The UNH poll came out last week. Trump has a solid lead, DeSantis has collapsed, Vivek claimed second, and Chris Christie is the guy Republicans are least likely to vote for under any circumstance. This week, St. Anselm’s published their most recent poll.

Trump still sits on top (45%), Nikki Haley takes the second spot (15%), followed by Ron DeSantis (11%) and Chris Christie at 10%. Ramaswamy is 5th, Scott 6th, Traitor Pence 7th, then, as they used to say in the opening to Gilligan’s Island, “and the rest.”

As with the UNH poll, everyone but Trump is drifting within the margin of error, so you have to look elsewhere for nuggets to take the temperature of the sampled electorate. For our purposes today, as the headline suggests, our focus is on how many New Hampshire voters would not vote for Chris Christie under any circumstance.

The UNH Poll included a graph depicting whom voters, regardless of circumstance, refused to vote.

 

 

60% of those polled will not vote for Christie, double that of the “combative” and troublesome Trump. Is that why Camp Christie is running new ads comparing him to Reagan?

Yesterday, the St Aselm’s Poll produced a similar result to UNH. Chris Christie is the least popular Republican running.

 

Former Governor Chris Christie has succeeded in branding himself as the harshest critic of Trump, but at a cost.  Although he has picked up the support of 29% of respondents who have an unfavorable impression of Trump, he has virtually no support from respondents who view Trump favorably.  His 46-point net negative favorability (25%-71%) will likely put a hard ceiling on his potential growth.

 

 

To be fair to Chris-Chris, we were fans when he first got elected governor of New Jersey and went toe-to-toe with the Unions. He made great arguments in defense of taxpayers and education. It was also nice to see a Republican who didn’t back down a trait he abandoned when his president could have used some support. Instead of backing the man and helping debunk the left’s BS – which he has the skills to do – Chris-Chris chose the other side.

How do you support that guy, knowing he can’t be relied upon to defend anyone that’s not him? That is the problem many voters have with Pence. He could have stood tall, but instead, he folded like a big tent. And UNH and St. Anselm’s polls show Mike Pence failing to escape whatever disdain is held for him, no doubt the result of Trump voters who would rather wash Nancy Pelosi’s crooked feet than vote for Pence.

Okay, that’s a stretch, but you get what I assume you can’t unsee. New Jersey’s answer to Mr. Stay Puft is unpopular despite or becasue of the ads he’s been running all summer and the devotion of Trump supporters to Trump, no matter what – which leads me to one more point.

The devotion of Pro-Trumpers and Never-Trumpers. We encourage everyone, regardless of who they support, to make their case in as civil a manner as they are able. Cults of personality aside, and that works both ways. The Trump or bust folks should try not to appear like zealots, but those who insist a Trump nomination will destroy GOP chances down-ticket need to take a breath. I’m not saying you are right or wrong. I don’t know the answer. The dynamics of Presidential years and Party efforts are different than off years.

My point is that while you are bemoaning the progressive political elite and how they think they know better or refuse to listen to the majority, that’s not bad advice for your party. Whether you like Trump or not, he’s polling as high as 60% among Republican primary voters. In New Hampshire, except for pre-collapse DeSantis in March, Trump has held a double-digit lead.

If you’d like that to change, you need to embrace the Sununu strategy and convince the laggards sucking the rest of the air out of the room to drop out. The problem there, of course, is that to do this, you’d have to do what you’ve been trying to get Trump supporters to do – abandon their candidate. And so far, he’s the only one with a base prepared to support him come hell or high water.

We thought Ron DeSantis could be that guy, but with four months to go, give or take a week here and there, he is headed in the wrong direction. Whatever the plan is, it needs to start soon, or you’ll never get close to Trump in time to prevent his nomination. If that doesn’t appeal, might your time and energy be more productive trying to clean up the election integrity issues?

At this point, it hardly matters who the Republican nominee is if the swing state election processes are in the same shape as they’ve been since 2020.

If Christie is such a fighter for the people, try something that might make you more popular with every Republican voter. Try roaming the swing states, building legal support to clean up elections, prosecutor, or at least finding lawyers who will actually work to prevent fraud instead of sitting on their hands watching it happen.

That fraud hurts Republicans up and down the ticket, and it harms Americans.

 

The post Chris Christie and What the UNH and St Anselm’s Presidential Polls Have in Common appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Boebert/theater affair; the Noem/Lewandowski affair; the double standard (if any); any chance of an upcoming government showdown? Trump’s statement on abortion during an interview and its political fallout, if any.We invite feedback, questions, and comments from our live and podcast listeners, either through comments on Facebook live during the show or by email to:  theconservatarianexchange@libertyblock.com.

The post The Conservatarian Exchange Podcast #172 appeared first on The Liberty Block.

As a parental rights advocate in New Hampshire, I talk to parents frequently about the challenges their children face in our public schools. I offer them advice on how to navigate some of those challenges, like opting out of objectionable materials assigned to their children.

Parents should be replacing poor-quality assignments with quality academic content. If the school administrators are going to dumb down your child’s public education, sometimes it’s better to opt out of these assignments and replace them with something better. Parents are doing that right now in New Hampshire by sending school administrators a request to opt out of what they find objectionable. Parents are then purchasing workbooks and literature that elevate their child’s learning.

Many parents have replaced the dumbed-down Common Core math with traditional math. SEL (Social and Emotional Learning) time is being spent in the library, where they are working with math and grammar workbooks used by home-schooling parents. Many children are still behind in these subjects due to the COVID shutdowns, so parents know the time wasted on SEL and other subjects could be better-used learning math facts and grammar skills. They are replacing trashy books with classical literature that expands their vocabulary and instills characteristics like courage and honesty.

For some of our children who are challenged in other ways, it’s even more important that parents monitor what they are doing in school. When parents discovered that pornographic content was found on their child’s library App (SORA) that was provided by their school and downloaded on their Chromebooks, they became concerned. But what we are finding now is that children with Autism have also had access to this graphic content.

Some parents are now reporting that their children are using inappropriate language at home and at school. Some of what they have learned appears to be coming from their time in school. When children have problems filtering what they say or have outbursts that come from some of the disabilities they have, it makes it even more challenging for parents.

