“Democrats say the Dumbest things,” and “Democrats = Dumb.”

Democrats Say The Dumbest Things
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Democrats = Dumb

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A strange trend has emerged in the law – strange and dangerous. While some crimes like robbery, shoplifting, and drug dealing – things that require criminal intent – have been decriminalized in many areas, the already quite large body of federal regulation has grown under President Joe Biden, putting unsuspecting citizens who don’t intentionally or knowingly break the law increasingly at risk for prosecution.

This isn’t entirely new, as it follows decades of federal expansion at the expense of states’ rights and US federalism. But with a robust push from the current administration, federal agencies have been weaponized for social justice warfare, lawfare against political adversaries, and a complex regulatory oversight scheme that essentially criminalizes what once were civil violations. This bureaucratic overcriminalization threatens the nation’s stability and the rule of law.

Federal Expansion Through Rulemaking

On April 30, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance heard testimony on “Overreach: An Examination of Federal Statutory and Regulatory Crimes.” Courts and legislators are increasingly concerned that traditional legal protections for American citizens are being scrapped by a federal regulatory juggernaut that concurrently obscures state and local criminal jurisdiction by duplicating offenses.

Witnesses testified that there are currently some 4,000 federal criminal laws and 300,000 federal regulatory “offenses.” Patrick A. McLaughlin, an attorney testifying on behalf of the non-profit, non-partisan Mercatus Center at George Mason University, averred that “it would be impossible for any human to read the entirety of federal laws and regulation,” taking the average adult about three years to read them all as a full-time job.

McLaughlin related the massive proliferation of federal criminal statutes and regulations over the past three decades, many of which occurred during Bill Clinton’s tough-on-crime stint from 1994-1996. He testified that his research “has demonstrated how the buildup of rules over time significantly slows economic growth,” that federal incarceration rates have increased in tandem, and that duplication of state and federal offenses results in redundant crimes and public confusion. Federal overcriminalization wastes “limited federal resources on problems better left to the states,” he argued, exposing offenders to multiple prosecutions and tempting prosecutors to allege a plethora of potential charges, “opening the door for bias.”

Scourge of Federal Overcriminalization

Former US District Attorney Brett Tolman, who serves as executive director of Right on Crime, identified overcriminalization as a severe problem for any free nation, offering citizens “seemingly benign choices … that can unknowingly lead to criminal sanctions.” He decried the removal of mens rea (intent) elements for many statutory and regulatory offenses and faulted “the bloated administrative state” as the chief culprit. He asserted that “Congress has overstepped into the traditionally state-held space” and this has opened the door “with political pressures taking precedence over the rule of law and where the Justice Department has the potential to use its power and discretion as a political weapon.”

Tolman offered a prescription to reverse this scourge: Congress must rein in agencies from “creating new criminal offenses as a method of regulating business activities,” which are better handled by fines and market forces. It must ensure that agencies incorporate mens rea requirements in regulations so citizens are not sent to prison when they have no awareness of or intention to violate a bureaucratic rule. Overcriminalization also stems from over-delegation of legislative (congressional) powers to the executive and administrative branches.

Tolman called for Biden to reinstate Donald Trump’s Executive Order, “Protecting Americans From Overcriminalization Through Regulatory Reform,” which:

“required agencies that issue regulations with criminal penalties to ‘be explicit about what conduct is subject to criminal penalties and the “mens rea” standard applicable to those offenses.’ The order, taking heed of [James] Madison’s Federalist Papers, ordered agencies to make all regulatory criminal laws ‘clearly written so that all Americans can understand what is prohibited and act accordingly.’ Unfortunately, with a stroke of his pen, President Biden undid this criminal justice reform.”

A Double Standard?

Yet the Biden administration has concocted a slew of new regulations to criminalize once-legal conduct even as liberal “decriminalization” policies are turning violent criminals loose with no-cash bail, reduced sentencing, and non-prosecution of drug dealing, shoplifting, and numerous other crimes. Biden signed so-called “hate speech” legislation in the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, expanded Title IX protections for transgender students that mandate gender pronoun compliance, and strengthened investigations against police officers following the death of George Floyd. Though he is pushing to reduce criminal penalties for marijuana use and has essentially decriminalized illegal immigration, this expansion has weaponized federal agencies in their social justice crusade.

Overcriminalization is a growing federal regulatory problem, even as the Biden administration displays a double standard toward the rule of law and its equal enforcement.

 

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

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Knowing how much Ed Mosca loves Rooss Berry, I thought I would share with you the following recounting of events from a member of the House of why Berry is no longer a state representative:

During the last full day House session, the Speaker delayed the lunch recess by commanding everyone to remain seated for a briefing by the Security Director. (What a joke. Here it is the end of the year and term, plus the Security document in the seat pocket was dated January 2024!)

Ross Berry presented himself at the Well of the House chamber and proceeded to announce that there would be an Executive Session of the Election Law Committee in five minutes. The Speaker said nothing and many members got up and walked out for lunch.

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Subsequently, the Democrats filed a multi-page letter of complaint to the Speaker. They maintained their Members of the Election Law Committee could not attend because the Speaker had told everyone to remain seated for the Security briefing. Interestingly, all the Republicans showed up. Further, when the Democrats did show up for the Election Law Committee Exec Session, Berry had just about concluded supervising the voting on a particular item, possibly a CACR. The Democrats cited numerous Berry violations of House Rules and demanded action.

The Speaker acted dramatically. He not only REMOVED Ross as Chair of the Election Law Committee but also as a member of the committee!!!

Shortly thereafter, the other shoe was dropped. Ross resigned as a Member of the House, disclosing that he had bought a house in Weare and had moved his family and himself into the new home. Thus, he was no longer able to represent the district in Manchester that had elected him to the House.

You cannot make up this stuff!!

So, now the already thin R majority in the House is even thinner.

 

Note: We have verified the identity of author but at their request, posted this under the by line of anonymous

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Many, many years ago, I was working 50 to 70 hours a week, keeping track of politics, contacting legislators, e-mailing testimony to Concord, and writing two columns in The Exeter-NewsLetter. There were nights I was up until midnight to meet deadlines. Then I realized, being in Exeter, I was in a small minority fighting a giant.

I finally had to give up to focus on home and family. Then we moved to West Ossipee, but I was still working the same hours, so I did not get involved in Politics, although I did try to pay some attention.

After my wife died, I started paying more attention to the goings on and saw a story in the Conway Daily Sun about “The Bridge To Nowhere.” The bill was $900,000 from the state and $230,000 from the town—my new home. For a bridge, off on a side street, changed mid-stream to being “Pedestrian Only.” And that was it. I was off and running.

We want to thank Ken Goodall for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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Now I am trying to help conservative candidates, democrat, republican, or independent, as long as they have conservative goals. Being retired makes it a little easier, but holy cow, the amount of bills proposed in the legislature is completely overwhelming. So following legislation, writing in groups and blogs like Granite Grok, and now being available to help a conservative group, I start when I get up, and all of a sudden I am on my third coffee and it is almost noon.

Now, I did get out a few times to get my steps in going around my property, but it can be exhausting. I truly feel Steve’s pain here, and I know it takes committed people to affect change, but it really should not be this difficult to be involved with our towns, counties, and States.

As I have said many times right here in the comments on Granite Grok, I am no longer a Republican, so I am not a true Right-Winger and far, far from a Liberal. I used to say Conservative Libertarian, but that party goes off the rails from time to time, so I guess what I am is a “Conservative Hippie.” And a very tired one from trying to keep up with all the stuff going on and helping conservative candidates.

So It Goes.

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Parent Defending Education has a new report and a warning “about the widespread adoption of “restorative justice” disciplinary practices at schools, saying that the new policies may lead to dangerous and disruptive classrooms.”

With the massive increase in school districts using Restorative Justice/Restorative Practices coupled with the unprecedented behavioral chaos being seen in schools, we have begun to track the school districts that use “Restorative Justice” or “Restorative Practices” as an official part of their discipline policy and/or code of conduct.

New Hampshire is in the report, but only one school publicly promotes restorative justice as a discipline policy. Manchester. In the section titled LEVELS OF INTERVENTIONS/ SANCTIONS, Restorative Conference is listed as a response to the first three levels of conflict. What is a Restorative Conference?

