Saturday • April 19 • 2025
Vol.XVII • No.XVI
Manchester, N.H.
Ibram X. Kendi, the controversial author of How to Be an Antiracist, has been revealed as not only a hustler of horrid ideas but also a poor businessman. Kendi was appointed the head and founder of Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research in 2020 following the aptly named “summer of love,” which saw riots in most major cities over calls for “racial justice.”
Now, Boston University is committing mass layoffs of employees, as the Center has lost the $43 million that was donated to it at its opening. There have also been several complaints about management practices. The Center is laying off much of its staff as it switches to a new model that it hopes will keep it alive. It is another profound case of fiat academia being inefficient and unproductive, as well as peddling half-baked, half-dead ideas.
Kendi is not an original thinker so much as a wannabe philosopher who repaints bunk ideas to drum up societal conflict. Kendi’s general philosophical thesis could be summed up simply as “Everyone is racist, and that extends to all of society. History can be understood as a white supremacist culture getting better at hiding its underlying racism.”
Kendi and other critical race theorists theorize that, throughout history, so-called advancements in the welfare of racial minorities are merely a white supremacist culture’s success at better hiding its racism. One can summarize it best with a quote from the thriller The Usual Suspects: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
The devil, for Kendi, would be “white supremacy” in culture. Every so-called advancement—from the outlawing of slavery to the end of Jim Crow laws—is simply this devil getting better at hiding itself.
This is not an original idea on Kendi’s part in any respect. One can trace these ideas back to the philosophical ancestor to critical race theory: Karl Marx. When one analyzes critical race theory, it becomes abundantly clear that it is a portrayal of Marxist conflict and power theory but with the dimensions of race applied rather than class. Rather than the bourgeoise class oppressing the proletariat, it is the white class oppressing the nonwhite classes of society.
A fundamental aspect of Marxist theory is that of the substructure, or base, and the superstructures of society. Marx posited that the fundamental relations in society are economic ones, between the working class and the exploitive capitalist class. The base creates the superstructure, which includes art, politics, religion, and other social relations that supposedly exist to reinforce the base. This is where Marx’s famed line “Religion is the opiate of the masses” comes from. Religion, as an aspect of the superstructure, exists to draw eyes away from the social relations that matter in the minds of Marxists.
The critical race theory about the “white supremacy inherent in culture” is much the same. The base for the theorists is race relations. These theorists believe that the oppressive white class has constructed society to necessarily maintain a power dynamic over the nonwhite classes. Political achievements, no matter how much they may benefit racial minorities, belong as part of the superstructure, and thus they must be some protective shell over the true social dynamics.
The Emancipation Proclamation, for example, would be seen as a means of preserving the base of society. Any and all political results short of revolution against the base are simply adaptations of the superstructure to protect the base. Kendi’s ideology ultimately becomes a revolutionary one. There cannot be a true advancement against “white supremacist culture” unless there is a true revolution, according to the critical race theorists.
Kendi posits that the solution to racism is “antiracism,” or active discrimination against the “oppressor class.” This reeks of Joseph Stalin’s extermination of the kulaks or of Maoist reeducation. Mao Zedong’s goals may be the most aligned to the goals of Kendi. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” seminars, taught for much the same reasons as Kendi’s “antiracism,” reek of Maoist struggle sessions.
The modern kulaks of Kendi’s Marxist revolution are the “white supremacists.” According to Kendi, discrimination is needed to overthrow the base structure. The ideas of Kendi and the critical race theorists boil down to Marxist power dynamics, with a mixture of gnosticism and postmodernism. It is violent egalitarian ideology that attempts to paint history under one dynamic. It turns out that history is far more complex than that.
So, one should not be surprised at the squandering of millions of dollars by Kendi and his “antiracist” center. Marx has been repudiated by economists, philosophers, and history itself. All the critical race theorists seek to do is repaint Marxist power dynamics under a new lens. There is no sound backing to their ideas so it is no wonder they continue to fail, even in academia.
Kendi laments in a March 23 article: “The traditional construct of the intellectual has produced and reinforced bigoted ideas of group hierarchy—the most anti-intellectual constructs existing. But this framing is crumbling, leading to the crisis of the intellectual.”
Marxism can be best understood as the unproductive of society demanding a place at the top of a new hierarchy. They prey upon the productive members of society and redistribute the success of others to themselves through violent revolution. It is an ideology of envy and failure. Kendi is one such unproductive citizen, one who would have no reinforcement in any sane “marketplace of ideas.” It is no wonder at all that he has failed even in fiat academia.
Author:David Brady is a Catholic libertarian and economics and finance undergraduate student at Florida Southern College. He is a co-host of the “Econphonics” podcast and a Mises Apprentice.
David Brady, Jr. | Mises Wire
Mises Wire We heartily encourage reprints and shares of Mises Wire articles. If you wish to reproduce an article in your blog, magazine, radio show, newspaper column, classroom material, textbook, discussion group, website, or any other venue, please do so. The original publication source must be included in an appropriate place.The post Kendi’s Critical Race Theory Is a Failed Marxist Doctrine appeared first on Granite Grok.
With hurricane season over, the cult will need to find something else to worry us all about. Wildfires weren’t as bad as predicted, nor were tornadoes or any other natural phenomenon. Flooding was crazy in the spring, especially around here, but did you know it’s been in decline?
According to the EPA, flooding magnitude and frequency have both declined in the US since 1965. Increased flooding frequency has occurred at 186 locations and decreased frequency at 295 locations.
The EPA, which has been tracking river flooding since 1956, has a map that documents the trends. As noted, fewer rivers are flooding compared to data from nearly sixty years ago. I can only assume this means that “global warming” reduces river flooding.
One comment at RCSB pondered the proximity of increased frequency or magnitude to urbanization.
It appears that the flooding increases are mostly in urban areas, which is more an indicator of impervious build out over the land with inadequate water take away. Is it possible that government engineers failed to recognize the difference between the percolation of soil versus asphalt?
The climate guilt club is fond of imposing stormwater runoff rules while simultaneously insisting that we all need to pack ourselves together into their paved urban paradise even when these heat islands of theirs skew the temperature record.
Another commenter.
Isn’t it then even more strange that the predicted AGW-caused increase in floods(and droughts) is not happening? Despite all the additional land that has been ‘sealed’ and made waterproof by asphalt, concrete, etc, the number of floods should be rising instead of going down.
Cities are much bigger and more numerous than in 1956. Their asphalt footprints are huge in some cases. Almost as big as their aspirations for human control of the weather. Why don’t we have more flooding?
Because these are the same people who don’t know what bathroom to use or what a woman is.
HT | RCSB
The post According to the EPA. Global Warming … Results in Less Flooding appeared first on Granite Grok.
Bud Light and UFC are entering into a partnership that will be the beer brand’s latest attempt at resurrecting its reputation with average American men after it used progressive idol Dylan Mulvaney as part of its marketing scheme.
For the first time in our generation, western men successfully pushed back against the progressive left because they didn’t want to be sold beer by a man pretending to be a woman. Within a few months, the left lost millions from conservative boycotts like Bud Light and Target. It finally felt like the movement to bring back common sense was making real strides until the UFC handed the embattled beer brand a lifeline.
