Thursday • December 26 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.LII
Manchester, N.H.
Sir Isaac Newton wasn’t a political thinker like Marcus Cicero or John Locke. He was a scientist. Indeed, he exemplified the Scientific Revolution—an event that changed not only how people thought about the physical universe, but also how they thought about politics and government.
In that way, Newton and his scientific colleagues greatly affected the U.S. Constitution.
Newton and the Scientific Revolution
Aristotle’s works dominated the theory and practice of science throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages. Aristotle’s dominance faded during the Renaissance, however, and in the ensuing years. Nicolaus Copernicus refined the already-existing theory that the sun, not Earth, was at the center of the solar system. Johannes Kepler described the nature of planetary orbits. Francis Bacon outlined the scientific method. Galileo Galilei made discoveries in physics and astronomy. René Descartes’ mathematics facilitated the integration of math and physics. Gottfried Leibnitz advanced the fields of mathematics, physics, and philosophy.
Newton was the exemplar of this enlightened age.
He was born in 1643 (by our current calendar) in Lincolnshire, England. He had a difficult childhood, and his talents surfaced rather late. His string of astounding discoveries began after he enrolled at Cambridge University.
Newton invented calculus and made breakthroughs in optics and the laws of motion. His Latin term for the universal attractive force—gravitas, “heaviness”—gave us our word “gravity.” Encyclopaedia Britannica describes his book “Principia Mathematica” as “the fundamental work for the whole of modern science.”
Later in life, Newton became president of the Royal Society and warden of the British mint. He became deeply involved in the mint’s operations. The first scientist to be knighted, Sir Isaac died in 1727, at the age of 84.
Effects on Political Thought
The Scientific Revolution, and particularly Newton’s work, taught men that the universe wasn’t willful or chaotic, but governed by rules of order. Once you knew the rules, the physical universe became predictable. The physical world was, in 18th-century parlance, a “mechanical” place.
Newton’s fame encouraged others to tinker with mathematics, machinery, and astronomical models. Garry Wills’ book “Inventing America” describes both the 18th-century fascination with mechanical order and balance, and the efforts to apply “mechanics” to politics. Wills wrote of the Declaration of Independence, for example, “The Declaration’s opening is Newtonian. It lays down the law.” Wills added that “Newton’s ordering of the inanimate universe led men to seek an equivalent pattern in human activity.”
Effects on the Constitution
Participants in the 1787–1790 debates over the framing and ratification of the Constitution frequently drew analogies between scientific law and political and constitutional systems. Illustrative are some observations by John Dickinson during the Constitutional Convention. Here is their context:
The early days of the convention were dominated by arguments for a powerful national government that would relegate the states to wholly subordinate roles. James Wilson and James Madison were among those making such arguments.
Madison also favored a small aristocratic Senate. He claimed that a larger Senate would have insufficient influence. He compared the case to that of the tribunes in the Roman Republic: When their number was increased, Madison said, they lost influence.
On June 7, 1787, Dickinson decided he had had enough of this. According to Madison’s own notes, here is what Dickinson said:
“The preservation of the States in a certain degree of agency [i.e., independent activity] is indispensable [sic]. It will produce that collision between the different authorities which should be wished for in order to check each other. To attempt to abolish the States altogether, would degrade the Councils of our Country, would be impracticable, would be ruinous. He compared the proposed National System to the Solar System, in which the States were the planets, and ought to be left to move freely in their proper orbits. The Gentleman from Pa. [Mr. Wilson] wished he said to extinguish these planets. If the State Governments were excluded from all agency in the national one, and all power drawn from the people at large, the consequence would be that the national Govt. would move in the same direction as the State Govts. now do, and would run into all the same mischiefs. The reform would only unite the 13 small streams into one great current pursuing the same course without any opposition whatever. He adhered to the opinion that the Senate ought to be composed of a large number, and that their influence from family weight & other causes would be increased thereby. He did not admit that the Tribunes lost their weight in proportion as their no. was augmented and gave a historical sketch of this institution. If the reasoning of [Mr. Madison] was good it would prove that the number of the Senate ought to be reduced below ten, the highest no. of the Tribunitial corps.”
Notice how Dickinson reduced Madison’s argument about the Roman tribunes to an absurdity. More important for present purposes, however, were Dickinson’s mechanical modes of expression: “collision between … authorities,” the solar system, the flow of a great river, references to “weight.”
Analogies like these occur throughout the constitutional debates. Participants besides Dickinson enlisted the solar system in particular. A writer using the pen name “Marcus” asserted that under the Constitution, “The State Judiciary will be a satellite waiting upon its proper planet: That of the Union like the sun, cherishing and preserving a whole planetary system.”
My favorite example from this genre comes from the Massachusetts ratifying convention, held in early 1788. Opponents of the Constitution had been arguing for annual elections, which, they said, were suggested by nature itself.
William Hershel had discovered the planet Uranus only seven years previously. A supporter of the Constitution, James Bowdoin, took advantage of the discovery to make a point at the opponents’ expense:
“[I]f the revolution of the heavenly bodies is to be the principle to regulate elections, it was not fixed to any period, as in some of the systems it would be very short; and in the last-discovered planet it would be eighty of our years.”
Charles Turner rose in response:
“In reply to the Hon. Mr. Bowdoin, … He was, he said, greatly in favor of annual elections, and he thought … it would be establishing a dangerous precedent to adopt a change; for … the principle may so operate, as, in time, our elections will be as seldom as the revolution of the star the honorable gentleman talks of.”
Effect on the Constitution’s Structure
Much of the final Constitution resembles an interlocked and finely tuned machine. As Charles Carroll of Carrollton wrote:
“The three distinct powers of the federal Govt. are skilfully [sic] combined so as to balance each other, by that reciprocal check & counterpoise, which the most approved writers on Govt. consider as its chief perfection … [T]he several State-Governments will always keep it within its own & proper sphere of action: [T]hus while it restrains the State-Governments within their orbits, it is by them retained within its own; acting, & acted upon it will produce that order, that stability in the civil, which we see exists in the physical world, where if I may compare great things to small, every planet, every center of each system attracting & attracted, repelling, & repelled keeps that station, & rolls within those spheres, which the great Author of all being has prescribed to each.”
Further exemplifying the intricate and balanced structure is the Constitution’s Article V, which sets forth the amendment process. Madison was its principal draftsman, and it shows that he shared his generation’s “mechanical” mode of thought:
Balance and order. All very Newtonian.
Read prior installments here: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth.
TJ Martinelli | The Tenth Amendment Center
The post The Ideas That Formed the Constitution: Sir Isaac Newton appeared first on Granite Grok.
Sun-King Sununu tweeted about Easter, but his tweet said NOTHING about Easter being a Christian holiday:
Now contrast Sun-King’s treatment of Easter to his treatment of Eid-al-Fitr:
To be clear, I have no problem with Sun-King recognizing Eid-al-Fitr. My problem is with Sun-King treating Christians as second class citizens. It is a complete falsehood to claim that Sun-King focuses on the “fiscal issues” and avoids the so-called “cultural issues.” Sun-King does take sides on the “cultural issues” and it is NOT the side of most GOP voters … and again, to be clear, what I mean by the side of most GOP voters is treating Easter as a Christian holiday, celebrating the risen Christ NOT bunnies.
