Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is arguably the most conservative, most effective attorney general in America. So the majority-GOP Texas House just impeached him … for that very reason. It’s the illusion of GOP control, the illusion that it’s Rs versus Ds.

1/x What is happening to @KenPaxtonTX is a travesty. 

For the last nine years, Ken has been the strongest conservative AG in the country. Bar none. No attorney general has battled the abuses of the Biden admin more ferociously—and more effectively—than has Paxton.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 27, 2023

Statement on Paxton Impeachment Proceedings from Chairman @MattRinaldiTX#txlege pic.twitter.com/jePm4Z9WS3

— Texas GOP (@TexasGOP) May 26, 2023

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has led the fight against the corrupt Biden Administration, defended Texas election integrity, protected the lives of the unborn, and tirelessly fights to secure the southern border.

This Texas House led impeachment is a witch hunt.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene (@mtgreenee) May 27, 2023

Texas House Republicans just voted overwhelmingly to impeach Trump-endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton after he took on Biden, Big Pharma, and our country’s Open Borders

Looks like the RINO Swamp in Texas may be deeper than the Swamp in DC

Texas voters deserve so much better

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) May 27, 2023

The post Ken Paxton Has Been Deleted … By “Republicans” … But Keep Pretending It’s About Rs Versus Ds appeared first on Granite Grok.

I was chatting with Skip about ticks (arachnids and Democrats), and he mentioned having a severe problem (in his yard) with the former. It got me thinking. Last year we had it bad where I live (Southern NH). This year – few to none.

Skip lives in the Lakes Region, a little over an hour away, so location and environment have a lot to do with it, even in the same state; the caterwauling of attention-seeking climate cultists, not so much. But Lyme disease is a nasty business, easy to treat in dogs but not so much in people. The threat of it serves the political left as an opportunity to rob people blind by blaming it on climate change: ticks, Lyme, everything.

I’m not immune to Lyme Disease (no, I don’t have it), but I am immune to the hyperbolic caterwauling of the Dems and progs that snap like twigs every time the weather changes. This is New England. Climate change could be every five minutes – in which direction is anyone’s guess. Yes, it changes, and so far, not in any way your climate models predicted.

Half the time, you can’t get next week’s weather right.

I also, as you likely know, have a shorthaired white Labrador (American Yellow Lab) who does everything in his power to wander everywhere in my yard he might find ticks. As such, he sets the baseline for the tick-related observations in my neck of the woods.

He’s on preventatives, so he’s not in danger. We are not, so we check him, dare I say religiously, and he likes the attention.

Last April, we picked two to four off the dog every time we went outside. That added up to – on some days – maybe a dozen a day. Every day. This year we saw a few a week—nothing like last year. The month of May has been a bit more frequent but nothing exceptional—one a day over one week, but fewer in any of the others.

It has been nothing like 2022.

Skip, on the other hand, appears to have had a lot of ticks in April but likely few, if any, in May – he treated his yard.

Absent the chemistry, there is no right or wrong rhyme or reason to it. Activity depends on many things in the biosphere, and none of them have anything to do with your corrupt Western lifestyle unless, by a tick, we mean a Democrat. Your comfort offends them, but that’s not the topic today.

Here’s another point of interest that I find interesting. Unlike previous years we have had few to no black flies. In a typical April/May, I can’t step outdoors without being swarmed. We’ve seen very few this year, and I’m not complaining. Black flies are a plague on all our houses. But I don’t know why we’ve had fewer this year by a large margin than any other year I can recall. Wait, Climate Change!

And while I’m at it, the mosquito menace is also less daunting this spring than in previous years.

That’s been my experience. Yours might be different.

 

The post My ‘Tick Season’ Numbers are a Lot Lower Than Last Year – Do I Blame Climate Change? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Where Canada goes, Vermont follows – remember, they did try to join Canada way back when – so it seems logical to wonder about this. For $700.00, a funeral home in Quebec offer “a space for assisted dying, providing care to the family and handling the body afterward.”

“It was a very nice room,” said Savoie. “It allowed us the time we needed to do what we had to do to say goodbye. Let him get comfortable.”

 

And who doesn’t want to be comfortable when someone they love commits suicide? Well, lots of people, I suppose. Suicide is not uncommon, but unless you are a friend of the Clintons, it is typically a private affair and often unexpected or inexplicable. Tragic.

The government killing people is not new and quite common, accelerating the further to the left you go on the political spectrum.

Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), an invention of the political left, is not new but has evolved. It remains illegal in most places but has found progressive friends, which should concern people, especially when the practice finds commercial acceptance.

It starts with a room, a view, and soft music, and you might ask, why shouldn’t the soon-to-be departed have any or all options for their planned departure? Vegas- like Show Girls, a live band, The Canadian equivalent of the Blue Angels, maybe even sell tickets so people can watch you die.

Stream it all on Instagram. Hear emoji – we’ll miss you! And there are no apparent laws against that, so at least one funeral director  thought it “was a natural step for the family-owned business, which has several locations in southern Quebec’s Brome-Missisquoi and Haut-Richelieu regions.”

The company has long strived to provide customized care that meets clients’ needs, he said. But meeting those needs is not easy, especially when it involves medically assisted death.

“There are a lot of emotions,” Baker said. “The person who made the decision is usually very convinced, but the kids, the siblings, or other family members aren’t necessarily on the same page.”

That’s a fair enough point, but the people deciding what things are legal and illegal had a mixed response.

 

Sarah Bigras, a spokesperson for Quebec’s minister responsible for seniors, said the minister is looking into the legality of offering assisted dying services in a funeral home.

“Several questions may arise, and we will take the time to validate,” she said in an emailed response to CBC’s questions.

“The important thing is to put people’s wishes first, while ensuring that the proposals are not part of a monetization of the practice.”

 

What’s not to like? Your euthanasia plan gets more normalized; everyone involved has a moment, and someone gets more followers on Instagram. And at some point, because your chosen form of government can’t afford not to kill people or make money on the practice when possible, I can charge the business hosting an event tax, a transfer tax, a profits tax, or even a carbon footprint or emissions tax if there are cremations, all passed down to the family, of course, as insurance companies modify the actuary tables to account for costs. Discounts are available if you are an organ donor and volunteer your remains to fertilize a tree.

Much like MAiD, it won’t happen in Canada overnight. It’ll need to be as ubiquitous as Tim Horton’s, and until then,

 

The public health authority for the region south of Montreal, CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre, said in a statement that it is not involved in any assisted dying services at funeral homes.

“This is a process that belongs to the person and the decision of the doctor who agrees to administer medical assistance in dying,” said Chantal Vallée, spokesperson for the CISSS. …

“Some people do not want to receive MAID at home, and some place should be made available,” Nguyen said. “I think it should be made available in the public health-care system.”

 

When everyone is on board, MAiD will become big business (Like Coronaviruses or COVID-19 Vaccines), as death always must among progressives. And reasons for allowing it will grow.

Researchers in Canada have already suggested MAiD for the poor. That will take some time to get wind beneath its wings, but it will. Mental Health experts will begin to adopt diagnoses that result in incarceration, which will strain the public health budget. It’s a great way to deal with people who won’t shut up about the corrupt, unaccountable murderous government.

No Show Girls or fighter jets or comfy couches for friends and family. People will disappear in the night.

Wait, sorry – this socialism is different. That’ll never happen … again.

 

The post Assisted Suicide Could be a Cash Cow for Funeral Homes and Governments appeared first on Granite Grok.

Out of the six common air pollutants, particulate matter measuring 2.5 microns [1/30 of a human hair – Skip] or smaller in diameter, or PM2.5, is accepted as the most harmful to human health. This is due to its prevalence in the atmosphere and the broad range of adverse health effects associated with its exposure, such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.

With that context in mind, this visualization from Visual Capitalist’s Selin Oğuz and Miranda Smith uses IQAir’s World Air Quality Report to map out the 2022 average PM2.5 concentrations in select major cities around the globe, expressed in micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³).

(H/T: ZeroHedge,

The post Where the Air Pollution Is … appeared first on Granite Grok.

Update: Presidential Primary Poll – With 7 Hours Left to Go, Ramaswamy, Leads, Followed by DeSantis, Trump, Sununu …

Our Memorial Day Weekend 2024 Republican presidential Primary poll ends in less than seven hours, so I thought I’d give you a recap/update of the results thus far.

Early on, Chris Sununu took the lead, but well into Saturday, Vivek Ramaswamy was on top and last night and had held the commanding lead. DeSantis replaced Trump in the number two spot between this morning and afternoon. Sununu is fourth, followed by Haley, with Scott, Hutchinson, and Noem tied. At the bottom are Mike Pence and Chris Christie.

Note: Since noon Sununu’s numbers have been rising steadily.

Here’s where they stand as of 4:30 ET today.

 

Ramaswamy – 41.59%
DeSantis – 24.14%
Trump -17.60%
Sununu – 16.29%
Haley – 0.12%
Scott – 0.07%
Hutchinson – 0.07%
Noem – 0.07%
Pence – 0.03%
Christie – 0.02%

 

There is still time to vote. The poll closes just before midnight tonight.

Vote here until 11:58 PM tonight, ET. – Results will be published tomorrow afternoon.

 

The post Update: Presidential Primary Poll – With 7 Hours Left to Go Ramaswamy, Leads, Followed by DeSantis, Trump, Sununu … appeared first on Granite Grok.

This is a quite abbreviated as this week I’ve been swamped with work – drawings, drawings, drawings, and drawings.  Each one is simple, but it’s meticulous work and I don’t want to have to go through a dozen rounds of revisions because I rushed and missed something.

 

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

 

 

First, I am merely an “enlightened amateur”.  Please vet & check on your own.  Caveat emptor.  Consider these to be priming the pump for your own investigations.  I know this is a long post; I am attempting to put out a lot of information as a resource.  Read or skip sections depending on your interests.

Second, I fear spicy time is very close, but even a month of food, water, etc., puts you well ahead of most of the sheeple.  IMHO, set your minimum sights on a three-month period.

Third, two things will be critical for having the best chance of making it through:

1. Mentality: first and foremost in survival is having a flexible mentality and cultivating the ability to adapt. Vanity has no place in survival.
2. Develop a meatspace network of people that are likeminded: cultivate your community ties and build alliances with neighbors (note: don’t babble about the Jab or globalists or depopulation, or start pointing political fingers when doing this)… and remember, the first rule of PREP CLUB is that there is no prep club.

And please follow both me, Nitzakhon, on Gab… as well as my blog host Granite Grok and also on Telegram Tommy Robinson Official plus his Urban Scoop site.  And don’t forget posts sometimes get cloned on American Reveille as well, which is a good site to check out in general.

FYI, here’s a link to the last Survival Sunday.

 

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

 

The Lost Art of Electroculture, Frequencies, and Natural healing

 

 

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

 

Top of the fold:

Bayou Renaissance Man: The cult of death is on our streets

This is of particular importance when it comes to our own safety and security.  The presence of an active population of Santa Muerte devotees in or near your area is a guarantee that crime is on the increase there, and will almost certainly become more violent, predatory and vicious.  Law enforcement professionals with whom I’ve recently spoken tell me that they can’t say this out loud, because it’s not politically correct in our “woke” day and age:  but they all agree that they’ve encountered murders and torture scenes where the crime was specifically committed with reference to Santa Muerte (i.e. invoking her name, including carving it into the bodies of victims;  chanting her praise while raping, torturing and killing victims;  and taking body parts of the victims to decorate her shrines).