ICYMI
Dana White is bringing Bud Light back to the UFC, so it’s the perfect time to watch our Bud Light video
Check it out and let me know if you think Dana should be worried
LINK: https://t.co/txkVIaA6vu pic.twitter.com/gxJx2aNEMZ
— J.W. Gibbons (@JoelWGibbonsV) October 26, 2023
It may be a smart business decision for Bud Light, and Dana White was likely given a sweetheart deal to make this work. Still, the partnership puts the spotlight on men who praise the UFC as the last bastion of masculinity while denouncing Bud Light for supporting Mulvaney.
Both companies view men as brainless consumers of escapism and women as the conduit to sell those products. The men who made Bud Light fall from grace will have to decide if protecting women is more important than being a spectator in the modern-day Colosseum being brought to them by companies who have no respect for them. (ROOKE: The Fall Of Victoria’s Secret Has Been On The Runway For Years, Did Nobody Really Notice?)
It’s hard to even define what a woman is anymore in our modern society. To the left, a woman is anything from a human female with ovaries to a 6’2″ man with an Adam’s apple deciding to wear lipstick. The right isn’t much better. Although they have no issue admitting that men can’t be women, that’s often where the support ends.
UFC accepts $100 Million Sponsorship deal from BudLight as the brand grapples to win back consumers after its disastrous Dylan Mulvaney Partnership.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the partnership between UFC and BudLight saying “I feel we are very aligned when it comes to our… pic.twitter.com/M3fm4uKt1q
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) October 24, 2023
Outside of Scott Smith, who was arrested for standing up for his daughter after her sexual assault at the hands of a boy identifying as a transgender woman, men are eerily silent. The Bud Light boycott was the first time our nation’s men collectively did something about the left’s attack on women.
It’s not like this is solely a women’s issue that needs to be fought on the pink battlefield. Sure, a female is the one losing out on the position but men are the ones being lied to when companies sell female sex using biological men. Do they not want real women as their wives? Are they really content being misled in such an egregious way? Because the reality is their lives will be spent dodging surgically constructed bottom holes if they continue to allow men in women’s spaces. This fight requires strong men to enter the arena and not just to avoid Frankenstein’s monster. Women need protection from predatory men using the left’s demands for inclusivity as a way to find them alone.
Dana White defends the UFC’s new Budlight deal, and says it was more about values than money. pic.twitter.com/YIw9aD2XJh
— Oscar Willis (@oscarswillis) October 26, 2023
Have fun in the comment section blaming women for pushing society down the slippery slope with their acceptance of the effeminate gay best friend, but it was both the sexes who laughed off Bruce Jenner becoming Caitlin and sat back as Jazz Jennings’ youth and fertility were stolen from him by predatory adults only interested in using him as their progressive icon.
Men, the women in your life need you.
Companies, like the UFC, partnering with Bud Light after everything the brand has done to reduce women to clichés shows they are betting on you to close your eyes. They believe men will continue to ignore the abuse their mothers, wives, and daughters endure for the chance to be spectators in their glorified game show.
Mary Rooke is a reporter at the Daily Caller.
Mary Rooke | Daily Caller News Service
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
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The post Men Have To Decide If Women Are Worth The Fight appeared first on Granite Grok.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Governor Ron DeSantis were in New Hampshire today to discuss Medical freedom. GraniteGrok was there to get pics and video from the event.
Note: please click on any of the images to enlarge
Dr. Joseph LapadoFlorida Attorney General Dr. Joseph Lapado was introduced to the crowd by NH Majority leader Jason Osborn (who was introduced by Melissa Blasek, who led the pledge of allegiance). Dr. Lapado spoke first, talking about how he was a tenured research professor at UCLA. Job for Life. He was happy to be living in LA with his wife and kids. But when the COVID fearmongering hit, he went from being a very popular professor to one who was much less so because he was sharing and writing his thoughts as a doctor and an expert, but they were counter to the approved narratives.
He had no interest in politics but didn’t agree with the lockdowns or the lack of a plan for when they ended. He objected to the school and business closings that didn’t medically make sense. And even though he and his wife had just bought a house when Florida called to tell him they wanted to talk to him about being their next Surgeon General, his wife told him it was the call she was waiting for. She was ready to go.
Dr. Lapado, whom we have showered with praise and approval several times, let us know his thoughts on liberty and medical freedom. And he seemed genuine and emphatic about humanity and the freedom to pursue your life without any of the interference we’d seen from so many during COVID.
He had nothing bad to say about Mr. Trump, whom he’d met, but plenty of great things to say about Ron Desantis (we have some video of Gov. Desanti’s remarks today below)
A few crowd shots from McIntyre Ski Resort. Click to enlarge
And the Never Back Down Tour Bus.
Gov. Ron DeSantisGov. DeSantis received a very warm welcome as he took the stage next to his Surgeon General and proceeded through a series of excellent remarks about health freedom and the need for accountability in Washington.
Gov. DeSantis did a great job of itemizing the lies we were told (and looking right at me or towards me when I was taking his picture).
The origin of the virus, gain of function research, lockdowns, cloth masks, school closures, the impact of remote learning on young people, outdoor transmission, healthy quarantine, the efficacy of the mRNA shots, and, of course, the side effects.
He also reiterated what Florida did to protect people. They prohibited isolating students, defended physicians’ professional and free speech rights, and refused to go along with the club, repeatedly pointing to data instead of bowing to the fear narratives. He also worked to remove power from the office of the Governor of Florida and local government to protect people from arbitrary attacks on their liberties.
As President DeSantis says, he will lead a major overhaul of the FDA, CDC, and NIH. Push for term limits for bureaucrats. Address the power of the CDC, FDA, and NIH abuse with their grant writing. End the revolving door and kickbacks between CDC, FDA, NIH, and big pharma. And require more rigorous research before government agencies issue reports making medical claims.
He’s promised a total overhaul of the CDC and a reckoning for what the government did during COVID. And he was preaching to the choir, but he was 100% right. Whoever gets in needs to make all these things happen.
Here are three quick video clips from the Governor’s remarks. https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/desantis-event-videonthe-medical-swamp.mp4
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/desantis-event-video-term-limits-for-bureaucrats.mp4
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/desantis-event-video-doctors-bill-of-rights.mp4
Reminder: Content about candidates or by candidates is not an endorsement by GraniteGrok.com or its authors.
The post Today’s Manchester Medical Freedom Townhall with Dr. Joseph Lapado and Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared first on Granite Grok.
Mao’s Agrarian reform, growing into Klaus Swab’s WEF, Great Reset, and the UN Agenda 30 plans, will control every aspect of our lives. The Harold Ware Communist Party Cell planted in the Agriculture Department in 1933 sprouted the American “War on The Farmers.”
Soviet agent Alger Hiss started his career of espionage there; later becoming Roosevelt’s Advisor at YALTA and co-authoring the UN Charter. Hiss’ policy of paying farmers not to grow crops puts farmers on welfare, which has far-reaching consequences to this day.
Today, the war on the food supply is on steroids, with our farmers feeling the impact of Karl Marx’s plan to destroy private property. Forced property surrendered under the banner of eminent domain is authorizing Carbon Capture pipelines to ruin countless acres of rich agriculture in the heartland. A few days ago, the John Birch Society (JBS) Leadership Conference in Des Moines, Iowa (see link below), revealed an international scam called “Carbon Capture.” Navigator CO2’s application to implement a Carbon Capture pipeline was denied by the South Dakota Public Utilities, thanks to the JBS. Several weeks before, Summit Carbon Solutions’ application for the pipeline was also denied by the North Dakota Public Service Commission.
