The exodus of human capital is a primary concern for developing countries wishing to stem the tide of emigration. Some believe that emigration prevents poor countries from capitalizing on the talents of their best people. Critics suggest that poor countries would excel if the smartest minds did not emigrate. Theoretically, this sounds plausible; however, it obscures the inspiration for emigration.

If underperforming countries could equip their citizens with superior alternatives, then they would not migrate. Richer countries lure quality immigrants because of their infrastructure. Immigrants are attracted to their universities, institutions, and commercial excellence. Working in a developed country provides greater scope for professional enrichment.

Exposure to first-rate training and cutting-edge technology means that people can create greater value in a developed country. Immigrants would be less impactful had they remained in the developing world. Choosing to remain in an unproductive country only limits the ability of competent people to make a global contribution. Quite often, the genius of the smartest minds is constrained by the limitations of poor countries.

In successful countries, more options exist for people to thrive. Due to economic diversification, opportunities for employment are more plentiful. Further, in richer countries, the private sector plays an instrumental role in development. Therefore, there is less reliance on government employment.

Government has a political agenda, whereas the private sector has an economic agenda, so the growth of government can sap the dynamism of the private sector. Promoting economic freedom in the developing world would curb the level of emigration by unleashing the entrepreneurial talents of citizens. Richer countries exhibit higher levels of economic freedom; therefore, it’s easier for their citizens to become wealthy. For instance, Rwanda is perceived as a rising economic star in Africa, and economists attribute its prosperity to economic freedom.

Unlike Rwanda, some developing countries use the state as a bludgeon to badger citizens. Not only are economic activities severely regulated but corrupt politicians also employ government resources as a tool to elevate cronies. Corruption is another major reason for emigrating. There is a strong perception in developing countries that success is linked to political networks.

Hence, people who are disconnected from positions of influence feel that success is only possible if they emigrate. The perception is that in countries like the United Kingdom and America, no one is above the law. People truly believe that if you work hard in these countries then you will succeed. In rich countries, there are also critiques of meritocracy, but in the developing world it’s the norm for even low-level positions to be politicized, so the credibility of a meritocratic state is seriously doubted.

Additionally, because of the reputation of some countries, citizens encounter discrimination when traveling or doing business. Some countries in the Caribbean do not need a visa to enter America, Canada, or the United Kingdom. Yet Jamaica is not one due to its reputation for criminality. As such, traveling can really be a hassle for Jamaica.

Doing business online is equally arduous for countries known for financial scams. Ambitious people will travel and do more business than the average person; so if their country’s reputation is a barrier to success, then emigration will become a feasible option. Changing a country’s culture is hard and the political establishment might not possess the will to do so. So to secure their future, citizens migrate to better places.

Apart from structural drivers, emigration is fueled by sociocultural factors. In some poor countries it is widely believed that affluence earns people the ire of unscrupulous persons; therefore, to escape the wrath of envious personalities, people emigrate. Jamaicans refer to envious people as being “bad mind,” whereas others talk about the evil eye. A study even shows that Jamaicans cite envy as a reason for emigrating. Clearly, people are emigrating to access better opportunities and to benefit from higher quality social relationships.

Emigrating to a superior country leads to social mobility, so citizens should not be discouraged from doing so. The world gains nothing when talented people are trapped in unproductive places.

Lipton Matthews | Mises Wire

Author: Lipton Matthews is a researcher, business analyst, and contributor to Merion West, The Federalist, American Thinker, Intellectual Takeout, mises.org, and Imaginative Conservative. Visit his YouTube channel, with numerous interviews with a variety of scholars, here. He may be contacted at lo_matthews@yahoo.com or on Twitter (@matthewslipton).

Mises Wire

We heartily encourage reprints and shares of Mises Wire articles. If you wish to reproduce an article in your blog, magazine, radio show, newspaper column, classroom material, textbook, discussion group, website, or any other venue, please do so. The original publication source must be included in an appropriate place.

The post Voting with Their Feet: The Lure of Migration appeared first on Granite Grok.

Remember the “summer of love”? When the System unleashed Antifa/BLM riots and violence across America in an attempt to goad Trump into deploying the military to assist their “Trump is Authoritarian” narrative? Do you remember when Antifa/BLM domestic terrorists stormed the White House night after night in May?

How were those actual domestic terrorists treated in comparison to the scores of Trump supporters who have languished in the DC-gulag for years for the crime of being present when the System turned a peaceful protest of the (now) obvious and undeniable rigging of the 2020 election into a riot? More importantly, who was the Attorney General who looked the other way while the System unleashed domestic terror on America in 2020 … including an actual attempt to take over the White House?

If you answered, “Bill Barr,” … THAT’S A BINGO.

 

Remember an outraged media playing this clip of the Jan 6th insurrection?

No?

That’s b/c it was Antifa & BLM storming the White House & injuring 50+ Secret Service agents

No indictments. No outrage or ‘worst day in our nations history’. Shortly after they burned down a church, pic.twitter.com/lpP7lGs8Iu

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) August 13, 2023

The post The Good Insurrection appeared first on Granite Grok.

Not all of us are valuable commodities on the international market. Still, some are very attractive to rogue nations who now see Americans as bargaining chips for vast sums of money. People of wealth or power must be cautious should they venture near any of these countries like Iran, North Korea, and even Russia, as these countries now view you as an income source, and Joe Biden has just raised the bar on the value of your head.

Not long ago, America was strong enough and carried enough clout that we never negotiated with terrorists or evil empires regarding hostages. It was painful to watch as Americans were held in captivity, but usually, we found a way to bring them home by diplomacy or militarily. Since the Obama term and the weakening of America on the global front, we now resort to prisoner swaps or payment of large ransoms to recover our captive citizens. Obama, and now Joe Biden, have turned Americans into a valuable revenue stream, and Joe Biden raised the asking price again this week. You can feel good this morning knowing you are worth billions on the open hostage market. Thank you, Joe.

From Fox News:

Biden had negotiated the release of five American hostages from Iran in exchange for a handful of Iranian nationals serving prison sentences for violating sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Sources told the paper that the U.S. also agreed to unfreeze nearly $6 billion of Iran’s assets in South Korea, transferring the funds into an account in the central bank of Qatar.

Republicans blasted the deal online, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Iran “shouldn’t profit from holding Americans hostage.”

Technically, the money paid was not our money but Iranian funds we had frozen as part of sanctions placed on Iran for being a menace in the Middle East and a future nuclear threat to the free world. In this case, who’s money doesn’t matter. We just gave a rogue country set on destroying any country they feel does not align with their warped philosophy a $6 Billion donation to use against us.

Thanks again, Joe.

This action is another example of bad decisions made by Biden and his incompetent Administration that weakens us and usually costs us tremendous amounts of our hard-earned money. In this case, watching people like John Kirby defend this move was tragically humorous. He always feels that talking louder makes him more believable as he gaslights Americans. Under this agreement, the $6 Billion was transferred to the central bank in Qatar, and the Iranians would have to prove a humanitarian need to access any portion of the money. If you believe that for a nanosecond, you also think Joe Biden has no connection to Hunter Biden’s extortion money. I might also think you feel the Easter Bunny on the south lawn is a real rabbit. I can almost guarantee there was a check cut by the Iranians and deposited into one of the dozens of Biden LLC accounts. Joe Biden does nothing that his family does not directly profit from.

This decision impacts us today. Yes, we will bring Americans home to their families, but Biden has placed a target on every American who ventures past our borders. That is the borders we used to have. He has weakened our power to negotiate, and just like Bidenomics, inflation has now hit the value of American lives in hostile lands.

Thanks again, Joe.

 

The post How Much Are You Worth As A Hostage? appeared first on Granite Grok.

