If the flag banners sprinkled around the site have not given it away, our fundraiser has reached a plateau. We’re stuck at 31% and have been for two weeks. Not unexpected and in part due to other things I’d like to share.

As an update, we still need to raise more money, or Steve (yes, I just referred to myself in the third person) will have to replace his soon-to-expire day job with another one that might not leave him time to do as much of this as he has in he past. That’s right. The impending dismissal remains pending. The layoffs are guaranteed. We’re all getting the boot. But we’ve passed the target date and have moved into WTF territory, as in When the …not what the!

I’m happy to be working, but it would be nice to know the date of the last official day. It can be difficult to move forward until then. Working full-time for GraniteGrok is not my only project on hold. Other writing jobs may await my time or expertise – what of it there is.

I half-expected to have a few lingering Grok projects underway before the end of July, but that isn’t possible yet. I need to be working full-time from home. That’s still the plan. And we hope to raise enough to reach our goal to make that possible for the next 12 months … and then we get to do it again.

Joy!

Once online, the plan is still the same. More oversight, attention to ongoing projects, the App, an Ad free VIP version, more reporting from events and press conferences, the state house, hearings, interviews, dinners, the never quite on-again podcast, and so on.

That’s the update. I didn’t want people who had already donated to wonder what the heck was going on with their generous gift. It is much appreciated and will be put to use soon, and with any luck, we’ll raise the rest in the next few months. I’m patient and hopeful. And I’d like to start trolling events and getting some interviews and doing that reporting thing.

Not yet, but we’ll let you know when it happens.

Thanks Again!

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The post So … When is This “Reporting” Thing Going to Start? appeared first on Granite Grok.

A cursory search of Google yields a myriad of results for “biggest crime organizations in the world.”

As you can imagine, most, if not all the names are recognizable to the average person. Names like Crips & Bloods, Irish Mob, Hells Angels, Cali Cartel, the Sicilian Mafia, etc. One name, however, is noticeably absent — The Biden “crime family” syndicate.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, The Bidens (via the presidency) control directly or indirectly over $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending. To put that in perspective, at the height of Pablo Escobar’s reign, he was bringing in a reported $60 Million a day in 1989. That’s equal to about $147,782,739 a day in today’s money.

If you multiply that out, his drug empire produced just over $50 Billion a year — an astonishing sum of money when you think about it.  But it pales in comparison to what the Biden’s have access to.

Vice President Biden boasted about threatening Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016 that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, if it didn’t immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. “I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired you’re not getting the money,’” Biden recalled telling Poroshenko. “Well, son of a bitch, he got fired.

A billion dollars, gone, just like that… all while flying around with our tax dollars. Now, that’s power — power that would make every mob boss jealous. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

It is an indisputable fact that Joe Biden’s son Hunter served on the board of directors of Burisma.

What was first debunked by the “experts,” but now proven to be true according to the Hunter laptop is: From 2013 through 2018 Hunter Biden and his company brought in approximately $11 million from his role as a “board member” with Burisma and his work with a Chinese businessman.  However, in true Al Capone fashion, Hunter, even though he was warned by his business partner, failed to disclose even a modest $400,000 on his tax returns.

Further, in typical dirtbag fashion, according to public documents Hunter’s outstanding debts were over $313,000 in back taxes alone.

Now, we all know that no crime family can operate with just one person, so Joe Biden’s brother had to get in on the action. James received a “loan” of $500,000 from 1018 PL LLC which was controlled by John Hynansky, a Ukrainian businessman and longtime donor to Joe’s campaigns.  It would seem strange to me that a Ukrainian businessman would “loan”, at the time — the sitting vice president’s brother $500,000 for a second mortgage on a home in South Florida.

Whether it’s threatening to withhold a billion dollars unless someone is fired, avoiding taxes on income received, using shell companies to mask payments, getting loans from unsavory individuals or not paying your obligations, all of these activities are reminiscent of how organized crime works.

Lastly, It’s important to keep the “family” happy so, Hunter rerouted massive sums of money to close to a dozen Biden family members.

Congressman James Comer revealed bank records which confirmed more than $10 million in payments, run through at least 20 businesses, to the president’s son Hunter Biden; the president’s brother, James Biden; James’s wife, Sara Jones Biden; Hallie Biden (widow of Joe Biden’s son Beau) Hunter’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; Hunter’s current wife, Melissa Cohen; and, as Comer noted, “three children of the president’s son and the president’s brother.

Like Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, and other famous “mobsters,” the Biden family syndicate will come to an end. Hopefully, for the American people, it will be sooner rather than later.

 

| Daily Caller News Service

Corey Lewandowski is a former Trump 2016 campaign manager and 2020 senior adviser.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

The post The Biden Family Syndicate is What Real Power Looks Like appeared first on Granite Grok.

Most of us have accepted that the COVID mandates are history. No more masks, distancing, lockdowns, or testing. Natural rights, what’s left of them, are not being infringed by local public health ordinances. The attentive among us know these restrictions are still here but on a Latte break, waiting to return.

But then we discover that some never left.

 

There are 104 colleges in the US still mandating COVID vaccines for students (faculty exempted) and some have indicated they will never let this go. All the while, they refuse to make sense of their pseudoscience. pic.twitter.com/R9hlVbPbwc

— No College Mandates (@NCM4Ever) July 22, 2023

 

Students required, and faculty exempt? Wow. That’s elitist.

And as you can see from the image in the tweet, two NH colleges are on this list. Franklin Pierce and St Anselm. I went to the source website and pulled in the entire inventory.

Franklin Pierce College requires you to have had the initial dose(s) but does not require boosters – a mandate that applies to Fall 2023 admissions.

St Anselms is the same per an email dated 6/21, according to No College Mandates.com.

You can view the entire list here (google spreadsheet) or our local copy (here .xls), which includes a lot of colleges/universities that never had a vaccine mandate, schools that did and rescinded them, and (of course) those that still have it.

Below I have a different look at some of the schools in the tweet. It’s not complete. I filtered their Excel file, and it pulled the names of 60 offenders from their list (not 104). I may have missed a variable somewhere.

You can see three colleges in MA, one in ME, and two in VT. California is the worst. Pennsylvania. Ohio, Georgia, New York, and New Jersey each have four. Several other states have three. And yes, I suppose it could be worse, but this is bad. It’s 2023. Why are these progressive schools so locked in the past (snicker)?

 