“Restorative justice is a philosophy for student discipline where reconciliation between the offender and the victim is the ultimate goal,” the report explained. “In many school districts, restorative justice has REPLACED exclusionary discipline in schools, so the response to a violent action in class is not a suspension or expulsion, but to clear the classroom and have a restorative conference.”

According to Parents Defending Education, it is making matters worse.

“Restorative justice has proven to be a disaster for school safety and school culture,” Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach for Parents Defending Education, told The Daily Wire. “Are there minor infractions for which it can work? Sure. But in an effort to juke the discipline statistics and feel good about themselves, school districts have allowed their schools to get out of control in terms of defiance, disruption and even violence. It can’t continue.”

We’ve reported on numerous incidents in New Hampshire schools where, despite state, local, and district anti-bullying policies, students get harassed and even assaulted, with schools doing little or nothing, whether that includes punishing the victim. The result is an escalating culture of violence and disrespect at institutions that do not want children to go anywhere else.

Billy, just beat your ass. How about we sit down and share our feelings?

Teachers are often helpless to control kids, and kids know it. The result is that students and faculty are in harm’s way, and based on the videos on the internet, they are harmed before any meaningful action is taken to protect anyone but the perpetrators.

Ultimately, everyone has suffered through this for almost nothing, given the declining proficiency scores in many districts.

The public school experiment is a failure, but one so well funded and lawyered up that fixing it no longer seems possible if you happen to be someone who thinks it can or should be saved. Instead, it needs to be starved, first of attention and then funding. The first is not as easy as it sounds (paradigms and all that), and the last seems almost impossible, but nothing worth doing was ever easy.

 

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Nebraska held its primary a couple of days ago (May 14th). Don Bacon … a RINO’s RINO … won his primary against a MAGA challenger overwhelmingly. Trump won Nebraska in 2020 by nearly TWENTY points.

Yet the GOP voters in Nebraska want to return Bacon to Congress … so he can do everything in his power to block Trump should Trump somehow, against all the odds, prevail in the obviously rigged 2024 election. STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.

I am honored to win the Republican Primary for Congress in Nebraska’s 2nd District. I thank Republican voters for delivering a decisive Bacon victory. I will work to earn the trust of every voter in our district this November. It is time to defeat Tony Vargas again. pic.twitter.com/4TPWRl1o2z

— Don Bacon (@DonJBacon) May 15, 2024

GOP voters are apathetic, weak, and stupid. You see it in Blue Hampshire all the time. But it is heartbreaking to see it in an actual RED State like Nebraska.

I will say again what I said previously … I am NOT a political activist. Hearing myself talk, i.e., posting on GraniteGrok, is NOT political activism. Political activism means actually being involved in politics … running for office or helping like-minded others running for office. But in Blue Hampshire as elsewhere, GOP voters want to pretend that activism merely means having a MAGA avatar on their social media and/or belonging to a Facebook group or groups and posting comments that “really give it to the Democrats and the RINOs,” etc.. That’s how we get Don Bacons and why America has fallen to the Left.

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Once you’ve had an abortion, you can’t take it back, which is one of the many reasons we need pregnancy care centers. They will counsel you to keep the baby, but unlike the Left, if you choose abortion, that pregnancy center will counsel the former mother through the aftermath.

Much like everything else Democrats do, they pretend there are no consequences or side effects to abortion, but the abrupt detachment of a fetus (especially in the second and third trimester) has significant biological consequences for the unborn child (death) and the mother. You can’t take it back, and the Left’s “health care” does nothing to help the mother “transition” through the hormone shifts and other physical and psychological side effects.

Much like how defunding police created more crime and injustice in the black community, it’s not their problem, but if you complain, they’ll raise some taxes to grow the government and make matters worse. If you keep complaining, you become the enemy.

Have you ever tried to be a Democrat and disagree on the issue of abortion? On any issue.

Detransioners agree – you can’t take it back, and Democrats will bully you for even daring to choose to try.

Pride?

The constant barrage of LGBT messaging marketed as truth or justice is no more disgusting than would be an endless parade of heterosexual pride messaging. There is no place for it in early grades, nor should children be exposed to it. Telling adults not to discuss human sexuality on or off any spectrum at that age is common sense. Preventing the access to or use of gratuitous material promoting heterosexuality was never book banning or meddling in a curriculum.

And no one would be brave for insisting on the continued exposure or access to heterosexually explicit content until now. Much of the “literature” they claim to be protecting from book banners includes heterosexual child rape, assault, sexual abuse, cigarette, alcohol, and drug use, and it has nothing to do with being gender confused. The goal is to normalize sexualized subject matter through which gender-blending is introduced.

It is psychological warfare. Brainwashing. Supplemented with exposure to online communities that inevitably lead to confusion and disorientation, which is then described as gender dysphoria (almost no child would have it if you stopped doing this to them).

Drugs follow, and then, if the used car salesman is very good, surgery you can’t take back.

Confusing Priorities

The drugs are poorly regulated, over-prescribed, and can cause cancer and death. The surgery cannot make you a different gender, but advocates pretend that it will align the mental confusion they created with a physical person. This isn’t true either. Even the best surgeons can’t make a boy into a girl. If you’ve got enough money and time and tolerance for pain and pain drugs you can never stop taking, it is possible to come close to the affectation, but no one seems to care about the endless physical and mental suffering that is more likely to end in suicide than if you’d left them the hell alone.

Banning puberty blockers and genital surgery for minors protects “trans youth” from medical intervention profiteers.

It protects them from overzealous partisan cultural abuses. It allows them to be who they are now, and since gender is a fluid experience subject to change not just daily but hourly, hormones and surgery prohibit them from being any other gender at any moment between now and the age of majority.

Puberty blockers and irreversible surgery are contraindicated if gender is on a spectrum.

The Best Medicine

If life or quality of life were or are a concern and there’s no evidence any Democrat policy preference can or has ever done either for anyone not in the ruling class, then limiting engagement to support and encouragement, until they are adults, is the best medicine. Teaching tolerance costs nothing, even when it doesn’t take. Still, you can’t take back the damage done by drugs and surgical intervention that actually isolate a body into the male-female stereotype they claim is so restricting.

Banning puberty blockers and gender surgery will do more for tans-youth “health” than anything that has been peddled in their interest to date. Besides, there is no proof that drugs or surgery reduce suicides. There is no evidence they live happier lives. There is evidence the drugs do not have long-term risks, and we know they may cause death. Research also supports that a super-majority of kids who survive the gender-blender narratives without drugs or surgery go on to live happy, healthy lives, very content with how they were born.

At eighteen, they still have the option of pursuing drugs or surgery if that is still their desire, and waiting is a trend gaining momentum among “experts” in Western Democracies.

The best health decision you can make for “trans-kids” is to be their friend, but otherwise, leave them the hell alone and let them transition to a normal adult life free from maintenance drugs and neutering surgeries that can’t be undone.

Banning puberty blockers and gender surgery is the best thing for kids’ health, period.

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“Hidin” Biden and the Demolitioncrats resurrected the word CONSPIRACY with the assistance of mad mastermind Marc Elias and a spurned presidential political candidate, Hillary Clinton.

That is the opinion of fair-minded political analysts: Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest at George Washington University; Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a prolific author; Matthew Whitaker, former Acting United States Attorney General and Gregg Jarrett, Fox News legal expert. Unparalleled marshaling of Federal bureaucracy, media, and moneyed “elite” power against one person is unprecedented in American history.

The United States is becoming a Stalinist/Putin U.S.S.R. or a Maoist/ Xi-Jinping Chinese Communist Cartel.

Matthew Colangelo’s (a Biden/Merkwan acolyte) New York trial of Donald Trump is an unmitigated disgrace of the judge, jury, and justice in the United States. None of the pre-eminent lawyers mentioned can identify any crime the Biden, Colangelo, and Bragg co-conspirators( BCB) have alleged against President Trump! No law degree is necessary to understand that “ failure to charge a crime” and then try anyone for an unknown crime is unconstitutional and a revival of the English Star Chamber proceedings and the Spanish Inquisition. History does not repeat, but it does rhyme!

The BCB trial culminates endless “ Grand Hoaxes,” painfully endured by President Trump and patriotic Americans. Judge Merchan exemplifies the perversion of American justice. Merchan contributed to Biden’s campaign. His daughter raises millions of dollars for Demolitioncrats, who cheer Merchan’s judicial shenanigans. Yet Merchan fails to recuse himself, and the United States judicial system says, “ Amen”!