WCAX has this cute little piece about biologists and foresters colluding “to understand and manage a forest in a changing climate.” This is just a suggestion, but you may want to focus on the reality of what Climate Change politics will do to Vermont’s forests.

Related: Is Vermont’s Land Grab About Conservation or Securing Real Estate for Wind and Solar Farms?

First, the fantasy.

 

It’s called adaptive silviculture, where foresters and biologists team together to try to understand and manage a forest in a changing climate. Essentially, doing research on the area.

Studying things like habitat life, how the forest shifts over time, and the difference between old and new areas of the forest.

Leading forester of the project, Ethan Tapper, says the project has already taught Vermont so much.

“They have been collecting birding data. So, we want to see the way different species of birds are utilizing the area that we are managing before, and after. Because we are recognizing that our bird species are in decline. That a lot of our forests are missing a lot of critical attributes for their habitats,” said Tapper.

Tapper has been leading wildlife walks through the forests to help educate people on the project and how they can safely co-exist with wildlife.

 

It sounds excellent, and I’m a big fan of husbanding the wooded environs. I used to hike a lot, always carrying out more than in and doing my best to leave footprints and nothing else. And that will always be an issue that needs attention, especially when you have so little wooded landscape to protect. Vermont can’t have Net Zero and protected wildlife unless it plans to outsource environmental destruction and import the power.

I’m not saying they won’t do that; offshoring emissions is already common. But not everyone is all-in on the nightmare. The all-electric future without nuclear or hydro is land intensive. Vermont currently gets a lot of electricity from hydro (imported from Canada), which may need it back because Canada’s pols are also infected with the Nut Zero infection so that the Green Mountain State might have a  problem. Their intermittent weather-dependent generation scheme will require a massive amount of ground area. You can’t build solar farms and keep trees, so those must go.

You’ll also need massive battery backup plantations to store power when the intermittent infrastructure can’t meet demand. There’s a detailed analysis of the problem here, but to keep things simple, you need a battery backup capable of retaining an estimated 25.4 days of constant extra power, and maybe more the further north you go. Add storage for on-demand and peak demand, and you better sharpen your axe.

Mathematically, the lower 48 states would need “an annual energy storage requirement of approximately 233,000GWh.” Using an example from the same report, in Queensland, Australia, they have a plan for a 150 MWh battery facility. This is a rendering.

 

 

The researcher did the math; we would need 1.55 million of these facilities at several acres a piece (plus surrounding acres of cleared land in the event of a fire) to meet the demand for the lower 48 US states alone—an intractable problem exacerbated by two facts. No one knows if that’ll work, and everyone knows that these are not US Senators. You need to replace every lithium battery on a schedule of a few every few years, even if you get a flawless decade of life from most of them.

That means rebuilding and replacing (can we say renewing?) pricey “infrastructure” with an annoying and incredibly costly frequency without even broaching the problem of the availability of rare-earth metals, mining and manufacturing emissions, transportation, construction, new transmission infrastructure, and the rest of it – most of which will continue to be impossible without fossil fuels.

And impossible to achieve, even if it were tenable, on the estimated timeline.

In other words, the greatest threat to Vermont’s forests is not the fantasy of man-made climate change. It is the reality of Climate Change policy. You will need to clear hundreds if not thousands of acres for solar farms and at least as many, if not more, for local battery backup facilities and access roads for the build and unavoidable upgrades. None of this is possible, even if we had the material and technology on the advertised timeline.

To get anywhere near there from here, the flat land will be covered in solar farms and the green mountains peppered, if not covered, with wind turbines taller than trees (or you’ll be cutting those down, too), with which much of the indigenous wildlife cannot coexist.

Worry not. We are on a similar arc at the end of which you will not likely be able to complain without it affecting your social credit score or some other metric of obedience to the masters who have, ironically, set modernity and environmental protection back a few thousand years in the name of progress.

But it is cute how they think that won’t happen, and I only sort of kind of feel sorry for them.

 

 

 

The post Vermont Biologists and Foresters Pretend There Will be Room Left for “Forests” in Our Net Zero Future appeared first on Granite Grok.

Is the much-hyped “energy transition” starting to crumble at its foundations now? In recent weeks we have seen the following:

 

• Ford Motor Company warns investors its electric vehicle division will lose $4.5 billion in 2023;
• Reports that China has commissioned another 50 GW of new coal-fired electricity generation capacity;
• The British government led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak beginning to back away from absurdly aggressive transition timelines amid public outcry over rising energy bills and other deprivations;
• The German government continuing to reactivate mothballed coal plants and facilitating new mining for coal;
• The Scottish government forced to admit it has facilitated the felling of 16 million trees in this century to make way for new wind farms;
• The Japanese government moving to reinvigorate its own coal-fired power sector;
• Global demand for crude oil rapidly growing and outpacing supply growth, surprising all the supposed experts;
• The U.S. Department of Energy forced to admit its initial estimate of consumer “savings” from converting from gas stoves to more expensive electric models was grossly overstated.

 

This list could go on and on, but the macro view is clear: Everywhere one looks, the aggressive timelines and heavily subsidized plans for a rapid transition are falling apart. Nowhere is the dynamic becoming clearer than in the wind industry. (DAVID BLACKMON: Biden Raided Our Gas Reserves To Help Win An Election. Will He Do It Again?)

In an Aug. 7 report titled “Wind Industry in Crisis as Problems Mount,” the Wall Street Journal catalogues $30 billion in planned investments in new wind projects in the U.S. and elsewhere that have now been delayed due to an expanding variety of factors. “After months of warnings about rising prices and logistical hiccups, developers and would-be buyers of wind power are scrapping contracts, putting off projects and postponing investment decisions,” the story says, emphasizing that the problems are becoming especially severe in the offshore wind business that has been so heavily promoted by the Biden administration.

I wrote a story in July detailing the fact that some of the so-called “Big Oil” companies have recently made big inroads into the offshore wind business, winning bids in the U.S. and Germany for licenses to develop large projects.  But the Journal’s story quotes Anders Opedal, CEO of Norwegian oil giant Equinor, saying, “At the moment, we are seeing the industry’s first crisis.”

Along with British oil major BP, Equinor has plans in place to develop three wind farms off the Atlantic coast of New York, but recently warned state officials they would need to renegotiate power prices or the projects would not be able to obtain the needed financing. This demand by the two oil companies echoed a call by traditional wind developer Orsted in June for more subsidies from the U.K. government if its planned projects in the North Sea are to remain viable.

Make no mistake about it: Developing these offshore wind projects doesn’t come cheap. Orsted pulled out of a competitive bidding auction in Germany last month for government licenses to develop 7 GW of new offshore wind capacity when BP and French oil major TotalEnergies ran the final bids up to almost $14 billion.

“Orsted very deliberately chose not to pay record high concession prices for new offshore projects in Germany,” Orsted CEO Mads Nipper said in a post on LinkedIn. Orsted objected to the process that awarded the licenses based on the willingness of developers to pay the government for the right to develop — the same process used in oil and gas leasing all over the world — rather than the government offering more and more subsidies to incentivize development.

Therein lies the central conundrum for this subsidized transition: At some point, wind, like solar, electric vehicles and all the other rent-seeking solutions being promoted in this energy transition will have to become viable without an expectation of permanently rising subsidies, since governments already seeing their credit ratings downgraded due to overwhelming debt won’t be able to just keep printing money forever.

But, at the present moment, the business models in play do not appear to be headed for that outcome. And that’s why this energy transition seems to be falling off the rails.

 

David Blackmon | The Daily Caller News Service

David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.

 

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

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

The post Is The Green Energy Transition Falling Off The Rails? appeared first on Granite Grok.

