We are approaching critical mass, the point at which all hell breaks loose. The government is pushing us ever closer to a constitutional crisis.

“What if the rights and principles guaranteed in the Constitution have been so distorted in the past 200 years as to be unrecognizable by the Founders? What if the government was the reason we don’t have a Constitution anymore? What if freedom’s greatest hour of danger is now?”—Andrew P. Napolitano

What makes the outlook so much bleaker is the utter ignorance of the American people—and those who represent them—about their freedoms, history, and how the government is supposed to operate.

As Morris Berman points out in his book Dark Ages America, “70 percent of American adults cannot name their senators or congressmen; more than half don’t know the actual number of senators, and nearly a quarter cannot name a single right guaranteed by the First Amendment. Sixty-three percent cannot name the three branches of government. Other studies reveal that uninformed or undecided voters often vote for the candidate whose name and packaging (e.g., logo) are the most powerful; color is apparently a major factor in their decision.”

More than government corruption and ineptitude, police brutality, terrorism, gun violence, drugs, illegal immigration or any other so-called “danger” that threatens our nation, civic illiteracy may be what finally pushes us over the edge.

As Thomas Jefferson warned, no nation can be both ignorant and free.

Unfortunately, the American people have existed in a technology-laden, entertainment-fueled, perpetual state of cluelessness for so long that civic illiteracy has become the new normal for the citizenry.

It’s telling that Americans were more able to identify Michael Jackson as the composer of a number of songs than to know that the Bill of Rights was the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

In fact, most immigrants who aspire to become citizens know more about national civics than native-born Americans. Surveys indicate that a majority in every state but Vermont would fail a test of U.S. citizenship questions.

Not even the government bureaucrats who are supposed to represent us know much about civics, American history and geography, or the Constitution although they take an oath to uphold, support and defend the Constitution against “enemies foreign and domestic.”

For instance, a few year ago, a couple attempting to get a marriage license was forced to prove to a government official that New Mexico is, in fact, one of the 50 states and not a foreign country.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Here’s a classic example of how surreal the landscape has become.

Every year, the White House issues a proclamation affirming the importance of the Bill of Rights.

These proclamations pay lip service to the government’s commitment to upholding the Constitution and guarding against government abuses of power.

Don’t believe it for a second.

The government doesn’t want its abuses checked and its powers restricted.

For that matter, this is not a government that holds the Constitution in high esteem.

Indeed, we wouldn’t be in this sorry state if it weren’t for the damage inflicted in recent years on the freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights, which historically served as the bulwark from government abuse.

In the so-called named of national security, the Constitution has been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded to such an extent that what we are left with is but a shadow of the robust document adopted more than two centuries ago.

The Bill of Rights—462 words that represent the most potent and powerful rights ever guaranteed to a group of people officially—became part of the U.S. Constitution on December 15, 1791, because early Americans such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson understood the need to guard against the government’s inclination to abuse its power.

Yet the reality we must come to terms with is that in the America we live in today, the government does whatever it wants.

Make no mistake: if our individual freedoms have been restricted, it is only so that the government’s powers could be expanded at our expense.

The USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, drove a stake through the heart of the Bill of Rights, violating at least six of the ten original amendments—the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendments—and possibly the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well. The Patriot Act also redefined terrorism so broadly that many non-terrorist political activities such as protest marches, demonstrations and civil disobedience were considered potential terrorist acts, thereby rendering anyone desiring to engage in protected First Amendment expressive activities as suspects of the surveillance state.

Since 9/11, we’ve been spied on by surveillance cameras, eavesdropped on by government agents, had our belongings searched, our phones tapped, our mail opened, our email monitored, our opinions questioned, our purchases scrutinized (under the USA Patriot Act, banks are required to analyze your transactions for any patterns that raise suspicion and to see if you are connected to any objectionable people), and our activities watched.

We’ve also been subjected to invasive patdowns and whole-body scans of our persons and seizures of our electronic devices in the nation’s airports and at border crossings.

We can’t even purchase certain cold medicine at the pharmacy anymore without it being reported to the government and our names being placed on a watch list.

Government surveillance, militarized police, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, eminent domain, overcriminalization, armed surveillance drones, whole body scanners, stop and frisk searches (all sanctioned by Congress, the White House, the courts and the like), etc.: these are merely the weapons of the police state.

The power of the police state is dependent on a populace that meekly obeys without question.

Remember: when it comes to the staggering loss of civil liberties, the Constitution hasn’t changed. Rather, it is the American people who have changed.

Those who gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights believed that the government exists at the behest of its citizens. The government’s purpose is to protect, defend and even enhance our freedoms, not violate them.

It was no idle happenstance that the Constitution opens with these three powerful words: “We the people.” Those who founded this country knew quite well that every citizen must remain vigilant or freedom would be lost. As Thomas Paine recognized, “It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”

You have no rights unless you exercise them.

Still, you can’t exercise your rights unless you know what those rights are.

“If Americans do not understand the Constitution and the institutions and processes through which we are governed, we cannot rationally evaluate important legislation and the efforts of our elected officials, nor can we preserve the national unity necessary to meaningfully confront the multiple problems we face today,” warns the Brennan Center in its Civic Literacy Report Card. “Rather, every act of government will be measured only by its individual value or cost, without concern for its larger impact. More and more we will ‘want what we want, and [will be] convinced that the system that is stopping us is wrong, flawed, broken or outmoded.’”

Education precedes action.

As the Brennan Center concludes “America, unlike most of the world’s nations, is not a country defined by blood or belief. America is an idea, or a set of ideas, about freedom and opportunity. It is these ideas that bind us together as Americans and have kept us free, strong, and prosperous. But these ideas do not perpetuate themselves. They must be taught and learned anew with each generation.”

If there is to be any hope for restoring our freedoms and reclaiming our runaway government, we will have to start by breathing life into those three powerful words that set the tone for everything that follows in the Constitution: “we the people.”

People get the government they deserve.

It’s up to us.

We have the power to make and break the government.

We the American people—the citizenry—are the arbiters and ultimate guardians of America’s welfare, defense, liberty, laws and prosperity.

It’s time to stop waiting patiently for change to happen.

We must act—and act responsibly.

Get outraged, get off your duff and get out of your house, get in the streets, get in people’s faces, get down to your local city council, get over to your local school board, get your thoughts down on paper, get your objections plastered on protest signs, get your neighbors, friends and family to join their voices to yours, get your representatives to pay attention to your grievances, get your kids to know their rights, get your local police to march in lockstep with the Constitution, get your media to act as watchdogs for the people and not lapdogs for the corporate state, get your act together, and get your house in order.

In other words, get moving.

A healthy, representative government is hard work. It takes a citizenry that is informed about the issues, educated about how the government operates, and willing to make the sacrifices necessary to stay involved, whether that means forgoing Monday night football in order to attend a city council meeting or risking arrest by picketing in front of a politician’s office.

Whatever you do, please don’t hinge your freedoms on politics.

The Constitution is neutral when it comes to politics. What the Constitution is not neutral about, however, is the government’s duty to safeguard the rights of the citizenry.

“We the people” also have a duty that goes far beyond the act of voting: as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, it’s our job to keep freedom alive using every nonviolent means available to us.

Know your rights. Exercise your rights. Defend your rights. If not, you will lose them.

Freedom’s greatest hour of danger is now.

 

John W. Whitehead | Rutherford Institute

The post What If the Constitution No Longer Applied? Freedom’s Greatest Hour of Danger Is Now appeared first on Granite Grok.

One of my first acts as the Big Cheese (the only cheese), aside from having to write or find a lot more content, is to resolve a handful of wants and needs that have been niggling at the edges for (what feels like) ages.

