Tuesday • November 26 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XLVIII
Manchester, N.H.
DCE over at Weekend Pundit shreds the Media / Eco-Socialists to shreds with these two maps:
Just when the media is telling us we’re seeing unprecedented temperatures this summer, temperatures we’ve never seen before, an article from Real Clear Science calls such media claims “Unprecedented Propaganda”, and with good reason…
…Keeping in mind the same caveat, here’s a graphic showing US station locations seeing temperatures above 100ºF and 110ºF so far this year:
The following graphic shows the same type of data, but for the year 1936:
So it doesn’t look all that “unprecedented” to me – you? Cherry picked. Or as DCE points out:
This shows that those “unprecedented” temperatures the media is crowing about aren’t so unprecedented after all. But they do fit the narrative they’re selling.
The post Data Point – So How Hot Is It Really Given Media Cherry Picks 1979 as the Baseline appeared first on Granite Grok.
The faithful at Rabbi Schmuley Bojangles synagogue in Woodstock, VT, were shocked this past Sabbath when they found out the sermon he delivered was not his own. After slugging out another round of expository preaching from the book of Ecclesiastes, the rabbi announced to his stunned listeners that he had committed plagiarism from the pulpit.
“That was not my writing, but the writing of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)” exclaimed the orthodox teacher. Among the buzzing congregants could be heard the mutterings of shocked listeners who peppered the air with terms like “meshugga” “verklempt” and “my gout.”
An equally stunned online community was awash with concern over what this means for religion, spirituality, and the price of yoga classes in the near future.
In North Carolina, the members of Elevation Church raised concerns over yet another scandal involving their celebrity pastor Steven Furtick whose sermons had taken on a new flavor of late causing many to complain both in attendance and online.
“My first suspicion was when he no longer is having grammarical errors” stated Melissa Corrigan. Corrigan, a South Burlington High School faculty member, is described as an “English Language Teacher Learner” on she/her LinkedIn profile, where she is said to “indoctrinate students into conscientization about the oppression keeping them back from achieving equity, diversity, and occlusion (sic).” Corrigan, who worships in front of her SmartTV every Sunday, when asked why she doesn’t attend a local church, looks quietly out her window as a naked man walks passed, bashing himself in the head with a small stuffed animal.
Also expressing concerns are the members of Joel Osteen’s church in Houston, Texas, where they are still flummoxed upon hearing for the first time of this thing called “the gospel.”
“I don’t know what it is either,” a quizzical Osteen says at his usual post-church press conference. “I’m still waiting to hear from my team of writers,” many of whom are still on strike in an act of solidarity with their friends in Hollywood.
Just down the road in the recently baptized state capitol of Montpelier, the same concerns are being heard.
“I thought the ‘good news’ was I could stay home and feel better about myself because God loves me no matter what?” says Pat Hammersickle (they/them), expressing concern over this thing mentioned by CHAT-GPT as “sin”.
“I don’t get it. I’m not a white supremacist!” they/them exclaim while dropping to they/their knees and shaking they/their fists at the skies before slathering on a generous amount of SPF 250 sunblock and hopping into its’ Tesla for a quick trip to a nearby organic farmer’s market.
Banana’s Media was able to have world exclusive sit-down interview with CHAT-GPT, where we asked the newly ordained robot if it had anything it would like to say to the people of Vermont after recently suffering from torrential rain and flooding.
“I bet they think it was thanks to ‘Climate Change,’ but that’s because they don’t read the Bible or listen to Michael Schnellenberger,” came the surprisingly irreverent response from the A.I. unit. “Maybe if you’d quit trans-ing up your children, worshipping solar idols, and having pagan revelries in Vermont, God would quit deluging your state?” it asked rhetorically.
Calls for the A.I. robot to be defrocked came in from all corners of the state, ironically, like a flood.
The post BANANAS: CHAT-GPT Writes Sermon, Calls Vermont to Repentance appeared first on Granite Grok.
Would you like to have a better understanding of how our State and Local Governments work in New Hampshire? Join the 603 Alliance for a special informational session about how state and local governments work in New Hampshire.
Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication – Publication is not an endorsement.
The 603 Alliance invites GOP committees and like-minded grassroots activist groups to host one of these free 2-hour presentations for members of their community, including people who haven’t been involved in the past.
We’ll talk about what’s happening in Concord, how our laws are made, and how everyone can make a difference in the process.
To find out how you can host a “Make Your Voice Heard in Concord” presentation, contact us at: info@603alliance.org.
For a list of trainings already scheduled, go to our website: http://www.603alliance.org.
Like-minded individuals may rsvp to join these events.
Disclosure: Steve MacDonald is a member of the Board of The 603 Alliance
The post “Make Your Voice Heard in Concord” appeared first on Granite Grok.
How many votes does a candidate for Governor in today’s New Hampshire … a State represented in Congress by four Democrats and whose Republican Governor is on the far-left of the national GOP spectrum …potentially gain by attending a Machine Gun shoot?
Let’s rephrase the question. How many votes does a candidate in today’s New Hampshire potentially lose by attending a Machine Gun shoot … more or less than the candidate potentially gains?
To help you answer the question, I’ll pose another question. Aside from in terms of the total electorate in New Hampshire, a relatively minuscule pool of “activists” are potential GOP voters more concerned with machine guns or being able to purchase a home, given that the New Hampshire housing market is increasingly out of reach to those who are not “high income”?
If you answered “machine guns,” there is no point in reading any further. You are just going to get increasingly triggered.
The question for the GOP gubernatorial candidates (and GOP “activists”) is this: do you want to win an election or do you want to make an ideological statement? Chuck Morse apparently believes that there is some connection between a Machine Gun shoot and “constitutional carry.” Sorry, Chuck, attending a Machine Gun shoot does not … at least as far as I am concerned … give you “street cred” among conservatives (who probably number about one-half of voters who identify as GOP, or one-sixth of voters as a whole).
You still voted to codify Obamacare as State law.
What I said in my post The NHGOP Needs To Learn To Lie Like June bears repeating to Chuck, Ayotte, and Edleblut, who also attended (or were expected to attend) the Machine Gun shoot:
June and her ilk do it the right way. They run as reasonable, pragmatists and then … once elected … govern like the rabid Communists they are. Republicans run like ideologues and then govern like p*ssies.
Presumably, the people running all three campaigns don’t want to get Mower’d or Morse’d, as Mowers and Morse lost their primaries in 2022 to the candidate perceived as more conservative. Understandable. But at what cost?
To be clear, I have nothing against the Hillsborough County GOP’s Machine Gun shoot. I hope it was a resounding success, that they made loads of money, and that the attendees had a great time.
My point is that if you are a candidate who wants to win a statewide election in today’s New Hampshire, you don’t attend. You send a generous donation to the Hillsborough County GOP instead and thereby avoid giving the Joyce Craig campaign a shot (pardon the pun) to label you an “extremist” (my opponent is so extreme that he actually believes the Second Amendment gives you a right to own a machine gun!) And, dear GOP “activists,” if you want to win elections … as opposed to making ideological statements … you don’t hold it against the candidates if they don’t attend.