Folks, be on the lookout.  This is a real and present danger to our security in our homes and neighborhoods.  Santa Muerte’s devotees are violent, vicious and without remorse or compassion.  If you see or hear any evidence that they’re active near your home, you should be “upping your game” to cope with that threat;  and, if possible, you should remove yourselves from the danger zone.  That’s your choice, of course.  Just remember that if you live in an area controlled by “wokeness”, any effort to defend yourself against this cult and its followers may be used against you in a court of law.

Ah, diversity.

 

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

 

Oddments – random thoughts on prepping:

Put a Fork in the Dollar, It’s Done

What do you have that, after the collapse, you can use to trade?  Things, of course.  And skills / knowledge.  See “My Thoughts” from Area Ocho a little bit down.

 

=+=+=

Prepper Site URLS:

Most have daily articles; revisit daily.  Please recommend others in the comments.

Ask a Prepper, how to prepare, survive and thrive, latest news

Mother Earth News

The Organic Prepper Home – The Organic Prepper

SurvivalBlog.com – The Daily Web Log for Prepared Individuals Living in Uncertain Times.

SHTF Blog – Modern Survival

Survival World – Everything You Need To Know to Survive

Homestead Survival Site – How to Live Off The Grid in Comfort and Style

Urban Survival Site | How to Survive a Disaster in the City

Mind4Survival – Survival and Preparedness

Gray Wolf survival

Sustainable Living (sustainablelivingideas.com)

The Classic Survivalist – Surviving in a Modern World

Primal Survivor – Practical and sensible prepping advice

Em Off-grid – We & Our Off The Grid Life – Em OffGrid

Resource for Practical, Daily Prepping Skills for SHTF & Survival (geekprepper.com)

Prepare, Survive, and Thrive (A SHTF Blog) (johnmannsurvival.blogspot.com)

And three aggregate sites listing their top favorite sites & links too:

TOP 50 SURVIVAL & PREPPER BLOGS

The 50 Best Survival Blogs

Prepper Website – Preparedness • Survival • Alternative News

—

Specific, one-up articles:

17 Natural Remedies for Cough, Lung Infections and Bronchitis – Live Love Fruit

Oodles of interesting info!

—

Dutch Oven Cooking – How to Use a Cast Iron Dutch Oven (commonsensehome.com)

And at the site, some good articles on restoring cast iron cookware.

—

Related to Spicy Time:

Testing The Threshold – Liberty’s Torch (libertystorch.info)

The threat is, then, cancel culture – if you fail to accede, they go after your job, etc.  But that too can backfire.  Threaten someone’s family, threaten their livelihood, and that can backfire… spectacularly.

And then things get very messy.

—

My Thoughts – Area Ocho

So what can we do? What SHOULD we do? Exactly what we are doing, that’s what. Watch, make sure that you, your families, and your like minded neighbors are in as good a position for weathering the coming storm as you can be. Have food, water, and shelter taken care of. Make sure you have skills in as many fields as possible: know some medicine, how to grow food, how to repair things. Those skills you don’t have, make friends with those locally who do have them. Make sure you aren’t a freeloader- bring skills to the table that those others will need. Store your wealth in things that aren’t measured in dollars. In other words, don’t put all of your eggs in the stock market, in cash, or the bank. When the economy collapses, all of that will become worthless. Instead, own land, own tangible things that are useful like a home, precious metals, tools, ammunition, canning supplies, and other things that are useful in trade.

Related:

Ants at the Picnic, Part One, by Robert Gore | STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC

There will always be people who believe whatever the government and servile media dish out, but a graph of those institutions’ credibility the past few decades looks like the stock chart of a once dominant company gone bankrupt. The AM deserves much of the credit for that.

—

Bayou Renaissance Man: Divemedic offers sage advice on your ammo stash

Think outside the box – and stash enough ammo and firearms that if all the rest of yours are no longer available, you’ll still be able to defend yourself and your loved ones.

—

Related to Bushcraft specifically:

3 Methods For Starting Fires Using Friction (johnmannsurvival.blogspot.com)

Same guy has all this:

Prepare, Survive, and Thrive (A SHTF Blog) (johnmannsurvival.blogspot.com)

 

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

 

10 WOOD STOVE MISTAKES That Cost You Money!

 

 

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Short of years and untold wealth, you cannot possibly be fully prepared for everything (I have to keep reminding myself of that).  But even some preparations, ideally at least 90 days of food, water / water purification, etc., puts you head and shoulders in front of the vast majority of the sheeple who will be in jaw-gaping astonishment when the SHTF.  The only relevant questions are:

1. When does it start?
2. How bad will it get?
3. How long will it last?
4. What will the aftermath look like?

 

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

 

Outsmarting the Giant Hornets: Beekeeper’s Innovative Method to Protect Honeybees

 

 

I wonder.  If you catch several of these on a sheet… cut the sheet up, carefully, and put one hornet on a new sheet each.  Then disperse.  See if you can depopulate an entire area of the SOBs.

 

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

 

I have a FORAGING group on Gab.  I will check 2-3 times a week to see if people have asked to join.

—

Foraging: One-up articles

Nothing this week.

—

Foraging (permanent feature):

Foraging (practicalselfreliance.com)

Wild Harvests (arcadianabe.blogspot.com)

Southern Appalachian Herbs

—

Books (permanent feature):

Feasting Free on Wild Edibles (old but good)

The Lost Ways (much more than just foraging)

The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO EDIBLE WILD PLANTS FOR BEGINNERS

 

=+=+=

Shortages (broadly):

Nothing this week.

 

=+=+=

Gardening, Food Storage, Animals, Food Preservation, Health, and Related:

Dealing with Grazon Contamination | The Survival Gardener

Yikes!

—

 

 

—

DIY Raised Bed Screens to Keep Pests Away From Vegetables (empressofdirt.net)

And chipmunks.  A few years ago I had all – ALL – my cherry tomatoes denuded from my plants.  And rabbits are why I have my grapes within a wire cage.

—

 

Learning to Can Meats with the NC Cooperative Extension

 

 

And from the sidebar, links only:

PRESSURE CANNING FOR BEGINNERS – BEFORE YOUR FIRST CANNING SESSION – YouTube

4 Critical Prepper’s Recipes & Cooking Skills – YouTube

STOCKPILE THESE for Long Term Survival – YouTube

When America Goes Cashless you will need this! – YouTube

—

Canning Milk and Dairy Products (modernsurvivalblog.com)

Long.  Related to canning:

Steam Canning Basics: The Low Water Way to Preserve Your Food (morningchores.com)

—

Gardening-specific videos (links only):

How to Identify Powdery Mildew on Squash, Zucchini and Cucumber Plants – MFG 2014 – YouTube

Composting for Beginners | A Market Gardener’s Guide – YouTube

Make Your Garden a Ladybug Paradise – YouTube

Grow Bigger Garlic! 10 Common Garlic Growing Mistakes To Avoid – YouTube

This SIMPLE Garden TIP Will Get You MORE CUCUMBERS! – YouTube

—

Links on old-time food storage (permanent feature):

Thanks to the Canning and Preserving group on Gab, I now have these links:

Preserving foods by drying | How to dry foods safely (uada.edu)

USDA-Complete-Guide-to-Home-Canning-2015-revision.pdf (healthycanning.com)

Canning | SDSU Extension (sdstate.edu)

Food Preservation– Canning | Consumer Food Safety | Washington State University (wsu.edu)

Canning Timer & Checklist App | OSU Extension Catalog | Oregon State University

National Center for Home Food Preservation (uga.edu)

Canning Recipes | Ball® Mason Jars (ballmasonjars.com)

—

Topical Books (also permanent):

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking & Curing

Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing

A Guide to Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking Meat, Fish & Game

The Prepper’s Canning Guide

Pickled Pantry

Fermented Vegetables

Hydroponics and Greenhouse Gardening: 3-in-1 Gardening Book to Grow Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruit All-Year-Round

Hydroponics for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Hydroponic Gardening, Designing and Building Inexpensive DIY Hydroponic Systems…

The Aquaponics Guidebook: Combining Aquaculture and Hydroponics Combining Aquaculture and Hydroponics

 

=+=+=

Self-defense (broad)

The Hidden Truth About Gun Control | SlowFacts (wordpress.com)

While I still have a voice, I say I disagree. What is good for Mayor Bloomberg is also good for us even though we don’t have a security detail of retired police officers. We are the thousands of honest citizens who will defend ourselves today. We are the one-out-of-a-dozen adults who are carrying concealed in public. Honest citizens like us are the defenders of our family, our friends, and our neighbors.

 

=+=+=

Hunting & Fishing:

Nothing this week.

 

=+=+=

Concluding thoughts if I’m moved to comment:

War – NATO Beaten By “A Restaurant Owner & A Bunch Of Convicts”? | ZeroHedge

So what will NATO do now? They will double down, and then again. And at the end of the “doubling down road” lie nuclear weapons. Not Russian nukes, because as my friend Wayne wrote the other day, their high-precision hypersonic missiles make nukes look crude and primitive, Middle Ages territory. But NATO/US never developed such weapons. They spent 10+ times as much money on weapons, still do, and -comparatively – ended up with bows and arrows.

Nuclear bombs are good only to create widespread panic and destruction. But that includes your own destruction, because of Mutually Assured Destruction protocols. Which also go back almost as far as the bow and arrow. If you fire a nuclear missile, one very much like it will land on your head a few minutes later. End of story, end of you.

I have maintained for a while now that the Globalists see the Jab Narrative falling, as it had to sooner or later.  And thus, what better way to hide the effects of the Jab on lowering birth rates, increasing death rates, etc., than to start a world war?  On which all these effects will be blamed.

Incoming.

 

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

 

Fighting Back

 

 

Is Trump perfect?  Far from it.  But the man has a set, and he fights back… and fights back with vigor!

 

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

 

Palate cleansers:

 

—

—

 

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

 

Please check out my MEMES collections; last one here.  Mockery, ridicule, and the wrapping of uncomfortable truths inside humor can penetrate the cognitive shields of normies far more effectively – IMHO – than dry facts and figures.

 

The post Survival Sunday – Unified appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Vermont Library Association recently published a release titled “Vermont Library Association Statement on Critical Race Theory” (CRT). There are some good things in it, but having been written by some progressive stooge with Left-Wing narrative tunnel vision, there is plenty with which to make sport.

The gist is that blocking CRT “restricts or impedes any education on Racism, “Divisive” Concepts, Racial Injustice, Black American History, and Diversity Education in libraries and educational institutions.”

 

VLA is committed to upholding intellectual freedom in all of our libraries: Public Libraries, School Libraries, Special Libraries, and Academic Libraries. People must be able to access information without censorship and without fear that their intellectual inquiries are illegal. It is only through the vigorous upholding of freedoms of speech and inquiry that we can truly be a democratic nation that strives not only to understand its history, but to learn and become better from it.

 

I agree. Intellectual freedom is important, as is having as many views or versions of every topic. It is, therefore, critically important that the library includes titles that explain and show how Critical Race Theory teaches racism.

White students in classrooms where CRT is permitted are labeled with the original white sin of racism for things neither they nor their parents, grandparents, or perhaps anyone in their family ever played a part—a sin for which CRT does not permit them to be forgiven. I hope the VLA is committed to protecting intellectual freedom and diversity on this point.

We also assume that because CRT targets white Western civilization absent the context of the even longer and more brutal history of black-on-black slavery, VLA members make a point of having material that balances these historical facts against those offered by Critical Race Theory literature.