The post In Sun-King Sununu’s New Hampshire, It’s Only About Bunnies appeared first on Granite Grok.
Why Does Planned Parenthood Want to Hide Details of Its Gender-Transition Hormone Drug Therapy Business
Planned Parenthood kills more babies than anyone, ever, in history, but that’s not a big enough business. They are branching out, and while abortion drives the bus, if you are interested in gender transition drugs, just ask.
Many Planned Parenthood health centers are able to offer gender-affirming hormone treatment (sometimes called GAHT). The best way to learn about the services available in your area is to contact your nearest Planned Parenthood health center.
If your closest Planned Parenthood health center doesn’t offer gender-affirming hormone treatments, and you want them to, you can tell them. Hearing from patients helps your nearest Planned Parenthood add services that you need. They may be able to recommend a trans-friendly doctor in your area who provides the services you need.
A story out of Missouri brought this to my attention.
“Following discovery that Planned Parenthood provides life-altering gender transition drugs to children without any therapy assessment, we asked them to provide basic documents to explain themselves, including why its procedures depart so far from any recognized standard of care
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) March 31, 2023
But it’s not exactly a secret, so why is PP in MO working so hard to hide the details?
Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey demanded documents from Planned Parenthood after finding out that the clinic provides “life-altering gender transition drugs to children with any therapy assessment,” spokeswoman Madeline Sieren said in a statement. She described that as a departure from standard care.
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri sued in response, trying to block access to its records. In court filings, the healthcare provider argued Bailey has no authority to investigate the clinic, which is inspected by the state health department.
So, yes, they are offering these “treatments,” and no, they don’t want you to know the who, what, where, when, and how? Not private health details. You can only demand those where COVID is concerned. The AG doesn’t need personal info. What he’s looking for is evidence of procedure and transparency after a whistleblower “alleged that physicians [at a separate transition facility] did not warn patients and parents enough about potential side effects of puberty blockers and hormones, and that doctors pressured parents to consent to treatment.”
In a series of tweets, the AG outlined the nature of the interest.
“Following discovery that Planned Parenthood provides life-altering gender transition drugs to children without any therapy assessment, we asked them to provide basic documents to explain themselves, including why its procedures depart so far from any recognized standard of care Planned Parenthood is a member of the activist organization WPATH, which has long called for ‘extensive exploration of psychological issues’ ‘before any physical interventions are considered.’ But rather than provide a single document to explain why it is departing so far from WPATH’s standard, Planned Parenthood is running to court to try to hide everything. Missourians should be very concerned. There is also a growing recognition that there is not yet solid evidentiary support for gender transition interventions. As the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has determined, ‘There is a lack of current evidence-based guidance for the care of children and adolescents who identify as transgender, particularly regarding the benefits and harms of pubertal suppression, medical affirmation with hormone therapy, and surgical affirmation.’ That’s why Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, among others, have declared this to be ‘experimental’ and have substantially limited the circumstances where these interventions can be prescribed. Planned Parenthood’s decision not to follow the science, and not to even explain why it will not follow the science, is very concerning. We look forward to prevailing in this request for information and learning what is truly going on with Planned Parenthood in connection with gender transition issues.” (10/10)
Planned Parenthood of St Louis and southwestern Missouri sued to keep their secrets which is their right but not a good look. Planned Parenthood has no aftercare. They are a chop shop that typically outsources the “women’s health” side to third parties so it can focus on abortion. If they are handing out hormone therapy drugs, I’m confident it’s as haphazard an operation as the rest of the business. And that’s a good reason to ask questions.
Gender therapy drugs can kill kids. Dead. If PP isn’t providing proper informed consent, there are legal issues. They do not have the immunity provided to the Covidistas.
And yes, I checked Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (the local area tax-dollars to Dem campaign cash laundromat) and did not see anything obvious. Nothing popped more locally, either. But as you read in the first pull quote, PP offers them; all you need to do is ask.
We assume that enough interest will spark an activist war against local legislatures to ensure they can wreck kids’ lives without costly evaluations, documentation, reporting, or follow-up.
There is, of course, one other problem. Can they still call it “women’s” health care if they are transitioning boys to girls or vice versa? And why do they call it that anyway? They can’t even tell you what a woman is. How could they possibly know how to transition you to or from what they can’t define?
Talk about a paradox.
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A popular narrative is that the COVID pandemic shutdowns made things worse for public schools, so we should cut them some slack. But there are two problems with this.
We want to thank Dr. Jody Underwood for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.
First, the narrative is not supported by the data. Scores were already decreasing (for reading) or stagnant (for math) before the pandemic started. It’s not like there was progress to be interrupted.
Second, the amount of slack that was already given to public schools over the several decades preceding the shutdowns is nearly beyond belief. There hasn’t been a time since the NAEP tests started (half a century ago) when it hasn’t been reasonably accurate to say: About half of kids in public schools are performing below the lowest levels of proficiency in reading and math. This is true no matter where you look, and no matter when you look.
The one score on which public schools have made substantial gains is in dollars spent per student. Currently, the per-student cost of a K-12 education exceeds the median cost of a house in many school districts.
For homeschooling parents, there is good news, and there is bad news. The good news is: Whatever you’re doing, it’s likely to be better than what they’re doing in the public schools, because it could hardly be worse.
The bad news is: Even if your own children are educated properly, they will still be surrounded by generations of public-school graduates, and will have to pay for an increasingly dysfunctional and expensive public school system.
Below, we take an in-depth look at what happened to scores on the New Hampshire Statewide Assessment (SAS), the test formerly known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) before, during, and after the pandemic shutdowns. We also look at the per-student cost of K-12 education in New Hampshire over the same period.
The NH SAS
The New Hampshire Statewide Assessment System (NH SAS) is administered yearly to students attending traditional public and charter schools in grades 3-8. The SAT is administered to NH students in grade 11 — it’s free, and it’s required.
Parents may exempt their child from taking these tests. They do not have to supply a reason, and the school has to provide an educational activity for the student to do during the period their classmates are taking the assessment. These tests are not used as graduation requirements.
There is no minimum performance required of students — except inasmuch as RSA 193-H:2 requires public schools to have “all pupils at the proficient level or above on the statewide assessment.”
No school in New Hampshire is in compliance with this law. We might ask what purpose is served by these tests, but that is not the purpose of this review.
The New Hampshire Department of Education (NH DOE) has a record of statewide assessment data since 2016, which includes the NH SAS (grades 3-8) and the SAT (grade 11). The tests were not administered in 2020 because of school shutdowns due to the COVID pandemic. We’ll call this the shutdown year.
In what follows, we will use the phrase ‘the score’ to refer to ‘the percentage of students performing at or above the most basic level of proficiency’ on any given test.
Summary of NH SAS Scores Since 2016The following chart shows an overall summary of the score on the state standardized tests in grades 3-8 and 11 in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics.
We see that ELA scores (blue) have been dropping linearly since 2016. (That is, we can draw a nearly straight line connecting the tops of all the blue bars.) In 2016, the score was just over 60%. (This means that nearly 40% — that is, 4 out of 10 students — performed below proficiency). In 2022, the score was about 50%. There was no extra drop after the shutdown for ELA. In other words, ELA scores seem to be just where they would be anyway, if the shutdown had never happened.
Math scores (orange) tell a different story. The score was just below 50% for all four years prior to the shutdown. After the shutdown it dropped to just under 40% and remained there in 2022. The scores were bad before, and are worse now. So, math scores show a marked decline after the shutdown.