Many of these parents are careful not to expose their children to adult content at home. They know that stopping bad behavior can be extremely difficult, especially when they send their children to school. If an autistic child is exposed to sexual or pornographic content, this can exacerbate problems at home and in the school.

All parents need to notify the school district that their children should not be exposed to any graphic or pornographic books or materials in school. But this is even more important for parents whose children struggle with their ability to control their behavior.

Public school administrators and teachers are not helping any children by providing this kind of content to children. In fact, stopitnow.org describes giving children pornographic content as sexual abuse of a child. No one in the public schools seems to have the guts to put an end to this abuse. Until we have honorable people in charge of our schools, it’s best to notify the school Superintendent, Principal, teachers, and school board members that your child is not to access any of this content while they are attending school. It can be used as a way to force your child out of public school by punishing a child who has limited means to control their behavior.

 

The post Sexualizing Students In Our Schools Hurts SPED Children the Most appeared first on Granite Grok.

Bill Gates extolls the potential benefits of genetically modified mosquitos in a recent blog. The clever technology may indeed prove beneficial, but Bill Gates has his fingers (and money) stuck in so many technological marvels that risks of error surely mount. How far will he fly toward the sun before all humanity is scorched by his melting wings?

Genetically modifying mosquitos to become weapons against their kind has been underway for years, with proven success. The creepy mosquito modifications are employed in male mosquitos only, who are then released into wild populations to mate. Impregnated females are infertile or yield female larvae that fail to reach maturity, reducing malaria. The mutated strain eventually dies out – the females cannot reproduce.

In the billionaire’s latest blog, the merits of a new manmade mosquito are touted. Gates hails the “genetic Technology” of Oxitec to engineer a new mutated mosquito, gushing: “To end malaria, we need many new tools and innovations to reduce the burden of this disease and move the world closer to eradication.” Such high aspirations are laudable, but the rush to “new tools and innovations” is where Mr. Gates flies too close for Icarian comfort to the sun. His “new tools” in the name of health include controversial mRNA vaccines, food preservatives (APEEL), chalk to block the sun, and synthetic meat (He owns some patents and lots of farmland to grow soy).

The Gates Foundation awarded Oxitec $5.8 million in grants beginning in 2018, essentially subcontracting the Frankensteinian task of genetically manufacturing new strains of designer mosquitos – one of which was nick-named “Friendly.” But there is reason to fear genetic tampering, even if the Frankensquitos are effective. Indeed, their success might imbue Gates and other stargazers with a hazardous overconfidence in future ventures.

Does Bill Gates Fly Too Close to the Sun? Throughout history, man has sought miraculous cures and alms in many forms, from morphing lead into gold to creating a perpetual motion machine. Human eyes are easily dazzled by techno-promises, and the theme of hubris that mythology and religious texts have echoed through the ages is unheeded by the world’s Gateses. If ever there were a modern Icarus, it would be Bill Gates the computer geek.

It might be that one of these unnatural mosquitos carries an undetected additional trait, mutates, or breeds in some unanticipated way. Genetic mutations of plants (one recent genetic freakshow splices porcine DNA with soy), fetal tissue tampering (for designer human organs, or of bovine fetal tissue to grow fake meats), hormones and chemicals, blending frog DNA with who-knows-what … these and other modern real-life forays into the realm of science fiction threaten to one day usher in a horror show instead.

Thalidomide was touted as safe for pregnant women; Agent Orange was sprayed on troops; radon was used to measure foot size; oxycontin was hailed as non-addictive. The list of human errors in technology is long and growing, yet the techno-mystics glowingly exalt their futurist visions, undaunted. Nations are battling natural invasive plants and pests in a globalized world. What mutant plant, insect, or human will the new gods of bioengineering procure? Will they employ gain-of-function technology and fabricate a deadly virus and pandemic?

Bill Gates would never dream of such a thing …  As to mosquitos, he appears to acknowledge the risks of this technology in his August 14 blog, providing a less-than-reassuring comfort:

 

“Genetic technology like Oxitec’s understandably raises many questions. Is it safe? What are the lasting environmental impacts? Here’s what’s important to know: After evaluating the potential risk of genetically modified mosquitoes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2016 and the EPA in 2022 have confirmed that the Oxitec mosquitoes do not pose a threat to humans or the environment.”

 

If only Mr. Gates secured the USDA’s and CDC’s confirmation as well, and perhaps Dr. Fauci’s – then Americans could know for certain to be terrified. By definition, all of humanity’s past technological follies have received the imprimatur of so-called experts. Mr. Gates assures us that re-tooled mosquitos are (like mRNA vaccines) safe and effective.

In 1867, a French immigrant in Massachusetts named Etienne Leopold Trouvelot managed to import gypsy moth caterpillars to his home for cross-breeding with silkworms. Trouvelet sought a breed of silkworm caterpillar that birds wouldn’t eat. The trouble is they escaped. By 1889 the gypsy moth had become a scourge in Medford, Massachusetts. These caterpillars are afoot still, expanding across the continent at about 12.6 miles per year. Much slower than modern GMOs (genetically modified organisms), but still inexorable, irreversible, and destructive.

In seeking the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, mankind has habitually crafted machinations with destructive impacts often unforeseen. Mapping human DNA, creating new plants and animals, and growing food from fetal tissues is The Island of Dr. Moreau meets Soilent Green freaky, yet this is the stuff of pomp and boast for Bill Gates and other techno-mystics.

An eerie comment stands out in the billionaire’s mosquito-plugging blog:

“Thank you Bill Gates and the entire team for making such effort to brighten not only Africa, but the entire world.

“Your work will never be forgotten. Let all the generations to come seal your names in their hearts, for you are the true heroes of our time.

“Keep up the good fight, and may God forgive you if by any chance you crushed which was not meant to be crushed in an effort to make the world a better place.”

Generations to come may not seal the Gates name in their hearts as a “true hero of our time” if in time a single misstep in his various visionary ventures unleashes a Trouvelotian legacy of some new creation, whether plant, insect, or virus. Those science fiction fantasy horrors knock at humanity’s door, aided and abetted by AI – itself a brave new world of possible irrevocable errancies. Imagine the upcoming gene engineering of humans for designer kiddies, spliced with 2001: A Space Odyssey’s “Hal.”

