On November 8, most of the Republicans still in the race for the party’s 2024 nomination gather in Miami for the third GOP presidential debate, hosted by NBC in partnership with Rumble, a Canada-based online media platform.

We’ll pause for a moment for station identification while you ask yourself, “Why?” The previous debates had all the charm of a dumpster fire. They didn’t help the candidates differentiate themselves from each other or from former President Donald J. Trump, whom the polls all agree is the person most likely to win the nomination.

If debates don’t do either of those things and don’t help the party grow its vote, why have them? No one, comparatively speaking, is watching. The numbers are way down from the previous two cycles, something most analysts attribute to Trump’s absence.

There may be a better explanation. Too many candidates on the stage, too much name-calling, and too many interruptions make it difficult for even well-informed voters to follow what’s going on. (RELATED: PETER ROFF: Politicians Are Digging America Into A Deeper Hole With Their Earmark Obsession)

It’s easy to see why. The format lends itself to chaos. The media personalities who ask the questions invariably focus on things Republican primary voters don’t care much about. Instead of asking about jobs, taxes, and the crisis on the border, the handful of presidential wannabes who’ve qualified for a place on the stage get questions about abortion, January 6 and, believe it or not, UFOs.

The lack of substance damages the party’s image. That’s especially painful given the surveys conducted by reputable firms like Gallup that now show the American electorate trusts the Republicans more than the Democrats to handle what survey respondents identify as the country’s most pressing issues.

It’s not all hopeless. Changes can be made that will help, starting with the abolition of the ridiculous rule that allows one candidate to jump in with a response if one of the others mentions them. If it can’t be eliminated, it should be modified so that the time taken to respond is deducted from what’s been allotted for closing statements.

If the candidates are forced to choose between “talking now or talking later,” things would move along more swiftly. It would certainly reduce the grandstanding that plagued the first two contests.

The quality of the conversation would also be improved if the moderators’ questions required the candidates to discuss their solutions to the nation’s problems compared to President Joe Biden’s. That’s really the point, isn’t it? Not whether former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has a better plan to deal with the national debt than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would do a better job protecting the U.S. border with Mexico than North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Everyone on the stage in Miami should be focused on who’s the best candidate to go against Biden, not each other. That may sound like it puts the cart before the horse, but it’s really the most important thing. GOP primary voters and caucus attendees should come away from each debate with a growing sense of which candidate provides the best opportunity to beat the incumbent president.

Trump will be in Miami – but at a rally, not the debate. He’ll crash the news coverage without setting foot on the stage, which is how he wants it. The polls have him casting a long shadow over the others. That’s good for him, but it doesn’t guarantee the best ideas will carry the day, let alone get an airing. If the Republicans want to win, they have to provide the American people with what former House Speaker Newt Gingrich used to call “an agenda worth voting for.”

Absent that, they’re more likely to lose than not. That means getting Trump on the debate stage, which won’t happen until the field narrows to the point he concludes that remaining out of the debates creates the opportunity for one of the other candidates to break out of the pack and challenge his considerable lead.

Party leaders like RNC Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Dave Bossie, the Maryland GOP committeeman who’s been tasked with overseeing them, are smart politicos. They understand the stakes. Trump-less debates heavy on the harangues with little substance don’t help the party win. GOP voters deserve better.

A former UPI senior political writer and U.S. News and World Report columnist, Peter Roff is now a senior fellow at several public policy organizations. Contact him at RoffColumns AT gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and TruthSocial @TheRoffDraft.

Peter Roff  | 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 News Foundation.

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.

The post Why Are The Republican Presidential Debates So Bad? appeared first on Granite Grok.

A recent article was headlined “The true cause of failed NH education” and tried to pin one person with education failures. Freshman State Representative Mike Belcher tries to blame NH House Education Committee Chairman Rick Ladd. The article is filled with misinformation and half-truths.

Let me start by stating that I have served with Rick Ladd on the Education Committee for over a decade. For the past three years, I have been his Vice Chairman. Let me tell you a little about the background of Rick Ladd. He is a decorated Vietnam War veteran. He has been active on multiple boards in his town in addition to serving in the NH House. Regarding his legislative record, he has co-sponsored Education Freedom Account bills and led the committee to get passage.

He has championed legislation to end discrimination against religious schools and advocated for career and technical education programs. He was instrumental in the development of the educator code of conduct. He sponsored legislation to get concentration on the basic core subjects. He has co-sponsored bills to phase out the Interest and Dividends tax, to require parental consent for non-academic student surveys, to allow greater innovation in public schools, to combat bullying, and to prohibit requiring districts to implement the Common Core standards. I could go on and on.

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

Getting back to the article, Representative Belcher starts by claiming, “I have not been allowed success in accomplishing a single reform to New Hampshire schools.” He implies that Chairman Ladd is the reason. He states specifically that Chairman Ladd is responsible for the “awful” state of New Hampshire schools. He claims that House Democrats cannot win because they do not have the numbers yet they “keep winning.” This is totally false. The Republicans in the House have a majority of 2 or 3. We have an evenly divided committee, and the votes on the House floor are dependent on who shows up that day. It does not help that some Republicans would fight fellow Republicans rather than work to pass reasonable legislation and defend the great legislation we have passed over the past few years. Representative Belcher stated that he “came to win at any cost,” but his actions instead show that he came to fight at any cost. Do we want legislators whose aim is to win or fight at any cost? At any cost? Are we not elected to work for our constituents and the people of NH?

The most egregious claim is that Chairman Ladd is the reason for everything from school violence to academic proficiency decreases to increases in costs per pupil. Falsehoods abound in his article. Let me mention just a few statements that are absolutely untrue: Ladd voted to allow men to use girl’s bathrooms, he demanded that Education Freedom Accounts not be expanded, pushed forward civics education knowing it would be provided by the far left and was instrumental on killing a bill on campus freedom of speech. He also accuses Chairman Ladd of running the committee by not allowing opposing views from the “right.” The translation is that Chairman Ladd has had to try and keep Representative Belcher from wandering off into his conspiracy theories while questioning people testifying.

If there is anyone who should be removed from the House Education Committee, it is Representative Mike Belcher.

 

The post If Anyone Should Be Removed From the House Education Committee, It Is Representative Mike Belcher appeared first on Granite Grok.

The New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA) put forward an outrageous school policy (JBAB) that applies to Transgender students. This policy was then adopted by several school boards across New Hampshire, in spite of its requirement for school staff to lie to parents if their child decides to use a different name in school.

JBAB includes this provision under PRIVACY (emphasis mine).

 

A. Privacy
The Board recognizes a student’s right to keep private one’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation at school. Information about a student’s transgender status, legal name, or gender assigned at birth also may constitute confidential information. School personnel should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others, including parents

This policy is now being challenged in the Supreme Court after a parent sued the Manchester School District because they refused to share information on a student with their parent.

The policy also includes a provision that requires girls’ teams to allow boys identifying as females to be included. This provides a physical advantage to the biological males who identify as females. This can mean a girl competing for college scholarships to lose out to the biological males.

But even worse is the physical harm that girls have been suffering at the hands of these biological males.

G. Physical Education Classes & Intramural Sports
Transgender and gender nonconforming students shall be permitted to participate in physical education classes and intramural sports in a manner consistent with their gender identity.
H. Interscholastic Competitive Sports Teams
Transgender and gender nonconforming students shall be permitted to participate in interscholastic athletics in a manner consistent with their gender identity.

You can see how a girl playing volleyball was injured by a biological boy who was allowed to play on the opponent’s team because he identified as a female.

Recently, a girl playing field hockey had her teeth knocked out by a biological boy who was playing against her team. This is another example of a girl receiving a severe injury because of policies like JBAB. All of this would end tomorrow if girls would refuse to play against teams that allow these biological boys on their teams. How many more of these girls have to endure a serious injury before someone puts an end to this?

NHSBA has since withdrawn its support for JBAB–a wise decision given the damage this is having on parents and girls. But that doesn’t mean all school districts have abandoned their support for JBAB. You should check your school district’s website and look for school board policies. Look for JBAB and read it. If this policy is still in your district, gather parents to request the removal of JBAB from the school board policies. If the NHSBA is unwilling to support this policy, why would any school board keep it? Will they take responsibility if a girl is injured in the restroom? Or on a sports team? Of course not.

If they aren’t willing to take responsibility for the damage to girls based on their vote, then they need to be removed from the school board along with the policy.

 

The post Will Your School Board Take Responsibility if Your Daughter’s Teeth Are Knocked Out? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Essex-Westford School District’s equity policy considers the nation’s economic status a result of genocide, slavery, white privilege, ongoing systematic oppression, and more.

“This nation would not have evolved as it has without the genocide of the indigenous people, nor would the economic infrastructure exist as it does without the enslavement of native African people and their descendants,” the policy states. “In an effort to recognize and undo the harm of centuries of systemic inequities and oppression, we begin with this lens and framework.”

C29_-Equity-Policy

It continues that these victimized populations are still marginalized in today’s oppressive society.

It states,

“EWSD recognizes the impact of systemic oppression of groups of people impacted by histories and current experiences of marginalization in addition to race including gender, abilities, and other identities. Given that identities are intersectional–meaning people have race, gender, abilities and other aspects of self, at the same time–this policy was developed to create equity in EWSD.”

Redistribution of resources

The policy also has a definition for the term equity. It is,

“Distributing resources, power and decision making to marginalized groups or individuals in order to redress marginalization.”

In another part, it states,

“Equity recognizes that economic, social, political, and educational historical and current practices have created inequities that require explicit, intentional intervention.”

The policy alleges that resources are already directed towards preferred groups over oppressed ones. It defines systematic inequities as,

“Outcomes that occur when the fabric of organizations, institutions, governments or social networks contains an embedded bias which provides advantages for some members and marginalizes or produces disadvantages for other members.”