(It’s just speculation, but this is consistent with the idea that students forgot the math they’d learned earlier. Which is another way of saying that they hadn’t really learned it.)
It might be helpful to view how these scores changed from year to year. The numbers in the chart below are computed by subtracting the previous year from the current year. (The difference shown in 2021 was from 2019, since the test wasn’t given in 2020.)
We can see that there’s a decrease in the ELA score (blue) every year, both before and after the shutdown. As described earlier, scores for ELA were dropping before the shutdown and continued in the same fashion into 2021. The drop from 2019 to 2021 appears large because it represents two years of decline, instead of just one.
The math score (orange) was approximately the same for each year before the shutdown (which is why you can’t see any orange bars for 2018 and 2019). Then there is a large (10%) drop in the score the year after the shutdown, followed by an increase in the score two years after the shutdown.
Individual Grades
Now let’s look at grades 3-8 and 11 individually to see if that tells a different story.
The chart below shows the score for ELA alone. It shows a 5-year progression for each grade, made up of 2 bars (for 2018 and 2019), a space (for the 2020 the shutdown year), and 2 more bars (for 2021 and 2022). We see that in each of grades 3 through 8 there’s a drop in scores after the shutdown year, though sometimes not by very much (e.g., grade 6). That’s consistent with the overall scores for grades 3-8, discussed above. However, grade 11 shows consistent scores before and after the shutdown, which is different from the overall scores shown earlier.
Students in grade 11 take the SAT, which is a different test from the NH SAS, and not directly comparable, even though the state combines them in its overall summary. Also, students take no standardized test in grades 9 and 10.
Math scores in the individual grades drop after the shutdown each year in grades 3 through 8 (yellow is below orange), but then the numbers start to rise (compare light blue to yellow). This is different from the overall scores in math. More specifically, the math score goes down after 3rd grade and remains static in the middle grades (look at any one color across grades 5-8 in the math graph below).
There is also an exception for grade 11 for SAT math, where the numbers remain at about the same levels, hovering at around 40%. (Again, that’s 6 out of every 10 students performing below proficiency).
Notes
NAEP: The Nation’s Report Card
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, pronounced “nape”) is often called The Nation’s Report Card. It is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students in public schools in the United States know and are able to do in various subjects in grades 4, 8, and 12.
Since 1969, NAEP has been a common measure of student achievement across the country in mathematics, reading, science, and many other subjects. Depending on the assessment, NAEP report cards provide national, state, and some district-level results, as well as results for different demographic groups. NAEP is also used to compare performance in the US to performance in other countries, for example, in contrast to the PISA and TIMSS tests. NAEP reports four levels of performance: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced.
NAEP scores in New Hampshire tell a different story than the NH SAS and SAT scores. Looking at the chart below, the ELA scores for grades 4 and 8 were rising (ever so slightly) since 2003, but dropped in 2019, which was a year before the shutdown. Whatever happened in 2019 was not the shutdown.
NAEP normally tests in odd years, but they skipped 2021 and instead tested in 2022, with scores that were even lower than 2019 (although not significantly different statistically).
Looking at the chart below, math scores were on the rise for both grades 4 and 8 through 2013. Fourth grade scores (blue) dropped in 2015, continuing the downward trend through 2022. Eighth graders (orange) didn’t score as well as the 4th graders through 2013, stagnated from 2013-2017, but also took a downturn in 2019 that continued in 2022. Grade 8 looks like they took more of a shutdown hit than Grade 4, but both downswings started well before the shutdown.
Again, we should state clearly that all these NAEP scores are abysmal. They show that even at its high in 2015, 55% of grade 8 students were not reading at a proficient level (previous chart above). In math (below), the peak was in 2013, with 41% of NH 4th-grade students performing below proficiency. What’s more, if you go back far enough, the 2022 scores might just be part of a normal variance.
NH Per-Student Cost
The growth in the yearly cost per pupil in NH’s public schools, preschool through grade 12, is shown in the chart below. For fun, we compare each yearly increase to inflation since 2017.
The blue bars show the per-student cost growing (from 2017) at the rate of inflation. The orange bars show the actual growth, which is considerably larger.
By 2021-22, the excess grew to 10% of the total (about $1,800 additional per child). And this is only going back to 2017. Imagine if we started the inflation analysis 40 years ago.
Again, keep in mind that this is the cost of a school system in which half the students are failing to reach even the lowest levels of proficiency in reading and math. The mind reels.
Conclusion
The narrative that the COVID pandemic shutdowns made things worse for public schools is not supported by the data. Scores were already decreasing (for reading) or stagnant (for math) before the pandemic started. It’s not like there was progress to be interrupted by the shutdown.
About half of kids in public schools are performing below the lowest levels of proficiency in reading and math. This has been true for a long time.
The one score on which public schools have made substantial gains is in dollars spent per student. The per-student cost of a K-12 education exceeds the median cost of a house in many school districts and rises beyond inflation every year.
| Granite State Home Educators
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The headline from the Epoch Times is “Switzerland Stops Recommending COVID-19 Vaccination,” but is that the real story? It sounds like a win for the so-called anti-vaxxers. The Jab is terrible, and hey, the Swiss have said Nicht mehr (Aucun, Non più, ajunge). No more!
Related: New Research: COVID and Flu Vaccines Are Not “Preventing” Hospitalization
Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health now says that “no COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for spring/summer 2023.” People designated at high risk also aren’t recommended to get a COVID-19 vaccine, authorities said.
Why?
Switzerland claims to have evidence that 98% of the population has COVID antibodies. Summer is not big for flu (they say), so now seems like an excellent time to delist the mRNA poison as something the government suggests officially… unless you want it.
Swiss authorities nodded to the short-lived protection as they noted that people designated at high risk from COVID-19 can still receive a vaccine, despite the lack of recommendation, after consultation with their doctor.
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So, there’s no reason to harass the folks who took a hard pass?
Switzerland’s population is 8.8 million. They claim 4.399 million cases of COIVD, with 4.378 million recovered. But only 69% have received one dose; on average, only 10% have in the past six months. That’s not dissimilar to other countries, including the US. Uptake has waned significantly, and in Switzerland, half the population may have never had COVID though they may have been exposed. So?
“Vaccination may be wise in individual cases, as it improves protection against developing severe COVID-19 for several months,” they said.
People at high risk include those aged 65 or older and pregnant women.
That’s some bad advice, none of which is proven—quite the opposite. COVID vaccination increases the chance of disease and severe disease, including death. Pfizer/Moderna, the FDA, and who knows who else in the so-called public health industrial complex also knew The Jab caused miscarriages.
People who aren’t determined to be at high risk from COVID-19 can also get a COVID-19 vaccine but will have to pay a fee since they’re getting a vaccine that isn’t recommended, authorities said. Those at high risk who receive a shot recommended by the doctor won’t have to pay, as the vaccination will be covered by health insurance.
In other words, the “Swiss authorities” are not saying you no longer need it. They are saying the government will no longer pay for it, but if you would like to embrace the risk, knock yourself out – perhaps literally.
At least for the summer. The “authorities” reserve the right to renew a recommendation that you get more poison before winter arrives, though it does not look like the population will line up if they do.
That is good news.
