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

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

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

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

Reformatted.

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

HT | Valiant News

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

Dear Emily Schrader,

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

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

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

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

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

With deepest respect and gratitude,

Amil Imani

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

Dr. Iman Foroutan as an Interim Executive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are we witnessing the end of the Islamic Republic?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dear Executive Councilors,

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

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

TRUST REQUIRES TRANSPARENCY

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

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

How about you?

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’ve got popcorn.

 

 

HT | MDPI & PAlexander Substack

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

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

But I am not normal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And the press. Isn’t that their job?

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

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

OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL-PART 1: AGRICULTURE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I see no requirement that an applicant be poor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• The transgender movement attacks lesbians

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

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

— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) December 27, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And we’re back to porn again:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— EB (@_Tweetiez) November 13, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But there are times when pushback starts to show itself:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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Brings to mind this video:

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

The above was then, this is now:

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

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

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

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

~ Aldous Huxley

 

 

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

 

 

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

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

 

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Pick of the Post:

 

 

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

 

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Coda:

 

 

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

 

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

 

Palate Cleansers:

 

—

—

—

 

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

 

What is their mission (Article 1)?

 

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

 

The statement from their Board (Article 2).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

HT | The College Fix

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

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

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

(YouTube)

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

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

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

Local copy here.

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

In Part 4 we started to talk about Meetings – both those that Government MUST allow you to attend (RSA 91-A:2) called Open Meetings – and a bit of what a meeting ISN’T.  The differences ARE important. You can’t go blasting into a “meeting” thinking your guns can be blazing when it is a different kind of a meeting. While Government has strictures placed upon it by this law (ergo, my constant admonition to Follow The Law), you as an attendee have the responsibility to know and respect the differences.

However, we only got through Clause I of the second Part of RSA 91-A. Let’s try to get through Clause II. Trust me, there’s a lot to parse here and as always, I’ll embolden those things I believe to be important. I’ll also separate the “different” topics embedded in this Clause (yup, another fisking).

First, we have the HOW of a meeting

II. Subject to the provisions of RSA 91-A:3, all meetings, whether held in person, by means of telephone or electronic communication, or in any other manner, shall be open to the public.

It used to be that “ya gotta be there to matter”. No more. I remember when attending by telephone became a “thing” decades ago (and it was overdue back then) as I was flying all over the country. I took my elected position seriously and I tried hard to not miss a meeting (although if I was on the West Coast, it was hard to attend a 6pm meeting here on the East Coast). But it did help even with the problems of the new-fangled speaker phones and jacking in the PA system (“try moving the mic over here to cut the feedback / echoing…”).

And with the WuFlu Pandemic, tech had evolved so that we could Zoom/Teams/GoToMeeting/<insert software name here> conference in. Sure, still server errors, Internet bandwidth, operator not paying attention to those wanting to speak – but it was yet another tool to attend when you couldn’t attend in person. Nowadays, its not a big deal and I’m glad to see that the Law as tried to keep pace with what technology can do to assist.

Next is a vital part to note and hold your elected/appointed officials feet to the fire:

Except for town meetings, school district meetings, and elections, no vote while in open session may be taken by secret ballot.

So officials, when a vote to take some action, MUST do so in a manner that the attendees can see how their elected representatives have voted.

Have a vacancy on your board or commission? Bring in the interested candidates, grill them in front of everyone, ask the questions, let them respond and ask questions in return. And when it is time to make a selection, you MUST do it publicly. Openness and transparency is paramount. After all, this Right To Know law is exactly that – YOUR right to know what is doing on your behalf (or in many cases, what is being done TO you).

Note the town/district meetings at the beginning. The “no vote” is a fence around your elected representatives to ensure you can see what they are doing as the “Public Body or Governing Body”. The “no vote” doesn’t apply to town/districts because it is YOU who are doing the voting (and in which you are called the “Legislative Body”.

