their own secular democratic system. Recall that Iran was the first democratic nation in the Middle East when it established a constitutional monarchy which was later subverted by Reza Shah. We are thoroughly capable of establishing our own democracy. Certainly, it would not be a panacea overnight. Certainly, there will be some rough spots. Yet, the Iranian people hardly need supervision by anyone or anybody to do the job.

Allow me to reiterate, as the Islamic Republic nears its fall and it will fall, it requires an interim government in exile. A government-in-exile consists of an individual or a group of individuals residing in a foreign State. A government-in-exile may comprise a person or a group of people based on the structure of the government that has the legitimacy of the law.

Perhaps, the efficiency of a government in exile depends mainly on the expanse of support it can obtain, either from foreign governments or from the population of its own country. I am confident that Dr. Iman Foroutan will receive both support from the Iranian people and from democratic foreign nations. I have known Iman for decades and have no doubt he will be an instrumental part of a “factionally diverse interim government.” Time is of the essence.

The post Are We Witnessing the End of the Islamic Republic? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Dear Executive Councilors,

I want to bring to your attention a new fad that is taking hold in New Hampshire Schools. I am referring to Social and Emotional Learning/ SEL. Please take time to watch this video on The Occult and New Age Origins of SEL. 

SEL was first brought into New Hampshire Schools through the SAMHSA grant program. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). SEL is used as a way to assess and treat a child’s mental health in the classroom. It essentially turns our schools into mental health clinics using teachers and counselors instead of highly educated and clinically trained Child Psychologists Ph.D.  SEL is now a product sold to schools that think they can dabble in child psychology. School administrators are also failing to obtain informed consent by parents and guardians when they dabble in this form of pseudo-psychology. There is a requirement in federal law that school administrators must obtain informed consent from parents and guardians when assessing or providing mental health services. (Every Student Succeeds Act ESSA Sec. 4002 General Provisions) While I don’t expect you to become experts on New Age religions or mental health services, I wanted to share this video because it explains how SEL is grounded in New Age religion and the Occult. I can’t imagine that anyone, including Governor Sununu, had any of this background information when the SAMHSA grant was accepted. But now that we know that the ONE organization that is considered the gate-keeper for all SEL programs (CASEL) has their foundation grounded in the Occult and New Age religion, you will be better equipped to scrutinize these specific mental health grants targeted at our public schools. I apologize for the length of this video because it does take over two hours to watch it. However, I think much of it is covered well in the first half hour to 45 minutes. If you are unable to watch the entire video, you should get a good grasp on the history of SEL in the first hour. If New Hampshire is going to accept funds to provide mental health services or assessments for children in our public schools, this form of new age religion, funded by a mental health grant, is unacceptable. I hope in the future, this information will help you better analyze mental health grants coming into our public schools. There are many disturbing issues with CASEL, but knowing the foundation of this program is a new age religion cloaked as mental health treatment deserves everyone’s attention. Sincerely, Ann Marie Banfield 

TRUST REQUIRES TRANSPARENCY

The post The Occult & New Age Origins of SEL **Social and Emotional Learning appeared first on Granite Grok.

Christmas was quiet and I’m expecting New Year’s to be the same. It wasn’t a bad year but we’ve had better. However, all things considered, I’m grateful for both the good and the bad.

How about you?

The post Friday Open Thread – The End of the Year is Nigh; How Was YOUR Year? Or Anything Else On Your Mind? appeared first on Granite Grok.

This seems like medically dense material, but my layman’s tweak is that researchers found a new key to SARS CoV2, and IVM (Ivermectin) blocks it “when added to RBCs [red blood cells] prior to spike protein and reversed HA (hemagglutination) when added afterward.”

Related: We Know Why The Public Health Industrial Complex Had to Discredit Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin

Linked from Dr. Paul Elias Alexander’s Newsletter;  From the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (reformatted).

 

Experimental findings for SARS-CoV-2 related to the glycan biochemistry of coronaviruses indicate that attachments from spike protein to glycoconjugates on the surfaces of red blood cells (RBCs), other blood cells and endothelial cells are key to the infectivity and morbidity of COVID-19. To provide further insight into these glycan attachments and their potential clinical relevance, the classic hemagglutination (HA) assay was applied using spike protein from the Wuhan, Alpha, Delta and Omicron B.1.1.529 lineages of SARS-CoV-2 mixed with human RBCs.