We know that CRT is divisive because it is racist. It is not anti-racist; it is not racial justice. It is racism. Anyone truly interested in history should have unlimited access to material that explain this.

The Library Statement has other issues. The author(s) note that Critical thinking and civil discourse for all points of view must be protected and encouraged in a democracy. Bravo, except that we do not live in a democracy. We live in a constitutional Republic.

The words democracy or democratic appears four times in the few hundred words of their statement. Nowhere is it used in a proper context.

There is also a line of support for the  American Library Association’s Statement on Book Censorship. It, too, has some very lofty and admirable goals.

 

We are committed to defending the constitutional rights of all individuals, of all ages, to use the resources and services of libraries.  We champion and defend the freedom to speak, the freedom to publish, and the freedom to read, as promised by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. 

We stand opposed to censorship and any effort to coerce belief, suppress opinion, or punish those whose expression does not conform to what is deemed to be orthodox in history, politics, or belief. The unfettered exchange of ideas is essential to the preservation of a free and democratic society.

 

The freedom to read is something to which we can all agree and aspire, and I look forward to hearing how library associations and librarians are fighting for that freedom online, where unpopular opinions or speakers are often blocked, deleted, and filtered without any presumption that this metering of content is censorship or banning. I get a sense that this commitment lacks visibility when the topics or speakers diverge from what can only be described as a partisan progressive interpretation.

The VLA and the American Library Association could do much to address the question of their increasingly apparent viewpoint discrimination by objecting to this virtual equivalency of online book burning.

We should also note that while the VLA and other libraries and associations claim to hold a commitment to securing access to as many titles, authors, and opinions as possible, the absence of such material or public objection to content that is not age appropriate is not book-banning or censorship. Titles of authors readily available through a book store or bookseller, bricks and mortar or online, and whose purchase is not prohibited by law are not banned or censored.

Perhaps a statement of clarity on this fact would clear the air and affirm to everyone that you are not misleading or misinforming the public or aiding and abetting those who use terms like censorship and book banning to partisan advantage while censoring or banning opposing opinions on racism, sex, gender, abortion, climate, and a host of other pressing matters.

 

The post The Vermont Library Association Stands With … Racism appeared first on Granite Grok.

Republicans are more prone to advocate for Free Markets, Libertarians more so, and Democrats not at all. Yes, Republicans are sometimes better than Democrats, but they always seem to want Government to have a hand in things. That we are not able to decide for ourselves.

They say the right things but turn around and do the wrong things.

Most of us know that the Biden Administration (all of the Leftists, Eco-Socialists, and outright Communists) believe that they have the Neo-Right-of-Kings to rule us all. Not govern, not be representatives, but rulers. Especially the unaccountable minions at the EPA that are dishing out regulation after regulation that has one aim:

Make the rest of us miserable.

What rulings or regulations has HELPED us and made Government leave us alone?  None that I can see – if we use something in our everyday lives (cars, appliances), they are working hard to make them work worse and be more expensive (hey, will you like going back to handwashing all your dishes??  It’s “community-building force on you and your spouse – just thank Government for the opportunities they are “giving” you).

In this, Katie Pavlich at Townhall has the right of it. These bureaucratic tyrants use the euphemism of “Electrify Everything to save the Planet” as cover for their plans for us and that includes the phasing out of one of the most important freedom inventions ever – the gas-powered car (emphasis mine):

Civilization will crumble without oil and gas, so why are the Biden administration and their globalist, elite allies trying to accelerate the collapse? If U.S. infrastructure isn’t capable of handling the switch to electric, and Americans can’t afford to buy electric cars, how is this new and alternative utopia going to come to fruition?

To critically thinking people, these facts don’t logically add up to a good faith effort to save the environment. Instead, it raises red flags about the true intention of the rapid shift. This is especially true given those who are pushing the shift most aggressively. John Kerry and Bill Gates, for example, aren’t changing their own habits of private jet use, SUVs and luxury, living in mansions or ornate government buildings. So what’s going on here?

Catastrophes enable government control. Look no further than the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which was extended for years by bureaucrats and politicians interested in exercising power over the population as long as possible, for proof. The coming government-inflicted mobility crisis will be similar to the pandemic response, with directives about who can work, when, how long, where they can travel, whether you really need to travel to church and much more. A lack of gas-powered vehicles means forced reliance on public transportation. It will cripple life in rural America, forcing moves into the cities. Social credit scores regarding travel, like the ones we’re already seeing when purchasing airline tickets, will certainly be implemented.

The government-mandated move to electric vehicles has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with the left’s vision for America: tyrannical government control. Time will tell if the country is willing to go along with it.

Electing Democrats will keep their accelerator pedal aimed towards that goal. Loser Republicans just don’t press down as hard thinking that they can “manage it better” but we still end up in the same place.

2024 will be here soon even as the Presidential Campaigns are moving into their second phase (scooping up money, endorsements, staff, and volunteers). Uppermost in our minds should be this: WHICH Republican candidate has that gleam in the eye and the fire in the belly to take on the Deep State for REAL?

SCOTUS has been issuing decisions that are driving the Left to manic proportions as rulings are slapping down overreach and more overreach by the Federal bureaucracy (I’m looking at you, EPA). Which candidate will be best suited to put on that flameproof, bombproof, scandal proof, and “stare them down” visor in your opinion? If no clue for names, go here.

Right now, top three for me are Trump, DeSantis, and…..Ramaswamy (my dark horse candidate). First two have track records while Vivek is saying all the right things the Base wants to hear (implementation, however?).

The post Government’s Shove to EVs IS About Control – Controlling Us appeared first on Granite Grok.

So as not to slow your COVID Sunday roll, here is another expert with some bad news for the Public Health Industrial Complex. Dr. Marty Makary is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, and he has some words for the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Related: Dr. David Martin – Warp Speed Was a Lie: Pfizer Had Its First Spike Protein Vaccine Patent for Coronavirus Over Thirty Years

If you’d like to fight medical misinformation, start with the US Government.

And yes, it seems relevant, given the Memorial Day Weekend. We are honoring men and women who fought and died for a country that has been bought out by Big Pharma and turned the world into a test tube experiment. An important part of that fraud – I’d say it is essential – is to smear the truth and elevate the lies about both the threat and the cure, and they did that. Despite the odd backtrack or sideways ask for forgiveness, they are still doing it.

The folks who didn’t fail the test were pilloried as the Public Health Industrial Complex (Big Gov., Big Med, and Big Media) try to get the people to swallow another ‘poison pill’—the need for truth squads and ministries of truth doing their patriotic best to squash misinformation.

Funny thing: that’s what we’ve all been doing, and Dr. Marty Makary has more than one warning about the consequences.

 

Over and over again, we’ve seen something that goes far beyond using your best judgment with the information at hand. We’ve seen something that is unforgivable, and that is the weaponization of medical research itself. The CDC putting out their own shoddy studies, like their own study on natural immunity looking at one state for two months, when they had data for years on all 50 states. Why did they only report that one sliver of data? Why did the salami slice the giant database? Because it gave them the result they wanted.

 

…

 

“The greatest perpetrator of misinformation during the pandemic has been the United States government”

-Dr. @MartyMakary pic.twitter.com/iONTlGBXbP

— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) February 28, 2023

The post If You’d Like To Fight Medical Misinformation, Start With the US Government. appeared first on Granite Grok.

So this is in response to the post They Cannot Discuss or Defend Reality:

“It is getting increasingly difficult to discuss current events with Liberal friends or relatives. It is frustrating to see how ignorant the Left is to current events, and when you try to engage on the facts, they have no choice but to deflect because they have no grasp of the details.”

Dude, your “Liberal friends or relatives” inhabit a different reality from you. Have you seen the Matrix movies? Your “Liberal friends or relatives” are essentially living in a simulation. It is impossible for you to communicate with them because they believe the simulation is reality.

What’s more, your “Liberal friends or relatives” CHOOSE to live in a simulation. They are TRIBAL. Whatever the TRIBE tells them is what they believe. If you think that they are any different than the crowds chanting Sieg Heil at the Nuremberg rallies or Mao’s Red Guards, then I have to tell you that you are lying to yourself. They are true believers… they are Communists. You are the enemy.

Let’s review how we got here. In 2016, powerful people IN BOTH PARTIES, inside and outside of government, REFUSED to accept the election results. And they spent the next four years conducting a soft coup against Donald Trump … to name but a few examples: Obama holdover Sally Yates refusing to defend the travel-ban; Obama judges issuing meritless nationwide injunctions to block Trump’s Executive Orders; Republican Senators, such as Richard Burr, enabling the Russia Hoax.

Part of this soft coup was the media, Big-Tech, NeverTrump-Republicans constructing a totally false narrative … a Matrix-style simulation … that the country was going to hell under Trump. Never mind that the economy was booming, that unemployment for all groups hit record lows, that real wages were finally climbing … it was MEAN TWEETS; Trump says Nazis are good people (a TOTAL LIE); Trump’s a Russian agent (another total lie), etc., etc., etc..

And then came COVID … and the system went full Matrix. All one had to do was to believe one’s own eyes to know there was no “pandemic” … the projections of deaths and hospitalizations were a fraction of what actually transpired, so the system “cooked the books” and called virtually every death a COVID casualty: drunk crashes his motorcycle – cause of death COVID. Yet the vast majority of Americans chose to believe the fictitious death and hospitalization counts … even though all they had to do was look around and see there were no piles of corpses in the streets.

The system used COVID to rig the election … changing the election laws and regulations, often illegally in order to favor Biden. Trump campaign rallies were “super-spreaders” … BAD, BAD, BAD, while Biden hiding in his basement to emerge for an amphetamine-fueled “interview” with fawning media was the new normal. Governors … including Sun-King Sununu … used COVID as an excuse to shut down the economy and deprive Trump of his most effective selling point.

The system censored any and all bad news for Biden … laptop? What laptop? … while smearing Trump with FAKE NEWS … Russian bounties! Russian bounties!

And now let’s fast-forward to the present. The system just shut down Tucker Carlson … the most powerful voice of resistance against the American-Matrix, against the simulation. And the most frightening thing is that he was shut down by the Right … or what passes for the Right. So now the 8:00 pm time slot on Fox is no longer fighting the simulation … it’s part of the simulation, telling us that somehow it matters that Mitch McConnell is Minority Leader, not Senate President when in reality there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between McConnell and Schumer.

America, as it existed prior to 2016, is no more.  It has been replaced by a simulation. The left-of-center humans believe that they are better off than they were under Trump, even though all the facts, all the data says otherwise … while the right-of-center believe that the Republican Party is NOT controlled opposition, not part of the system, and that it’s still about the Rs versus the Ds.

 

The post Dude … The Left Has Been Inhabiting An Alternative Reality Since 2016 appeared first on Granite Grok.

You’ll have heard of Dr. David E Martin. He became famous to most of us for exposing the lies behind the pandemic, beginning in the Plandemic movies. Dr. Martin is one of the Flutopian’s worst nightmares. He’s smart, and he arrives not with just bad news but receipts.

The patent history of things that governments and bureaucrats and pharmaceutical companies do and did. Facts he revealed most recently at a May 2023 COVID-19 Summit in front of the European Parliament in Brussels.

It’s not all new for many of us who have been following along since the spring of 2020, but I recommend you watch the whole thing – it is good to hear it or hear it again.

I have included the full transcript all thanks to Agent0fChange on Rumble – but first, a few points from his remarks to tease you.

The Public Health Industrial Complex isolated coronavirus in 1965. “The very first COV Coronavirus model was used as a transatlantic biological experiment in human manipulation.”