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We have at least one US Representative (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York) and one US Senator (Ron Wyden of Oregon) openly calling on the Biden administration to simply ‘ignore’ a recent ruling from a federal court.
The ruling happens to be over whether the FDA can continue approval for a drug, but the particular issue doesn’t really matter.
What matters is that we might be nearing the end of an era, which began in 1803, in which the judiciary has been seen as ‘more equal’ than the other branches of government, with the ability to unilaterally amend constitutions and statutes just by changing the definitions of common English words (like ‘no,’ ‘not,’ ‘abridge,’ ‘infringe,’ ‘tax,’ ‘fee,’ and so on).
I hope the administration takes Ocasio-Cortez’s and Wyden’s advice to tell the judiciary to shove it. To say, as the grandkids like to say, You’re not the boss of me.
Not because I care about this particular issue, but because someone has to do it eventually, on some issue, to break the spell that John Marshall cast on the entire country when he declared, in Marbury v. Madison, that it is ’emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.’
Which ruling itself effectively amended Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution by replacing the word ‘all’ with the meaning of the word ‘some.’
I had hoped that Trump would pick this fight, first over travel bans and again over illegal immigration. But maybe, just as only Nixon could go to China, only Biden can ignore the judiciary.
In any case, what is necessary is that people get used to the idea that just because a court says something, that doesn’t mean it has the authority to do so. Because from there, it’s a short step to realizing that just because a legislature or an executive branch says something, that doesn’t mean that it had the authority to do so.
And that might one day take us into a new era, one in which it is emphatically the province and duty of the people to say what laws they consent to and to ignore laws to which they have never consented — finally giving us the government that we were promised in the Declaration of Independence.
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JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon thinks the Feds and NGOs should make Eminent Domain claims to seize private property … to save the planet. Dimon is worth close to two billion, and wouldn’t this be a good time to lead by example?
“[C]limate conscious corporations may have to seize citizen’s private property to enact climate initiatives while there still time to stave off climate disasters.
Dimon declared Tuesday that “governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations” may need to invoke “eminent domain” in order to get the “adequate investments fast enough for grid, solar, wind and pipeline initiatives.”
Ignoring that there is not enough real estate to build enough ‘infrastructure’ or enough raw material to pretend we’ve achieved Progressive’s alleged CO2 reduction goals (or any evidence they are needed), there is something that can be done if lowering emission quickly is the goal. You should go first. The science tells us that you rich guys and gals are the only demographic that hasn’t been doing your part. While everyone else in America (demographically) has lowered their emissions, the Davos crowds have risen as much as 50%.
“The Climate Cult should consider you -normal Jane and Joe – a good citizen. Over the past two-plus decades, you’ve reduced your “emissions” by 16%. … But that blessed one percent, a few of whom are the loudest voices preaching “emissions” mythology, [have] emitted 23% more over that period, while the top 0.1% increased their emissions by 50%…”
A proper missionary arrives in sackcloth and bare feet, not burdened by the embarrassment of excess emissions.
He then mentioned that “governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations need to align” on policies to expedite climate solutions. Dimon added, “Massive global investment in clean energy technologies must be done and must continue to grow year-over-year.”
He floated eminent domain as one of these policies that could speed up building green infrastructure.
“At the same time, permitting reforms are desperately needed to allow investment to be done in any kind of timely way. We may even need to evoke [sic] eminent domain,” Dimon stated.
This tells me that Jamie is looking to make a killing on the backs of third-world slaves mining rare earth metals, but emissions offshoring pollutes their local environment for generations and the planet.
I’m not a class warfare guy, but if you think we need to give up the property we worked hard to own and hold so you can jet-set to climate conferences, a class war is what you’ll get. And I know you want a war. But those emit a lot of carbon. It would be easier if you gave up your property first. The jet, the yacht, a few homes, all the cars.
We can use eminent Domain, just like you suggested.
And if there is any indication that this has moved the needle on climate, thanks for sacrificing so we can keep our stuff.
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For the meeting on April 12th, here are the following items the Executive Council is set to approve related to Covid-19 (how are we still doing this?):
Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to editor@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication.
Action Item
According to government databases, one child under the age of eighteen years old has died with Covid in New Hampshire, while there are VAERS reports showing four children in the same age group died subsequent to Covid-19 vaccination in New Hampshire. These are horrific statistics.
Please email your Executive Councilor and demand that they pause Covid-19 related expenditures to the Department of Health and Human Services until the department retracts their recommendation to vaccinate children against Covid-19 and stops state distribution of these shots to minors.
Joseph.D.Kenney@nh.gov
Cinde.Warmington@nh.gov
Janet.L.Stevens@nh.gov
Ted.Gatsas@nh.gov
David.K.Wheeler@nh.gov
Not sure who your Executive Council member is? Check here.
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This week could either be the beginning of the pro-life fight in New Hampshire – or the end. I will keep this short, as we don’t have much time.
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Submission is not a guarantee of publication.
HB 224 is a bill that would repeal New Hampshire’s Fetal Life Protection Act – protecting preborn babies 24 weeks and beyond – and return New Hampshire to unlimited abortion up to birth.
The bill has already been passed by the House. Last week the bill had its hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and now, the committee could hold an executive session on the bill anytime – most likely on Tuesday, April 11. The full Senate could vote on HB 224 as early as this coming Thursday, April 13.
This is the time for pro-lifers to fight because the lives of so many depend on it.
Our pressure on the Senate and the Governor can not stop.
We need your help. I am so grateful for the support that has so far allowed us to put pressure on our legislators, send mailers, and recruit a strong network of testifiers, but this week we need to redouble our efforts or see it all go to nothing.
This is why your gift to Cornerstone Action is urgently needed.
How hard we are able to fight these next few days will determine whether New Hampshire will preserve our protections for late-term preborn or once again allow abortion up to birth.
Will you give a sacrificial gift today to fight for the Fetal Life Protection Act?
The lives of real preborn children are in the hands of legislators today. Should we lose this week, it could very well be the end of the line. We need to take action.
Time is critical. We urge you to oppose HB 224, and stand up for pre-born life in the Granite State.
The post Save the Fetal Life Protection Act! – Oppose HB 224 appeared first on Granite Grok.
More bad news for the proprietors of non-stop Trump outrage. FEC Commissioner James ‘Trey” Trainos says, in regard to Alvin Bragg’s indictment, that there’s no there there.
In a 34-count indictment of Trump, the first criminal case ever against a former president, Bragg charged that a $130,000 payment made by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels, which Cohen went to jail for in a plea deal, violated several campaign finance laws that splashed onto Trump.
But, said Trainor, the FEC and Justice Department already considered the case and tossed it.
We’ve already covered how there isn’t any actual crime outlined in the indictment, just activity that we’re meant to assume with result in a crime during litigation. Real banana republic stuff. You are guilty, and as soon as we get you in front of the right judge and jury, we’ll tell you why.
Trainor says,
That’s probably why Bragg doesn’t specify the laws that were broken. There are none. This is just another media show trial to besmirch public opinion about the single biggest threat to the Ruling class’s monopoly on power since JFK.
Side note to Mr. Trump. Avoid open cars in Dallas between now and November 2024. And maybe not just Dallas. They are out to get you, and you know that, but I don’t think, given the politicization of the CIA, FBI, Homeland, DHS, and the rest, that we can rely entirely on the protection services assigned to you.