College Name	Abbr	City	State	Student COVID Vaccine Mandate*		For Fall 2023?
California College of the Arts		San Francisco	CA	primary	one booster	YES
CSU Cal Poly Humboldt	CSU	Arcata	CA	primary	one booster	YES
CSU Dominguez Hills	CSU	Carson	CA	primary		YES
CSU San Franciso State Univ	CSU	San Francisco	CA	primary	one booster	YES
CSU San Jose State Univ	CSU	San Jose	CA		bivalent	YES
Dominican University of California		San Rafael	CA		bivalent	YES
Harvey Mudd College		Claremont	CA		bivalent	YES
Mount Saint Mary’s University		Los Angeles	CA	primary	no booster	YES
Pitzer College		Claremont	CA		bivalent	YES
Pomona College		Claremont	CA	2 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Saint Mary’s College of California		Moraga	CA	2 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Samuel Merritt University		Oakland	CA	primary	one booster	YES
San Francisco, University of	USF	San Francisco	CA	primary	one booster	YES
Santa Clara University	SCU	Santa Clara	CA	3 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Scripps College		Claremont	CA		bivalent	YES
Trinity Washington University		Washington	DC	primary	one booster	YES
Agnes Scott College		Decatur	GA		bivalent	YES
Clark Atlanta University		Atlanta	GA		bivalent	YES
Morehouse College		Atlanta	GA		bivalent	YES
Spelman College		Atlanta	GA	3 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Lake Forest College		Lake Forest	IL		bivalent	YES
Roosevelt University		Chicago	IL	primary	no booster	YES
DePauw College		Greencastle	IN		bivalent	YES
Indianapolis, University of		Indianapolis	IN	primary	no booster	YES
Harvard University		Cambridge	MA	primary	no booster	YES
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences		Boston	MA	primary	one booster	YES
Wellesley College		Wellesley	MA		bivalent	YES
Goucher College		Baltimore	MD	one dose		YES
Johns Hopkins University	JHU	Baltimore	MD	one dose		YES
Bates College		Lewiston	ME	3 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Wayne State University		Detroit	MI		bivalent	YES
Macalester College		Saint Paul	MN	2 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
St. Catherine University		St. Paul	MN	3 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Franklin Pierce University		Rindge	NH	primary	no booster	YES
St Anselm College		Manchester	NH	primary	no booster	(yes)*
Montclair State University		Montclair	NJ	primary	no booster	YES
Rutgers University		New Brunswick	NJ	primary	no booster	YES
Rutgers University (Camden)		Camden	NJ	primary	no booster	YES
Rutgers University (Newark)		Newark	NJ	primary	no booster	YES
Bard College		Annandale-on-Hudson	NY	primary	one booster	YES
Juilliard School, The		New York	NY	2 monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Sarah Lawrence College		Bronxville	NY	primary	one booster	yes
Denison University		Granville	OH	primary	no booster	YES
Kenyon College		Gambier	OH		bivalent	YES
Ohio Wesleyan College		Delaware	OH	primary	one booster	YES
Wooster, College of		Wooster	OH	primary	no booster	YES
Reed College		Portland	OR		bivalent	YES
Bryn Mawr College		Bryn Mawr	PA	primary	one booster	YES
Bucknell University		Lewisburg	PA	primary	no booster	YES
Gwynedd Mercy University		Gwynedd Valley	PA	primary	no booster	YES
Haverford College		Haverford	PA		bivalent	YES
Neumann University		Aston	PA	primary	no booster	YES
Robert Morris University	RMU	Moon Township	PA	primary	no booster	YES
Swarthmore College		Swarthmore	PA	primary	one booster	YES
Furman College		Greenville	SC	primary	no booster	YES
Fisk University		Nashville	TN	primary	one booster	YES
Hampton University		Hampton	VA	primary	one booster	YES
Bennington College		Bennington	VT	primary	one booster	YES
Landmark College		Putney	VT	3 doses monovalent or 1 bivalent		YES
Pacific Lutheran University		Tacoma	WA	primary	no booster	YES

 

 

HT | Daily Wire | No College Mandates.com

 

The post Franklin Pierce and St. Anselm College Still Mandate COVID Vaccination for Fall 2023 (As do Over 100 Other Colleges in the US) appeared first on Granite Grok.

I told you back in April that this would happen, that the Deep-State/Uniparty/System/etc. would NEVER let Trump become President again. Because he refused to “play within the 40 yard lines” the first time … can’t risk that he might pull out of Syria, or stop the Ukraine gravy-train, or stop the flow of illegals from Mexico, or stop unpatriotic American companies from financing China’s military-build up. So off to prison with him.

Trump has NO CHANCE. The J6 indictment will be tried before a corrupt DC judge and a corrupt DC jury. It is a certainty that Trump will be CONVICTED. And the most that will happen is that people will grumble and then “move on.”

How do I know that? Because the American people are broken. COVID showed that one-half the people in this country want to live in a Police State, and that one-half of the one-half that don’t want to live in a Police State will just go along to get along. And as for the remaining one-half of one-half … they’ve seen the years of J6 prosecutions and know the fate that awaits if they do anything more than grumble.

And if some people did actually take to the streets after a Trump conviction? Their bank accounts would be frozen, credit cards canceled, utilities turned off, car insurance cancelled, etc. … just as Trudeau broke the truckers’ protests in Canada.

America is a Police State. But just keep pretending it’s not … just keep pretending that the 2020 election wasn’t rigged (that there was no misinformation (e.g. Russian “bounties”), censorship (Hunter laptop), that Zuckerbucks were not used to turn local election offices into Democrat GOTV operations, that there was no ballot-harvesting, etc., etc., etc.) … and most importantly just keep pretending that the 2024 election won’t also be rigged.

The post Trump Is Going To Prison … But Just Keep Pretending Everything Else About The 2024 Election Won’t Also Be Rigged appeared first on Granite Grok.

In the ever-evolving landscape of politics, the fusion of technology and political administration has opened new avenues for progress and citizen engagement. At the forefront of this revolution are software development careers, playing a pivotal role in reshaping political systems and empowering public service. This blog post delves into the profound impact that software developers have on politics, exploring their diverse contributions and the transformative potential they bring to the table.

Enhancing Citizen Participation with a Digital Democracy

Software developers have harnessed the power of digital platforms to create tools that foster democratic engagement. From user-friendly voting apps to interactive government websites, these tech-savvy professionals have facilitated easier access to information and streamlined communication between citizens and policymakers. Through innovative solutions like virtual town halls and participatory budgeting software, developers have empowered citizens to actively shape the decision-making process. For those interested in a leading role in this exciting realm, one can get certified as an ICAgile Coach and help shape the future.

Data-Driven Decision Making

In this information age, data is a valuable asset, and software developers are instrumental in harnessing its potential for policymaking. By creating sophisticated data analytics and predictive modeling tools, developers enable politicians to make evidence-based decisions and formulate targeted policies. From assessing public sentiment on social media to analyzing economic trends, data-driven policymaking leads to more efficient governance and responsive solutions that address the real needs of the people.

 Safeguarding Electoral Processes with Digital Security

Ensuring the integrity of electoral processes is paramount in any democracy. Software developers play a crucial role in fortifying digital security to safeguard against cyber threats that may compromise the credibility of elections. By developing robust encryption algorithms, enhancing network security, and implementing rigorous testing protocols, they bolster the resilience of electoral systems, fostering public trust in the democratic process.

Open-Source Governance

The open-source movement has not only revolutionized software development but also found its way into the heart of politics. Software developers champion open-source governance by creating platforms for collaboration between citizens, policymakers, and public institutions. By embracing transparency and encouraging public participation in policy formation, open-source policies promote accountability and ensure that decisions are made collectively with input from diverse stakeholders.

Streamlining Government Operations

Software developers contribute to more efficient government operations by building custom software solutions tailored to specific public service needs. These innovations streamline bureaucratic processes, automate tasks, and eliminate inefficiencies. Whether it’s optimizing public transportation routes or developing integrated healthcare management systems, these advancements enhance service delivery, saving time and resources, and ultimately benefiting the citizens.

Challenges and Ethical Considerations

As software development careers intertwine with politics, ethical considerations become paramount. Developers must grapple with issues of data privacy, algorithmic bias, and technological accessibility to ensure their innovations serve the greater good. Striking a balance between innovation and responsibility is crucial in fostering a democratic and inclusive digital landscape.

Software development careers are transforming the face of politics, propelling bureaucracy into a new era of innovation and citizen empowerment. As they continue to tackle challenges and uphold ethical standards, their vital role in politics is set to drive progress and create a more connected and engaged global community.

The post Innovating Politics: The Vital Role of Software Development Careers appeared first on Granite Grok.

Vice President Kamala Harris attacked Ron DeSantis over the African-American history curriculum in Florida, claiming that state officials want to “gaslight” students by teaching fallacies and that “… enslaved people benefited from slavery.”

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Let’s think about what the Vice President is alleging. Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which a person or group causes someone to question their own sanity, memories, or perception of reality. Do the curricula attempt to do this?  Are the people who made the curricula attempting to do this?