I am referring to a subscriber/donor ad-free VIP version, a faster, cleaner site, a more intuitive search, and a better mobile experience.

We are adding “links” into the header, allowing you to sort content by region of interest. You’ll be able to ‘Grok New Hampshire, New England, The US, or the World with one link that will sort content by these categories the way you can jump to microgroks now (a feature that will continue).

We are dropping the existing underlying architecture and switching to something cleaner and faster. There is also discussion about dropping Disqus as the commenting system. We will still have comments, and there is a way to migrate existing comments into the new design so we do not lose any of that, but Disqus poses problems. It is woke. It removes reader comments without our say-so or yours. And not everyone wants to sign up to use it. The new ‘Grok would load even faster without the weight of it, while the default WordPress commenting system is lighter and more than adequate.

Dropping Disqus is not a done deal, but it is on the table. I’d appreciate input from the commenters who use it before I decide one way or the other.

Non-Disqus users should know you can use the WordPress commenting system without registering. You can comment as a guest by providing your email address, which will alert you when someone replies to your remarks. Registration is not required, and my inclination is to keep it that way unless the spam and trolling get out of hand.

And because our audience is both national and global, we will keep the appeal of a state-level blog and a focus on local and regional stories but attempt a feel that is a bit broader. In other words, we are tweaking the mechanics of the site to catch up to what has been an editorial state of being for many years.

The layout will not change much, if at all, but we are also resolving issues with the MicroGroks along the way. The current version does not permit you to load more content despite the button that exists to do that. This function will now work.

We are dropping GrokTALK! as a separate page/environment. Most of that content is offloaded and offline, so the links don’t work, and everything these days is video/podcasting, all of which will be curated under GrokTV! moving forward.

In other news, I am working on expanding VermontGrok, and I have a line on at least one young female conservatarian author – a demographic we need and want to attract – and there are a few other surprises coming.

As always, this stuff costs money, so I can’t end without asking for your continued and ongoing support. The Donate page stays, and you can use it to give with credit or debit through GiveSendGo (no transaction fees) or PayPal. We also have a Stripe account, and I will add that option soon.

If you’d like to send a check, email me (steve@granitegrok.com) for the address (that has changed).

 

 

The post The Next Generation of ‘Grok! … appeared first on Granite Grok.

New US House Speaker Mike Johnson struck a blow for liberty and justice last week when he finally authorized the release of all the tapes from the January 6, 2021 “insurrection.” We were told by no less than President Biden himself that this was the “worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”

The FBI was unleashed by the Biden Administration to hunt down hundreds of participants in this “insurrection” and lock them up in the gulag where they awaited trial in torturous conditions – many in solitary confinement.

A Congressional Committee was set up under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi to “get to the bottom” of the “Trump-led insurrection.” It did not include a single Representative nominated by the opposition Republican Party, but rather two “Republicans” – Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – who could be relied on by Pelosi and the Democrats to toe the line.

In short, the whole thing was an old-fashioned Soviet show trial, where the evidence was kept secret and the pre-determined verdict – guilty – was to be used to tighten the grip of the ruling regime and intimidate any further dissenters into silence. The message was clear: “speak out against the ‘perfection’ of the 2020 election and you may find yourself in the gulag along with the insurrectionists.”

It was terrifying and profoundly anti-American.

And, as we finally can see for ourselves thanks to Speaker Johnson, it was a huge lie. The new video shows demonstrators shaking hands with police officers once they entered the Capitol Building. They were welcomed into the building by officers who even held the doors for them to enter! They had no way of knowing that they would soon be rounded up and locked away.

Does that mean no crimes were committed on January 6th? Not at all. The tapes already released were carefully chosen to single out examples of violence and other possible criminality. But the full release of the tapes demonstrates beyond a doubt that the endless propaganda that this was a coordinated attempt to overthrow the government was false.

And as for that violence and mayhem on January 6th? How much of it was instigated by undercover FBI agents? New footage clearly shows officers outside the building firing on protestors with no warning. That must be why, in hearing after hearing, Biden Administration officials like Attorney General Merrick Garland have refused to tell Congress the number of federal agents present and their roles in instigating violence.

The release of this evidence should immediately result in the release of all non-violent protestors awaiting trial or serving their sentences. Those in power responsible for promoting this lie should take their places in the jail cells.

This delayed justice will not help protesters like Matthew Perna, however. Though the new video release clearly shows him calmly walking inside the Capitol in the presence of unconcerned police officers, when Merrick Garland’s Department of “Justice” announced they would seek terrorism charges against him, Perna, in despair, decided to hang himself in his garage.

Yes, there was an insurrection of sorts. Those in power hated Donald Trump so much that they were willing to torture and even murder their fellow Americans to keep him from the presidency. Unless these people are brought to justice, we will have no Republic left to defend.

 

 

Ron Paul | Ron Paul Institute

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

The post We Must Demand Justice for the January 6th Protestors! appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Climate Cult’s illuminating lights have clearly defined for us what the ‘Change’ in Climate Change means. They will change anything about the narrative to keep the fear alive (and the money flowing), even when it makes them look like idiots in the process.

There are scores of examples where some catastrophic prognostication failed not only to appear but came not even close. An Ice-free Arctic, flooded coastlines, and cities underwater. A Biblical rise in the frequency and severity of storms or insects or plagues (the latter being, in fact, about higher taxes and more regulations about CO2 not from it).

Fifteen years ago, former NASA ‘expert’ James Hansen, who got every one of his other predictions wrong, announced that were approaching a tipping point.

 

Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world’s only hope is drastic action.

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the “dangerous level” for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth’s atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.”

 

There is more CO2 and it still only amounts to a fraction of a fraction of the atmosphere. Rather than destroy ecosystems, it has expanded them, greening the earth in places that had not supported plant life or farming for a long time.

 

“We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes,” Hansen told the AP before the luncheon. “The Arctic is the first tipping point and it’s occurring exactly the way we said it would.”

 

Except that it wasn’t, and it hasn’t. But the lie continues, affording life to narratives from the likes of Progressives hellbent on destroying the Western Lifestyle for everyone but themselves.

And until they replace their thousand-dollar shoes for the sandals of a beggar and designer suits with homespun rags, they should be laughed at and ignored – and removed from positions of power as quickly as can be legally managed.

 

The post Fifteen Years After Another Climate Tipping Point Speech… appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Biden administration is pushing for widespread electrification in less than 20 years through government subsidies and coercive regulations as part of its aggressive climate agenda. The truth is that President Joe Biden’s goals are an illusion at the expense of the American people.

While EV proponents try to claim that EVs will soon be cheaper than gasoline vehicles, our new research demonstrates that EVs benefitted from hidden subsidies that total nearly $50,000 per EV.

Who is footing that bill? Gasoline vehicle owners, taxpayers, and utility ratepayers are.

Electric vehicles primarily benefit from regulatory credits and generous fuel economy standards, which average $27,881 per vehicle. EVs have been given an unlawful 6.67 multiplier to their rated fuel economy, so an EV with a rated fuel economy of 100 miles per gallon is credited as if it is getting 667 miles per gallon. What’s more, the EPA’s proposed fuel economy standards are designed to require that 67% of new passenger cars sold be all-electric by 2032, demonstrating a clear government preference toward EVs without proper consideration of costs and benefits.

For gasoline vehicles, the price you see at the gas pump covers the cost of extracting, refining and transporting the gasoline, but the same cannot be said for the cost of charging an EV. EVs require new charging infrastructure, and their large power draw increases the strain on electricity infrastructure. As our research highlights, a typical EV charging overnight at home consumes as much power as several homes, and an EV charging at a fast-charging station in 30 minutes consumes as much power as a small to medium-sized grocery store. A few extra EVs in the neighborhoods are manageable, but widespread EV adoption will require significant and expensive grid upgrades.