The world must not be overly skeptical of the possibilities of new technologies. Even so, Bill Gates’ techno-idolatry embraces a foolish, grandiose optimism. The technology employed to alter mosquitos is called Genetically Altered Drives, a step beyond other modification techniques, and it may not always be so “friendly.” Given the highly dubious track record Gates has on vaccines, GMOs, and synthetic meats, the world must pray that his philanthropic efforts do not “by any chance crush that which was not meant to be crushed.”

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

The post Bill Gates Eyes ‘Friendly’ Mosquitos appeared first on Granite Grok.

My meme cup runneth over.  And yes there will be a Friday edition.  Here’s last Friday’s edition.

Thank you for your tolerance at there being no post on Monday.

Let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a science there must not just be predictions, but predictions that are falsifiable.  I.e., if the prediction is for drought, then if there’s rain and wetter weather that doesn’t morph into “see, we told you”.  Instead, the prediction was falsified, therefore the theory that generated the prediction is shown to be – at least – weakened if not outright voided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Pick of the post:

 

 

Not precisely my favorite guy by any stretch, but in this he was spot-on correct.  People don’t see because if they saw they’d have to acknowledge that the world they thought existed… isn’t.

 

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

 

Palate cleansers:

 

—

—

 

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

 

 

 

The post MONDAY MEMES on a Wednesday appeared first on Granite Grok.

Hear Testimony on  Why the Registry is Unconsitutional

One of the many problems with Democrats is that they are blinkered idiots trapped by their own vocabulary and destined to trip over it at every opportunity. Take this latest outrage. A white woman was crowned Miss Zimbabwe.

 

The crowning of Brooke Bruk-Jackson, a 21-year-old white woman, as Miss Universe Zimbabwe on Sept. 16 has ignited disturbing criticism, with some expressing outrage against the model’s race. ..

According to the Atlanta Black Star, one Twitter user remarked, “All those beautiful melanted women and you telling me the European woman won a contest for black people!!??” A second unhinged user responded, “Extremely tragic and disappointing! I agree with you.” 

The racist mob hijacked the comments section of her Instagram account, forcing her to disable them.

 

These people are idiots. The word minority does not mean black or brown-skinned but the Race-obsessed Western Progressive can’t see that forest for the trees. All they know is white hate, often self-hate, and their own liberal-fragility. Brooke Bruk-Jackson is a minority in Zimbabwe. A nation with a population of over 16.6 million, 99.6% of which are black African.

If Zimbabwe had the Western left equivalent of American Progressives, her crown would be viewed as an earth-shattering victory for minority and minority rights, repeating the words of the winner herself as if they were an anthem.

 

“The colour of our skin should not define a person or who each person chooses to associate with. Together, we are aligned, a beautiful kind made by god,” she remarked on Instagram on Thursday.

 

She’s thinking as if she were Zimbabwe’s Martin Luther King Jr., not that this will gain her any traction in Europe or across the pond. To them, Brooke has not only denied “All those beautiful melanated women” a crown but defiled the sacred tenets of anti-racist dogma. There is no such thing as reverse racism.

Right.

All that sort of thinking does is reveal their white hate, muddying up the debate about what minority and minority rights mean, but that’s no issue for the Left, either. Language is just another “institution” to destroy. But if it matters, the target of their outrage should probably be the progressive judges who picked her based on all the categories in the contest.

And Brooke should stop trying to console or appease them and instead make fun of them. After all, if she were a white guy denying “melanated women” of victory, the skeeving bastards would probably be beside themselves with joy.

 

 

The post No Pleasing Them: The Left is Pissed After a “Minority” Wins Miss Universe Zimbabwe appeared first on Granite Grok.

The legislature passed the Clean Heat Standard (S.5) into law in the Spring of this year (over the governor’s veto) with a provision that Vermonters can start banking the so-called “Clean Heat Credits” – earned by installing heat pumps, insulating buildings, etc. – retroactive to January 1, 2023.

The program itself doesn’t go into full effect until 2025. So, the geniuses in Montpelier created a situation in which folks, in order to get their early credits, are supposed to somehow file paperwork that doesn’t exist with a bureaucratic entity that is not yet in place following rules that have not been written. What could go wrong?

And, yes, this is perhaps the dumbest thing ever.

The level of dumb was highlighted in a recent letter the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) sent out in reply to a request by the Vermont Fuel Dealers asking for instructions on how to apply for/claim their early action carbon credits. The PUC is the entity charged under S.5/Act 18 with writing the rules by which the Clean Heat Standard program is supposed to work. Their letter reads in part:

On August 4, 2023, the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association (“VFDA”) and the Heating and Cooling Contractors of Vermont (“HCCV”) filed comments requesting clarity on what documentation and other record keeping will be required to substantiate early action credits pursuant to 30 V.S.A. § 8124(c). VFDA and HCCV maintain that such clarity is essential to equitable implementation of Act 18 [aka S.5] and will help to incentivize early participation in activities that are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Section 8124(c) of Title 30 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated provides that beginning January 1, 2023, “clean heat measures that are installed and provide emission reductions are creditable,” and that “[u]pon the establishment of the clean heat credit system, entities may register credits for actions taken starting in 2023.” The Commission seeks feedback on the topic of early action credits, including what documentation and recordkeeping should be maintained to allow for verification of clean heat measures seeking early action credits, and any other information or suggestions participants may have on the topic of early action credits. Any comments on this topic should be filed by October 5, 2023, with reply comments due by October 19, 2023. SO ORDERED. 09/18/2023

In other words, we have no clue. SO ORDERED!

A couple of points to highlight here. The bill passed in April after significant testimony in both the House and Senate in which the PUC played a large role. They knew way ahead of time that this was something they were going to have to deal with. They had plenty of opportunity to object to the impossible nature of the requirement, and/or to ask the legislators for clarification about how they expected this aspect of the law they were passing might to function in the real world. They didn’t.

..

The PUC’s S.5/Act 18 funding ($825,000 of it) and authority came online on June 30/July 1. The Fuel Dealers and Cooling Contractors reached out in early August with their request for rule clarification and it took a month and a half (until September 18) for the PUC to even respond! And then with this lame, “We have no clue, you tell us what to do” farce. They plan on waiting until October 19th for suggestions to come in, at which point one assumes they will maybe start the process of figuring out how to bank early action credits – going on a year after people were supposed to be able to bank them.