White privilege

There is also a definition of “privileged positions” stating that whole groups of people can be assumed only to have what they have because of special privileges due to their skin color or other identities.

It states,

“Unearned social power afforded by the formal and informal institutions of society to ALL members of a dominant group (e.g. white privilege, male privilege, etc.). Privilege is usually invisible to those who have it because they are taught not to see it, but nevertheless, it puts them at an advantage over those who do not have it.“

Other cultures still oppressed?

In the definition of “Non-Dominant culture,” it implies that still currently suppressed groups are experiencing oppression, and the oppressors may not even realize it.

“These attributes are actively or unconsciously oppressed by the dominant culture.  This results in a lack of representation in education, artistic expression, political process, decision-making communication, and business.”

On radar of Parents Defending Education

The policy can be found at the Parent’s Defending Education incident report section. The national organization has been in Vermont and elsewhere tracking when schools adopt policies that violate the Constitutional rights of parents via politicized curricula, equity policies, and more.

Their introduction reads,

“We believe our children’s education should be based on scholarship and facts, and should nurture their development into the happy, resilient, free-thinking, educated citizens every democracy needs. Our classrooms should include rigorous instruction in history, civics, literature, math, the sciences, and the ideas and values that enrich our country.”

They also detail how political activist organizations are behind this effort to indoctrinate schools.

“Schools are adopting this illiberal mission at the behest of a narrow group of activists, union leaders and high-priced consultants— without the consent of the students, parents, and communities whose interests the schools are supposed to serve. Those who dissent risk being called ugly names and shamed into silence.”

 

Michael Bielawski is a reporter for the Vermont Daily Chronicle

Michael Bielawski | Vermont Daily Chronicle

The post Local School District Policy Says, US Society Based on Genocide, Slavery, White Privilege appeared first on Granite Grok.

On October 7th, the Communist-who-calls-himself-a-Democrat Leader of the Democrats in the New Hampshire House issued a short tweet advising that he was praying for the Israelis murdered by Hamas. Since then, no mention of the matter. It’s not a local issue, you say?

Well, since October 7th, Matty Wilhelm has tweeted multiple times regarding U.S. House Speaker Johnson, attacking Johnson, of course (examples below).

He has also tweeted in support of “moderate” Republicans forming a coalition in the U.S. House with the Democrats, and the U.A.W. strike, and about U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville. But not a mention of the antisemitism in his Party. More specifically, not a word of criticism for “the Squad” supporting the jihadists. Apparently, given that Matty deems it appropriate to comment (multiple times since October 7th) on Speaker Johnson, he doesn’t have a problem with Rashida from-the-river-to-the-sea Tlaib and other pro-jihadist Democrats in the U.S. House.

Also … not a mention, let alone a condemnation, of the numerous incidents of antisemitism by college students, not a mention of the terrorists who have entered the country through the open southern border, not a mention of the pro-jihadist rallies in NYC, DC, etc., etc., etc..

Given that Matty considers himself New Hampshire’s moral compass AND that he regularly uses his twitter to tell us how our moral compasses should be calibrated, what to make of all this silence?

The post New Hampshire House Democrat Leader Is Soft On AntiSemitism appeared first on Granite Grok.

In the name of equity or some other progressive god, the State of California embarked on a pilgrimage to the minimum wage holy land. A search for a price-point on an hour of labor most likely to accumulate Democrat votes without any regard for the cost to voters.

For years, it was the fight for 15. Get the minimum wage to 15.00 per hour. But no one can afford to live on that in a progressive-run economy, so these days, the number is much higher. California, a leader in bad progressive ideas, has upped the ante.

 

In mid-October, the state of California enacted a new minimum wage law which will push the hourly rate to at least $16. This brings it up by $0.50 — the previous state standard had been $15.50 per hour, and will remain so until the bill goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. …

But there’s a catch. The law ensures all fast food workers — including those at McDonald’s and the like — will be paid $20 per hour, effective April 1, 2024. And a newly-established California fast food council may raise the rate again after January 1, 2025, according to the California Labor & Employment Law Blog.

 

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski shared thoughts about how that would impact their business. It will demand higher pricing. He never mentions more automation, but that’s always been a component of addressing political overreach on the value of labor. Businesses look for ways to cover the increased cost of doing business. Impacts include fewer employees, fewer full-time employees, changes to hours of operation, reduced benefits, menu options, and price increases.

While Kempczinski doesn’t necessarily agree with Newsomism’s impact on the cost of labor, he does see it as an opportunity. McDonalds is huge. It can more easily adjust its stride to compensate. Many of its competitors cannot.

 

“Longer term, what we’ve been talking about with our franchisees is this is an opportunity for us to gain share because this is an impact that’s going to hit all of our competitors. … We believe we’re in a better position than our competitors to weather this,” he added.

 

He is not wrong. Califorina’s effort to lift people will do the opposite. There will be fewer entry-level jobs as smaller operations get wiped out, fewer jobs in total. Those who get work will work less and end up with less despite the state hiking the hourly pay rate. The broader impact on the economy will affect other businesses with a more significant net loss of wealth.

But Mcdonald’s will still be there.

 

HT | MSN

The post California Helps McDonald’s Wipe Out Its Competition appeared first on Granite Grok.

In a feeble effort at deflection, Hunter Biden went to the media this week to plead his case that he is the victim of all the attention focused on the nation’s most prominent crime family, The Biden Cartel. He claims that he is being wrongly labeled a drug addict, which he feels is taking advantage of his unfortunate medical condition.

Sorry Hunter, but nobody is buying your story because you already documented your sorry saga on websites like Pornhub, where you featured your drug and sex addiction. Your self-produced internet documentary was filmed at the same time you were spearheading your money-making campaign, extorting millions from countries around the globe, and bartering access to your father when he was Vice President and President.

We have suffered through your network interviews and discussions about your book. We have seen documentaries on FOX that delved into your life to show you are a low-quality individual. We got the play-by-play of you first denying your child, then doing all you could to avoid responsibility and support, and then finally settling to avoid a very embarrassing court case in Arkansas that you knew would not end in your favor. We even watched as you hid in the White House for weeks to avoid being served papers for this custody battle. Could there be a better example of the coward you are? No.

To show where you get the roots of your make-up, we witnessed your father, our President, deny your daughter’s existence for years until he and Jill finally succumbed to pressure and announced their new granddaughter to the world. You definitely are your father’s son, both cut from the same cloth. The Biden Family had a break for a few weeks while the House was in disarray with no Speaker. With that situation resolved, the worst outcome possible for the Bidens may have been Mike Johnson’s election to take the Gavel. A no-nonsense, fact-driven guy who may pave the way for Comer or Jordan to proceed with Articles of Impeachment against Joe Biden. That is why you see Hunter’s attempt to change the focus and look for empathy. It was a weak effort and short-lived.

The evidence is stacking up against Joe Biden. The copies of checks are tracking payments to the President, and the thousands of emails on Joe’s pseudonym email accounts may uncover a plethora of damning evidence. There may be as many as 82,000 pages of emails, which makes Hilary’s stash look amateurish. How did Joe have any time to perform the duties of his job while writing so many emails? Maybe that is why he needs a long weekend every week at the beach. He must be in the basement glued to his keyboard. The story unfolding may explain why Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer are positioning themselves as alternatives, as I don’t think anyone sees Biden on the 2024 ballot. It may be his age, health, or impeachment, but I think the end of Biden’s political career is being written. I won’t shed a tear at the end of this saga.

 

The post Hunter, You Are Not A Victim appeared first on Granite Grok.

Your State probably has a commission for everything, with at least a handful of professional associations, some of whom are funded with dues from local governments to lobby on their behalf, against you.

Two examples from the Granite State are the New Hampshire Municipal Association (NHMA) and the New Hampshire School Board Association (NHSBA). They exist to make taxpayers’ lives miserable at the hands of state and local government.

Our NHSBA famously crafted policy JBAB to address the individuals these schools were grooming to be gender-non-conforming, which they have since had to disavow. Schools were and still are getting sued. There’s no statutory support, JBAB encourages teachers and staff to lie to parents, and it has components that violate the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Someone thought it was a great idea, and they still do, but they can’t stand behind it and have effectively cut the districts loose to fend for themselves legally.

Several school districts dumped it. Skip Murphy had to confront his school board monthly for over a year and bring multiple lawsuits or the threat of them before Gilford backed away from theirs. But the policy is still in place, perhaps in your district, despite the NHSBA not publicly promoting it. This has not, however, dissuaded them from attempting to turn local schools into gender clinics filled with teachers and staff moonlighting as mental health experts.

In the NHSBAs October 2023 list of CRs – their legislative bucket list for the next State House Session, they continue to defend allowing porn in schools and ensuring challenges are handled locally so none will likely succeed. They do not want to see any state-level regulation of explicit material or policing of the material to ensure it is age-appropriate. Mind you, they don’t say that, but schools and libraries all over the State have age-inappropriate material accessible to minors who are too young to understand it and who might be harmed by it.

Here’s the relevant text.

 

5. NHSBA opposes any legislations that divests local school boards of original jurisdiction relative to complaints about local curriculum, instruction, and instructional resources such as books, library materials, and other instructional resources. Further, NHSBA opposes any legislation that subjects school district staff to civil lawsuits and sanctions relative to curriculum and instruction. (2023)

6. NHSBA affirms the qualifications of school district staff to research and select appropriate digital and printed material for schools. Literary and curricular collections should offer students information that provides a balance of cultural values. Further, literary collections should represent diverse points of view, provide a global perspective, stimulate essential thinking skills, and meet the interests, abilities, learning style.

 

Don’t tell the local districts what they can and cannot make available, and let them handle complaints when parents find their kids have access to explicit subject matter. As a fan of local control, I can see the appeal, but the NHSBA doesn’t care about students or parents or local or individual rights. Its job is to aid and abet school district power and its agenda is anything but balanced or values-based unless you mean progressive values.

And the districts aren’t listening to parents or students.