The United States justice system has one savior: Democrat New York City jurors. Whatever the result, President Trump will persist and save the USA for my grandchildren.

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Whether you know it or not, it is becoming common for Employers to keep ALL of your most important identifying information in the cloud! That’s right—not just your name, address, email, and phone number but also your birth date and social security number.

There are payroll services that claim to be very secure, where employees can enter all of these vital identifiers into their online payroll systems.  Here’s one of the systems.

I say, walk away.

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This disastrous practice will probably lead to the recommendation of something more sinister than CBDC…. biometrics, for our own good, you understand finger & palm prints, iris scanning, and voice recognition.  We are being herded, like cattle, up the ramp that will deliver us to the slaughterhouse!

People, it is going to take the guts to say “no.”  It is going to take facing the uncertainty that “no” will bring.  But, the certainty that awaits if we don’t is a complete loss of freedom.  There is not much more that I can say about this, except there is plenty of evidence of very successful hacking.

Since our legislative session is wrapping up, I doubt we can create legal protections this year, but please let me know how many of you think this needs to stop and that we need laws that protect our identifying information.

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Ben DeGrow, Senior Policy Director for Education Choice at ExcelinEd, swats down complaints from Democrats running for Governor in New Hampshire regarding education choice and how other states compare to our EFA program.

 

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There is an Investigation Discovery series playing on Netflix called Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. In this series, they are exposing the sexual abuse and harassment towards some of the adults and children on set. From the inappropriate scenes with children on these shows, to actual sexual abuse by the adults involved, it is a disturbing reality that many are just discovering.

Children grew up watching these shows, and parents trusted the content because it was children’s programming. What may have looked like adult humor, became part of the shows where children were exploited and sexually abused.

What does this have to do with pornography in your local school? 

Some may remember the Nickelodeon show called All That.  Cast member Lori Beth Denberg, who—in a new interview with Business Insider—accused Dan Schneider of showing her porn. Dan Schneider is under a great deal of scrutiny right now because he was the producer for many of the successful shows at Nickelodeon.

Denberg adds to the list of problems that plagued the sets that these children were working on. She mentions that her producer, Dan Schneider, showed her porn.

Porn is now available to children in our public schools. They can access pornographic books through their online Apps downloaded on their I-Pads or their Chromebooks. Denberg reminds us that giving children porn to view, is part of a sexual predator’s grooming tool. It’s how a sexual predator grooms children into becoming victims of sexual assault.

So why is this allowed in our public schools?

 

Many parents have challenged pornographic books, only to be met by resistance and pushback from those who claim this is book banning. Some of the resistance comes from the LGBTQ community, who continually make the argument that porn should be available to children. It seems that there has to be damage done to a child before everyone acknowledges the harm that this is doing to children. One thing’s for sure, you won’t find much courage inside our public schools. They do nothing but point fingers, and refuse to remove it.

Why is it ok to block porn on the Internet, but if it comes to children in the form of an online book, that is acceptable?

None of this is book banning because these books are available to purchase. Parents simply want to make sure these books are not available to their children in school, and taxpayers do not want to fund them in their public school libraries.

As more is revealed about the Nickelodeon scandal, parents wonder how this is condemned in one arena but not another.

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The decline of the U.S. dollar has deteriorated 98% since the Federal Reserve was created. FDR’s 1933 Executive Decrees initiated the removal of precious metal backing from the US dollar by taking us off the gold standard. Thereafter, dollars were only redeemable for silver until 1971. President Nixon then removed the dollar’s silver backing.

From fiduciary currency to fiat currency, the dollar’s value has deteriorated from “good as gold” to Monopoly money. Laws declaring the fiat American dollar’s value are now equivalent to Monopoly’s game rules, giving value to its tender. This in-process system continuously steals the value from each dollar you earn. When you hear the term “quantitative easing,” know the money supply is being created out of thin air. Each dollar in your pocket becomes worth less because new dollars take value away from dollars already in circulation. Quantitative easing is a tried and true system to erase the wealth of the masses.

In 1921, the German Deutsche Central Bank initiated quantitative easing to pay Germany’s WWI debt. According to William L. Shirer, in “The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich,” the German Mark began to lose value in 1921 when it dropped to 75 to the dollar. In January 1922, $1.00 was converted to 189 Reichmarks (“RM”). Thereafter, as the printing press ran continuously each month, the conversion rate grew. By October of 1924, each dollar was equal in value to 4,200,000,000,000 RM. The next month the RM was revalued to 1 trillion RM = 1 new Mark. This process that completely stole the wealth of the German people has been in process since 1913 in our nation. Today, will Biden’s economy finally raise enough awareness of the revalue scheme that finally kills the dollar?

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Central bank theft American style is thoroughly detailed in Thomas Delorenzo’s 4/29/24 article called, “THE FED Americas boom & Bust Machine” -link https://thenewamerican.com/print/the-fed-americas-boom-and-bust-machine/_pdf/ A key paragraph explains: “The FED increases the supply of money in circulation by purchasing billions of dollars of government bonds ( ‘quantitative easing’). It also regulates the ‘fractional reserve’ banking system, whereby banks are required to maintain in reserve only tiny percentages of the loans they make. This percentage is called the ‘reserve ratio.’ At a reserve ratio of, say, two percent, a bank with $10 million in reserves can then lend 50 times that amount, or $500 million .”

Just as pre-Nazi Germany’s Weimar Republic needed WW I war debt as a reason to inflate the Mark, 20th-century wars have continuously generated inflation within the United States. While good men die and moms and dads mourn the loss of sons and daughters, Congress generously finances the price of war, reaching deep in the pockets of taxpayers through inflation. The FED has increased our national debt from one billion in 1913 to over 34 trillion today. Egregiously, in 2023, the FED charged the American taxpayer $658 billion in interest. This unscrupulous profiteering that blames free enterprise for crimes committed by central bankers was propagated by Karl Marx. Marx advocated for the creation of an inflation machine by centrally controlling banking, the fifth step in the Communist Manifesto.

According to the Inflation Calculator, $100 in 1913 would be equal today to $3,172.23 in 2024. What can you do to stop the erasure of your wealth? Tell your NH state Representatives and Senators to support and pass HB1232 to ban central bank currency in NH. Then contact your Washington Representatives and Senators. Tell them to support H.R. 24 in the House and the Senate, S. 3566: The Federal Reserve Transparency Act sheds a much-needed light on the Federal Reserve system. The buck stops with you. Too bad you can’t spend it.

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National media is abuzz with surreal tales of US citizens ejected from or arrested while trying to reclaim their own homes from criminal squatters. One viral TikTok video features a Venezuelan thug named Leonel Morino exhorting his fellow hoodlums to seize homes as squatting escalates in Atlanta, New York City, Los Angeles, and other major cities.

Droves of gangster Venezuelans terrorizing citizens brings to mind a similar problem nearly 45 years ago when Fidel Castro unleashed Cuba’s jail population on US shores. When Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) claimed in September 2022 that Venezuela had released its prisoners in the same manner, left-leaning mainstream outlets howled racism. But such gaslighting will not address the squatting scourge: The influx of Venezuelans far outstrips the Cuban crisis, and Moreno is the tip of a much larger criminal iceberg.

Scarface Redux?

This story has hit American audiences before, both in real life and in Brian De Palma’s iconic fictionalized Cuban drug lord Tony Montana, portrayed by a young Al Pacino in the 1983 film Scarface. On April 20, 1980, the Castro regime encouraged Cubans to emigrate to the United States, and some 125,000 refugees fled to Florida. At the top, the movie explains, “It became evident that Castro was forcing the boat owners to carry back with them not only their relatives but the dregs of his jail population.” As explained by history.com, this had immediate political consequences:

“The boatlift also began to have negative political implications for U.S. President Jimmy Carter. When it was discovered that a number of the exiles had been released from Cuban jails and mental health facilities, many were placed in refugee camps while others were held in federal prisons to undergo deportation hearings. Of the 125,000 ‘Marielitos,’ as the refugees came to be known, who landed in Florida, more than 1,700 were jailed and another 587 were detained until they could find sponsors.”