And separately, if the curriculum does not teach that, would that have any bearing on the credibility of the allegation?

One specific standard says teachers should examine “the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation).” The added “benchmark clarification” explains, “instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Ron DeSantis did not write the African-American history curriculum in Florida.  Maybe that has a bearing on whether this smear was something other than a false, mean, cheap shot at a political opponent but the claim set off a firestorm of Leftist outrage that is not worth the bandwidth it was transmitted on.

Monday, Ron DeSantis, not one to let a smear slide, issued a direct challenge to Ms. Harris.  He invited Harris to Tallahassee to discuss the standards with prominent scholar Dr. William Allen.  Dr. Allen is a former chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and helped craft the standards. He is also a descendant of slaves and has defended the standards vigorously.

Dr. William Allen is who Ms. Harris attacked.

DeSantis wrote in a letter to Harris that,  “It’s past time to set the record straight… In Florida, we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues.  And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice.”

“So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards.  We will be happy to host you here in Tallahassee… I will ask Dr. William Allen — instrumental in the development of our impressive new standards — to join. We welcome you, of course, to bring Randi Weingarten or someone else who shares your view about the standards.”

A meeting would not appear to be logistically difficult. DeSantis said he is prepared to meet as early as Wednesday and Harris is scheduled to speak in Orlando on Tuesday, before traveling to Wisconsin on Thursday.

A short turnaround time is not difficult for Harris because, according to CNN, Harris’ team “quickly arranged” the trip to Florida, where she launched her attack against DeSantis and the new curriculum.

Valid criticism should be addressed.  Political rhetoric should be ignored.  When has V.P. Harris said anything that wasn’t political rhetoric? Vice President Harris spends most of her time making word salad for the amusement of grade schoolers.

It will be interesting to see VP Harris sit down for a serious curriculum discussion with Dr. Allen.   Want to bet a nickel on whether she shows up?  My nickel says she’s a mouthy coward not willing to defend her words.

 

The post If Gas Is Bad In Appliances Why Is Kamala’s Gaslighting Good? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Boy Scouts of America used to stand for something, but not long ago, it became about equity and inclusion. Undermined by left-wing influences and leaders, the BSA is barely an organization, and that’s what the Left wanted.

The Boy Scouts used to be about boy things, masculinity, and foundational ideal the Left hates. So they broke it, and is officially beyond fixing. Having lost its meaning, it is – to quote more than one movie –  a dead man, and it doesn’t even know it. Or maybe it does.

 

The organization lost nearly half of its membership between 2019 and 2020. This national event represents one of its first steps out of a generational nadir brought about by the pandemic, a sexual abuse scandal, and an ensuing bankruptcy.

The BSA had barely resolved its struggle over membership policies — fully admitting gay men in 2015 and trans boys in 2017, and then [girls] in 2018 — before facing an avalanche of sexual abuse claims. …

Membership for the BSA’s flagship Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA programs dropped from 1.97 million in 2019 to 1.12 million in 2020, a 43% plunge, according to figures provided to The Associated Press. Court records show membership has fallen further since then, to about 762,000.

 

BSA became Scouts, and now it’s just this club, and there’s camping, and who gives a darn—certainly not mainstream America. Parents aren’t sending their kids to play in the woods with girls or even gay men or, better yet, people who have no clue what they are.

There are too many variables at play.

It’s just a matter of time before the whole thing falls apart or, more likely, the Left completes the transition and starts recruiting liberal kids and turns it into an American Progressive Hitler Youth or Mao’s red guard.

We laugh nervously and think that’d never happen. But then we look around. Well, yeah, actually, that could happen.

 

The post How the Left Killed the Boy Scouts of America appeared first on Granite Grok.

The acronym 2SLGBTQ+IA stands for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, androgynous, and asexual. The 2SLGBTQ+IA community is often described as seeking “rights and equality” for its members. What fair-minded person could object?

Increasingly, however, the community appears to want privileges and equity as well. These goals are diametrically opposed. Rights, such as freedom of speech, are universal and cannot properly be denied to anyone. Privileges, such as affirmative action, are special advantages extended to certain classes of people; they can be given and taken away, usually by government. Equality means the law treats everyone in the same manner, with no regard to their status; equity—as the political term is used now—means the law views some people as disadvantaged and treats them preferentially as a matter of social justice.

Factions within the 2SLGBTQ+IA movement are becoming more aggressive in demanding privileges and labeling anyone who objects as a “hater.” In doing so, the movement risks losing the dynamic that allowed it to grow in the first place: the goodwill of fair-minded people. This risk is especially high when the demands for privilege involve children or physical violence.

Consider some of the Pride month parades that occurred in June. Fox News reported, “Seattle Pride’s parade . . . sparked backlash over the inclusion of a fleet of nude male cyclists, whose genitalia was on full display to attendees, including families with children.” The Washington Times referred to another incident in the Seattle parade in which naked adult men cooled off in a public water fountain near young children. Videos of both were confirmed as true by fact-checking site Snopes. Nevertheless, the progressive congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and other prominent Democrats marched in the event, including Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell. The marching officials seem determinedly silent on these events, even though they threaten the hard-won equal rights that gays and lesbians fought for in the ’70s and ’80s.

The acclaimed journalist Glenn Greenwald explained this danger during an interview (approximately 3:20 minutes in):

The gay and lesbian movement was an important part of my life. It enabled me to be legally married and it was something I supported for a long time. The lynch pin of it was not only something I believe but most Americans ended up believing. There was a cultural consensus . . . based on the principle that adults have the right to live their lives in whatever way will bring them the most self-actualization and a healthy, decent society facilitates this freedom. . . . If you look at polling done in 2015, most Americans favored same-sex marriage, even young conservatives. People even had no problem with trans rights.

All of this has unraveled because the LGBTQ+IA2—or whatever acronym you prefer—has waged a war on that principle. There were people chanting in the streets [of New York City] “We’re coming for your children.” The San Francisco gay men’s chorus sang, “We’re coming for your children.” They are claiming you’re required to get certain trans-affirming treatment for your children if they identify as trans, even if you don’t want them to; you can be deemed guilty of child abuse and have your children taken away if you don’t. The whole movement has transformed from one of “We want to be left alone to live our lives” into “Now we want to control your lives too. We want to control the way they [your children] think and influence the way they grow up.”

This was once a marginalized community. . . . It didn’t have much power; it needed to hide; it was genuinely persecuted. Now it has every institution of power on its side . . . and it has become a bullying movement. The idea that “We are going out into the streets publicly in front of your kids, be fully naked, desexualize that nudity and you can’t do anything about it” is the mentality of a movement that believes . . . they are now sort of the majority, that they have the power. And they are using it in ways that are very self-destructive. (edited for grammatical and space considerations)

He is correct about the trans movement’s trying to usurp parental rights. Consider California Senate Bill 107, sometimes called the gender-affirming care bill. California invites minors and their families to come to the state for transition treatment if their home state restricts the practice. If the change of residence violates custody orders, the noncustodial parent need only request “gender-affirming care” for a minor to receive sanctuary rather than jail time. Nothing could reverse sympathy for 2SLGBTQ+IA faster than this.

Except, perhaps, open violence. Walgreen uses the term “bullying movement” in a literal manner. For example, a disillusioned ex-trans activist showed up at the New York City parade with a sign reading “Stop Female Erasure.” She was physically mobbed and abused. Such tactics are a death knell for the positive developments that emerged from the original gay and lesbian movements.

The trans narrative is ramping up. Perhaps the authorities and mainstream media see trans power as declining, which would diminish their own power. The trans agenda is being imposed on the most trivial behavior, such as using the wrong pronoun, as well as the most heinous acts, such as the murder of children. Here are just a few cases of trans violence, among many, that happened in less than one week in 2023.