SB2 type townfolk get to vote by secret ballot just like for State and Federal elections. However, for those that aren’t SB2 (it’s a NH dealiemabop) and hold the traditional Town Meeting, secret ballots can still be held. Yes, traditional town meetings, when a moderator calls for a vote, it can be a voice vote (who can yell the loudest), a hand-raised vote, or a stand-up vote (heh – “stand up to be counted!”). However, a secret ballot can also be done IF 5 (it has been awhile in my town – could be a few more) residents put forth a “petition” for a secret ballot vote and sign their names, a secret ballot MUST be used instead of the voice/hand/stand versions.

It is usually accompanied by groaning, specially if it starts to be the third, fourth, or more and the town has a larger crowd showing up.

The takeaway is that we Citizens can always vote in secret – public officials have to vote in public.  How else to be able to hold them accountable later (e.g., Article 8 in the NH Constitution)?

Next – if someone tells you that you can’t record such a meeting – laugh at them and make sport of them. After all, they are either trying to pull the wool over your eyes or they don’t know the law. Or worse, don’t CARE about the law:

Any person shall be permitted to use recording devices, including, but not limited to, tape recorders, cameras, and videotape equipment, at such meetings.

I can tell you from personal experience that when public officials KNOW that they are being recorded, they act differently. While many won’t care, there are a few that DEPEND on the fact that people can’t hear what they say after the fact. Further, they may not want others, like you, to hear HOW they said it (i.e., screaming), what their body language is telling you, and more. Again, technology, when used correctly, can hold people more accountable than otherwise possible.

After all, this next part is the reason why what I just wrote is so important. I’m going to put the next part in bullets because it will make it easier to see the different mandates (instead of the regular text): MINUTES and NOTICES:

Minutes:

1. Minutes of all such meetings, including nonpublic sessions, shall include the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions.
2. The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes.
3. Subject to the provisions of RSA 91-A:3, minutes shall be promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting, except as provided in RSA 91-A:6, and shall be treated as permanent records of any public body, or any subordinate body thereof, without exception.

SHALL is a must important word – it is an imperative as in THOU SHALT (or like Mom or Dad, in that special voice, saying “You WILL DO THIS”). There is no wiggle room – it is a mandate that must be fulfilled. And if they don’t (like when Gary Kiedaisch was the Secretary of the Gunstock Area Commission, a fair number of minutes went missing or have not been found)  – a legally action could have been brought to bear.

Note that ANYONE taking part – either the elected representatives, any officials, members of the public, or government employees, or “special people” (like an expert who was asked to come in to help with a given situation or issue) MUST be listed in the meeting notes. After all, the operative word is accountability and if you don’t know who is going what, how can that be achieved?

And who ever the secretary is taking the notes/minutes had better be a quick “taker of notes” as well.

And #3 is important – the Public is entitled access to the minutes.  Again, another “accountability” technique – is your recollection of the meeting the same as you see in print?  Or better yet, does it match what a recording shows what happened.

I ALWAYS ask “Did you bring a videocamera to a meeting? Did you whip out your cell phone and fire it up?  And that’s why, with very few exceptions, I bring our GraniteGrok equipment to such meetings. The reason?

The only thing worse that is disliked/hated more by those that like Dark Corners than being recorded is having it posted. That’s getting a bit diluted now but GraniteGrok was one of the first that did exactly that – record and post epecially when it wasn’t that easy back then. And we learned that people did. not. like. it. Tough nuggies. It’s a public meeting and you don’t have a choice.

While many committees, board, and commissions are self-recording (a good thing), one always have to be aware of any editing has been done.  That’s why I still bring my own equipment.

NOTICES:

Except in an emergency or when there is a meeting of a legislative committee, a notice of the time and place of each such meeting, including a nonpublic session, shall be posted in 2 appropriate places one of which may be the public body’s Internet website, if such exists, or shall be printed in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town at least 24 hours, excluding Sundays and legal holidays, prior to such meetings.

A public meeting isn’t so public if no one knows about it. And note that the WHEN it must be business days – not just consecutive days regardless of the time of a week. Normally such a notice also includes the WHY the meeting is being called – the Agenda or Purpose.

That last bit is NOT required, however. In talking with a new State Rep concerning RSA 91-A the last few days, I learned that not all subdivisions of the State (in this case, a Town) does so. They’ll call and notice a meeting but consistently at the last possible moment.  And then they won’t publish their agenda until just before the meeting (or just handouts at the door).