None of this speaks well of the competency with which this program will be managed. And it is going to be exceedingly complicated.

The law (S.5/Act 18) states, ““Clean heat credit” means a tradeable, nontangible commodity that represents the amount of greenhouse gas reduction attributable to a clean heat measure [emphasis added].”

So, it’s not enough to document that one, for example, installs a heat pump. Someone from the PUC is also going to have to verify in addition to installation actually taking place, what system the heat pump is replacing, because depending upon whether or not it is a natural gas, propane, oil, or wood system the greenhouse gas reduction calculation – which is what the credit value is legally based on — will be different. Someone will also have to verify the intended use of the heat pump. If it’s primarily being used in the summer for air conditioning, for example, it’s likely adding to greenhouse gas output, not reducing it. Is the space it’s being installed into well insulated or not so much? We need to know this too.

Beyond these scientific factors, the law has “equity” components built into it as well, stating, “The Clean Heat Standard shall be designed and implemented to enhance social equity by prioritizing customers with low income, moderate income,” and, “each obligated party shall retire at least 16 percent from customers with low income and an additional 16 percent from customers with low or moderate income.” So, someone from the PUC is going to not only verify all the factors that impact the greenhouse gas reduction (or lack there of) regarding each clean heat measure, they will also have to verify the income status of the person/family/business installing the measure.

And lastly, how is the PUC going to verify who is claiming ownership of the credit? The installer? The Homeowner?

You can’t mess around with this because a “clean heat credit” is a financial instrument with a monetary value, and leaving their creation open to opportunities for fraud by making false claims will open someone(s) up to some serious legal jeopardy. The way the law is written makes every single clean heat measure is unique, and to meet the greenhouse gas reduction mandates under the Global Warming Solutions Act there must be literally hundreds of thousands of such measures falling under at least a dozen different categories of activities. This is a virtually impossible task.

So, if I were with the Fuel Dealers/Heating & Cooling Contractors, I would reply to the PUC with a reminder of what the law states a clean heat credit must be based on, and a list of every single factor they can think of that might impact on greenhouse gas emissions a clean heat measure can affect. Remind them that it’s the PUC’s job to figure out how to document and verify all this, not the dealers/contractors. And sign off with a hearty, “Good luck with it!” And, “PS, if you have any questions about how this is supposed to work, kindly direct them to the jackasses in the legislature who wrote the law the this way. Surely, they thought this all through before voting YES.” Right?

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

The post The Entity Charged With Implementing a Carbon Credit System Has No Idea How To Do It appeared first on Granite Grok.

Today’s clip is about where we were, where we are, what we are up against, and why we need to persevere as a nation under attack from without and within. It is a testament to the value and purpose of liberty—the why of the American Revolution and the American experiment.

Ben Domenech made these remarks on Fox News over two years ago. I saved the clip becasue it struck me as moving. One of those somethings we need to revisit every 6-12 months to remind us that the battles are worth fighting, the war worth winning. I have a list of them.

 

• Angelo Codevilla’s “America’s Ruling Class and the Perils of Revolution“
• Theorode Dalrymple’s “Don’t Legalize Drugs.”
• Albert Jay Knock’s “Our Enemy the State” (published 1935)
• Ken White’s “Free Speech Tropes” (a free-speech lawyer on flawed free speech arguments).
• Emmantize the Eschaton

 

There are others, but let’s focus on this. The culture war, the border war, the war against free speech, religion, culture, and the rule of law. We are fighting rampant generational theft by unaccountable elites (to name but one timely issue given the shutdown theater), but America is worth fighting for, and Ben Domenech did a damn good job – in my opinion – framing why.

 

 

 

The post What Free People Do appeared first on Granite Grok.

Tucker Carlson talks about abortion in a way most anti-abortion politicians are afraid/unable to. Instead, these anti-abortion politicians come across as defensive and even apologetic about being anti-abortion. It’s even worse in New Hampshire .

NHGOP “leaders,” desperate to hold on to power, think the way to do so is to appeal to the “swing voters,” i.e., the “sick voters.” Prime example: Sun-King Chris Sununu, who is okay with aborting seven, eight, and even nine-month-old unborn babies.

 

Abortion has gone from being tolerated to celebrated. What kind of sick people would tell you that killing your baby is a pathway to joy? pic.twitter.com/ohaYtnITPr

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) September 25, 2023

That said, I believe that incrementalism is the key. Move too far (in the minds of a majority of a particular State’s voters), too fast (in the minds of a majority of a particular State’s voters) … and you may very well end up with unrestricted abortion. Case in point: Ohio. But incrementalism does not mean NOT calling people like Chris Sununu, who support unrestricted abortion, what they are: SICK.

 

The post NHGOP “Leaders” … We Must Pander To The Sick People appeared first on Granite Grok.

The great H.L. Mencken reportedly said, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” While it’s hard to believe he didn’t have the Biden family finances in mind, it still serves as an apt warning for another round of handwringing over the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Just last week, Americans were hit with a one-two punch from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as both agencies urged another round of booster shots “for all Americans ages six months and older.”

The same FDA (which has no business dispensing medical advice, only safety data) that took fifty years to figure out the decongestant phenylephrine doesn’t really work. But it can cause high blood pressure. Regardless, for Pfizer and Moderna, the new jabs for a never-ending stream of annual COVID-19 variants are called profit centers.

Yet, this time not everyone is going along. The public seems willing to buck the compliance conformity and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has thankfully decided to buck the CDC, citing a lack of “sufficient clinical evidence” for the latest shots in people under the age of 65. (RELATED: FORMER REP. JASON LEWIS: If The Special Counsel Can Indict Trump For His ‘Lies,’ Then Why Not The Partisan Press?)

And for good reason. The CDC itself has been forced to recommend that all doctors consider myocarditis in otherwise healthy patients who report chest pains and had prior mRNA COVID vaccinations. Meantime, Dr. Anthony Fauci is busy walking back history after smearing a host of epidemiological colleagues who were right all along about ‘herd immunity.’

“If you get vaccinated,” whispered Joe Biden, “you won’t get COVID.” An obvious lie that should have been put to rest when the octogenarian kept testing positive for the virus. Even Dr. Deborah Birx noted that “fifty percent of the people who died from the Omicron surge were all older, vaccinated.”