• March 27, Nashville, TN: Aiden Hale, who self-identified as transgender, fired 152 rounds within Covenant School, killing three staff members and three students. The Trans Resistance Network issued a sympathetic statement saying, “Hate has consequences,” and identifying Hale as a “second and more complex tragedy” of the shooting because he “felt he had no other effective way to be seen than to lash out by taking the life of others, and by consequence, himself.” Most media coverage downplayed the murdered children to dwell upon the victimhood of Hale. Authorities have refused to release the many journals and documents found in Hale’s home, claiming they were inflammatory.
• March 29, Richmond, VA: Two transgender activists were arrested for violently disrupting a pro-life event at Virginia Commonwealth University. According to Students for Life of America (SFLA), “The event was shut down, materials and equipment were damaged and stolen, and multiple SFLA staff and students were assaulted with Emergency Medical Services called to the scene.”
• March 31, Colorado Springs, CO: Transgender Lilly Whitworth was arrested for plotting a mass shooting after making threats to three schools and possessing the floorplans of at least one. In prison, Whitworth promised to complete the plan if bail was posted. The incident was largely ignored by the mainstream media.

Silence and denial are the worst possible strategies for events of which so much of the public is aware. If the 2SLGBTQ+IA movement keeps its current course, then it will crash.

When it does, I will be left with a question. Did we witness a double standard being embedded in the law or was it something worse—a gender caste system? Most likely, the answer will be a mixture of both.

A double standard is when an individual or group is treated with preference under a single set of laws that should apply equally to all. A caste system is when a population is divided into a hierarchy, with each category having distinct and often antagonistic “rights.” In other words, different laws for different categories of people, a “status society,” as Ludwig von Mises called it. In his book The Free and Prosperous Commonwealth, Mises described a status society as “constituted not of citizens with equal rights, but divided into ranks vested with different duties and prerogatives.”

The gender caste system and warfare have been promoted by a fashionable dynamic called “intersectionality.” The critical race theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term, which she described as “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.” In a sense, a person’s rank in the caste hierarchy is based on victim points; the more victim points, the higher a person’s rank and entitlements. A woman oppressed by patriarchy may have one point, for example; a black woman, also oppressed by racism, may have two; a black lesbian three . . . the list goes on. Those high up on the oppression scale often pull rank on those beneath them; for example, black feminists can tell white feminists to shut up in meetings because their white status makes their voices secondary. Currently, the transgendered seem to be at the apex of the hierarchy. Heterosexual white males are at the bottom.

An open caste system—rather than a hidden one based on money, for example—makes a travesty of deep-rooted American traditions. Nevertheless, the trans agenda has achieved real legal successes, and that is because the average person has deep compassion for victims. But compassion is running thin. And when compassion means harming children, when tolerance means empathizing with the murderers of children, then it is time to withdraw this compassion and demand justice instead—a single justice for all.

| Mises Wire

Author: Wendy McElroy is a Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. She was a co-founder along with Carl Watner and George H. Smith of The Voluntaryist magazine in 1982.

The post 2SLGBTQ+IA and the Law appeared first on Granite Grok.

Vermont Public, the local Nancy Pelosi Radio (NPR) online affiliate (maybe gang is a better term), has a bit about the rain in the state capital of Montpelier. “Montpelier sets rainfall record for July.”

Related: “The Once in a Century Floods Which Happen Every 10-20 Years.”

 

Vermont’s capital city broke a new record this month for rainfall, the National Weather Service reports.

Montpelier saw more than a foot of rain during the month of July. That’s a lot more than the prior record of 8 inches in 2008. The data goes back to the middle of the last century.

Vermont sees on average 6 more inches of precipitation every year than it did in the 1960s.

 

The Green Mountain State was whacked for certain, and it may well be a record for Montpelier, but what about that last bit? An average of six more inches of precipitation (on average) since the 1960s? Am I going to have to search out all the articles on drought for the past fifty years? I could, but there’s no need.

First, the author quotes NOAA from a Vermont-specific site that says, quote, “Annual average precipitation has increased nearly 6 inches since the 1960s.” So she’s off the hook, but NOAA isn’t. Their state-level time series data does not support that statement.

The average statewide precipitation from 1895 to 1969 is  40.46 inches. From 1970 to 2022, it is 45.48 inches. That’s 5.02″ inches. It is not nearly six. It is barely five. And I accept that I may be nitpicking, but wait – there’s more. Over the past ten years, from 2012 to 2022, the annual average rainfall has declined nearly 1.25 inches to 44.23. That is only 3.77 inches above the 1895-1969 average.

Nitpicking? Not quite four sounds a lot less intimidating than nearly six, and what if that was someone’s pronoun? You wouldn’t want to get that wrong.

This year will very likely change that number, but a decade of fewer annual inches seems important to me. The same sort of importance should apply to the absence of catastrophic sea level rise on the New Hampshire coast over the same period. It is flat or declining over the past decade, as is the media response.

It’s going the wrong way, so there’s nothing to report. Oh, look – rain!

By the way, a search of Newspapers.com for Vermont + Drought from 2000 to 2023 produced 10,275 hits. That includes the  Burlington Free Press, the Rutland Daily Herald, The Brattleboro Reformer, Bennington Banner, and five other “newspapers” in the state.

If we expand the search back to 1970, there are nearly 29,179 hits.

What a popular subject for a state with all that extra precipitation. And no, I don’t think they were writing about the absence of drought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Does Vermont See 6 More Inches of Precipitation Every Year Than It Did Before the 1960s? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Get a couple of hot days in July, and the climate disaster crowd comes out with the end-of-the-world song and dance. Let’s be clear about these folks when they say “climate change,” they are still preaching a repackaged end-of-the-world “global warming” narrative.

It’s what the Left does when facts get in the face of their fantasies: change the name and relabel it.

So far, none of those massive disasters that had been predicted to happen by 2012 have shown any sign of happening have happened. Nor anytime soon, if ever. Can anyone name a single “see we told you so” event happening? After all, some glaciers melting really doesn’t mean much because those things have long histories of melting, then growing, and then melting again.  No, the Artic Ocean is not ice-free, the seas have not submerged coastal cities, worldwide droughts are still a figment in their minds, forest fires are the result of climate chaos, and deserts expanding everywhere. None of these things have happened (not even signs of them).

True, there are plenty of wildfires scattered around (many human-caused and exacerbated by poor forest management), but that isn’t unusual.

But still, we are required by these failed prognosticators to go green and eliminate all fossil fuels despite the fact that around 90% of the world’s energy still requires fossil fuels. Their dreams of Net Zero carbon emissions can never be achieved by any existing clean energy providers as creating the supermassive numbers of devices necessary would be neither clean nor cheap.

It’s worth noting China (the biggest polluter on the planet) has recanted the Paris Accords. Oh, the shock!

Personally, I’m laughing at all the gullible fools who believed them in the first place.

 

The post Sunny and Hot appeared first on Granite Grok.

The only thing more stunning than 45% of polled Democrats saying Biden needs to go if he is guilty of accepting bribes (Hunter, Laptop, China, Ukraine, Shell companies, Etc.) is that 35% of Democrats don’t. Even if guilty of taking money from foreign influencers.

They think he should stay and run again.

Over one-third of the Democrats polled were okay with their president having been paid to peddle foreign interests at the expense of the American people. The same folks, if I had to guess, who lost their mind for four years over the lies about Trump being compromised by Russia. But even without that, this is an incredible statistic because no one else agrees.

 

In our online poll of 1,341 adults taken from July 5-7, with a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points, we answered that question: Biden is not likely to weather the political storm.