Adding insult to injury, EV owners alone aren’t shouldering these increased electricity costs, which average $11,833 per vehicle over ten years. Until a utility starts charging EV owners for the extra infrastructure costs to serve them, those costs are shared among all the utility’s customers. Residential electricity costs across the U.S. have risen 20% over the last three years, and a rapid forced adoption of EVs will only make this problem worse.

Direct federal and state subsidies provide EVs with another $8,984 per vehicle over ten years, including the widely publicized $7,500 federal tax credit in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act and smaller state subsidies for EVs. All these subsidies, of course, are borne by the American taxpayer.

President Biden’s expensive green pipe dream is not without irony.

While the Biden administration claims that these draconian EV mandates are necessary to combat climate change, the widespread adoption of EVs in the developed world would have negligible effects on global emissions and climate. For starters, if EVs are able to displace all the carbon emissions from U.S. passenger cars, that would only cut out 20% of U.S. carbon emissions. Our calculations show that even if the U.S. eliminated all of its carbon emissions by 2050, the effect on global temperatures in 2100 would only be 0.08 degrees Celsius.

But EVs will not even get us that far because they don’t cut carbon emissions much—if at all—compared to gasoline vehicles. As pointed out by Mark Mills in a recent op-ed in Real Clear Energy, it is nearly impossible to measure an individual EV’s emissions. While driving an EV itself does not directly produce emissions, the emissions to generate the electricity used to charge EVs vary widely depending on location.

EV batteries also require fossil fuels to produce, and many components of EV batteries are made in emissions-heavy China. The emissions resulting from mining and processing the materials used in the battery are largely unreported, and the emissions during EV production could potentially be enough to wipe out the emissions saved by not combusting gasoline.

A recent study by Volvo attempts to quantify some of these factors, and the result is not rosy for EVs. The lifetime emissions of the electric version of the Volvo SUV at the center of the study are only a third less than the emissions of the gasoline version, and that is when it is charged on the carbon-light European grid. Different assumptions could lead to an EV emitting more carbon than its gasoline counterpart. The obvious conclusion is that without rapid reductions in carbon emissions from the electric grid, an equally Herculean task to EV mass adoption, EVs will continue to produce significant carbon emissions.

Emissions from gasoline vehicles are projected to decline 20% over the next decade, and hybrids, which nearly double the fuel efficiency of a gasoline vehicle with a battery that is 50-100 times smaller than an EV battery, would actually produce the least amount of lifetime emissions. But the net-zero advocates are needlessly demanding all EVs—or nothing.

EVs would also have little impact on levels of actual pollution in U.S. cities, like soot and smog because the U.S. is already a world leader in clean air. When the number of passenger cars on the road fell by half during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there was no measurable impact on air quality in the U.S. Our air pollution levels are so close to their natural state that weather has a far greater impact on pollution levels in most U.S. cities than the emissions from our vehicles.

The reality is EVs are not going away any time soon, but neither are cars in general. Americans are still driving at nearly the same rate they were before the COVID-19 pandemic—more than 3.2 trillion miles total annually. Even the addition of a few hundred million new EVs over the next decade, up from 20 million today, will only account for approximately 10-20% of all passenger vehicles globally.[GU1] [GU2] [3]  Currently, 90% of EVs in the U.S. are purchased as a second or third car, usually in addition to a gasoline vehicle. If the U.S. were to adopt the Biden administration’s preferred number of EVs, consumers would have to purchase EVs at a scale and velocity ten times greater and faster than any new model car in history.

Even this isn’t enough to achieve the left’s dystopian net-zero goals. The International Energy Agency forecasts [GU4] the number of global households without a car needs to rise from 45% today to 70% to achieve net-zero by 2050. That’s right—70% of people around the world must not have a car to meet the global elite’s climate goals. Most of the 45% of households who do not own cars are in the developing world and crave the kind of personal mobility we enjoy in the U.S. and in Europe, but net-zero will require them to remain confined forever or to rely solely on government-owned transit. Even the developed world will have to cut its driving dramatically. In California, regulators predicted [GU5] that the state’s emissions goals will require Californians to both buy EVs and reduce miles driven by 25%.

Coercing American citizens into buying EVs is simply untenable and is not truly environmentally friendly. As our research shows, EV subsidies and mandates are already costing Americans $22 billion annually, and that amount is set to rise dramatically, with particularly adverse impacts on lower-income Americans. The Biden administration would be wise to end its special treatment of EVs, prioritize the American consumer, and stop driving the U.S. auto industry off a cliff.

 

Brent Bennett, Ph.D., is the policy director for Life:Powered, an initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation to raise America’s energy IQ, and a former battery researcher and engineer. 

Andrea Hitt is a communications manager for the Texas Public Policy Foundation and previously served as communications director for Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ).

 

Brent Bennett and Andrea Hitt | RealClear Wire

The post The Biden Administration’s EV Goals Are an Expensive Fantasy appeared first on Granite Grok.

There is one thing you can count on from Democrat voters in places like Burlington, Vermont. No matter how bad it gets, they’ll believe some other Democrat can make it better (the same way they claim their socialism will work ‘this time).

Mayor Miro Weinberger is not running for re-election. We can observe this transition from one failure to the next in real-time.

As regular readers know, Burlington is Vermont’s Democrat canary in the coal mine. The center of stupid in the Green Mountain State (I know some will say it is the Democrat ghetto of Montpellier, the state capital). Burlington is where bad Democrat ideas go to find life before spreading statewide, manifesting in the predictable outcomes we have seen in every other example of long-term, almost monarchic, left-wing urban rule.

Miro’s replacements will discuss higher taxes, more crime, increased homelessness, declining services, and small-business flight as they chase a nod from their future political peasants. Things Democrats did to Burlington, assuring that – no matter who is elected, under their leadership, the burning sh!t wagon will keep rolling (to enthusiastic applause).

There are few, if any, examples of Democrats making a city better. They can spend more, tax more, spend more, and tax more, but the goal of progressive politics – whether its adherents understand this or not – is destruction. There can be no other outcome. And I’ll accept that there are any number of doe-eyed Dems who believe the rhetoric despite the evidence. They feel the Bern and then act surprised when it burns. Scrambling to find more “revenue” to throw down the holes they’ve created and can never fill, but that only makes matters worse.

It is their density!

All Gurl Diversity

No men have stepped up to run Burlington. All the current candidates are progressive women who somehow escaped the womb and rose to prominence in the progressive ranks. Three Democrats vying to challenge a progressive for the job. Talk about diversity!

Maybe that’s the hook.

A man (Miro) ran Burlington for 12 years. It’s time for a woman’s touch (whatever that is). And so, next March, the progressive peeps in the Queen City will pick a new Marxist to manage the decline and fall of their “town.”  To encourage the legislature with their embrace of bad ideas. And we’ll be here to help document it.

Knowing that there is nowhere for Burlington to go but down.

 

 

 

The post Change in Burlington: Replace Male Marxist Mayor with Female Marxist Mayor appeared first on Granite Grok.

Since its development as an integral part of genetically modified organism (GMO) cropping, glyphosate – the active weed-killing ingredient in Roundup – has attracted controversy over whether it causes human disease, particularly non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Previous jury verdicts have been split, with some finding liability and others not. Bayer, the successor to Monsanto (which developed glyphosate), settled some 125,000 cases for $10.9 million in 2020 without any acknowledgment of wrongdoing or toxicity. The recent California case of Dennis v. Monsanto Company may be a game-changer, awarding plaintiff Mike Dennis a stunning $332 million for non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) he claims was caused by Roundup.