A stark reversal from coronavirus task force member Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, who had declared that “with the Omicron variant, kids are either going to get the vaccine or they’re likely to get a serious condition.”

You can see why the Biden administration is panicking. After all, it fully understands the hysteria over COVID, fueled by media malfeasance, got ‘ol Joe in the White House in the first place. I saw it in real-time and tried to warn folks in 2020 while running for the U.S. Senate.

Now comes a three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Big Tech censors can’t follow the dictates of government ones without abridging First Amendment protections. Especially since the defendants not only “continued to take down content the officials flagged, and provided requested data to the White House, but they also changed their moderation policies expressly in accordance with the officials’ wishes” in order to show that “stronger demotions, in particular, should deliver real impact.“

 

 

The stinging rebuke highlighting what everyone knew to be true hasn’t dissuaded the Biden administration from using government coercion, however. It immediately demanded the high court block the appellate court decision.¹³ Then the White House Pretorian Guard sent out a media memo “urging news outlets to ramp up scrutiny of the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Biden.”

Well, why not?

Literally, just about every news outlet imaginable carried water for the ‘new normal.’ They still are, ask Woody Harrelson. When the lefty actor brought up his sarcastic criticism of Big Pharma on Saturday Night Live, ‘progressive’ mouthpieces from Rolling Stone to the Daily Beast to Huffpost labeled their former comrade an ‘anti-vaxx conspiracist.’

Yes, the same ‘journalists’ who denied SARS-CoV-2 could have originated with a Wuhan gain-of-function “laboratory-associated incident.”¹⁶ Hell, you weren’t even supposed to call it a ‘Chinavirus,’ though geography was how we used to name them. The media mocked conventional off-label treatments, over-counted COVID-related deaths and promoted vaccines whose manufacturers were advertising on their programs.

The whole damn thing was one big Psy Op.

Nowhere was the incestuous relationship between government and the press more pronounced than in Minnesota. When a power-drunk Governor Tim Walz announced statewide mask mandates, the observable data was already accumulating on how ineffective, actually useless, the practice would turn out to be.¹⁸ Nevertheless, Walz’s economic development commissioner, Steve Grove, sent off sample letters to business leaders suggesting they submit the pro-mandate agitprop to newspapers, such as the Star Tribune.

“Your support for wearing masks,” wrote the former Google executive, “is critical toward ensuring adoption.” Steve Grove, in case you’re wondering, is now the CEO and publisher of the pro-Walz Star Tribune.

Hey, if we can’t sue the vaccine makers or Big Tech, maybe we should all bring a Section 1983 lawsuit charging the media for abridging our civil liberties by ‘defrauding the United States’ in their role as ‘state actors’ under the color of law.

Lockdowns and masking were more than drastic public health measures. As Justice Neil Gorsuch put it, “Since March of 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.” And the costs have been catastrophic.

A study at Johns Hopkins was one of over 400 that found “no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures, and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality.”

They did have an effect, however, on overdose deaths, suicide rates and the “prevalence of persistent sadness among teenage girls in the U.S.,” which, according to the CDC, ironically enough, “hit an all-time high.” The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now suggests routine screenings for ‘anxiety.’ (RELATED: MATTHYS: The CDC’s ‘Reset’ Shows Just How Dangerous Government Narratives Can Be)

Academically, the post-pandemic NAEP Report Cards confirm that the quarantining of elementary and secondary students was a calamitous disaster. Colleges and universities pulled a bait and switch that would have made Charles Ponzi envious. Administrators lured students back with full tuition rates and then, once they got to campus, shut down classrooms.

Now they’re flirting with it again?

But the damage far exceeded a student’s GPA. It was an inexcusable exercise in dystopia, and I shared my own frustration in “Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics & the Partisan Press“:

Imagine taking someone mired in loneliness and telling them to isolate in their rooms, left to the poison of social media algorithms so often used to traumatize young adults.

The lockdown lobby deliberately abandoned an entire generation for political gain. Who does this? How many formative years in high school and college were now forever gone? How many futures destroyed, how many dreams dashed? What these public health bureaucrats, politicians and media did to kids wasn’t a public policy mistake—it was a scandal.

God may forgive the ‘grown-ups’ who did this, but the rest of us won’t.

The latest push reveals the defining characteristic of the new fascist left. That is, they are not going to stop until someone makes them. It’s gaslighting on a level heretofore not seen in America. How else would you explain the farce of ESPN awarding tennis great and U.S. Open champ Novak Djokovic—who refused the jab and was subsequently banned from competing by shameless authoritarians around the globe—‘The Moderna Shot of the Day.’

But nothing’s absurd unless brave people say it’s so.

 

Former Congressman Jason Lewis is the author of “Party Animal, The Truth About President Trump, Power Politics and the Partisan Press.” He also writes at jasonlewis.substack.com.

This article was originally published on the author’s Substack page, which can be viewed here.

 

Jason Lewis | Daily Caller News Service

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 Don’t Let COVID Hysteria Fool Us Again appeared first on Granite Grok.

This weekend, New Hampshire independence supporters launched a weekly outreach booth in Keene’s Railroad Square. In addition to sharing the word of peaceful secession with passers-by, they also conducted an informal poll, with 16 people voting to stay in the Union and 13 voting that NH should leave! Despite a fresh nationwide poll showing over 25% supporting secession for their respective states, one supporter of the federal Empire stopped at the booth to tell us that she knows everyone in New Hampshire hates us. She said secession will never happen, before storming across Main St.

Then, she turned around and came back across Main St to say something else. That’s when I pulled out my phone and started recording:

Afterwards, she went back across Main St and made a phone call. Keene police showed up minutes later and affirmed our right to record video. They also identified the woman as Democrat activist Margaret Sawyer.

This weekend, New Hampshire independence supporters launched a weekly outreach booth in Keene’s Railroad Square. In addition to sharing the word of peaceful secession with passers-by, they also conducted an informal poll, with 16 people voting to stay in the Union and 13 voting that NH should leave! Despite a fresh nationwide poll showing over 25% supporting secession for their respective states, one supporter of the federal Empire stopped at the booth to tell us that she knows everyone in New Hampshire hates us. She said secession will never happen, before storming across Main St.