My concern for the 2024 Election is not whether we can get the right candidates up and down the ballot but whether we can beat the Election laws, media bias, and big money. Long gone are the days when the best candidate with the best grasp of the issues has the highest odds of winning.

I will not go so far as to say Donald Trump won the 2020 Election, but I challenge anyone to defend Biden for garnering 81 million votes during a Pandemic and hardly leaving his basement.

I believe a special election in Ohio and a recent vote on an abortion bill in Maine bear me out. Both had abortion implications, but one showed a turnout that was difficult to accept, and the other showed utter contempt for the will of the people. Both had enormous amounts of special interest pro-choice money spent. Let’s break them down.

Ohio Special Election to determine the percentage of votes to amend the state constitution.

The current law requires a simple majority of 50% plus 1. Conservatives attempted to change the bar to a supermajority of 60% Plus 1. The reason for this effort was to protect current state abortion laws. If Issue 1 had passed, it would be more difficult for the abortion rights ballot measure to pass in November. Because of the potential of stricter abortion regulations, the PAC money came out big. Over 3 million votes were cast, with the NO votes getting 57% of the votes. The majority of the NO votes came from Ohio’s four big cities- Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. The suburbs voted overwhelmingly YES.

Just two years ago, almost 4 million voters turned out to elect a Governor, Senator, and all Representatives. Republican candidates swept the 2022 Election, which draws attention to the number of votes and how they fell in 2023. You can make up your mind on the number of votes and the side that won the day.

Maine Bill to allow elective abortions up to the moment of birth.

In Maine, the State government debated and voted on a new bill that would give the right to abort a fetus up to the moment of birth. Polls showed the support to defeat this bill and protect the unborn was at an astronomical 85%. It is difficult to get 85% of the population to agree on any issue. The State Legislature disregarded the will of the people and passed the late-term abortion provision, and the Governor signed the bill into law. Planned Parenthood not only spent nearly $1 Million to support passage but was present in the House and Senate to whip up votes to pass the bill. T

here is no way to spend that much money in Maine without making individual deposits in Democrat campaign coffers. The will of the people was tabled, and an unpopular Bill was passed. People who were in the Statehouse for both votes claimed the sight of Planned Parenthood supporters whipping support was a slap to the Democratic process.

We have much to do before 2024. Pick the right candidate, raise massive amounts of money, and keep a watchful eye on every voting spot to ensure the credibility of the voting process. We also have to keep writing and letting people know the truth and to success or failure of Republican candidates. Today, it looks like the battlefield is slanted against us.

 

The post Ohio And Maine Should Be Wake-up Calls For Republicans appeared first on Granite Grok.

The Maui wildfires are devastating and greatly saddening. My wife and I visited Lahaina’s old town just last year in November. It was a quaint, cute little European-style town center that felt straight out of Brussels or London.

The several blocks in the historic district were all two or three-story buildings that had been recently repainted and renovated. We had dinner at Pacific’o on the beach and watched luau fire dancers while the sun set over the harbor. 

When I first saw the images of the Maui fire, I was immediately reminded of the Summer 2020 California wildfires in the San Francisco Bay Area. Those images showed residential plots totally leveled, burnt to gray ash. Automobiles melted. Trees hollowed out with flames flickering in the trunk cores while the exterior shell still stood. Those wildfires also spread terrifyingly quickly, leaving firefighters and emergency responders in a state of shock. The reactions echoed consent that nothing like this had ever been seen before. 

What critically connected the two incidents? Allegations of the use of Directed Energy Weapons (DEW). Now, I am a conspiracy theorist, and very proud of it. I want to know who is conspiring to influence world events on the planet where I live. I want to know their intention and their motive, and I want to be able to stop them if their methods are evil. I want to explore the possibilities of causes and effect, and I am not scared by establishment folks attempting to slander— because hiding among them are the real conspirators. 

A quick search on Rumble— the upstart alternative to YouTube where the cabalistic globalists at Google (whose motto of “Don’t be evil” was recently abandoned) don’t hold sway— returned today three pages of content by similarly minded folks providing video evidence that substantiates the DEW hypothesis. Yet even Google and YouTube are awash with blog posts on space lasers. 

DEW is next-generation technology, typically satellite-mounted, that concentrates electromagnetic energy in a beam to generate heat. They have been used small-scale on naval vessels and on shoulder-mounted systems to combat drone warfare with great success. One system is Lockheed Martin’s ATHENA (Advanced Test High Energy Asset), tested by the US Air Force in 2019. If you wonder what goes into low Earth orbit on secret US military satellites, it’s a good bet that it’s these systems.

What’s unclear is which other countries around the world possess similar DEW technology. Do Russia, China, the United Kingdom, or the European Union? Does Japan? India? The Emirates? Certainly, this would be highly classified, with communications only occurring through high-level military and state department channels. If it were Russia, is this a move in the theatre of global war? If it were the United States, what diabolical scum in the Pentagon is using state-of-the-art weaponry against their fellow US citizens? That person must be held accountable because this usage of DEW is unjust and despicable. 

On Maui and Hawaii, coming up next month, there are three interesting conferences. One is the EMER-GEN forum on September 16, organized by the Maui Economic Development Board and the Space Generation Advisory Council, focusing on young professionals and students interested in careers in the space industry.

The next is the Hawaii Digital Government Summit in Honolulu with a Keynote topic of “Transform Adversity into Advantage.” The third is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (“Eye-triple-E”) conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. These are the folks who oversee HAARP, another DEW fan favorite. How about that timing? Some large conferences by folks looking to design the future just after a large plot of real estate has become a prime target for redevelopment. 

Looking at the Maui Economic Development Board, I wonder how many of them are decolonialists– the kind of folks who spend a lot of their time ruminating on how to destroy vestiges of European colonial societies. Wouldn’t the perfect decolonization project be total destruction of a small European-style town center?

Apparently, for these people, the loss of life justifies the erasure of European culture. Too many people have been brainwashed into thinking that European cultural influence is somehow bad, totally ignoring the broad range of benefits that European colonial efforts in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries brought to many small, isolated societies all over the planet. They’d apparently rather totally destroy that history than have it exist, regardless of how pleasant it is to walk along small, cobblestone streets through a centralized marketplace of local vendors and merchants and stop for a coffee or a cold pint at an open-air streetside cafe.

Is that a horrifying experience? Does it make you think about how in a bygone age, people implemented outdated expansionist state policy to force native societies into integrating into a globalized marketplace? Or outfitting natives with modern technologies in textiles, architectural construction, animal husbandry, food processing, and agriculture while simultaneously encouraging multilingualism and multiculturalism? What about sharing ideas and establishing stronger networks among the planetary civilization? To decolonialists, who are typically regressive, these ideas aren’t even considered. Their focus is only ever on racism and racialized supremacy theory, slavery, servitude, and exploitation.

Implementing DEW to create opportunities for economic development is like cutting off your own foot in order to install a prosthetic. Economic development can also occur if demolition companies are brought in to make small-scale changes to outdated structures. Instead of destroying 100 blocks of an old colonial-style settlement, deconstruct some of the blocks slowly and carefully, and rebuild them so that the result is an interweaving of old and new technologies. 

DEW causes widespread chaos, destruction, loss of life, pain, and misery. It is totally evil to use such technology against human settlements, and it should never be done unless there is widespread agreement among the residents of the settlement itself that creating a blank slate is a mutually agreed upon solution, and residents are provided notice six months to a year in advance in order to be able to make necessary steps to move personal belongings and relocate.

Only with the consent of the inhabitants should such application of DEW be permitted. Otherwise, it is still extremely colonial, just in the most possible modern sense. 

 

The post A Call for Compassion in the use of Directed Energy Weaponry appeared first on Granite Grok.