When confronted with problems like age-inappropriate material, the local government refuses to listen or even follow its anti-obscenity laws. The state government refuses to enforce the law as well. The people’s only recourse is their legislature. And the NHSBA isn’t opposed to that. Several of their resolutions ask the State to institute top-down controls for things like handing out Medicaid money and teacher credentialing. They don’t want local districts deciding how that works but don’t touch age-inappropriate material for minors.

Allow districts to stonewall Parents, embarrass them in public, and refuse to listen to concerns about material promoting adult-student sex, illegal drug and alcohol use, pedophilia, gay sex, bondage, and suicidal ideation, complete with graphic descriptions or drawings.

Without saying they want porn in schools, they’ve said it. Dear Legislature, do not protect children from groomers and perverts in local school districts. Let them police themselves. A policy they will stand behind until they don’t.

 

The post Dear Legislature, Please Let Groomers and Perverts in Local School Districts Police Themselves appeared first on Granite Grok.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella has joined 16 other state attorneys general in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) lawsuit alleging that “Amazon is a monopolist” that engages in illegal anti-competitive behavior.

But a close read of FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan’s suit reveals a confused and ultimately unconvincing case that Amazon (a) is a monopoly player and (b) has harmed consumers.

If the FTC prevails in this legal case, it appears likely that consumers and small businesses, including the 4,500 small-to-medium-sized New Hampshire businesses that sell on Amazon and the many thousands of Granite Staters who shop online, will be harmed, not helped.

The lawsuit makes two primary claims. The first is that “Amazon is a monopolist.”

Therefore, the first test of the lawsuit’s merits is whether this statement is accurate.

Monopoly

In a free, competitive market, not all competitors succeed or survive. Innovators regularly surge past existing players to gain large market share, becoming temporarily dominant. Though this is a natural function of a competitive market, some see this simple economic fact as evidence that a particular market is not competitive, confusing competition with the actual number of competitors at a given point in time.

This misunderstanding is at the heart of the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon.

“Monopoly exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it,” Nobel-winning economist Milton Friedman wrote in Capitalism and Freedom. Amazon clearly is not a monopolist under Friedman’s definition. What about the FTC’s definition?

The FTC’s website offers guidance outlining the legal steps required under U.S. antitrust law to prove that a company is a monopolist.

“As a first step, courts ask if the firm has ‘monopoly power’ in any market,” the FTC explains. “This requires in-depth study of the products sold by the leading firm, and any alternative products consumers may turn to if the firm attempted to raise prices.”

To be a monopolist, the FTC must prove that the company has (1) “monopoly power” in a market and (2) achieved or held onto its leading position in the market through “improper conduct.”

Even if a company has a large market share (typically over 50%), that market share has to be durable and has to preclude competitors from entering or, once entered, offering products and services at low prices.

The existence of competitively priced alternatives readily available to consumers in the market would be one way to demonstrate that a dominant player is not, in fact, a monopolist.

Amazon clearly does not exert monopoly control over the U.S. retail marketplace. In 2022, only 14.5% of all retail sales in the United States were online. The rest (85.5%) were done in brick-and-mortar stores.

Walmart, not Amazon, is the top American retailer, with a nearly 17% share of the retail market, followed by Amazon’s 14.28% share, CVS’s 8.96%, Costco’s 6.51%, and Home Depot’s 4.37%.

So, Amazon is hardly a retail monopoly.

What about online commerce? Amazon is the number one e-commerce company in the world. Does that make it a monopolist?

Amazon accounted for 37.8% of all online sales in the United States in 2022. E-commerce data company PYMNTS pegs its share of e-commerce spending in 2023 at 48%. That’s a lot, but a monopoly it does not make.

Walmart, Apple, eBay, and Target round out the top five online U.S. retailers. Despite Amazon accounting for the greatest share of e-commerce sales, Walmart.com, eBay.com, and AliExpress.com are the three most visited e-commerce websites. Etsy.com, Samsung.com, PlayStation.com, and BestBuy.com remain popular sites as well.

Though Amazon is the largest player (at the moment), it faces real competition. Before the FTC lawsuit was filed, Supermarket News reported this summer that Walmart’s share of online retail sales grew from 5.7% to 6.7%—a 17% increase—in the first quarter of the year. Amazon’s share grew from 43.7% to 47.9%—a 9% increase. Walmart’s comparable e-commerce sales grew by 27%. In the second quarter of this year, Walmart’s global e-commerce sales were up 24%.

If Amazon has achieved an illegal level of market dominance, one would expect its competitors to be losing revenue and market share. But its largest competitor, Walmart, posted $573 billion in revenue in 2022 versus Amazon’s $514 billion. And Walmart’s share of online retail commerce is growing, not shrinking. Its stock is up 13.5% this year. For an alleged victim of an illegally dominant monopoly player, it’s doing extremely well.

The FTC clearly understands this fundamental issue with its case, which is why the agency very carefully alleges that Amazon has a monopoly over “the online superstore market and the market for online marketplace services.”

As these are two innovations that Amazon pioneered, it’s to be expected that the company maintains a large lead in these areas. That in itself is not a violation of U.S. antitrust law. But defining Amazon’s market in such a novel, limited, and arbitrary fashion is the only way the FTC can possibly claim that Amazon holds monopoly power.

As Peter Jacobsen at the Foundation for Economic Education writes: “Notice how important these words are for the FTC. If you remove the word ‘online,’ then clearly, Amazon has no monopoly. There are lots of superstores. If you remove the word ‘superstore,’ again, there is no monopoly. Amazon does not have a monopoly on online stores.”

That’s precisely why the FTC asserts that “brick-and-mortar stores and online stores with a more limited selection are not reasonably interchangeable with online superstores for the same purposes and are thus properly excluded from the online superstore market.”

That’s a neat trick. The FTC deliberately excluded the markets where most American retail transactions occur so it could articulate the existence of a completely separate market ruled by Amazon. But the “online superstore” market is not a meaningfully distinct market. It’s just one part of a broader American retail market.

The FTC’s attempt to invent a distinct online superstore market is undermined by actual consumer behavior. PYMNTS reports that 28% of U.S. consumers have used a cell phone to assist with shopping while in a brick-and-mortar store, with 9% comparing the in-store price to prices offered by other merchants.

The FTC might consider online superstores a distinct and separate market, but consumers do not.

It’s not even clear precisely what an “online superstore” is. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “superstore” as “a very large store often offering a wide variety of merchandise for sale.” The FTC devotes several pages to attempting to define an “online superstore.” It concludes by claiming that online superstores are so attractive that consumers won’t even shop at other types of online stores, even if they offer lower prices.

“Even though such stores may price certain items comparably with online superstores, shoppers do not seriously consider those stores as reasonable alternatives to online superstores for a significant portion of their shopping needs.”

Again, real life contradicts the FTC’s claim. The Internet is full of online retail outlets that aren’t superstores and yet somehow manage to have customers. In 2022, the fastest-growing e-commerce site was not a superstore but a clothing store. In fact, 10 of the 15 fastest-growing e-commerce sites last year were not superstores. Consumers do not always prefer superstores, either online or in person.

“Online stores that sell unique, can’t-get-anywhere-else products will always have an edge over the mass-produced goods you find on Amazon,” e-commerce services provider Shopify notes, further undermining the FTC’s case.

The FTC supports its narrow market definition by arguing that “[o]nline superstores are distinct from, and not reasonably interchangeable with, brick-and-mortar stores. From start to finish, online superstores provide a vastly different shopping experience from physical stores.”

The fact that online superstores provide a different experience for shoppers is an inherent feature of a competitive retail market.

Anti-competitive practices

The FTC attempts to buttress its claims by asserting that Amazon has engaged in “anti-competitive” practices. It does this primarily by making a case against certain requirements and practices deployed by Amazon to govern its own Amazon Marketplace. However, the FTC doesn’t conclude its case with a convincing demonstration of consumer harm.

A study by Profitero of about 15,000 products sold online found that Amazon had the lowest online prices compared to 13 other major retailers in the United States. In fact, Amazon’s prices were, on average, 13% below rivals like Target and Walmart.

If Amazon offers consumers low prices, then what’s the FTC’s beef? The agency claims that Amazon leverages its Amazon Prime service to attract more consumers and to coerce sellers who choose to sell on Amazon Marketplace to use its fulfillment service, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). The agency deems this to be anti-competitive behavior.

But Amazon cannot compel anyone to use its marketplace. It offers incentives instead. For consumers, a wide variety of low-price products delivered quickly is the appeal. For sellers, access to a huge market of engaged customers is the appeal.

Amazon’s fulfillment service is valuable to sellers because it lets them outsource services such as warehousing and packaging to Amazon directly, saving time and resources on the back end.

FBA also offers access to Amazon’s Prime delivery service. Prime is valuable to sellers because it provides value to consumers.

The FTC claims that “the Prime subscription fee makes subscribers feel as though they must make the subscription fee worth it by making more purchases on Amazon.”

In other words, incentivizing subscribers to purchase more products on its platform, as opposed to shopping on competitors’ platforms, is anti-competitive and monopolistic. So, creating value for consumers is…anti-competitive?

Many retailers use similar reward systems. Big-box stores such as BJ’s and Costco have up-front membership fees similar to Amazon’s Prime fee. Coffee shops, fast-food restaurants, and many other retailers offer rewards points and programs to encourage customer loyalty. Rewarding repeat business with discounts or enhanced services is not unique to Amazon.

“Forcing sellers to use FBA to obtain Prime eligibility impedes competition and the growth of independent fulfillment providers,” the FTC claims.

The FTC is complaining that Amazon wants to control the packaging, warehousing, and delivery of products offered under its own branded loyalty program on its own website. But ask any restaurant owner about their experience with GrubHub or DoorDash, and it’s easy to see why Amazon would want to control this end of its business. It’s the only way to ensure quality.