The electrostatic potential of the central region of spike protein from these four lineages was studied through molecular modeling simulations. Inhibition of spike protein-induced HA was tested using the macrocyclic lactone ivermectin (IVM), which is indicated to bind strongly to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein glycan sites. The results of these experiments were, first, that spike protein from these four lineages of SARS-CoV-2 induced HA. Omicron induced HA at a significantly lower threshold concentration of spike protein than the three prior lineages and was much more electropositive on its central spike protein region. IVM blocked HA when added to RBCs prior to spike protein and reversed HA when added afterward.

 

Researchers suggest – unless I’m reading this wrong, and please correct me if I am – that Ivermectin may (giddy laugh), help reverse mRNA vaccine side-effects.

 

They furthermore suggest therapeutic options using competitive glycan-binding agents such as IVM and may help elucidate rare serious adverse effects (AEs) associated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, which use spike protein as the generated antigen.

 

Given that the Public Health Industrial Complex has been forced to admit there are side effects and they can be serious, there is an opportunity. Yes, we could (and likely will) rub this sh!t sandwich in their face until they eat it, but Ivermectin has the potential to help millions of people on the cheap who have suffered vaccine harm.

If I read it wrong, this reinforced Ivermectin’s suitability as an early treatment option (at least) for people at high risk, and there’s no need for the so-called COVID vaccines or the real risks associated with them. The drug is cheap, widely available, and approved by the FDA for off-label use, if that matters. The real question is if IVM continues to produce these results is why was it blackballed along with Hydroxychloroquine, and who benefitted?

That might slow things down even now, but we know why the people shouting “public health” the loudest hid or buried the evidence of Ivermectin’s potential. It would have made the EUA vaccine declarations unnecessary and illegal, specifically violating Section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act.

The EUAs are still illegal – section 564 never went away – and while I’m no lawyer, it seems to me that might mean the immunity granted to anyone making, moving, or mandating them is illegitimate.

And if that’s not enough, EUA requires fully informed consent, and we know that didn’t happen.

No, I do not expect anyone up the food chain to overly suffer for these deliberate wrongs, but a few wealthy folks might be able to lawfare some of these guilty “experts” into poverty.

I’ve got popcorn.

 

 

HT | MDPI & PAlexander Substack

The post Another Huge Win for Ivermectin appeared first on Granite Grok.

I saw an elderly woman in my favorite market, staring at some nice-looking $12.99 a pound steaks.
I wasn’t quite sure if she was ok, so I approached her.
Now the normal question would have been, “are you ok?”

But I am not normal.

I asked her instead if she was familiar with the recently passed OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL, passed by Congress on essentially Christmas eve.
Amazingly….she was not. Even asked me why the hell I asked her.

Simple answer: the money that she needed to buy those steaks would belong to her if either

1. Congress did its job and kept its spending within a legitimate budget or
2. she read the dam thing and realized that the federal government would buy those steaks for her.

So question to all those out there struggling to feed themselves and their loved ones: are you like her?
Have you read the omnibus spending bill?
Yikes! NO?

The federal government is reaching into your pocket, taking your money that you earned and spending it for you.
Should you not at least find out what they are spending it on?

What? No time to do that? Don’t know where to look?

That’s fair. Shouldn’t your congress rep or your senator let you know? or the press?
Yea, they should.

Theoretically, your elected federal officials are supposed to represent you, and you would think the least they can do is let you know what they are spending money on and why?

And the press. Isn’t that their job?

Good luck on waiting for either one of those to inform you.

How about a retired nerd with free time on his chicken-raising hands? Yup!
I read the whole thing. I cannot possibly tell you all the stuff, but I can start by telling the big stuff. Here you go:

OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL-PART 1: AGRICULTURE

The first thing to know is that the word omnibus explains the structure of the bill. This is not one budget that applies to the entire Federal government. It is a series of separate budgets that apply to the major agencies of the federal government. Agriculture has its budget. The Department of Justice has its. The Department of Homeland security has its and so on.

I will deal with each budget separately in the upcoming articles. I start with the budget that pertains to Agriculture.

The overall title to this “budget” with all the different component parts is called the “CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT,2022. H. R 2471(principal sponsor Hakeem Jeffries)
Three top spending items:

1.$140,440,868,000 for “necessary expenses to carry out the Food and Nutrition act of 2008(7 u.s.c.2011 et seq)”

That’s it. 140 billion dollars allocated by Congress to the Department of Agriculture to spend in support of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. Congress just turned over a ton of money without limitations to be spent by the folks at the Department of Agriculture according to whatever they feel they have discretion to-do.