In contrast, a public hearing before the Iowa Utilities Board to investigate a similar process in Iowa was met with a kangaroo court atmosphere. Officials simply did not listen to the opposition. The pipeline company even hired security personnel to intimidate and harass the opposition. Why would other states deny these applications to infringe on private rights while Iowa’s process ruled against the farmers? Because members of the Iowa Utilities Boards are appointed by the governor. Other states continue to prove the power of the people is superior to governors appointing bureaucrats who promote job security with no vested interest in protecting personal property rights.
Usurpation of power by governors appointing commissions to destroy property rights must be stopped! This scheme is based on fraudulent science that claims the opposite of our Creator’s balance in nature. Digging ditches all over America’s heartland to store carbon below the earth amounts to promoting doom and gloom environmentalism for profit.
While power and money cabals hype up their cause to save the earth, don’t forget that all the foundation pillars that have made America great are at stake. Environmentalist utopia is control over every aspect of your life. Don’t let them take your property! Biden’s Green Power Executive Order has usurped congressional power. Don’t let them continue to cower in silence while the “Great Reset, Build Back Better, Karl Marx’s dream” destroys our liberty. Demand your Senators and Representatives stand up and do their job.
See the complete JBS event that covers multi-aspects of this imminent tyranny creeping, now swiftly upon us at JBS.org/DesMoines2023. Warning: Google doesn’t like the truth! Download DuckDuckGo to reach this link.
The post Mao’s Agrarian Reform – Agenda 30 – The Great Reset appeared first on Granite Grok.
As promised in Monday Memes, I have an overflow. My meme cup runneth over. And yes there will be a Friday edition too.
Let the mayhem, mockery, and ridicule resume:
*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***
>>>>>=====<<<<<
The frog-boiled-slowly analogy applies.
The more I learn about 2020 and 2022, the more I am convinced that election fraud has been there for decades. It’s just that Trump’s appeal so overwhelmed “the machine” that they didn’t plan to cheat that massively in 2016. Assuming there’s an election in 2024 I will vote… but I expect it to be stolen again. And that’s the last time I’ll vote. And I say this with enormous regret, but I expect that most voting will be “rooftop Korean” style very soon. No, I don’t want that… but I do expect it.
IIRC the official definition of “mass shooting” is four-plus victims. Therefore, if an armed citizen stops one before then, then it’s not a mass shooting.
It boggles my mind that there are really people this stupid in our society.
Who wants to tell her?
>>>>>=====<<<<<
Pick of the Post:
It’s the only language much of the world understands. Alas.
>>>>>=====<<<<<
Palate cleansers:
—
—
>>>>>=====<<<<<
Come back on Friday for more memes. Same meme time. Same meme channel.
>>>>>=====<<<<<
The post Meme Overflow appeared first on Granite Grok.
When I was in public school, the education industrial complex was well on its way to becoming the cistern it is today, and every now and then, I am reminded of the stench. Yesterday, I stumbled upon this bit of history, which I cannot recall anyone in all the years I was subjected to it – teaching.
After watching it, I can see why we were never taught this bit of history.
“The Quran gives us permission to do so because you’re infidels”
Hitch is needed now more than ever.
Also useful history lesson here on slavery for the slavery-obsessed, intergenerational trauma crowd.
pic.twitter.com/NxGkcwg6um
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) October 29, 2023
To be clear, I knew the Quran gave them permission, and I’ve read histories of Islamic conquest. And slavery was common everywhere, no less so in lands occupied by the followers of Isalm. The culture demands classes of citizens with no rights who are not technically slaves.
But centuries of white slavery running parallel to the black Atlantic slave trade might be one of the most underreported or undiscussed facts of history…in history.
The Barbary pirates were known to have demanded tributes or ransoms from American and Swedish vessels in the Mediterranean Sea or attack European and American ships, especially in Baltimore, Ireland, and Devon and Cornwall, England. Their captives ranged from fishermen, sailors to coastal villagers and were mostly Christian and from impoverished families. But historians are careful to note that, “slaves in Barbary could be black, brown or white, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish or Muslim”.
Slavery has, of course, existed everywhere among every race, where they enslaved each other. There has been no period of human existence on Earth without it. Even today, there are nations with slaves. A term softened in some instances and repackaged as human trafficking and sold as property.
And slaveholders have sold slaves to anyone who wanted to buy them, then or now. That has not changed, nor have the efforts of Western intellectuals to insist that European slavery of Africans in the Americas was somehow unique. A ploy whose only purpose is to redistribute wealth. Western intellectuals do not care at all for the plight of slaves or their descendants. They only care about their ideological leanings, not that this would protect them from the ultimate goal of progressivism. To turn all of us into slaves of a tyrannical state. One where neither our labors nor our accomplishments are our own (you didn’t build that). Where we exist only to support the whims of our political masters.
No one dares call it slavery, but if what you do can never be yours, and your life is forfeit at their discretion, what else is it?
The post The 1.5 Million White Slaves in North Africa appeared first on Granite Grok.
Connecticut Democrats weren’t thrilled at the idea of a convicted felon (and, LOL, seven-term incumbent) winning their primary for the city of Bridgeport’s mayoral race. They were relieved when going to bed on election night that challenger John Gomes appeared to have pulled off a 487-vote victory.
But in the wee hours of the morning, the corrupt felon/incumbent Joe Ganim somehow (this author now scratching head, rubbing chin, and peering side-eyed up at the sky) managed to nearly double the challenger’s tally of absentee ballot votes to come out on top by 251.
Now a host of — shall we call them “Democrat election deniers,” or would that be unfair? – are hurling allegations of absentee ballot fraud, and it looks like with pretty good reason. A (actually another) major investigation is now underway.
Related: Democrats Stuffing Ballot Boxes to Steal Elections From Democrats
Like Vermont, Connecticut has, shall we say, extremely lax laws regarding the use and abuse of absentee ballots. In the Gomes/Ganim case the principal target of the investigation is Wanda Geter-Pataky, who is both a city employee and vice chair of the Democrat town committee. Geter-Pataky is also facing charges in an investigation into the misuse of absentee ballots in 2019 where, so the story always seems to go, Ganim lost on election night only to be declared winner when the absentee ballots came in overwhelmingly in his favor.
In this case, according to the CT Mirror, “The State Elections Enforcement Commission… received at least four complaints from citizens and two referrals from the Bridgeport Police Department regarding possible misuse of absentee ballots, including their distribution at senior housing complexes.” At the heart of the investigation is video of Geter-Pataky allegedly stuffing multiple drop-boxes with multiple absentee ballots on multiple occasions.
The way Geter-Pataky’s fraud scheme apparently works is she targets vulnerable citizens, such as the elderly and disabled and those on a rental rebate program, using city-owned lists and the personal data contained in them that should have been restricted, according to the woman who runs the rental rebate program. Geter-Pataky then requests absentee ballots for these voters, conveniently shows up to “help” fill out their ballots, and, oh so courteously saving folks a stamp, returns the ballots to a drop box.
Investigators have since discovered that in several instances, “voters” did not exist at the addresses where absentee ballots were sent and returned from. But perhaps even more damningly, there was one instance where the absentee voter did live. According to the CT Mirror,
“Denise Solano, a candidate for the Bridgeport city council in the 133rd District, filed one of those complaints with the SEEC. In it, Solano alleges that while she was door-knocking, a woman named Elease Lowery told the Gomes team she had already voted. That complaint further alleged that Lowery told her Wanda Geter-Pataky had already picked up her ballot.