Parents who want to avoid Reading Problems with their children and adults who never read for pleasure because they are Victims of Dick and Jane should listen to Hal Shurtleff’s Latest Podcast:

 

Sam Blumenfeld is interviewed by Bill McNally on “We Hold These Truths Show” which aired on WSMN AM Nashua, NH January of 2015.  Mr. McNally, founder of the Samuel L. Blumenfeld Literacy Foundation, guest hosts and interviews Sam Blumenfeld, reading expert and homeschool pioneer.  Sam passed away in June of 2015 but his work is available on the Blumenfeld Archives The Blumenfeld Archive (campconstitution.net)

 

Samuel L. Blumenfeld, aka, ‘The Godfather of Homeschooling,’ explains how Intensive Alpha-Phonics was taken out of the public schools and replaced with the ‘Whole-Word’ or ‘Look-Say’ method, which has caused the Decline in Reading in America.

In November 2007, the National Endowment for the Arts issued its devastating survey, Reading at Risk, in which it reported that almost half of Americans between ages 15 and 24 never read books for pleasure.

 

The post “How The Left Destroyed Reading in the United States” appeared first on Granite Grok.

We’ve reported on the impossibility of Net Zero, how EVs are not green or efficient, the offshoring of emissions, the tremendous cost and lack of return on those investments, and the general fraud that is EVs, but this guy’s story brings that home.

Related: German Research Team: Diesel Vehicles More Friendly to the Environment Than Electric

On one trip, he and his family experienced many of the problems about which we’ve been warning consumers.

 

The frustrating incident unfolded earlier this year after Winnipeg resident Dalbir Bala spent $115,000 Canadian dollars ($77,495 USD) on a Ford F150 Lightning electric truck, which required him to install two charging panels, one at home and one at work, at roughly $5,000 a pop.

He also needed to upgrade his home electric panel for $6,000, resulting in a total expenditure of over $130,000 on the EV vehicle.

The EV truck owner thought it was bizarre that Ford didn’t respond to his inquiries after a minor fender bender took over 6 months to repair, but he shrugged it off and went on to use the vehicle for a 1,400 family road trip to the Windy City.

 

We covered minor damage disasters in more detail here, but let’s not get too far from the story. Newswars adds that he could not find a working charging station and, by the end of his tale, had to rent a gas-powered truck to finish his journey.

 

The disappointed dad had his EV towed to the Ford dealership in Elk River. Meanwhile, he rented a gas-powered vehicle to tackle the rest of the 400-miles left on his drive to Chicago. The family picked the truck up on their way back to Canada. …

“It was in [the] shop for 6 months. I can’t take it to my lake cabin. I cannot take it for off-grid camping. I cannot take for even a road trip,” he said. “I can only drive in city – biggest scam of modern times.” 

“People have to make the right choices. I want to tell everybody to read my story,” Bala told Fox Business. “Do your research before even thinking about it and make a wiser choice.”

“The actual thing they promised is not even close. Not even 50%. And once you buy it, you’re stuck with it and you have to carry huge losses to get rid of that. And nobody is there to help you.” 

 

EV range was always an issue, but that flaw multiplies when talking trucks. They suffer from the added problem of doing truck things, like hauling and pulling trailers. Range will also suffer from outside temperature, and – as if that were not bad enough because they need bigger batteries – you will lose more money charging them from more electrical waste on top of all the added costs noted above for proper charging panels.

We could blame auto-makers who are just trying to find a way to stay in business ahead of the regulations coming out of DC. But, while Dalbir Bala’s problems are real and not limited to him or his family, the issue isn’t just Ford; it is Democrats who will never take responsibility for the corner they’ve put the auto industry in or impose lemon laws on EVs because while dealers will do anything to move inventory, what they don’t tell you would get them fined if it were a used car.

It means that much like COIVD vaccines, EV vehicle consumer protection is out the window because the regulator’s “bosses” are more interested in the perception of EV sales than protecting consumers.

 

 

The post EV Truck Buyer Says “– Biggest Scam of Modern Times.” appeared first on Granite Grok.

America’s judiciary, especially the federal judiciary, is every bit as RIGGED as its elections. To rig an election, it does not take “widespread voter-fraud” or whatever other “no evidence of ___” pablum the NeverTrump-bots and the Communists Democrats sonorously intone. Rather, it simply takes rigging a few key “swing-states,” which is exactly what happened in 2020 and 2022. Similarly, all it takes to rig the federal trials is for the Stasi USDOJ to bring prosecutions in a circuit that is filled with Obama/Biden appointments.

Obama and Biden have nominated and the Senate has confirmed the most extreme left-wing activists to the federal bench. The DC circuit where Trump’s J6 trial will take place is rife with Obama/Biden judges. The “judge” overseeing the Trump trial is an Obama-judge who already has stated on the record that she believes Trump belongs in prison:

Today Judge Tanya Chutkan warned Trump's lawyers that politics had no place in her courtroom or in this case.

But here is Judge Chutkan berating a J6er during a sentencing hearing in Oct. 2022.

She clearly expressed anger that Trump was still "free" and not behind bars: pic.twitter.com/BaFEItMGYz

— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) August 11, 2023

 

The post Anybody Telling You Trump Will Get A “Fair Trial” Is Either An Idiot … Or A Liar appeared first on Granite Grok.

If there was one massive revolution in global culture, particularly the cultures in wealthy, so-called first-world societies, through the COVID Project, it has been a massive uptick in average daily and weekly screen time among nearly all age groups. 

With prevailing global government structures at the international and national levels corrupted by the influences of an anti-life, anti-health, illness-spreading pharmaceutical industry, citizens are pressed into adopting lifestyles that rely on smartphone use. This is by design. The social media giants, referred to in financial circles as FAANG, or Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, all have overwhelming influence in national government legislative decision-making. This must be checked and reversed. 

We cannot continuously slip into a tech-addicted lifestyle. We must collectively unite to promote industries, businesses, and business models that support healthy outdoor lifestyles. Even more importantly, we must, in unity, promote and nurture local cultures that rely on in-person, face-to-face, real-time interactions.

In Greek and Roman times, there were public spaces specifically designed for such interaction. These were referred to as the public square or town square. There is a word to describe them— agora. We must bring back the agora. 

This is a simple initiative that can be achieved very quickly. Information structures are so sophisticated today that spreading the necessary ideas for this process, including design, construction, and implementation, should not be difficult. The will is required and the key support from key actors.

People should be encouraged to put down their mobile devices from time to time and not to carry a smartphone with them everywhere. This is critical for freedom of expression and disconnect from increasingly encroaching surveillance industry apparatus and AI-obsessed FAANG techies. 

The answers to living a happy, wealthy, and successful life are not all found on the internet. Actual, face-to-face human interaction is important to societal health.

At the United Nations recently, global leaders have been increasingly discussing the issue of the shrinking of the civic space. It is difficult for individuals to access certain discussions because they are unable to travel to the location of the conversation or they are unable to access the location where the conversation is taking place. We have many online tools today for organizing meeting spaces in public, but there are not many physical locations purposefully built for meetings.

What is an example of a physical location purposefully built for meetings? Look no further than the Greek amphitheater and the Agora of Athens. These structures’ sole purpose is to allow people to engage with each other in a public place, with architectural elements that catalyze communication and collaboration. Some localities around the world have these structures in place, but they are typically not used for these purposes. In some instances, they are even only in place for decoration. That is just a little step of initiative and organizational effort away from being utilized for their true purpose– to facilitate human communication towards maintaining, managing, and building better societies.

Tech leaders have become oligarchs, largely by preying on citizens’ lust for more information, more money, more connection, and more convenience— which have all been neatly packaged into the smartphone. This is one of the most sophisticated technologies on the planet today.