A strong majority of 63% in our poll suggested that President Joe Biden should either be impeached (33%) or resign immediately (30%) if the charges prove true. Just 20% said Biden should “Stay in office and run again in 2024, if he wishes.” Another 17% said they weren’t sure.

 

And the evidence continues to mount against Biden Inc.

 

• Hunter Biden admitted in court during his failed plea deal hearing last week that he received over half a million dollars from a company with links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), appearing to contradict his father’s earlier claim that no one in the Biden family made any “money from China.”
• As we noted earlier this month, Hunter Biden requested $10 million from his Chinese partners in the CEFC energy firm because, as Hunter noted, the Bidens do “exactly what the chairman wants.”
• [T]he “chairman” was “CEFC’s chairman Ye Jianming, who paid Hunter a $1 million retainer fee for legal services in 2017. Hunter also received a large diamond from Ye in February 2017 worth an estimated $80,000,” as reported by Breitbart.
• An FBI document, FD-1023, which was obtained by the congressional committee investigating Biden family corruption, cites an informant who alleged that Joe Biden and Hunter received two $5 million payments from Ukraine energy giant Burisima.
• In testimony video-taped while in hiding, a key witness also testified that the Biden family was tipped off by the Justice Department about an ongoing corruption investigation into the Bidens’ questionable dealings.
• In yet another recent revelation, the Bidens received $1 million in 17 separate payments from a Romanian who was later convicted of corruption. Sixteen of those payments, Fox News reports, went to Biden shell companies.
• [There are alleged to be] “as many as 20 shell companies set specifically up to take in payments from overseas, [that] suggest the Biden family could have taken $40 million or more in bribes.

 

And that’s the shortlist. Very short. Still, stunning and doubly so when you consider the lede without the corporate media pouring resources into investigating any of this.

They sent an army of reporters and lawyers to pick through Governor Sarah Palin’s trash in 2008, but credible evidence collected by Joe’s business partner and son was disinformation. And still, 45% of Dems in this poll think Biden needs to resign (26%) or (drumroll) should be impeached (19%).

Imagine if these alleged indiscretions received a fraction of the attention the media spent on the debunked Steele Dossier or Justice (then Judge) Kavanaugh.

It’s nice to dream, but back in the real world, even if Republicans do nothing – which is what everyone is predicting – Biden is a problem for Democrats. And maybe that’s their strategy. If Republicans make him look bad enough, the Dems will get rid of him, and the Georgetown Swamp Water Rino Collective won’t have to besmirch their tusks.

Not before his term expires. Cacklin’ Kamala is a problem too. Not one they wouldn’t steal another election for – they’d do that for Biden. But either of them, after four years, makes doing that a lot harder than it needs to be.

In the end, the DNC will find a candidate for whom a close election “can be won,” but right now, that’s not Joe Biden. Any notion to the contrary is an affectation. And don’t be surprised if they push him into and through the primary, and then he dies on the campaign trail. His last-minute replacement will be someone younger and with broader appeal who can run on Biden’s grave. His legacy. His promised future utopia (barf!).

I wouldn’t put it past them – the DNC – after all, I thought they were going to –  sorry, HE would die from COVID during the 2020 circus with similar intentions. It checked all their boxes, but they dragged Joe across anyway. I can’t see them doing that again. Managing him has got to be exhausting.

 

 

The post 35% Of Democrats Think Biden Should Run Again Even if He Took Bribes from Foreign Interests appeared first on Granite Grok.

First, it was “regular pronouns but with orders to use them in ways that broke standard English. All because of somebody’s idea that their professed sexuality was meaningful to me (note: no, it isn’t, and I still don’t care).

Then there were made-up pronouns that were plucked out of thin air (taxing the little part of me that really started to care even less about the demanded, coerced speech). Then there were “furry” pronouns” followed by animal ones (both real and imaginary ones).

Next in line came an explosion of other pronoun types of which WE were supposed to know EVERYTHING, how they were to be used, and which sexuality (of that universe that was expanding faster than the real universe) they were aligned with. As well as the corresponding burden of proper usage to be “inclusive” and not to offend (notice the one-way communication in that THEY were never required not to offend ME!).

Next up were pronouns that are “word shifters” that, depending on WHO is saying them about a third person, change based on what the “identity” is of the person speaking, gender-wise (e.g., I have to use one set of pronouns for you, a lesbian has to use a different set, a non-binary something else, so forth and so on ad nauseum). And if that’s confusing, it’s meant to be confusing. That’s its purpose, and writing about it just gives me a headache.

Sidenote: So I, as an S.O.B. in this area, am confused – what pronouns should I use? Oh yeah, not ANY of the “permissible” ones.

Yep, when a movement becomes so authoritarian, so narcissistic, and so stupid, the natural ending can only be in “jumping the shark” in some manner. And now it has arrived – and I will never get this time back again for something much more important:

 

New poetic, mystical, magical pronouns just dropped, according to groomer extraordinaire Jeffrey Marsh, and they cannot be pronounced or explained

Please keep your children off TikTok pic.twitter.com/SlnCSraZ41

— Gays Against Groomers (@againstgrmrs) July 31, 2023

 

What is the purpose of an unspeakable (what are you all – Voldemort clones that cannot be named?) and or just a random sequence of letters that can’t be read?  WHO has the time and the willingness to put up with this nonsense – not me!  Not most Normal people.  And Adam Savage of the TV show “Mythbusters” (yes, watched every single one) summarized the nitwit above quite well:

 



“I reject your reality and substitute my own.”

And that’s partially what the Transgenders have done – rejected Reality and substituted their own. The only problem is that while Savage meant it as a funny tagline, the Trans-Authoritarians actually demand that we reject reality as well.

2+2=5

No.

 

HT |  HotAir

The post Peak Trans Nitwittery: “Mandatory” Pronouns That Can’t Be Spelled and Are “Unsayable”… appeared first on Granite Grok.

If skin color or ethnic background matters to you, you are a racist, but since we’re talking about Boston’s so-called racist history, we will have to attach some labels. It was, after all, Democrats who made a point of putting people of color in charge.

And that’s supposed to matter to someone, but no one seems to think it is change they can believe in, so Boston Mayor Wu (Asian) and Police Commission Michael Cox (Black) have a problem, and its name is gun violence. Or is it Climate Change?

 

After Boston’s most violent night of the summer – in the middle of an important NAACP national convention – city officials and law enforcement are in desperate need of a new strategy to deal with the surge in shootings.

Mayor Michelle Wu, hours after the spate of shootings and stabbings that had police rushing from scene to scene in Dorchester and Roxbury, focused instead on her executive order banning fossil fuels in new city buildings.

“Week after week, we see the signs of extreme heat, storms and flooding that remind us of a closing window to take climate action,” she said.

 

It would be fair to ask if Mayor Wu thinks heat is a factor in the rise in violence, and the answer would be yes. Heat makes people crazy and crazy people more so. But in the context of her remarks, won’t your Party’s energy future exacerbate that problem? When you make energy a luxury and regulate air conditioners and electricity into the realm of unaffordability (for people or even moderate income), aren’t you just asking for more violence?

And credit where it’s due: “Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden, meanwhile, chose to focus on changing the attitudes around illegal guns after the shootings.” He said illegal guns, not just guns or gun violence. I know that’s what he means, but high praise for the choice of words, not that it much matters. If the issue is violence and Wu is working hard to make Boston less comfortable, disarming the cradle of liberty won’t stop the problem, just ask London.

Stabbing bords and blokes is a full-time hobby’ London keeps setting records for violence against everyone with nary a gun in sight. It’s so bad they are banning knives as if no one can one a broom handle or a cricket bat.

If you take all the guns, you’ll still have illegal guns and a lot more knives, and a lot more crime and violence. There’s a lot of historical evidence to back that up.