‘She always comes and fills it out for me, and actually I always call my neighbor and she fills it out for the both of us and takes them with her,’ Lowery allegedly told Solano.”
Solano’s complaint further indicates that this elderly voter is under the impression that this is the proper legal procedure for voting: someone comes to your door, fills out your ballot for you, and takes it away. She was, therefore, surreally “grateful” for being made complicit in an election crime.
What does all this have to do with Vermont, you ask? Vermont’s election system is even more vulnerable to this kind of cheating than Connecticut’s, and, as such, absentee ballot fraud is more likely to be occurring here and even less likely to be detected.
In Connecticut, a voter has to request an absentee ballot. In Vermont, “live” absentee ballots are sent to all voters regardless of request. So, Vermont’s versions of Geter-Patakys don’t have to bother with the trouble of committing the illegal act of filling out thousands of fraudulent absentee ballot requests. The state now takes care of that step for them!
This means there are thousands of unsupervised ballots floating around with no voter “security check” in place. Someone who never requested an absentee ballot isn’t likely to report that it’s gone missing. If they do, it isn’t likely to be chalked up to fraud.
In Connecticut, someone who moved away isn’t going to request an absentee ballot be sent to an old, incorrect address, but under Vermont’s laws, ballots are sent to non-residents at old addresses all the time. Anyone can fill out those “extra” ballots and send them in with virtually zero chance of the fraud being detected and an absolute zero chance of getting caught, even if it were.
In Connecticut, the law limits who can return absentee ballots on behalf of other voters to family members, police officers, local election officials, or someone who is directly caring for someone who is ill or physically disabled. In Vermont, anyone can return anyone else’s ballot. The law limits this kind of “ballot harvesting” to twenty-five ballots per fraudster, but since we have unsupervised drop boxes and the USPS as options for returning fraudulently filled-out ballots, there is no real enforcement mechanism for this already lax provision.
The suspicious actions that led to the deeper investigation of Geter-Pataky were related to video of her turning in multiple ballots for which she was allegedly not legally allowed to do so. Since there are no such safeguards in Vermont, not even a requirement for video surveillance of drop boxes, someone in Vermont somehow getting “caught” doing what Geter-Pataky was doing would not generate any criminal charges or spark any further investigation into the nature of how he or she got all those ballots. Nothing to see here, folks! Move along.
Vermont lawmakers have created an election cheater’s paradise: No voter ID of any kind, a blizzard of unclaimed, unsupervised absentee ballots floating around the countryside, voting is increasingly removed from election officials’ oversight, you get a full forty-five days of early voting in which to organize and round up as many unclaimed or unwanted ballots you can find and fill out, and almost no means provided for election officials to detect that your fraud has taken place. If they somehow do, there’s no way to trace the fraud back to you. Let the games begin!
At this juncture, having pointed out all the above, Vermont fraud deniers will argue that people are honest, I’m horrible for suggesting otherwise, and this sort of thing just doesn’t happen here. HA! While I agree most people are honest most of the time – though politics does not generally bring out the best aspects of human nature — as this latest event in Connecticut illustrates, it doesn’t take many bad apples to spoil a full barrel of ballots. In this case it appears it took just one to flip the results of an election in which nearly 8200 ballots were cast.
Next, the fraud deniers will defiantly state that there is no evidence of absentee ballot fraud in Vermont, which is true. But not because it’s not happening; because our lawmakers have made any potential evidence of fraud impossible to detect, trace, or prosecute. Why do you think that is?
Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience in Vermont politics, including three years of service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free-market think tank. He is also a regular contributor to VermontGrok.
The post Absentee Ballot Fraud Is Real! (When It Happens to a Democrat…) appeared first on Granite Grok.
An NYU Professor went on Bill Mahr’s show to talk about who knows what, but the clip we have is him trying to beg forgiveness for the unnecessary nightmarish policies imposed by him and others. He admits he was wrong in hindsight, and now he’s looking for something he never gave us.
“We were all operating with imperfect information and we were doing our best.”
I beg to differ. There was a wealth of data, collected and crunched by every state, that made it clear very early on that there was no risk to kids in public schools or their teachers.
“I was on the board of my kids’ school during COVID. I wanted a harsher lockdown policy. In retrospect: I was wrong. The damage to kids of keeping them out of school longer was greater than the risk. But here’s the bottom line: We were doing our best. But let’s give a little grace and forgiveness for the shit show that was COVID.”
But Scott Galloway, NYU professor, is asking that we learn from it, hold each other accountable, but bring a little grace and forgiveness into the sh!t show…”
How about, F*** Off, Scott, you tyrannical piece of garbage. You don’t get to be the way you were and act like you spilled a glass of milk – from ZeroHedge.
The question that we need to ask Galloway is: How forgiving was he when confronted with people who opposed his authoritarianism? Galloway was rabidly pro-mandate. He consistently called for harsher punishments for people refusing to comply and he demanded that the unvaccinated be treated as second tier citizens banned from places of business. As he argued in his blog titled ‘Half Of America Has Its Head Up Its Ass. It’s Time For A Vaccine Mandate’:
“Enough already. Federal law should require any citizen who wants to cash a government check, use public transport, or enter a place of business to show proof of vaccination…”
Galloway cited the ever present inflated CDC data on covid deaths in America as the justification for his authoritarian position. Of course, data was available not long after the spread of covid indicating that the Infection Fatality Rate of the virus was a tiny 0.23% and that 99.8% of the population (including the unvaccinated) had nothing to fear. Not only that, but the CDC has recently and quietly published information showing that around 95% of people who died with covid also had one or more comorbidities and 75% had at least four – Meaning, if you did not have multiple comorbidities your chances of dying from covid were incredibly small.
To summarize, we did learn from it. COVID was a test. You failed. Not just you. Millions of people with power and influence were too eager to abuse power and stomp on people’s rights.
You can’t just come back from that and say sorry.
“I was on the board of my kids’ school during COVID. I wanted a harsher lockdown policy. In retrospect: I was wrong. The damage to kids of keeping them out of school longer was greater than the risk. But here’s the bottom line: We were doing our best. But let’s give a little… pic.twitter.com/8Vt2NujNKl
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) October 28, 2023
The post COVID Tyrant Begs for Forgiveness He Does Not Deserve appeared first on Granite Grok.
Property crime has been on the rise in VT for years, but since 2021, murders have nearly tripled. The latest involves two 14-year-olds, one with a loaded gun and the other in the front seat of a vehicle when the weapon discharged.
According to the State Police,
The teenage victim was identified by police as 14-year-old Madden Gouveia, of Shelburne. An autopsy is expected to be conducted this week to determine the cause and manner of death.
State police announced Tuesday morning that they have arrested 14-year-old Hussein Mohamed, of Burlington, on a charge of second degree murder in connection with Gouveia’s death. He is being charged as an adult and is scheduled to be arraigned at 1 p.m. in Vermont Superior Court in Middlebury.
According to their investigation, Mohamed was in possession of a handgun around 7:20 p.m. Monday while sitting in the rear passsenger side seat of a vehicle parked outside a home on North Street in Bristol when the handgun discharged, striking Gouveia as he sat in the front passenger seat.
Inquiring minds, anyone?