This is not to advocate becoming a smartphone Luddite— an anti-tech banner of all things electronic. Smartphones have great use and are amazing tools for accomplishing the many daily tasks that lead to a comfortable, healthy life.

We must collectively practice purposefully disconnecting and experiencing our local communities without the smartphones. These are important technologies, but they are far from crucial to life, and we should check the obsessive, constant attachment to them.

 

The post Resurrecting the Agora as a Physical Civic Space appeared first on Granite Grok.

Scott Brown has an impressive line-up of presidential hopefuls coming to Rye for his “No BS BBQ” series. I have lots of questions ready for some candidates (see Questions for Mike Pence), but some leave me stumped. Here’s where I am

Please leave comments with additional/better questions.

Note that these events are billed as “No BS,” so there is no need to ask about the weather.

*Vivek Ramaswamy—I’ve heard Vivek speak before, nothing popped into my head. Now all I can think of is, “Did you really say Donald Trump is just like Stacy Abrams?”

*Francis Suarez—“Why did you have to pay donors to reach debate threshold?” Or, “who are you?”

*Doug Burgum—ditto.

*Mike Pence—I laid out my questions for Mike Pence last week. Got a lot of great feedback, thanks to all who wrote me. If you missed it, check it out here.

*Tim Scott—“I understand you want to ‘convince people’ rather than bully them, but is that where Democrats are? Your police reform bill died because you couldn’t get ten Democrats to join you in an issue they supported. How will you ‘convince’ them on issues they’re against? For that matter, how will kindness get Putin out of Ukraine or China out of Cuba?” (Hey—“No BS,” remember?).

*Chris Christie—Christie is not on the schedule yet, but I hear he loves a BBQ, so expect to see him soon. I want to ask about who he’s made a deal with this time since he must know BridgeGate killed his electoral chances. We know he wants to do to Donald Trump what he did to Marco Rubio (good luck with that), but who will he endorse after he drops out? I’m guessing DeSantis, as he’s the only one even close to striking distance, and Christie is all about politics.

*DeSantis was already here, I asked him how he can win New Hampshire with his six-week abortion position. He had no answer, surprisingly, other than “I know New England is less conservative than Georgia.”

*I didn’t bother going to see Asa Hutchinson, though I would have asked him how he can support the chemical neutering of children.

*Nikki Haley only took four or five questions when she visited even though she said, as she always does, that she would “stay until every last question is answered.” Not so much. I got home 30 minutes before the event was slated to end, so it sure wasn’t a “ran late” issue.

That’s where I am. Would love some input for other/better No BS questions—though, of course, I can’t guarantee the answers won’t be BS.

 

The post To BS or not to BS that is the Question appeared first on Granite Grok.

They’re flying so thick and fast it is amazing.

Take heart – there will be a Meme Overflow and almost certainly a Friday Meme Overflow-Overflow.  Last week’s Overflow-Overflow.

Remember, ridicule and mockery are effective weapons:

1. Ridicule cannot easily be fought
2. Ridicule makes the enemy angry, and angry people make mistakes
3. For those in the “squishy middle” a Thought Splinter (and Part II and Part III and Part IV) can often be hidden inside humor.

Now, let the mockery and mayhem begin.

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

How to Survive CBDCs

 

 

 

 

Related, at least in my mind, is this push for the “tiny home” concept.  You will own, first, very little… then, of course, nothing…

 

 

I’ve been seeing articles praising “tiny homes” for years.  I immediately understood where this was going.  The next step, of course, will not be tiny homes in delightful outdoors settings, but the same pod-like-life, but in a 15-minute neighborhood megacity.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA

 

I don’t mean to harp on what’s happening in South Africa specifically.  But if demographic trends in America and Europe are not stopped, that treatment of whites is coming here.  To America.  To all of Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On this last one.  I know that there are many non-whites in America and Europe (my wife is not white).  Some have, indeed, assimilated to life in these Western Civilization countries, many have been here for generations, and I for one do not have the stomach to push them out if they’re contributing members of society living their lives peacefully as assimilated people.  But certainly those who – whether having been born and then indoctrinated into hating the lands in which they live, or whether they came here with hate in their hearts from the start – are not willing to assimilate and be a part of the country in which they live?  GTFO.

 

 

And those who come specifically for conquest?  Drive them out.  Hijra – conquest by migration – is a Koranic doctrine:

You searched for hijra – Political Islam

And take the whites who want you here to ruin the West with you.

 

 

And secure the border:

 

 

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

 

The Third Front – Vox Popoli (voxday.net)

What have I kept saying?  That the world is piled with stacks of dry tinder.  That they’re all connected.  And that people are playing with matches and accelerants.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

Ok, NPR, but still… understand what’s being worked on to surveille you.  And note how the article specifically mentions that purpose… “almost” as though that’s the point of the development project.

Smallest-Ever Human-Made Flying Structure Is A Winged Microchip, Scientists Say : NPR

“Almost”.

 

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

 

 

I wonder what changed in society.

 

More on 2A / RKBA and crime:

 

 

I read notables like Thomas Sowell and how, up until the 1960s, even Harlem was a fairly safe neighborhood.  And then came liberal theories and the “great society”… I’ve also read, years ago, that much of the crime rising correlates very well with the increasing availability of homes with TVs.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

Israeli journalist Efrat Fenigson has this piece about the plan to spray to block the sun:

Efrat Fenigson: Catastrophic Risks of Solar Geoengineering – The New American

Speaking of chemtrails, here’s a Rumble video:

The 2006 U.N council chemtrail presentation! (rumble.com)

(Parenthetically, a contact in Europe told me that after a series of discussions on chemtrails locally on TV / internet – not sure which – for the next several days the sky had none.  Weird how attention brings changes, even if short-lived.)

Back to Efrat: she’s on the side of light on The Jab, and I hope – whenever I can next get to Israel – to meet her.  Lastly, through her twitter account (she also has a substack with this article on geoengineering) is this video reminding us of the arrogance of the Elites:

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/the-elites-trust-one-another.mp4

 

And another video she tweeted out:

 

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/efrat-guy-on-conspiracie.mp4

 

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

 

Neil Oliver: ‘…beware, beware, beware!’

 

 

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

 

Pick of the post:

 

 

I am as Yankee as they come.  Born in Massachusetts, still living in New England after quite a bit of traipsing around, and with many respects having a can-do-can-make-it-work Yankee mentality, I take pride in that.  When I worked in Dallas in By-G-d-Texas I was called the office’s “token Yank” as a way of saying they didn’t discriminate, and got occasionally ribbed as not just being a yankee (small Y) but, being from New England, a damned-Yankee.  All in good fun.

This news, above, breaks my heart.

 

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

 

Monday Musical Memory:

 

Styx – Come Sail Away

 

 

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

 

Palate Cleansers:

 

—

—

https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/e7b03939299477fb.mp4

The post MONDAY MEMES appeared first on Granite Grok.

I am not a big fan of Federal Government disaster relief. Too much of the time the money never gets to those who need it most, and too often Washington’s armies of disaster “experts” are more interested in pushing people around than helping them.

Nevertheless, it’s hard to look at recent footage of the devastation in Maui and then hear President Biden tell Congress that he needs another $24 billion for Ukraine. How can this Administration continue to justify tens of billions of dollars for this losing war that is not in our interest while the rest of the United States disintegrates?

Biden’s new $24 billion request comes on top of well over $120 billion already spent to fight the US proxy war on Russia in Ukraine. Heritage Foundation budget expert Richard Stern has done the math and determined that Biden’s spending on the Ukraine war thus far will cost each and every American household $900. How many Americans would rather have those $900 dollars back in their pocket rather than in the pockets of Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, and Ukraine’s oligarchs?