Verdict Condemns Monsanto

The verdict is huge because, after reviewing the evidence, the jury determined that Monsanto had breached its obligations to consumers, awarding $325 million in punitive charges on top of $7 million in compensatory damages. This indicated the jury found wrongdoing on a larger scale than mere neglect or understandable error and believed Monsanto had deliberately obscured the risks to the public.

The Jury Verdict form signed Oct. 31 suggested that Monsanto knew or should have known Roundup can cause NHL when used as expected; that the company failed to adequately warn of the dangers; that scientific and medical knowledge generally accepts that Roundup risks causing NHL; and that lack of warnings was a substantial factor causing the plaintiff’s illness.

The economic stakes are astronomical: The use of glyphosate in Roundup for GMO crops has created a multibillion-dollar industry in agriculture and chemical production. If glyphosate is not dangerous, the risks to efficient agriculture and corporate profits of banning it are economically devastating. On the other hand, if glyphosate is indeed carcinogenic, the damage already done to the ecosystem and soils may be unfathomable and irreversible.

The EPA Supports Glyphosate

Glyphosate has been controversial for decades. In March 2015, the International Agency on Research on Cancer (IARC) categorized the chemical as a “probable human carcinogen” based on evidence of cancer in humans and animal experiments, concluding there was “strong evidence” of genotoxicity.

American regulatory agencies, though quick to embrace International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conclusions about carbon dioxide and anthropomorphic climate change, have balked at such denigrations of what seems to be America’s favorite corporate product. Despite the IARC’s determination and tens of thousands of lawsuits by people alleging harms from glyphosate, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains that people can keep safely ingesting it:

“Glyphosate products used according to label directions do not result in risks to children or adults … The Agency concluded that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans … EPA does not agree with IARC’s conclusion that glyphosate is ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’ … Due to its widespread use, trace amounts of glyphosate residues may be found in various fresh fruits, vegetables, cereals, and other food and beverage commodities. However, these trace amounts are not of concern for the consumer.”

On June 17, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit “vacated the human health portion of the glyphosate ID.” EPA stated that it is creating a new standard that will still approve glyphosate:

“The ID included interim risk mitigation measures in the form of label changes, including labeling to manage spray drift and herbicide resistance. It concluded that the benefits of glyphosate outweigh the potential ecological risks when glyphosate is used in accordance with the labels … EPA’s underlying scientific findings regarding glyphosate, including its finding that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans, remain the same. In accordance with the court’s decision, the Agency intends to revisit and better explain its evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate and to consider whether to do so for other aspects of its human health analysis.”

FDA Roundup Testing

Criticized for not testing foods for the chemical, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began doing so in 2016. That agency found glyphosate residues in 59% of corn and soybean samples, below what the EPA set as acceptable levels of exposure. With the herbicide now prevalent in ever more US crops, the Dennis lawsuit once again has people wondering if they’re being exposed to a deadly chemical and, if so, why America’s regulatory agencies don’t seem to care.

Bayer strongly challenged the Dennis verdict, claiming reversible error by the court. That same court just issued a permanent injunction banning California from requiring glyphosate products to be labeled with consumer warnings. As the Dennis appeal makes its way through California’s legal system, glyphosate will still be widely sprayed on American soils and crops as both a desiccant and a chemical adjunct to “Roundup Ready” GMOs. As to whether this is good or evil, the jury is still out.

 

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

The post High Stakes Dispute Over Roundup Weed Killer appeared first on Granite Grok.

In just a few short years, Canada has gone from a nation of people stereotyped as nice and polite to a nationwide concentration camp culture looking for new excuses to end lives. Medically assisted dying (MAiD), meant to help the terminally ill in chronic pain, has set its eyes on children with vaccine injuries and even babies.

The not-so-great White North passed Government managed death a few years ago (2021) and has since proposed offering it to the sick, the poor, the homeless, and those with mental illness. Last year, we reported on a coloring book meant to normalize the idea of assisted suicide in what appears to have been a marketing campaign aimed at the idea of parents legally killing their children.

Remember, Canada has socialized health care. It can not only refuse treatment to the living. It can badger them (through counseling) to consider medically assisted dying – not out of an abundance of empathy, but as a matter of good accounting. Adding anyone of any age who might cost the system more money, especially a child with a lifelong ailment, is easily reframed as just looking out for the taxpayers.

Slippery Meet Slope.

The value of human life is reduced to a budget line item on a police-state ledger, where (if not now, then soon) the Government that controls health care and decides who has a right to defend themselves and can freeze your bank account or can incarcerate you at will, explains how it is in everyone’s best interest to end a life, perhaps even your own.

Mafia Government. Absolute tyranny.

And now an official association of doctors in medically socialist Canada is publicly justifying MAiD for children and infants.

 

The Quebec College of Physicians defends its support for the practice by claiming that some babies are suffering from “unbearable pain” that only assisted suicide can quell.

What is unclear from all the support, though, is how custodial situations work in which a child is handled by two different parents who may not both be in agreement that a child’s “pain” warrants assisted suicide.

Adults, the college says, can decide for these babes, this acting as a “safeguard” between the child and attending “physicians” who are ready and waiting to kill babies for profit.

 

This could also be Canada’s answer to child abuse. Troublesome brat or medically demanding child. Euthanasia MAiD to order. Either the parents or the state as ward and caregiver can scribble up a diagnosis, approve the treatment, kill the child, harvest its organs, and look at all the good it’s done. Feel free to be horrified, but that is the direction of the culture in Canada.

Experts, who – coincidentally – are all depopulation progressives in some form – are reportedly recommending assisted suicide to relieve chronic illness or pain from vaccine injuries caused by an unnecessary government-mandated COVID-19 injection.

Are you with me yet?

I’ve been mapping out this Gestapo-like scheme for several years, and here it is, in our faces. Not some tiny progressive European country whose people are descended from generations of serfs, but Canada. Tenuous colonial ties to the British Monarchy aside, both Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia are illegal, and for good reason. Normalizing government-encouraged suicide is leading to standardizing government-encouraged euthanasia. Sure, it’s for children, but then once upon a time, Medically Assisted dying was for the terminally ill in chronic pain, and today, it is for homeless vets and people struggling economically (often) as a result of government policy. Heck, in some of these countries, you can ask to have the state help kill you if you’ve been sad for a while.

And sure, it’s Canada, not our country. I won’t travel there in case they decide that Americans should be euthanized, too. Still, places like Oregon and Vermont – my New England next-door neighbor – are on the same slippery slope (with Oregon much further down but Vermont eager to catch up) because that’s what depopulation progressives do.

The compassion argument appeals, but it is merely a foot in the door, as human nature and the history of assisted suicide attest. Governments concerned with population control are ideological descendants of social and cultural engineers who, one hundred years ago, inspired Hitler. Could he even have imagined a government that could, in the light of day, counsel undesirable segments of its population to line up to die? To convince them?

And what would stop anyone like that from using it under the cover of darkness to eliminate political opponents who wanted to live?

 

The post Slippery Meet Slope: Doctor Suggests Medically Assisted Dying for Children and Babies appeared first on Granite Grok.

The nations of the world are pursuing an unprecedented energy transition. Efforts are underway to force a shift from coal, oil, and natural gas to renewable energy sources by 2050. However key elements of the proposed transition suffer from major safety issues, specifically batteries for electric vehicles and electricity storage and hydrogen fuels for industry.