Pfizer filed its first patent for a Spike Protein Coronavirus vaccine in 1990, so warp speed was a marketing head-fake. They’ve had it for over 25 years and have been waiting for an excuse to stick it into people. Dr. Martin also notes that back in 1990, Pfizer knew, they all knew, vaccines don’t work on Coronavirus.

 

“It turns out that Coronavirus is a very malleable model. It transforms and it changes, and it mutates over time. As a matter of fact, every publication on vaccines for Coronavirus from 1990 until 2018, every single publication concluded that Coronavirus escapes the vaccine impulse because it modifies and mutates too quickly for vaccines to be effective.

And since 1990 to 2018, that is the published science ladies and gentlemen, that’s following the science, following the science is their own indictment of their own programs that said, it doesn’t work.

 

So, it was never going to be effective, and they knew it wasn’t safe, and the Pfizer/FDA doc dumps proved that and why they wanted kept hidden.

And there’s more bad news from Dr. Martin. SARS was a human-made-bio-engineered virus. “SARS is the research developed by humans weaponizing a life system model to actually attack human beings, and they patented it in 2002.” And the rest just keeps getting better or worse, depending on how you want to take it.

Again, not all new, but it’s new to someone, and our job is to find them and get them to listen and then do their own digging with the understanding that there are hundreds of billions of dollars working against the truth.

That’s your tease; here is the presentation – full transcript below.

 

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TRANSCRIPT Of Dr.David E.Martin’s Speech At The European Union Parliament MAY 2023

It is a, it is a particularly interesting location for B to be sitting today, given that over a decade ago I sat in this very chair right here in the European Union Parliament.
And at that time I warned the world of what was coming, during that conversation that was hosted at the time by the Green and EFA and a number of the other parties of the European Unions, of various representations.

We were having a conversation on whether Europe should adopt the United States policy of allowing for the patents on biologically derived materials.

And at the time I urged this body and I urged people around the world that the weaponization of nature against humanity had dire consequences.

Tragically, I sit here today, with that unfortunate line that I don’t like to say, which is “I told you so.”

But the fact of the matter is, we’re here not for a reprisal on past decisions. We’re here to actually, once again, come to the face of the human condition and ask the question, who do we want to be?

What do we want humanity to look like?

And rather than seeing this as an exercise in futility, which is very easy from time to time when you’re in the position I’m in, I actually see this not as an exercise in futility.

I see this as one of the greatest opportunities that faces us because we now have a public conversation, which is now front and center in people’s minds.

When this was an esoteric conversation about biological patents, nobody cared.

But when that conversation came home, then it became something people can care about.

So I’m actually quite grateful for this opportunity.

I thank the members of Parliament for hosting this.

I thank all of the translators who I apologize in advance.

I will use terminology that is probably very difficult to translate, so my apologies, and I’d also like to acknowledge the fact that many of you are aware of my involvement with this in large part due to the amazing work of my wonderful wife, Kim Martin, who encouraged me at the very early days of this pandemic to get on front of the camera and talk about all the information that I had been sharing among very small groups around the world.

And it was in fact her encouragement that put me in a place where many of you have heard what I have to say.

Ironically, the world that I came from that used to be very popular, my CNBC and Bloomberg presentations, which were televised on mainstream media around the world, was an audience that I lost.

I can confidently say Covid diminished my fame, but I can also confidently say that I’d rather stand among the people with whom I’m standing today than any of the folks that were part of that previous world.

So, this is a much better place to be.

My role today is to set the stage for this conversation in a historical context, because this did not come in the last three years.

This did not come in the last five or six years.

This actually is an ongoing question that probably began here in Europe in the early stages of the mid 19 hundreds, but certainly by 1913, 1914, this conversation started right here in Central Europe.

The pandemic that we alleged to have happened in the last few years also did not happen overnight.

In fact, the very specific pandemic using Coronavirus began in a very different time.

Most of you don’t know that Coronavirus as a model of a pathogen was isolated in 1965.

Coronavirus was identified in 1965 as one of the first infectious, replicatable viral models that could be used to modify a series of other experiences of human condition.

It was isolated once upon a time associated with the common cold.

But what’s particularly interesting about its isolation in 1965 was that it was immediately identified as a pathogen that could be used and modified for a whole host of reasons.

And you heard me correctly, that was 1965.

And by the way, these slides are public domain.

You’re welcome to look at every single reference.

Every comment that I made is based on published material.

So do make sure that you look at those references.

But in 1966, the very first COV Coronavirus model was used as a transatlantic biological experiment in human manipulation, and you heard the date 1966.
I hope you’re getting the point of what I’m saying.

This is not an overnight thing.

This is actually something that’s been long in the making.

A year before I was born, we had the first Trans-Atlantic coronavirus data sharing experiment between the United States and the United Kingdom.

And in 1967, the year I was born, we did the first human trials on inoculating people with modified Coronavirus.

Isn’t that amazing?

56 years ago, the overnight success of a pathogen that’s been 56 years in engineering, and I want that to chill with all of you.

Where were we when we actually allowed in violation of biological and chemical weapons treaties?

Where were we as a human civilization when we thought it was an acceptable thing to do to take a pathogen for the United States and infect the world with it?

Where was that conversation and what should have been that conversation in 1967?

That conversation wasn’t had. Ironically, the common cold was turned into a chimera in the 1970s, and in 1975, 1976 and 1977, we started figuring out how to modify Coronavirus by putting it into different animals.

Pigs and dogs.

And not surprisingly, by the time we got to 1990, we found out that Coronavirus as a infectious agent was an industrial problem for two primary industries, the industries of dogs and pigs.

Dog breeders and pigs found that Coronavirus created gastrointestinal problems, and that became the basis for Pfizer’s first spike protein vaccine.

Patent filed. Are you ready for this In 1990?

Did you hear what I just said?

1990.

Operation Warpspeed.

I’m sorry.

Where’s the warp and the speed?

Pfizer 1990.

The very first spike protein vaccine for Coronavirus.

Isn’t that fascinating?

Isn’t it fascinating that we were, we were told that, well, the spike protein is a new thing.

We just found out that that’s the problem.

No.

As a matter of fact, we didn’t just find out it was not just now.

Now the problem, we found that out in 1990 and filed the first patents on vaccines in 1990 for the spike protein of Coronavirus.

And who would’ve thought Pfizer?

Clearly the innocent organization that does nothing but promote human health.

Clearly, Pfizer, the organization that has not bought the votes in this chamber, in every chamber of every government around the world, not that Pfizer, certainly they wouldn’t have had anything to do with this, but oh yes, they did.

And in 1990 they found out that there was a problem with vaccines.

They didn’t work.

You know why they didn’t work?

It turns out that Coronavirus is a very malleable model.

It transforms and it changes, and it mutates over time.

As a matter of fact, every publication on vaccines for Coronavirus from 1990 until 2018, every single publication concluded that Coronavirus escapes the vaccine impulse because it modifies and mutates too quickly for vaccines to be effective.

And since 1990 to 2018, that is the published science ladies and gentlemen, that’s following the science, following the science is their own indictment of their own programs that said, it doesn’t work.

And there are thousands of publications to that effect, not a few hundred. And not paid for by pharmaceutical companies.

These are publications that are independent scientific research that shows unequivocally including efforts of the chimera modifications made by Ralph Bair in the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

All of them show vaccines do not work on Coronavirus.

That’s the science, and that science has never been disputed.

But then we had an interesting development in 2002, and this date is most important because in 2002, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill patented, and I quote, an infectious replication defective clone of Coronavirus.

Listen to those words … Infectious replication, defective.

What does that phrase actually mean?

For those of you not familiar with language, let me unpack it for you.

Infectious replication.

Defective means a weapon.

It means something meant to target an individual but not have collateral damage to other individuals.

That’s what infectious replication defective means.

And that patent was filed in 2002 on work funded by NIAD’s Anthony Fauci from 1999 to 2002, and that work patented at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill mysteriously preceded SARS 1.0 by a year.

“Dave, are you suggesting that SARS 1.0 wasn’t from a wet market in Wuhan?”

“Are you suggesting it might have come from a laboratory in the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill?”

No, I’m not suggesting it.

I’m telling you that’s the facts we engineered SARS.

SARS is not a naturally occurring phenomenon.

The naturally occurring phenomenon is called the common cold.

It’s called influenza-like illness.

It’s called gastroenteritis.

That’s the naturally occurring Coronavirus.

SARS is the research developed by humans weaponizing a life system model to actually attack human beings, and they patented it in 2002.

And in 2003, giant surprise, the CDC filed the patent on Coronavirus isolated from humans in violation once again of biological and chemical weapons, treaties and laws that we have in the United States, and I’m very, very precise on this.

United States likes to talk about its rights and everything else, and the rule of law and all the nonsense that we like to talk about, but we don’t ratify treaties about, I don’t know, defending humans.

We conspicuously avoid that we actually have a great track record of advocating for human rights and then denying them when it comes to actually being part of the international community, which is a slightly problematic thing.

But let’s get something very clear.

When the CDC, in April of 2003 filed the patent on SARS Coronavirus isolated from humans, what did they do?

They downloaded a sequence from China, and filed a patent on it in the United States.

Any of you familiar with biological and chemical weapons treaties knows that’s a violation.

That’s a crime.

That’s not an innocent, oops; that’s a crime.

And the United States Patent Office went as far as to reject that patent application on two occasions until the CDC decided to bribe the patent office to override the patent examiner to ultimately issue the patent in 2007 on SARS Coronavirus.

But let’s not let that get away from us, because it turns out that the RT PCR, which was the test that we allegedly were going to use to identify the risks associated with Coronavirus, was actually identified as a bioterrorism threat by me in the European Union sponsored events in 2002 and 2003, 20 years ago that happened here in Brussels and across Europe.

In 2005, this particular pathogen was specifically labelled as a bioterrorism and bioweapon platform technology, described as such.

That’s not my terminology that I’m applying to it.

It was actually described as a bioweapons platform technology in 2005.

And from 2005 onwards, it was actually a bio warfare enabling agent.

It’s official classification from 2005 forward.

I don’t know if that sounds like public health to you, does it?

Biological warfare enabling technology that feels like not public health, that feels like not medicine, that feels like a weapon, designed to take out humanity.
That’s what it feels like, and it feels like that because that’s exactly what it is.

We have been lured into believing that EcoHealth Alliance and DARPA and all of these organizations are what we should be pointing to.

But we’ve been specifically requested to ignore the facts that over $10 billion have been funnelled through black operations, through the check of Anthony Fauci and a side-by-side ledger where NIAD has a balance sheet, and next to it is a biodefense balance sheet.

Equivalent dollar for dollar matching that no one in the media talks about, and it’s been going on since 2005.

Our gain of function moratorium.

The moratorium that was supposed to freeze any efforts to do gain of function research.

Conveniently, in the fall of 2014, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill received a letter from NIAD saying that while the gain of function moratorium on Coronavirus in vivo should be suspended, because their grants had already been funded, they received an exemption.

Did you hear what I just said?

A biological weapons lab facility at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill received an exemption from the gain of function moratorium so that by 2016 we could publish the journal article that said SARS Coronavirus is poised for human emergence in 2016 and what, you might ask Dave, was the Coronavirus poised for human emergence?

It was WIV ONE.

Wuhan Institute of Virology Virus One.

Poised for human emergence in 2016 at the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, such that by the time we get to 2017 and 2018, the following phrase entered into common parlance among the community, there is going to be an accidental or intentional release of a respiratory pathogen.