They’ve tried everything else, and I can’t see murder as being a deal-breaker for them, especially if it triggers the level of militant unrest they’ve been pining for from any corner willing to take up arms.
The post FEC Commissioner James E. “Trey” Trainor -“It’s Not a Campaign Finance Violation. It’s Not a Reporting Violation of Any Kind.” appeared first on Granite Grok.
In efforts to undermine the Second Amendment, gun control advocates advance a variety of arguments claiming it does not confer an individual right to keep and bear arms and that it was ratified for reasons that make it morally illegitimate today.
Among these arguments is the claim that the Second Amendment was added to the Constitution for the sake of Southern slave states that relied on the militia to conduct slave patrols and put down potential slave insurrections and revolts.
That is the central thesis of an oft-quoted 1998 paper, The Hidden History of the Second Amendment, by law professor Carl T. Bogus. Aside from its explicit ideological underpinnings, the paper effectively claims to make one argument but with implications that go beyond any rational and logical extension. Both are rendered moot because implications he makes run afoul of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.
The ostensible thesis is that James Madison’s motive for pushing the adoption of the Second Amendment was to assure Southern states that their militias used to conduct slave patrols would be protected from interference of one kind or another by the federal government.
There are an incredible number of glaring problems with this thesis.
First, for this thesis to be believable, the question of militia control and arming would have had to be solely a regional priority and not an issue outside of Southern slave states. Second, there almost certainly would have been either public statements or private correspondence to or from James Madison and others expressing the need for the Second Amendment to maintain local militia autonomy in the event of a slave revolt or uprising. Finally, states that had experienced prior slave revolts would have been pushing for it the hardest.
Instead, the concerns over the militia and the right to keep and bear arms came from states North and South, slave and free. The discussions about the proposed Constitution’s impact on slavery in the South during the ratification of the Constitution itself had nothing to do with the Second Amendment, nor did the amendment satisfy those concerns. And states that had had slave revolts made no demands for any amendment regarding militia control or the right to keep and bear arms.
It’s clear from the beginning of the paper that, to quote Sherlock Holmes, it’s a theory in search of facts that twists facts to suit a theory.
The first two-dozen pages or so don’t concern the history of the Second Amendment or the historical record, but instead focus on gun violence in America compared to other developed nations, the author’s frustration with the lack of federal gun control due to the Second Amendment, and his animosity toward gun rights groups that favor an individualistic interpretation of the Second Amendment.
When Bogus finally gets to the meat of his paper, he claims that protecting the individual right to keep and bear arms was “not the principal reason the Founders created the Second Amendment.” Instead, he insists it was to assure Southern states would not be vulnerable to slave revolts or insurrections due to federal interference with local militias used to quell them.
The trouble is, there’s no solid evidence to support this. His assertions are rooted in speculation, conjecture, or weak attempts to tie separate issues together.
For example, he notes that William Smith of South Carolina wrote a letter advocating for a bill of rights due to his opposition to the 20-year ban on the slave trade. But this conflates the entire Bill of Rights with one provision – the Second Amendment specifically. The implementation of a slave trade ban had nothing to do with local militia, nor did the Second Amendment affect it in any way.
Fundamentally, the paper frames antifederalist opposition to and apprehensions about the Constitution as primarily due to its potential impact on the institution of slavery. Bogus implies that the antifederalist stance regarding militia, a standing army, and firearm ownership was at its core not based on preserving federalism, but on slavery.
The paper’s case is even further harmed when the author brings up issues that are not relevant to the discussion. Bogus also misconstrues the debates. As one example, Bogus delves into the ineffectiveness of local militia to combat the British military during the War of Independence. He implies that arguments made by antifederalists championing local militia over a permanent standing army for fear of tyranny were insincere. Bogus writes that militia was the “best defense against slave insurrection but practically useless against a professional army.”
Yet, that’s not what they argued.
Antifederalists including George Mason, Patrick Henry, and others were fearful of a standing army during peacetime, not war. They were also afraid of a permanent standing army leading to a military dictatorship that would centralize power, in part by either consolidating or abolishing local militia that might resist it. Congress raising an army to ward off invasion or in defense of the nation, only to disband it as it had done during after the War of Independence following the Treaty of Paris, was not the basis of their opposition.
Another flaw in Bogus’ argument is that the fear of a standing army and the disarming of civilians was not confined to Southern slave owners like Mason and Henry.
For instance, although slavery was still legal in the state, New York was already on its way toward banning it. By 1781, it voted to free slaves that had fought in the War of Independence and later voted for gradual abolition by the end of the century. With its ratification of the Constitution, the state convention proposed several amendments that included the following:
That no appropriation of money in time of peace for the support of an army, shall be by less than two thirds of the representatives and senators present.
That each state shall have power to provide for organising arming and disciplining its militia, when no provision for that purpose shall have been made by Congress and until such provision shall have been made; and that the militia shall never be subjected to martial law but in time of war rebellion or insurrection.
New Hampshire ended slavery in 1783 and went on to ratify the Constitution but with 12 proposed amendments.
Among them:
That no standing Army shall be Kept up in time of Peace unless with the consent of three-fourths of the Members of each branch of Congress, nor shall Soldiers in Time of Peace be quartered upon private Houses without the consent of the Owners.
Congress shall never disarm any Citizen unless such as are or have been in Actual Rebellion.
Massachusetts Congressmen Eldridge Gerry echoed these arguments during the congressional debates about the Second Amendment, saying:
“What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins. This was actually done by Great Britain at the commencement of the late revolution.” [Emphasis added]
Gerry was not only a northerner hailing from a free state, he signed both the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation and refused to sign the Constitution because it did not include a Bill of Rights.
Further, Bogus’ interpretation struggles to explain how Southern states like South Carolina and Georgia that relied on the militia to enforce slave laws both ratified the Constitution, not only without a stipulation that amendments be adopted, but the amendments they suggested had nothing to do with militia.
The first state to use militia for slave patrols was South Carolina. At its ratifying convention held just prior to Virginia’s, the objections against the Constitution over slavery did not concern the disarming or nationalization of militia. Chief objections concerned a ban on importing slaves.
This is significant because South Carolina had been the scene of the Stono Rebellion, also known as Cato’s Rebellion. The largest slave revolt in the state’s history, it took place in 1739 and killed 25 whites and 50 blacks.
The fact that South Carolina raised no qualms about the loss of local militia control during the convention and made no demands about militia in its proposed amendments despite past slave revolts within living memory gains further significance when you consider that Virginia up until that point had never even experienced an actual slave revolt.
As Mary Miley Theobald at Colonial Williamsburg writes (bold emphasis added):
“There was in colonial Virginia a relentless fear of slave uprisings. Rumors and reports fed the anxieties of a slaveholding society, and some of them were founded in fact. But there was no organized slave uprising in Virginia until well into the nineteenth century. All the plots were uncovered or betrayed before they could be carried out. Luck—bad for the slaves, good for the masters—played a role, but there were other factors.”
Georgia’s convention had no transcript, and the focus of Bogus’s footnotes on it offers no proof that there was fear of losing local militia control needed to quell slave revolts.
In conclusion, it is damning that numerous northern states adamantly requested amendments regarding private firearm ownership as well as militia, yet key Southern slave states that relied on the militia to maintain that “peculiar institution” did not. This undercuts Bogus’s thesis and renders his conclusions more than doubtful.