Most energy sources involve safety risks. Gasoline cars can explode or burn, especially after collisions. Natural gas pipelines and processing facilities have been known to explode or combust. Nuclear power plants have caused famous disasters like Three Mile Island, Chornobyl, and Fukushima, when cooling systems have failed. But green energy is bringing a new dimension of safety problems to society.

A transition from gasoline and diesel vehicles to electric models is a major part of the green energy revolution. President Joe Biden, other political leaders, and the International Energy Agency call for electric vehicles (EVs) to completely replace internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by 2050. EVs with high-capacity batteries are a new technology that is rapidly gaining market acceptance. Automakers compete to increase EV range by introducing larger and more powerful batteries.

But battery fires may threaten the EV revolution.

Lithium batteries in cell phones and other portable electronic devices are banned from commercial airline baggage compartments because of fire risk. Batteries in electric cars contain graphite, metals, and other materials bathed in flammable electrolytes with thousands of times more energy than your cell phone battery.

Electric cars spontaneously combust. Earlier this year, a father from Elk Grove, Illinois, was about to pull onto Highway 99 when he felt his Tesla start shaking. He pulled to the side of the road and exited his car just before it burst into flames. He was unable to save the child car seats from the back of the car and was glad that his children were at home.

This summer, a Florida car owner had her vehicle in for servicing and was given a Mercedes EV as a loaner. The loaner was parked in her garage and not charging when it burst into flames. The flames and smoke caused heavy damage to her home.

BMW, Ford, GM, Hyundai, and Tesla electric cars have all experienced problems with battery fires. In the most visible case, GM recalled all 141,000 Chevrolet Bolts produced between 2016 and 2021. In August, electric truck maker Nikola announced a recall of all 209 of its heavy electric trucks because of battery fires.

In total, the rate of EV fires does not exceed the fire rate for ICE vehicles. But EVs can ignite unexpectedly when charging overnight in the garage or even when just parked in the driveway, locations where gasoline-powered cars typically don’t catch fire.

Battery fires are very hard to extinguish. They can burn for hours while fire departments douse them with water and even re-ignite after the fire appears to be out. Some fire departments have resorted to lifting the flaming EV and dropping it into a huge tank of water to extinguish the flames.

Grid-scale batteries are being deployed by utilities in Australia, the U.S., and other nations. These are huge batteries that provide electricity storage to back up wind and solar facilities. When wind and solar systems generate excess electricity, it can be stored in batteries and released when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining. But grid-scale batteries also have issues with self-ignition.

Today, grid-scale batteries store only about one-millionth of the electricity that the world uses annually, but many of the few batteries that have been deployed already have suffered major fires. Batteries have burst into flames in Arizona, California, New York, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Grid-scale battery fires result from thermal runaway caused by mechanical damage, poor air conditioning, or overcharging.

What is the current leading cause of accidental fires in New York City? The answer isn’t cooking or smoking. It’s fires caused by e-bike lithium batteries. Batteries on e-bikes spontaneously burst into flames when charging or just sitting idle. After ignition, the batteries burn with high heat and set fire to storage areas or whole buildings, sometimes killing or injuring residents.

According to the New York City Fire Department, e-bike fires jumped from 44 in 2020 to more than 200 this year. The fires caused 10 deaths and over 200 injuries in the city during the past two years.

Green hydrogen, produced from electrolysis of water, is also proposed as a new fuel for the energy transition. Leaders call for a hydrogen economy to reduce emissions and fight global warming. Hydrogen is touted as a transportation fuel and a replacement for natural gas and coal in heavy industry. More than $280 billion in subsidies have been committed globally to develop green hydrogen.

But hydrogen exists in nature only in compounds. Pure hydrogen is very reactive and takes only a low level of energy in the presence of oxygen to burst into flames. The world’s rush to deploy hydrogen fuel may become a major safety hazard.

In 1937, the airship Hindenburg exploded in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The explosion ended 35 years of efforts to deploy hydrogen airships. More than two dozen airships exploded from 1908 to 1937 from accidental hydrogen fires, killing hundreds of passengers and crew. The world decided hydrogen airships were too hazardous to continue their use.

But green energy advocates now call for a network of hydrogen pipelines, public hydrogen fueling stations for vehicles, and even the use of hydrogen to heat homes. These systems will need to compress hydrogen to 700 atmospheres of pressure, making leaks probable. And unlike natural gas, hydrogen leaks are prone to spontaneous combustion and resultant explosions and fires.

Vice President Kamala Harris recently announced $1 billion in grants for electric school buses. But the number of electric bus fires around the world is growing. God forbid we start seeing spontaneous fires in electric buses full of children.

It’s clear that world leaders are ignoring the growing safety problems of green energy. But these fears are being pushed aside in favor of Climatism, the fear of human-caused global warming.

Steve Goreham is a speaker on energy, the environment, and public policy and the author of the new bestselling book Green Breakdown: The Coming Renewable Energy Failure.

Steve Goreham | Daily Caller

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

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

 

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Actual women live in fear of losing their sex-based rights at the hairy man-hands of transvestites invading their sports and safe spaces. A group of them (non-Matrix women) tried to exercise the right to protest in favor of that peacefully, but some penises showed up to beat them down for it.

 

Keith, along with the Women’s Declaration International (WDI), a group of volunteer women from across the world dedicated to protecting women’s sex-based rights, were trying to hold an event in support of women’s rights at a public library in Portland.

 

Apparently, this is not a safe space, either.

 

“We are in good spirits and remain undefeated,” Keith added. “A mob of ‘antifa’ men attacked us, pepper sprayed us in the eyes, punched us, kicked us, and stole our phones. We were attempting to have an event about male violence.”

 

 

And not just Antifa but Tranrtifa. These transgender rights activists brutally attacked and beat down these women for daring to have a different opinion than them.

 

UPDATE from WDI USA’s event in Portland: #trantifa not only vandalized the women’s cars; they also vandalized the library where the women will speak at noon.

The event will PROCEED; the #WomenWillSpeak. pic.twitter.com/V0FT2hYIgJ

— WDI.USA (@WDI_USA) November 19, 2023

 

You can’t be anything but what they want you to be. You have to be like them. There’s a message and a warning in there. I’ve seen it repeated on these pages. It is what the couch potato electorate fails to understand, even after the BLM riots. If you are silent when you should speak, there will be violence. If you talk out of turn, there will be violence.

They are not going to leave you alone. Ever.

If you are not brave now, there may never be another opportunity to push back with your voice and votes.

These women got beaten up by men for trying to protect women. What, exactly, is progressive about that?

 

 

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Yes, federal law drives up the cost of food (with tariffs on lower-cost foreign supplies–also with Marketing Orders that limit production) and drives it down (with subsidies). Grok readers want the market to determine prices.

Congress has no opinion on the price of anything, only on how best to please donors and lobbyists. A law in either direction doesn’t evidence intent.

Yes, given the substitution from sucrose to MORE EASILY DIGESTIBLE fructose, we would all get fatter, ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL. But they never are. Some of us step on the scales and adjust our diet. THINGS don’t cause MISHAPS. Not fructose, not guns, not SUVs. The wide availability of good-tasting, zero-calorie sweeteners should have made us all bony wraiths by now, except that we don’t care.

Tim Worstall at the Adam Smith Institute argues that obesity is a long-term trend fundamentally caused by so few people having to do physical labor (not even washing clothes by hand!) or living in chilly homes. But a short-term aggravator is society’s tendency toward excuse-making. Handicapped parking placards are a big reward for being fat.

Yes, the farm bill is pure racketeering, sometimes playing industry against industry, and should be opposed merely for keeping the government involved in decisions it can’t make well. But federal farm policy doesn’t cause poor health. Anyone who thinks subsidizing corn farmers is unhealthy must believe that the national ethanol boondoggle, which diverts their output to dilute our gasoline, is a health masterpiece!