Thus, they intentionally waste their citizens valuable in having them come to a meeting only to find out that nothing they are interested in is on the agenda. Seems like a correction to that practice is needed!

And here’s the part that got NH State Rep Harry Bean, former NH State Rep Gregg Hough, and current Belknap County Attorney Andrew Livernois into trouble as they tried to do a mashup of RSA 91-A and RSA 24:9D to get the political action they wanted – and broke the law in the case of the first two and couldn’t bother to correctly state what the laws are in calling a meeting:

An emergency shall mean a situation where immediate undelayed action is deemed to be imperative by the chairman or presiding officer of the public body, who shall post a notice of the time and place of such meeting as soon as practicable, and shall employ whatever further means are reasonably available to inform the public that a meeting is to be held. The minutes of the meeting shall clearly spell out the need for the emergency meeting.

When a meeting of a legislative committee is held, publication made pursuant to the rules of the house of representatives or the senate, whichever rules are appropriate, shall be sufficient notice. If the charter of any city or town or guidelines or rules of order of any public body require a broader public access to official meetings and records than herein described, such charter provisions or guidelines or rules of order shall take precedence over the requirements of this chapter. For the purposes of this paragraph, a business day means the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday, excluding national and state holidays.

It was the first part that they completely botched – and didn’t care. Trust, much?  Certainly not me as I pointed out their failures but go to the links as I’m not going to rehash it here. While there are regular strictures on the public notice time (24 hours) that must be given, when there is a real emergency (like a natural disaster wiping out roads, power, public buildings going up in flames, et al), a meeting can be held quickly (what seems to be a “political emergency” doesn’t fit the bill as what Gunstock was claimed to be).

But note that ONLY the head honcho, be it the Chair or “presiding officer”, can call the emergency meeting. Not just anyone in the public NOR anyone else on such a committee/board/commission.

OK, long again but there’s the Law and if you aren’t familiar with it, or the specific terms therein, a bit of explanation is needed.  Again, I’m not a lawyer, don’t profess to be one, I’m not admitted to the NH (or anywhere else) BAR, but I do read a lot of State Statutes. However, I do read them as the engineer/political blogger that I am, so feel free to take me with grains of salt.

 

Previous Posts:

• Part 1 – What is the Purpose of a Right To Know demand?
• Part 2 – Why is it Constitutional?
• Part 3 – What are the Terms (Definitions)?
• Part 4 – OK, there are Meetings and then there are Meetings…

And ancillaries:

• RTK Ombudsman Update: An Example of “Government” Workers Making Life Harder for the Citizens That Own “It”
• A Discussion with the new Right To Know Ombudsman, Tom Kehr

The post A Tutorial: How to Create a Right To Know to Hold Your Government Accountable – Part 5 appeared first on Granite Grok.

There was a time when bills could pass through the Senate or the House on bipartisan votes, and it was considered good governing. Bills had opponents and proponents because of differing views, but a vote, either way, was not catastrophic to the country’s future.

This was back in the day before we became so polarized, and there was minimal opportunity for compromise. Today, meeting in the middle is far more difficult as both parties tend to shift left and right. There are some bills where there is no way that a Republican, especially a Conservative, should sign onto a Democrat-sponsored bill in either chamber of Congress. The recent Omnibus Bill passed last week exemplifies such a piece of legislation.

An omnibus bill is a proposed law that covers many diverse or unrelated topics. Omnibus is derived from Latin and means “to, for, by, with or from everything” In reality, an omnibus bill is a vehicle to allow every member of Congress to satisfy their special interest supporters with expensive pork-filled items. The bill passed last week had a ludicrous price tag of $1.7 Trillion and over 4,000 pages. The finalized bill was printed and delivered to members of Congress with less than twenty-four hours to read before casting their votes. Nobody read the bill, nor would it have made a difference if they did. You are either for out-of-control spending or not. Historically, Republicans were for fiscal restraint, but not so with the RINOs of today.