The Biden administration faces similar tensions with Venezuela: “Refugees” could not be sent home even during COVID-19 due to the political stalemate with that socialist nation. But the number of impoverished Venezuelans (and other illegals) entering America dwarfs the Marielitos. Inflation in the troubled country exceeded 1 million percent in 2018, plunging its people into poverty. Reuters reported in October 2022 that monthly minimum Venezuelan wages of around $15 combined with permissive Biden policies spurred a massive emigration:

“Venezuelans have been one of the largest groups of migrants involved in such crossings, in part because Washington granted temporary protection status last year to those who were on U.S. soil …

“More than 150,000 Venezuelans were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border between October 2021 and August 2022, compared with nearly 48,000 in fiscal-year 2021, according to U.S. government data. In September, over 33,000 Venezuelan individuals were encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border — more than the number of unique crossers from Mexico and more than immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras combined, according to U.S. government data.”

An Invitation to Squat

Commonly called “squatters’ rights,” certain laws permit people to claim ownership or provide temporary housing rights after moving into houses they don’t own or pay rent for. New York City grants legal rights to squatters after they have been in a home for 30 days; if a New Yorker calls the police on someone who has moved into their home, they will not intervene. This leaves the owner with only civil recourse to evict, which takes an average of two years to complete. New York City also boasts “right to shelter” laws, which mandate homeless people to be housed at taxpayer expense. Such laws are practically an invitation to squat for unscrupulous “asylum seekers.”

Criminal activity is escalating rampantly, despite “see-no-evil” denials by Democrats who have defunded police, eliminated cash bail, softened probation and sentencing rules, “decriminalized” numerous drug and sex crimes, and suggested that “marginalized” people should be exempt from criminal prosecution.

Criminal Moral Hazard

Of course, not all Venezuelans – or immigrants, legal or illegal – are criminal agitators. But the immigration filter is turned off: Carter sent dangerous Cubans home. Biden has opened the gates to points afar, including Haiti and “deferred enforced departure” of thousands of Palestinians who would otherwise have been sent home. Rising inflation has pushed up housing, fuel, and food prices for American citizens and aliens alike. Desperation fuels criminal behavior even without ill-considered “decriminalization” and police defunding.

Americans watch in horror as Democrat-run “sanctuary” cities prioritize the well-being of “unauthorized entrants” over that of US citizens who have worked and scrimped to buy shelter in once-safe neighborhoods. Nationally, the Biden administration is deconstructing America’s borders, currency, fundamental liberties, race relations, public safety, and ability to buy and live in their own homes in order to sacrifice “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” on the toxic altar of “social justice.” This is Scarface, coming to a real-life theater near you.

 

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

The post In Biden’s America Foreign Squatters Have More Rights Than Home Owners appeared first on Granite Grok.

As promised in Monday Memes, I have an overflow. Again, I have to drop down to two times per week because of time demands (and kudos to Steve for his mid-week meme post). I have two essays slowly ripening but that’s catch-as-catch-can time-wise.

Let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s that expression?  Those who take from Peter to pay Paul can always count on being supported by Paul.  But this has been the Left’s strategy since forever.

THE VOTE PUMP (youtube.com)

Bill Whittle, six minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

I have a journal I’m doing for my kids, and among many other things I’m capturing expressions that I have, and expressions and wisdom my parents and grandparents have.  My good-night wish is something my grandmother used when she visited and tucked me in, and my kids know where it comes from.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA

 

 

And from Australia:

 

Don’t you love the smell of gaslight in the morning…

 

 

Understand – for these people, the quest for power for their Anointed Intellect (note: two distinct links) selves rises to a missionary faith.  You WILL submit, you WILL comply, you WILL become just a digital cog.  Because they’re ON A MISSION FROM MARX (with apologies to The Blues Brothers).

 

 

Your compliance will be TOTALLY VOLUNTARY.  They’ll just deny you a way to work, live, or eat if you don’t.  Remember what I say about situations like this:

This is “voluntary” like a woman with a knife at her throat “voluntarily” acceding to a back alley romantic interlude.

 

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

 

Links (some from me, some from my Jarhead friend):

 

Zuckerberg’s new yacht

Look at the size of that thing!  “Carbon neutral” my ass.  As Instapundit says, I’ll believe it’s a crisis when those who say it’s a crisis act like it’s a crisis.

—

Fulton County Dodges AG Probe Despite Breaking Election Law (thefederalist.com)

A sure sign your society is doomed, when obvious lawbreakers are not called to account.

—

The Machinery of Fascism Revisited ⋆ Brownstone Institute

RTWT.  Excellent!

—

Read the Indictment Against Henry Cuellar to Understand Why Congress Never Challenges the Intelligence Community – The Last Refuge (theconservativetreehouse.com)

The intelligence institutions, in collaboration with the weaponized justice institutions, created the fourth branch of government.  It was this system that was fine-tuned by Barack Obama and Eric Holder to target their political opposition.

Representative Henry Cuellar is a warning to the other compromised people in Washington DC not to challenge the administrative state.  The “six ways to Sunday” groups will focus on anyone who threatens the system or breaks the code of Omerta.

Financially or otherwise, it seems there are very few – if any – pols who don’t have DS kompromat on them.

—

YouTube commenters laugh at the irony of Muslims marching against Islamophobia while demanding a Caliphate in Germany – Vlad Tepes (vladtepesblog.com)

Sometime ago, a German girl, a teen was raped and murdered by one of Merkel’s guests. Her parents were part of the program to destroy Germany by mass migration. They actually made a statement, something to the effect that no one should see her murder as a reason to stop the mass migration and that their daughter loved these people, or something very much like that.

They murder your daughter and you still want more of them????

—

Attention, my fellow Jews:

BOMBSHELL: Biden Administration Has Been Hiding Intel on Location of Hamas Leaders in Betrayal of Israel – RedState

Why was that information held back from Israel? Was the White House trying to appease Iran by ensuring Hamas’ survival? Or was Biden concerned about the domestic backlash from the far left if he had a hand in eliminating Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar?

 

 

 

—

“Our” Government | NC Renegades

Several years ago a good friend told me about the possible connection between Plum Island and Lyme disease.  Couldn’t believe it.  But now?  Far less skeptical, especially in light of the Covid Jab.

Forgotten History #3 – Plum Island and Lyme Disease — Steemit

—

COVID Vaccine mRNA Can ‘Spread Systemically’ To Placenta And Infants Of Women Vaccinated During Pregnancy | ZeroHedge

And from here (bolding added):

Staggering Drop in Male Fertility; Pfizer Docs Show Anti Sperm Antibodies Is a Problem After Injection

FDA knew and covered it up;

The Pfizer trials show anti-Sperm antibodies as an adverse event (ASA) 

The body then views sperm as an invader and will then attack sperm which can lead to infertility

Documents came out out after the EUA was approved to show shocking harms to male fertility

The FDA had these documents in their hands from April 2021 and yet covered up the evidence

Note the date!

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/naomi-wolf-on-sperm-counts-1.mp4

 

Don’t forget what she highlights about them knowing about myocarditis, and very early on!

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/naomi-wolf-they-knew.mp4

 

Whistleblower Reveals Pfizer Offered “Separate and Distinct” COVID-19 Vaccines to Employees – Vigilant News Network

I joked that there was, doubtless, a “Pfizer Employee Special”.  Not laughing now.

—

NYC female public school teacher allegedly performed oral sex on a student, still teaches (nypost.com)

Fired.  And now teaching again somewhere else.

—

Watch: Just Stop Oil Activists Try To Destroy Case Holding Original Magna Carta | ZeroHedge

Marxist activists are saying that western culture, not oil, is their enemy. And, if they don’t get what they want they will continue to try to smash our greatest works of art and historic documents as a means to tear the west down piece by piece.

 

 

—

The US Military Is Making Lasers That Create Voices out of Thin Air – Defense One

Note the date: 2018.  Also from then:

Sedition in London: Kerry Tells Abbas Confidant Trump Is Going to Be Removed | People’s Pundit Daily (peoplespunditdaily.com)

Such a POS he is.

—

Mass Starvation: Here’s Why Most Of America Is Completely Unprepared | ZeroHedge

It’s coming.