Crooks or folks who feel there’s no other way to rise in society (probably because their compassionate, progressive government ruined the public school and trapped them in a dead-end welfare loop) will take other people’s stuff to improve their lives. Some will resist and be shot or stabbed; others will just be shot or stabbed. The gangs working over the locals in liberal-run cities consider working-class folks one of the few natural commodities left. And while robbing criminals is excellent fun, I suppose, because they won’t report it, they stole that crap from someone, and that someone isn’t always the local corner store who can’t press charges because the local liberal DA made theft a more desirable calling than a days work.

In other words, Boston’s crime and violence problem is not about the heat or guns. It is that the people keep electing progressives of any race or ethnicity. Until someone smartens up and moves on from that, the city should expect things to continue to decline because what better role model for a thief is there than an elected member of the Democrat party?

 

 

HT | Boston Herald

The post Boston Can’t Seem to Get a Handle on Violent Crime appeared first on Granite Grok.

The state is, first and foremost, an institution whose overarching goal is the forcible subjugation of all the people who inhabit a given territory. However, what makes the state different from other coercive entities, such as organized crime groups, is that it enjoys some form of popular legitimacy. In other words, in addition to enslaving its inhabitants physically, it needs to secure their mental servitude as well.

Many forms of such servitude have been tested by rulers over the millennia, but by far the most effective among them is that of “representative democracy” coupled with the “welfare state.” “Representative democracy” is the illusion of universal participation in the use of institutional coercion. The “welfare state” is the reality of universal participation in the process of institutional parasitism. Together, they constitute what Frédéric Bastiat described in his immortal words as “the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody.”

An unobvious truth that has become increasingly transparent over the last few decades is that the “great fiction” in question is by no means limited to the economic or crudely political sphere. More specifically, this fiction exploits not only the alleged victimhood of the poor at the hands of the rich and that of the “disenfranchised masses” at the hands of the “privileged elite” but also that of women at the hands of men, blacks at the hands of whites, or the young at the hands of the old (and vice versa).

It is here that the nature of the state in its most mature manifestation comes clearly into view. Far from being exclusively the nexus of institutionalized aggression or even the instigator of permanent conflict, it also turns out to be the ultimate peddler of unreality.

This unreality appears on several interlocking levels. First, there is the unreality of statist promises: legal plunder can bring about general prosperity, legal counterfeiting can alleviate business cycles, and legal murder can secure world peace—none of which are true. Then, there is the unreality of state-manufactured grievances, in which women are the permanent victims of “systemic sexism,” blacks are the permanent victims of “systemic racism,” and the young (or the old) are the permanent victims of “systemic ageism.” Finally, there is the unreality of state-encouraged narcissistic or otherwise self-destructive phantasmagorias.

It is only at this final level that the potential for generating putative “social problems” that calls for “systemic solutions” is virtually limitless. For instance, state-sponsored “educators” can declare that free speech is not about being able to voice whatever views one wishes but about being protected from “hate speech” that may castigate one’s views as ignorant, evil, or ridiculous. Likewise, state-sponsored “medical professionals” can proclaim that genital mutilation can alter one’s sexual identity and make it conform to one’s supposed “true self” and that disagreeing with this contention is a criminal violation of human dignity. Finally, state-sponsored health bureaucrats can encourage one’s belief that a persistent bad mood indicates that one’s quality of life is so low that assisted suicide is the best option going forward.

In sum, statism, the ideology that begins with flouting the fundamental distinction between “mine” and “thine,” reaches its culmination in denying the even more fundamental distinction between sense and absurdity. Since every alleged problem grounded in absurdity is, by definition, unsolvable, multiplying such problems allows the state to multiply its edicts, committees, taskforces, and appropriations ad infinitum.

However, such multiplication must come to a halt as soon as a critical threshold of dysfunctionality is passed. Just as an economically absurd system with no market prices is bound to collapse—tellingly demonstrated by Ludwig von Mises—the same fate awaits a system shot through with absurdities related to other major areas of social coexistence, such as speech, health, procreation, and identity formation.

Thus, when the threshold in question is reached, the hypertrophic and increasingly farcical “great fiction” has to either voluntarily reduce its size by a substantial margin or—more likely given the current extent of special interest capture and institutional inertia—disintegrate violently under the weight of its accumulated layers of self-destructive insanity. In other words, when the amount of unreality peddled by the state on a routine basis becomes incompatible with the preservation of even a modicum of sane social life, reality is bound to reassert itself mercilessly.

If the latter scenario transpires, free individuals will be able to regain control over their lives, belongings, livelihoods, and life plans. However, if these free individuals are not to cede this control to some would-be earthly messiah who promises to rebuild a better civilization, they must never abandon timeless wisdom for the blandishments of wishful thinking. More specifically, they must not only make consistent use of solid economic theory and cogent social philosophy—which emphasize the indispensable cooperative role of private property, market prices, and sound money—but also pay homage to the organic institutions that nourish the human soul, such as the family, the local community, tradition, and religion.

After all, it is precisely these institutions that the state invariably tries to uproot and replace in its pursuit of political, economic, and cultural hegemony. It is also precisely these institutions that not only allow individuals to prosper in commercial terms but, perhaps even more importantly, to remain firmly grounded in the reality of social life and social cooperation, both intimate and extended.

In conclusion, defeating statism requires recognizing its nature not only as the ideology of permanent conflict but also as the most potent driving force of institutionalized unreality. In other words, accomplishing this task requires realizing that the “great fiction” in its fully developed form is equally fictitious in the realm of solutions that it claims to offer and in the realm of problems that it claims to identify. As soon as this realization becomes sufficiently widespread among liberty-minded people, their efforts will become genuinely robust, meaningfully inclusive, and solidly pragmatic—which is something that we should all welcome given how impactful our action or inaction is likely to be at this late stage of the fight.

| Mises Wire

Author: Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski

Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski is a Fellow of the Mises Institute, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law, Administration, and Economics at the University of Wroclaw and an affiliated scholar and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ludwig von Mises Institute Poland. He holds an MA in philosophy from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in political economy from King’s College London. He is the author of The Economics of Law, Order, and Action: The Logic of Public Goods, Libertarian Quandaries, and The Pith of Life: Aphorisms in Honor of Liberty.

 

The post Statism and the Unmaking of Reality appeared first on Granite Grok.

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Monday to have fun at Chris Sununu’s expense. I’m not sure how the Sununu Homers will take it, but they’re not precisely Trump voters, so I doubt the President cares.

 

RINO Chris Sununu recently stated that, “I’m not running for president in 2024. Beating Trump is more important.” No, he’s not running for President because he’s polling at Zero, and has no chance of winning. The people of New Hampshire have gotten wise to Chris Sununu, and they no longer like or respect him. I never liked him, but always did whatever he asked for the State, because I wanted to help New Hampshire, and I did!

 

 

 

 

I would not go so far as to say the people of New Hampshire “no longer respect him.” He is still a popular governor, though much less so than in earlier terms. He has repeatedly failed tests from COVID to the NH9 to reneging on promises to the conservative and pro-life base. That has cost him support from Republicans.

For a guy from a family that thinks they represent Republicans, he could have done a better job. And given that he barely moved the needle as a potential 2024 Presidential candidate in a Republican primary, well – that’s why he’s not running for that job.

As for why he’s not running for Governor again, the speculation continues. From the sexual assault laundromat to the Pandora Papers to potential civil suits for wrongful arrest, there are distractions aplenty if anyone was inclined to push the issues.

We can’t say if anything will come of any of that, but come November 2024, New Hampshire will have a different governor. I’d say new, but until we know who it is, we can’t say things will be much, if at all, different, and that’s not all bad. Sununu did a fine job with some of our natural rights and not so much with others.