Amazon can have a perfectly legitimate business reason for not allowing another company to offer fulfillment services under the Amazon Prime brand. The FTC pretends that the only possible outcome of such a policy is to reduce competition, when in fact, an obvious outcome is that Amazon can maintain a consistent, quality experience for both consumers and sellers.

And, again, Amazon doesn’t force sellers to use its fulfillment service. But if sellers want to take advantage of the Amazon Prime brand, as many do, then Amazon has every right to couple FBA with its Prime service, as they go hand-in-hand.

Offering Prime as part of FBA is a chief way in which Amazon distinguishes itself from other independent fulfillment providers. If these competitors’ survival depends on how well they compete with Amazon Prime, how is that anti-competitive behavior on Amazon’s part?

The FTC also argues that “Amazon raises sellers’ costs by forcing them to split their inventory to sell across multiple sales channels.” What the FTC means is that a retailer who wants to sell on Amazon Marketplace, as well as Walmart or eBay marketplaces simultaneously, must divide its inventory among separate warehouses and fulfillment services.

It neglects to mention that it’s the seller’s own choice to split inventory in order to access Amazon’s extensive consumer base while also selling through other channels. No one has to sell on Amazon Marketplace. It’s a choice, and that choice comes with tradeoffs. If retailers don’t think the tradeoff is worth it, they have many other options.

Contrary to the FTC’s assertions, Amazon doesn’t force sellers to use its fulfillment service or split their inventories. Rather, sellers do it because of the value added.

As the lawsuit makes clear, the FTC envisions an imaginary “perfect” market where every company that enters can survive and thrive by selling similar products for similar prices while not one competitor tries to gain a competitive edge over the others. But no such fantasy market exists. And if one did, its consumers would be harmed by the absence of aggressive competitors who seek dominant market share.

“Throughout the history of anti-trust prosecutions, there has been an unresolved confusion between what is detrimental to competition and what is detrimental to competitors,” economist Thomas Sowell writes in Basic Economics. “In the midst of this confusion, the question of what is beneficial to the consumer has often been lost sight of.”

Sowell’s point applies to the FTC’s lawsuit. There’s no disputing that Amazon is a giant corporation. But big doesn’t automatically equal bad. What’s important is identifying consumer harm. The FTC has failed to do this.

The agency fails to demonstrate that Amazon is a monopoly or that its alleged anti-competitive practices have, on net, harmed consumers or sellers.

The changes to Amazon’s practices that the FTC wants to see would likely raise prices and reduce service quality and consistency—all in order for the company to be deemed “competitive” in a made-up market that the agency invented.

It’s a disappointment that New Hampshire has joined a lawsuit with so many obvious flaws and with so many potential downsides for consumers.

 

Mitchell Scacchi | JBartlett

The post The Amazon Lawsuit New Hampshire Joined Is a Mess of Bad Economics appeared first on Granite Grok.

Casualties are sometimes preventable. There are casualties of war. Some wars may be just, but some should be avoided. We lost 59,000 of our sons and daughters in Vietnam and 50,000 in Korea. You can label these conflicts. We lost 620,000 of our own in the Civil War.

We have casualties because we do not react to situations. Our open Southern Border is causing many casualties of various kinds. We see people who die in their efforts to get to America. We have women who are raped or killed during their trek. We have lost thousands of children to the sex trade or who find themselves on farms or in factories as slave labor. We’ve lost 85,000 alien children in the last two years. Is anyone marching to stop these senseless losses of life? No.

We are losing 100,000 Americans to an illegal drug from China and Mexico that comes to our land through a wide open door that was once our Southern Border. Young men and women, 18-45 years old, in the prime of their lives, are killed yearly by a white powder that should never be on American soil. There has been enough Fentanyl confiscated from illegal aliens to kill every man, woman, and child in America. That is what we have stopped. How much has gotten through to kill Americans?

Where are the protestors against Fentanyl? Where are the brilliant college students holding signs to close the Border? Where are the buses bringing people to Washington to demand Biden stop the genocide caused by his open Border? You won’t find anyone because they are organized to march against Israel and for the terrorist group Hamas.

Israel is not a perfect country. There is no perfect country on earth, but Israel is not committing genocide on any country or group. The people of Israel know genocide. They are the descendants of the holocaust that destroyed 6 million Jews at the hands of Hitler. They want to live and prosper on the small piece of land that the world designated for them after World War II, but as they have for centuries, some groups still want the Jews obliterated. Being chosen by God has made the Jews targets for all time.

Israel is our best ally in the Middle East, but in this country, thousands march and demonstrate in support of Hamas and the eradication of the Jews who call Israel home. These ignorant demonstrators are victims of an education system that has taught and a media that has supported antisemitism. As a culture, we denounce racism, yet we do not shout down these protestors who are promoting antisemitism, which is the oldest form of racism on earth.

The Democrat Party claims to be for the little people and Israel, but its actions say otherwise. Joe Biden and the Democrats destroyed our Border. They promote a borderless world. They see nothing wrong with seven million illegals, drugs, and crime coming into our country in three years. They are encouraging these demonstrations and supporting the education system feeding them. They are destroying the middle class and promoting those who want to destroy Israel. The Democrat Party is quick to label their adversaries threats to Democracy or existential threats to humanity, but should they look in a mirror, they will see the real danger.

The irony is these protests will swell. The conflict in Israel and Gaza will not end quickly. The demonstrations supported by the Democrat Party are the biggest threat to that party. The leadership vacuum that is the Democrat Party may be its destruction. This political suicide may be good for the future of our country and Israel. By the way, Joe Biden ran as the healer who would bring America back together. How is he doing with that? In three years, we have never been more divided. Joe Biden is a failure and has failed America. He must go.

The post Night Cap: Political Suicide and the Future of Our Country appeared first on Granite Grok.

Novel scientific processes are being developed to reduce methane production by cows, including feeding milk cows the chemical 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) as an “enteric inhibitor,” marketed under the brand name BovaerⓇ in Europe and pending approval for cows in the U.S. Other experimental additives include red seaweed (being fed to cows for Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream).

BovaerⓇ is touted as reducing methane emissions from dairy cows by as much as 30%, but its long-term impacts on human health are unclear. Will people drink milk from chemical-dosed cows to save the planet from methane?

This methane-reducing chemical was approved for use in Europe by the European Food Safety Authority’s Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP).  FEEDAP concluded that 3-NOP was safe for cows even though “the genotoxicity potential of 3-NOP cannot be ruled out.”  Though rats were used to assess impacts on humans, the panel dismissed evidence of potential impact on male reproductivity:

The FEEDAP Panel noted that the severe effects seen on testes and epididymides, affecting spermatogenesis, were observed in rats only.… [T]he testicular toxicity induced by administration of 3-NOP is rat specific. The FEEDAP Panel agreed with this conclusion.… [T]he use of Bovaer® 10 in animal nutrition under the conditions of use proposed was of no concern for consumer safety and for the environment.

There have been numerous food additives approved for human consumption for which there was no concern for human safety, and subsequently proved to be unhealthy.  High-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated fat saturate the American food supply with no apparent concern for human safety.  Glyphosate has been banned in many parts of the world, but is hailed as harmless by the U.S.’s EPA and FDA.

Adding chemicals that are eye and skin irritants (like 3-NOP) to cow feed, to make human food, to reduce methane production seems sketchy: corporations generally only develop additives that bolster profits.  The profit pitch may be that consumers will buy the environmentally friendly reduced-methane milk.  But findings like this from FEEDAP may offer cause to pause:

The FEEDAP Panel notes that the genotoxicity of 3-NOP cannot be ruled out and that pre-neoplastic lesions and tumours [sic] observed in the 2-year carcinogenicity study with 3-NOP are biologically relevant. However, the consumer is not exposed to 3-NOP. Therefore, the above findings are not considered relevant for the safety for the consumer.

Consumers didn’t like bovine growth hormone (bovine somatotropin) in their milk.  This was developed in the 1970s to increase milk production, using an artificial hormone developed with recombinant DNA technology: rBGH.  Many countries have banned the drug, but it is still used in U.S. milk supplies with no labeling requirement.  Proponents claim it will help the climate by increasing productivity, thereby permitting a herd reduction of some 157,000 animals and their associated “carbon footprint.”

American consumers also objected to “pink slime,” a processed meat by-product paste used as a food additive and filler called “lean finely textured beef,” or LFTB. Objections arose to the use of beef trimmings treated with ammonia or citric acid.  Pink slime is banned in the European Union, Canada, and several other nations.  In the U.S., the product was profitable, so the government overrode consumer safety concerns: it is now found, unlabeled, in American grocery stores since the USDA’s Orwellian-named “Food Safety and Inspection Service” reclassified the substance as “ground beef.”

Hormones and antibiotics are also used in U.S. beef production, to increase growth rates and leaner finished animals.  These include synthetic hormones, some of which adversely impact animal health.  Consumer concerns may be justified, given the increasing human illness being caused by damage to the gut. One study observed the lack of study of this potential harm:

Small amounts of antibiotics added to feedstuff present growth promotion effects via the prevention of infectious diseases at doses lower than therapeutic dose. The induction of antimicrobial resistant bacteria and the disruption of normal human intestinal flora are major concerns in terms of human health impact.… [B]efore deciding on any risk management options, risk assessments of antimicrobial resistance require large-scale evidence regarding the relationship between antimicrobial use in food-producing animals and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in human pathogens.

There is a pattern at work though—those large-scale studies are never done. Consumers are told to just trust the scientific experts and the corporate profiteers.  PFAS have seeped into U.S. drinking water for 80 years, and the EPA only established “safe levels” of these forever chemicals in 2023.  Synthetic meat has been approved for production with little study of its potential harms: people don’t want to eat the stuff despite claims of climate salvation.

Next thing you know, the government will work with private business entities to compel humans to take an experimental vaccine, with inadequate study, while providing unlimited protection from liability for any harms caused.  With revolving-door regulatory oversight for corporate profit now the obvious norm in America, who on earth would drink milk tainted with chemicals that synthetically alter how cows digest grass?