The post How To Lose An Election In New Hampshire appeared first on Granite Grok.
Today’s article is a personal milestone for Conservative View. It marks my 1,000th published opinion piece and consecutive day of writing. I have tried to be objective and always truthful in my work, but as the name says, I am Conservative and will always judge happenings with my Conservative values.
I am also an optimist, and watching America spiral downward under the guidance of Joe Biden has been incredibly challenging. I patiently wait for us to reverse course and get this great country back on track, but that will not happen if America gives Joe Biden four more years to finish the job. If that happens, we may pull down the Stars and Stripes when I write my 2,000th post. America has to wake up and let the adults lead the way out of this quagmire.
What will a Republican administration look like on January 20, 2025? The first thing that must be done before the Bible is put away is to close the Southern Border. Not slow the pace, but shut it down until we can get troops in place to assist Border Patrol in restoring a secure border and processing immigrants only through official ports of entry. We next need to account for the five million illegals that entered and spread throughout America thanks to Joe Biden. They need to be vetted and their asylum claims reviewed. If they entered wrongly, then they must be deported. A plan must be generated to deal with the migration of people from Central America. Please stop talking about immigration reform and get it done.
We need to take the lead on a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine. Biden has been satisfied with sending billions of our dollars and munitions but little talk about diplomacy. There is no accountability for the money and no training for the arms. This war can go on for decades the way it is today, but Putin will, at some point, dip into his nuclear inventory. He cannot lose this war and will go all out to win. The world cannot wait for this madman to win or Push the red button. We do not need Yellen and Weingarten going to Ukraine for photo ops. We need a bargaining table.
Biden told the world last week how dire our supply of military arms has sunk. We are short on everything from shells to missiles; estimates are 18 to 20 years to return to peacetime levels. How we got here is insignificant, but the fact that we have not reacted sooner is inconceivable. To tell the world is far beyond a simple gaffe. How can we think of sending a single shell to Ukraine when we cannot defend ourselves? Our strength at sea against China is gone, and we must get our military ready to protect us. We do not need a military that can march in a Pride Parade. We need one that can march to victory.
Our children need to be our priority. Efforts to transgender adolescents and minors have to stop. We must let children grow with confidence and not self-doubt about their identity. We must educate them, dismantle the Department of Education, and neutralize the too-powerful teacher’s unions. DEI, ESG, LGBTQ, BLM, and any other alphabet soup besides ABC must be irradicated from the curriculum.
The War on Drugs must be rekindled. Not only Fentanyl, which kills 100,000 of our young people yearly but the opioids that are addicting our population and the Marijuana stores that are more prevalent than 7-11s need to be our focus. We wonder why we have a worker shortage when we have a population that would rather be high or homeless and a country that sees abortions as more important than healthy families. We have a younger generation that finds it easier to steal what they need than work for it, and we haven’t even taught them to read and write.
Before we close out the first day, we need to end cashless bail and give authority back to the police and power to the DAs to prosecute. A lawless society is anarchy. We reward the criminals and penalize the victims. Crime can no longer be a career option. Our big cities need to be places people want to visit, not avoid because of fear.
Finally, some personal notes to mark my 1,000th post. Thanks to Conservative Daily News and USSA News, which have supported my work since day one. Kudos to The Granite Grok and their devoted readers who share such wonderful comments daily. Creating conversation was my goal when I started writing, and the folks on GroK are the best. And to Howard Polskin, my favorite person on the other side of the aisle. His daily support of my writing on The Righting is so gratifying. Howard shows that talking to, and not at, each other is still possible.
The post Patiently Waiting For Things To Come Around appeared first on Granite Grok.
In this Dillon’s Rule State, the Board of Education has FAR more power than the Commissioner (Frank Edelblut) in that all SAUs (School Administrative Units; think School Districts) must either cite NH State Statutes for the basis of their policies or State BoEd regulations/policies.
And it is the BoEd that creates the rules that all SAUs must incorporate/follow in their policies.
But they have fallen short – way short in protecting the rights of NH Parents in making sure, based on numerous SCOTUS decisions affirming the rights of parents to have and own the principal method of raising their kids. And seeing that the NH State Legislature, with Republican majorities, failed in doing so, why hasn’t the BoEd follow Virginia’s example (reformatted, emphasis mine):
Under the leadership of Glenn Younkin, Virginia continues to act more and more like a red state, despite its recent reputation as a toss-up. The most recent example of this trend comes with the state’s Department of Education backing parental rights in the state’s public schools. Under a recently enacted policy, schools will be prohibited from recognizing a child’s request to use a different name or pronoun as part of a “gender transition” unless the child’s parent or guardian provides written consent for the change. The policy doesn’t go so far as to forbid such gender-bending accommodations but keeps the parents involved in what may be an alarming mental health situation for their child. The new policy further stipulates that children must use the bathrooms and other facilities appropriate for their actual gender and bans cross-sex participation in school athletic programs.
And VA Gov. Glenn Youngkin is all in favor:
“The VDOE updated model policies reaffirm my administration’s continued commitment to ensure that every parent is involved in conversations regarding their child’s education, upbringing, and care,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) said of the new policies. “The Department of Education has delivered policies that empower parents, prohibit discrimination, create a safe and vibrant learning environment by addressing bullying incidents immediately, and protect the privacy and dignity of all students through bathroom policies, athletic procedures, and student identification measures.”
I’m betting that the Trevor Project, from whence the now rapidly depreciating “Transgender and non-conforming” school policy was spawned, ain’t gonna keep the good Governor in their prayers any time soon for this. But Parents are, I bet, as control is being returned to them as it is now mandatory that the Parent’s employees must give up what they had taken – control of Parents’ kids when it comes to sexuality and the misbegotten idea that “gender identity” is a person’s primary attribute.
Aye, there be the rub – ALL students. What the Trevor project did with its policy that went nationwide in stealth mode was to make “trans rights human rights” actually be used to create faux rights that only trans students had. Constitutional Right to Free Speech and the open practice of religious beliefs by normal kids in being raised by Parents (by which numerous SCOTUS decisions held were Constitutional)? Nope – normal kids were demoted to have lesser rights as both their speech and beliefs were denigrated and depreciated. All in the of sex.
Did Sununu stand up for Parents? Well, we all know the answer to that given his behavior as COVID King during the pandemic, his granting of the Left’s “promised land” of further dividing E Pluribus Unum into yet another “protected class” called gender identity (which started this nonsense like the green flag at a NASCAR race). And the Republican majority didn’t get it done, either. Too many Republicans took walks come voting time but “Republicans” (aka Democrats in sheeps’ clothing) like Mike Bordes, Travis O’Hara, and David Nagel (all from Belknap County) worked with the Democrats to keep control of kids in the Democrat leaning school staffs.