Gun rights were protected, and taxes were reduced or eliminated. The occupational license situation got a lot better. There were plenty of plusses, but tossing the First and Fourth Amendments out the window during COVID did more harm than those did good for his base. When they rebelled, he picked up on the Democrat’s fear and demonizing of MAGA Republicans and used it to “other” them.

Efforts to roll back mandates did not regain their lost favor, and at the end of the day, his biggest contribution to them was keeping a real Democrats ass out of the governor’s chair.

 

The post Donald Trump Makes Fun of “Polling at Zero” Chris Sununu appeared first on Granite Grok.

As promised in the last Monday Memes, I have an overflow. My meme cup runneth over.  Fairly certain about a Friday Overflow-Overflow.

Note – for those waiting for Survival Sunday, that’s going to take me a few weeks to get back up to speed.  But for now, let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:

 

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

 

 

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

 

A Palestinian Explains Hamas

 

 

Related (links only):

Black South African Voices for Israel – YouTube

Why Isn’t There a Palestinian State? – YouTube

Does Israel Occupy the West Bank? – YouTube

A Black South African on Israel and Apartheid – YouTube

Debunking the Palestine Lie – YouTube

 

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

 

BUMPER STICKERS FOR SALE!

 

 

Show why you own guns! They’re TYRANT VACCINE. Bumper Sticker | Zazzle

(You may need to set to PG-13 as the panty-twisters got into a tizzy over this one.  Same for this one.

 

 

On trusting Democrats Bumper Sticker | Zazzle

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

And you think you’re just going to vote them out in 2024????

 

 

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

 

Top WEF Official: ‘Dangerous Conspiracy Theorists Must Be Eliminated’ – The People’s Voice (thepeoplesvoice.tv)

Harari pointed out that the world is “too complex” for powerful people to control it.

“The global cabal theory has many variations, but basically, there is a small group of people, a cabal, that secretly controls everything that is happening in the world,” Harari declared.

“All the wars, all the revolutions, all the epidemics, everything that is happening is controlled by this very small group of people, who are of course evil and have bad intentions.”

 

 

This glib dismissal that there could be such a cabal, even as Klaus and others openly discuss a rule by the Elites, write about it in books over decades, and meet in Davos and other choice locations where people discuss the increasing trust amongst those same Elites with an aim of forming a world government, brings to mind this meme from a while ago:

 

 

But control of the information flow is critical to tyranny.  Just like Orwell’s “1984” sought to redefine and reduce language through Newspeak, thus denying The People the very words that could be used to dissent, organize, and thus foment rebellion, the NWO architects use this desire to destroy any information flow that challenges their Narrative.  And while I can’t say I’m surprised, I’m vastly disappointed at so many US pols seeking similar power:

Video: Mitt Romney Argues That It Shouldn’t Be Illegal For Government To Use Big Tech For Censorship (infowars.com)

Though not surprised that the Fascists Progressives want it:

Pew: Seventy Percent of Democrats and Democratic-Leaning Independents Support Speech Limits – JONATHAN TURLEY

As Frontpagemag founder David Horowitz said:

“Inside Every Progressive Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out”

I would add – anyone who thinks they are better than others is taking steps towards wanting power over others.  For their own good, of course.  This is a dangerous path.

 

 

Just remember, these people truly believe they are doing good.  Thus, we slip-slide to Hell with good intentions.

 

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

 

 

Although I was in a country where I didn’t speak the dominant languages, most people did speak English.  And, actually, computer translators worked quite well – when I could get a reliable phone signal.  When looking for something specific in a store, for example one of the ubiquitous small pharmacies, I’d make my list while on the wireless at the apartment, translate it, and then merely show it to the clerk when I got there.  I did ask, once, about Ivermectin over-the-counter.  Nope.  Prescription required even there, alas.

But I was struck, especially as I went for longer walks – e.g., the local megamall less than two miles away – how clean everything was.  There was very little litter anywhere (as opposed to my local-neighborhood walks here where the street shoulders are trash dumps).  Women walked alone late at night; we’d be out until midnight or later as schedules are shifted late – like in many places in Europe, for example – and I’d see women walking unaccompanied without any apparent fear.  My in-law cousin kids would be out late too without their parents.  No concerns on the parts of those parents.

This is the benefit of a functioning monoculture and one dominant religion.  Everyone spoke the same languages (aside from tourists like me).  Racially, either Asian or Russian-Caucasian leftovers.  Black people were so uncommon the few that were there stuck out like a sore thumb (my wife commented on one such person we saw that they “had to be” an American, but I didn’t hear them talk).  I didn’t see anyone of Latin / Hispanic origin – at least, not recognizably.

Pride in country.  Pride in heritage.  Pride in keeping the city safe and clean.

Even in Dubai, our transition point, signs discussed the need to adhere to local moral and dress codes.  And while nobody here can think I’m a great fan of Islam, I admire the UAE’s commitment to their culture and religion and heritage too.  More broadly, both places expected visitors to accommodate to the locals – when in Rome, do as the Romans – and not have the locals bend to those from outside.

Diversity is a strength… nope, my hindquarters it is.  A few thoughts on my growing up in a white, Christian nation:

Merry Christmas! | Forward in Christ Magazine

Even understanding I was a Jew, I never had a problem accepting the fundamentally Christian nature of where I lived, nor did I ever take offense at someone wishing me a Merry Christmas. Why should I? Wishing me that means wishing me good things. Joy, peace, good will towards others, charity; these are not strictly Christian things, but I believe are – or should be – universal things that we live by.

 

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

 

‘People are being MANIPULATED!’ | Neil Oliver says ‘turn your back’ on summer ‘fear mongering’

 

 

 

What NASA and the European Space Agency are admitting but the media are failing to report about our current heat wave – American Thinker

This is fascinating.  I had not heard about this.  But, yes, water vapor is a far, far more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2… but a volcanic eruption is not within human control.

The IPCC Says No Climate Crisis • Watts Up With That?

Germans Will Need to Turn on Heat as Cold, Wet Weather Sets to Grip Country in Early August • Watts Up With That?

Wrong, USA Today, Ocean Currents Aren’t Near Collapse • Watts Up With That?

 

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“It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.”

-H. L. Mencken

 

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

 

Meet America’s New Military Leaders of Tomorrow

 

 

Military, and other topics.  Our enemies are laughing themselves sick.

 

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

 

Pick of the post:

 

 

Killer.  Simple, but to the point.  Don’t forget the power of such things:

 

PJTV: The Power & Danger of Iconography

 

 

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

 

Palate cleansers:

 

—

—

 

Whale is thinking I shall call him “bath toy”.

 

The post Meme Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.

The main theme … at least for the time being … of the Kelly Ayotte campaign is that Governor Kelly would stop New Hampshire from becoming Massachusetts. This theme requires us to pretend that New Hampshire isn’t already Massachusetts. For example, it requires us to pretend that New Hampshire does not spend almost as much per pupil on public education as Massachusetts. Per NEA, as of 2021, Massachusetts spent the sixth most, while New Hampshire spent the seventh most:

Viva la difference! Even if it is only between being the seventh biggest spender versus the sixth biggest spender!

But at least in New Hampshire, unlike Massachusetts, the spending goes to teacher’s salaries and not the bureaucracy! Actually, NO … it’s just the opposite:

I’m sorry. I know you’re not supposed to NOT pretend. I’ll try harder.

The post Sorry … New Hampshire Already Is Massachusetts appeared first on Granite Grok.

Someone posted a list of “things you are getting too old to deal with anymore,” and it got me thinking. What, if anything, did I find no longer necessary or a waste of my time? I came up with a few, but they might not be what you’d expect.