 

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

 

The post Milking Cows for Methane appeared first on Granite Grok.

Elon Musk is launching the latest Artificial intelligence to grace the interwebs. Why would we need another one, you might ask. Well, according to Musk, it’s not like those other AIs, which most users have admitted can tend to be a bot too woke.

And he named it Grok.

 

Details about Grok remain scarce, yet indications are that the wealthiest man in the world is initiating a ‘counter LLM’ movement that will challenge the already mass-available LLMs on the market, such as ChatGPT, which is super ‘woke’ and has Soviet-style censorship.

In April, Musk sat down with Tucker Carlson in an interview and discussed the need to develop his own LLM called TruthGPT, a “maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe.”

Zero Hedge suggests this is evidence of the parallel economy gaining momentum. I won’t disagree, but while there are things online that The State cannot limit or control if we do not get off the current arc of tyranny, the parallel economy will be the underground economy.

It doesn’t take too many 5 AM police raids by federal officers to change how your country works. Still, for the moment, the ability of guys like Elon Muck to create alternatives keeps the censorship agenda from monopolizing information. And Musk’s AI is alleged to have a sense of humor.

 

xAI’s Grok system is designed to have a little humor in its responses pic.twitter.com/WqXxlwI6ef

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2023

 

 

He’s calling it Grok, and it can be snarky.

What’s not to like about that?

The post Elon Musk Names ‘Xs’ New Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engine … Grok! appeared first on Granite Grok.

For years, non-residents have voted in New Hampshire by claiming they lived here and singing an affidavit with no teeth. They were rarely investigated or followed up, and the votes tipped elections all across the state. The Legislature added teeth to the law last year, and the lawsuits followed.

 

Several individual voter and advocacy groups filed lawsuits last year, days after Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed the bill into law. They argued that it violates the right to privacy the state added to its constitution in 2018 because it would diminish the secrecy of ballots and tie voters’ names to the candidates for whom they voted. But a judge recently granted a request from the secretary of state and attorney general to dismiss the cases.

SB418 can prevent some of the helicopter voting we experience from nearby states, but it does not address the issue of out-of-state students voting in our elections. SB418 allows any valid student ID as proof of residency. It’s not much of an improvement, but the Republicans got it passed and into law, and it does meet the criteria of incrementalism. And it stood up to a court challenge on – get this, lack of standing.

 

Related: New NH Law: “Voters” Without Proper ID Need to Provide Proof within 7 Days or Their Ballots Get Tossed

 

In an order made public Friday, Merrimack County Judge Charles Temple agreed with the defendants that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the law.

The individual plaintiffs already are registered to vote and thus can’t argue the changes will harm them, he said. And they don’t have standing as taxpayers objecting to the expenditure of public funds, he said, because the law doesn’t appropriate money.

They would need an out-of-state resident to file, which sounds ridiculous because it is. How do you claim to have standing as a non-resident voter who might be voting in New Hampshire in a future election if they happen to move here?

By my reckoning, that’s proof enough to justify the law, and while we’ll take the win, I doubt this is over. Someone will find a way to come at this because there is no way they want this on the books.

 

The post NH’s New Affidavit Voting Law Survives Court Challenge appeared first on Granite Grok.

We have not won a war since World War II, and the reason is politicians. People in office, especially those who never served like Joe Biden, should do what is necessary to keep the world safe and conflict-free.

Still, when there is a breakdown and peace is broken, politicians should get out of the way and let the military minds do what they do best – fight to win. After the Afghanistan debacle, which is still fresh in everyone’s mind, this administration has a lot of guts to tell Israel what it needs to do to reconcile the horrific assault by Hamas terrorists on October 7. This effort is especially true since we have done nothing to retaliate against Hamas for the Americans killed or taken hostage during the day of terror or against any of the Iranian puppets that have attacked our military positions thirty times in the last month.

Biden and his team had been pro-Israel for the first few weeks of the recent conflict, but their message has blurred this past week. First, they started pushing for a Humanitarian Pause in the fighting to allow supplies to reach civilians in Gaza and to allow anyone who wants to leave Gaza to exit safely. Biden has tried daily to differentiate between a pause and a cease-fire but to no avail. Nobody is buying his explanation.

Some think Biden is acquiescing to the Radical Left Wing of the Party that has been pro-Hamas and urging a cease-fire. The Secretary of State has been to Israel twice to sell the idea, but as often happens with Blinken, he has come. up empty, and for good reason. A pause or cease-fire would be suicide for Israeli troops in Gaza. They may stop fighting, but Hamas will never. They will shoot Israelis like fish in a pond. Israel is smart enough to know a cease-fire is not going to happen until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are freed.

Israel is fully capable of destroying Hamas to the South and fending off Hezbollah in Lebanon to the North. They do not need advice from the United States but military equipment, especially missiles for the Iron Dome intercept system. This system has been taxed for four weeks with a seemingly endless number of incoming rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza. However, Biden and Blinken are playing a political game. They are seeing the pro-Hamas and Palestinian support around the world and on major college campuses around America.

He is feeling the pressure of falling approval numbers and seeing his chance of re-election slipping away. Another example of proof of politics influencing the Biden Camp is the post on X by Kamala Harris this week. When the free world is looking for America to support Israel unconditionally, our Vice President launches a new program to fight against anti-Islam sentiment. When the world is on fire with anti-Semitic rhetoric, the Biden Administration goes to war against anti-Islam hate speech. Can you be more on the wrong page? Why should we expect less from a President who has been on the wrong side of foreign policy for fifty years?

 

The post We Have Not Won a War Since World War II appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Boston Herald had a piece yesterday about “The “horror” of a field hockey player being struck in the face by a shot from a male on the opposing team has one local superintendent calling on the MIAA to revisit its guidelines that allow boys to play a girls’ sport.”

Even pathetic girly men possess physical advantages that can or will result in significant injuries to female players. To boil it all down, it’s just not fair to the girls. Women of all ages, who – if they balk, resist, or protest – can expect significant institutional backlash. It’s almost as if no one wants girls to enjoy the advantages of athletics.

Or, perhaps, they all like the idea of recruiting men into their sport who get off on harming women. Or maybe they just get off sharing a locker room with them. There are plenty of transwomen who are attracted to women. And as creepy as that is, absent any sort of advance or assault, the real risk is on the field, the mat, or in the arena.

 

The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) said it has revised its rules after female athletes backed out of competitions — after being “terrified” and “scared” following competitions against transgender athletes at recent events, the New York Post reported.

The new rules from the organization state that trans-identifying men can only compete against biological men, the outlet noted. NAGA said “male-to-female transgender athletes who have gone through male puberty are excluded from competing in the female division at NAGHA events. Transgender females must compete in the men’s division.”

“We hope that the simplicity of this revised policy will help to avoid any future occurrences where transgender females enter women’s divisions,” the policy added. “If NAGA staff is informed that a transgender female is in a women’s division, they will be given the choice to go to the man’s division or given a refund.”

 

The old rule did not require any more information than men or women, but men could seriously injure women. It appears as if the ladies, surprised to find themselves facing a biological male, left the building. They refused to compete. That’s not good for business. And while associations like NAGA can handle or manage rules, girls in school sports continue to find themselves facing post-pubescent male competitors with all their biological advantages.

While there are a few girls who might be able to keep up or survive the encounter, most will not, and the cultural insistence that this is not the case is going to drive girls and women away from sport and risk serious injury for those who dare to try.

How this is not universally viewed as a reason to immediately remove everyone who supports it from their jobs, appointments, or elected offices continues to baffle me.

 

 

The post When Women Stop Competing Against Men Who Claim to be Women … appeared first on Granite Grok.

This is an attempt to “break out” memes, links, and my commentary about the situation in Israel / the Middle East so as to not overload the standard meme posts that I do.  My last “normal” meme post.  In these Israel-related posts I don’t just have memes such, but lots of informative links as well as hopefully-insightful commentary.

I attempt to populate each post with new material; thus, older posts have information that’s not in this one.  If this is a topic of interest to you I strongly urge you to go back through and peruse my older ones.  I do not focus on minute-by-minute updates but rather attempt to provide background and information relevant to this latest battle in a 1,400 year old war.  Reverse chronological order.

Israel: Ongoing Memes, Links, and Commentary – Granite Grok

Israel: Ongoing Memes, Links, and Commentary – Granite Grok

Israel: More Memes, Links, and Commentary – Granite Grok

Israel: Even More Memes, Links, and Commentary – Granite Grok

Israel: More Memes, Links, and Commentary – Granite Grok

Israel: Memes and Commentary – Granite Grok

Israel: Memes and Commentary – Granite Grok

With some Israel-related materials here:

Meme Overflow – Granite Grok

Please post this, tweet & email it out, share it widely.

Note – I regret the length here.  But there’s soooo much information.  Not the day-to-day, people can find that on their own.  But background, history, mentality, etc.?  Most people do not understand the deep history of Islam and its animosity towards Jews (and all non-Muslims).  And related to that, this is a very interesting post:

In Israel, the Mirage of Normalization – American Thinker

Among other things is this snippet.  But wait, isn’t 1965 before the Occupation?

“The destruction of Israel,” [Nassar] said on March 8, 1965, “will be destruction by force. We shall enter a Palestine covered not with sand, but drenched in blood.”  The spectacle Nasser dreamed of became a reality in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. It is still very popular among Muslim extremists to support the actions of the Nazis during the Shoah of European Jewry.

 

WAR & WHEN WILL IT END?

West Bank girls march: “Blow up the Zionist’s head… Strike Tel Aviv… Strike Ashkelon” | PMW Analysis (palwatch.org)

So much for the Palestinian Authority being a credible partner.  More:

Are Fatah the “moderates”? Think again! Fatah students call on Allah to murder Jews | PMW Analysis (palwatch.org)

Remember, these two have been playing good cop-bad cop for decades.  Two heads, same Muslim Brotherhood snake.