—

Russia To Test Missile Off The Coast Of California Tomorrow | Armstrong Economics

More:

British ANDREW BRIDGEN MP Admits UK, US, & French Troops Are In Ukraine | Armstrong Economics

We are one small slip away from the big things flying.  This is dread, man, truly dread.  More:

bne IntelliNews – US says sending military “trainers” to Ukraine is “inevitable”

bne IntelliNews – US Secretary of State Blinken says Ukraine free to use US-made weapons to strike Russia

—

The American Medical Association is saying that they have identified a “mysterious new heart issue” that effects 90% of Americans.  But it can’t be “The Jab”, oh no:

Mysterious Brand-New Heart Syndrome Reportedly Affects 90% of U.S. Population (substack.com)

—

Roger Simon with an interesting commentary on the “super masked” i.e. those “behind the scenes” people who are paying for all the campus protests, BLM riots, and other generally nasty “destroy America” groups:

The Masked and the Super Masked | The Epoch Times

N adds: Even then I don’t think we’ve gone all the way up the chain.

—

If your health care is run by United Health, they just had a major “ransomware” breach, so I wonder how “secure” your personal and medical data are:

UnitedHealth’s ‘egregious negligence’ led to that ransomware • The Register

—

This is a video from May 8th, 2024 where various military officials are testifying to Homeland Security about the effects of “directed energy” weapons.  It’s about 1.5 hours, and pretty scary about what is being said, and what more is implied, but cannot be discussed due to the info being classified:

Silent Weapons: Examining Foreign Anomalous Health Incidents Targeting Americans in the Homeland – Committee on Homeland Security (house.gov)

NOTE:  if you want to skip all the preliminary “stuff”, you can start the video at 0:16:40 or so.

—

The UN and the WEF are working toward A) Reducing the world population drastically, and B) total control of the remaining population.  As part of that, the elites want to eliminate cash altogether.  Here is the governor of the Central Bank of Saudia Arabia openly saying they plan to eliminate cash to get control:

https://twitter.com/newstart_2024/status/1789734357877354679?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1789734357877354679%7Ctwgr%5E118cabf17c5a6a6802fd064ad8acd4d7a5d23f2f%7Ctwcon

And many on the left are openly stating that we need to “cull the population”.  But notice that they are always talking about people OTHER than themselves…

Climate Professor Thinks We Should ‘Cull’ the Human Population to Reach Emissions Targets – PJ Media

N adds: Hold onto this question:

If you believed, truly believed, that human life and modern civilization with the current population was a dire threat to all life on earth, what line would you not cross to save it?  What action would be “too far”?

—

The lawfare is continuing.  In Arizona, a Grand Jury just handed down a 58 page indictment on 18 people for supporting Trump’s questioning of the 2020 election:

‘Unusually Aggressive’ Anti-Trump Grand Jury In Arizona Went Rogue With Indictments | ZeroHedge

—

A 9yr old schoolgirl in Minnesota was recently beaten up by 4 girls “because she is not Muslim”.  And so far, the school and the police have done nothing about it:

EXCLUSIVE: Mother says daughter was attacked at school because ‘she wasn’t Muslim’ – Alpha News

—

Nancy Pelosi opens shows her contempt for anyone who doesn’t accept the “ideals” of the Democrat party:

Nancy Pelosi yet again reveals Democrats’ disdain for average Americans (nypost.com)

—

China is now openly bragging about “elite capture” and how they now “own” many of the major interests in America:

https://karenkingston.substack.com/p/china-publicly-brags-about-capture

—

Ashley Biden has confirmed that the contents written in her diary (and published online) are true, so now we know that Joe Biden was taking showers with his daughter at an “inappropriate age”.  If this was Trump, it would be front page news, 24/7.  But the media & the FBI have been actively trying to cover this up for 4 years now:

https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2024/05/14/ashley-bidens-diary-content-is-real-and-thats-very-bad-for-joe-n3788376

N adds: It’s not just that he’s clearly a pedo.  It’s the fact that his dedicated followers don’t care.

—

Meanwhile AI continues to evolve:

AI systems are already skilled at deceiving and manipulating humans | ScienceDaily

N adds: Whatever AI, etc., stuff you see… imagine what’s classified / black.

—

The rights of the majority – Surak substack blog

Some intriguing ideas from Surak!  And I offer Surak condolances, and just shake my head at some of his social interactions:

The mad left, Jexit, and TDS – Surak substack blog

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

In Germany, people go to jail for pointing this out.  And now I’m reading that there are moves to criminalize, heavily, any EU criticism of migration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teflon Intellects.  All of them.  Reprising:

 

E Teflon Intellects 1

 

E Teflon Intellects 2

 

E Teflon Intellects 3

 

 

 

 

Read this meme, then read this brilliant transcribed speech by Evan Sayet.  They mesh very well, I think.

Regurgitating the Apple: How Modern Liberals “Think” | The Heritage Foundation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny how, country-wide, many of the tents are identical.  Almost like there’s a central order-giver.

“Almost”.

 

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

 

Pick of the Post:

 

 

GOOD FOR THEM!!!!

Remember the Asche Conformity Experiments.  All it takes is ONE person to stand up to support another – ONE voice saying The Emperor is naked! and the whole thing starts to collapse.

Be the Free Guy: Social-Proof Conformity Crumbles with Simple Action by One Person (youtube.com)

Bill Whittle – about 14 minutes.

 

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

 

Palate cleansers:

 

 

I want this!!!

—

—

 

TGIF!  I’ll show myself out…

 

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

 

Come back next Monday for more memes.  Same meme time.  Same meme channel.

 

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

 

 

 

The post Friday Meme Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.

The NH commission on offshore wind meeting, before the federal BOEM takes over our Gulf of Maine, was inexplicably canceled when its chair, Sen. Watters, got wind, pun intended, that fishermen and concerned citizens would show up to voice their concerns.

As the troops rallied to go to the meeting, the NH government, by way of Sen. David Watters, cut bait and ran!  When asked why, he stated “thousands of NH residents want(ing) green energy supercedes a “few fishermen.”

Except offshore wind is far from green!? He went on, “Just go to the federal meeting on the 29th!” but the federal BOEM meeting does not allow the public to speak for five minutes. It is only a question-and-answer session. Watters must have shellfish allergies to shun a whole group of fishermen and our coast, or he just doesn’t like opposition.

The NH state website for Watters Commission does not mention any meetings “to be announced. ”

All minutes say “pending” or a current list of stakeholders. This has been going on since 2020!

But they are claiming they advertised their public meetings! It may as well have been advertised to the fish, for the only fisherman who knew and attended was Erik Anderson, president of the defunct NHCFA, and he didn’t tell anyone either.

Calling all the committee reps finally revealed the (now canceled) meeting on May 20th, which was the only meeting the public actually knew about by word of mouth and would have had a chance to voice their mind.

If I’m not mistaken, our government has to allow proper notice and for the public to speak, no matter how uncomfortable Watters feels.

This clandestine NH state commission has been operating for four years in a vacuum. The only “study* done was a report that does not include any data about pollution, harmful Bisphenol going into the ocean poisoning us by way of fish, or any tangible data to show it is “safe” at all!

Watters does not care or he would make it right.

Instead, he doubled down and insulated the very people he represents. He refuses to listen and states, “We cannot control what the BOEM does in federal waters.” I believe Watters needs a refresher course in the US Constitution. Last I checked, the US government is “the people,” just not fishermen and those who want to save our Gulf of Maine and whales.

 

[Update] There will be “meetings” and conversations with or without members of the committee.

Monday, May 20
3:00, Meet at roundabout Diner and Lounge, Portsmouth NH traffic circle. Information on offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine.
4:00, Meet at 222 International Dr. Pease, Press conference with Chuck Morse, fishermen, and environmentalists.
4:30, State Commission on offshore wind. If (still) canceled, we will continue the press conference.

May BOEM federal dates: https://www.boem.gov/newsroom/notes-stakeholders/reminder-public-meetings-gulf-maine-proposed-sale-notice

The post Don’t Saudi Arabia The Gulf of Maine! [Update – Meetings, Press Conference in Response] appeared first on Granite Grok.

Believe it or not, readers, Hillary’s mouth has actually spoken the truth to us, the American people (I bet that has a bitter taste for her?). According to Hillary pro Palestinian protestors here on American collage campuses and streets are ignorant of the history between Israel and Islam.

She recites one example from when her husband, Bill Clinton, tried to bring the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel together in an agreed settlement. The offer to Yasser Arafat (leader of the PLO) was for Muslims to have 96% of the Palestinian territory (a darn good deal, IMO), but Arafat refused. It was speculated at the time he feared being assassinated like Anwar Sadat (President of Egypt some years before) had been for making a deal with Jews in Egypt.