First, the article hits a few familiar notes. Older folks don’t seem to have time for hangovers; staying up all night; camping on the ground, or sitting on the floor. Waiting in lines also makes an appearance. Several other pedestrian bullet points made the list.

Keanau Revves is credited with no longer having time to argue with anyone. He’s just like, okay, whatever you say. He’s just not interested in spending time doing that. Too old for it or too wise, or both.

One person observed how odd it was that folks in their 30s and 40s thought they were getting old. No time for that either, perhaps, and is this a product of its subculture or the entire culture? It can be exhausting. Social media, Instagram, Tik Tok. Keeping up wears you out and runs you down? Maybe.

I’ll be 60 in a few weeks, and my body likes to remind me I’m not 30, but I don’t feel old. I have corrective lenses, hearing aids, and maintenance meds but mentally, none of that wears on me. Age is, after all, in your head which means I don’t have a lot of time for health care providers constantly asking me about my mental health or not believing me when I tell them how happy I am most of the time.

The writing doesn’t always suggest it, but it’s true. I’m blessed, very fortunate, even in my current state of employment unpredictability—the impending layoff. Experience has shown me that worrying doesn’t get me anywhere but thinking and acting do. And sometimes, things are just out of your control.

What else?

I don’t have time for jealousy, resentment, or hate. I get accused of hate often enough (by people who neither know me nor have read even one word I’ve written), but I don’t hate or resent anyone. It rots your soul, burns away your humanity, ruins relationships, and blinds you to possibilities. It makes you bitter. Angry. I’m not saying I don’t get mad or frustrated. That’s not the same thing; it’s situational. Resentment and anger can define how you live.

Next! I’m not interested in political or social climbing. I’m not here to impress you with the political characters I’ve met. You don’t see a lot of pictures of me with politicians. I’ve met many at every level, interviews, blah blah blah, but they are not objects to be glamorized or chits to be collected. People drawn to public office are too often those who should be kept from it. They are flawed, human. Not special. Not deserving of elevation beyond the office, they may very well come to abuse. For a time, they may serve as defenders of liberty, but if left unchecked, many abandon the isolation of defending individualism for the kindred comfort of ruling-class despotism.

I also don’t have time for Cults of Personality. Kennedy worship (Camelot) seemed wrong to me. When Obama became a national figure, there were posters, and people made cakes on his birthday. It was so creepy, and it still is. And while I like Trump the Disruptor, and I think he may be one of the few folks in a position at that level of politics to do some of what needs doing, the fandom and adoration can and has – at times – risen to creepy.

Sandy Cortez inspired a comic book. Biden was always a crook and a moron, but the Dems elevated him to messiah. Someone painted Greta Thunberg’s face on the side of a building. George Floyd was a career criminal and drug abuser.

We don’t need building-sized images of politicians or activists in public as if they were third-world dictators. I know where my assh*le is; I don’t need to see yours.

Another thing I find I don’t have time for is implied threats or violence. You might be getting bitter and resentful if you can’t make your point any other way. Yes, I love a colorful metaphor, and the occasional use of vulgarity can add some f****ng flavor to a  turn of phrase, but implicit or explicit violence crosses a line. We delete it when we see it in the comments.

Don’t be offended; just choose different words. And remember that the left is violent because their ideology is based on sowing bitter resentment in the blind pursuit of power. Keep your powder dry, patriots. You’ll need that energy if things keep going sideways.

In more mundane matters, I’m not a fan of showers that don’t warm up fast enough, but I still have to wait for them. Slow service. Big government. They all find time for me, and I’ve learned to roll with it as it comes because I don’t want to become bitter and resentful or cranky and angry.

Patience is something worth my time. So is forgiveness. Don’t live angry. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be energized or activated. They are different things.

Life is short. Use the Force for good. Be a happy warrior.

 

 

The post A List of Things You Might Be Too Old to Deal With Anymore appeared first on Granite Grok.

It is a shame to have to send this message, but like Joe Biden claims no knowledge of his son’s business dealings, half the country has no knowledge of the President’s crime cartel family.

This ignorance is based on the mainstream media colluding to block any attention to the hearings and Democrat politicians gaslighting the public with skewed accounts. The press and media are supposed to be the public’s government watchdog. They are instead complicit in the cover-up of the most corrupt President and Administration ever. This will be a sad chapter in American history that may never appear in history textbooks.

Dan Goldman (D-NY) was an embarrassing example of the Left’s arrogance and stupidity in their twisted view of Biden’s corruption. After listening to the accounts of a former long-time friend of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, he faced reporters. He claimed that Joe Biden was simply discussing the weather and exchanging niceties on the twenty phone calls from Hunter Biden during meetings with foreign “benefactors.” Of course, nobody testified to this bizarre interpretation. He then doubled down by saying these calls were part of a deeper level of communication between Joe and Hunter Biden brought on by the illness of Beau Biden. Wow, how deep did he have to dig for that bogus excuse?

Adam Schiff, the sham Representative from California who has aspirations to replace Diane Feinstein as Senator, used his time on the talk shows to talk about the wasted time Republicans are spending on a fake story. This is a bizarre claim from the Rep who fabricated “crimes” to impeach Donald Trump twice. Adam Schiff wouldn’t know a truthful fact if it jumped off the microphone and slapped his pompous face. Schiff is a disgrace and an insult to Congress.

Republican Representatives who listened to the same Devon Archer answers and heard an account of Hunter Biden and his father extorting money from foreign companies and governments by selling the Biden Brand. This is the Biden business. Selling influence is the purpose of the Biden Cartel and the means to grow the family fortune.

Call it spin or gaslighting, but the Republicans are up against a concerted effort by the Democrats and the press to keep most of America in the dark or misinformed. Anyone with an iota of common sense can see a dark side to the Biden family. Aside from Joe’s actions politically or Hunter’s improprieties with drugs, women, and pornography, the apparent disparity between the exorbitant Biden lifestyle and their legitimate income stream is evidence enough there is a problem here. Not only does Joe Biden need to explain to the American people how he parlayed his long political career into a money laundering operation, why his family needs a collection of sham shell companies, the hundreds of unaccounted wire transfers, and the missing tax payments on this illicit income. Apparently, Joe Biden is exempt from paying the fair share he expects from Americans.

A Democrat-controlled Senate will never impeach Joe Biden, nor do we ever want to see a President Kamala Harris. But the House has to accelerate this investigative process and move these committee hearings to an impeachment inquiry phase. That inquiry will be the only way to get the press to stop manipulating the truth and wake up half of the country with their heads in the sand. Joe Biden needs to be exposed sooner than later.

 

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You will have by now heard about a small single-engine craft having to make an emergency landing at Hampton Beach. At not on – the plane found a spot of the ocean near the beach to face plant the aircraft.

Hampton has one of the nicest, cleanest beaches in the northeast, and not it can also claim the distinction of being an alternate landing strip; though, after watching these short videos, a clear section of the beach would be a better choice than the water.

 

A plane crash lands into the ocean off Hampton Beach in New Hampshire on Saturday.

The pilot of the plane was rescued by lifeguards while a group of people were able to drag the aircraft out of the water. pic.twitter.com/sf3P7Es2j3

— Denn Dunham (@DennD68) July 31, 2023

 

(Union Leader) The fixed-wing Piper PA-18 was pulling an advertising banner when it crashed about 30 yards offshore, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Only the pilot was on board and was able to safely make it to shore.

The pilot has not been identified. The plane is owned by Eugene Gray of North Hampton, according to FAA records.

And from a different angle.

 

My brother took this in NH Hampton beach today. pic.twitter.com/jZO5mUnpNy

— Tarynn (@Cle0patra2004) July 29, 2023

 

The FAA cleared the scene and is investigating the emergency landing. No one was injured.

 

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