 

The post Stephen Manuszak’s Column on Thanksgiving Day Is Complete Crap! appeared first on Granite Grok.

I’m back with more high-quality left-wing narratives debunking news from the global warming desk. Dateline: Wildfires. If you recall, in the spring of 2023, it seemed like wildfires would be the story of the year, as if that’s not true every year.

What we got instead were a lot of stories about econ-terrorists starting forest fires and, more domestically, a lot of rain. And despite the arson, at least in the US, the result was a record-low burn average, despite the hottest hotness – hot weather the Media advertised all summer.

Reframed: all that global warming resulted in the lowest US burn acreage this century. This can only mean that by (allegedly) emitting all that CO2, you prevented forest fires.

 

 

 

This is about one-third of the ten-year average.

And it was so low that even the manipulated data from the Feds truncated to make it look like the number of acres has been rising in recent years, can’t explain how your comfortable Western lifestyle continues to lower burn acerage.

 

 

 

The 2023 acreage is about one-third of the last year on that graph (2020)—8.7 million acres versus 2.58 million in  2023.

The ‘other’ media isn’t going to plaster that headline everywhere. “Despite Global Warming Concerns Wildfires Set Record Low for Burn Acrerage” or something.

You’ll have to do that.

We’re here to help.

 

The post Global Warming Leads to Lowest Wildfire Burn Acerage This Century … or Something appeared first on Granite Grok.

Amid these tumultuous times in the Middle East, I was pleased to learn that legislators in New Hampshire will be forming a new caucus in support of Israel, as described by founder representative James Spillane.

 

“The mission of the Nonpartisan Bicameral USA-Israel Relations Caucus is to provide a united front among like-minded legislators in both chambers of the NH State House to further legislation that enhances the strong alliance between the USA and Israel, supports the state of Israel, and to fight against anti-Israel, antisemitic, and anti-Zionist legislation.

The Caucus is open to members of all political parties, in the House and the Senate, who value our strong alliance with the democratic state of Israel, and who oppose the rising levels of antisemitic, anti-Israel hate speech.”

 

Being a strong advocate for free speech, I am wary of any campaign to eliminate “hate speech” as that is often the horse that censorship rides in on. As a state representative for both Northfield and the City of Franklin, I’m partial to the words of Benjamin Franklin:

 

“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such thing as Wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without Freedom of Speech.”an be no such thing as Wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without Freedom of Speech.” Benjamin Franklin, Letter from Silence Dogood, printed in The New England Courant, July 9, 1722.

 

Given the complexities of the conflict in the Middle East, there have been attempts to leverage historical incidents to impugn Israel’s credibility. This is something I am adamantly opposed to. Indeed, so much so that I put in a bill to create a commission to investigate the USS Liberty incident. This was a tragedy that nearly launched the United States into WWIII. It was only through the intervening hand of God that the Liberty didn’t sink.

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

In 1967, during the Six-Day War between Israel and a number of Arab countries, the USS Liberty was ordered into the Mediterranean Sea alone to conduct signals intelligence. Her mission was to listen to everything being said over the airwaves so Washington could keep track of the war. She was only armed with four .50 caliber machine guns meant to repel boarders.

 

From www.USSLibertyVeterans.org:

ON JUNE 8, 1967, while patrolling in international waters in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was savagely attacked without warning or justification by air and naval forces of the state of Israel. Of a crew of 294 officers and men (including three civilians), the ship suffered thirty four (34) killed in action and one hundred seventy three (173) wounded in action. The ship itself, a Forty Million ($40,000,000) Dollar state of the art signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform, was so badly damaged that it never sailed on an operational mission again and was sold in 1970 for $101,666.66 as scrap.

At 1400 hours, while approximately about 17 nautical miles off the northern Sinai coast and about 25 nautical miles northwest of El Arish, USS Liberty’s crew observed three surface radar contacts closing with their position at high speed. A few moments later, the bridge radar crew observed high speed aircraft passing over the surface returns on the same heading. Within a few short moments, and without any warning, Israeli fighter aircraft launched a rocket attack on USS Liberty. The aircraft made repeated firing passes, attacking USS Liberty with rockets and their internal cannons. After the first flight of fighter aircraft had exhausted their ordnance, subsequent flights of Israeli fighter aircraft continued to prosecute the attack with rockets, cannon fire, and napalm.

During the air attack, USS Liberty’s crew had difficulty contacting Sixth Fleet to request assistance due to intense communications jamming. The initial targets on the ship were the command bridge, communications antennas, and the four .50 caliber machine guns, placed on the ship to repel boarders. After the Israeli fighter aircraft completed their attacks, three Israeli torpedo boats arrived and began a surface attack about 35 minutes after the start of the air attack. The torpedo boats launched a total of five torpedoes, one of which struck the side of USS Liberty, opposite the ship’s research spaces. Twenty-five Americans, in addition to the nine who had been killed in the earlier air attacks, were killed as a result of this explosion.

 

The only investigation conducted was a rushed one-week inquiry that Senator John McCain’s father, Admiral John McCain Jr., placed Adm. Issac Kidd Jr. to preside over.

“‘That was a shock,’ recalled retired Navy Capt. Ward Boston, the inquiry’s counsel, who said he and Kidd had estimated that a thorough inquiry would take six months.”

“Rear Adm. Merlin Staring, the Navy’s former judge advocate general, was asked to assess the American inquiry’s report before it was sent to Washington. But Staring said it was taken from him when he began to question some aspects of the report. He describes it now as ‘a hasty, superficial, incomplete and totally inadequate inquiry.’

“Staring, who is among those calling for a full congressional investigation on behalf of the Liberty’s survivors, observed in an interview that the inquiry report contained several ‘findings of fact’ unsupported by testimony or evidence.”

In that same Chicago Tribune article cited above are the wise words of Michael Oren:

 

“Though the attack on the Liberty has faded from public memory, Michael Oren, a historian and senior fellow at The Shalem Center in Jerusalem, conceded that ‘the case of the assault on the Liberty has never been closed.’

“If anything, Oren said, ‘the accusations leveled against Israel have grown sharper with time.’ Oren said in an interview that he believed a formal investigation by the U.S., even 40 years later, would be useful if only because it would finally establish Israel’s innocence.”

 

Mr. Oren is much more than just a historian; according to Wikipedia:

 

Michael Bornstein Oren (Hebrew: ןרוא לאכימ; born Michael Scott Bornstein; May 20, 1955) is an American-Israeli diplomat, essayist, historian, novelist, and politician. He is a former Israeli ambassador to the United States (2009–2013), former member of the Knesset for the Kulanu party and a former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

 

Where the US government fails, New Hampshire will succeed.

Even though New Hampshire is a small state, she produced a notable figure onboard the Liberty that fateful day: Commander David “Eddie” Lewis. He was born and raised in Colebrook. A Lt. Cmdr at the time, he was in charge of 195 out of the 294 men on board. Lewis died in 2021. His obituary speaks to his character and desire for the truth.

 

“Eddie’s naval career spanned more than 25 years, and he retired in 1979 at the rank of Commander. His career took him all over the world, and he was wounded aboard the U.S.S. Liberty in the Mediterranean Sea when the nation of Israel attacked the ship, claiming a mistaken identification of the ship. For the rest of his life, Eddie bore the scars of that day, and he was deeply involved with the group of survivors, proving that the state of Israel and the Johnson administration deliberately staged the attack to try and draw the U.S. into the Israeli-Egyptian Six-Day War in 1967. In 2018, he was a central figure and collaborator in the book “Blood In the Water” which chronicles this dark episode of American military history.”