Can you name a single person at the Department of agriculture who has been given the authority to do this?

In perspective, NHPR, on June 22, 2021, stated that the entire New Hampshire state budget “over the biennium” is $13.5 billion. Our Governor set forth the details of this budget in a detailed report. Our General court held hearings and voted on the budget. The Executive council did its review and approval.

The Department of Agriculture got 140 billion plus with no hearings, No budget detail, and not a single member of congress read any specifics as to how the money was to be spent. Nor will they.

So, what is the FOOD AND NUTRITION ACT OF 2008?
Yea, I read that too.

This law is designated as 7 USC 2011 et seq. (et seq is a lawyer’s way of saying that 2011 is the first in a series of numbers. In this case, the last number is 2036.)

This law, to summarize, says that “low-income “people suffer from bad nutrition, and that fact is bad for the country as a whole. Therefore, the Government is going to improve the nutrition of poor people by supplementing their food budgets. ( i. e. give them money to buy food.)

Not everybody is eligible. People whose income is below the poverty level are eligible. Disabled people are eligible. That includes people with mental disabilities. (I exaggerate when i say that half of Palm Springs is on mental disability. I employed an expert brain damage expert on one of my many brain damage cases who rewrote the definition of mental disability for SSI purposes: it’s basically anyone who feels they cannot work because they have anxiety or fear, or God knows what mental issue.)

You might ask: how many such poor people are there? 140 billion dollars would feed a ton of people. Do we really have that many?
I cannot find any data to answer that but I do know this:
When I lived in California, I figured that the State had about 45 million illegal aliens. Illegal, meaning they came into the USA without going thru the legal processes.

Many of these folks had been there for ten years, Twenty years. One guy I knew was 78 and came there when he was 6. I got to know quite a few, and I have to say that, by and large most of them were better Americans than those born here: hard-working, industrious, self-taught, self-motivated, and skilled.

But a ton of them were getting Government payments that boggled my mind. The day an illegal sets forth on California soil, he or she got a check for $3600 dollars. Yea, I saw the check.

Nearly every illegal I interacted with had an EBT card–which is essentially a money-loaded atm type card that they could use for food purchases.

One of my clients in Compton, California, was a Greek businessman who ran a stand-alone hamburger stand. He thrived because he took EBT(you are not supposed to use them at restaurants unless you prove that there is no available market etc., nearby.) This was Compton–every one of the markets got shut down by riots and crime.

If you go back to the Food and Nutrition act and take a look, Illegal aliens are eligible to receive food assistance under the act if the Attorney General has decided not to deport them or they are in the USA under 207/208 of the Immigration and Nationalization act( i e they claim asylum or are a refugee.)

Checking the most current official records, there are 11 million old and 5 million new illegals (since Biden took office). Unofficially, I have seen estimates of double and even triple the official numbers. I tend to think the unofficial numbers more accurate.

Ok, so I guess 140 billion divided up among 40-45 million folks who walked into our country illegally explains why we need 140 billion dollars for food supplements. Thank God we have some folks in Washington looking out for the needs of the country.

2.$30,000,000,000 for “UNSUBSIDIZED GUARNTEED LOANS.”(That’s the exact wording.)

Under the heading” Rural Housing Service,” the omnibus budget authorizes the Secretary, in his discretion, to fund title v of the “Housing act of 1949.”

Yea, I read the “Housing act of 1949.”

It was enacted under Truman. The intent was to modernize cities by tearing out slums and loaning money to families so they could buy houses where the slums used to be. Of course, it is a resounding success–just look at any of our cities. No slums there, and everybody owns their own home. Right?

But the pertinent section for this article is section 5. Keep in mind-$30,000,000,000 to section 5 of this act.

Section 5 says that anyone who is a farmer, who can show that he or she is living on a farm and whose house is “in need of repair” or is “unsanitary ” or their tenants or employees have either no homes to live or ARE LIVING IN HOUSES NEEDING REPAIR OR WHICH ARE UNSANITARY can get a 33-year loan at maximum 4 % interest to either build, repair or expand the residence. In addition, if a farmer wants to expand his/her property, the money can be used to buy new land. (Note: if the secretary of Agriculture determines that it makes sense to forgive the loan, he can turn it into a grant whenever he feels like it.)