Recent surveys have shown that a majority of Americans could not afford to cover a sudden $1,000 emergency. Will Americans connect the dots and realize that the reason they can’t find that $1,000 for an emergency is because the neocons have already sent it to Ukraine?

Ukraine has long been known as among the most corrupt countries on earth and not long ago investigative journalist Seymore Hersch wrote that Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky has embezzled at least $400 million in aid from the American people. Corruption scandals continue to break in Ukraine. Just last week Zelensky fired the heads of all local draft boards for corruption. Some press reports suggest that sales of luxury cars in Ukraine have broken all previous records. I wonder why.

No wonder the tide of US public opinion is turning against further involvement in the war. Recently CNN found that among all Americans, more than 55 percent are opposed to continued aid to Ukraine. Among Republicans the number opposing more aid to Ukraine rises to three-out-of-four. That is why we are finally starting to see more Republican Members raising concerns. I’d like to think they have seen the light that an aggressive and interventionist foreign policy is not in America’s interest, but most likely they are worried about losing elections. Whatever their motivation, this turning tide should be welcomed.

Yet the Biden Administration persists in backing Ukraine even as the US mainstream media is increasingly pointing out the obvious: Ukraine is not winning and cannot win, and continuing to pour money into a losing cause will just result in bankruptcy at home and more dead Ukrainians overseas.

Last week Newsweek published an article asking, “Does Ukraine Have Kompromat on Joe Biden?” In the article, Northeastern University Professor Max Abrahms wonders out loud whether Biden’s continued support for Ukraine might be related to compromising information held in Kiev about the many Biden family shady business ventures in Ukraine and the region. It is certainly worth considering.

Meanwhile, the residents of Maui that survived the recent horrific fire will take little comfort knowing that the Biden Administration is more interested in sending their money to Ukraine than in helping them recover.

 

Ron Paul |Ron Paul Institute

Copyright © 2023 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

The post As Maui Burns, Biden Demands Another $24 Billion…For Ukraine! appeared first on Granite Grok.

An important safety measure against kidnapping or custody disputes is the Statement of Consent. This safeguards the child’s well-being by confirming that both parents or legal guardians are informed of and OK with the passport application. In spite of the form’s seeming simplicity, careful attention to the guidelines supplied by the passport office or other applicable authorities is required. Use the original forms of identification if possible; get papers notarized if they are not in English; and follow any translation requirements.

In general, the Statement of Consent (https://onenotary.us/ds-3053-form-passport-parental-consent/) is an important part of the passport application process since it ensures children are protected and that all rules are followed. It reinforces security measures and safeguards the best interests of the child by emphasizing the need for parental or guardian approval when a minor applies for a passport.

Handling situations when a parent or guardian’s identification is not in English

If the parent or guardian’s official identification is not in English, a certified English translation should be provided as well. A properly translated version of the identity document may aid the authorities in processing the passport application. The instructions issued by the passport agency or authority should be strictly adhered to when translating papers. Important details to keep in mind:

• An expert translator or translation service endorsement is recommended to guarantee the quality of the translated version.
• The main source of information is the original identity document, regardless of language.
• The translated text must be true to the source material and should not include any changes.
• A notarized translation may be necessary to prove the accuracy of the text to certain authorities.
• Additional evidence supporting the identity of the parent or guardian may be required in addition to the translated identification document.

Before submitting an application for a passport, make sure you’ve read through the agency’s or authority’s particular guidelines. Since the regulations of various government organizations might vary, it’s important to make sure you read and follow all of the instructions before applying for a passport.

Statement of Consent’s expiration date and its possibility to be used for multiple applications

The Statement of Consent required to get a passport is normally not time-limited. Until the kid becomes 16, it may be used for numerous passport applications. However, each passport application requires a new consent form that meets the requirements of the time. It may be necessary to get a fresh Statement of Consent if there have been any changes in the consent giver’s or child’s circumstances. In addition, the period of permission may be governed by local laws in certain nations; for the most up-to-date information, it is best to contact the appropriate authorities or the United States Department of State.

Photocopy or original parent/guardian ID?

The Statement of Consent required for a passport application cannot be completed using a photocopy of the parent’s or guardian’s identity. A genuine government-issued photo ID in its original form is required. This is done to stop fraud and guarantee the identity is genuine. When submitting the Statement of Consent, it is crucial to adhere to the precise guidelines specified by the passport agency or authority. This usually entails presenting an original, valid photo ID (driver’s license or passport) issued by the parent or legal guardian’s country of residence. To make sure you comply with all of the passport agency’s standards, you should always refer to the agency’s official rules and instructions.

The post Statement of Consent Passport and Its Importance When Taking the Kids on Vacation appeared first on Granite Grok.

Kamala Harris, mumbling Joe Bidens “missing a step” Vice President, has a great idea for how America can reduce gun violence. Elect more anti-second Amendment Democrats to enact more gun control laws.

 

Kamala Harris, laughing hysterically, says the solution to gun violence is to elect more anti-Second Amendment Democrats to enact gun control pic.twitter.com/jaGE7y1xVw

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 11, 2023

The simplistic beauty of this response is that we have a baseline for whether solution looks like, and it rhymes with Chicago. The Windy City has a long, uninterrupted history of anti-second Amendment Democrat rule. It is a gun-grabbing, red-flag-waving, ammo-taxing mecca that allows us to measure the success of Kamala’s off-the-cuff plan.

Hey, Jackass is the premier resource for crime data and crime data history in Chicago, so let’s see how electing more gun-grabbing dems (for longer) has impacted violence in the City.

First, the shot clock. In the time it takes you to read this, another person will get shot. Ten minutes from when you finish reading, another person will have been murdered. One every 13 minutes and 13 seconds.

 

 

Year to date (2023), in this gun-grabbin’ Dem-controlled Mecca, over 1900 of its citizens have been shot, more than 1500 of those wounded, with 366 of them killed.

 

 

 

 

The Dem Way has resulted in 405 homicides this year, not all of them gun-related unless, by that, you mean the criminal stabbing or clubbing, or beating of others by criminals who know their victims are disarmed.

And it’s not just 2023. These are the murder rates through August 11th for previous years.

 

 

 

 

405 Homicides through Aug 11th is a bit lower than average, but there is no evidence that what Kamala claims is true.

It is a sad tale of another Democrat policy priority that produces exactly the opposite result of the one advertised. What is sadder still is that this policy failure takes hundreds of lives in Democrat-run cities all across America annually and crime has been on the rise. Cities where Dems have had complete control of the government, school system, and police force for many decades.

It’s dysfunctional deception, and nothing about it works.

But that explains why Kamala thinks it’s a great idea. Elect people who will swear an oath to a Constitution she admits they intend to break, and if a few more people die, they are also the depopulation party. And they can blame it on white people or guns from other states, the pay gap, gender bigotry, systemic racism, or underfunded schools. Anything but the truth.

 

The post Cackling Kamala: The Key to Ending Gun Violence is Electing More Gun Grabbin’ Democrats appeared first on Granite Grok.

So, my previous post, the two Right To Knows for demanding the DCYF Organization Chart as well as the DCYF and Child Advocacy Centers’ Ethics Complaint forms, was setting the stage for this.

I don’t think I have to write much narrative in this post as in the previous one. I think the Background section of this third RTK says it well. You know, the part that goes boom! And additional emphasis this time around:

Right to Know demand per RSA 91-A: Ethics Complaint form

[Art.] 8. [Accountability of Magistrates and Officers; Public’s Right to Know.] All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive…The public also has a right to an orderly, lawful, and accountable government…

Background:

In order to hold such “officers of government are their substitutes and agents”, there are incidents of outright lawbreaking and incidents of ethics complaints by which normal citizens are held responsible to use to “at all times” keep such people “accountable to them.