The following Republicans voted for the monstrous bill, and the excuse that it was necessary to fund our military is weak. That could have been done with a continuing resolution, and the 2023 Republican controlled House could have killed this bill.

Representatives:

• Fred Upton of Michigan,
• Liz Cheney of Wyoming,
• Adam Kinzinger and Rodney Davis of Illinois,
• Chris Jacobs and John Katko of New York,
• Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania,
• Jaime Herrera Butler of Washington State, and
• Steve Womack of Arkansas.

Senators:

•  Roy Blunt (MO), Todd Young (IN)
•  John Boozman (AR), Shelley Moore Capito (WV) 
•  Susan Collins (ME), John Cornyn (TX)
• Tom Cotton (AR), Lindsey Graham (SC) 
• Jim Inhofe (OK), Mitch McConnell (KY)
• Jerry Moran (KS), Lisa Murkowski (AK)
• Robert Portman (OH), Mitt Romney (UT)
• Mike Rounds (SD), Richard Shelby (AL)
• John Thune (SD), Roger Wicker (MS) 

Some of the names on this list, like Cheney, Kinzinger, and Romney, are not surprising. But some names are stunning. I would never have thought Cotton, Graham, Portman, or Shelby would have crossed the aisle. Seeing Mitch McConnell vote AYE is disappointing but more proof that he must be replaced as Minority Leader. Acts like this vote explain why he did not give more support to Republican candidates trying to unseat incumbent Democrats. His time to move on has come.

You cannot recap a 4,000-page bill of waste in a short article. Still, some of the more egregious items are a minimum of $575 million towards “family planning” and “reproductive health,” including in areas where population growth “threatens biodiversity,” the creation of a new “pandemic czar,” $1.2 million for centers that support LGBTQ students at San Diego Community College District; $3 million towards the New York Historical Society’s “American LGBTQ+ Museum Partnership Project” and $750,000 to the Translatin@ Coalition.

The $750,000 for Translatin@coalition stands out due to the topical concerns surrounding the grooming of youths and controversial subject matter being injected into public schools – in this case, a $750K earmark for a Los Angeles coalition pushing for LGBT indoctrination in elementary schools. It is not only unAmerican but sinful that an initiative like this is funded with American tax dollars. Do your homework and find out what your reps are spending your hard-earned money on. Do these people deserve your support and vote? I am not sure anyone does anymore.

The post The Republicans Who Sold Us Out for $1.7T appeared first on Granite Grok.

Here is the latest gaffe by the next Progressive letting us know that they hate America as it is, hate most Americans even more that refuse to bow down to them, and utterly despise our Constitution.

From a post from John Hawkins at Culturecide:

17) “Get your fictional hateful Bible stories and your fake fictional religious bullsh*t out of our f***ing lives. F*** you!” — Billy Eichner

16) “White people turn violent when they don’t politically get their way all the damn time in this country. It is what they do.” — Elie Mystal

14) “This country is a racist transphobic, homophobic, xenophobic, ableist, classist, Islamophobic, misogynistic, dumpster fire. As such, seeing the American flag makes me want to vomit.” — Sara Rao

10) “Healthy communities do not need police.” — LA Mayoral Candidate Gina Viola

5) “The belief that one’s entitlement to freedom is a key component of white supremacy.” — Taylor Dysart in the Washington Post.

4) “It has become necessary to dissolve the Supreme Court of the United States.” – Keith Olbermann

So, we on the Left HATE your religious beliefs, we can’t control our emotions (even as the Left believes they shouldn’t have to control their sexual urges but certainly flaunt them in public, there’s nothing good about America but we are all so good that police are not required (sure, splice that cognitive dissonance for me), that freedom can only be provided by Government (only government gives out entitlements) instead of being protected by Government (its first and Proper Role – see the Declaration of Independence), and that along with no police, no one should be held responsible by a judge.

Get all that?  Can you think of the ABSOLUTE UTOPIA those, if combined, would yield?  Yet, they want us to trust them in going down this rabbit hole…

So if you hear of another Progressive saying or doing stupid stuff, email me at Skip@GraniteGrok.com so I can add to the list!