 

For Commander Lewis and all of the great men aboard the Liberty that day, it is incumbent upon us to search for the truth, for it will set us free.

God bless.

 

The post Where the US Government Fails, New Hampshire Will Succeed appeared first on Granite Grok.

So there was an actual “attack on our democracy” this week. Some “judge” decided to exercise the power of the purse, which is a power of the political branches NOT of the judiciary. The State Constitution gives the legislature the power to decide how much to spend and how to spend it. The executive has a veto power over spending bills, that the legislature can override. The judiciary has NO power over spending, except when the spending violates a provision of the constitution. For example, a law that says the State will spend $10,000 per student on schools that are majority white-students, but only $2,500 per student on schools that are majority non-white.

Such a law would violate the equal protection clause and therefore would be unconstitutional. Note, however, that the court’s job is limited to declaring such a law unconstitutional. The court has NO power to order the legislature to increase funding at majority non-white schools to $10,000 per student. It is up to the legislature whether to increase funding at majority non-white schools, whether to provide no funding to schools at all, AND any other response … so long as the response does NOT treat white and non-white students differently.

But in New Hampshire we have become desensitized to the judiciary exercising the power of the purse. It’s treated as normal. Even when the judge “orders” the legislature to increase spending by a minimum of half a BILLION. Yes, that is billion with a B … BILLION:

STORY: The Rockingham County Superior Court issued a pair of groundbreaking rulings today that would upend New Hampshire's education funding formula.

The rulings are almost certain to be appealed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

Read: https://t.co/BHpUzHSKlK #NHPolitics pic.twitter.com/smNQoMle5n

— Ethan DeWitt (@edewittNH) November 20, 2023

If you actually believe that the State Constitution empowers judges to set a per-pupil spending floor, you are an IDIOT. If you actually believe that the “proper” response to this actual attack on democracy is a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT, you are an IDIOT.

What this judge, and all the others before him, have done is outrageous. Yet all we have gotten from the NHGOP, the Party that supposedly is all about upholding the constitution, is the equivalent of a shrug. The NHGOP is a Party of SHEEP.

 

The post Democracy Dies In New Hampshire, With A Shrug appeared first on Granite Grok.

Recently, a Los Angeles resident defended himself against would-be home invaders. What happened after the attempted home invasion? The state rescinded his concealed carry permit. How does this make sense?

“Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? – Patrick Henry

The Second Amendment is a first-class right. “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”  Our government fails to treat it as such; it infringes the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It treats our right to self-defense as a state-issued privilege.

The right to bear arms is recognized primarily as the way free citizens protect themselves against government tyranny. It is the safeguard of our liberties. More often in practice, it is the right of free citizens to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their property from evildoers. The Second Amendment is the right to self-defense.

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

In the Los Angeles, California incident, resident Vince Ricci exercised his Second Amendment rights. As he returned from a workout, he was confronted by two armed men outside his house. Fortunately for Ricci, he had a concealed carry weapon (CCW) permit and was carrying.

Ricci quickly turned the tables on the two attackers. He pulled his weapon and fired, sending the two fleeing. No one was hurt in the incident, but Ricci was incensed by the situation. He voiced some of his frustration by yelling at LA Police officers who came to investigate.

Robberies were a growing problem in the Ricci’s gated community. His home was broken into months prior. During that home invasion, his five-month-old child, wife, and nanny were in his house. His frustration over the LAPD’s obvious lack of effective action to address crime is understandable.

Fortunately for Ricci, the entire attack and firefight was filmed on his home security camera. The footage left no question he had responded appropriately. He was well within the bounds of the law in defending himself and his family.

If it had not been caught on camera, would Ricci have found himself in legal hot water with LA’s leftist District Attorney George Gascon? Today, proving our innocence is mandatory. How wrong is that?

Despite the video proof that Ricci properly used his Second Amendment rights, despite demonstrating the CCW permit he had spent months seeking to obtain was fully justified, Ricci was notified by the LAPD that his CCW permit had been “temporarily” rescinded.

Ricci believes the LAPD revoked his permit because he yelled at them when it took three days for officers to respond. Three days to initiate an investigation of the attempted assault and burglary. He accused them of sloppy policing for failing even to pick up shell casings at the scene.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department response was,  “We recognize that this incident was extremely traumatic and startling for the Ricci family, and we hope the individuals responsible for this crime are arrested and held accountable… The CCW permit may be immediately reinstated as long as the permit holder has also followed all required CCW policies (i.e. proper notifications, use of properly documented weapon, etc.). The DOJ has been notified, and there are avenues for Mr. Ricci to re-apply for his permit. We have been in contact with the Ricci family and have been providing information to them about CCW protocols and guidelines in an effort to ensure their Second Amendment rights are protected.”

This is an example of California law enforcement viewing Ricci’s Second Amendment rights as a privilege, not a right. California makes it extremely difficult for residents to obtain CCW permits. Apparently, when a resident actually needs to use his permit in a clear and unequivocal example of justified self-defense, the state quickly and needlessly rescinds the permit and restarts the hoop-jumping process.

There may yet be some undisclosed information providing a justifiable rationale to rescind Ricci’s CCW permit, but nothing caught on his security camera, nor any other reported information justifies the state’s actions.

 

The post The Second Amendment – Natural Right or State Issued Privilege? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Since October 7, when Hamas breached the Israeli perimeter wall, slaughtered over 1,200 innocent Israelis, and took 250 hostages, there have been 70 attacks on American installations in the Middle East.

Iranian satellite operators in Lebanon and Syria have carried out these attacks. There have been American casualties, but by the Grace of God, no casualties. Though the American military has incredibly mighty assets on the seas of the Middle East, we have seen little in the form of retaliation for these attacks. Why are we putting our carrier fleets and submarines in harm’s way if not to support our treasured troops and allies? Maybe Joe, Kirby, or KJP can answer that question.

We have had some minor attacks on Syrian or Lebanese infrastructure but nothing against the source of the missiles that have hit our bases. We are losing our image as the most powerful military machine on the planet and are now considered a Woke Administration that is afraid to use our assets. Maybe this is why recruitment numbers are at an all-time low. Who would want to volunteer to serve in some of the most volatile regions in the world, knowing that nobody has your back? This is not our parents’ armed services but a weak, hollowed-out version.

Our Commander in Chief, another reason recruitment is down is vacationing on Nantucket Island. He and the First Lady stepped out today for lunch and spoke to the press for the first time in days. He had little to offer when asked why none of the American hostages were released today or whether he was pressuring Netanyahu to extend the cease-fire. Let’s face it. He has little to say because he is not calling the shots. All he is doing is looking and reacting to the polls and the extreme pressure from the Radical Left wing of the Party. Joe Biden is not in charge, and those who need him reelected maintain their grip on the direction of our country’s continued demise. Those who can see through the smoke and mirrors are unnerved by what we see.

The Biden Administration has no problem injecting themselves into the battles of other countries, i.e., Ukraine and Israel. Yet, we fail to show strength to support our own country, assets, or sovereignty. Our military machine is still reeling from the Afghanistan debacle, and we must remember that Biden advised against the Bin Laden raid. We are showing no effort to secure our Border, and now we appear to take a passive role in securing American hostages held by Hamas. Biden sent every possible team member, including Pete Buttigieg and Randi Weingarten, to Ukraine and many to Israel. Under Biden, we talk a good game, but the world knows we are unprepared to back our talk. Under Reagan and Trump, we showed strength and a willingness to use our power to defend ourselves and our allies. We enjoyed peace under these Administrations. Under Obama and Biden, we have seen the opposite. We need to look no further than Russia, China, NOKO, and Iran to see our foes take advantage of our Paper Tiger, Joe Biden. We don’t know what it will take to push Biden to act, but obviously, 70 is not it.