So, then, we come to the NH Board of Education. After all, the VA BoEd got it done with a sweeping agenda that hews to the traditional “Parents in charge, not Government). Why didn’t THEY get it done? What was their problem in sitting on their hands these past few years since 2019 or so? I haven’t followed them closely, to be sure, but good news like this I would have heard—instead, zippo, nein, ingen, nee, non, nej – absolutely nothing.
So, who was or is the “Weakest Link” in all this on the Board? Frankly, I look at the Chair as if the responsibility is his to shepherd stuff like this across the finish line. And it isn’t like this is off limits when it comes to BoEd “regulations as Law.”
So who to hold responsible? Well, it’s common to hold the person in charge, so if Parents want to apply a bit of pressure, here you go:
District 4Drew Cline (term expires 1/31/25) Chair
Bedford, NH
Andrew.C.Cline@affiliate.doe.nh.gov
(603) 488-5779
We talk about Live Free or Die – how often do we not realize that Government doesn’t always take our side of things, which, in this case, the freedom of parents to raise their kids their way? Or, as Jazz at Hot Air put it:
…It’s probably easy to lose sight of the fact that this issue runs far deeper than just rules applying to gender transition. That’s clearly an important aspect, of course, since it applies to not only the welfare of children but the protection of girls’ and women’s sports. But the larger battle deals with the fundamental rights of parents to guide the development of their children along the path to adulthood and instill the values they deem important in them.
This is a concept that was once nearly universal and fundamental across society. But the modern Left has gone in a completely opposite direction, arguing that “it takes a village” and, as Joe Biden famously claimed, children should generally be considered the property of the state, not the family. They believe that once a child sets foot in a public school, parents should be locked out of whatever happens in the classroom or anywhere on campus.
This is one of the most alarming aspects of the left’s battle to indoctrinate children and capture their minds while they are still developing and vulnerable to such influences…
“Let my children go!”
HT | Hot Air
The post So Why Didn’t The NH Board of Education Get This Done, Too? appeared first on Granite Grok.
And so I’m back… from outer space (cue the song mentally). Or central Asia. Same thing. Seriously, it’s good to be home but for multiple reasons – mostly being facilitating the wife seeing her family – I’m glad we went. One hundred percent necessary for her mental health to go. And an interesting culture and people. Amazing history too.
and
I’ll be sprinkling observations and anecdotes from the trip into posts over the next few weeks; pics too. And I’ve emailed with Steve about the images and legibility / visibility as on his posts people commented on that. From now all, all images that permit posting as “full size” will be posted as such (there are a few that, occasionally, do not permit size changes). Hopefully this helps.
=+=+=
They’re flying so thick and fast it is amazing.
Take heart – there will be a Meme Overflow and almost certainly a Friday Meme Overflow-Overflow. Last week’s Overflow-Overflow. And… an enormous HAT TIP to Steve for taking up the baton and doing meme posts while I was away. Mega-dittos kudos.
Remember, ridicule and mockery are effective weapons:
Now, let the mockery and mayhem begin.
*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***
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Two Modest Proposals for a Better America
Bill Whittle and team, excellent as always.
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Keep $4 and give $3 to the sibling. “Taxes and ‘sharing the wealth'”.
On the last one… can I always find the answers? No. But will I commit to having the humility to admit I don’t know everything? Yes. And perhaps most importantly, when faced with new information that calls into question what I believe, including possibly disrupting beliefs that make me feel good about myself, will I consider that I might be wrong and that “my truth” needs to be supplanted? Absolutely.
Of the Seven Deadly Sins, Vanity is not my primary or even secondary sin.
The Devil’s Advocate Ending Scene- Vanity is definitely my favorite sin
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PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA
Her homeland is moving towards being cashless. They have an app that you use to scan the store-generated Q-code and the transfer works instantly. Cash is still viable almost universally, but there were a few times when my MasterCard was not a viable payment system (e.g., the local pizza place) which necessitated having cash (but a lot of stores don’t carry a lot of change in any significant amount so you need to prepare and have close to the right amount before you go in). As an example, the only way to pay for busses / public transit is with the app.
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/wef-guy-on-cbdc.mp4
Notice how this guy almost Joneses about the idea of programmable currency; limiting “wrongthink” items, possibly expiring money.
Bayou Renaissance Man: Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC’s): even more of Big Brother
Remember, they think they’re doing good.
Slip-Sliding Towards Hell with a Good Conscience – Granite Grok
Anyway, so cash still exists there, but there is definitely a PR pressure to switch, entirely, to the app. Watching TV you’d see glorious ads for how conveeeeenient the app is, with attractive-looking (and almost universally young) people living it up, all with the e-commerce payment.
No, no, no, no social engineering nudges there.
The Fly on the Urinal – Urban Scoop
And the worst part? So many think it won’t affect them. E.g.:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/24e3356973e2f637.mp4
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So at a local coffee shop I met a guy who spoke English, and we talked several times while waiting for my coffee order to be made. Nice guy. He’d studied in the US and one of his kids was born here.
Politics came up and he asked whether I was a Democrat or Republican. I mentioned that I was neither, using my tag line from my profile about not being a Republican. He asked, with astonishment, “Are you in the KKK”? to which I responded “Um, I’m married to an Asian woman”! He acknowledge the point. I then pointed out that I’m Jewish, to his mixed surprise & curiosity. But that gave me an excuse to send him on a journey, starting with these two videos, after I dropped a few tidbits from them to his utter astonishment in our conversation to pique his interest. Including the fact that the KKK was founded by a Democrat to be the terrorist arm of that party to intimidate blacks from voting and running for office.
A VOTERS’ GUIDE TO REPUBLICANS
I ran into him after he’d watched this first one and he’d been captivated. As I took it from the conversation, he’d known none of these things. And:
The Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party. [Pastor Reacts]
The reason I often like “reaction videos” is because of the emotions of the people who watch these and do these videos, and the emotions and amazement as their minds are broadened. I think it helps break cognitive barriers when people are confronted with info that shatters something they believe, see their reactions echoed in others, and that helps reinforce their emotional turmoil into which more new information can then flow. Which reminds me, I need to send him two other videos as follow-ups (links only):
Why Did the Democratic South Become Republican? | PragerU
The Inconvenient Truth About the Republican Party | PragerU
I was looking for the second one and didn’t find it on YouTube (hence Prager), but I did think of this one, below. It’s a “meaty” and lengthy interview, but Larry Elder is relentlessly and ruthlessly convincing. So I sent it as well just now.
Conservatives, Black Lives Matter, Racism | Larry Elder | POLITICS | Rubin Report – YouTube
As a line from the sci-fi channel production of DUNE said:
Never underestimate the power of an awakened mind.
Also recall my contention from here – to wit, that people, even people convinced that “A” is true resent finding out they’ve been misled, and worse intentionally misled… and that “not A” is actually the truth.