During the June 22, 2023 meeting in which I brought <my Granddaughter> to the Laconia CAC, I was brought into a “pre-interview meeting” before the CAC, DCYF, and the Laconia Police Detective interviewed <my Granddaughter>. It’s purpose was to inform me what the format was to be and that I had to give my consent in allowing the interview to proceed.

And while THEY (Amy Fortin and Laurie Grant) know what I’m talking about, I will tell you all that in the second line of the form said “legal parent / legal guardian“. The time frame for this was just after I had to go up North and get her but before the final orders by the Judge had come out.  What DCYF and the CAC personnel wanted me to do was to sign that consent document while I wasn’t (and still am not) her parent and that I wasn’t (and still not) her legal guardian) simply to “move on” to “do their mission”. But there I was, in the CAC conferenceroom being the proverbial stick-in-the-mud and stickler for details for such purpose.

The more they became agitated about “you HAVE TO SIGN IT”, the more amused I became – and the more disgusted I became that these people are charging parents for malfeasance of the Law yet seem to be just dandy in drawing me into a legal trap – and operating contra the Law themselves. Is this the normal standard operating procedure for DCYF? For the Child Advocacy Center(s)  I do need to look into this even more.

Questions upon question but back to today’s business of making this RTK public:

I refused to sign as it was immediately clear that I was legally unable to sign such a document. I was told that I MUST sign it or “we cannot proceed to do our job”. My numerous responses were to the effect that I refuse to sign a document that would put me into legal jeopardy.

When I got up to leave, in disgust that Agents of the Government (Amy Fortin and Laurie Grant) were demanding that I break the Law simply to make their jobs easier, Amy Fortin called her office to “find a loophole in order to continue”.

Demand:

Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A:4 (I) ) and without violating RSA 91-A:5 XII privileged attorney/client discussions, I am demanding access, within 5 business days, to the below enumerated governmental records for Citizen complaints against NH State Government staff members:

• All communications between Amy Fortin and the person/people she called:
  • Names, title, organization
  • Documents referenced
  • The data element that was used to skirt the unsigned consent form.
• Ditto for Laurie Grant.
• Any logging of such communications for later reference (emails, paper copies, voice mails, recordings, et al) that were used to find said “loophole(s)” that allowed Ms. Grant, Ms. Fortin, and the Laconia Police Detective to do the interview of <my Granddaughter> that was presented to Judge Surber.

If this cannot be fulfilled within that 5 business day mandated window per RSA 91-A:2, II, please advise when the Responsive Record(s) will be made available.

And then the rest of my normal Right To Know boilerplate. However, given Ms. Fortin’s response (“it’s public and out on the Internet”) when I demanded DCYF’s standard operation procedures Investigative Manual (after all, that is supposed to strictly tell her how to do her job) and the Library Directors / Lawyers telling me “look <it | them> up yourself”, I have added a new clause to MY standard procedure:

Additional: It is not up to the Requester to be made to look up the subjects or materials that are the focus of this Right To Know (e.g., from the Respondent: “here’s the URL so do the search yourself”). It is the responsibility of the Respondent to fully supply all demanded materials.

<snip>

Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter. Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,

Skip Murphy
Founder, GraniteGrok.com
Dominating the Political Bandwidth in New Hampshire
Skip@GraniteGrok.com

And so I wait for their answers.  However, fortuitous for me, another DCYF specialist (protecting the innocent here so no name) had emailed me about the same time concerning something else so I told her what had happened:

Well, what came up at the Laconia CAC was that I refused to sign the CAC Waiver form for <my Granddaughter’s> interview this afternoon.  The reason why, and I told Amy (Fortin), Laurie (Grant) (CAC) and the Laconia Detective was the wording in the waiver “for your child/ward“.

To my knowledge, I have not been given any information that <my Granddaughter> is my ward. No copy of a Judge’s order, no paperwork from DCYF; nada.  That could have been done yesterday. It could have been done over the last couple of weeks when the appointment was made. As I told Amy, that should have been done by DCYF if it was available – but wasn’t.

“Ward” is a specific legal word that has grave implications. All that I and [TMEW] know is that we are providing care to our Grandaughter at the request of DCYF; that not’s a legal Power to sign such a document. So, not wishing to put myself or [TMEW] at legal jeopardy for signing something that I shouldn’t have, I demurred. I told all three that I Follow The Law. Amy started to call folks to get that permission and I left the room. It seems that permission was granted by some means as the interview happened. It would be nice to know how.

Thus, I need to understand what our current legal status is and if it is to be changed at some point to where we can sign such a legal document – or not.

<snip>

And the response was something that told me that Amy, WHO APPEARED IN COURT as the lead DCYF person bringing the case, is either incompetent – or some other words I shouldn’t type.

You are correct that [my Granddaughter] is not your ward and that you are not her legal guardian.  Her mother still has her parental rights, she needs to sign any documents that need a guardian’s signature on them.

 

Here it is with my response:

AH!  So she IS a ward of the State! Amy should have known that. Glad that I didn’t sign the document because it would have been invalid.

So what’s the upshot of all this from my view? Fortin tried to use me as a pawn to cover up her incompetence and put the onus on me if things went sideways in court.  Now, was she informed about the above image and is “custody” sufficient?  Perhaps about the former but from my source, insufficient.  Read again:

Her mother still has her parental rights, she needs to sign any documents that need a guardian’s signature on them

My daughter-in-law, upon talking with me, assured me that she had signed no such documents thus confirming that Fortin was in CYA mode and I didn’t play along.

Yes, this post will be going to the lawyers.

DCYF is an agency of the State and Amy Fortin / Lisa Grant are its employees. There should be consequences.

 

The post DCYF – So When You Demand That I Do Something Illegal, I’ll Make It Public. Part Two for Number Three appeared first on Granite Grok.

This year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally runs from Aug 4th to 13th. Over half a million folks attend this annual event, so it’s a magnet for everything commercial that might appeal to the crowd. Beer appeals, you’d think, and it does, unless it’s Budweiser.

Related: Bud Light “Stand” at Crowded Red Sox Game Has No Customers

 

From Twitter doing business as “X” (am I pronouncing that right?).

 

ZERO attendees at the Budweiser tent in Sturgis

This may be the BIGGEST marketing blunder of all time! pic.twitter.com/iSNqTyyOgc

— Old Row (@OldRowOfficial) August 9, 2023

Here is some video from YouTube for those boycotting ‘X’ and Bud. (If you are boycotting both, we have a local copy.)

 

 

 

In at least one of these videos, there are two people sitting separately, but they look like older folks getting out of the sun, so the BUD umbrellas are good for something.

This is reminiscent of the video of the Bud vendor at Fenway with no customers, while every other food or beverage stop had long lines.

A sign that the brand has suffered irreparable damage. Those they have lost are not returning – but they didn’t lose everyone. I was at an outdoor reception the other day. A young couple recently married. A lot of younger people. There was Bud Light and Budweiser, and it was free, so maybe that was a factor, but folks were drinking it. When one of the older “friends” joked about the boycott over some girl with a d**k, I said, “You know it’s not about that, right?”

“Almost no one cares about an adult pretending to be a woman. The concern is that a large company chose some girl with a d**k to represent real women.”

He smiled, nodded, and appeared to understand or didn’t want to explore that further. Or maybe he was just happy to have the free beer.

I didn’t drink it. They had Coors. Not much of a step up but better than Bud.

 

 

The post ICYMI – Bikers Bail on BUD – Budweiser’s Sturgis Pavilion is Empty. appeared first on Granite Grok.

We are told climate change is a crisis, and that there is an “overwhelming scientific consensus.”