The operative word, obviously in that phrase, the word release, does that sound like leak?

Does that sound like a bat and a Pangolin went into a bar in the Wuhan market and hung out and had sex?

And, and lo and behold, we got SARS Cov-2.

No accidental or intentional release of a respiratory pathogen was the terminology used.

And four times in April of 2019, seven months before the allegation of patient number one, four patent applications of Moderna were modified to include the term accidental or intentional release of a respiratory pathogen as the justification for making a vaccine for a thing that did not exist.

If you have not done so, please make sure that you make reference in every investigation to the premeditation nature of this, because it was in September of 2019 that the world was informed.
That we were going to have an accident or intentional release of a respiratory pathogen so that by September, 2020 there would be a worldwide acceptance of a universal vaccine template.
That’s their words right in front of you on the screen.

The intent was to get the world to accept a universal vaccine template, and the intent was to use Coronavirus to get there.

Let’s, let’s read this because we have to read this into the record everywhere I go.

“Until an infectious disease crisis is very real present and at the emergency threshold that is often largely ignored to sustain the funding base beyond the crisis.”

He said, “we need to increase the public understanding for the need for medical countermeasures, such as a pan influenza or pan coronavirus vaccine.”

“A key driver is the media and the economics will follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage to get to the real issues. Investors will respond if they see profit at the end of the process.”

Sounds like public health.

Sounds like the best of humanity.

No.

Ladies and gentlemen, this was premeditated domestic terrorism stated at the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, published in front of them.

This is an act of biological and chemical warfare perpetrated on the human race, and it was admitted to in writing that this was a financial heist and a financial fraud.

“Investors will follow if they see profit at the end of the process.”

Let me conclude by making five very brief recommendations.

The last slide, nature was hijacked.

This whole story started in 1965 when we decided to hijack a natural model and decide to start manipulating it.

Science was hijacked when the only questions that could be asked were questions authorized under the patent protection of the CDC, the FDA, the NIH, and their equivalent organizations around the world.

We didn’t have independent science.

We had hijacked science, and unfortunately there was no moral oversight in violation of all of the codes that we stand for.

There was no independent, financially disinterested independent review board ever empanelled around Coronavirus.

Not once, not once, not since 1965.

We do not have a single independent IRB ever empanelled, around Coronavirus.

So, morality was suspended for medical countermeasures, and ultimately humanity was lost because we decided to allow it to happen.

Our job today is to say, no more gain of function research period.

No more weaponization of nature period.

And most importantly, no more corporate patronage of science for their own self-interest unless they assume 100% product liability for every injury and every death that they maintain.
Thank you very much.

Dr David E. Martin

The post Plandemic- Warp Speed Was a Lie: Pfizer Had Its First Spike Protein Vaccine Patent for Coronavirus Over Thirty Years Ago appeared first on Granite Grok.

Over at Gizmodo, they put up two videos that have exactly that – square tires that actually work. The first is an adult-sized tricycle with square tires that go round ‘n round – but on a specially made track but unless you have that track, you aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

However, this video shows the real deal – square tires for the real world. It’s very disconcerting at first – at first blush, tires that “should” be turning aren’t, but the bicycle is moving forward as expected as the bicyclist is moving his legs in the proper fashion (yes, an ad is embedded in the front of the real content which shows the construction process):

 



 

It’s actually a cute bit of engineering to make the tread follow the outline of the “wheel.”  So yes, square wheels do work with a lot of effort.

The post Palate Cleanser: Who Says That Wheels Can’t Be Square? appeared first on Granite Grok.

Imagine the nightmare narrative taking place in the past if you knew what was going to happen before Pearl Harbor, or 911. Would you wake the town and tell the people, or cower in silence for fear everyone would call you a conspiracy nut? Such is my dilemma today.

Consider the Biden family’s longtime criminal collusion with Communist China in exchange for millions of dollars, even during his Vice Presidency. Underneath the honor owed the office of the presidency, there is an existing reality that poses the question: Does the president deserve to be called Benedict Biden?

Even after his Administration seems to be paying the Chinese back by inviting 6 million illegals to invade our borders, one wonders if he has ever done anything for the American people with his promotion of Agenda 30 to destroy our economy.

Maybe you wonder why The New American magazine has been taken down from YouTube. Truth is a “lonely warrior!” We cannot be surprised that coverage of The House Oversight Committee exposes the Biden Administration’s Deep State partnering and control of our federal Intelligence, policing, and security agencies. For these agencies have, over the past two Administrations, picked who are the criminal enemies of the state. It seems their premise of justice is based on the Communist principle of reversal: “Alway accuse your political enemies of what you are guilty of.” Today, President Trump is their target. Tomorrow, you will be added while the criminal activity of the Biden Administration is ignored.

As citizens of New Hampshire, we must act like we believe General John Starks famous cry for liberty:
“Live Free or Die.”

Don’t be “The summer soldier and sunshine patriot” that Tom Paine described.

This is Valley Forge time again.

As with our forefathers, we only need three % of the population to hear the truth and act. I challenge the reader to view the below video,14 minutes and 26 seconds of dynamite truth to counteract this criminal conspiracy that is the reason Biden rules as if the Chinese vote for him. Then contact local Sheriffs, State and local police, plus State and federal legislators. Volunteer to be a soldier in this “war for liberty.

 

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The post Treason Is The Reason appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Education Rules for New Hampshire Schools is up for revision. Unfortunately, this task was handed over to Fred Bramante, President of the National Center for Competency-Based Learning. 

Commissioner Edelblut and members of the New Hampshire Board of Education:

I am writing today in an effort to offer an assessment and feedback of the proposed ED 306 rules that have been put forward by Fred Bramante, President of the National Center for Competency-Based Learning. Based on the revisions and the process that produced them, I ask that the Board reject the revisions and ask for more structured, constructive and specific changes to the CBE framework.

You will see why I was extremely disappointed that an organization led by Fred Bramante, was put in charge of this important task. With no independent or peer reviewed studies on Competency Based Education in New Hampshire, why would this task be handed over to an individual, and organization with an agenda? This appears to be a conflict of interest.

CBE is currently required of public schools per state statute; however, with no conclusive evidence that CBE has contributed to improved student literacy since its inception, how are we to have confidence in rules that appear to be self-serving? Who really benefits from an even bigger push for CBE in the public schools? According to national assessments (NAEP), we are not seeing any real improvements using this model.

1. WHAT HISTORY SHOWS

History shows us that standards based education, or Competency Based Education as it’s called today, has never been a model that improves academic outcomes. When it was called Mastery Learning in Chicago in the 80’s, Outcome Based Education in the 90’s, or Competency Based Education starting in 2003, this SAME model was not about improving literacy. One would think that instead of implementing more of this model, a thorough and authentic review would be in order. We should not accept this biased reporting, but instead expect an independent and peer reviewed study that gives us an accurate look at how this model has actually impacted academic outcomes over the past two decades.

After reviewing NAEP scores, I have the strong impression that we are spending a lot of time and money redesigning public education into a workforce model that continues to leave many of our students illiterate in the core academic subjects. The continued use of clearly lowered standards in math, science and English coupled with the CBE emphasis on workforce skills, is failing many of our children in our public schools.

The big push for CBE came during the Obama presidency when he announced during a State of the Union that they’d be redesigning public education into the workforce model.

2. WHAT PARENTS SEE AND THINK

Those of us who attended the listening session on these proposed rules, did not expect to encounter a salesman –but that’s exactly what we got. Instead we needed to hear facts, truth and information. If there are some components to CBE that are working well, great, let’s hear it. But it’s also important to be honest with the audience on what is not working well.

Here are some of the many complaints I’ve encountered by public school staff, students and parents. The poor performance or lack of significant improvement in performance speaks for itself. The trend of NEAP scores for NH shows a student population barely “proficient” as defined. The other problems that come with CBE have also been left out of the discussion. Why? Why are we paying this organization to sell us a new model that cannot even be presented in an honest way? Public education has become a vehicle for those trying to profit off of fads, and ideas that experiment on children. In this case, CBE is a product to sell now, just like the book Bramante sells on Amazon.

3. DISHONEST PACKAGING

Problems with CBE as reported by Students, Staff and Parents:
1) It creates lazy students who can take tests multiple times.

2) NH graduates are not prepared for college when they get used to not preparing for a test because they know they can just take another one.

3) The grading system is a joke. No one understands it, including college admission officers.

4) Teachers grade subjectively because they are grading attitudes, values and beliefs.

5) Less focus on academics and more focus on empty (21st Century) skills.

6) This is forced on every teacher in every grade.

7) Employers want literate employees, not dumbed down workers.

8) Competent in what ? Competencies lack academic content.

9) The Graduation Competencies mean nothing.

10) This has not helped to improve academics in the classroom.

11) This has created chaos and slowed down the learning process in the classroom because of group learning. (Project Based Learning)

12) The push for technology with 1:1 devices doesn’t benefit students–it profits the tech industry.

13) Kids are distracted by Youtube on their Chromebooks, and not doing their homework. Parents cannot take the digital device away from their kids because they need the Chromebook for school work.

14) As the kids are working on their Chromebook, bullying messages keep popping up.

15) No more focus on what’s best for our kids. Now it’s all about what’s best for business.

16) This is training, not education.

17) Minimum standards, minimum learning.

18) Narrowing of the curricula to the point where subjects like history and civics are minimized.

4. THE FLAWED OR SKEWED OBJECTIVE ENDORSED BY BRAMANTE

The CBE model pushed in New Hampshire didn’t come from a desire of parents to change the model. It came from organizations like Nellie Mae, Marc Tucker, Gates Foundation, Jeb Bush, and Betsy DeVos. Nellie Mae prioritizes Competency Based Education in our schools with a focus on racial equity. But what is their biggest priority for students? In their own documentation Nellie Mae prioritizes community organizing. Nellie Mae even references Saul Alinsky, and the history of community organizing at the end of the introduction.

This is not a call for improvement to literacy or academic excellence, this is a call to political action.

These education activist reformers have had someone to push this model in New Hampshire over the last two decades. The sole study cited by Mr. Bramante in support of CBE during his listening tour, was produced by Nellie Mae through RFA. RFA, which offers education research for racial and social justice. conducted a two-year, mixed-methods study of New Hampshire’s extended learning opportunities (ELO) initiative. Funded by the Nellie Mae Educational Foundation, the study focused on assessing the implementation and effectiveness of ELOs on college and career readiness in districts across the state. These conclusions have not been evaluated and are not relevant to learning in elementary and secondary education.

Mr. Bramante offers us one study, and it’s funded by Nellie Mae? That’s the equivalent to Ford saying they have the safest cars on the road, but use a study paid for by Ford. That’s not exactly unbiased or independent. The explicit political agenda put forth by RFA and Nellie Mae, makes it impossible to have any faith in what is being presented.

KnowledgeWorks’ explains their work on CBE in New Hampshire: Policy Conditions in Action: Comprehensive Supports for Educators and Leaders in New Hampshire. In 2011, a group of postsecondary leaders in New Hampshire formed the IHE Network to influence policymakers and engage practitioners to promote innovative programs and policies that link educator preparation, new educator induction and ongoing professional development in the state.

KnowledgeWorks’ explains that they are replacing academics with competency-based learning which they see mirroring the “anti-racist” work of Marxist Ibram X. Kendi. KnowledgeWorks also says our Constitution is racist and that education has to fix that.