Question: how much run-down farmland is there? $30,000,000,000?

Oh, wait. When I was in California, I represented a large number of cases where illegal aliens were brought in to work on California’s enormous farmlands.
Not atypical was the horrible nature of the housing provided. I really thought the system akin to a form of slavery: “if you want to work and provide for your family, shut up about anything you don’t like, or I will deport you” was the common report from most of the folks I knew.

In the city of Santa Ana, illegal alien families lived in garages attached to houses. The city said it was ok so long as there was a hose, a bucket, and one light bulb. The going rate for a two-car garage was $1100 dollars in 2017 dollars. But you could only have six people live there.

When you get out into the fields–the millions of acres of farmland-the employees (the farm workers) lived in camps. I defended two farmers in the Imperial Valley during the teamster/United Farmworkers strike-war. They had no place for their workers to live, so they just let them camp along tree lines or fence lines. No toilets. No stoves. No roofs to sleep under. Truly treated like third-class animals.

Could it possibly be that the $30,000,000,000 is earmarked for Farmers who, although quite wealthy, have tenants/farm workers (such as the 5 million recent aliens that just crossed the border looking for work.)?

Under this housing act, this money is to be spent in rural areas to bring modern, high-density housing to “poor people” who simply prove that they are homeless and cannot afford a home or that they live in a rundown house, and they don’t have the dough to fix it up. Hollis is rural. I think. Does that mean that the farmers in town can say that they need to fix their properties need to build high-density housing for their workers–maybe on Broad street?

Personally, I doubt that the “bigger” farmers in Hollis would do that. But I can think of a whole group of organizations that could be “third-party sponsors” who would not flinch as doing it.

Oh, and guess what: third-party sponsors can obtain the loans for the benefit of the recently arrived illegals.

The real import of this allocation is, I think, to allow big Corporations that own the ginormous farming operations to get subsidies for their businesses.

It’s $30,000,000,000 to fix run-down farmhouses. Or build new ones. Or buy more land.

Wait? Isn’t that the WEF agenda 21: buy up all the farmland and move all the “useless” idiots into high-density housing in the urban areas?
Yikes!

3.$6,500,000,000 for “rural direct electric loans” and $2,000,000,000 for “fossil fuel electric generating plants that have carbon subsurface utilization and storage”

Again–that is the language. The federal government is handing out 8 billion dollars on this language. No itemization. No accounting. No explanation–just here you go!

The $6.5 billion is allocated to fund the “Rural Electrification Act of 1936.” Yea, I read it.

It provides direct loans to individuals, corporations, or municipal/county/state agencies to build electricity distribution and generation in rural areas. It also extends the loan program to phone and broadband systems.

I see no requirement that an applicant be poor.

Why is the federal Government extending loan cost loans to big wealthy Corporations and to electrical utility companies just because they are in rural areas.
I don’t know.

What I do know is that Black Rock/Vanguard/ State Street (COLLECTIVELY MANAGING OVER 31 TRILLION IN ASSETS) HAVE BOUGHT UP AND ARE CONTINUING TO BUY UP UTILITY COMPANIES AND ELECTRICAL GENERATING PLANTS.

In a prior article re EVERSOURCE I explained how Eversource divested itself of all of its generating plants and now buys its electricity from Companies owned by these three entities. They own the nuclear power plant in New Hampshire. They own the three top providers of electricity available in New Hampshire.

In addition, take note that an additional $2,000,000,000 is allocated to create, expand, repair or upgrade “Fossil” burning fuel electrical generating plants that can utilize subsurface storage of carbon. The only entity that I know that has such underground carbon storage is Bill Gates. Remember, no need to show poverty to get this money.

Conclusion: At the start of this article, I suggested that by reading this article, you would discover a way for the elderly lady I mentioned to buy those expensive steaks. I have done that:

1. Divest yourself of all assets over the poverty line and get sick; or disabled.
2. Renounce your American citizenship. Cross into Mexico. Get a Mexican passport and return to the USA illegally, crying “Asylum! Asylum!”
3. Get adopted by Larry Fink or Bill Gates.

If those don’t work…well, maybe try chicken.

The post Omnibus Budget Bill: I Actually Read It! appeared first on Granite Grok.

I am running out of words to describe the utter stupidity that I see happening to American Society. While everyone has the right to express themselves, the Left’s battle to remove “shame” from our daily lexicon puts these people (that is, if they don’t identify as “Furries”, I guess) in front of us. And they really don’t care what they say they are EXCEPT to demand that everyone else accept and affirm their mental illness.