TJ Martinell | The Tenth Amendment Center
The post Refuting the Claim that the Second Amendment was Intended to Protect Slavery appeared first on Granite Grok.
In case you missed it, while everyone was discussing the Transperson who shot up a Christian School in Nashville, just days later, the police arrested a 19-year-old transwoman with a freshly minted manifesto and a plan to shoot up schools and churches in Colorado.
A 19-year-old man who identifies as a transgender woman has been arrested after a police investigation found that he was planning mass shootings at schools and churches in Colorado.
The news was made public on Thursday, but the arrest happened last Friday – just days after a transgender terrorist killed six people, including three children, in a targeted attack at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.
According to KRDO, 19-year-old William Whitworth, who identifies as “Lilly,” was charged after allegedly targeting schools and churches in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
When arrested, the suspect allegedly “visibly shook” his head “indicating yes” when asked by officers if he was going to shoot up a school. He said that he had been planning the attacks for over a month and that he had been writing a manifesto.
In the suspect’s home, officers found his manifesto, the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrick Engels, and a notebook with suicidal ideations.
Another poster child for the progressive culture war, recruited in public school, most likely, and a devotee of Collectivist Pride Icons Marx and Engels. And they can’t stop thinking about killing themselves even after doing all the things the Progs told him he should do so he could be who he truly was.
A mentally unstable pre-meditating mass murderer?
William Whitworth, who identifies as “Lilly,” was charged after police a investigation into “threats involving schools in Colorado Springs Academy District 20,” according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Deputies located a “manifesto” with the names of mass shooters, political commentators and more while searching Whitworth’s home, the Gazette reported.
We don’t have the manifesto and know little about the path that led this individual to consider committing suicide by cop after killing an unknown number of innocent people, but I think we can safely say a Democrat is to blame, just like in Nashville.
Additionally, deputies found a whiteboard with a floor plan to Timberview Middle School amongst Whitworth’s belongings, and a “detailed” hit list of people he was planning to murder.
While Timberview was described as his “main target,” two other high schools were also reportedly listed as “targets” in other notebooks.
When asked why he wanted to commit mass murder, Whitworth told police that there was “no specific reason,” but that he was getting close to carrying out his plans.
The mental health crisis they’ve created with both the response to COVID and now the accelerated dystopian obsession with gender confusion therapy might be the faster way to get what they are after—more school shootings so they can use that to deny law-abiding citizens their constitutional rights.
Police were dispatched to the Whitworth’s residence after his sister called and claimed that he had been behaving violently and talking about school shootings. According to the affidavit, the sister referred to William as “lily” and used “she/her” pronouns.
See something, say something?
Leo Terrell.com | American Greatness
The post Another Transgender Suspect Planned Mass Shootings at Schools and Churches appeared first on Granite Grok.
I am taking a step away from politics today. After over 800 straight days of writing about the issues of the country and world, we all need a break- I know I do. I sometimes think about what I would do if I had a chance to hit the reset button. In the real world, I can see myself as a prosecutor.
I would love to devote my life to giving people peace by putting people who harmed them behind bars. In my fantasy, I would be the guy I think has had the dream job for the last four decades. Can you call it a job to call the Superbowl, the NCAA Final Four, the NBA, Pebble Beach, or The Masters? That sounds more to me to be the dream job of every sports fan. That is why I wish I could come back in my next life as Jim Nantz, the luckiest man in sports.
Sports was life when I was growing up. My father was a sports fanatic, and watching sports on the TV, in Black & White, was a treat every weekend. We had some classic sports announcers in New England. Curt Gowdy, who owned our local AM station, called Red Sox and Patriot Games before moving on to the National Scene for NBC. We had Johnny Most, who had one of the most unique voices in media, call games for our Celtics for decades. Who can forget his famous call, “Havlicek stole the ball?”
He bridged the eras from Russell and Cousy to Bird and McHale. Gil Santos sat high above Sullivan Stadium, calling every play by the Patriots. Fortunately, he was lucky to call games into the Brady dynasty still. These were the voices of our sports teams on radio and TV. None of these guys could call the biggest games of our lives, in many different sports, for as long as Jim Nantz. As soon as he uttered his signature opening, “Hello friends'” you knew the event was significant, and Jim Nantz would call it like no other.
Jim Nantz’s unparalleled combination of talents made him the greatest play-by-play guy of our lifetime. His voice was instantly recognizable, and he never lost control of himself. You could feel the passion in his voice, but he was never the story but the storyteller. His calm demeanor does not compete with his partner in the box. People like Jim Nantz become more than a voice. They are more like an old friend who has enjoyed incredible sporting events that fill our memory. Unfortunately, just like Big Pappi, Bird, or Brady, nothing lasts forever. The 2023 Final Four will be the last for Jim Nantz.
As he closed out his final college basketball broadcast, Nantz said, “Everybody has a dream. Everybody has a story to tell. Just try and find that story, and be kind.” Jim Nantz has always been the gentleman on the sidelines, and college basketball has lost a special part of its story. Just like I go back on YouTube to watch Brady throw touchdown passes to Edelman, Big Pappi with some Bottom of the Ninth Magic, or Bird show some cocky defender how to play the game, I will listen to some of the memorable calls by Jim Nantz and wish I could have sat in his seat-the best in every house he stepped behind the mic.
The post The Luckiest Man In Sports appeared first on Granite Grok.
The Vermont House is considering legislation (H.228) that would “require students in Vermont public schools to complete a course on personal finance as a condition of being awarded a high school diploma.” Does that sound odd to anyone other than me?
It requires the state board of education to develop guidelines for a financial literacy curriculum as a prerequisite to graduation. If that’s such a good idea, and I’m not saying it is not, shouldn’t Vermont Voters expect their legislators to pass such a class before being allowed into elective office?
Here is a list of the things they suggest be included.
Standards. The Board of Education shall adopt and continually update standards for student performance in the content area of financial literacy, which shall include the following personal finance concepts:
(A) behavioral economics;
(B) banking and bill payment;
(C) investing;
(D) types of credit;
(E) managing credit, including credit scores;
(F) paying for college;
(G) insurance;
(H) taxes;
(I) budgeting;
(J) consumer skills;
(K) retirement planning, including tax-advantaged retirement plans;
(L) home ownership and financing; and
(M) personal transportation, including car ownership and leasing.
Even as casual side-eye-ers of Vermont’s decline toward progressive “paradise,” who among us agrees that our “legislative” neighbors to the Left could benefit from even the most basic understanding of (even just a few of) the itemized topics?
Not sure? I’m here to help. We’ve been following the decline and writing about it more recently and are happy to provide some resources.
I should add that requiring Democrats to take Financial Literacy courses might look a lot like a scared straight program. And while some would call it harassment or perhaps even hate speech, what really matters is how they can even imagine they are capable – assuming they pass it and it becomes law – of intelligent oversight.
The post Shouldn’t Vermont Democrats Learn Financial Literacy Before Mandating It? 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:
Now, let the mockery and mayhem begin. But before that, on mockery:
‘Satire is the enemy of tyranny’ – spiked (spiked-online.com)
And two parts of a discussion between Bill Whittle and Evan Sayet discussing the mentality of the Leftist and their inability to handle ridicule – several years old, and I just stumbled on it… but wonderful stuff. Ridicule is the Left’s Achilles Heel. Use it.
Know and understand your enemy, and their weaknesses.