5. LEARNING A LESSON FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

Good managers or executives do not surround themselves with “yes-men.” Instead they rely upon honest subordinates to spell out what is working, and what is not working. They explain to their bosses what significant changes will mean if they go forward with the change that is being presented. They do not rely upon a slick salesperson to sell them an idea that will not work well when implemented. Where are the critical thinkers? Where is the critical analysis of CBE?

 

This process would never be accepted in a competitive Fortune 500 company. The CEO would be given his marching orders with results like these using a biased study from a politically motivated source. The people of New Hampshire deserve and expect accuracy, honesty and a professional who presents information to the public without bias.

I’m embarrassed for all involved at the State level by the proposed rule changes document, and what has been allowed to happen in public education because no one is willing to be honest with the taxpayers in New Hampshire.

6. IN SUMMARY

There are plenty of critiques on CBE because this model has a long history of failure where it’s been tried.

1) Why Competency Based Education Will Deepen America’s Education Crisis
2) State Rep. Sampson: In Maine schools, ‘proficiency’ may not mean what you think it does (In Maine they call it Proficiency Based Ed)

3) Proficiency Based Education: What Does It Really Mean?

4) Competency-based education may not be a new concept

5) Is Competency-Based Education Just A Recycled Failed Policy?

I urge you and the Board to challenge this process and to critically address the proposed rules.

I recommend to terminate or amend the following proposed rules:

1) (4) Records retention, including electronic files; (4) Records retention, including electronic files, which shall require that: a. Complete and accurate records of students’ attendance and scholarship be permanently kept and safely stored in a fire-resistant file, vault, or safe; b. A schedule for the retention and disposition of original records and information be established in accordance with RSA 189:29-a; c. Access to all student records and information be controlled by written procedures designed to protect individual rights and to preserve the confidential nature of the various types of records in compliance with the federal “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,” U.S.C. Paragraphs a. – d. were moved from Ed 306.04(g)

This section should include a requirement that any records that are shared or released must include written consent from the individual. FERPA includes a loophole that allows those with exceptions to access PII.

2) (11) Promotion of a school environment that is conducive to learning and supports strong family and community partnerships; (10) Promotion of a school environment that is conducive to learning and supports strong family and community partnerships. Such policy shall include: a. Engagement opportunities for parents and family members of students of all ages and learning levels; b. Parent educational activities throughout the school year to help parents support their children’s learning; c. Curricular and learning materials made available to parents, consistent with copyright licensure of such materials; d. Frequent communication of school performance, student progress, and personalized learning plans, using both print and online formats; e. Working with agencies and businesses to support community-based developmental activities that prepare young children for school and promote ongoing achievement; f. Promote collaboration among parents, schools, and community on school improvement and student achievement projects;

This is a positive improvement by making materials available to parents, and supports transparency.

 

3) Personal Learning Plans were removed as they should be since there was no legislation supporting PLPs, and it’s unrealistic to expect any school system to develop, and implement such plans for every student in the school.

4) (b) “Career and technical education” means organized educational activities that offer a sequence of learning opportunities that:

Define what is meant by changing courses to learning opportunities. How does this impact classes such as Algebra I, Chemistry, History?

5) (2) For the hiring and training of educators certified under Ed 500 to facilitate learning in their certified content area;

By using the term “facilitate” versus “instruct,” this language attempts to tell teachers how to teach. This should always be left to local teachers in conjunction with administrators and parents. It is not the role of the Department of Education to suggest or mandate teaching methods–especially when this kind of pedagogy has been proven to be ineffective in courses like math and science.

6) Pursuant to RSA 189:1 and RSA 189:24, each school district shall maintain a school year as provided below, which shall identify the total instructional hours offered, and recognize that students advance upon demonstrated acknowledgment of competencies, not based on seat time, pursuant to Ed 306.27(h):

Designed to address the personalized needs of students, including, but not limited to, dropout prevention, soft skills, and career pathways; and

Soft skills need to be defined IN all areas of ED306 as many have now included dispositions. SEL competencies are now being developed. This indicates a move towards the State determining the values, attitudes and beliefs children should possess. This is a government overreach.

Eg. CASEL Competencies include competencies for “social awareness.” https://www.positiveaction.net/blog/sel-competencies
AZ Department of Education Competencies include Transformative Social and Emotional Competencies which are viewed through an equity lens.
https://files.constantcontact.com/cbebfe4e101/a4409e5b-d8d4-4cfe-afaa-7b4154ac77af.pdf

(5) Emphasis on important learning skills and dispositions.

The term “dispositions? facilitate? reduces or minimizes the role of the teacher in the classroom. The State should not be mandating pedagogy. Facilitating the learning of mathematics can be translated into teachers using a Constructivist approach to learning. This pedagogy has been heavily criticized by some top mathematicians who would argue that direct instruction is a more effective way to teach mathematics.

Legislators did not support a focus on dispositions when Competency Based Education was discussed by the House Education Committee. It is not the role of the State to develop the dispositions students need to have in order to pass their competencies. That is the STATE determining what VALUES a student must possess in order to pass their competencies.

6) If a district employs a school psychologist as an optional service pursuant to RSA 189:49, IV, the standards in (b)-(e), in addition to the requirements below, shall apply. (1) Nothing in this section shall prevent a school district from contracting services with a qualified school psychologist. Revised language (2) All such psychological services must comply with federal Every Student Succeeds Act requirements, including informed written consent; and (3) All such services must comply with state and federal student privacy laws and rules.

This is a welcome addition, but should be spelled out with more details since school administrators lack the ability to determine what are considered mental health assessments and services. A licensed Child Psychologist PhD should be able to provide a more detailed comprehensive list of services that would qualify as mental health services, and be authorized for school implementation.

 

7) “ Graduating competencies” lack a great deal of specific academic content that should be mastered in the core classes. What does a NH Diploma represent ?

8) Competency Based Education is expanded significantly in this document without any evidence to support it.

9) (a) “Acknowledgement of achievement” means when a student has demonstrated achievement of competencies at a proficient level associated with a program or course of study;

A student may complete the class and pass their competencies, but it does not mean that they have mastered all of the academic content in the core subject. This is a misleading statement. It would depend on the program chosen, if all concepts are taught and mastered. For instance, there are key missing concepts with Common Core math that may not be taught. https://static.ark.org/eeuploads/lt-gov/Errors_and_Omissions_In_CC_Math_Standards_Milgram-Wurman.pdf  The core competencies, many times, lack academic content.

10) “Proficiency” means the minimum student performance required to satisfy the acknowledgement of a competency, and is distinguished from mastery, which is a level of performance that exceeds proficiency;

The goal is mediocrity versus excellence. This is what we got with Common Core, and this is what we get with Competency Based Education.

11) (3) Discipline, including behavior management and intervention for students. Such policy shall: a. Include provisions regarding student rights and responsibilities, rules of conduct, and penalties for misbehavior;

Change penalties to consequences.

12) (5) Character and citizenship, developed in consultation with school staff, administration, parents, and other representatives of the community, which shall incorporate in courses of study or instill in a caring educational environment, the following elements: a. Self-discipline, self-respect, and self-control; b. Pursuant to Part 2, Article 83 of the New Hampshire Constitution, humanity, benevolence, and truth and honesty with self and others; c. Fairness, integrity, and justice; d. Respect, courtesy, and human worth; e. Responsibility to oneself and others; f. Community service; and g. The rights and responsibilities of citizenship, pursuant to RSA 186:13, which shall be developed in consultation with school staff, administration, parents, and…..

While these may be admirable goals, is this more class time taken away from learning the academics? Should this apply to all children, even those who already possess these characteristics? Should they apply to only the children who are lacking these characteristics?

13) (4) In each middle and high school, a library media specialist to support the learning resources program and facility requirements of Ed 306.08; and

The change from “instructional” to “learning” indicates another change to the pedagogy. Facilitating the learning can be interpreted to mean teachers are no longer to instruct. This was a hotly debated topic among math professors in the 90’s when there was a push for constructivist learning versus direct instruction in mathematics. This led to fuzzy math and the math wars. The losers in this war were the children who no longer were instructed in mathematics, but were left to discover math. Inquiry math led students directly to private tutoring centers if their parents had the means to provide explicit instruction. RETURN all references to learning BACK to instruction. Bramante confirmed in the listening session that teachers were moving away from instructing to facilitating. That may be an education reformer’s agenda, but it’s not in state statute, and it shouldn’t be decided by anyone other than the teacher, administrators, while working with parents.

14) (c) The school board shall require that each school with an enrollment of 500 or more students provides
the services of an associate principal or 2 or more persons with administrative certification under Ed 506 who together act as a full-time equivalent to carry out administrative duties assigned by the superintendent in accordance with school board policy

Local is removed from this and other statements in the document. One of the concerns for this removal is the criticism that eventually local school boards will be completely removed in the CBE model. This deliberate move towards eliminating local school boards without any reference to local residents driving this agenda appears to be more of a centralized decision forced upon the residents of New Hampshire, who are the primary funders of their public schools. This appears to be agenda driven without any legislative action.

15) (a) Pursuant to RSA 189:1 and RSA 189:24, each school district shall maintain a school year as provided below, which shall identify the total instructional hours offered, and recognize that students advance upon demonstrated
acknowledgment of competencies, not based on seat time, pursuant to Ed 306.27(h):

Competencies do not insure the student has mastered the academic content. Competencies may not cover all of the content in a core academic subject since CBE is skills focused versus focused on academic content and knowledge.

16) (1) Designed to address the personalized needs of students, including, but not limited to, dropout prevention, soft skills, and career pathways; and

Soft skills can mean anything, and have been criticized by those who see a shift away from academics to a focus on empty skills. Soft Skills need to be defined.

17) (6) Preventative and responsive services employing theories and research related to resilience, risk factors, and multi-tiered prevention, to support evidence based strategies for effective counseling, crisis response, and behavioral
intervention;

We know that mental health PII is now accessible to the Universities contracted to report back to the Federal Government on MTSS-B. The reports lack credible evidence that the MTSS-B is having a positive impact on the mental health of students in our schools. It has become a way for school counselors to ignore their ethical boundaries, turn schools into mental health providers, while hiring staff that lack the education and credentials needed to serve the students who truly need mental health services.

With the increase in reporting on escalating behavior problems in schools reported by teachers and parents, this is another costly program in our schools.

Mental health in schools should only be handled by a licensed PhD Child Psychologist.

18) Mathematics Program. (a) The school board shall provide a mathematics program at each elementary school consistent with competencies pursuant to Ed 306.26, which may include:(1) Opportunities for all students to solve problems by:a. Using multiple strategies;
Multiple strategies tells a teacher how to teach mathematics. In this case, it equates to forcing a teacher to teach a student how to divide using different algorithms. This has led to confusion, and children never mastering the traditional long division algorithm. This is a decision that should be made by the local teacher.

The competencies in the core subjects does not indicate a student would be competent in those core classes. CBE misleads parents into believing if their child passes the competencies, they have mastered all of the academic content. The competencies reflect skills, and are oftentimes void of quality academic content.

There is a deliberate attempt to incorporate the CBE model into the rules with no evidence it has helped elevate academic outcomes. That change comes with an agenda to change the pedagogy in the classroom by minimizing the role of teachers or instructors. The practices that continue with this model have had a negative impact on student behavior, and all of this has been ignored by Fred Bramante.
—
Ann Marie Banfield
TRUST REQUIRES TRANSPARENCY

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Hon. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, On behalf of Texas voters who elected you three times, mainly due to your impeccable record and service, I am disheartened, disappointed, and frankly, quite angry that a few disenfranchised political hacks filed 20 articles of impeachment against you, led by Rep. Andrew Murr.