Fatah brags it took part in October 7 slaughter. WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES | PMW Analysis (palwatch.org)

“Peace Partner” Fatah Calls for Terror in Judea and Samaria, “Call Out Allahu Akbar From the Rooftops,” Brags of its Own Participation In Hamas Atrocities – Geller Report

Numbers 33:55.  You cannot coexist with someone who wants to make you cease to exist.

—

Despite massacres, Israel opens another water line to Gaza | World Israel News

How much will go to the people vs. how much will support Hamas?  Related:

Israel To Allow 100 Aid Trucks In Gaza Daily – I24NEWS

But this is interesting re proportion and civilian deaths:

A 2009 event in Afghanistan proves that Israel is following international law today ~ Elder Of Ziyon – Israel News

Kind of related IMHO:

Palestinian civilians are being screwed by their leaders, and being told it is for their own good. Again. ~ Elder Of Ziyon – Israel News (bolding added):

Similarly, when Israel tried to move Gazans out of their camps and into permanent homes in the 1970s, the PLO was against the plan – even though thousands of Gazans eagerly wanted to take advantage of it – and they got two UN resolutions against the voluntary resettlement of Gazans into decent housing. Palestinian misery was justified as being the best thing for Palestinians, with the decisions being made by people who live in mansions.

 

 

Speaking of billions:

 

(Image from the link above).

 

A link embedded in the above link (bolding added):

Today, more than half of the residents of Gaza live in severe poverty, but already in 2012, there were reports of some 600 millionaires living in Gaza, who made their fortunes thanks to the hundreds of underground tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Related (bolding added, and RTWT):

Ismail Haniyeh’s Net Worth and Wealth Revealed: A Shocking $4 Billion – World Today News (world-today-news.com)

—

Let’s talk about morality ~ Elder Of Ziyon – Israel News

Even though Hamas has made its genocidal intentions clear from its founding, up until this month Israel treated the de facto rulers of Gaza with the assumption that they are also interested to some extent in their own wellbeing and that of those under its rule, and that Hamas could be managed by a combination of carrots and sticks – carrots in loosening up imports, exports, travel and work permits, sticks in the occasional limited military action that was meant to teach Hamas what it could lose if it shot rockets or engaged in terror. That was a fatal error. On October 7, Israel – and the world, if it was paying attention – learned that Hamas’ highest aspiration was to slaughter Israelis, even at the expense of its own people, whose lives had been steadily improving over the past couple of years by every metric.  Hamas showed that its genocidal charter was not lip service, but the actual core of its existence.

Understand something very clearly:

And this Hamas official states the plan:

WATCH: ‘We will repeat the October 7 attack again until Israel is annihilated’ – Hamas | World Israel News

Not “co-exist”.  Not “back to the 1948 lines”.  Annihilate.

YOU CANNOT COEXIST WITH SOMEONE WHOSE GOAL IS TO MAKE YOU TO CEASE TO EXIST!

—

10/27 Links Pt1: Deterring but Not Defeating Hamas Allowed It to Grow Stronger; Hamas is a plague hiding in a hospital; The Evil of “Queers For Palestine” ~ Elder Of Ziyon – Israel News

A bunch of good links, all discussing the need to crush Hamas.

—

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi Rebels Reportedly Formally Declare War on Israel – Geller Report

Iran declares war through a proxy.  Fixed that for you.  More:

Signs That Iran Will Open A Front Against Israel From The Syrian Golan Heights | MEMRI

—

Biden Regime Warns Israel Against Cutting Off Hamas Internet, Money and Propaganda (jihadwatch.org)

Did we make sure that ISIS retained internet access so it could post the latest and greatest beheading videos, and collect bitcoin tips?

Is there anything else Israel needs to do for Hamas? DoorDash delivery? Positive Yelp reviews?

This isn’t how you fight wars and it sure as hell isn’t how you win them.

 

ISLAM: PRACTICES, HISTORY, AND MENTALITY

Palestinian father celebrates the death of his family as “Martyrs,” hands out candy | PMW Analysis (palwatch.org)

Remember, to die in combat with the infidel is THE HIGHEST HONOR to which an observant Muslim can aspire.  This man is certain in his belief that his loved ones are in paradise.  And in the Arab media in general:

Genocidal Antisemitism in the Arab Media (jihadwatch.org)

—

The Hamas Massacre Plan Was 10 Years Old… And It Was Originally Hezbollah’s | Honest Reporting

Video, about 5 minutes.

—

Islamic Atrocities: Baby Was Found in an Oven, Baked to Death by Hamas Terrorists – Geller Report

As more of the horrors of the Islamic attacks on Israel continue to emerge… a baby was found in an oven, baked to death by Hamas terrorists.

This is an extraordinary claim.  Given what I’ve learned about Islamic history, I don’t think it’d be out of line, but while I tend to believe it, I want more confirmation.  Apparently there’s eye-witness testimony – not to the event, but the aftermath, plus other horrors:

Hamas burned Israeli baby in oven and tore apart pregnant mother, emergency workers reveal | World Israel News

Hamas terrorist: Shot crying children ‘until we didn’t hear noise anymore’ – JNS.org

—

 

 

Hamas Underworld Terror Tunnel City (VIDEO) – Geller Report

Resources for war that could have gone for peace.  Speaking of:

 

 

—

‘Palestinian’ woman who was featured in Vogue to Jews: ‘We will drink your blood and eat your skull’ (jihadwatch.org)

Eating skulls?  Drinking blood?  Search each of these two prior posts for KHALID to find the relevant entries:

Israel: Memes and Commentary – Granite Grok

Israel: More Memes, Links, and Commentary – Granite Grok

These are thoughts that literally date from Mohammed’s time.  Also:

Allah’s Sword of Terror (raymondibrahim.com)

And remember, a post or two ago, how you had a guy on video talking about the only life that mattered being the afterlife?  Embracing death in battle with the infidel?  Well, in rereading this article by the same author as the one just above, I found this precious little ditty.  Said in 636.

“If you refuse [to convert], there can only be war between us. . . . And you will face men who love death as you love life.”

Said in the year 636.  Unchanged rhetoric from 1400 years ago.  What did bin Ladin say?

 

Usama bin laden. We love death, the US loves life.

 

 

This is cited by Muslims again and again and again.

“We love death more than you love life” | Just the Facts. (suhailkhanexposed.com)

—

I keep hammering on the fact that the Islamists have a long-range plan.  Here are some details about their plans for North America.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s “General Strategic Goal” for North America (1991)

Any of these things sound familiar?

—

Note:  The contents of these next three videos are very disturbing; adults only.  Understand that you cannot UNSEE what you’ve seen, which is why I’ve only put links to them, not embedded them.

You have been warned.

But you need to see what these terrorists did.  Did to civilians (except, to them, there are no civilians; every Jew – get this through your heads! – every Jew alive in the world is in the House of War, and therefore, per Islamic definition, not a civilian; nor, once they turn to Christians, will Christians be civilians either).

Video One: This man is visibly alive as they start in on him.

Video Two: These are not Halloween decorations.

Video Three: These were civilians.  Were.

Imagine that these were your sons, or daughters, or husbands, or wives, or brothers or sisters.  And people were telling you to “ceasefire” after they murdered those you loved… while their friends and relatives back home screamed MY G-D IS GREATER and handed out candy and danced in the streets as your loved ones bled out and died.  Related:

VOICE OF EVIL: Hamas Terrorist Coldly Reveals Graphic Details About Murdering Crying Children to Israeli Official – Fears for His Life if His Parents Find Out About His Crimes (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Cullen Linebarger

When one watches this video, notice the lack of emotion this savage speaks with as he describes how he and his accomplice stole the lives of children from their loving parents.

Programmed from childhood.

 

The Palestinian Incitement Exposed

 

 

—

Hospitals, Hamas style | Power Line (powerlineblog.com)

War crime after war crime committed by Hamas – which is vastly supported by the Gazan population.

 

 

 

—

Egypt: Muslims attack Christian’s home over rumors that Christians were building an unlicensed church (jihadwatch.org)

Sharia law.  Pact of Umar / Omar.  Look them up.  Such tolerance.

 

 

ON INTERSECTIONALITY / LEFTIST SUPPORT

A Question for Those Who Chant ‘Palestine Must Be Free’ | Frontpage Mag

Eleven years later, on October 11, 1947 and responding to the UN plan, Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, said: “It will be a war of annihilation. It will be a momentous massacre in history that will be talked about like the massacres of the Mongols or the Crusades.”

Not “From the river to the sea…” but “We are full of hate! No more Jewish state!”  Good article with serious points raised.  Related:

Socialists admit that “by any means necessary” includes rape, beheading, burning babies alive ~ Elder Of Ziyon – Israel News

—

 

 

Show this to your Gaza-supporting gay friends.  And a conundrum for pro-choice people:

 

 

The Girls From Syracuse: ‘Palestine Is A Feminist Issue’ – Geller Report

—

Also unclear on the concept:

 

 

Strippers for Muslim fundamentalists.  O-kay then.  More:

Strange Bedfellows: UK Sex Worker’s Union and Hamas – Israellycool

—

UK: Pro-Hamas protestor throws spray-painted mice near kids in McDonald’s, shouts anti-Israel profanity (jihadwatch.org)

Where are the animal rights people?

 

 

PALLYWOOD

Time to revisit & repeat how sophisticated they are in deception.

 

Pallywood

 

 

Also see this:

The 2019 Pallywood Oscars – Israellycool

—

CNN features Minnesota family claiming 42 relatives killed in Gaza, admits it can confirm no detail of their story (jihadwatch.org)

They lie.  And Western media eat it up.

—

 

 

—

 

Welcome to Pallywood… staged Palestinian propaganda!