Think about it – what is a “Trans Lesbian”?  Yeah, a man that likes women. Like the rest of us Normal guys. No, I’m not a “cis” anything – I’m a straight guy that is no longer putting up with all these made-up words simply for ridiculous sexual/political purposes?  It’s just absurdity on display (as always, reformatting and emphasis mine):

• The transgender movement attacks lesbians

One of the big mistakes that gays (as in men) and lesbians (as in women) made was to embrace the so-called transgender movement. Gays and lesbians are about same-sex attraction, a psycho-emotional pull that has been around since time immemorial. By contrast, the so-called transgender movement essentially says that lesbians are actually men, while gays are really women.

Sorry, lesbians, you’re gonna have to like or you’re a bigot. The entitlement of these dudes! pic.twitter.com/zhNNbzbFip

— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) December 27, 2022

…This time, interestingly, the label next to the buzzer read “John Doe.” And when her father answered the door, he looked once again like her father: No makeup and the male clothes she was so used to seeing him in. She asked, “What happened to the sex change surgery?”

“Well, it was this way,” he explained. Before I started the hormones and surgery, I realized that I wasn’t a woman trapped in a man’s body. What I really am is a lesbian trapped in a man’s body, and I have much more success with women when they think I’m a man.”

Oy! And I do have to wonder what lesbians are thinking when they are called “cis lesbians” – is THAT a contradiction of definitions as well, just highly bent out of shape? It’s like Cloward and Piven being applied to our language at this point – to break and shatter our system.

We here at the ‘Grok need an expert on the Federal Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) as I don’t know the ins and out of it to know if this even makes sense:

• Teachers exempt from Freedom of Information Act, court rules – experts warn parents should be concerned about public school transparency

Earlier this month, Michigan’s Oakland County Circuit Court ruled that schoolteachers are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the ruling raises concerns over public school transparency.

Judge Jacob James Cunningham determined on December 15 that public school teachers are exempt from producing school-related documents in response to FOIA requests because they are not considered “public bodies” and, therefore, their documents are not considered “public records.”

…Litkouhi argued that the district has refused to provide her with certain course materials for the class “History of Ethnic and Gender Studies,” thereby violating FOIA law.

“It is incredibly disappointing that the district continues to refuse to be transparent and has stonewalled my efforts to learn more about what is being taught in the classroom,” Litkouhi stated.

…”Schools must make curricula available to parents under Michigan law,” said Steve Delie, director of open government and transparency at the Mackinac Center. “Despite this, Rochester schools has repeatedly failed to fulfill this legal obligation. It shouldn’t take months of back and forth, hundreds of dollars and a lawsuit just to see what is being taught in your community.”

• Teacher uses ‘gender unicorn’ to instruct preschoolers on sexual orientation – and encourages other educators to incorporate gender ideology into classroom instruction

During a labor union workshop presentation last year, an early childhood teacher admitted to using a “gender unicorn” in her classroom to discuss gender identity and sexual orientation with preschoolers, Fox News Digital reported. The educator also advised the teachers watching her presentation to introduce gender ideology in their classrooms.

According to Danita McCray, the presentation focused on adopting lessons about gender ideology into preschool to third-grade classrooms.

“Now, early childhood is 0 to 8 years old, so that’s kind of like from preschool to third grade. … And the focus … of this workshop is to provide you with positive strategies to support transgender and gender non-conforming children,” McCray said in the recorded workshop.

…”You can download them, and you can talk to them about it. And of course, it’s age appropriate,” McCray claimed. “And even at five years old, you can ask them, are you a girl or boy? … and you explain that to them. Yes, you were born a girl or boy, but you may not feel that way.”

Again, PRESCHOOLERS?  Kids that barely know how to go to the bathroom on their own and they are expected to know about sexuality? No, this is taking advantage their young age – and their parents assuming that teachers would never do this!

And we’re back to porn again:

• ‘PORN can be GOOD if sex ed is good’: Former sex ed teacher defends ‘porn literacy’ for kids

Fonte, who resigned from the elite Dalton Prep School in Manhattan in 2021 after outraged parents complained about the educator’s alleged “porn literacy workshop” for first-graders, argued in the video that “porn can be good if sex ed is good.”