Likely, he would have as his power thereafter eroded rather quickly because the radical fundamentalists in Islam will accept nothing less than the death of all Jews and not just those in Israel – all Jews everywhere. The Quran tells the faithful that the whole world must become Muslim before peace can come, and there are very many faithful to ensure that peace will not come before that.

Readers, please understand this hate war against Jews has been going on for more than a thousand years. It started in 726 AD when Muhammad claimed he was visited by the Angle Gabriel with orders from God to kill all the Jews. This was long before the Crusades or the Muslim empire, but it has been ongoing off and on all this time, and we are in a hot period right now – and it is not only Israel in the cross hairs; America is the “Great Satan.” Coddling terrorists of any kind just emboldens them and Islam is not only emboldened but motivated. The more restraint we use the greater the danger.

Look at some real hard facts: Sense 9-11, there have been 45,255 Islamic terrorist attacks worldwide. In 2002, 3,152 people were killed and 6,059 were injured, and since then, the numbers and efficiency have grown exponentially.

In 2019, 10,525 were killed, and 10,725 were injured.
In 2020, 10,251 were killed, and 7,749 were injured.
In 2021, 11,830 were killed and 9,595 were injured.
In 2022, 9,025 were killed and 6,815 were injured. (An off year)
In 2023, 11, 424 were killed and 12,999 were injured.
2024 is pending, but starting out with a real bang.

Let us not forget this is just one phase of the Islamic “religion of Peace.” Honor killings are still very much in vogue if a wife or daughter is seen to impede the family honor as judged by the husband or patriarch. Selling an adolescent daughter as young as nine years old to be the wife of some older man is nothing unusual. The always popular kidnapping of young women for the sex slave market is a profit-generating powerhouse. God forbid a gay man or lesbian falls into the grasp of some Muslims. Inevitable death sentence is always that result , usually in some gruesome fashion.

This brings me to the current Hamas-Israel war, and I must ask myself and my readers just what good would a “cease fire” be worth if we knew it would just be used by Hamas to reload before attacking again. Can we possibly be so stupid as to believe anything lasting could possibly come of it? No, no way, Israel should eradicate every terrorist in Gaza and go after those who sneak away too. This war is effecting much of the world and we are no different. Muslim students agitate lies, misinform, and, as Hillary noted, many believe these lies. Lazy or stupid students using threats or violence should be expelled, and Muslim student activists should be deported.

 

Editor: Ths post was originally published under the wrong byline. This has been corrected.

The post Hillary Speaks the Truth? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Olympic Aquatic Center in Sydney, Australia, was evacuated this week after smoke billowed in plumes from its roof. A fire started inside the rooftop solar panel array.

“Upon investigation, crews found a working fire in the solar panels on the roof of the sporting facility.”

Fire crews used a ladder platform to attack the flames and were able to get the blaze under control within about 45 minutes.

FRNSW confirmed that more than 2,500 people had to be evacuated during the incident.

According to Hot Air’s reporting, while we don’t hear much about rooftop solar panel fires, they are becoming more common.

The number of fires involving solar panels has soared after a boom in their use driven by energy bill rises, The Independent can reveal.

Data obtained under freedom of information rules show that there were six times the number of fires involving solar panels last year compared with 10 years ago.

The rate has increased sharply with 66 fires already recorded up until July this year compared with 63 for the whole of 2019, prompting concern from safety experts who are worried about a lack of regulation on who can install them.

Older installations are more likely to spark up, but it is a growing concern for anyone with a rooftop array; it is not just the likelihood of an installation quirk. You run the constant risk of outdoor storm damage.

If you have solar panels on your roof, it also changes how smoke escapes from your burning home.

“The dispersion of fire smoke from rooftops with PV raises significant safety concerns regarding residents’ exposure,” the group said. “Therefore, it is essential to investigate the phenomenon of smoke dispersion generated by rooftop PV fires, particularly through rooftop openings such as skylights.”

The amount of time you have depends on the slope of your roof. “For the 60-degree rooftop, residents have approximately 12 minutes to evacuate, while for other rooftops (less than 45 degrees), residents have only about four minutes.”

Back in the Day

In the early days of solar bailouts, homeowners were often unknowingly saddled with liens on their homes. Finance companies leveraging the installation cost would put liens on property to protect their investment, which meant the owner could not sell their property until they addressed the lien. I’m not sure that’s still a thing, but solar (bailout) incentives continue to drive installations by companies that pop up to take advantage of the government’s interference in the market.

There are reputable companies and certified installers, but has anyone talked to homeowners about the fire risk or how PV on your roof changes the environment of either an in-home or rooftop fire? I can’t say.

Did they even warn them about the possibility of a rooftop fire? Given that few, if any, solar companies even want to discuss the end-of-life costs for removal and disposal (which are not insignificant as recycling is still not something they’ve mastered), I can’t imagine the fire risk is a topic of much interest. Expired panels are toxic, as is any reclamation process. You’d think that people possessed with at least the perception of a public obligation to do the right thing for the community (during COVID) would have a vested interest in this problem.

You’d be wrong. It is another can they kick down the road. Much like the answer to this question. How many “emissions” were generated by that 45-minute (+/-) rooftop array fire? Or, put another way, are there “credits” you can buy to offset exhausting the fumes from burning the toxic components of PV panels for about an hour? How much do those cost, who benefits, and who has to pay?

I’m guessing one such fire erases all the pretend 20 years’ worth of “savings” from that installation and at least a few others. And while these fires are on the rise, you look away and keep on keeping on, you green money laundering, earth-wrecking bastards.

 

 

The post Move Over EVs – Rooftop Solar Panel Fires are On the Rise appeared first on Granite Grok.

I am not convinced these debates will happen, but how can Joe Biden demand debates with Trump when he can not even put two sentences together? Does Joe understand there will be no teleprompter unless CNN expands on its cheating practices of the past? Most people forget the controversy when CNN got the questions for the debate to the Clinton team before the debate with Trump. Maybe they will allow Biden to wear earpieces so someone can feed him the answers. With CNN hosting, there will be a heavy dose of January 6 and Trump’s trials. They will do the country a disservice if they soften this debate for the aging, fumbling Biden.

Biden has strongly restricted the two debates that highlight his weakness. He excludes Kennedy or any third-party candidate, microphones will be cut to limit crosstalk, and he will not debate in front of a live audience. He excluded NBC and FOX from potential hosts. FOX is a no-brainer, but NBC is a question mark.

This challenge is a high-risk, high-reward act of desperation by Biden. He recorded a fifteen-second announcement for his debate challenge, which took five takes. If this indicates his cognitive ability, how can he handle a 90-minute live debate? The timing is evident, as the Biden team made this announcement days after Trump rallied in front of 100,000 in Blue New Jersey, and the latest polls indicate Trump is leading in five swing states. Biden knows he is being beaten badly and must change the conversation.

January 6 and the Trump trials do not even hit the top-ten concerns of the American voters. The top 5 concerns are:

1. Illegal Immigration
2. Crime
3. Economy
4. Inflation
5. International crisis

CNN will do its best to minimize any talk on these subjects as Trump will pounce on Biden for his record on these subjects, and Biden will not know what hit him. The stage is tilted against Trump, but he will be up to the task.

Trump has proven he can overcome any obstacle in business, politics, or the courtroom. He can seal the deal with these debates if he sticks to the facts and controls his emotions. Even the closed mics can work in Trump’s favor. If he can hold back and let Biden fumble, it will reinforce to those who have been sheltered from the real Biden how much the job of President has passed him by.

You had to chuckle today when Biden took a shot at CNN for the poll results they are reporting. Joe claims the poll response has been wrong all along, and they are not polling enough people. The fact is that no matter what poll you look to, Biden is falling like a barrel over Niagara Falls, and Trump is rising with every day he is gagged in a NY courtroom.

Biden should be thankful for the polls. There is no way that 30% of Americans approve of his performance. They must be family and friends from Scranton.

This race should be over. The question is, how much can the Liberal Democrats cheat? You can almost see Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell in a dimly lit room plotting new, creative ways to manufacture votes. Nothing is beyond these Democrats.

The post Biden Demands Debates, Are You Kidding appeared first on Granite Grok.

This week, Israel celebrates its 76th birthday. Seventy-six years ago, May 14, 1948, was the rebirth of one of the oldest cultures and nations in history, the State of Israel. With Judaism as its religion, Israel has a historical continuity spanning over 4,000 years.