The only way I’ve had any success – and limited at that – is to present such irrefutable evidence they’ve been lied to, that they react to that realization – and only then by first getting them to agree to something, then hitting them with disproof that cannot be ignored. Then, and only then, when they realized they’ve been played and are seething about it, can alternative data be presented.
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My one condition for reparations is repatriation. After all, if we’re “making things right” then let’s restore them to where they’d be if slavery never happened.
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Another recipe from my friend’s business: My Tree in Israel. Note that I receive no compensation for plugging them: just fantastic olive oil, helping a friend’s business, and hopefully supporting agriculture in my spiritual home.
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This – Ruby Ridge – and Waco were twin seminal moments in shattering my trust in government. Yes, there were some increasing doubts here and there, but they were based on things from the “distant” past – e.g., Operation Sea Spray – that I’d learned about accidentally. Prior to those events I couldn’t believe the US government would do such things today.
US Military Released Bacteria to Test Biological Warfare (businessinsider.com)
That suspicion and nascent distrust of FedGov primed me for Covid. My skepticism about Covid, and then the Jab, already had a firm foundation.
Remember this video?
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/shoemaker-on-2015-ivermectin.mp4
THEY KNEW Ivermectin worked. THEY KNEW Hydroxychloroquine worked. And they were willing to murder untold hundreds of thousands – knowingly and with malice aforethought, for two ends:
1. Making fear be the mind killer as a prelude to further controls
2. Getting Trump out of the way
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There’s a scene in the movie THE OCTOGON, the first Chuck Norris movie I ever saw, in which he is preparing to rush off and be the hero. The older man in the scene says, from memory, “Young man, before you run off to save the world, remember… the world, it does not want to be saved. Only to be left alone”.
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Former New York Post Editor Laughs When Detailing Censorship Of Bombshell Hunter Biden Laptop Story
Remember: the entire FedGov entity worked hand-in-glove with the enemedia industrial complex to fool the American public. And yet… there are people who still believe the government unquestioningly.
A Crisis of Trust – Urban Scoop
Speaking of lying:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2023-irish-pol-admits-lying-covid-numbers.mp4
So…
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Neil Oliver: ‘…lies, lies, lies!’
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Flip the races.
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Pick of the post:
Her home is a family-oriented country. Everywhere – and I mean everywhere – young mothers were pushing strollers, often with two, three, or even more children in tow as well. Most apartment buildings, including the one where we stayed, had playgrounds built in. Everywhere was child-friendly. Meanwhile, here in the US:
Remember, paraphrasing Mark Steyn, “The future belongs to those who breed to populate it”. I wish I could have more kids, even now…
More on Islamic demographic changes:
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Muslim-Demographics_360p.mp4
Closer to home:
LEWISTON, Maine’s very own Little Mogadishu swarming with ungrateful Somali Muslims (like Congresswoman Ilhan Omar) (barenakedislam.com)
A good friend in Maine says the locals now refer to it as LEWIS-STAN.
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Monday Musical Memory:
Mac Davis – It’s Hard To Be Humble (Lyrics on screen)
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Palate Cleansers:
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The post MONDAY MEMES appeared first on Granite Grok.
New Hampshire Democrats have a love-hate relationship with property taxes. They love taxes and taxing property, but they hate it when property taxes are the primary source of revenue and the total tax burden is incredibly low.
They complain endlessly about high property taxes as if they are interested in lower taxes when what they want is to convince people to let them tax them more by other means. We can see that process everywhere in New England and much of America.
New Hampshire is ranked 48th out of 50 states for America’s lowest total tax burden. Only Deleware and Alaska are lower, and New Hampshire is poised to pass Delaware. The Granite State has eliminated its Interest and Dividends tax effective the end of next year.
Regionally, New Hampshire has a lot of Demcorat-run neighbors, all of whom – regardless of the story they tell about the property or taxes, rank a bit higher for tax burden than the Granite State.
Democrat-run Maine and Vermont already have higher property tax burdens, Democrat-run New Jersey is close, and the others, all Democrat-run, are taxing more in places you are less likely to notice, and that is key because it is what they do no matter where they do it.
Democrats, the party of more government, must always raise taxes. They never lower them. Failing to raise them is peddled as cutting the budget. There is no scenario where they will not demand more which they get – in most cases – by lying about projected revenue, spending it, and then claiming they’ll have to cut programs if we don’t fund the things for which we never had money in the first place.
Property taxes can never go away, and any initial decline or promise of such is always a head-fake. Once they get the new taxes and the bureaucracy to collect them, they will be back – and in New Hampshire, there’s no guarantee any state-level reimbursement won’t get spent on top of the property taxes they collect now. You can bet it will, and you’ll have new taxes and be on the hook for more.
Democrats do not hate the property tax because it burdens working families; they despise it because it is visible.
You get a tax bill twice yearly (in New Hampshire) and can’t mistake the meaning. The government is taking these many thousands from your pocket, and you might want to know why or for what.
New Hampshire’s property tax is transparent. That is what the Left wants to end, and everywhere they do that, the people end up with a higher total tax burden.
The post New Hampshire Is Ranked 48th Out of 50 States for America’s Lowest Total Tax Burden appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Transgender movement is, IMHO, starting its downslide as it just got too big for its britches…and skirts. It decided to use the Obama “Dense Pack” strategy by trying to overwhelm parents by first sneaking policy into school districts and then berating unsuspecting parents.
Too much too soon.
Parents got their “consciousness” raised by the Trans Militants via emotional blackmail and the use of made-up words (e.g., misgender, cisgender – now a sexual slur against straight people; demi this, and demi that), expecting us to know them all as if they had always existed.
Oh, and the infinite number of pronouns, the altering of the Parent-child relationship (policies like lying to parents that put KIDS in charge of what parents would know or act)…yadda, yadda, yadda. The list goes on.
But parents have had it.
California (THE state for Trans Sanctuary policies where the State WOULD take your kids away if they wanted to be trans) just tossed its State Superintendent out on his ear.
Who’s in charge? No longer teachers on this issue! Reformatted, emphasis mine.
California school superintendent is thrown out of meeting after opposing new rule forcing teachers to notify parents if a student asks to identify as a different gender
Parents reacted with cheers of ‘leave our kids alone’ as a California superintendent was thrown out of a school board hearing for aggressively opposing a policy forcing teachers to notify parents if their child is transgender. Tony Thurmond, the California State Superintendent of Schools, was booted from the Chino Valley Unified school board meeting on Thursday after going over his allotted time to vigorously attack the policy.
Over 300 people filled the main hall at Don Lugo High School in Chino, California to weigh in at the hearing, which was marked with hostility as Thurmond clashed with the school board’s president, Sonja Shaw. After Thurmond condemned the new guidelines for putting transgender students ‘at risk’, Shaw fired back that the official was ‘proposing things that pervert children.’
Yup, grooming. Perverting them. Who needs “separation of Church and State” when the State has created and adopted its own religion – that of Transgenderism! I’ve posted a lot of what has happened in California Schools where teachers and staff have secretly started the transitioning of pre-and early teens to be transgender and never told the Parents. They SCHEME for ways to get around it.