Fonte asserted that there are “artistic liberties that we want people in the creative world and, specifically, in the entertainment industry that is pornography to have the ability to exercise. But it’s on us to create commentary and discourse around it, and if we’re in a sex-negative world, yeah, porn’s gonna be bad because kids are defaulting to that to learn about their bodies … but that doesn’t mean it’s the porn industry’s fault.”

Your daily report of the pedophiles/groomers/teachers union.

"Porn can be good as sex ed"
Justine Ang Fonte

"We can change the world through sex ed"
Christine Harley, the chair for
EducateUS

Plus, porn made in the classroom.https://t.co/NN2Unxu8YH pic.twitter.com/jSXt6pM7Nu

— EB (@_Tweetiez) November 13, 2022

As another tweet said: “This has to be a joke. Right?

And we also get to revisit W. Virginia vs EPA on the overreach of the Federal government: bureaucracy overstepping it’s authority by simply changing definitions on its own instead of waiting on the Legislative branch to either alter or pass a new law:

• Federal Judge Strikes Down A Key Part Of President Biden’s Transgender Agenda

A federal judge has reversed a Biden Administration rule that directed the Department of Health and Human Services to increase access to sex change surgeries and hormone therapies, including to children, in a Friday ruling. Biden’s HHS said in May 2021 that it would interpret a section of the Affordable Care Act, which bars doctors from discriminating on the basis of sex, as covering sexual orientation and gender identity. Two doctors represented by the America First Legal Foundation brought a class action lawsuit against the Biden administration after the HHS took the action, arguing that the rule would interfere with their ability to properly practice medicine.

The judge argued that the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX to include “gender identity,” was faulty and could not be changed until Congress passed a law to that effect, or the Supreme Court ruled otherwise.

• Here’s Some Required Reading For Gender-Confused Teen Girls Before They Remove Their Breasts

The New York Times ran a chipper story Monday about the glamour of teenage girls removing their breasts to, as the paper put it, “better align their bodies with their experience of gender.” Surely there’s no better way to enhance a child’s life than to indulge their thoroughly considered ideas about “the experience of gender.” I can’t think of any!

“Because breasts are highly visible, they can make transitioning difficult and cause intense distress for these teenagers, fueling the demand for top surgeries,” the Times said. “Small studies have shown that many transgender adolescents report significant discomfort related to their breasts, including difficulty showering, sleeping and dating. As the population of these adolescents has grown, top surgery has been offered at younger ages.” At least, it included that such studies on transgender adolescents are “small.”

…Gallagher should probably be in prison, but if teenage girls distressed about their sex are going to be led to believe even for a moment that hacking off their breasts, rendering them permanently incapable of ever breastfeeding, is a good idea, there’s some literature that might interest them.

First, The Atlantic’s extensive report in 2018 on children experiencing gender dysphoria. One young girl profiled by the magazine was 14-year-old “Claire” (not her real name), who recalled having internalized feelings that she was male. She had pleaded for her parents to help her find hormone therapy, and she eventually asked them to support her in undergoing a double mastectomy to remove her breasts. The feelings grew over the course of several years, but one day in late 2017, Claire looked in the mirror and realized that the changes she was making to her appearance, which by that point was considerably more masculine, weren’t helping her feelings of anxiety and depression.

“I was still miserable, and I still hated myself,” she said. With more consideration, she determined that at their core, her feelings were driven by an inability to fit in with many of the girls she knew at school. But in time, she found some who shared her interests. “It was kind of sudden when I thought, ‘You know, maybe this isn’t the right answer — maybe it’s something else,’” she said. “But it took a while to actually set in that yes, I was definitely a girl.”

I can’t think of any better way either to hack off perfectly functional organs because of a mental illness condition.

But there are times when pushback starts to show itself:

• Florida Christian school says it will refer to students only by ‘biological gender,’ asks gay and transgender students to leave
  Grace Christian School in Valrico told parents in an email that they “have to agree to all policies and procedures” before their child can start school.

A religious school in Florida says it will only refer to students by their sex assigned at birth, while pupils who are gay, transgender or gender nonconforming “will be asked to leave the school immediately.” NBC News obtained an email from Grace Christian School in Valrico, about 20 miles east of Tampa, sent before the beginning of the school year by Administrator Barry McKeen.

…The June 6 correspondence to parents cited scripture and said that students will be referred to by the “gender on their birth certificates” during the school year beginning this month. While the email refers to “biological gender,” the National Institute of Health defines “gender” as a social construct, as opposed to “sex,” which is the biological difference between females and males.