It is one of the oldest monotheistic religions and the oldest to survive into the present day. Israel today is a unique and diverse Jewish state with a young, viable democracy in an unstable region. In 2010, the Jewish population was estimated at 13.4 million, or roughly 0.2% of the world population.

The circumstances surrounding Israel’s rebirth were anything but easy. Regrettably, Israel’s journey from her early beginning to the present has been fraught with great suffering. It is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of the Jewish people that they persisted in their valiant struggle to re-gather again in the land of their birth. Some even go as far as saying that Israel’s renaissance — after 4,000 years or so– was nothing short of miraculous.

The re-birth of Israel, in reality, is a culmination of thousands of years of gestation during which the Jewish people, dispersed throughout much of the world, endured immense degrees and varieties of suffering. The Nazi murderers and their collaborators capped the crimes committed against the Jewish people by brutally slaughtering six million innocent men, women and children.

We can hardly find countries that have gone out of existence for as long as 4,000 years and then reappeared and been reborn. Thus, the rebirth of this magnificent culture, people, and land was truly a miracle.

In ancient times, a noble and just Persian king, Cyrus the Great, rescued tens of thousands of Jewish people from captivity in a foreign land, empowering them to return home and build their sacred temple. By his action of freeing an entire people from captivity and restoring their rightful dignity, Cyrus the Great, the author of the first code of Human Rights, cemented a bond of friendship between the Jews and the Persians. It was the Just King’s way of setting the world on a course of freedom, equality, and justice for all people, irrespective of any considerations.

Israel has welcomed many Jews across the world, including the Iranian Jews who could no longer tolerate the rule of the oppressive venomous mullahs. These mullahs are indeed traitors to the lofty, long-standing tradition and values championed by Cyrus the Great and revered by Persians throughout the ages. Israel also must be commended for affording millions of Israeli Arabs opportunities denied to them in many other lands.

Regrettably, the sworn enemy of the Iranian people and the Persian heritage (the Islamic Republic) also supports terrorism abroad. The Islamic regime has increased its support for groups that seek the destruction of Israel. These include the Lebanese Hezbollah and such Palestinian groups as Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Israel has the right to defend herself from these brewing factions who want nothing short of obliteration of the Jewish state.

We should consider the rebirth of the Jewish State to be a blessing for the Muslims. Israel has provided the opportunity to show the world the results of the Jewish state of mind in action…a mind that yearns to be free and a mind that longs to see that all humanity enjoys life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, said Tashbih Sayyed.

Israel’s fair treatment of the Iranian Baha’is in Israel is praiseworthy. This further demonstrates their ability and willingness to live in harmony with others. In Iran, the birthplace of the Baha’i faith, Baha’is are ruthlessly subjected to a form of gradual genocide by the cruel mullahs. Some Baha’is are executed for their faith, Baha’i children are denied university studies, Baha’i holy places are destroyed, and even their cemeteries are bulldozed, to cite a few examples. By contrast, Israel has provided the Baha’is freedom to care for their holy places, which were established in the Holy Land during the 19th century, long before Israel’s rebirth.

The Jewish community of Iran is one of the oldest in the Diaspora, and its historical roots reach back to the 6th century B.C.E., the time of the First Temple. Their history in the pre-Islamic period is intertwined with that of the Jews of neighboring Babylon. The Jewish colonies were scattered from centers in Babylon to Persian provinces and cities such as Hamadan and Susa. The books of Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel give a favorable description of the relationship of the Jews to the court of the Achaemids at Susa.

To this day, traditional Jews pray three times a day for the Temple’s restoration. During the centuries, the Muslims controlled Palestine, and two mosques were built on the site of the Jewish Temple. (This was no coincidence; it is a common Islamic custom to build mosques on the sites of other people’s holy places.) Since any attempt to level these mosques would lead to an international Muslim holy war (jihad) against Israel, the Temple cannot be rebuilt in the foreseeable future.

“Next year in Jerusalem being the wish of Diaspora Jews, dispersed from their homeland yet acknowledging their spiritual and historical home is Israel, specifically, Jerusalem. Psalm 137 is referred to as the well-known lament of the Babylonian Jews who wept ‘by the rivers of Babylon’ and declared, ‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither.”

The perennial prayer, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” has finally been answered. We, the spiritual children of Cyrus the Great, pray that Israel succeeds in taking the steps necessary to make the New Jerusalem a place of hope and lasting safety for the Jewish people, people of all religions, and those with no religion at all.

Although Israel was reborn in 1948, the Israelis were unable to settle down for long in their own homeland, to worship their God as they wished, and to live in peace. They were assaulted once again by the forces of destruction that sent them scurrying for the relative safety of other lands. These challenges continue to this day.

Now, Israel is a sovereign state but hardly safe. She is surrounded by nations and peoples who are bent on her destruction. Tragically, she and her neighbors have been unable to find an equitable way of living side-by-side with mutual respect and peace. I earnestly hope that ways can be found to resolve this destructive impasse peacefully.

A thorny issue of great concern to Israel is the Mullahs’ gallop to join the nuclear club and use the bomb as a club over the head of any nation, near or far, that stands in their way or does not accede to their demands. And it is here that some advocated a pre-emptive action by Israel, the U.S., or both to postpone, if not prevent, the Mullahs from achieving their objective.

For example, attacking the Bushehr nuclear facility alone would be a nightmare, releasing radiation into the atmosphere. To attack Iran’s nuclear facilities will not only provoke unnecessary war, but it could also unleash clouds of radiation far beyond the targets and the borders of Iran. In addition, it is almost a certainty that the Islamic Republic would retaliate by hitting Israel’s Dimona nuclear complex. Everyone loses.

The best strategy with the greatest chance of success and the least risk of starting a cataclysmic chain reaction is for a “coalition of the willing,” to borrow a phrase, to rally behind the Iranian opposition. Democracy-seeking secular Iranians are thoroughly capable of dislodging the tyrannical Mullahs.

We should also remember that Iran sits on many large, active fault lines. Of the major earthquakes that do occur in Iran, many are stronger than magnitude six on the Richter scale. Should, say, the Bushehr plant be hit by an earthquake, it would be catastrophic, not only to the entire region but beyond.

Today, Israel has reunited Jerusalem and provided unrestricted freedom of religion. Access of all faiths to the Holy Places in the unified City of Peace is assured. The story of Israel’s rebirth is indeed a miracle, yet challenges have remained, threatening the existence of this tiny ancient country filled with a rich culture.

As we watch, we pray for Israel and the Jewish people for everlasting peace and prosperity.

It doesn’t make any difference whether you are pro-Israel or not. If another holocaust looms, it leaves Israel with no alternatives but to lash out without pause or restraint at those who wish to destroy the Jewish State.

Happy 76th Birthday, Israel

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This is an older article, reprinted here because it is even more relevant that in 2021. But also, when people “forecast” the future — whether meteorologists, fortune-tellers, stockbrokers, or lawyers drafting contracts, the proof is in the pudding: were they accurate?

I have warned for years about Vermont’s unsustainable pensions, healthcare system, and tax structures, yet those who ignore math and facts press on with their ideological fantasies in derogation and destruction of the very programs they bloat in the name of “social justice.” I republish this article here because hindsight now proves I and other economists have been correct — Biden’s so-called “inflation reduction” policies have thrown fuel on the fire of inflation, just as Vermont’s progressive supermajority has aggravated the economic situation in the Green Mountains by ignoring common sense and basic economics, not at their own peril but of the citizenry they have utterly failed to serve. Inflation will get far worse, and we must recall who got us here in order to understand which moronic policies must be reversed to cure these ills.

Social justice inflation — Is that the plan?

Most Americans are aware that inflation is on the rise, and not just at the gas pumps. This is unsurprising given the flood of money being printed as so-called “COVID relief.” The impact on the economy is evident — workers are staying home, businesses are struggling, even as consumer spending climbs fueled by citizens flush with COVID cash. The future impact on the American economy is uncertain — or is it? Increasingly this irresponsible money-dumping appears to be a deliberate effort to transfer wealth and expand government power, consistent with the Social Justice ideology embraced by extremist Joe Biden.