The board eventually voted 4-1 to introduce the parental notification policy, a move which was met with cheers from the audience. …The policy, which was introduced in June, requires schools to notify parents within three days after their child identifies as transgender. Teachers must also inform parents if their child is involved in any form of violence of talks about suicide.
Students identifying as transgender are defined under the policy as seeking to change their name or pronouns, or asks to access gender-based sports, bathrooms or changing rooms which are different from their biological gender.
‘…She then slated the superintendent for his role in escalating issues over transgender students, saying: ‘Tony Thurmond, I appreciate you being here tremendously, but here’s the problem – we are here because of people like you.’
…Thurmond attempted to call a ‘point of order’ to halt her attacks, to which Shaw again shot him down and said: ‘No! This is not your meeting, you may have a seat. If I did that to you in Sacramento you would not accept it,’ she added. ‘You are not going to blackmail us, you already sent us a blackmailing letter previously… you will not bully us here in Chino.’
…’We are here today because our kids are in danger,’ another parent, Oscar Avila, added. ‘Our kids are in danger from groomers.’
I’m betting that NH State Reps Mike Bordes and Travis O’Hara (RINOS that help the Democrats hijack the Parental Rights bills this session) would have gone over to Thurmond and offered him tissues.
She’s far better than I – I don’t “appreciate” him even on the other side of the country. He represents an EVIL that has to be expunged to those in Government that continually think they are better than us and that OUR children are supposed to be theirs. And I applaud her “In. Your. Face.” attitude.
We need some of that here in New Hampshire. Parents taking back their kids. In your face, Trevor Project!
(H/T: Daily Mail, a British newspaper that reports on American news FAR better than American woke ones)
P
The post The Detransistioning of the Transgender Movement: CA State Superintendent Thrown Out for Opposing Parental Rights appeared first on Granite Grok.
Another day another elite New Hampshire Rino announces that they’d like to replace outgoing elite NH RINO Chris Sununu, and this one is no surprise. Former US Senator Kelly Ayotte’s interest in the job has been known or at least speculated for months. She is in.
Related: Race for Governor: Can Kelly Ayotte Get Past her Never-Trump Baggage?
NASHUA, NH – Today, Kelly Ayotte launched her campaign to be the next Governor of New
Hampshire. Kelly released the following statement and list of endorsements from across the Granite State.
“I want to thank Governor Sununu and Valerie for their dedicated service to New Hampshire over the past seven years. Governor Sununu is an excellent leader who has worked hard to defend our Live Free or Die values and improve New Hampshire’s quality of life.
The battle to protect our Live Free or Die way of life must continue.
I’m running for Governor because New Hampshire is one election away from becoming Massachusetts – from becoming something we are not. I was born here and raised here. I raised my kids here, and you know what? I am going to die here because this state and it’s people are different. What we have here is worth fighting for.
Together, we will ensure that New Hampshire remains safe, prosperous, and free.
Ayotte started out in the US Senate with a solid conservatarian voting record, but the longer she was there, the more the RINO she became. By the end, she was endorsing top-down Obama Admin tyranny.
We’ll have more on that in the coming weeks and months, but for now, we should consider Ed Mosca’s advice. #Never Ayotte.
The post Breaking: Kelly Ayotte Formally Announces Run for Governor of New Hampshire appeared first on Granite Grok.
I feel compelled to share with the reader a recent email below received from Joanna Martin J. D., popularly known as PubliusHulda a former U. S. Army Captain whose diligent research concerning the dangers of States applying for Article V Constitutional Conventions has, I believe, no equal.
We want to thank Russ Payne for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.
For she monitors the activities of state applications for Conventions in all 50 States, both progress toward the 2/3 requirement or states rescinding their application.
“I sent the following email yesterday to all Ohio Republican Legislators. It shows the growing opposition to an Article V Convention and exposes the false claims and assurances and faked “evidence” used by convention lobbyists.
In order to legalize “The Great Reset” – the “New World Order” – pushed by the globalist Council on Foreign Relations, the Bush Family, etc., etc.; they need to get a new Constitution. To get a new Constitution, they need an Article V Convention.
If there is an Article V Convention, a new Constitution will be imposed. We will be moved into the New World Order, and there won’t be a thing you can do to stop it – except fight to the death and hope that some of those on our side will survive to eventually rebuild what WE let slip through our fingers.
Read the new Constitutions already proposed – note the new mode of ratification proposed in the Constitution for the Newstates of America. You can’t stop a proposed Constitution with that mode of ratification from being “approved”. We better make stopping an Article V Convention the main focus of our lives. We better stop pussy-footing around this issue. Legislators need to understand the dangers—no more bland mush from us. We MUST get States to rescind their existing applications and stop passing new Applications. “
Save her research to provide a defense of the U.S. Constitution next legislative session. Get more truth at publiushulda@gmail.com.
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Everybody loves memes, but Nitzkahon and Steve have taken that role over. However, from Powerline’s Saturday series (a weekly read) came this:
Gee, 3…2…1? After all, aren’t movies always looking for that Big BANG in the ratings?
It COULD be amusing, yes?
(H/T: Powerline)
*****
And just for kicks, I sent this to the Eldest and the Oldest who ARE medically diagnosed with ADHD:
(H/T: Powerline)
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I know some Republicans who feel confident Donald Trump can’t win the general election and that his nomination will result in a down-ticket wipeout. This bothers me, not because I’m an Always-Trumper (I am not).
During the 2016 primary, I was not a Trump guy. I didn’t know him, had no clue how he’d run the country, and had suspicions about his past with prominent Democrats. Still, when he won the nomination, I supported him. I also tried to convince others too because Hillary Clinton’s plans were known and terrible. I went from Trump can’t win to Trump has to win, and I did whatever I could, despite my reservations, to help him beat Hillary Clinton.
Been there, done that, and again in 2020 because I was wrong in 2016. Trump did some fantastic things as President despite the world, the media, the elites, his own Government, and many in his own party working against him. Not too many of anyone could have pulled it off, but it made one thing very clear. He was the disruptor we’d been waiting for, but a few folks who thought that was what they wanted never realized what that would look like. It was messy.
The ruling class flunkies on both sides lost their minds and dropped whatever passed for integrity or even the rule of law to delegitimize the man and the office.
The 24/7/365 media air war resulted in casualties. People were put out or convinced Trump was too coarse, forgetting that the next stop after the people’s disruptor – if we were to save the nation – might be a shooting war. That’s still true, and a good deal more invasive and troubling than a mean tweeter who, while allowing himself to be misled by his staff more than once (on COVID, for example), still managed to do great things for America and – we’d like to hope – learned lessons no one has or could.
But now we’ve got the roaming narrative, likely planted and nurtured on the right by the Never-Trumpers and the Left, is that Trump can’t be the guy. That he can’t win the general. That he’ll wipe out down-ticket races. And if he wins the nomination, Americans crushed by the Left will stand by and allow that to continue uninterrupted.
Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps they can’t prevent it.
A few Unpleasant Truths.No one else in the Republican party appears interested or willing to be the disruptor Americans need. I love Ron DeSantis, the governor, but Ron, the presidential candidate, is not the same guy. Not yet (I remain hopeful). Regardless of whose fault that is, the Trump base appears more than able to hand Trump the nomination because, in their mind, he’s the only guy who has ever or will ever stand up for them against the Government. They are right to think that because it rings true. And the longer the other candidates wander around behind him, unable to sell that message and rob Ron DeSantis of votes, the more remarkable that truth.
Instead of saying Trump can’t win, should you say Ron Can’t win as long as Pence, Christie, and the other stooges are in the race? And yes, you can say both.
Show Trials with no Teeth.The Republican Party has not shown any evidence it intends to punish anyone for anything (except maybe Trump) even after Trump showed them how to do it. The recent hearings and press releases look like clips for congressional campaign ads or hyperbolic headline bait for fundraising emails. The Candidates who are not Trump are not impressing us with their effort to be Trump, minus the stuff they claim makes him unelectable.
Election Integrity Issues Remain unresolved.This may all be moot because the GOP has done next to nothing to fix election issues in swing states. We may be at a point where no Republican can win, so does the guy with the freight train behind him needs our support? If so, we must convince people that we can’t afford four more years with a Democrat in the Oval Office.
Or, what if these issues are unresolved because the GOP knew Trump would likely be the 2024 nominee, and they’d rather hang a label on him and ensure he loses than fix the problem or the nation?
Dems Could and Should be wiped out in 2024, no matter who the nominee is on either side.Much like 2016 and Hillary, why would anyone allow any Democrat to get elected on principle, knowing it might hand them the time the Left needs to finish what they started under Obama and now Biden? Weaponized police state, DOJ, IRS, Dept of Ed, packed court, packed US Senate – much of which didn’t happen under Biden because of two Senate Demcorats. Republicans could not stop it.
The economy is in flames, jobs added are mostly those lost because of the response to COVID, the Government is overreaching on steroids, the world is a mess, debt is soaring, the dollar is in danger, and inflation is real.
The political class is punishing the Americans; the establishment and Republicans aren’t, can’t, or won’t do anything about it. And the only guy I can recall who stood up for Americans no matter what was Donald Trump. If he is the nominee, what are you prepared to do to get him across the finish line if that’s our only choice? What do you tell those folks who have doubts?
How about the truth?
The political class and the uni-party are punishing the Americans. Donald Trump was the only guy in recent memory who stood up for you with any success – and created a booming job-growth economy.
It’s okay to have reservations, but now more than ever, we need a leader with a proven record for putting regular Americans first. And we need to make sure he has a congress and state legislature who will follow that lead. No matter who it is.
And maybe the slogan we need is not Make America Great Again But “Put Americans First Again!”
.
And finally, since I’ve asked this before, what if anything changes if Trump picked DeSantis as his VP?
Note: This is not an endorsement. It is a debate about a what-if elephant that is impossible to ignore. If or when I endorse, you’ll know it. I will use the word ‘endorsement.’
The post Some Thoughts About The “Trump Can’t Win the General Election” Narrative… appeared first on Granite Grok.
We are bombarded daily with a cesspool of disinformation from the media, the White House, and Democrats in Congress. Their constant false accusations, invented scandals, investigations, and public persecution of a former president is tedious.
We want to Di Lothrop for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.
Their manufactured new justifications into their attempt to keep President Trump out of the White House in January 2025 are nothing short of illegal election interference.
If you’re a Democrat reading this, you probably enjoy the excitement of the witch hunt. Maybe you don’t realize – or care – that the talking heads on the liberal news and talk shows are manipulating and shaping your attitudes based on their opinions rather than reporting the truth and the facts.
If you’re an Independent or a Republican, you have a clearer head, and you refuse to be influenced by the mainstream media.
The same media who portrayed the sham J6 Commission as a court of law and tried to give them false credence with their unfounded accusations. Without a shred of evidence. Their constant erroneous claims that Trump tried to “overturn” the election are misleading. He was challenging the vote, not trying to overturn it.
The Electoral Count Act of 1887, a U.S. federal law, allows a provision to challenge the certification of votes. “Objections to individual state returns must be made in writing by at least one Member each of the Senate and House of Representatives. If an objection meets these requirements, the joint session recesses, and the two houses separate and debate the question in their respective chambers for a maximum of two hours.”
In the last 20 years, Democrats have objected three times to electoral college certifications in 2001, 2005, and 2017. Their objections were thrown out because they could not find a senator who was willing to certify their challenge.
Were they wrong for objecting? Not necessarily. Was it legal? Yes. They were all within their rights to object. Interestingly, one of the congressional objectors in 2017, Sen. Barbara Lee (D-CA), cited “malfunction of 87 voting machines” in her challenge.
Riddle me this: How was that acceptable for Democrats in 2017 to challenge the vote, and yet the same objections were labeled as “overturning the vote” for Republicans in 2020? There is only one word for that: Deception.
But, the people are coming to a new realization. Finally, Democrat operatives (think: CNN, MSNBC, and their other media pals) are being exposed for their disinformation and censuring machine and for going after those who don’t agree with them. Now with this new realization, the power is coming back to the people.
I see this awakening every day when talking to ordinary voters in the grocery store, the post office, and out in the neighborhoods during my daily activities. When I wear my MAGA hat, people tell me they love my hat.
I tell them that Make America Great Again is not just a movement. It’s Truth. And it’s growing.
The post The Deranged Left and Their Manufactured Crimes Against Trump appeared first on Granite Grok.
OK, I hope that partial quote from Patrizia Mirigliani, who runs the Miss Italy beauty pageant, is yet another clue that the Transgender Mafia is losing both steam and has run out of most peoples’ patience with the constant “Do you want a dead son or a live daughter” emotional blackmail schtick. Add to that, that “trans rights are human rights” except THEIR “rights” include taking away others’ true Rights like Freedom of Speech (“We declare you WILL use our pronouns – even if we change them three times a day and you’ll be in a world of hurt if you don’t get them right the first time”) and that Parents are in charge (and are responsible for) of their children and not the children themselves OR The State when it comes to “trans children”.
But I digress (reformatted, emphasis mine):
Italian beauty pageant Miss Italy has banned biological males from entering its competition. Patrizia Mirigliani, who oversees the nation’s beauty pageant, said “only women since birth” are welcome to compete while she is in charge of the event. Mirigliani told Radio Cusano in a recent interview that there will be no trans at Miss Italy, the most popular beauty contest in the country, and that any beauty competitions that allow biological male competitors only do because they want to create media buzz.
“Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news by also using strategies that I think are a bit absurd,” Mirigliani said. “Miss Italia, on the other hand, will not jump on the glittery bandwagon of trans activism.”