“We believe that God created mankind in His image: male (man) and female (woman), sexually different but with equal dignity,” the email said.

“Therefore, one’s biological sex must be affirmed and no attempts should be made to physically change, alter, or disagree with one’s biological gender — including, but not limited to, elective sex reassignment, transvestite, transgender, or non-binary gender fluid acts of conduct (Genesis 1:26-28). Students in school will be referred to by the gender on their birth certificate and be referenced in name in the same fashion.”

It continued: “We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgender identity/lifestyle, self-identification, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful in the sight of God and the church (Genesis 2:24; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1; I Corinthians 6:9; I Thessalonians 4:2-7).”

Yeah, well, there are a lot of us that don’t agree with that “social contract” – and why do we have to follow someone else’s idea as if it was Law?

And no, I don’t believe the Democrats either:

• Democrats Aren’t Fooling Anyone With Their Lies About Indoctrinating Children

The post How Much More Delusional Thinking is Society Supposed to Put Up With: Trans Lesbian – Stack of Stuff #35 appeared first on Granite Grok.

To all those who are sending in memes, thank you!  Keep them coming please, as it helps me gather weaponry to fight the Left.  Please do share this post, and if you share an individual meme, consider mentioning you saw it on the Grok!

Speaking of, from this week, Monday Memes and Meme Overflow.  Also don’t forget Survival Sunday feature, now in two parts:  PREP edition and SITREP edition.

 

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

 

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Brought to you by Bill Whittle.  Worth a subscription to keep him going.

 

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Brings to mind this video:

 

 

Deep down, Democrats and Liberals are racists, keeping blacks and others on the vote plantation:

 

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One wonders… was he bribed?  Threatened?  Both?  Or a mole all the way through, planted to stab at the right time?  Or was it “merely” that he didn’t want to be the one to set the precedent, and have his name associated with the furor that would ensue?

 

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Sanitation, clean water, and an understanding of germ theory did wonders.  SHTF will bring them back, I fear.  Not as badly – we know better than then – but still…

 

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It’s my understanding that he said this some time ago.  If I’m correct, I’m wondering if – after loads of new evidence has come out about no testing for stopping transmission, etc. – he has changed his mind.  Supposedly this woman has as well:

 

 

The above was then, this is now:

CNN medical analyst who said the unvaccinated should not be able to travel changes her tune, emphasizes benefits of natural immunity – TheBlaze

Which begs the question of why she changed.  Was it truly a change, or a CYA move as the data trend is towards the harms the Jabs can do.

But more broadly, this goes to show you how easily people can turn on their fellows when propagandized and made afraid.  And, per Huxley, given the chance to mistreat others and call it virtuous:

“The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”

~ Aldous Huxley

 

 

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And this is why America is now dead.  The stench of corruption and multiple levels of standards is so putrid, anyone with three brain cells that talk with each other grasps that when one is in the “in crowd” one can get away with things that normal people cannot.  And nobody with a scintilla of love for America as it was, even 30-40 years ago, will fight for it.

That, of course, is the intent.  To so demoralize anyone who loves America that they’ll give up.

 

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Pick of the Post:

 

 

All those yearning for “real Communism” have no idea what they’ll actually get.

 

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Coda:

 

 

Why are all the images of people being urged to have less or no children white?  Asking for a friend.

 

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Palate Cleansers:

 

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

UNH typically gets good marks from groups like FIRE for free speech that, in my opinion, they do not deserve. UNH may put policies in writing that sell a commitment to open and free expression, but the entire campus culture stands on the intolerance baked into identity politics.

Like most universities, UNH is (likely) letting a form of street justice decide what “free” means, the way the groups like BLM and Antifa intimidate while Democrats look away or pretend it is not their agenda being advanced.

This brings us to the Student Bar Association (SBA) at UNH.

 

 

First Liberty accused the SBA of acting as an “inquisitor” when examining the club’s application, instead of providing its “routine, administrative approval.” The Christian Legal Society, approved two months prior, faced similar issues in obtaining official recognition, First Liberty wrote, showing a pattern of bias. …

The SBA “viewed with suspicion” the Free Exercise Coalition’s “mission.” The SBA also “fomented public discussion that labeled the group as bigoted, subversive, oppressive, and a general ‘problem’ for UNH,” First Liberty wrote in its letter.