“It’s a manufactured consensus,” says climate scientist Judith Curry in my new video. She says scientists have an incentive to exaggerate risk to pursue “fame and fortune.”

She knows about that because she once spread alarm about climate change.

Media loved her when she published a study that seemed to show a dramatic increase in hurricane intensity.

“We found that the percent of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes had doubled,” says Curry. “This was picked up by the media,” and then climate alarmists realized, “Oh, here is the way to do it. Tie extreme weather events to global warming!”

“So, this hysteria is your fault!” I tell her. (RELATED: DAVID BLACKMON: Is The Green Energy Transition Falling Off The Rails?)

“Not really,” she smiles. “They would have picked up on it anyways.”

But Curry’s “more intense” hurricanes gave them fuel.

“I was adopted by the environmental advocacy groups and the alarmists, and I was treated like a rock star,” Curry recounts. “Flown all over the place to meet with politicians.”

 

 

But then some researchers pointed out gaps in her research — years with low levels of hurricanes.

“Like a good scientist, I investigated,” says Curry. She realized that the critics were right. “Part of it was bad data. Part of it is natural climate variability.”

Curry was the unusual researcher who looked at criticism of her work and actually concluded “they had a point.”

Then the Climategate scandal taught her that other climate researchers weren’t so open-minded. Alarmist scientists’ aggressive attempts to hide data suggesting climate change is not a crisis were revealed in leaked emails.

“Ugly things,” says Curry. “Avoiding Freedom of Information Act requests. Trying to get journal editors fired.”

It made Curry realize that there is a “climate change industry” set up to reward alarmism.

“The origins go back to the … U.N. environmental program,” says Curry. Some U.N. officials were motivated by “anti-capitalism. They hated the oil companies and seized on the climate change issue to move their policies along.”

The U.N. created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“The IPCC wasn’t supposed to focus on any benefits of warming. The IPCC’s mandate was to look for dangerous human-caused climate change.”

“Then the national funding agencies directed all the funding … assuming there are dangerous impacts.”

The researchers quickly figured out that the way to get funded was to make alarmist claims about “man-made climate change.”

This is how “manufactured consensus” happens. Even if a skeptic did get funding, it’s harder to publish because journal editors are alarmists. (SUZANNE DOWNING: Biden’s Climate Change Fantasies Are Infiltrating A Key Government Department)

“The editor of the journal Science wrote this political rant,” says Curry. She even said, “The time for debate has ended.”

“What kind of message does that give?” adds Curry. Then she answers her own question: “Promote the alarming papers! Don’t even send the other ones out for review. If you wanted to advance in your career, like be at a prestigious university and get a big salary, have big laboratory space, get lots of grant funding, be director of an institute, there was clearly one path to go.”

That’s what we’ve got now: a massive government-funded climate alarmism complex.

Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.”

 

John Stossel | Daily Caller News Service

COPYRIGHT 2023 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

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

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

The post A Climate Scientist Blows The Lid Off The ‘Manufactured Consensus’ appeared first on Granite Grok.

Around the alternative media sphere, there is a lot of conversation about the events of the past several years, leading to the question, “Well, why is this happening?” Like “If COVID was planned, why?” or “What’s driving the gay bloc to push transgenderism and drag queens?”.

These are hot social issues in the USA and in many countries that have not specifically taken steps to guard their societies against such subversive ideologies and machinations. What is the ultimate cause of these ideas?

We must be plain and clear about it if we are going to find our way forward into the future with any sense of good. This is chiefly because applying strategies of biowarfare and sterilization to the human population is most definitely not good. It promotes death, illness, harm, and pain. No amount of pretzel logic can make a truthfully justifiable argument that these are ultimately beneficial ways to go about treading forward into the future.

Take the transgender issue as an example. What is going on there? A very deliberate process is being applied. It goes something like this:

Step 1. Encourage children to adopt gender fluidity mindsets. Make it seem totally harmless, fun, and accepted by everyone. It’s about love, inclusion, making people feel good, and other cushy ideas.

Step 2. Once children adopt the gender that is directly opposite of their birth sex, reinforce that mindset. Anyone who does not accept such psychological reinforcement must be prevented from influencing the children’s minds at all costs, even if it means disenfranchising or imprisoning the children’s very own parents.

Step 3. Encourage children to purchase puberty blockers in order to make sure that their physical body matches the gender they choose. These pharmaceutical products cause permanent damage to otherwise natural, physical, mental, and spiritual development.

Step 4. Encourage children to self-castrate. Provide free life-altering, life-shortening surgery. This prevents natural reproduction and ensures that the individuals will be addicted to pharmaceutical products for life.

Step 5. (optional) Use state power to remove children from parents’ custody if parents refuse to comply or attempt to reject the ideology.

This is a terrifying process. What is the purpose? It is, ultimately, population control. This is nothing new. Population control has driven many wars and social movements in the past. Sometimes it is naturally occurring. Sometimes it is implemented or engineered by humans against themselves. In the case of transgender ideology, it is humans encouraging other humans to adopt life-altering, life-shortening practices. When cells in the body damage and destroy other cells in the body like this, it is called cancer. In this sense, this expression of transgender ideology is cancerous.

I am not saying here that all transgender ideology is cancerous. Not all people are encouraging others to take puberty blockers and self-castrate. And above a certain age, perhaps 16, 18, 21, or something along those lines, such a decision is one that may derive from free will. For children under 21, and assuredly for children under 16, it is not free will. It is child abuse.

This is an example of neoliberal population control. People like the WEF’s Yuval Harari, Arizona Democratic Party member Brianna Westbrook, and US women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe have been figureheads of this movement, and there are many more. How many of them realize that the push for indoctrinating children ultimately leads to sterilization and is thus a form of population control? If you were to confront them and tell them that castrating children is not the best form of population control, they might look at you funny. It’s unlikely that they’ve made the link in their own minds between their seemingly compassionate political activism and the ultimate strategic political goal of the movement.

As a civilization, on the planetary scale, we are so obsessed with achieving results immediately in the present that we do not often consider longer-term solutions that might be truly compassionate. Such as incentivizing people to not have children– here’s a good one. Give people USD$33,000 for every year that they do not have a child. Ultimately, this also stimulates the economy, but it does not go directly into the coffers of the pharmaceutical industry. It also does not directly cause massive amounts of psychological pain and life-long trauma. This is a much more effective economic stimulant than encouraging self-castration, as it provides purchasing power directly to the citizenry and allows people to freely choose how they would like to build and lead their own lives.

Regardless of whether population reduction is necessary or what the actual carrying capacity of the planet is at our current level of technology, another idea might be to incentivize one child. China tried this in the 20th century with great failure, but it is not worth abandoning the idea totally. As financial technology develops, and with lessons learned from failed policy, continued tinkering in small populations might lead to a better, healthier result. For example, a married couple could be financially incentivized to have only one child. If they have only one child, and they voluntarily participate in an accountability program which permits limited surveillance to ensure that there is not a secret second or third child, then they become eligible for a yearly USD$20,000 stipend. The stipend would only kick in once the child is enrolled in an education system, public or private, providing further positive incentives. Every year that the couple verifiably proves that they only have one child, they receive the one child policy financial stipend. At least in this way, there is limited population replacement rather than guaranteed maximal lifelong trauma for a small minority.

The core of the issue of population control is reproduction. It is better to incentivize people to individually be healthy, happy, and whole than it is to physically prevent reproduction through permanent body alteration. It is better to incentivize people to have one child or no children at all than it is to make natural reproduction a physical impossibility. That is not compassionate, and it is not good. It is the exact opposite of good.

 

The post Alternate Solutions to Neo-Liberal Population Control appeared first on Granite Grok.