Brava! Huzzah! Bazinga! Womens’ Rights and all that – and if ya got a prostate, ya not a woman.
Therefore, as long as Mirigliani is at the helm of Miss Italy, “only those who are women, biologically speaking, can participate, and not those who perceive themselves as such,” Il Primato Naziomale reported.
So, straight guys (after all, “cisgender” should now be considered to be a slur like honky and haole, while the gal on the left isn’t wearing Italian colors, would you want the real thing or the fake one on the right? Isn’t it misogynist for someone of the Patriarchy (hee-hee!) waltzing into a women’s competition and beating them at their own game? Isn’t that what Feminism was supposed to oppose? Yet, I see too many “femisnists” going along with the falsehood that guy pretending to be a woman (and a poor one at that, looking at Mulvaney) and basically dissing other women in trying to be “inclusive” even a you are excluding women from their own competitions?
But, that’s what the Trans-Authoritarians are all about – the redefining of our common language to create chaos and for political gain.
And norms. Don’t let me forget norms. After all, and ask yourself this: if there are no more norms, then anything is permissible, right? And I do mean anything?
Still kinda thinking that the gal on the left could beat the wimp on the right even if he is a guy. Odds, anyone?
Oh yeah, Bud Light has now dropped to 15th place; WINNING!
(H/T: Brietbart)
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One of the many pages of documents pried from the FDA and Pfizer by court order explains a process that includes Graphene Oxide. Some have jumped on this as proof it is in the vaccines themselves. Is it? Let’s take a look.
Graphene Oxide appears once in the 14-page document, which you can review here. Expose’ news has more here. And that leads us to the Graphene Oxide in the COVID Vaccines conspiracy theory. Or perhaps I should say the narrative that its presence is a conspiracy theory.
I’ve read the Expose report but am not convinced of their conclusion. They say it is proof that it’s in the vaccine, but I could not tell if the citation regards manufacturing or a testing process, but my initial gut sense was the latter.
To help that debate along, I found a DEC 2020 research paper published by the NIH, titled “Potential of graphene-based materials to combat COVID-19: properties, perspectives, and Prospects,” which appears to prepare the battle space for how graphene “may contribute to fighting against COVID-19.”
Graphene and graphene-related materials (GRMs) exhibit extraordinary physicochemical, electrical, optical, antiviral, antimicrobial, and other fascinating properties that warrant them as potential candidates for designing and development of high-performance components and devices required for COVID-19 pandemic and other futuristic calamities. In this article, we discuss the potential of graphene and GRMs for healthcare applications and how they may contribute to fighting against COVID-19.
The paper is not, in fact, about sneaking Graphene into vaccines but how it could prevent the spread of SARS CoV2 or other viruses on contact surfaces or used in materials that make up PPE.
In the present pandemic situation, where the COVID-19 cases are exponentially increasing each day globally, the development of efficient anti-SARS-CoV-2 protective surfaces/coatings can play a significant role in controlling the viral spread through high touch components, products, and systems.
Graphene is also considered a potential component in virus detection devices, but nowhere does it indicate its use in vaccines.
Additionally, Fact Checkers – who can’t typically be trusted, appear to confirm that this “document in question describes a validation process in the lab that uses graphene oxide, but that process is not part of the manufacturing process.” …
The document describes a validation process in a lab, according to Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University at Buffalo’s Department of Medicine.
“That shows an evaluative process, not how it is made,” he said of the document.
Call it confirmation bias, but that – as noted above – was my initial gut feeling. So where does that leave me on the question?
A million things are wrong with the political and public health response to COVID-19 and as many or more as regards the “vaccine.” We’ve documented most of them and will continue to try and report on each again – especially when the media or the Public Health Industrial Complex is forced to admit defeat. That what they labeled a conspiracy theory has turned out to be true. The Expose piece, however, is not adding truth, as far as I can tell, given the context of the document cited.
If doctors, researchers, or scientists from around the globe have reported traces of Graphene in vaccines or blood samples, those need to be addressed individually with an unbiased eye. The Machine has, after all, been known to use the internet to catalyze false ideas to make people who have made otherwise cogent observations about the failure of the response to COVID (as one example) look like cranks whose corpus is then labeled as disingenuous by association.
I’m not here to deny any claim that might be legitimate but to point out that the Pfizer Doc in question is not proof that they put it in the juice, and you should avoid suggesting otherwise. But I will add that the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) produces zero results for a search of Graphene. And a search of Daily Clout.io (Naomi Wolf’s website) for graphene oxide also has zero results.
Both sights have done a rigorous review of the many documents pried from Pfizer and the FDA, and its absence in my mind is telling.
The post Did Pfizer Use Graphene Oxide in the COVID Vaccine Manufacturing Process? appeared first on Granite Grok.
Dear Dennis, Deborah, and Ed: Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me and Reps Cambrils and See, as well as Senator Pearl. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to engage in public discourse, and I want to similarly take the time to respond in detail.
On Tuesday, July 18, 2023 , D and D <********@gmail.com> wrote:
Gents NH has dropped to 40th place in a CNBC poll for business-friendly states. This is concerning, and one must wonder if priorities need to be adjusted here in NH to reverse this precipitous decline. Thank You Dennis and Deborah From: Ed <********@yahoo.com>
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Get ready for the next phase of the government’s war on thought crimes: mental health round-ups and involuntary detentions.
Under the guise of public health and safety, the government could use mental health care as a pretext for targeting and locking up dissidents, activists, and anyone unfortunate enough to be placed on a government watch list.
If we don’t nip this in the bud, and soon, this will become yet another pretext by which government officials can violate the First and Fourth Amendments at will.
This is how it begins.
In communities across the nation, police are being empowered to forcibly detain individuals they believe might be mentally ill, based solely on their own judgment, even if those individuals pose no danger to others.
In New York City, for example, you could find yourself forcibly hospitalized for suspected mental illness if you carry “firmly held beliefs not congruent with cultural ideas,” exhibit a “willingness to engage in meaningful discussion,” have “excessive fears of specific stimuli,” or refuse “voluntary treatment recommendations.”
While these programs are ostensibly aimed at getting the homeless off the streets, when combined with advances in mass surveillance technologies, artificial intelligence-powered programs that can track people by their biometrics and behavior, mental health sensor data (tracked by wearable data and monitored by government agencies such as HARPA), threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, precrime initiatives, red flag gun laws, and mental health first-aid programs aimed at training gatekeepers to identify who might pose a threat to public safety, they could well signal a tipping point in the government’s efforts to penalize those engaging in so-called “thought crimes.”
As the AP reports, federal officials are already looking into how to add “‘identifiable patient data,’ such as mental health, substance use and behavioral health information from group homes, shelters, jails, detox facilities and schools,” to its surveillance toolkit.
Now, through the use of red flag laws, behavioral threat assessments, and pre-crime policing prevention programs, the groundwork is being laid that would allow the government to weaponize the label of mental illness as a means of exiling those whistleblowers, dissidents and freedom fighters who refuse to march in lockstep with its dictates.