“Further, this shocking, knives-out inquisition of the Free Exercise Coalition’s religious beliefs by the SBA led the Free Exercise Coalition’s faculty advisor to withdraw,” according to the letter.

 

What is their mission (Article 1)?

 

The Free Exercise Coalition is positioned to equip religious students in their free exercise of religion, both on and off campus. The organization is an open member coalition of religious students and their allies, all with a passion to see America’s foundational religious freedoms be restored and respected. Through scholarship, service and education, coalition members will have the opportunity to support religious liberty causes on their campus and in their communities.

 

The statement from their Board (Article 2).

In believing and subscribing to the traditional Judeo-Christian values of our founding:

I believe in the fundamental rights of religious persons to practice their religion, freely and without government intervention and hindrances.

I believe that the Constitution of the United States recognized and enumerated these fundamental rights of the free exercise of religion.

I believe that religious persons may have sincere and religious personal convictions that are unique to that person.

I believe that Judeo-Christian morality is incompatible with the killing of babies in the womb, and that the unborn has the intrinsic and legal right to life.

I believe that the sacred Judeo-Christian tradition of marriage is incompatible with same-sex marriage.

I believe that the Judeo-Christian belief system is incompatible with Transgender Ideology, and that a person is either born male or born female according to the Divine’s decree.

 

If this rubs the SBA the wrong way, too bad. UNH takes State and Federal dollars and is bound by laws protecting the right to free speech, association, and religious liberty. It cannot legally prohibit a club that meets every other requirement—a notion you’d expect the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law to grasp.

They know better, but they are dragging their feet anyway.

 

First Liberty Institute sent the demand letter to law school Dean Shane Cooper after UNH’s Student Bar Association refused to recognize the Free Exercise Coalition, a student organization devoted to protecting religious freedom on campuses, despite the club’s adherence to all the school’s criteria for official club membership.

 

I guess we’ll wait and see what the New Year brings.

 

 

HT | The College Fix

The post Religious Intolerance at The University of New Hampshire (UNH) appeared first on Granite Grok.

Or as I put it: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need…

Oh WAIT!  I’ve never said that at all! However, this IS the problem when you allow someone to convince you to “leave it to Government” to determine “fair”. It also shows what happens when people get selfish (and I’m not talking about Harry – I would have moved).

(YouTube)

The post Prager U: Progressive: “The Progressive Income Tax: A Tale of Three Brothers” appeared first on Granite Grok.

The National Institute for Health’s National Library of Medicine has a 2019 research report that should have ended the practice of public schools grooming kids into the body-bending transgender agenda.

Related: Depopulation Progs Aren’t Transing Your Kids Out Of Empathy

Local copy here.

 

Transgender patients had a statistically significant increase in prevalence for all psychiatric diagnoses queried, with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder being the most common diagnoses (31% and 12%, respectively).  …

Approximately 58% of transgender patients had at least one DSM-5 diagnosis compared with 13.6% of cisgender patients (p<0.0005). Transgender patients had increased prevalence for all psychiatric diagnoses queried (Table 1), with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder being the most common diagnoses (31% and 12%, respectively). There was also an increased lifetime prevalence of bipolar disorder (11%) and psychotic disorders (4.7% overall, 2.5% for schizophrenia and 2.2% for schizoaffective disorder) in transgender adults. Ten percent of transgender adults had a history of a substance use disorder, including 4.2% for alcohol and 3.8% for cannabis.

 

We also know that even in the most accepting of societies, people in the LGBTQ community have increased suicidal ideation, health issues, and substance abuse.

 

Puberty blockers, for example, can kill kids. Transed kids are more likely to experience anxiety and attempt and succeed at suicide. Even in the most caring communities, they are more likely to smoke and abuse drugs and alcohol. These issues are endemic in the community.

 

In other words, the schools are not doing them a favor. The entire culture leaves a trail of bodies behind it longer than the Clintons. Almost 6 out of ten will spend most of life with mental health issues, all of which are troubling, with more than a few that are dangerous to others.

Related: Canadian “Coloring Book” Normalizes Assisted Suicide for Children

Based on the cited research, mental illness is 4.5 times more prevalent than in the ‘cis-gendered’ population.

And for what? Something that has nothing to do with academics and doesn’t belong in a public school.

 

 

The post The Public Schools are Grooming Your Kid for a Lifetime of Anxiety and Depression appeared first on Granite Grok.