Then, she turned around and came back across Main St to say something else. That’s when I pulled out my phone and started recording:

Afterwards, she went back across Main St and made a phone call. Keene police showed up minutes later and affirmed our right to record video. They also identified the woman as Democrat activist Margaret Sawyer.

As I have been saying for some time now, the Left and the Right have next to nothing in common. The debate, if you can call it that, is not about the means to the end, but about the ends. The Left wants a Police State … provided, of course, that they are the ones doing the policing. Of course, they don’t say that out loud … YET. For the time being it’s about “protecting” us from misinformation, disinformation, hate, blah, blah, blah. New Hampshire is about to have a closet-COMMUNIST as its Speaker of the House … and the GOP-“leadership” in the House is focused on attacking Trump and his supporters. Because stopping “mean tweets” is more important than stopping America from turning into North Korea?

Stunning numbers among Dems in RCOR's new poll on free speech and censorship:

47% of Dems say free speech should be legal 'only under certain circumstances.

34% of Dems say Americans 'have too much freedom'

75% of Dems say government has a responsibility to censor 'hateful'…

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) September 24, 2023

The post They Are Not Our “Fellow Americans” … They Hate America appeared first on Granite Grok.

Just this week, it’s come out that one-time Hollywood darling turned anti-establishment psychopath Russell Brand is a serial rapist.  Was a serial rapist a while back anyway.  That is before he got re-married, lost his mind, and started shilling for the alt-right on the professional misinformation platform Rumble, which is around the time he raped me.

Brand first exposed himself to me when I was watching one of his diatribes on Bill Maher’s show, where he assaulted me and the entire audience that night with violent facts and logic about American hero companies MSNBC, Black Rock, and Vanguard.  It’s too painful to repeat, but you can watch the entire ordeal here.  Just ask Senator Bernie Sanders, who listened as Russell, “the hate muscle,” forced himself on all of us.  Bernie…just…sat there.

After that, I was simply trying to scroll through my feed on YouTube when there he was again.  Taunting me with his cleverly crafted click-bait headline about what “Bill Gates is doing to fruit now”, and I took the bait.  I’m so stupid.  He then proceeded to thrust his unwanted opinion into my brain no matter how much I yelled, “No! No! Bill Gates is a philanthropist!  He would never do that to fruit!”

 

I was too scared to report the incident because Russell is so popular online now his following dwarfs even some of the mainstream media outlets, who I don’t blame for going after him and his rape-y misinformation tactics.

Luckily, this information came out before he could continue to ravage people with his wild conspiracy theories and anti-government propaganda.

Why did it take so long for the media to go and find out he was seriously serial?  Because you can’t just make false claims about something as serious as sexual assault without investigating it for accuracy.  The media knows better than to do that.  That’s about as silly as claiming a woman would pay to make up a sex story in order to smear someone’s reputation. I am reminded of such courageous women as Anita Hill, Christine Blasé-Ford, Alice Sebold, and Potiphar’s Wife.

How many of Brand’s anonymous ex-girlfriends did they need to interview to expose this farce of a human being? Why aren’t there more elder statesmen like Howard Stern, a champion of a women’s right to dignity, who isn’t afraid to take political hypocrites like Lauren Boebert to task?

Lawyers, who are almost as trusted as the media in this country, finally overcame their stereotype of being lying money grabbers and did the right thing.  They boldly took a high-profile case that would expose them to both public scrutiny and massive amounts of free mainstream advertising because all women need to be believed when dealing with a predator unless they’re from Florida.  Don’t believe those skanks.

Thankfully, we have a media that understands the importance of reporting as a well-coordinated group.  It’s incredibly important that all of the major media outlets are on the same page, with the same messaging, nearly verbatim, when dealing with a super-predator like Brand.  It still shocks me they didn’t report on this earlier when they knew he was a Hollywood playboy but instead celebrated him.  I suppose even the media makes mistakes.  We can forgive them.

Brand, on the other hand, has stolen my chastity.  Not only has he caused me to doubt my government and my medical community he has rendered asunder my worldview and discarded it like a middle school-issued condom.   This is unforgivable.

Many have come to his defense with lame cries of “innocent until proven guilty” – blah, blah, blah.  I was innocent, too, once.  Now, I’m Branded for Life.

 

The post Bananas Exclusive: Russell Brand Raped Me – My Story  appeared first on Granite Grok.

My kids, on their mother’s side, are likely Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. They have relatives born in America going back to the early 1700s (including, possibly, Josiah Bartlett). Someone just needs to do the leg work if they care, but they may not want that.

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) changed their rules a few months back. The updated charter requires confirmed applicants to be accepted if their birth certificate identifies them as female, even if they are male (and had it changed).

 

DAR leaders passed an amendment stating that membership cannot be denied due to “[characteristics] protected by applicable law,” according to Newsweek.

DAR president general Pamela Wright clarified during the organization’s annual meeting in June that men who have their birth certificates altered to indicate that they are female are eligible for membership.

The new amendment also revoked the right of local chapters to decide if an applicant is “personally acceptable” for membership.

 

If there was any outrage at the time, I must have missed it, but I have a few thoughts. First, instead of robbing women of something else meant for them alone, why not create the Sons as Daughters of the American Revolution? They could co-exist with the Daughters as Sons of the American Revolution and move seamlessly between them as if on some sort of revolutionary spectrum.

That all they/thems are created equal, or These are the times that try They/Thems souls. You get the idea.

My other thought was, how long until the Cultural Marxists take advantage of this opening [DAR’s embrace of women with pensis] to wrestle control and turn DAR into another Left-Wing mouthpiece dissing white colonialism and demanding government interventions?

A decade? Less?

 

 

 

The post Your Sons Can be Daughters of the American Revolution appeared first on Granite Grok.

One of the many HOAXES during Trump’s first term was that he called Nazis “fine people.” A total lie. He said there were fine people on both sides of the debate over taking down statues of Confederate Generals. Yet here we have Justin Trudeau … de facto DICTATOR of Canada … and the so-called Canadian “Parliament” giving a standing ovation to an actual Nazi. Because, apparently, if Canada could have a do-over do it would have supported Hitler against those evil Russians?

The Canadian Parliament along with Justin Trudeau and Zelensky, cheered on an actual Nazi SS officer.