Bill Whittle’s Hot Mic | Evan Sayet: Thin-Skinned Liberals – 7/6/17
Bill Whittle’s Hot Mic | Liberals Love to Play Victim – 7/6/17
*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***
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Understand that this is hard on the individual store employees, and yes, it will be a small ding in the company. Enough dings, however, and they might – MIGHT – get the message. But be polite if you execute this. The employees are not the ones who made a cash-only policy.
QUESTION: If they pull this in the Nashua area, who is with me to do this to the local stores? Target, Walmart, Market Basket, Shaws, Hannaford?
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PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA
In Friday’s Meme Overflow-Overflow I highlighted the potential for mRNA in your meat… done without your knowledge and/or consent.
We KNOW the mRNA & LNPs spread systematically; they do not stay in one place (Japan study among others).
We KNOW the mRNA can get reverse transcribed into the DNA (Swedish study).
We KNOW the mRNA is synthetic & more durable, and IMHO likely will survive cooking.
We KNOW mRNA gets expressed in milk.
COVID-19 Vaccine mRNA Now Found in Breastmilk – Canada Health Alliance
On that last one… confirmed:
The real and growing danger of mRNA vaccines in our food
In particular, the milk expressed by Jabbed cows. And now, per the above, we know that the mRNA in the milk triggers an immune response by getting into your system through absorption in your digestive system.
Don’t forget a link I had last week, with a video too, highlighting the drive to put mRNA “vaccines” into your plant-based food as well:
mRNA Gene Therapy Is Coming to the Food Supply THIS MONTH! (deeprootsathome.com)
Scientists: Edible Plants Being Altered To Carry mRNA Vaccine Payload (technocracy.news)
Eat Your Vaccines: mRNA Gene Therapy Is Coming to the Food Supply THIS MONTH – DailyClout
And the below is precisely what this is. Medical rape of an unsuspecting population.
Medical rape with deleterious health effects and possible sterilization to boot. After all, the world needs culling, right? (Sorry for the reverb, not my doing.)
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/dr-rina-at-a-church.mp4
Proverbs 16:18… and What’s Coming? – Granite Grok
Or perhaps the “useless class”…???
AI and Useless Class | Yuval Noah Harari | GREAT MINDS
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I saw a video, here (second one), with Leftists unwilling to condemn the shooter. A small statistical sample, yes, but still… Let me repeat that. A sick f*ck of a person gunned down six people and they can’t condemn the shooter?
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The Restrict Act Takes Away ALL OF YOUR RIGHTS – Not Kidding!
Congressional Bill To Ban Dissent
Senate Bill 686 Gives WEF Full Control Over America, Gives Citizens 20 Years in Prison For Dissenting – News Punch
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https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/125/706/489/playable/f391f2a781565365.mp4
Estimate: Covid brings an estimate of $100K for hospitals per patient. I hear things like this about the medical establishment, and have betrayal trauma:
The Signs You May Have Betrayal Trauma
I suspect a lot of people, unconsciously, understand what’s happening with respect to “died suddenly” – and they react so viciously towards any info about the Jab for this reason: their unconscious knows they’ve been betrayed, and they don’t want to have to deal with it. Another video (link only) about this topic; specific to infidelity but many of the things discussed apply to the Jab and side effects:
Emotional Impact of Betrayal – YouTube
And Bill Whittle talks about broken trust as well:
WEAPONIZED TRUST – Bill Whittle
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Pick of the post:
Does this not, precisely, capture what’s being done to us.
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Palate Cleansers:
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The post MONDAY MEMES appeared first on Granite Grok.
Baskin & Robbins Chocolate Fudge and Easter Dinner – yes, one of us slowed down and one of us went backward. Yes, it happens and I reminded Tom of one of my sayings: “Everything in moderation – including moderation”. One for him and one for me. Just in different proportions.
I only dropped one pound – but I know the reason. While it’s a long story, I was introduced to B&R’s Chocolate Fudge back when I was at BU and a store was located in Kenmore Square right down the street. Heat of a summer’s day, the icy blast of a blizzard day, I’d walk down and get a pint with CF on the bottom and chocolate chip on the top. A lot of trips during my years there. Well, there are no B&R stores up this-a-way but the local Shaw’s started carrying the product line a couple of months ago but only had the chocolate chip.
That is, until this week when I discovered that the B&R shelf space in the freezer had expanded and they now had the chocolate fudge. Just one pint was purchased but it didn’t last the day. Heck, it didn’t even last the afternoon!
Tom, on the other hand, had a traditional Easter dinner – and tossed moderation aside. Understandable (EIM-IM, above). So while I am starting to hit the wall, he went backward. He’s also working out and taking some weight lifting and changing his diet to support it, so he’s gaining muscle mass (yay for me unless I get him mad…snicker).
So, the tale of the Thermometer and Chart
So almost mid-point for me but “less fast” and Tom lost ground. Let’s see what next week’s rebound will be:
The post The Skip & Tom Weight Challenge – Week 5 appeared first on Granite Grok.
Climate Cultists say crazy apocalyptic things to keep the progressive peeps in line, and it gives the media soundbites to terrorize normal folks. And anyone who groundhogs the approved narrative risks a bit of rhetorical whack-a-mole, but not responding to their stupid ’emissions’ is hard to resist.
Related: Bureaucrat Caught Being Honest About the Climate Agenda Has Resigned
Nothing they predict comes true, like how our indifference and inaction to this imagined problem meant our children would not know snow.
It has been at least 15 years since they broke the seal on that doozy. Plenty of our children’s children have “known” snow. But this has been a lousy year with record snowfall across the west and the left Coast. They’ve got more snow than you can shake a measuring stick at *record snowfall all over, including places where children saw snow for the first time because it rarely snows where they live.
But, what’s a lying, scheming Climate Cultise to do? If they’d said that more kids would know about snow because of Global Warming, would we have listened? Someone has because a few years later, they adjusted the narrative. Both more snow and less snow were signs of the climate apocalypse, securing the dogma of the irrefutable scientific climate consensus as no matter what, it’s terrible. But don’t worry; we can fix it with Marxism.
But the old narrative still rings false in our ears. It is still, after all, about your CO2 boiling the planet, and that’s not happening.
Tony Heller from Real Climate Science reports that Casper, Wyoming, just set a historical record for single storm and single-day accumulation.
Casper…that was quite the storm. We now have new records for the single snowiest day in Casper, as well as the largest snowstorm on record! Both these records were previously set in December 1982. #wywx pic.twitter.com/CcNZhPzYGs
— NWS Riverton (@NWSRiverton) April 6, 2023
So much for kids not knowing what snow is, but back to the Warming. It can snow more the closer we get to zero degrees C—no such luck.
The winter was historically cold across much of western and central Wyoming. Here is a table showing the average temperatures for that period, how it compares to normal and the rank among the coldest winters. #wywx pic.twitter.com/qyBZCHMnAv
— NWS Riverton (@NWSRiverton) April 7, 2023
Record snow, record cold. Not to worry. Remember, warming causes cooling. Cooling causes Warming. And none of that is natural or normal.
HT | RCSB
The post “Children Won’t Know Snow” Update – Snowfall Records Broken in Wyoming appeared first on Granite Grok.