Previous installments (lots of them!) over at the Main Page here. In the mean time, why have I assembled all these quotes? Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal sums up these micro-totalitarians, perfect examples of the Progressive  philosophy:

“The essence of modern Democratic Progressivism is: You will participate in what we have created for you, and you will comply with the law’s demands.”

One used to believe that before pen was set to legislative paper, our elected officials WOULD contemplate “is this Constitutional?“.  This is the elitism of the Democrat Party and other Progressives (including Republican ones) on stage and it lines up with their ideology of collectivism and control.  THIS, my friends, is Totalitarianism written kinda slow.

And here are a few choice examples of how some elected Progressives view Government, to create what they will force you to comply with, plus some unelected and unaccountable  Progressives (re: Bureaucrats) that share the same outlook.  That they matter and you are looked at as just getting in their way of remaking society in their own image should be horrifying.

Many more over at the Main Page:

• NH State Rep Kris Roberts (D): “Government has to protect us from our own stupidity.”
• NH State Rep Leigh Webb (D): “The role of government is to legislate behavior“
• NH State Rep Laura Pantelakos (D): “I don’t care about protecting peoples’ Liberty“
• NH State Rep. Sandra Keans (R, now D): “I don’t try to justify anything by the Constitution, it’s not my job and I don’t want to do it”.
• Kerrie Diers (former Exec. Dir. of the Nashua (New Hampshire) Regional Planning Commission) doesn’t care much that your land gets in the way of her planning (for your own good as in “WHY do our perceptions of the needs of the Collective have to give way to what Individuals own?”):
  • “Private Property Rights get in the way of good planning“

Non-NH based Progressives:

• Former US Secretary of State, US Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton:
  • We just can’t trust the American people to make those types of choices…Government has to make those choices for people
• President Obama (D-Il):
  • “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money…when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
  • …that my individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country. Unfortunately, I think that recognition requires that we make sacrifices and this country has not always been willing to make the sacrifices that are necessary to bring about a new day and a new age.”
  • “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.“
  • In America we have  this strong bias toward individual action. You know, we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams, are not sufficient. We must unite in collective action, build collective institutions and organizations.
• Michelle Obama (First Lady of the US, (D-unelected Progressive  National Nanny):
  • • But when our kids spend so much of their time each day in school and when many kids get up to half their daily calories from school meals, its clear that we as a nation have a responsibility to meet as well.  We can’t just leave it up to the parents.
    • “Make no mistake about it, this November, when we get to the polls, that is what we are deciding. Not Democrat or Republican, not left or right. In this election, and every election, it is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives.  And I am here tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton.”

We have the Right:

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The post Update Page: Progressives and the Proper Role of Government – and Your Subservience to It. appeared first on Granite Grok.

Our public schools are a mess (allowing anything to be taught), and our school boards are failing us, but only we are to blame because we voted them in and don’t hold them accountable.

We want to thank Rep. John Sellers for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.

These kids will one day be our leaders and need to know how to think, reason, read and solve math problems. It is our moral responsibility to these kids so they can live life to the fullest.

By now, many, if all of you know, there are books in many of our schools that are pornographic and even demonic. Many say no big deal, while others say let them read that junk at home if they must, just not at a public school. Is this a big deal? Yes, because even if a kid cannot read, they still learn from pictures. As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and these books provide lots of pictures.

There are three problems with our schools; 1, kids are not learning to think/reason/read or do the math; 2, pornographic/demonic and inappropriate age reading material (maybe even illegal, the case against Dover schools in court now) are available to them and 3, parents are not watching what enters our kid’s minds that the schools are allowing. Did you know schools believe they know what’s best for your kid better than you do? They are indoctrinating and grooming your kid/s starting at the elementary grades. Public schools are the Pied Piper of the 21st century. If we stand idle and do nothing, our kids will lose, and we lose everything we once held dearly.

We need our kids to think, reason and read for themselves and if our kids can read, they can learn anything. I will do all I can at the State House to stop this non-sense, but you must get involved NOW, run for School Board, sign-up is in January and then campaign hard for the next couple months. One person and one vote can make a difference.