The post There Have Been 70 Attacks on American Installations in the Middle East Since Oct 7 appeared first on Granite Grok.

If you find yourself confronted with a headline, comment, or climate cultist claiming that the fall of 2023 was the warmest autumn on record, well – we are here to help. Not only was it not, and you knew that was coming, but there were 11 years since 1895 with equal or hotter autumn temperatures.

So, it can’t be global warming.

 

 

The warmest “autumn” was sixty years ago, in 1963. The general trend since then has been one of decline.

Keep that nugget handy. You never know when one of those climate goons is going to leap out of the internet and ape the latest climate lie.

 

 

HT | Tony Heller

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It is truly an injustice that Johns Hopkins Medicine responded to the anti-Semitic, terror-linked, and Hamas-linked Council On American Islamic Relations by taking such action against an esteemed physician.

Tens of millions of Americans strongly believe in the statements expressed by Dr. Darren Klugman regarding the Hamas-led Palestinians. Millions of people have exercised their First Amendment Rights since October 7, 2023, by expressing similar sentiments.

CAIR has a long history of links to terrorists and Hamas. Nihad Awad, CAIR Executive Director, said, “I am in support of the Hamas” movement. In 2007, the United States Department of Justice named CAIR as “unindicted co-conspirators and/or joint venturers” in a criminal conspiracy to financially support Hamas in the United States vs Holy Land Foundation. FBI severed ties with CAIR in 2009 because of the organization’s links to Hamas. CAIR chapters demonstrated in the streets across America in 2014 to show their support for Hamas, even declaring, “We are Hamas.” The United Arab Emirates’ ministerial cabinet listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as one of 83 banned terrorist organizations on November 15, 2014. Numerous Council on American Islamic Relations officials have been sentenced to prison and/or deported for supporting terrorism.

The horror that Hamas imposed on thousands of unsuspecting Israelis on October 7, 2023, opened the eyes and hearts of many people to see the unacceptable dangers of tolerating anti-Semitism.

Please don’t give more power to anti-Semitism in America by siding with the malcontent, anti-Semitic, terror-linked, and Hamas-linked CAIR.
Please restore Dr. Darren Klugman to his rightful position and status at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Sincerely,

Amil Imani

The post Please Don’t Give More Power to Anti-Semitism in America appeared first on Granite Grok.

Democrats would never allow just anyone to have access to firearms under the pretense that those inclined to commit suicide would instead ask for help. Nor would they presume that the manic or psychotic would call a helpline instead of shooting up the nearest gun-free zone. But when it comes to drugs?

In 2021, Oregon passed measure 110, with the publicly stated objective that removing the stigma of drugs like heroin and fentanyl would encourage users to seek treatment. By making them legal, users would feel unburdened by any negative connotations about addictions and get clean.

At least, that’s how they sold it. And the voters in Oregon bought it until they didn’t.

As expected, things quickly went sideways. In the first year, overdose deaths rose 200 percent. The character of the homeless population promptly evolved from “older drunks” to the “young and belligerent.” Human nature had, once again, taken progressive policy to the mat and beaten its scrawny little ass.

As I observed back in 2022, when news of the overdose death numbers hit the streets,

 

The obvious question is, who, if anyone, thought this would go some other way? And was that even the intention? The political left is obsessed with unraveling society like a ball of string. Their utopia is impossible until they’ve wrecked everything. Add to that their not-so-recent obsession with eugenics, social engineering, depopulation dogma, and a 216% rise in drug overdose deaths, says a feature, not a bug.

 

If it comes from the party of death, death follows, but there are those among them – useful idiots perhaps – who imagined a different outcome.

 

Under Measure 110, addicts are given “tickets” for drug offenses that result in $100 fines, The Telegraph reported. However, the penalty would be waived if the addict rang a self-help line and sought treatment.

Around 6,000 people were ticketed in Oregon, but fewer than 125 rang the self-help line, Eugene’s Police Chief, Chris Skinner, told The Telegraph.

“We don’t have even really one successful example of somebody that went from a citation issued on the street to self-assessment to addiction services to a place of wellness,” Skinner told the Eugene City Council.

Skinner warned that Oregon was “on pace to shatter the record for overdose calls for service and shatter the record for overdose deaths. Police officers and firefighters are administering Narcan, life-saving Narcan at an alarming rate,” according to The Telegraph.

 

Any guess as to whether the makers of NARCAN lobbied in favor of Measure 110? I didn’t look, but it feels right. I’ll also remind you that in 2023, Oregon expanded medically assisted suicide for every one from anywhere: drug tourism and Death tourism.

Given the predictable transition in other places that adopted state-sponsored death and empathy, mission creep is inevitable. It starts with the chorus of “Feelings” for the terminally ill with chronic pain, then makes a Swftian leap to include the poor, the homeless, mental health patients, addicts, and even the autistic. Killing people becomes not just a plank in the Democrat party platform but a public good.

Everyone becomes a fetus. A lump of cells in the women of society without which it might be a better place. Government counselors are standing by to help you with the consent forms.

I’ve always thought that Measure 110 was meant to break off another corner of the culture. Create dependents. End lives. And if I’m right, it has been a resounding success, wherein the problem lies. While most Oregonians supported Measure 110 before it passed, a majority want it repealed. But so much damage has already been done, and Oregon is not just one more Narcan vending machine away from “recovery.” Oregon broke the fourth wall, and other states with party-of-death majorities will want to be cool like them.

Besides, who cares what the voters think? They don’t know what’s good for the government.

Blue States, not Oregon, will consider the program. If they can normalize the culture around drug use, it will be easier for users to seek the help they need. And why not? They’ll convince themselves that this time, in that state, it will work, which (again) depends on what you mean by “work.”

If the goal is to create dependency and ruin once-productive people, families, and lives, then this might be the thing you’re looking for, but it’s not going to reduce drug abuse. Even Oregon can see that.

 

The post Two Years Later: Oregon Legalized Hard Drugs and It Went About as Well as You’d Expect appeared first on Granite Grok.

Liberals keep excusing Hamas terrorism, so what’s new about that? Leftist professors at all but a few of our universities keep the anti-Semitic hate flowing into the minds of half-educated and gullible kids while politicians looking for votes send millions $$$$ in aid to the wrong side and have been doing it for decades.

Mainstream media joins right in the hate fest promoting the “River to the sea, Palestine will be free” nonsense.

In case anyone didn’t know Palestine is a region, not a country, look it up, and it is free. But that catchy phrase sounds good to the aforementioned gullible who believe the Islamic terrorists whose intent is to kill every Jew in Israel and wipe that democracy off the map. After that, all the rest of the world’s Jews, again look it up, read the Koran.

Just in case, it’s worth mentioning that the Palestinian Authority uses those many millions $$$$ of humanitarian aid first to buy more guns and bombs and then to give lifetime pensions to the families of terrorists who successfully kill Israeli Jews. Not only does the power of that religion promise rewards in heaven, but they get earthly rewards, too; what a deal!

But trying to convince any liberal of these facts is an exercise in futility. They believe they know everything they need to know and will tell you, so then walk off in a huff. I would like to present the following reasoning for consideration. If a person finds the KKK racist and despicable because they promoted hatred, terrorism, and murder of blacks, how can someone then excuse Islamism’s promotion of hatred, terrorism, and murder of Jews? If they condemn the one, must they not condemn the other?

The post If They Condemn the One, Must They Not Condemn the Other? appeared first on Granite Grok.