These are the people who called the brave Canadian truckers Nazis and said “honk honk” was code for “heil hitler”https://t.co/i1Z6fiB68c

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 24, 2023

The post “Nazis Are Fine People” … Justin Trudeau appeared first on Granite Grok.

There is a perpetual chronic blood shortage. Since I am an O- blood type (universal blood donor) and CMV (Cytomegalovirus) negative (a disease that most adults have been exposed to but is fatal if babies are exposed to it), I am constantly bombarded with emails from the Red Cross soliciting my blood. Fortunately, I donate my blood as often as they allow me to, but not everyone is like me. 

The post Bill Aims To Save Lives of Babies & Severely Sick While Improving Liberty and Prosperity appeared first on The Liberty Block.

We have heard numerous times, too many to count, from the White House Keeper of the Binder (Formerly the Press Secretary) as she points at the Republicans and the existential threat they pose by shutting down the government. Well, it is time to prove her wrong and show Americans what a lying, gas-lighting piece of this corrupt administration she is.

This projection by KJP attempts to mask the damage her boss and fellow members of his team are systematically inflicting on our country. Every decision this administration has made has been wrong for America and contributed to the accelerating destruction of America. Domestically, whether social or economic, or Internationally, whether trade relations or our Defense, every decision has been wrong, and how pollsters can find 23% of those polled who still back the President is beyond belief and reason.

The White House continues to look to January 6th, and the Justice Department locks up protesters for decades. It is easy to prosecute and imprison these people as they don’t have the resources to fight the government. They are easy prey, and the Democrats think each prosecution works in their favor. Bob Menendez, Hunter Biden, and even Joe Biden reap millions while destroying our country. They will never be held accountable. The Dems keep pointing to 0106 and deflecting attention. It makes me sick. The spending must be addressed, but the Border must be closed.

There are not many options the Republicans have with a slim majority in the House, but they have a significant opportunity to get everyone’s attention if they choose to shut off the money spigot and shut down the Federal Government. Kevin McCarthy has to find the guts to make the big move. The media will have a field day, and Karine will blame the Republicans every afternoon, but we need to suck it up and shut it down. The Defense Department will be funded, as will Social Security and Medicare. The rest of the government can take a hiatus, and probably most people will not notice.

Biden and Congress have been spending foolishly and must be reeled in, but it will take a dramatic, painful move to see this happen. Biden continues to pledge unlimited money for Ukraine with no plan. “As long as it takes” is not a plan. There is no accountability for how Ukraine uses the money or supplies we send them. There are also rumors that some of the money we send Ukraine is funneled back to the Democrat Party and the Biden’s. This money laundering scheme has to stop.

The House Republicans have been pushing for each of the budget plans be voted on individually. This will not FFL with the Democrats who want to bundle the eleven spending bills into one large Omnibus plan. We know that when this happens, line items come from everywhere for pet projects or outright pork. This is how the government stays open historically. McCarthy cannot allow this to happen, and it will be a huge failure for the GOP if it does.

If the Dems refuse to play ball, shut it down, Kevin. Shut it down.

 

The post If Biden Will Not Close The Border, Shut The Government Down appeared first on Granite Grok.

This is the final article in the How the Shutdown Affected Student Performance series. This series was inspired by two recent statements made by Croydon Village School Principal Nicole Lackie to the Croydon School Board. First, she claimed the pandemic shutdowns caused poor student performance. Then, she stated that teachers don’t really know how to teach students to read. Our goal was to determine if either was true.

To that end, we reviewed and published student results on national and statewide standardized tests in New Hampshire and Vermont. We also asked how local elementary schools in VT and NH perceived student performance and taught reading.

Two things stood out
The first is that people didn’t seem to be aware of how bad things were, especially in their own schools, before COVID closed them. Because poor student test scores predated the pandemic shutdown, what the shutdown seems to have changed was awareness of how bad things really were. The silver lining of “remote learning” was that it let parents see behind the curtain.

The second is that the education establishment has been able to defend such a poor record for such a long time.

One method used to divert attention from poor test results is to focus on relative results. School superintendents and principals readily say “We’re doing as well as, or better than, most other states,” without mentioning that none of them have even half their students performing at grade level.

A second technique used is focusing on minor improvements in results. They’ll say, “With our new approach to reading, our test scores went up,” parenthetically adding “from 38% proficiency to 42%,” which is still poor. As the data shows, such “improvements” are short-lived. They’ll also use local “diagnostic” tests to show how students are “progressing,” with little or any acknowledgment that they remain unable to read at grade level.

One of the most visible tactics used is to blame poor test scores on insufficient funding, regardless of how much spending has increased overall, especially during these times of decreasing enrollment. These claims of insufficient funds are often coupled with condemnation of “the other party’s” policies, which are then condemned for “undermining” or “destroying” public schools.

A fourth practice of distraction is to draw attention away from the lack of competence by stirring up outrage. Parents who are upset about porn in libraries, boys in girls’ restrooms, or the Parental Bill of Rights don’t have time to get upset about the fact that more than half the kids can’t read.

Now for some specifics
In 2016, 61% of New Hampshire’s students scored proficient or above on the New Hampshire Standardized Assessment System (NHSAS) test. In 2019, the year before the pandemic shutdown, that number had fallen to 56%. In 2022, it stood at 51%. As the chart showed, the pandemic shutdown did not accelerate the downward trajectory.

On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the percentage of NH students performing proficient or above has fluctuated between 33% and 45% since at least 1998, meaning that more than half to two-thirds of New Hampshire’s students haven’t been reading at grade level for 25 years.

In 2018, the percentage of Vermont’s students scoring proficient or above on its statewide assessment, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test, ranged from 50% to 55%, depending on the grade. Those scores slipped in 2019, before the pandemic. In 2022, they ranged from 43% to 45%, with some grades showing that the pandemic mildly accelerated their decline. The data indicates that about one student in 10 did worse in reading after the shutdowns, in addition to the more than 5 out of 10 that already weren’t proficient.

On the NAEP, the percentage of Vermont students testing proficient or better has ranged from 34% to 47% since 2002.

While the shutdown may have created a small problem for reading, it didn’t create the big problem that everyone seems to be ignoring, which is that more than half to two thirds of the students in both states are reading below grade level and have been for more than two decades.