 

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Whoever is Running the Biden Administration (WRBA) has released new restrictions on travel from China. “The White House announced Wednesday it will require travelers from China to test negative for COVID-19 prior to arrival in the U.S.”

It’s a good idea. Italy began testing planeloads of travelers from China, and so far, half have tested positive for COVID.

 

“On the first flight, out of 92 passengers 35 (38%) are positive. On the second, out of 120 passengers 62 (52%) are positive,” Lombardy regional councilor for welfare Guido Bertolaso said at a news conference, as quoted by Sky News.

Italian Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said mandatory testing for Chinese travelers is “essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population.”

 

Given past fearmongering, “casualties,” and outrage, this classifies as a biological and psychological act of war or something. China has been on a COVID-Zero roll for a while, only recently opening the doors a bit. And since the Chinese don’t just go someplace with China allowing it, letting them leave without testing them seems like a deliberate act. But even if it’s not, Joe Biden’s administration expects them to test negative before being allowed in, which, if we hop into the Wayback machine sounds, well, let’s let Joe tell you for himself.

 

We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 1, 2020

 

It’s “hysteria, xenophobia, and fearmongering.”

For the record, I have the same thoughts about Trump’s and Biden’s decisions, but Biden’s got a new problem. He’s tripped over his rhetoric to do something sensible while letting millions of non-residents swarm across the southern border untested.

And while China may be trying to stoke a new pandemic cloud of fear – most certainly a political move – how does Whoever is Running the Biden Administration explain the inbound restriction on people entering the country legally ‘cuz CORONA but not for those pouring in illegally with CORONA and a manifold of other second and third world diseases?

That sounds like an excellent question for your Democrat Congressmanpersonthing.

Let us know what sort of form letter you get back talking around the hypocrisy.

 

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I read a truly terrifying article yesterday. It’s about the “youth vote.” I prefer the term “TikTok voters.” But the voters I am referring to are typically under 30 and live in a completely different world … and therefore have completely different values … than prior generations. For example:

Consider this: Younger voter are seven times more likely to get their political news on TikTok than on cable news.

These TikTok voters do NOT believe in any of the values that made America America. To them “democracy” means their … as in the Democrat … candidates win. Republicans are not the loyal opposition or even the opposition. Republicans are the enemy … fascists, Nazis, EVIL. Free speech means censorship of “misinformation” and “hate speech,” i.e. speech their tribal leaders disagree with. Freedom means abortion without restriction. Equality means favoring certain “groups” over other “groups,” i.e. whites, especially heterosexual white males. Immigration means open borders.

These views are baked in. That is, TikTok voters are NOT persuadable:

[TikTok voters] … solidifying their political ideology at a much earlier age than previous generations – thus becoming increasingly harder to influence as they get older.

According to this article, TikTok voters are the primary reason why there was no “red wave” in the 2022 midterms:

In the Pennsylvania Senate race, for example, John Fetterman received 70% of votes from those under 30 years of age. In New Hampshire, Maggie Hassan received 74% of younger votes. And in Arizona, Mark Kelly received more than three out of four votes cast by someone under 30. Republicans lost the battle for the Senate thanks to younger voters.

The numbers of TikTok voters are growing, while the numbers of voters who still hold American values is shrinking because the latter are older voters, who are dying off:

Millennials and Gen-Z are now the largest voting bloc, with Gen-Z the largest and most diverse segment in history and their impact increasing.

The author’s “solution” is to pander to these voters. For example:

… having a legitimate plan for issues younger voters care most about, like climate change

To me that is not a solution. It’s surrender. If the price of winning is pretending that late-terms abortions are NOT the equivalent of infanticide, ignoring the human rights abuses rampant in Africa to obtain cobalt for our “green economy,” redefining equality to mean that biological males get to compete on girls school sports teams, etc., etc., etc., then the price is too high.

The only solution is to … and maybe just for the short term … balkanize. Move to Red States and make them even redder and use local government to protect you from the onslaught. The long term solution, sadly, may come down to expatriation. The battle for America has been lost. TikTok, the WEF and the globalists have won.

 

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