Where did a 14-year-old from Burlington get a firearm? Why were they in the passenger seats of a car sitting on the road at 7:20 at night? Why was Hussein Mohamed carrying its loaded gun, safety off (assuming it had one), with his finger on the trigger, pointed toward the front seat of the vehicle?
Whose vehicle was it? Vermont is getting sloppy, but they aren’t giving 14-year-olds driver’s licenses even if they identify as 26-year-olds, but that day might be coming.
Did someone drive it to the location of the shooting? If so, who? If not, why were they in a parked car that wasn’t going anywhere (with a loaded firearm)?
Were they waiting for someone, and what about the waiting required a 14-year-old with a gun?
Clearly, we have a juvenile delinquency problem on top of a gun safety delinquency problem. Do we also have a citizenship problem as well? Hussein is from the sanctuary city of Burlington, where illegals congregate freely – many after passing through or being trafficked from Canada.
If he is being tried as an adult, will we be privy to more details about his ‘circumstances’ and those of the evening leading up to the shooting?
Who was Hussein planning to shoot, if not Madden Gouveia, and did Madden Gouveia also have citizenship issues?
The one thing I can guess is that the Vermont Legislature – already drooling over the tragedy in Lewiston, ME, will be chomping at the bit to pass more gun restrictions on law-abiding citizens, especially after a shooting involving two potential non-citizen minors with no concern for the law. At the very least, one minor with no respect for the law.
But worry not, intrepid Vermonters. “Police believe this was an isolated incident, and there is no danger to the public. Detectives don’t believe there is a link between this shooting and any other recent homicides or suspicious death investigations in the state.”
There were eight isolated homicides reported in the month of October, if I have the math correct. That is almost as many homicides as Vermont had in all of 2021. And while I’m no crime scene expert, these deaths are all related – to the rise of Democrat leadership and the policies that follow.
The post 14 Year Old Shoots 14-year Old and I have Questions appeared first on Granite Grok.
Reference any of the Amendments of the Bill of Rights, and you can maybe find one that the Left has not shredded in three years, eleven if you include Obama’s crew. I think the Third is the only one unscathed, but instead of housing the Military, we have made them homeless.
The efforts of the Left are not even subtle. They are thrashing our rights, and the populace is rolling over with no fight. Before I proceed, I have to admit that I took a knife to the Second Amendment last week after the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine.
My concession that the Second Amendment is not absolute is based on mental illness being a common denominator in mass shootings in this country. Anyone who can kill someone, let alone the killing of a large group of anonymous people, is suffering from a defect in their mental makeup. Gun ownership comes with responsibilities that you must be a clear thinker to understand. If we can stop the indiscriminate killing of innocent people by suspending gun ownership for anyone proven to have mental challenges, then I think it must be done. It pains me to say it, but the Second Amendment may not be absolute.
This week, I have rethought my support of the First Amendment. I am not talking about censorship by an individual, company, or organization. I am certainly not talking about the government colluding with the press, media, or social media to influence content in any fashion. When the government restricts free speech to enhance their positions, you have lost your free country. These types of violations of the First Amendment can never be allowed.
The big “but’ is when the speech we are looking to protect is Hate Speech, and it is supporting and encouraging the death and extermination of a group of people. That group may be a nationality or a religion, but there has to be some provision to protect them from the actions motivated by the words of antagonists and protestors. We’ve talked about the college protests, and I contend many of these students are ignorant of the facts of the Israel/Hamas conflict. At Cornell, a professor is on leave after he riled up a crowd of students with his exhilaration watching Hamas butcher Jews in Israel. Leave of absence? Why is he still employed?
Jewish students who commingled with their fellow students are now feeling unsafe and threatened on American campuses. These protestors are a small percentage of the base, but how many does it take to harm a young Jewish co-ed? Look at the group of rioters in Russia going through a terminal looking to gather up Israelis who may have landed on a jet from Tel Aviv. God only knows what a hyped-up gang would have done if they found their prey. Thank God they came up empty.
Our Justice Department and FBI had no issue going after parents at school board meetings, calling them Domestic Terrorists. Where are those agents now when real terrorists are traumatizing American campuses? These protests and riots are not Free Speech, but Hate Speech and we cannot condone their rhetoric in the name of First Amendment rights. It hurts me to go after another Amendment, but it will be more painful if one Jewish student is injured or killed.
The post Under Attack From Both Sides appeared first on Granite Grok.
When celebrities who have supported The Jab die, many are inclined to assume that their addiction to the covid vaccine narrative ended them. Perry was very vaccinated. He couldn’t be more vaccinated. But he was also the other sort of addict, and dying from a heart attack at 54 is not uncommon.
I had my heart attack at 54. I wasn’t lounging in a jacuzzi. I don’t have a history of drug or alcohol abuse. I was walking my dog and figured it out before the big one, at which point I was already under medical care and observation. Perry might have been having pain for months or years. Mild cases of angina. Shortness of breath. Unexpected fatigue. Muscle pain at strange times. Or maybe not.
Being very vaccinated has a history of killing men who should not be old enough to die.
Could I BE Any More Vaccinated? Get your shot and then get your shirt. Shop the entire collection at https://t.co/WzJDsPVqFX Only available for a limited time pic.twitter.com/M2G8hbNV23
— matthew perry (@MatthewPerry) May 24, 2021
The initial reports were that the death was not suspicious, and no drugs were present. Today, the cause of death is under investigation. It was not ruled death by a heart attack. Not publicly. Despite another early guess that he drowned in his hot tub, the corner has not listed this as the cause of death.
Did he leak confidential DNC emails? Was he murdered? There’s a new narrative developing that Paerry was done in because he wanted to expose the Hollywood pedophilia addiction.
It might have been aliens.
Some reports have claimed he did have drugs on the premises. Antidepressants. So he may have accidentally killed himself, passing out and drowning, but again, drowning was not listed as the cause of death, nor was suicide. Nor was cardiac arrest.
Why should we care? Because Perry says he couldn’t be more vaccinated. It might have been what killed him. And while that might seem like a distraction, Matthew Perry advocated getting The Jab and encouraged it for others. He’ll have, without ever knowing, contributed to vaccine injury and death in numbers that we’ll never know because, like Perry’s cause of death, the same system that pushed The Jab will control what we know.
And that’s the mystery we need to solve.
The post Night Cap: The Death of “Couldn’t Be More” Vaccinated Matthew Perry appeared first on Granite Grok.
I have always been an ardent believer in democracy–The dictionary defines democracy as the rule of the people. Even at its best, “democracy is the worst form of government except for all the rest,” according to Winston Churchill. Is democracy a terrible form of government?
Does it hold the threat of destroying humanity’s most precious right – liberty?
In the so-called democratic societies, a semblance of democracy hobbles along with fits and starts, always on the verge of complete subversion and collapse. For instance, Western democracies are representative democracies where ordinary citizens do not rule. A representative democracy is, in effect, a plutocracy where money, people, and powerful interest groups lead.
The society’s rulers form a pyramid. At the base of the pyramid, we have the closest thing to democracy. The individual citizen has some sway over the locally elected officials such as the sheriff, the mayor, the city councilman, and the like. As we go up the pyramid, the voice of the individual citizen diminishes while the influence of money and power groups expands. It is a fact that, without funds, one cannot even run for the city’s animal control officer. At the very least, the aspiring candidate needs money for posters or handbills to make himself known to the electorate and argue why they should elect him, not his opponent.