 

 

—

Former South African Secretary of Defense: No ‘Apartheid’ In Israel – Geller Report

Apartheid is one of the libels thrown at Israel.  I think this guy has a real idea of what real apartheid is.

 

 

TERROR COMING HERE?

Premodern Diversity Vs. Civilizational Unity | Frontpage Mag

Tribalism through modern migration where people fail to assimilate – and indeed are encouraged to not assimilate – will destroy this country.  And those whose anthem is John Lennon’s Imagine will find the reality far, far away from the utopia they imagine.

 

 

 

Speaking of “diversity”:

Biden Administration Secretly Let in Thousands of Unvetted Migrants from ‘Countries of National Security Concern’ :: Middle East Forum (meforum.org)

The Hamas needle in the US heartland haystack – American Thinker

—

 

 

Paris: Jewish Homes, Stores Marked With Stars of David (legalinsurrection.com)

San Francisco Jewish-Owned Ice Cream Shop Vandalized With Pro-Palestine Graffiti, Smashed Windows (legalinsurrection.com)

Toxic Atmosphere At Cornell For Jewish Students Is Getting Worse (legalinsurrection.com)

Cornell on alert after messages threaten campus Jewish community (nypost.com)

Jewish students at Cornell University had to go into hiding after vile anti-Semitic death threats posted on a student message board (barenakedislam.com)

Not Just Cornell, NYU: Students at George Mason Destroys Poster of Hamas Hostages, Yale Censors Pro-Israel Writer’s Column on Terror Atrocities, Disgusting Jew-Hating Rant outside Harvard University – Geller Report

Violence Breaks Out at Genocidal, Pro-Terror Riots in Downtown Chicago, Illinois – Geller Report

Around the world people are getting pushy and destroying property.  How soon before it gets outright violent and it turns to people?  Look at how close these people are, screaming at the Jewish student.  That’s stabbing distance – without the possibility of defense reaction time.  That’s coming.

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Jewish-student-harassed-at-Harvard.mp4

 

More about that incident:

Editor of Harvard Law Review caught on camera harassing Jewish student during anti-Israel protest | The Post Millennial | thepostmillennial.com

Related:

American Jews And Israelis Are Snatching Up Guns At Dramatic Rate, Los Angeles Shop Owner Says | The Daily Caller

Good.  But two things:

1. Get trained.
2. If push comes to shove, be willing to use it.
3. Understand the local laws – I don’t want you to get into trouble.
4. Look up the Tueller drill to understand how far a person with a knife can be and still be considered a lethal threat.

 

Massad Ayoob on the Tueller Drill

 

 

—

They’ll come here as migrants, and then outbreed us.

Muhammad Is Taking Over the World – PJ Media

 

 

TREADING ON THE POLITICAL

How Obama Enabled Hamas’ Terror Attack on Israel | Frontpage Mag

Video discussion; about 5 minutes.

—

How ironic that Hamas has exposed the anti-Semitism of the American left – American Thinker

A Watershed Moment for Jews – American Thinker

We may now be experiencing a tectonic shift of major magnitude, namely the exodus of Jews from liberalism. The triggering event is the Hamas savagery on Oct 7th in Israel and, of equal importance, the support of many Americans for this barbarism. These two events are a double wakeup call for many American Jews — who could imagine anybody celebrating the beheading of babies, nor thousands of Americans, often at elite universities, denouncing Israel as an apartheid, genocidal colonial regime?

Related:

SICK: Gun-Hating Biden Regime Threatens Israel – Will NOT Arm Jewish State Against Hamas Savages if They Continue to Provide Second Amendment Protections for Citizens | The Gateway Pundit | by Cullen Linebarger

This news once and for all proves that Israel has no true friends in the Democratic Party, just different levels of enemies.

Related:

After Worst Attacks on Jews Since the Holocaust, Biden Administration Announces Plan to Fight… Islamophobia – Gets Roasted on Twitter | The Gateway Pundit | by Mike LaChance

Priorities.  It’s Islamic votes they want.

 

 

—

California Democrats Disarm Synagogues « Lawrence Person’s BattleSwarm Blog (links in original):

Everywhere in the west, the radical left is protesting to support Hamas, despite (or perhaps because) of the latter’s calls to completely destroy the Jews. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom and California Democrats are disarming law-abiding Jewish American citizens in their synagogues.

But… but… but the Liberals are your friends, right?  Right?

 

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

IDF releases Hamas documents directing how to carry out civilian abductions

 

 

—

Latest cartoons, memes (12 of them!) ~ Elder Of Ziyon – Israel News

All great!

 

 

GIVING SUPPORT TO ISRAEL

You can’t go wrong with a donation here:

Connections Israel

I’ve contributed to them for almost 20 years.

I also have several olive trees adopted through Israeli olive oil and wine | My Tree in Israel and renew my adoption yearly.  It truly is the best olive oil I’ve ever had.

Full disclosure: One of the owners of MyTree is a friend of mine, but I get no financial benefit from plugging them.  One I have adopted for several years now is in honor of Bill Whittle, who did the voice-over for this video:

 

Debunking the Palestine Lie

 

 

He also did this video:

 

TERRORIST NATION

 

 

And lest you think you’re afraid to speak out, be this guy:

 

Be the Free Guy: Social-Proof Conformity Crumbles with Simple Action by One Person

 

 

 

Lastly, please share this post far and wide.  There’s a lot of info – collectively across all these posts – that many people don’t know.

 

A CONCLUDING THOUGHT FOR THIS POST

On several groups in Telegram I keep seeing people saying “We just need peeeeeace and loooooove and unterstaaaaanding“.  And IF ONLY people could move past their religion and hatreds to see that we’re one big TEAM HUMANITY family.

And yes, that’d be nice.

How many Gazans support terror attacks on Israeli civilians? | World Israel News

Sixty-seven percent of Gazans said they backed armed attacks on Israeli civilians, compared to just 33% who said they oppose such attacks.

In Judea and Samaria, 54% of Palestinians support armed attacks on Israeli civilians, while 41% oppose them.

So, just whose hand are you going to hold when majorities, if not supermajorities, of the people you want to make peace with want you dead and your nation destroyed?  When Muslims have hated and oppressed and murdered Jews for centuries.  You seriously have the hubris to think this will change because your enlightened selves are now in the mix?  Here are the deeds of your “peace partners”:

Announcing MEMRI Hamas Atrocities Documentation Center | MEMRI

Also:

Hamas Massacre – October 2023 (hamas-massacre.net)

“Team Humanity” peace advocates got slaughtered because they were Jews.  Nothing more, nothing less.

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Message-to-sjws.mp4

 

The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer.

Theodore Roosevelt

 

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf

Attributed to George Orwell

 

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”

John Stuart Mill

 

In closing, would real peace be wonderful?  Absolutely.  And in some Arab commentators I do see that it’s possible (I have a few videos that I’ll fold into the next one highlighting this – assuming they upload).  But until that mindset takes real & broad root, until the Arabs love their children more than they hate Jews (and everyone else), until Islam’s aggressive doctrine can be undermined… turning the other cheek will only result in two bruised cheeks.  Just look at – I think – my last post: Arabs from Gaza were in Israeli villages, talked with families, did work for far higher pay than they could get in Arab cities/towns, accepted food, shared stories.  And they scouted and collected intelligence and participated in the slaughter.

Peace only works when both sides want it.  In other words:

Sic pacem, para bellum.

And since, as I’ve extensively documented and commented upon, their end goal killing Jews (and everyone else) with paradise being their reward if they fall participating in that killing, then I greatly fear this becomes the only option.

 

(Link to AZQuotes per their policy)

The post Israel: Still More Links, Memes, and Commentary appeared first on Granite Grok.

If you want to eat something that is between you, the food, your family, and God. Not my business. I’m not one to crusade against your right to make choices as an adult. I might disagree and poke fun, but if you do not force me to embrace your choices, I will reciprocate, except for trans-fats.

Nasty stuff, those hydrogenated oils. I have never recommended them and counsel on reducing your intake. You don’t have to listen to me, a right I’ll protect, but those things are nasty. They are so nasty that the FDA has effectively banned them from grocery store shelves, effective Dec 22, 2023, and I am no fan of the FDA.

 

It started in 2015 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that artificial trans fats were unsafe to eat. The agency gave the food industry three years to reformulate products and ensure an orderly transition in the marketplace.

The final compliance date for specifically removing PHOs, which contain trans fats but also occur naturally in some meats, was Jan. 1, 2021.

In August 2023, the agency issued a direct final rule, making the decision permanent and enforceable. (A direct final rule process, intended for noncontroversial rules, allows an agency to issue a rule without the need for a double review process.)

Starting Dec. 22, 2023, no products containing PHOs will be allowed on grocery store shelves.

 

Partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) have been linked to heart disease, cancer, insulin resistance, and inflammation. After my heart attack, I effectively zeroed them out of my diet. Not absolute zero, but the change helped me lose a few extra pounds. Too many, actually, I had to adjust to put on a healthy weight. I can’t say much about whether it has helped, but I’m still here. I feel good, and dropping the PHOs hasn’t been any sort of hardship, be it food choice, flavor, texture, or affordability.

The latter is a bit harder to measure while we endure the inflationary strains of Democrat rule. A fat we could also stand to do without.

So, trans fats are going the way of fake fats, another food experiment that resulted in more harm than good. But that’s the FDA for you, approving things that end up being bad for us. Did anyone follow the money on fake fat? I’m sure someone left a trail.

And I wonder how many years we’ll have to wait before they decide that mRNA pharmaceuticals are dangerous to human health, quality of life, and life itself.

Any guesses?

 

The post Say Goodbye to Trans-Fats, America! appeared first on Granite Grok.

This week, I want to examine the place of prayer in perhaps the most influential American ever, George Washington. His name and character have been revered not only in America but throughout the world. Washington was perhaps the most unique political leader we have ever had in our nation.