Of course, this is all part of a larger trend in American governance whereby dissent is criminalized and pathologized, and dissenters are censored, silenced, declared unfit for society, labelled dangerous or extremist, or turned into outcasts and exiled.
Red flag gun laws (which authorize government officials to seize guns from individuals viewed as a danger to themselves or others), are a perfect example of this mindset at work and the ramifications of where this could lead.
As The Washington Post reports, these red flag gun laws “allow a family member, roommate, beau, law enforcement officer or any type of medical professional to file a petition [with a court] asking that a person’s home be temporarily cleared of firearms. It doesn’t require a mental-health diagnosis or an arrest.”
With these red flag gun laws, the stated intention is to disarm individuals who are potential threats.
While in theory it appears perfectly reasonable to want to disarm individuals who are clearly suicidal and/or pose an “immediate danger” to themselves or others, where the problem arises is when you put the power to determine who is a potential danger in the hands of government agencies, the courts and the police.
Remember, this is the same government that uses the words “anti-government,” “extremist” and “terrorist” interchangeably.
This is the same government whose agents are spinning a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports using automated eyes and ears, social media, behavior sensing software, and citizen spies to identify potential threats.
This is the same government that keeps re-upping the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which allows the military to detain American citizens with no access to friends, family or the courts if the government believes them to be a threat.
This is the same government that has a growing list—shared with fusion centers and law enforcement agencies—of ideologies, behaviors, affiliations and other characteristics that could flag someone as suspicious and result in their being labeled potential enemies of the state.
For instance, if you believe in and exercise your rights under the Constitution (namely, your right to speak freely, worship freely, associate with like-minded individuals who share your political views, criticize the government, own a weapon, demand a warrant before being questioned or searched, or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government, racist, bigoted, anarchic or sovereign), you could be at the top of the government’s terrorism watch list.
Moreover, as a New York Times editorial warns, you may be an anti-government extremist (a.k.a. domestic terrorist) in the eyes of the police if you are afraid that the government is plotting to confiscate your firearms, if you believe the economy is about to collapse and the government will soon declare martial law, or if you display an unusual number of political and/or ideological bumper stickers on your car.
Let that sink in a moment.
Now consider the ramifications of giving police that kind of authority in order to preemptively neutralize a potential threat, and you’ll understand why some might view these mental health round-ups with trepidation.
No matter how well-meaning the politicians make these encroachments on our rights appear, in the right (or wrong) hands, benevolent plans can easily be put to malevolent purposes.
Even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation.
The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on illegal immigration, the war on COVID-19: all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns and have since become weapons of compliance and control in the government’s hands. For instance, the very same mass surveillance technologies that were supposedly so necessary to fight the spread of COVID-19 are now being used to stifle dissent, persecute activists, harass marginalized communities, and link people’s health information to other surveillance and law enforcement tools.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, we are moving fast down that slippery slope to an authoritarian society in which the only opinions, ideas and speech expressed are the ones permitted by the government and its corporate cohorts.
Reprinted with permission from The Rutherford Institute.
The post The Next Phase of the Government’s War on Thought Crimes appeared first on Granite Grok.
You have to wonder if #woke women’s sports athletes are putting up with men in their sport because it improves the odds someone will care enough to watch it. Being athletic or good doesn’t seem to matter. It’s never enough.
Women’s basketball doesn’t draw much of a crowd in the US, but you’d think World Cup Soccer could everywhere else. It does when it’s the men. But FIFA is begging people to buy tickets for the Women’s World Cup tournament Down Under.
With the Women’s World Cup getting underway Thursday, CNN reported Wednesday that FIFA was still struggling to sell tickets to the monthlong event, which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
In an effort to turn that around, FIFA President Gianni Infantino implored New Zealanders to purchase tickets for the women’s soccer showcase.
“New Zealand, we want you. We need you,” Infantino said during a news conference Wednesday in Auckland.
“It’s never too late to do the right thing. Come to watch the matches. We need full stadiums to warm us all up,” he added, emphasizing the significance of enthusiastic support from the home crowd.
Warm us up? Yes, it’s winter in New Zealand, which begs the question, why there. The same report notes that the local women’s team stinks and Soccer isn’t all that popular. What was FIFA thinking? Let’s find the worst place to hold a Women’s World Cup and then complain when no one shows up.
And New Zealand might not be the worst place for Women’s Soccer. They could have picked Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or Iran, where women are more property than people, but they at least like Soccer.
New Zealand sounds like a top ten worst place to do this, and they are doing it, and it’s not going well. And it’s not just because it’s cold. So the problem might not just be women’s Soccer. It might be the folks at FIFA. And it wouldn’t be the first time the world has had a problem with them.
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From a “Continuity of the Nation (e.g., WE) to the Continuity of Government (NOT we the people):
…Within the very brief discussion period that led up to the 10-26-01 Patriot Act [pdf here], literally a structural reform of the entire domestic terrorist apparatus that created the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), a bill only debated for a few weeks, the baseline was the enhanced ‘continuity of government‘ in the event of an emergency.
As we have exhaustively outlined on these pages, the outcome of the Patriot Act was to create a system where every American was now viewed by our federal government through the prism of the citizen being a potential terrorist threat. The federal government aligned all of our institutions and systems accordingly.
DHS was created to monitor American behavior, the TSA was created to scan American travelers, and the FBI was enhanced with resources to conduct surveillance despite our Fourth Amendment protections within our Constitution. Instead of the U.S. Govt protecting U.S. citizens from foreign threats, the Patriot Act changed the mission of government to protect itself from potential citizen threats.
In essence, We the People became the suspects, and all of the constitutional viewpoints within the FBI and Dept of Justice were modified to create monitoring systems…
…The continuity of a very specific construct of government…The continuity of a view within government of how government should operate.
By the time the 2016 election arrived, We the People had already been defined by the Patriot Act outcome as a threat to government. If we the people did not select the right kind of candidate who would be approved by the continuity system, then our selection would be rejected by all of the operators of that administrative system. That’s what happened.
…We the People are the threat, and those who control the DC power centers that determine the continuity of government, will not accept any modification or diminishment of their mission.
-Sundance
We were founded to be a People that happened to have a government. However, as I wrote out here, Government is now separating itself from We The People being in charge as the Progressive Governor has realized that, for all of the Left pointing the bony finger at the Right yammering “threat to Democracy!”, he can bypass Democracy because The Administrative State has become too powerful and is unaccountable.
Here, too, Sundance is making the case that Government has become its own VERY Special Interest Group and is dissuaded that it is taking on all of the regalia of a Monarchy. Our question must be, in following the admonition of “If you are going to kill the King, KILL THE KING!”, how can we do so?
The bureaucracy has rapidly become, not the courtiers and the other members of the feudal aristocracy, but the multiheaded King themselves.
(H/T: The Conservative Treehouse)
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