The point is that it takes enormous amounts of money to become a part of the pyramid. And not everyone is a billionaire with a bottomless pocket and the willingness to tap it. Bottom line: If you aspire to become a part of the ruling pyramid, you require funds commensurate with the position you seek.
The US Constitution does not use the term “democracy. The United States is a representative republic. A republic if we can keep it, said Benjamin Franklin. It is a republic in which the people do not openly elect the president.
But as the recent events unfolded, I couldn’t help but feel like the system I had once held in such high regard was crumbling around me. The naked truth is that many politicians are paid agents, dancing to the tune of lobbyists and special interest groups. It is a harsh realization, and I am disillusioned and annoyed.
Democracy is the guardian of liberty. Embedded in a democracy are provisions that can make it implode from within. Democracy also has its guardian: A resolutely vigilant, proactive, and ethical citizenry.
Money’s influence in politics was deeply entrenched, and it would take years of continued effort to root out corruption and restore our democracy to its proper form.
Reflecting on my journey, I realized that being an ordinary citizen did not mean I was powerless. I learned I could make a difference by shining a light on the dark corners of our political landscape and supporting those willing to stand up for the people.
Ultimately, the naked truth was that our democracy was a fragile and imperfect system, but it was also a resilient one. It could withstand the onslaught of corruption and greed if enough of us were willing to fight for it. I hoped that others would join the cause and that more ordinary citizens would rise and hold their representatives accountable.
So, I leave you with a call to action. If you, like me, are disillusioned with the state of our democracy, don’t despair. Get involved in politics, demand transparency, and hold your representatives accountable. The power to shape our nation’s future lies in the people’s hands, and it’s time we took it back from the puppeteers of democracy.
What do you think can be done? Is there a way of resisting and reversing the imminent assault on our most cherished right of liberty? Here are some suggestions.
In short, liberty is our most prized possession, and democracy is the shield that protects it. Yet, this shield of democracy is vulnerable and needs to be repaired and strengthened regularly. I am calling on you, the individual freedom-loving person, to play your part in the defense of freedom, not only for your own sake but also for mine and all others who cherish this precious blessing of life and generations to come.
© 2023 Amil Imani – All Rights ReservedThe post Is America On Life Support? appeared first on Granite Grok.
If you were thinking about traveling the world. Eric Adams and New York City have opened their own travel agency. An opportunity to get a one-way ticket to anywhere in the world as long as you don’t come back to New York City.
The city has been sending migrants who were booted from city shelters to a Manhattan “reticketing” office devoted to booking plane tickets to anywhere in the world. Some migrants have chosen to fly to destinations like Colombia or Morocco.
“With no sign of a decompression strategy in the near future, we have established a reticketing center for migrants,” City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak told Politico. “Here, the city will redouble efforts to purchase tickets for migrants to help them take the next steps in their journeys.”
It is an interesting idea. Claim you have no room (and maybe you don’t). Offer them a spot in a Bidenville refugee camp. Or – would you like to fly to some other location on planet Earth? My question? Doesn’t that add to the problem of global warming?
And how do you prevent randos who speak a foreign language from showing up in the Big Crapple and acting like illegal aliens? They act like foreigners until they get shuffled off to the reticketing office, where they will give you a ticket to any destination. You just have to pay your way back, assuming you want to come back. And perhaps you don’t.
Biden and the Democrats have treated America like a rental car. It’s in terrible shape. And while the rest of the world isn’t that different, you might be able to find somewhere else to hang out until the world is done burning.
Or is this plan one that should be adopted everywhere? Too many illegals? Offer them plane fare to someplace else. Share the wealth. Spread the love.
We are the world. We are the people.
The post Overwhelmed NYC Offers “Migrants” Free One-Way Plane Ticket to Anywhere appeared first on Granite Grok.
The 2010s and 2020s will undoubtedly be known as a tumultuous (to say the least) period of history for children. Somehow, we as a society have normalized treating children as some sort of material item to be exploited for our own gain.
Whether it be monetary, for likes and views, or to make ourselves appear in a certain way, it seems to have become an accepted part of life.
For one such example, in the late 2000s, a man named Shay Butler started off what would become a huge, money-making phenomenon known as family vlogging. He has his own legal troubles associated with his YouTube fame, but there is a more recent example of which we can take note. Ruby Franke from Utah was arrested in late August after her child escaped – yes, you read that correctly and alerted neighbors to their situation. Police found two children bound, malnourished, and locked in a safe at her colleague’s home.
Franke and her sisters all have had a hand in family vlogging, amassing a fortune off of the exploitation of their children even before birth. They have admitted at times that they bribe their children to be on camera, but more often than not, it seems that family bloggers, in general, assume their children will simply play the role day to day. They are filmed potty training, bra shopping, in doctors’ offices and hospital rooms, and sometimes their parents even resort to mockery – telling their children they can do something they want if they lick their mother’s armpit on camera.
So, using this family vlogging fame and fortune as an example, is it any wonder that so many don’t even seem to think children have their own autonomy? That they simply exist for their parents’ pleasure and personal gain? We see parents jumping on the newest bandwagon with their children all the time, whether it be for something superficial or something irreversible. One might wonder if they pause to consider if that’s really what their child wants/needs or if it’s just what will get them extra likes and followers on toxic social media.
My children’s generation will have many stories to tell, I fear.
If you are someone who sees the issues that children today face, please stand and advocate for them. They need someone in their corner who is willing to speak up.
If you would like help with getting started, please stop by the Statehouse in Concord on Saturday, November 4th at 11 a.m. to hear a handful of speakers discussing firsthand knowledge of grooming, abuse, indoctrination, and more. Children are the future! Let’s come together and do what we can to protect them.
Protect the children rally in concordThe post Events: “Protect the Children Rally” in Concord NH appeared first on Granite Grok.
Katie Anderson never felt comfortable being a woman or with the idea of becoming one. It was something she would outgrow, but not before the internet and the system convinced her she could be male.
Katie shared her story last night at the Mountain Base Brewery in Goffstown to a crowd and curious room—the journey of a confused young woman who went from hormone therapy to gender surgery and back.
Katie says she never felt like she never fit in growing up, had little interest in boys, and had always been a classic example of a tomboy. At one point in high school, she took what she called the lesbian test. She said it had one question. Would you have sex with any of the boys in the room with you? Her answer was a resounding no, which was not clinically relevant. The test was oversimplified and rigged, but she assumed she was a lesbian.
After spending a bit too much time seeking affirmation on YouTube (these days, it’s TikTok or Instagram) and trying to address her growing discomfort with her sexuality, she began a social transition. She started dressing like a boy, asking her friends and family to refer to her as such, and using a boy’s name she’d chosen. This led naturally to thinking she could or should become one, and she started testosterone treatments.
It all affirmed her idea about her identity, but she did mention how the path to regular testosterone self-injections was too easy. The system never challenged the idea, and maybe it couldn’t or didn’t want to. There was very little in the way of therapy or mental health analysis; they just took her at her word and pushed forward. They taught her how to self-inject the hormones.
And the drugs made her feel happy. Happier than she could remember being. As it turns out, testosterone will do that, and the happiness is not real. But after a year of treatment, she pursued the physical transition. She got top surgery first, a double mastectomy, which further affirmed the identity she had chosen. But there was a new problem. Pain.