When someone fails to do what is right, is that dropping the ball or just another failure in a series of failures? Nashville has taken some shots in the last week. From the senseless killing of six innocent souls at the hand of an unstable woman to the expulsion of two Democrat state legislators, Nashville is not used to bad press. Nashville is also not used to being snubbed by anyone, let alone the hapless Vice President of the United States. If you saw Harris was going to Nashville this week, you would have thought she would pay the respects of the country to the families of the six dead victims buried this week. You would be wrong; Kamala Harris is an embarrassment to this great nation.
Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville to support the three disgraced state representatives who had embarrassed themselves and the state. Two Representatives were expelled, and the third barely kept her job. The President also met with the three reps via Zoom to show his support for their strength and courage. The town of East Palestine, Pennsylvania, is still waiting for a call or visit from either member of the Executive Branch.
First, let’s look at her address. She was overly dramatic, using a plethora of accents. She was attempting to connect with every minority in the room. It didn’t work. She came across as unreal and animated. There were two reasons for the VP’s visit. One was to show her support for the ousted Democrats. The other was to chide the Republicans for their actions. This is what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris call reuniting the country-driving a wedge between us at every opportunity.
The story of the Tennessee Representatives is for another article. This story is about the Vice President. Harris went to Fisk University, an all-Black school in Nashville, to condemn the White Republicans who destroyed Democracy by silencing two Black Reps and removing them. This address by Harris is what fosters racism. Making the issue about Race is the Ace of Spades for the Democrats. These Reps disrupted a state legislature, used bull horns, and disrespected their colleagues and the state. Our VP did not mention what they did and why they were expelled. For her, it is enough to call them leaders, to call them heroes, to call them Black, and to identify those who removed these Reps as the angry white machine that cannot have such a threat in place. The threat must be eliminated.
Kamala began her address with her trademark giggle before she broke into her passionate speech. She was in her element, and she was singing to the choir. She was at Fisk, not to discuss the Reps and their ouster. She was at Fisk to rile the troops. She patronized these students by calling them all leaders. The crowd was loud and receptive. Just what the administration was looking for.
Harris accomplished her goal, but in so doing, she embarrassed most of America by snubbing and disrespecting the six victims of the Nashville mass shooting. Their families would like to hear how the loss of their family members did not die in vain and the steps would be taken to prevent a repeat. The families would remain disappointed.
The post Kamala Dropped The Ball appeared first on Granite Grok.
We’ve got another good read from Igor Chudov’s Substack, in which he dissects a recent JAMA Network research report on Veterans and the ineffectiveness of Flu and COVID vaccines at reducing hospitalization, as in they don’t.
64% of patients hospitalized with COVID were vaccinated against the flu. 63% of patients hospitalized with flu were vaccinated against the flu.
We know that the influenza vaccine does not prevent Covid hospitalizations. But if the influenza vaccine prevented influenza hospitalizations, there would be fewer influenza-vaccinated people hospitalized for influenza than influenza-vaccinated people hospitalized for Covid.
Do you recall the campaigns encouraging you to get not just the COVID shot but a Flu Vaccine as well? They’ve been pushing seasonal flu vaccines but more so in this century. It probably made sense for the needle in every arm brigade to get you twice while they had you captive and willing. But shortly after, they reversed course and said, DONT DO THAT! Bad things were happening.
Based on this research (2022-2023 study), getting them separately wasn’t much help either.
And I am not saying people at risk should not consider the flu vaccine. That’s your call. My own experience with them is not news here. The only years I ever got the flu, I was convinced to get the flu shot (two in the past ten). My current policy is to take a pass on all of them despite being in the at-risk category, which was before COVID, and I was right to avoid that too.
Vitamin D3 (w/ K2) and Zinc have proved effective for me. Several family members have gotten a handful of colds/flu since the pandemic paranoia winddown, two of whom are jabbed, but not me – but you are not me. As is our standing policy with everything, we’re just reporting on what we find and offering our thoughts. Do your research and figure out what works for you. But the data continues to suggest that these injections are not living up to the hype while elevating the risk of potential harm with little or limited benefit if you elect to get one.
Igor Chudov | JAMA Study
The post New Research: COVID and Flu Vaccines Are Not “Preventing” Hospitalization appeared first on Granite Grok.
Greetings, committee members. While I haven’t read all 149 pages of the budget heading your way, I know some who have. This email could easily get very long, but I will try to keep it short and focus on my biggest grievances against the House for passing it.
We want to thank Julie Smith for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
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I will start with the nearly 20% increase in spending. That is NOT the NH way to do things! We already see this kind of fiscal irresponsibility here in the city of Nashua and in Washington, neither of which government bodies I have any representation in. That goes for the House also! I can always count on Mr. and Mrs. Newman to vote in a manner that’s repugnant to my values, but such is life. Since my senator, who I voted for, is not on this committee, it is up to YOU to restore sanity to this bill before he votes on it.
I am sure you will hear from others about what Jim Kofalt calls “Christmas tree ornaments” in this omnibus bill, but I will narrow my concerns down to two items for this email, the first one being the augmentation of the state police force.
On 10/13/21, His Excellency weaponized the state police against his peaceful critics at an Executive Council meeting. Since two of you were not in the senate at the time, I want to point out that nobody in the previous senate condemned that in the public square. I personally watched this “police state” in action from a front-row seat right next to the husband of arrest victim number 8. Since that arrestee lives in New Ipswich, I brought this atrocity to the attention of my own senator, and he said the senate had to stay in its lane and that I should take the matter up with Wheeler, which I tried to do.
While this bill is not necessarily the SENATE’s opportunity to be involved with state police reform, the least you (Finance Committee and the whole Senate) can do is stop the expansion. Please cut it out of the bill. It is Easter right now as I type this, and the next person who gets arrested for saying the word AMEN could be someone near and dear to YOU!
The other item I want to address is State of Emergency reform. Two years ago, the House put some good language into HB 2 that the Senate had watered down. Naturally furious that the ball was dropped on the one window of opportunity to tie His Excellency’s hands in the form of an omnibus bill, I complained to my senator in a text, and he kindly called me right away, which I appreciated. However, he seemed more focused on the senate’s accomplishments, several of which I do agree with him on (EFAs, banning CRT), but abuse of the State of Emergency must be curbed. Sorry to sound like Hillary, but to keep NH worthy of being called the “Live Free or Die state,” the Corner Office MUST be restrained by any means necessary, no matter who occupies it in the future.
Unless NH dot gov is wrong, the Senate Finance Committee has seven members, and I have selected your four to send this appeal *”James.Gray@leg.state.nh.us” <James.Gray@leg.state.nh.us>, <Daniel.Innis@leg.state.nh.us>, <Regina.Birdsell@leg.state.nh.us>,<Howard.Pearl@leg.state.nh.us>). As presumably intelligent people, you all know that the two notorious lovers of spending are going to try to pork up the budget even more, and the man with the gavel is sadly likely to go along with it. I won’t bore you with citing many items of evidence of their reputations, but suffice it to say that I see this committee as a four vs. three at best.
And on a final note, I was angry and saddened by the loss of Gary Daniels, a good man worthy of his seat, his committee assignments, and his leadership position. Please honor his service to Granite Staters by rehabilitating the budget to something that would meet his standards. And by that, I also mean that no strings should be attached to any incoming federal money, as he and Senator Giuda had voted NO on 11/19/21.
Thank you for your consideration, and let it be known that I am not alone in pointing out that you are being watched.
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