Of the five elementary schools profiled in this series, the reading scores for three of them, the Croydon Village School, Killington Elementary School and Grantham Village School, increased or stayed the same after the shutdown. Washington Elementary School had a significant drop in scores. The Albert Bridge School had no school-level state score data available to review post-pandemic but their scores from 2016 to 2017 dropped dramatically. So, your “mileage may vary” from school to school. Therefore, parents need to pay attention to how well their own children are doing in their respective schools.

Why are the scores so low
One possibility is that state standardized tests are not a true accountability measure. The results have no effect on students moving from one grade to the next or graduating. It could be that students don’t take the test seriously and the scores don’t reflect what they actually know. Some believe that if the tests were “high stakes,” meaning their results somehow impacted their ability to progress in school, students would take them seriously. Legislation has been filed in New Hampshire to do this.

Another reason could be there is something about the nature of a school setting that interferes with a child’s ability to learn to read. It’s such a personal skill, maybe it has to be done one-on-one.

Perhaps children need to be developmentally ready to learn to read. If children aren’t ready to read, efforts to teach them are futile and may actually harm their ability to read.

One parent interviewed for this series said that everyone she knows in her affluent town (Grantham) gets tutors for their children; that the school has not succeeded in teaching their children to read. (This point is emphasized in the “Sold a Story” podcast, which is mentioned below.) It may be why rich kids get better scores than poor kids. This parent’s statement underscores what Croydon Village School Principal Nicole Lackie told the Croydon School Board in June, which is that schools don’t know how to teach kids to read.

Such a statement ignores decades of research on the science of reading. However, it does speak to the “wars” between proponents of “phonics” and those who advocate for “whole-word” and other “top-down” approaches to teaching reading. These wars started over a hundred years ago and continue to this day with the “cueing” method (explained in other articles in this series) now being used.

People have deep-seated beliefs about the best way to teach reading, and many don’t think phonics is the right way. But when 22 students out of 30 are performing at the lowest levels of reading, which we’ve reported is the case in Croydon, questions about a school’s approach are warranted. Even if “only” a quarter of a school’s students are reading below grade level, that’s 1 out of every four kids. Approaches need to be questioned, not just by teachers but by parents and taxpayers as well.

In 3 of the schools interviewed for this series, someone did question student reading performance. Because the methods used to teach reading in Grantham, Killington, and Washington weren’t working, educators took intensive training to understand the science of reading. The training is called “Language Essentials for Teaching Reading and Spelling” (LETRS). It explains the findings of reading research to teachers. The course shows teachers how to teach and assess knowledge of the sounds letters make in English (phonemic awareness), how those sounds represent letters that can create words (phonics), and how and why to teach word parts (morphology). It also covers spelling and fluency instruction.

Research that spans decades continually shows that children need to learn phonics in order to become good readers. Using brain scans and eye-tracking technology, researchers have continually found that good readers process virtually every letter in every word as they read. Some children catch on quickly. Others need to be taught how to do it directly. Phonics isn’t the only thing they need, but it provides the core for reading. The science of reading research is summarized in an engaging podcast series called “Sold a Story,” produced by Emily Hanford, an investigative education journalist at American Public Media.

The schools whose staff took the training are changing how they teach reading. Washington Elementary School is expanding dedicated phonics time from K-1 to include grades 2-3. Killington Elementary School is changing its curriculum. Grantham Village School is supplementing the cueing approach with other programming that focuses on decoding and phonological awareness.

Teachers in Croydon haven’t taken the training, nor have they changed their approach to teaching reading. Principal Lackie declined to be interviewed.

While promising, the changes being made by these few schools may not be a magic pill. While teachers start to understand how people learn to read, some studies show that they still don’t know how to teach reading. Much of their training has been with the now disproven Cueing Theory approach championed by Fountas & Pinnell.

In the history of public schooling, the education establishment has tried different approaches every few years for decades. Sometimes, there are small improvements. Other times, it’s like the tide, which comes in a few feet and then goes out a few feet, but there’s no permanent change. For more than half a century, reading proficiency, at best, has hovered around 50%.

The efforts made to contact schools
To write this series, it was necessary to interview a variety of elementary school administrators in NH and VT. Principals and superintendents were contacted via email or web forms on their websites. Some contact information was hard to find. Others, including the Fall Mountain Regional School District and Oak Grove School in VT, didn’t provide email addresses on their websites. Fall Mountain even made it hard to find out who the principal was.

As mentioned, Principal Nicole Lackie of the Croydon Village School declined to be interviewed about the school or her comments to the Croydon School Board in June, comments that inspired this series.

Cavendish Town Elementary School Principal Dale Mann, Ludlow Elementary School Principal Debra Fishwick, and Chester Andover Elementary School Principal Katherine Fogg were all new to their positions and could not speak to their school’s reading performance or teaching histories. Superintendent Dr. Sydney Leggett spoke about the Grantham Village School, but being new to the position, she was unfamiliar with the elementary schools in Cornish and Plainfield and unable to answer questions about them.

The following schools did not respond to email or webmail form requests to discuss their test scores or approach to teaching reading: Principal Stephanie Korb at John D. Perkins Elementary School in Marlow, NH; Principal Jill Pinard at James Faulkner Elementary School in Stoddard, NH; Superintendent Donna Magoon of Newport School District, NH; Superintendent Michael Tempesta of Claremont School District, NH; Principal Robert Clark of Richards Elementary School, Newport NH; Assistant Superintendent and Acting Principal David Cohn of Union Street Elementary School in Springfield, VT; and Principal Doug Kussius of the White River School in White River Junction, VT.

Principal Kelly Dias of the Academy School in Brattleboro, VT, and Principal Amelia Donahey of Ottauquechee Elementary School in Quechee, VT, responded to our emails, but we were not able to set interview times with them.

In total, four interviews were conducted out of 18 requests. This information is disclosed to provide our readers with an understanding of the efforts made to gather and present this information and encourage the curious to make their own inquiries about reading performance and teaching methods at their local elementary schools.

Prior installments in this series, which include all of the data referenced herein, were published in the Eagle Times on September 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, and 23.

This article originally appeared in the Eagle Times. Some minor edits were made in this version. You can find the entire series at the Eagle times and at Granite Grok.

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