The testosterone had weakened her uterine muscles, and she was in constant discomfort. This was normal, they said, the cure for which could have been to stop taking testosterone, but no one appears to have suggested that. Instead, she signed off on a hysterectomy, and why not – she was a boy, after all, which the doctors then screwed up. She almost died from internal bleeding but survived and seemed content with the outcome.
One day, however, at some point after that, she suddenly felt like she was supposed to be a woman and decided to detransition.
Katie talked about the various steps in transition and how each one created a high that ended as if it were an addiction. One that, after all the treatments and surgeries, stopped giving her that affirmation. She would plateau, take it to the next step, and plateau again. There was nothing else to do to keep the high going.
Alluding as well to the high rate of suicide for transitioners and perhaps how hitting that wall drove them to try and kill themselves. Especially if you begin to have doubts, it is easier to contemplate suicide than detransitioning.
Not only is it physically and emotionally demanding, but there is no medical or mental health support, and the community turns against you immediately. Being you is not what they support. They want you to be them.
Katie stopped taking testosterone after “the haircut,” and saw a doctor, and started taking estrogen. She wanted to be and feel like a woman again.
She talked at length about how there are medical codes for transitioning but none for detransitioning, so there is no reliable data on how many detransition. Many stop taking hormones or choose to behave socially as their birth sex. No doctors or clinics are involved in that process, and it is unclear what details they’d collect or share if you did.
Katie also noted that social media is one of the biggest problems with confusing kids about sex and gender issues. That the community is very one-sided in its support. And that health care focuses more on transitions than detransition.
I’d agree. In New Hampshire, it is illegal to counsel anyone away from transition. You can only affirm a patient’s curiosity even if they want help being comfortable with their birth sex.
That’s not therapy. It doesn’t help. And it is why so many who stumble into the gender sphere end up trying to kill themselves. The so-called support of the community is tenuous and inadequate. Having others affirm your choice to be like them does not provide long-lasting comfort. The difficulties of chemical and surgical transition can be a burden, as is knowing that if you think you made a mistake, you might be on your own for the return journey.
Katie also reminded us that she began her journey as an adult but that these days, there is a lot of pressure on parents and children to transition, to which she objects.
I also agree. Adults who want to take this journey can consent to the consequences. Children have no idea what those are, nor can they adequately be made to understand. Parents who accept or encourage this are guilty of child abuse. Generally speaking, until more people bring lawsuits against therapists, doctors, and hospitals that push kids into these unalterable changes, the practice will continue to be profitable enough to assume the risk.
Make it too expensive, and it will stop.
The post An Evening with Detransitioner Katie Anderson appeared first on Granite Grok.
Auburn, NH – On Monday, October 30, 2023, the New Hampshire Supreme Court, on their own initiative, scheduled oral arguments for November 29, 2023, at 9 a.m., in a highly-anticipated election law case of Daniel Richard vs. Governor Chris Sununu, et al.
Involving the executive and legislature branches of government repeatedly violating the voting rights of Mr. Richard and the people of this State by altering the mandatory election provisions of the Constitution of New Hampshire established by the people by legislative fiat. This case poses the following questions.
Daniel Richard, a constitutional scholar from New Hampshire, has brought a case against the state, which claims that N.H. election laws have been illegally altered by the executive and legislative branches of the state government over the years without the consent of the voters, thereby making the legislature’s actions unconstitutional.
Richard contends that the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, section 4, delegates to the legislatures of the several states the duty to establish the time, manner and place for holding federal elections. The United States Supreme Court’s recent opinion decided June 27, 2023, in Moore v. Harper, 600 U.S.___ (2023) now reinforces Mr. Richard’s case, as Moore v. Harper is now a binding precedent on all election law cases in the 50 states.
“Nothing in [the Elections] Clause instructs, nor has this Court ever held, that a
state legislature may prescribe regulations on the time, place, and manner of
holding federal elections in defiance of provisions of the State’s constitution.”
Cited from Arizona State legislature v. Arizona independent redistricting
commission, 576 U. S., at 817–818 (majority opinion) Pg. 18… Moore v. Harper, 600 U.S.___ (2023)
More from Daniel Richard on GraniteGrok
Reformatted for readability.
NEWS RELEASE
Contact Information:
Daniel Richard
95 Rockingham Road
Auburn, New Hampshire
drichard186@gmail.com
603-315-5755 direct
Release Date:
October 31, 2023
For Immediate Release
The post A Three -Year Long Challenge of New Hampshire’s Electronic Voting Machines Makes It to The NH Supreme Court appeared first on Granite Grok.
The site of this year’s Groktoberfest was the Londonderry Fish & Game Club, situated on the outskirts of suburban Litchfield, NH, located a few miles from Manchester. The surprisingly warm weather hosted a not surprisingly resolute group of faithful conservatives in the outdoor environs where the live free or die crowd was surrounded by a cavalcade of patriotism and purpose aimed at preserving America and its values.
Situated under the club’s conference-sized veranda were many attendees there to raise funds for New Hampshire’s most read and distributed conservative publication, GraniteGrok. What is a Grok, you wonder? Grok is a neologism coined by American writer Robert A. Heinlein for his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Used colloquially, it means “to understand profoundly through intuition or empathy.” Granite Grok is the brainchild and labor of love of its founder, Skip Murphy, who started it as a blog only to see it grow in popularity. It is now the most-read conservative publication in New Hampshire, with many millions of views and readers from around the globe.
Co-owner and editor of the Grok is Steve McDonald. Steve is an award-winning blogger, Managing Editor, and owner of GraniteGrok.com. He serves on the Board of Directors of The 603 Alliance and is a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, was a founding member of the New Hampshire Republican Volunteer Coalition, and is a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.
The Master of Ceremonies for the event was Jeff Chidester, who set the tone by speaking eloquently about the call for action fulfilled by the Grok and its contributors and supporters. The purpose of the event, beyond raising funds to expand the capacity at the Granite Grok, was largely to gather like-minded culture warriors as brothers and sisters in arms. The irony of many conservatives is the desire to be left alone, however, that inclination is largely responsible for our current situation, where we see red states turning purple and bluer by the day.
Among the many vendors in attendance were representatives for the Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns. Many of the kiosks offered free literature on the Constitution, concern for protecting children in schools, and the rising trend of Marxism in American politics. Such groups as Camp Constitution, run by one of the day’s speakers, Hal Shurtleff, sat alongside like-minded activists from the NH Constitution Party, the Free State Project, Back to Basics LLC, Defend Our Kids, and the John Birch Society.
The keynote speaker for the event was former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Mr. Lewendowski rolled into the event in Trumpian fashion behind the wheel of a sleek black Shelby Mustang accompanied by one of his sons. After listening to several speakers raise awareness of the various concerns their organizations focus on, Mr. Lewandowski, a former NH police officer, took to the dais and reminded the crowd what was at stake and who they were up against.
Reminding everyone of his candidates’ unlikely win over “crooked Hillary” and controversial defeat at the hands of “the Biden regime,” he shared a variety of stories from the campaign trail, including his role in helping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secure his most recent term in office.
The overriding tone of his speech was to reiterate what has become obvious to anyone following American politics from the right. We are facing an opponent who is not beholden to American values as we know them, including honesty in reporting (the media) and the recent weaponizing of institutions of power from law enforcement agencies to rogue judicial officials bent on activism rather than protecting citizens’ constitutional rights. He concluded by reminding everyone the next election is the most important election we will ever face, which he admits is a cliché thing to say at political gatherings, however, his tone was unmistakable. Perhaps it was that he included “we won’t have a country” if we lose the next one. Was this hyperbole to hype the crowd, perhaps? Only if you’ve not been paying attention to the realities he’d already covered.