This is an illegal investigation. The Texas Constitution prohibits this impeachment. This secret committee is a farce.

Throughout your distinguished career, you have served Texas with honor and dignity.

It takes great bravery to stand up to our enemies but just as much to stand up to our so-called friends. When you stand up for what is right, you are attacked by the left and sometimes by the right, as we have witnessed with Senator Ted Cruz and President Trump, who stood up to the Deep State. Now, this scenario is being repeated against you. I am asking the voters to bombard the Texas switchboard by dialing 512-475-4413 or 1-800-252-8011 and their Texas Representative to express our outrage. Ken has diligently stood up against illegal same-sex marriage to fight Biden’s abuse of executive power.

Most of us agree that politics is an outlandish craft. Irrespective of all considerations, you always have political enemies who want nothing more than your jugular ripped apart.

Your tireless campaign and forthright exposition of his vision assure the electorate and voters that the best-qualified public servant is at the helm in the office of the Attorney General. The voters must not allow him to stand alone at this crucial moment.

As President Trump repeatedly states: “They’re not after me. They are after you. I’m just in the way.”

 

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May 3rd was the Executive Council’s hearing on NH Governor Chris Sununu’s appointee to a Superior Court judgeship, Anne Edwards. A number of people gave testimony, including Dan Richard, a Constitutional Activist.

Here is his testimony again.  Listen closely when Dan begins to talk about how absentee ballots are to be handled by Town Clerks and Moderators when it comes time to count them:

 



 

That ruffled the feathers of our Ruling Class, specifically SecState Scanlan and Attorney Formella. They sent out a formal letter telling those local officials to “never mind those people behind the smoke and curtains” because THEY are the experts.

NEW HAMPSIRE
DEPARTMENT OF STATE

David M. ScanlanMay 18, 2023

Moderators
Town and City Clerks Supervisors of the Checklist

Re: Attorney General & Secretary of State arc the Official Sources of Election Information

Dear Moderators, Clerks, and Supervisors:

As we prepare for the First-in-the-Nation Presidential Primary and elections, advocacy groups and individuals may reach out to you with recommendations on how to register voters and conduct elections. The Attorney General and the Secretary of State are the official sources of election guidance. Our offices work hard to respond promptly to your questions and concerns. Just as we ask the public to recognize you as a trusted source of information on voter registration and local elections, we ask you to recognize our offices as the trusted source of election guidance.

Some seeking to change how New Hampshire conducts elections are appealing directly to local officials. They may use misleading titles such as “NH Election Official Program Manager.” Others may suggest you:

• Amend existing election procedures or adopt new ones;
• Follow their written instructions that are either missing information or contain incorrect information;
• Fill out forms that look like official forms required by law or recommended by the SOS Office.

Our guidance is based on the state’s election laws. Individuals advocating for changes in our election procedures should contact the State Legislature and seek bills to change the law. Please be cautious when considering recommendations from anyone outside of our office or the Attorney General’s Office.

Voters have an equal right to vote, and candidates have an equal right to seek election in all towns and city wards in New Hampshire. Adopting and following uniform election procedures helps ensure our elections are equal. Uniform procedures and transparency help instill voter confidence.

Please feel free to contact me or a member of my staff anytime you have a question. I value your trust and welcome recommendations for enhancing New Hampshire elections. We rely on you as the first line of defense for our elections. Thank you for your hard work and all you do for New Hampshire’s voters.

New Hampshire will hold the First-in-the-Nation Primary!

Sincerely,

Secreta1y of State

…and Scanlon admitted that they haven’t been following the Law – which he said during the same Anne Edwards hearing.

 

 

If Dan Richard had never brought this issue up (as Edwards has been involved in Election Law as part of the AG’s office, so it was valid to say in testimony in her hearing), I doubt that this email would have ever gone out.

It also raises questions in my mind now as to what “misinformation” they are talking about.

Why didn’t Scanlan DIRECTLY address the “how to handle absentee ballots” issue he raised? I would have assumed that would have been part of that message!  Instead, that email, in my mind, is rather vague in nature, given that Scanlan and Formella are “nuancing detail.”  Have they not read the polls stating that the Public’s level of Trust in institutions, especially Governmental ones, is dropping like the proverbial rock?

After all, we all have had a healthy dose from “health experts” to “do this and not do that” during the Pandemic (even in the late stages), only to start seeing those “in charge” starting to admit that those “conspiracy nutcases” (although never specifically mentioning names) were, in many cases, right. Like with the face diapers that were of no use at all. That the mRNA shots (not vaccines) were not tested thoroughly, had bad side effects for some, stopped the J&J vaccine, and now are admitting to a whole raft of other things that contradicted what they said was “health gospel”.

I called Dan and he offered up this tidbit of Law from another Supreme Court decision – emphasis mine:

New Hampshire common law has been established, “From these, and similar circumstances, therefore, it has happened, that questions of this nature have not always been examined with that coolness, and patience, which their importance deserved; and that since the adoption of our constitutions, courts of justice, as well as legislative bodies, have furnished [201] some complaints, that their jurisdiction has been violated, when those complaints were not founded upon sound principles or respectable precedents.

Conscious of the force of these considerations, we have in the present cause, experienced considerable embarrassment: but duty has compelled us to act, and it hardly need be repeated, that we have attempted to divest ourselves of every feeling, except an earnest desire to perform what duty dictated.” It must be admitted that courts ought to decide, according “to the laws of the land,” all cases, which are submitted to their examination. To do this, however, we must examine those laws. (2) Federalist, No. 78; [Dash v. Van Kleeck,] 7 Johns. 494 [, 5 Am. Dec. 291]; 3 Cook 7; 6 Bac. Stat.H. The constitution is one of them, and “is in fact, and must be regarded by the judges as a fundamental law.” (3) Federalist, No. 78. It was created by the people, who in our republics, are “the supreme power,” (4) Bill of Rights, art. 8, and, it being the expression of their will, their agents, as are all the branches of government, (5) Bill of Rights, art. 8, can perform no act which, if contrary to that will, should be deemed lawful.

To deny this, would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of power may do, ‘not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.’

Their oaths of office too, prohibit, and the constitution itself, in express terms, prohibits the legislature from making “laws repugnant or contrary to the constitution.” If then there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the constitution and a statute, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought of course to be preferred: in other words,” “the intention of the people ought to be preferred to the intention of their agents.” [55] “Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposes, that the power of the people is superior to both; and that where the will of the legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that of the people, declared in the constitution, the judges [202] ought to be governed by the latter, rather than the former.

They ought to regulate their decision by the fundamental laws, rather than by those, which are not fundamental. Our Confidence, also, in the liberality of the legislature is such, that when, through inadvertence of mistake, they passed a unauthorized act, we believe that, should the unpleasant task of adjudging it void devolve upon us, they would think the task is performed only from a conviction that the act is in the clearest manner unconstitutional, and the right and duty so to pronounce it are both unquestionable… Merrill v Sherburne 1 N.H. 199

It’s one thing to be told wrong things. It is totally different when we now know “the rest of the story” – then it becomes gaslighting, especially when the gaslighting is done to divert us all from fundamental Law (which can be inconvenient, pesky, troublesome, and a roadblock to their intentions).

Again, Article 8 of our NH Constitution requires the responsibility of us all to hold our elected and appointed leaders accountable to us – and not us to them (though they seem to be trying hard to flip that relationship).

 

The post Eh, NH Secretary of State David Scanlan? Which one is it? appeared first on Granite Grok.

In SAU21, we spend $30,000.00/student. We should expect better for the students who attend public schools in NH.

Dear SAU21 Joint Board Members,
Since I was unable to complete my statement during the Joint Board meeting, I’m going to highlight some of the concerns I had after reviewing the “Portrait of a Learner.” I appreciate your service to the community and your thoughtful consideration.

I have to admit that I was surprised that no one asked any challenging questions or offered a thoughtful, critical analysis after the presentation. I felt that this was a good opportunity to engage in a back-and-forth in order to make sure this framework is the best it can be. It was mentioned that it took about a year to develop this framework, but as a taxpayer and resident, I believe your role is to make sure that you are engaging in a conversation that seeks to improve what has been presented.

As I began reading the document, I felt it needed further explanation and some changes to make it better. I do understand that there are working documents that will follow and that may address some of these questions and concerns. But I would have expected at least some of you to ask more detailed questions and offer suggestions to improve the framework.

Core Theme #1 Academics
1) What does Equity mean? This has become a buzzword that should be defined in order for the community to understand exactly what this means for students. Why not Equality?

2) Support Structures for all students? How would support structures look for students with IEP’s, 504 plans, gifted students, etc. Are adequate support structures in place now?

3) Rigor? What does this mean in terms of Common Core & the Next Generation Science Standards that have been considered the “bottom?” Rigor can demoralize a child but it can also offer a challenge to students who need it.

4) Personalized Pathways. What does this mean for each child? We know some students have Individualized Education Plans, but what does this mean for the average student? At what age is a child able to determine what pathway they will take? How do you personalize an education for all children in the classroom? What does this mean for the teacher? Is this a tracking system? If so, how does the student move to a different track if they want to change their pathway?

5) Literacy in the core academic subjects is not listed

Core Theme #2 Mindset Descriptors
1) Demonstrating Traits ? What does it mean to demonstrate traits ? What are the traits, and who determines the proper traits to demonstrate?

2) How do you teach resilience? Can that also create problems? Stress? Ect.

3) What about honesty? Integrity? Why were these not included?

4) What does Self Direction look like in the classroom ? What is the role of the teacher ? Is this a shift to Constructivist teaching methods? Where are the peer-reviewed and independent studies on this pedagogy as it applies to math/science, etc?

Core Theme #3 Essential Life Skills
1) What about literacy in the core subjects? Math, Science, Language Arts, History, Civics?

Core Theme #4
1) This area is focused on a child’s mental health. Mental health assessments or treatment should be handled by a Phd Child Psychologist who is licensed, and follows the APA Code of Ethics. Mental health assessments or treatment must be done with informed consent by parents per ESSA. Parents must know if their child’s mental health PII is secure, and can only be accessible through informed consent by the student/parent/guardian. (Exception, court order)

Theme #5 Community Engagement
1) Civic engagement. What does this look like? Civics literacy is at an all time low. Why is Civics literacy not listed? What about the importance of Civic Virtue? ..or Civic Responsibility? Students are engaging more than ever, but engagement does not equal literacy. Civics should prioritize academic knowledge first.

Global citizenship? What about U.S. Citizenship? Why is Global Citizenship included but not US Citizenship? Can the students answer basic questions about the major principles and structures of our own government?

Problems with Portrait of a Learner: Portrait of a Learner leaves out academic excellence as a priority for the student. Literacy is never mentioned. Proficiency in the core subjects is also not included.

There is nothing about parents, and their role. There is nothing about the importance of securing student privacy from outside organizations/individuals/ or vendors.

Only one board member abstained from voting for this framework. While I do appreciate the effort by those involved in preparing the framework, I believe this could be better. New Hampshire public schools are seeing a decrease in enrollment while families look for alternative schools to educate their children. We need to do better for the students in SAU21.

Ann Marie Banfield

MORE on Portrait of a Learner here and here.