It is axiomatic that increasing the money supply is the root of inflation. There are three ways this is fueled:

Demand-pull inflation occurs when an increase in the supply of money and credit stimulates overall demand for goods and services in an economy to increase more rapidly than the economy’s production capacity. This increases demand and leads to price rises…. Cost-push inflation is a result of the increase in prices working through the production process inputs… Built-in Inflation [is when] workers and others come to expect that they will continue to rise in the future at a similar rate and demand more costs or wages to maintain their standard of living.

Americans should be alarmed that all three are now impacting the economy. Also, there is a huge divergence between “core” inflation and consumer goods (including gasoline and wages, which in turn nurture cost-push inflation in the costs of goods, creating a dangerous cycle). This divergence is itself a warning sign, as inflation …

drives up some prices first and later drives up other prices. This sequential change in purchasing power and prices (known as the Cantillon effect) means that the process of inflation not only increases the general price level over time, but it also distorts relative prices, wages, and rates of return along the way. Economists, in general, understand that distortions of relative prices away from their economic equilibrium are not good for the economy, and Austrian economists even believe this process to be a major driver of cycles of recession in the economy.

Inflation is quite high at present, but the Federal Reserve states that it is unconcerned. Though this year’s inflation is the largest jump since August 2008,

Chairman Jerome Powell and other officials acknowledge the recent acceleration in prices but believe that the inflation is “transitory” and that prices won’t continue to increase at their current pace for too long.

But consumers have a different perspective:

But consumers—who actually drive inflation—seemed unfazed, apparently already operating with the understanding that prices were rising fast, and would continue to do so. Homeowners remodeling their homes during the pandemic were aware of historically high lumber prices. Home cooks felt the impact on food prices. Buyers of both new and used cars saw prices surge due to a shortage of computer chips.… This diversion in inflation views between policy makers and consumers is notable and runs deep, says Chicago Booth’s Michael Weber. Central banks and shoppers are living, to some extent, in different worlds—focusing on different things, and forming expectations on the basis of those.

This is a volatile difference, given that the purpose of the Fed is to influence markets (consumers) to preventinflation. The Fed has employed as rationale that there is a divergence between expected and actual inflation, yet that is no longer the case. Indeed, the Fed forecast in April that Personal Economic Expenditures (PCE) “would be 2.4% for 2021, [and] decrease to 2.1% by 2023”:

Different agencies’ predictions differ, but most put US CPI inflation within the range of 1.6% to 2.8% in 2021 and around 2% in 2022.

This forecast has already proved wrong, but this has not budged the Fed out of the “transitory inflation” camp. Some economists forecast higher inflation is here to stay; others say long-term inflation is a mirage. The future will reveal whether this is a short-term burden, or a launch off a fiscal cliff (as I have elsewhere argued). But if it proves to be a cliff-jump, one must query whether that was deliberate.

The Biden administration has distributed “an unprecedented amount of money” to states. Republicans have denounced this as profligate since COVID was waning, but Democrats persisted:

Democrats have called the bill necessary to sustain the economic recovery [and] mitigate the pain caused by a year of economic restrictions. More than 20 million people are still receiving some form of unemployment benefits, and millions of households are struggling to afford food and housing…. Democrats also pointed to the bill’s potential to slash child poverty.

There it is right there — the social justice justification to destroy the nation. Why merely staunch COVID when government can solve other problems with printing presses on the way? Any “slash” to child poverty will be short-lived, followed by those children being burdened by greater debt than any in human history. Money does not solve problems, human capital does.

Economist Thomas Sowell explains:

Missing in most “social justice” arguments for a redistribution of wealth is the question of the extent to which such a redistribution is even possible, in any comprehensive, long-term sense. Certainly there have been many examples of times and places where money or other physical wealth has been confiscated by governments or looted by mobs. But physical wealth is a product of human capital — the knowledge, skills, talents, and other qualities that exist inside the heads of people — where it cannot be confiscated. Confiscating physical wealth for the purpose of redistribution is confiscating something that will be used up over time, and cannot be replaced without the human capital that created it. (Discrimination and Disparities, p. 216).

Social Justice Ideology collides with math, economics, and history — but that doesn’t stop utopian fantasists from setting out to destroy us all. As Ryszard Legutko relates in his book “The Demon in Democracy” (p. 49):

Economic liberals could not get over the popularity of socialism, which they considered a completely irrational idea, but for reasons with which they were never satisfied managed to touch the hearts and minds of millions of people throughout the world. This tremendous success of their main enemy made them critically reassess the previous methods by which the free marketers wanted to win popular support…. And so they concluded: if the free market is presented not in a timid, apologetic, and cowardly way, but in proud openness as an optimal answer to every important problem, if it officially, as it were, entered into an ideological race with socialism as a superior all-encompassing formula, it must and would win. Once the economic liberals drew this conclusion, they deliberately and consciously started using the term “utopia” for what they were advocating. After all, what can be more attractive than a utopia that works? And work it must — they said. Some liberals could not even conceal their bewilderment that such a fantastic project as theirs, giving everyone, literally everyone, the freedom to pursue their own desires, had not yet caught human imagination strongly enough….

When the COVID “relief” funds run out, the unemployment problem will abate as workers are no longer rewarded for staying home. But at the same time, they will have less disposable income and consumer spending will decline. This will mean that the Biden Social Justice machine will have to print yet more money, with less economic benefit. The acknowledged expert on inflation is Milton Friedman, who warned strongly in his book “Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History”:

Inflation in the range to which we have become accustomed, let alone in the hyperinflationary range, became feasible only after paper money came into wide use. The nominal quantity of paper money can be multiplied indefinitely at negligible cost; it is necessary only to print high numbers on the same pieces of paper…. Whatever its proximate source, inflation is a disease, a dangerous and sometimes fatal disease, a disease that, if left unchecked, can destroy a society…. No government willingly accepts the responsibility for producing inflation even in moderate degree, let alone at hyperinflationary rates. Government officials always find some excuse….Inflation is not a capitalist phenomenon. The recognition that substantial inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon is only the beginning of an understanding of the cause and cure of inflation. The more basic questions are: Why do governments increase the quantity of money too rapidly? Why do they produce inflation when they understand its potential for harm? (pp. 190-193).

Americans can see the political ideology in their midst that explains “why” the Biden administration would deliberately increase money supply rapidly. Americans are being set up for economic implosion:

So, did states receive too much money in the Biden rescue plan? The answer is definitely yes, given that state revenues never declined very much, coupled with the federal government’s assistance in offsetting the spike in Medicaid, and the fact that the current recovery will be robust in terms of state revenues all support this conclusion….. Once the federal money is all spent, many states may be looking at a serious budget problem: not enough money to support the spending levels they’ve assumed in their fiscal year 2022 budgets. That will likely happen when the economy slows and actual revenues fall short of the levels assumed in their budgets.

Many Americans lack historical awareness either of how high interest rates can climb, or how dangerous inflation truly is. The annual inflation under Donald Trump in 2020 was 1.2%. Those who refer current rates back to 2008 link to a monthly rate: the last year for which inflation was as high as currently was 5.45%, in 1990. The rates under stagflation were 11.3% in 1979; 13.5% in 1980; 10.3% in 1981.

Since toying with quantitative easing in the 2007-8 crisis, the Fed has found it needed to go even further:

In the past decade or so, the Fed has seemed to lose some of its influence in controlling inflation…. Thus, the Fed has embraced what watchers call unconventional monetary policy to maintain its influence. It has bought trillions of dollars’ worth of assets to get financial institutions moving and money flowing through the economy. And it has used forward guidance to tell the market, and the public, what it thinks is going on, with the goal of influencing their spending decisions…. [But i]t can’t use forward guidance as an effective policy tool unless it can get consumers on the same page.

So the Fed has decided it can control inflation using forward guidance that is ignored; and its hands are tied from raising interest rates because “core” inflation is soft while consumer spending is rampant. America is on thin monetary sand, shifting further under fantastical notions of ending all poverty and injustice forever, just by printing money.

High inflation will result in a massive wealth transfer from elderly Americans to young, as savings and retirement incomes whither while housing and food prices skyrocket. Young Americans will be supported with printing presses, and have paltry liquid assets at risk — though their student loans will slowly vanish. The federal government’s trillions of dollars of entitlement obligations will shrink in real value, and be “honored” using increasingly worthless paper dollars. This would accomplish a massive redistribution of wealth while bypassing the ballot box completely.

They wouldn’t knowingly do such a thing, would they?

 

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

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