After a few more speakers, both Skip and Steve McDonald addressed the crowd, thanking them for all of their support and reiterating the words of the previous speakers. They also cast a vision about the future of the Granite Grok, which now includes a VermontGrok looking to galvanize their friends to the west.
Sadly, we were also informed that Skip is stepping down in his full capacity to deal with family matters that are more important than his political activism. Steve is more than capable of steering the helm of this ship. However, Skip has long been the soul that guides its conscience. As a matter of conscience and in spirit with true conservatism, Skip isn’t in the game for sport but for the love of all he holds dear – human freedoms, civic liberty, God, country, and family. To use another cliché – he puts his money where his mouth is.
Speaking of money, if you’d care to join the cause, you can support the Grok in a variety of ways by volunteering to help contribute articles, covering your local politics, working phones, going door-to-door for Grok-supported candidates, as well as donate financially via their website.
The Chronicle would like to welcome the Groksters to Vermont, where we have more than enough “green” mountains to climb as a body politic.
The post Groktoberfest Is Coming To Vermont appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Renewable Energy Standard Group Committee met again on October 25 to hash out what next year’s laws regarding energy policy will be, and again, utilities managers questioned the ulterior motives behind how some of the proposals seem to be favoring certain actors. And this crony favoritism, they say, will come not just at greater expense to electricity ratepayers but also at the expense of the very climate-related goals the Standard is supposed to be about.
Bill Driscoll of Associated Industries of Vermont told the group, “In order to be achievable while minimizing costs and maximizing reliability [of electricity service], you really need to have as much flexibility as possible [in where you source generation]. You really need to have all the tools on the table…. The more you constrain that – in other words, ‘it doesn’t just have to be clean, it has to be renewable, or it has to be small renewable, or new renewable, or in-state’ – the more you’re going to introduce the risks of increased costs and also the potential for reliability issues without making a difference in the climate goals.”
While everyone in the room seemed on board with reaching a 100% clean energy goal for the state, not everyone seemed to be as interested in meeting those goals as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible. Rather, the agenda of some, the utilities managers strongly implied, was to steer purchasing, construction of new energy sources, and subsidy dollars to “certain people,” even if that means more cost to ratepayers and taxpayers while making the state’s greenhouse gas reduction targets harder to meet.
As Driscoll concluded, “The concern is, the more you do that, the less this is a climate policy and more… a policy that benefits a smaller and smaller group of interests in terms of developers…. In fact, if anything, the more restrained you make it, it’s more expensive and more challenging to meet those climate goals.”
Ken Nolan of VPPSA had similar concerns, stating, “As we break down into tiers and say only certain resources qualify here or there, we’re actually picking winners and losers, and we’re diverting technologies to certain technologies and certain people. That makes it more expensive and harder to manage, and significantly more overhead for the utilities to meet our compliance and the regulators to make sure we’re meeting our compliance.”
There’s a tendency in Vermont in the legislature for ‘command and control,’ said Nolan. “That we have to tell people what to do, or they’re not going to do it. And I think we do a disservice to the ratepayers when we dive into the weeds and try to get very specific in how we define things versus, to some degree, relying on the market.” [Side note: ‘command and control’ government is another way of saying ‘authoritarianism.’]
Senator Chris Bray (D-Addison) questioned Nolan, “Is the current RES a command and control piece of legislation, or is it creating a target and letting utilities choose their own path?”
“I would say Tier 1 is much more choose your own path,” replied Nolan. “Tier 2 is very specific. It has to be less than five megawatts, connected to the distribution system, built after 2015. If I’m GMP, that is probably not very onerous because I have a huge territory. But if I’m Orleans or Hyde Park… that’s a pretty high bar. And it drives you to make certain decisions and work with certain people. And I don’t know that it brings any additional benefit to the climate conversation.”
Driscoll called out the group, “If this is going to be a portfolio that is intentionally designed to benefit specific technologies or scales of development or whatnot, then I think we should be open about that.”
He’s exactly right, but this group is not going to be open about that. An easy and obvious question for any of the four elected lawmakers on the committee would be, “Who are the people we’re forcing you to work with?” but they’re not interested in that level of transparency.
As detailed in my earlier article on this topic, Conflicts of Interest in the Renewable Energy Standard Working Group, the members of VPIRG, The Sierra Club, The Conservation Law Foundation, and Renewable Energy Vermont all represent directly or indirectly the very “people” the law is steering resources to. It is a true scandal that legislators allow lobbyists for politically connected special interests (in many cases, big donors to those legislators and/or their Party) to sit on these committees and write policy.
Nolan questioned, “How much command and control do we really need versus simplifying this conversation and getting to the meat of what are we trying to accomplish? If it’s climate change and greenhouse gas reduction, then let’s talk about the resources that qualify for that and let the utilities figure it out.”
Of course, the problem for the special interests on the committee is that allowing the utilities to figure out on their own the most cost-effective and reliable way to meet the clean energy goals of the state would likely mean bypassing the higher cost, less reliable products produced by their financial benefactors. And we can’t have that! Even if it means Vermonters pay more for our electricity, are more likely to suffer blackouts, and are less likely to meet the target dates for greenhouse gas reduction, which, by the way, puts taxpayers on the hook for multi-million dollar lawsuits that will be brought by some of the same special interest groups sitting on this committee writing the law.
This folks, is your government at work.
Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience in Vermont politics, including three years of service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free-market think tank. He is also a regular contributor to VermontGrok.
The post VT Energy Policy: Saving the Planet, or Feathering Nests? appeared first on Granite Grok.
The more Nikki Haley speaks, the more you understand that she really is NO different than the people running the Biden regime. Her latest, (Ukraine and Israel are equivalent), is exactly the argument the Biden regime is making.
NO, Nikki, Ukraine, and Israel are NOT equivalent.
Ukraine is a despotic, oligarchic corruptocracy, not a democracy. Zelensky has outlawed political opposition, taken over the media, imprisoned priests, and he and his cronies have made themselves rich(er) with American aid. Yet here is Miss Nikki telling us that if we don’t support Zelensky and his ilk, we are on the side of evil:
Mark my words. Those who would abandon Ukraine today are at risk of abandoning Israel tomorrow. They’ve lost sight of who our friends are, who our enemies are, who is good and who is evil. That is NOT who you want in the Oval Office! #RJCVegas
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) October 28, 2023
And, by the way, contrary to what Nikki and her UniParty pals have been telling us, Ukraine is losing … BADLY:
JUST IN – Time Magazine reports that Ukraine struggles to rally financial support after its failed counteroffensive and amid allegations of widespread corruption.
• A top Ukrainian presidential advisor warns that "people are stealing like there's no tomorrow" when asked about… pic.twitter.com/imPkikcLxs
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) October 30, 2023
Another $60 billion is about to go to Ukraine despite the fact that (1) the U.S. is broke and has to borrow the money, (2) Ukraine is so corrupt that its own officials admit "people are stealing like there's no tomorrow", and (3) there's no prospect for winning the war.
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) October 31, 2023
The post Nikki Haley Is An IDIOT appeared first on Granite Grok.