His tenacity to persevere against all reasonable odds is epic! But where did he find such courage? Where did his resolve to win come from? How could he accomplish the many miracles that seemed to surround him in battle? How could he have the humility to not seek a third term of office as President when he so clearly was the people’s choice?

Well, as with all of our founding fathers, the letters are stories of their lives, and those letters and recordings of their actions by the people of the day reveal just what they believed, particularly about the role they were playing in Nation building and how they viewed God’s place in that process.

We have a famous painting of General George Washington kneeling in the snow at Valley Forge. Here, he faced sure defeat as his rag-tag army was abandoning the great cause of freedom, and those who were staying were starving and poorly clad for the frigid winter. Let’s look at the background of how he arrived to lead this rag-tag army.

The Second Continental Congress met on May 10, 1775, and asked George Washington to become their commander-in-chief. He was charged with basically building a group of farmers into a military force that would take on the greatest Empire of the world at that time, Great Britain. Washington knew that he needed to instill in the hearts of his men a deep conviction that what they were doing was for God and that they were under God’s protection. This is what he himself believed about what he was doing, building a new and free nation, because he was directed by faith in God, and he believed that God was and would protect him. There are several stories of his miraculous escape from direct bullet fire in the midst of battle.

So, General Washington issued an order that each day was to begin with prayer led by the officers of each unit. He also ordered that, unless their duties required them to be elsewhere, every soldier was to observe “ a punctual attendance of Divine services, to implore the blessing of heaven upon the means used for our safety and public defense.”

 

He also forbade all profanity and promised swift punishment for any who uttered oaths that would offend God or man. Can you imagine a leader on any level or office today forbidding swearing and profanity? Profanity has become the very fabric of our culture. On a side note, I was once told that the more vulgar you speak is a sign of your high I.Q.

Oh, well, let’s move on…Washington continually sought to instill in his troops faith and reverence toward God. Going back to the story of Valley Forge, during the difficult part of the war for independence, Rev. Henry Muhlenberg was able to observe Washington’s conduct from his nearby Lutheran Church. He wrote, Washington rode around among his army yesterday and admonished each one to fear God.

Issac Potts a Quaker who lived near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. When the Continental Army, led by Washington, was quartered there. The times were difficult on every level for Washington and his men. Potts was opposed to the war until, one day, he had a life-changing experience while riding in the woods near the army camp. He said, “I heard a plaintive sound as of a man at prayer. I tied my horse to a sapling and went quietly into the woods, and to my astonishment, I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis and cause of the country, of humanity, and of the world. Such a prayer I never heard from the lips of man. I left him alone, praying. I went home and told my wife I saw a sight and heard today what I had never saw or heard before, and just related to her what I had seen and heard and observed. We never thought a man could be a solider and a Christian, but if there is one in the world, it is Washington.”

Finally, having completed his call to serve in the birthing of the nation, Washington issued his letter of resignation as Commander-in-Chief to the Continental Congress, whereupon he wrote what I would call a pastoral letter, dated June 14th, 1783, to the governors of the various states. This letter reveals again his commitment to “earnest prayer.”

One section of the letter reads, “ I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens…to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another…and to demean ourselves with charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without humble imitation of His example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”

In conclusion, there are many written records of Washington beseeching heaven for help and looking to God for direction and protection.

Until Next Week…

Allen

 

You Can Read Other installments of Pulpit Polity Here.

The post Pulpit Polity – George Washington, Faith, and God appeared first on Granite Grok.

The FBI recently showed up at the home of Brianna Suggs. She’s an associate of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. She’s also a fundraiser for a mayor who has been increasingly critical of the “migrant” situation and the impact it is having on his sanctuary city.

The FBI is “investigating whether New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations.”

 

Investigators are looking into the potential involvement of a Brooklyn construction company with connections to Turkey and a small Washington, D.C.-based university that has ties to both Turkey and the New York City mayor, according to a search warrant obtained by the Times. The investigation is also focused on discerning whether Adams’s campaign kicked back benefits to the construction company’s officials and employees, and to Turkish officials.

 

Adams was on his way to The Capitol to discuss the “M-M-M-Migrant Crisis” but, upon hearing of the raid, bailed on that trip and returned to the Big Crapple.

Anyone and everyone is insisting that the Mayor is not the target “nor if he accused of wrongdoing,” but it appears clear to me that someone is sending a message.

First, under tyrants and despots, even those posing as elected officials, you are assumed guilty of something or will be as needed. No one is innocent. The odds of being implicated turn on any number of points, including value to the regime (current or potential) and optics. Targeting “associates” is a convenient way of establishing that you can and will go after them and that those targeted could be offered the opportunity to rat you out for anything that can be imagined.

Lie for them, and they promise not to charge you with perjury, and even if it doesn’t go well, you could get a book deal.

Adams is not new to the game, so he must know this, but all he was after, as far as I can tell, was a shot at being Ukraine. How about a bailout? A few billion or whatever the presses can print while I’m in town. Please put it on a pallet. Stick it on a C130. Drop it off at Laguardia in the middle of the night. I’ll have someone there to collect it. And that will buy my silence for a few months. We’ll find a way to make it work. Please send me your uneducated and disease-infested, your terrorists, your drug cartel and gang members yearning to ruin America.

And this is New York. As with most Democrat-run urban plantations, it operates like a banana republic. If the UN brings aid, anyone who is anyone gets a piece, and if there’s any leftover, create a few photo-ops to reinforce the false hope. Adams needs to line some pockets, too. Elections don’t win themselves. So, the money, any money, will generate plenty of aid but not for the wretched huddled masses knocking on his door.

He’ll have to beg for more.

And that works, at least until or unless the FBI shows up to raid another supporter. Or maybe a bit closer to home.

It’s just a theory, but it’s only the first seal of the potential Adams Apocolypse. If the FBI shows up again with a CNN crew, he’ll know he’s in trouble.

 

The post Did Biden Send the FBI “After” NYC Mayor Eric Adams For Bitching Too Much About the ‘Migrant Crisis™’ appeared first on Granite Grok.

As the long-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia stalls and a new war in Gaza draws the world’s attention, American support for funding Kyiv’s war has waned. In an effort to reverse this, the Biden administration is changing its messaging.

A Politico report from last week details how White House aides are now telling members of Congress to sell Americans the lie that continuing to send money and weapons to Ukraine is good for the economy.

President Joe Biden made this point himself when he introduced a $105 billion proposal to send military aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan:

We send Ukraine equipment sitting in our stockpiles. And when we use the money allocated by Congress, we use it to replenish our own stores, our own stockpiles, with new equipment. Equipment that defends America and is made in America. Patriot missiles for air defense batteries, made in Arizona. Artillery shells manufactured in 12 states across the country, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas. And so much more.

With this new talking point, the Biden administration is echoing Senator Mitch McConnell, who has for months been saying that the war in Ukraine is an excellent deal because American companies get paid, the Russian regime is weakened, and only Ukrainians have to die.

Setting aside the morality or practicality of Biden and McConnell’s foreign policy ambitions, the argument that all this military spending is good for the American economy relies on one of the oldest, most pervasive economic fallacies in our political discourse—the broken window fallacy.

First outlined by French economist Frédéric Bastiat in his essay “That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen” and later expounded upon by economic journalist Henry Hazlitt in his book Economics in One Lesson, the broken window fallacy is the false belief that spending money on restoring things that have been destroyed can make an economy richer.

To make this point, Bastiat used the example of a broken shop window. After his careless son breaks a pane of glass, a shopkeeper is forced to hire a glazier to repair the damage. A group of bystanders reflect on the situation and question their impulse to condemn the boy. After all, they ask, “What would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?”

In Hazlitt’s telling, the bystanders point to all the economic activity that will come from the shopkeeper’s purchase of a new $50 windowpane. “The glazier will have $50 more to spend with other merchants, and these in turn will have $50 more to spend with still other merchants, and so ad infinitum.” That leads the crowd to the fallacious conclusion that because of all the resulting economic activity that his breaking of the window incited, the shopkeeper’s son should be considered a public benefactor.

The problem with this thinking, Bastiat and Hazlitt explain, is that it cites only the economic activity that can be seen to result from the broken window. What goes unseen is the cost—all the economic activity the shopkeeper would have instead spurred had he not been forced to buy a new window.

And because the shopkeeper would have preferred to spend the $50 elsewhere, the breaking of the window can only be considered a net loss. The glazier benefits from the shopkeeper’s loss, but the shopkeeper and therefore, the overall economy are made poorer.

How does this relate to the Biden-McConnell talking point? After all, isn’t the destruction happening far away in Ukraine and Gaza?

It’s important not to get distracted by the act of destruction in Bastiat’s parable. The central element of his argument is not the broken window alone but the fact that the shopkeeper is forced to pay for a new one.

When the American people are forced to pay for weapons and equipment to replace those sent to Ukraine, they lose out on all the economic activity that they would have preferred to partake in, just like the shopkeeper.

And although, like the glazier, the five prime defense contractors benefit from the influx of tax dollars, the American people as a whole can only be made worse off. There is no growth, only a forced transfer of wealth to the weapons companies.

We have so far been forced to pay for over $44 billion worth of weaponry for Ukraine and $3.3 billion per year in military aid to Israel. Now, another $60 billion for Ukraine and $10 billion for Israel have been proposed. This spending would increase the burden that has already been forced on the American people. If Biden, McConnell, and their supporters think Americans have an obligation to shoulder that cost, they should at least have the decency not to pretend it’s making us more prosperous.

Connor O’Keeffe produces media and content at the Mises Institute. He has a master’s in economics and a bachelor’s in geology.

Connor O’Keeffe | Mises Wire

Mises Wire We heartily encourage reprints and shares of Mises Wire articles. If you wish to reproduce an article in your blog, magazine, radio show, newspaper column, classroom material, textbook, discussion group, website, or any other venue, please do so. The original publication source must be included in an appropriate place.

The post Don’t Fall for Biden’s Latest Talking Point appeared first on Granite Grok.