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But what about the OTHER paying customer that is having THEIR seat taken up by you? Chopped liver? At 5’11”,  my heaviest weight was 257 lbs with a 48″ (or more) waist. My BMI, at 35.8 put me into the Obese category. I am at 182 lbs (at the time of this writing – remember, I’m in a Weight Challenge with GIP’s Tom Murray), and my BMI is now 25.4.

According to the chart, that makes just a smidge over Normal Weight.

1. Underweight = BMI of less than 18.5
2. Normal weight = BMI of 18.5 to 24.9
3. Overweight = BMI of 25 to 29.9
4. Obese = BMI of 30 or greater

(H/T: Legion Athletics)

Once I hit my goal of 178 lbs, I’ll be “Normal” (take THAT how you want!) and close to the weight I was in college 50 years ago. Yes, I will have to admit, my body composition is a lot different now – back then, much more muscle mass. But still, 80 lbs down.

That’s why I have so much trouble with this (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Plus-Sized Influencer Tells Airlines to Give Obese Flyers Free Seats

Jaelyn Chaney, a plus-sized social media influencer, has called for airlines to give obese flyers as many free seats as they need to feel comfortable.

…“Being forced to occupy only one seat can result in pain and vulnerability to poor treatment from fellow passengers, including hateful comments, disapproving looks, and even refusal to sit next to them,” she wrote. “This mistreatment of plus-size passengers is unacceptable, and it highlights the urgent need for better policies that protect the dignity and rights of all passengers, regardless of size.”

“Unfortunately, plus-size passengers often experience discomfort and discrimination when flying. The lack of a uniform customer-of-size airline policy is unacceptable and must be addressed,” she added.

Always about “rights” and never about “responsibility.”  Sure thing, honey (that should get me some feedback). Love that “hateful comments” schtick – across all of Society now. No one can be criticized for anything, no matter what it is: it’s “hateful.” Sorry, if you are fat, you’re fat (and yes, I was fat – see above). This kind of thinking is exactly the same as Transgenderism in that all of US are supposed to cater to YOU because, hey, the universe is all about YOU, and the rest of us just orbit about your feelings and self-esteem. And it’s clear from her whining that she really doesn’t worry about the other “paying” customers – they are Oppressors, and she’s the Oppressed.

Victimization writ large.

Er, no. No, it’s not discrimination, and it isn’t racist just because you want to normalize your obesity or by calling it “Fat Acceptance.” No, this is not how Life works in that some individual “declares” the rest of us are evil, and we have to “pay fat reparations” (see, I can make crap up too!) to someone that ignores…

Sidenote: there ARE people with metabolic issues and diseases that are large that are not their fault at all. I know that, for instance, some anti-depression meds et al. can pack on the pounds even as that person is trying HARD not to gain weight. And there are some genetic abnormalities that play a role in weight gain as well. I don’t know if this person is one of them. If so, sorry, but there are other “fat influencers” that are doing the same thing (I’ve got more tabbed somewhere).

…that simple mathematical equation of “Weight = Calorie Intake – Calorie Expended.” Eat more than you burn off, and gain weight. For the same input, exercising more, in general, have you losing weight or inches (again, muscle weight replacing fat weight). Less input, especially for sedentary people (that would be me), means dropping the pounds.

Sorry, the push to “accept and then affirm” anything and everything has gotten out of hand. No, being fat is NOT healthy in the aggregate as it raises the possibilities of severe diseases like hypertension and diabetes tremendously, no matter what “the influencers” want us to believe and then live by.

And to speak to that “refusal to sit next to them” above, I personally know why having flown over 500K air miles in my career. It was not a pleasant long-haul flight with someone LARGE spilling over the armrests forcing me to sit at an odd angle all those hours. And, truth be told, many had body odor (and yes, so did some skinny people, too, but the possibility was higher with huge people). However, according to you, that’s just the “cracked egg” for your omelet, eh?

And just like all the other “marginalized groups” (I can’t believe that I’m using the euphemism for “small groups” for a large post), she has to make herself into a victim (addressing the bolded part below) and pulls out the “Emotion Card”:

Chaney previously chronicled her struggles while flying on Instagram. In one post, for instance, she said that people “can’t stand to see fat people happy” and strongly encouraged plus-sized followers to “be happy and take up space.”

“Go out and chase your dreams! Love your body exactly the way it is. Travel the world. Use life as a runway and strut your stuff no matter where you are. You are worthy of all the good things,” she said.

Perhaps. But like all the other “Social Justice” brands out there,  you are not entitled to feel good about yourself by making other people miserable.

 

The post People and Organizations Should NOT Be Forced To Cater To Fat People appeared first on Granite Grok.

Within the debate over the meaning of the Second Amendment, a lot of attention gets paid to the phrase “well-regulated militia.” Most of the time, the focus is on whether or not this phrase infers a collective right, or explains the need for the individual right to keep and bear arms.

What is often left out completely is whether a “well-regulated” militia is needed today as it was then.

In his 2023 paper The Modern Militia, Robert Leider argues in the affirmative. Rather than an obsolete institution outdated by changes to the federal government or the expansion of the U.S. military, Leider asserts that reemphasizing a nonprofessional citizen militia can help ease tensions between the professional military and civilian world, and also help the federal government as it faces an inevitable fiscal crisis.

“Most now view the standing army as central to our military system and the militia as anachronistic and largely extinct,” he writes. “Further, most believe that contemporary American society has jettisoned the Framers’ fears of standing armies.”

During the time of the American Revolution, all colonies except Pennsylvania required able-bodied men between 18 and 65 to be part of a local militia and show up to muster with functioning firearms.

Following the War for Independence, and during the debates over ratification of the Constitution, the issue of a permanent standing army was a source of enormous friction between Federalists and Antifederalists.

Their fears weren’t just based on what had occurred in other countries. The Continental Congress itself had almost faced a coup d’etat at the end of the war via the Newburgh Conspiracy. Officers of the Continental Army planned to march against Congress and force them to issue their back pay. Only an earnest plea by General George Washington convinced the conspirators to abandon their plans.

However, Leider notes the issue during the constitutional ratifying conventions wasn’t merely a national army, but a “professional” force of full-time soldiers who lacked roots, often came from the “dregs” of society, and who were subject to military rather than civilian law. As Leider writes:

“The militia, in contrast, largely avoided the armed faction problem. As nonprofessional citizen soldiers, militiamen were not culturally separate. Militiamen primarily lived as civilians. They had extensive ties to the community, including owning property, civilian employment, and families. Nor were they a legally distinct caste. Unlike regular soldiers who were subject to military law at all times, militiamen were only subject to the rigors of military law during war or in training. Otherwise, militiamen lived as ordinary civilians, subject only to civilian law and retaining their full civilian common law rights. Moreover, the general militia consisted of the entire able-bodied male population. Because the militia maintained an identity with the broader community, the militia was not its own faction within society.”

As Leider points out, for Antifederalists like Patrick Henry and George Mason, a national standing army would subvert the role local militia plays in maintaining domestic civil order.

“Nonprofessional soldiers reduce civil-military tensions by acting as a bridge between civilians living in a free and individualistic society and professional soldiers, who live under the hierarchal and anti-democratic constraints imposed by military law.”

Despite what some may claim about its irrelevancy, Leider says this distinction between the U.S. military and the state National Guard remains to this day.

“The Framers did not trust the regular military to engage in domestic law enforcement, and neither do we. This is why, on and after January 6, the National Guard provided extra security at the Capitol, not the Marines from Quantico.”

Leider argues that professional and nonprofessional soldiers are differentiated based on various criteria, including:

• Peacetime service
• Method of induction
• Enlisted personnel
• Scope of jurisdiction under military law
• Deployability
• Type of Conflict
• Wartime service

Put simply, the two entities are separate, unique, and fundamentally different in their respective roles.

“As two different military systems, standing armies and militias have different strengths and weaknesses,” Leider writes. “For example, standing armies are usually more proficient in warfare than citizens called into temporary militia service. But standing armies are also expensive to maintain, and they can threaten the supremacy of civilian government.”

He adds:

“By the time of the Constitutional Convention…The question was how to strengthen the military system without risking oppression or undermining civilian government. Ultimately, efforts to limit the size of the standing army were rejected. The Constitution left the size and economic burden of the army to Congress.”

The major distinction between the standing army and a militia was its “professionalism.” This term didn’t refer to its conduct, but the profession of its members.

Was this their primary occupation, or was it a role they served on the side apart from other duties? A national army was more likely to be the former, while it was even more probable local forces would be nonprofessional, because the states had even less money to maintain an army of full-time soldiers. Leider explains:

“Collective-rights theorists, thus, treat these Framing-era military debates as though they pitted a national army against a state militia. These arguments might see some trees, but they miss the forest. The Anti-Federalists were not primarily objecting that the federal government might weaken state governments by disarming state militaries. Instead, their principal concern was that the Constitution created a military structure that would endanger civil liberty.

“This is why many state constitutions had admonitions against the maintenance of standing armies. These state constitutional provisions, some of which predate even the Articles of Confederation, were warning against the dangers of professional troops, not national troops. Professional armies employed by state governments were understood to be even more dangerous than a national standing army. Many Framers’ ultimate fear was that regular forces would usurp the authority of the popularly elected government, either on their own authority or in the service of an unprincipled executive officer.” [Emphasis added]

Many framers ultimately feared that regular military forces would usurp the authority of the popularly elected government, either on their own authority or in the service of an unprincipled executive officer.

Leider ironically notes that while collective rights and individual rights groups disagree over the meaning of the Second Amendment, they typically share two fundamental views: one is that the National Guard is part of a “standing army,” and that a permanent army should not be feared the way the founders did.

However, Leider disagrees with this assessment.

“Concerns about how standing armies interact with democratic governments are not bygone relics of eighteenth-century political thought. In some form, the civilian-military gap continues to exist today, even though its precise scope may be debatable.”

In fact, Leider sees a transition toward a nonprofessional army as a way for the country to get out of its financial straits. He writes:

“The country is over $30 trillion in debt, with much more in future unfunded liabilities. Eventually, the United States will need to cut federal spending, and undoubtedly, part of those cuts will come from the military budget. As our ability to pay and provide benefits for troops declines, we will have to reduce the size of our forces.

“Because of fiscal pressures, vibrant nonprofessional forces will likely remain a crucial part of the American military establishment for generations to come. These nonprofessional forces are not standing armies, and they should not be legally understood as such. It is time that we reinvigorate the legal study of the militia by recognizing the militia for what it is: military forces comprised of nonprofessional citizen-soldiers, distinguished from a regular army of full-time, professional troops.”

 

 

TJ Martinell | The Tenth Amendment Center

The post The Militia vs. The Standing Army: Does the Distinction Matter? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Okeefe Media Group (OMG) continues to give the swamp palpitations as James refuses to lay down and go away. In their most recent breaking story, Luke Borwegan, the special assistant to Sen. John Fetterman, got caught admitting something that just seems obvious to me.

According to the release,

 

Special Assistant Luke Borwegan who is not only the primary aid to the Senator, but is also tasked with holding the iPad for his reading abilities and according to Borwegan is the one who has to follow him around at all times.

Luke tells the journalist that Fetterman would “be okay with overturning the second amendment.”

 

Borwegan’s job is to shadow the Senator everywhere with the magic iPad that somehow gets information into and out of John Fetterman. It is safe to say he knows whatever passes for the Senator’s mind.

Borwegan willingly shares how that works with the OMG undercover asset and how they control messaging about Senator Fetterman. Controlled until the OMG got their inside story, and you have to wonder if Luke is looking for a new job.

Here’s the amusing 8+ minute expose.

The Real John Fetterman Part I

 

 

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